Reaching net zero without nuclear
Beyond Nuclear International – July 11, 2021 – Jonathon Porritt
https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2021/07/11/reaching-net-zero-without-nuclear/
Climate change is bigger than the New Deal, bigger than the Marshall Plan, bigger than World War II, bigger than racism, sexism, inequality, slavery, the Holocaust, the end of nature, the Sixth Extinction, famine, war, and plague all put together, because the chaos it’s bringing is going to supercharge every other problem. Successfully meeting this crisis would require an abrupt, traumatic revolution in global human society; failing to meet it will be even worse… Nuclear plays no part in any of these projections, whether we’re talking big reactors or small reactors, fission or fusion. The simple truth is this: we should see nuclear as another 20th century technology, with an ever-diminishing role through into the 21st century, incapable of overcoming its inherent problems of cost, construction delay, nuclear waste, decommissioning, security (both physical and cyber), let alone the small but still highly material risk of catastrophic accidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima.
Shifting from Fossil Fuels to Renewables Would Add 8 Million Energy Sector Jobs Worldwide
Common Dreams – July 23, 2021 – Brett Wilkins
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/07/23/shifting-fossil-fuels-renewables-would-add-8-million-energy-sector-jobs-worldwide
The study—conducted by the RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment in collaboration with researchers from the University of British Columbia and Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and published in the journal One Earth—concludes that “jobs in the energy sector would grow from today’s 18 million to 26 million” under a climate policy aimed at keeping global temperature rise this century well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and even the more ambitious target of 1.5°C… Whether it can be done fast enough is a political question. One major factor influencing political support for climate policies, particularly in fossil fuel producing countries, is the impact they have on fossil fuel jobs.
Lessons From the Fight for the Grand Canyon
The New Yorker – KJuly 20, 2021 – Bill McKibben
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/lessons-from-the-fight-for-the-grand-canyon
We once saved natural landmarks for their beauty—now it’s for survival, too… The federal government planned to build a big dam and back the waters of the Colorado up in a reservoir that would have drowned the bottom of the canyon. That never happened. And the primary reason it never happened is that David Brower, the executive director of the Sierra Club, decided to fight the plan, and to do it in a way that environmentalists hadn’t managed before… The Line 3 battle, like Brower’s campaign for the Grand Canyon, needs to be nationalized… The success of the climate fight will determine what our geologic future looks like. If we lose today’s battles to the fossil-fuel industry, observers (assuming that there are any) may be able to see the resulting damage on canyon and cave walls millions of years from now. Instead of looking on with real gratitude—as I did at the pile of tailings that is the only remaining mark of the dam plans which once threatened an incomparable record of our geologic past—they will stare in sad wonder. Why didn’t people follow Brower’s example?
Stuck in the Smoke as Billionaires Blast Off
The Intercept – July 23, 2021 – Naomi Klein
https://theintercept.com/2021/07/23/stuck-in-the-smoke-as-billionaires-blast-off/
The fact that anyone thinks the stability of the planetary systems that support all life can be pried apart from “the economy” or “health” — or much of anything at all — is a symptom of the mechanistic hubris that got us into this mess. If our climate collapses, so does everything else, and that should be the beginning of all discussions on the topic… As water scientist Peter Gleick recently wrote, we are seeing the emergence of “two classes of refugees: those with the freedom and financial resources to try, for a while at least, to flee from growing threats in advance, and those who will be left behind to suffer the consequences in the form of illness, death and destruction.”… This, right there, is the crux of our crisis: the persistent fantasy, despite all reason and evidence, that there are no hard limits to capital’s capacity to keep turning life into profit, that there will always be a new frontier to keep the lucrative game going.
The Left Is the Only Reason We’re Talking About Climate Change at All
Portside – The New Republic – July 23, 2021 – Kate Aronoff
https://www.portside.org/2021-07-23/left-only-reason-were-talking-about-climate-change-all
It’s become fashionable to suggest climate activists are too hard on Joe Biden. Being hard on Joe Biden is what got climate spending into the infrastructure package. … The role of social movements is to make things that look impossible seem possible. In recent years, the climate left has done just that. There’s no guarantee it’ll be able to do it again… Left to their own devices, though, neither Congress nor the White House can be trusted to pass climate policy. They certainly won’t pass anything that meets the scale of the challenge head-on, which requires a radical shift away from the fossil fuels that have built industrial capitalism. Many, many thousands of people need to join the fight and put more pressure on congressional inertia. Who knows whether they will, or if it’ll work. But no one should be telling the handful of people who’ve dragged politicians this far to keep quiet.
Voter Suppression Is White Supremacy. It Must Be Stopped
In These Times – July 15, 2021 – Kayla Reed
https://inthesetimes.com/article/voter-suppression-white-supremacy-elections-black-lives-matter#
In recent years, down-ballot wins across the country have legalized marijuana, overturned Jim Crow-era election law, and hiked minimum wages. The GOP’s campaign to suppress the Black vote threatens wins like these… These down-ballot wins are the fruits of organizing… Disenfranchisement has long been used to fuel inequality and preserve power for the white and wealthy. The solution remains the same: we must organize to achieve electoral justice.
Ex-Trump Official Calls The GOP America’s ‘Number One National Security Threat’
Huffpost – July 16, 2021 – Ed Mazza
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/miles-taylor-republican-threat_n_60f13006e4b00ef8761ad87a
Miles Taylor also warns of what could happen if Republicans retake the House.
Human rights activists, dissidents and journalists targeted by Pegasus spyware
The Guardian – July 19, 2021 – Jedidajah Otte
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/19/first-thing-human-rights-activists-dissidents-and-journalists-targeted-by-pegasus-spyware
A Guardian investigation shows activists and many others around the globe ended up on governmental surveillance lists thanks to the dangerous software that threatens democracy… Human rights lawyers, activists and dissidents across the globe were selected as possible candidates for invasive surveillance via their phones, leaked phone data suggests… The Guardian’s Pegasus project reveals that their mobile phone numbers appeared in leaked records, indicating they were selected prior to possible surveillance targeting by governmental clients of the Israeli company NSO Group, which developed the Pegasus spyware.
The Pegasus Spyware Story Is a Reminder of Why We’re So Attracted to Conspiracy Theories These Days
Esquire Magazine – July 19, 2021 – Charles P. Pierce
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a37065398/private-spyware-israeli-firm/
Can we stop being children and wondering why so many people are so attracted to conspiracy theories now? Can we stop pretending to be wandering innocents in our brave new world? We are all relying on technologies that very few of us truly understand. This leads to a utilitarian life that doesn’t concern itself with ramifications. How many people with cellphones truly understand how they work? Most of us are as ignorant of what he technology is capable of as an Aztec would be. Reading this story is to slam into those ramifications headlong and blind.
Edward Snowden calls for spyware trade ban amid Pegasus revelations
The Guardian – July 19, 2021 – David Pegg and Paul Lewis
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/jul/19/edward-snowden-calls-spyware-trade-ban-pegasus-revelations
Speaking in an interview with the Guardian, Snowden said the consortium’s findings illustrated how commercial malware had made it possible for repressive regimes to place vastly more people under the most invasive types of surveillance… “There are certain industries, certain sectors, from which there is no protection, and that’s why we try to limit the proliferation of these technologies. We don’t allow a commercial market in nuclear weapons.” He said the only viable solution to the threat of commercial malware was an international moratorium on its sale.
Cities Are Getting Money To Reduce Their Jail Populations. It’s Working.
Next City – July 13, 2021 – Roshan Abraham
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/cities-are-getting-money-to-reduce-their-jail-populations-its-working
We have been working with jails not to think about this as cost benefit, but what does it mean to have a more humane, more just, more equitable system… and sometimes that’s hard to monetize.
Redlining, Race, and the Color of Money
Dissent Magazine – July 8, 2021 – Garrett Dash Nelson
https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/redlining-race-and-the-color-of-money
Redlining maps document the deep history of institutional racism in the United States. They also reveal how the federal government managed risk for capital—a role that has perpetuated inequality long after the end of explicit discrimination in the housing market… Redlining maps were meant to preserve existing residential patterns of affluence and poverty. Correcting their legacy will take not only racial justice but geographic justice as well.
The Radical Women Who Paved the Way for Free Speech and Free Love
The New Yorker – July 19, 2021 – Margaret Talbot
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/07/26/the-radical-women-who-paved-the-way-for-free-speech-and-free-love
Anthony Comstock’s crusade against vice constrained the lives of ordinary Americans. His antagonists opened up history for feminists and other activists…. [This is] a reminder of the ways that zealots have sometimes slipped past the sentries of American democracy to create a reality that the rest of us must live in… Purity is in the mind of the beholder, but beware the man who vows to protect yours.
Contraception is free to women, except when it’s not
NPR – WHYY – July 21, 2021 – Michelle Andrews
https://whyy.org/npr_story_post/contraception-is-free-to-women-except-when-its-not/
Despite the Affordable Care Act’s guarantees for free contraception coverage, Force’s experience illustrates that even for women whose health plans are subject to the law’s requirements, obtaining the right product at no cost can be onerous. New types of contraceptives aren’t automatically incorporated into the federal list of required methods that insurers use to guide coverage decisions. In addition, some health plans continue to discourage use of even long-established methods, like IUDs, by requiring providers to get approval from the plan before prescribing them… Consumer advocates who have studied the issue say a process is spelled out in federal rules for women to get the contraceptives they need, but far too few people know that’s an option.
“Don’t You Work With Old People?”: Many Elder-Care Workers Still Refuse to Get COVID-19 Vaccine
ProPublica – July 23, 2021 – Jenny Deam, Ryan Gabrielson and Bianca Fortis
https://www.propublica.org/article/dont-you-work-with-old-people-many-elder-care-workers-still-refuse-to-get-covid-19-vaccine
Amid a “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” more than 40% of the nation’s nursing home and long-term health care workers have yet to receive vaccinations.
Ben & Jerry’s decision to pull out of West Bank prompts rancor in Israel
The Washington Post – July 19, 2021 – Adam Taylor
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/19/ben-jerrys-israel-west-bank/
The decision to pull out of the West Bank came after pressure from pro-Palestinian groups, which argued that the sale of Ben & Jerry’s products in Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory was at odds with the company’s support for social justice.
Don’t Use Cuba Protests to Justify US Intervention, Say Activists in Mexico
TruthOut – July 20, 2021 – José Luis Granados Ceja
https://truthout.org/articles/dont-use-cuba-protests-to-justify-us-intervention-say-activists-in-mexico/
Despite this deliberate effort by U.S. politicians and mainstream media to depict the protest in Cuba as being driven by a unified, specific desire to completely end the communist system in Cuba, those at the demonstration in Mexico City argued that many joined the protests to demand their basic material needs, such as food and medical supplies… The Cuban leadership has shown it is open to aid from abroad, so long as the motivations are truly humanitarian. Cuban Foreign Relations Minister Bruno Rodríguez expressed gratitude for a recent donation of 800,000 syringes by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, which is presently led by Mexico as president pro-tempore. Organizers of Saturday’s demonstration also said they were engaged in a grassroots effort to donate supplies to Cuba.
The US Blockade on Cuba Must End
Jacobin – July 17, 2021 – Branko Marcetic
https://jacobinmag.com/2021/07/us-policy-cuba-blockade-embargo-protests-rubio-history-war-covid-food-medicine-shortages
For sixty years, the United States has aimed to strangle Cuba’s economy and inflict misery on the Cuban people. Blockades are methods of war — and it’s time for the war on Cuba to end…. The reality is that the US “embargo” — or blockade, more accurately — was designed to exacerbate scarcity and encourage social unrest in Cuba. For decades, the blockade has strangled the country’s economy and deprived Cubans of access to essentials like medical supplies, its success at creating misery only intensifying with the fall of the Soviet Union, the coronavirus pandemic, and four years of “maximum pressure” under President Trump… Short of sadism and imperial hubris, there’s no good reason for the blockade to continue against a country that poses no threat to the United States, and which creates overwhelming misery for the ordinary people.
We Owe Haiti a Debt We Can’t Repay
The New York Times – July 21, 2021 – Annette Gordon-Reed
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/21/opinion/haiti-us-history.html
When assassins killed President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti on July 7, pushing the country to the brink of chaos, it may have struck many Americans as the latest in a string of political upheavals and destabilizing disasters in an unfortunate country with which the United States should have little to do. But the revelation that two of the suspects were American citizens was a reminder of the complicated history of our relations with Haiti — a needlessly tragic history, driven by self-interest and the politics of racism. As the United States now offers to help Haiti restore political order, it should be kept squarely in mind that Haiti is more than just a troubled neighbor. It is a nation whose revolutionary fight for freedom helped make the United States the country that it is today.
The biggest win for the working class in generations is within reach
The Guardian – July 21, 2021 – Bernie Sanders
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/21/budget-biggest-win-for-working-class-bernie-sanders
At a time when the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider, when two people now own more wealth than the bottom 40% and when some of the wealthiest people and biggest businesses in the world pay nothing in federal income taxes, the billionaire class and large profitable corporations must finally start paying their fair share of taxes…. At a time when real wages for workers have not gone up in almost 50 years, when over half our people live paycheck to paycheck, when over 90 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured, when working families cannot afford childcare or higher education for their kids, when many Americans no longer believe their government represents their interests, the US Congress must finally have the courage to represent the needs of working families and not just the 1% and their lobbyists.
Worker Power
Robert Reich’s Blog – July 21, 2021
https://robertreich.org/post/657358043794784256
Imagine a world where workers have real power. In this world, workers are paid a living wage, are protected by a strong union, and wield enough political clout to ensure Congress passes pro-worker laws. Corporations can’t treat them like robots and abandon communities to find cheaper labor elsewhere. It is a world of low inequality, where workers have a bigger share of the fruits of their labor. This world is America in the 1950s… For the past 40 years, this world has been dismantled. The voice of workers has been steadily drowned out in both the workplace and on the national political stage by the voice of big corporations. This massive power shift wasn’t the result of “free market forces” but of political choices. Now, it’s time to make the political choice to strengthen the voice of all workers.
Letter to Biden on Voting Rights
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights – July 22, 2021
http://civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/policy/letters/2021/072221-Letter-to-President-Biden-on-Voting-Rights-Bills.pdf
In short, the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act each fill a distinct and critical role in protecting our democracy and ensuring elections are safe and fair. Every American deserves and should be able to rely on a baseline level of voting access, free from efforts to block their path to the voting booth or dilute or nullify their votes. Only passage of both the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act can make this aspiration a reality.
Migration Is Not the Crisis
Tom Dispatch – July 18, 2021 – Aviva Chomsky
https://tomdispatch.com/migration-is-not-the-crisis/
In other words, there’s plenty the United States could do to develop more constructive policies towards Central America and its inhabitants. That, however, would require thinking far more deeply about the “root causes” of the present catastrophe than Biden, Harris, and crew seem willing to do. In truth, the policies of this country bear an overwhelming responsibility for creating the very structural conditions that cause the stream of migrants that both Democrats and Republicans have decried, turning the act of simple survival into an eternal “crisis” for those very migrants and their families. A change in course is long overdue.
Mobilising Against the Corporate Hijack of Agriculture and the UN Food Systems Summit
Global Research – July 20, 2021 – Colin Todhunter
https://www.globalresearch.ca/mobilising-against-corporate-hijack-agriculture-un-food-systems-summit/5750587
Despite claims of being a ‘people’s summit’ and a ‘solutions’ summit, the UNFSS is facilitating greater corporate concentration, unsustainable globalised value chains and agribusiness leverage over public institutions. As a result, more than 300 global organisations of small-scale food producers, researchers and indigenous peoples will gather online from 25-28 July to mobilise against the pre-summit… The Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSM) for relations with the United Nations Committee on World Food Security is working to eradicate food insecurity and malnutrition. According to the CMS, the UNFSS – founded on a partnership between the UN and the World Economic Forum (WEF) – is disproportionately influenced by corporate actors, lacks transparency and accountability and diverts energy and financial resources away from the real solutions needed to tackle the multiple hunger, climate and health crises… According to the CMS, those being granted a pivotal role at the UNFSS support industrial food systems that promote ultra-processed foods, deforestation, industrial livestock production, intensive pesticide use and commodity crop monocultures, all of which cause soil deterioration, water contamination and irreversible impacts on biodiversity and human health.
Artificial Intelligence and Modern Warfare: This Swarm of Flying, Sailing, Diving Drones is a Military First
Global Research – July 21, 2021 – Daphne Leprince Ringuet
https://www.globalresearch.ca/artificial-intelligence-and-modern-warfare-this-swarm-of-flying-sailing-diving-drones-is-a-military-first/5750810
“These trials mark a further dangerous escalation in the international robotic arms race,” Stuart Parkinson, executive director of advocacy organization Scientists for Global Responsibility, tells ZDNet. “The use of armed drones with autonomous capabilities is especially frightening, and takes us another step closer to a world where drones make life and death decisions about whether to launch weapons.” The rise of autonomous weapons, often also referred to as “killer robots,” has been a point of contention for many years, with a debate arising between defendants of the adoption of new technologies in defense and those in favor of establishing red lines in the sector.