Welcome to FERN’s Friday Feed (#FFF), where we share the stories from this week that made us stop and think.
When killing a whale went from high honor to internet hate-storm
High Country News
When 16-year old Chris Apassingok snagged a 52-foot bowhead whale off the coast of his family’s fishing village in Alaska, his relatives celebrated. The Alaska Dispatch reported his feat. Then the news hit Facebook, where Paul Watson, the founder of Sea Shepherd — an environmental group known for stopping Japanese whaling boats at sea — found the story. Watson called Apassingok a “murdering little bastard.” Thousands of others began sending the boy death threats and hate mail. But Alaska natives like Apassingok and his family depend on whale meat to feed their families. Not only is whale hunting a tradition older than Christ, it’s critical to survival in communities where the average household lives $5,000 to $6,000 below the poverty line. And far from wiping out the ocean mammals, “in 2015, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated there were 16,000 whales, three times the population in 1985,” says High Country News — in part because Alaska natives have every incentive to preserve the species.
Rural America in the age of Trump
The New Yorker
From local newspapers fighting accusations of “fake news” to Women for Trump rallies calling for oil and gas extraction, Trump’s presidency is deeply felt in rural America. But stereotypes break down on the ground. Sometimes it’s the woman who rejected her parent’s racist views, but still supports Trump’s hardline stance on immigration — because, she says, everyone should follow the law. Or it’s the high-school dropout who made it into an Ivy League school, but has the least patience for liberal “group-think.” Small towns, like the ones in rural Colorado in this story, are navigating unemployment, high homicide rates and depressed economies, all while trying to remain good neighbors in a divided country.
Big Ag isn’t just an American thing
The Guardian
Large-scale, intensive agriculture started in the U.S., but it certainly hasn’t stayed here. In the U.K., which at times has embraced environmental standards even higher than the EU, there are currently 789 megafarms, many of them owned by foreign nationals. “These are the biggest in a wave of intensive farms that has increased by more than a quarter in six years,” says The Guardian. Based in the U.S., Cargill now runs a network of more than 100 farms in the U.K. One location alone processes at least 1.6 million chickens a week.
Bread yeast is good for cholera-detection, too
The Atlantic
Researchers at Columbia University have figured out a way to detect cholera and other diseases with bread yeast. Rather than waiting for costly lab samples, people in developing countries can now use a simple dipstick coated in yeast that’s been engineered to turn red when it encounters certain kinds of fungus. The dipsticks work on blood, urine, water and soil, where they can detect some of the most devastating blights in rice and wheat. “Our vision is that we can just give the yeast to a resource-poor country, and they can grow the biosensor themselves just like they can brew beer,” says Virginia Cornish, who led the research team.
A little cow poop does the skin good
Quartz
Finally, what you’ve been waiting for: body-care products made from cow feces. The Indian company Cowpathy sources the special ingredients from cows that would otherwise go to slaughter, making products like soap from cow dung and toothpaste with cow pee. Cowpathy’s founder, Umesh Soni, claims the inspiration came from ancient spiritual texts, which say that bovine discharges contain special medical properties. “I have had people tell me that eczemas that haven’t healed in two years have disappeared due to the use of the cow dung soap,” said Soni.
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