The Spill: Hong Kong Protest, Insects, and Buying Greenland

Welcome to LNGenZ’s roundup of the trending topics in the news this week.

Anti-Government Protests in Hong Kong

In the last few weeks, thousands of people have been protesting in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is a one-of-a-kind city. An island located off the south-east coast of China, life in Hong Kong is a mix of Asian and European culture. This territory was taken over by the British Empire in 1842, and European influence mixed with the traditional Chinese way of life. In 1997, Hong Kong was returned to China. Because the city had gotten used to a different way of life, compared to society on the Chinese mainland, China and Britain agreed that it should be given autonomy (independence) for the next 50 years. This gave rise to the “one country, two systems” idea, which means that Hong Kong is officially part of China, but it is allowed some independence.

The protests were sparked by an extradition law that was introduced by Carrie Lam, the city’s leader. Extradition is when one country asks another country to send it a person who may have committed crimes to face a trial. To continue reading, click here.

Trump Offers to Buy Greenland – For Real?

President Donald Trump was scheduled to visit Denmark, but he announced on August 20 that he would not go. The president canceled the trip due to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s harsh public rejection of Trump’s offer to buy Greenland.

It started out as a rumor in the press: Trump was checking out the possibility of buying the world’s largest island, Greenland, which currently belongs to Denmark. When asked by journalists, the president confirmed the idea, saying, “Strategically it’s interesting, and we’d be interested, but we’ll talk to them a little bit. It’s not number one on the burner.”

Many Danes perceived the president’s comments as a joke, including the Danish Prime Minister, who called the proposal “absurd.”  To continue reading, click here.

Eating Bugs to Save the Planet?

How much meat do you eat? Many Americans eat meat every day, but this common food could soon be replaced by… insects!

While some people around the world eat insects, most Americans would find this idea to be, well, gross. Even though it might seem disgusting to eat bugs instead of meats like beef or pork, some people say that one day we might have to change our diets.

Have you ever thought about how meat gets from the farm to your table? A report on climate change says that people around the world need to eat less meat, because farming animals uses a lot of land and resources.

The United Nations (UN) has released the Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL), which says the world’s nations to change the way they use land, and to farm less meat. The report also says that farming and forestry cause 23% of human carbon emissions, which many scientists think causes climate change. According to the report, changes to land usage and diet must be part of the solution to catastrophic climate change. To continue reading, click here.