In a World on Fire, Stop Burning Things
The New Yorker – March 18, 2022 – Bill McKibben
https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/in-a-world-on-fire-stop-burning-things
Our species depends on combustion; it made us human, and then it made us modern. But, having spent millennia learning to harness fire, and three centuries using it to fashion the world we know, we must spend the next years systematically eradicating it… rapid advances in clean-energy technology mean that all that destruction is no longer necessary. In the place of those fires we keep lit day and night, it’s possible for us to rely on the fact that there is a fire in the sky—a great ball of burning gas about ninety-three million miles away, whose energy can be collected in photovoltaic panels, and which differentially heats the Earth, driving winds whose energy can now be harnessed with great efficiency by turbines. The electricity they produce can warm and cool our homes, cook our food, and power our cars and bikes and buses. The sun burns, so we don’t need to.
Heatwaves at both of Earth’s poles alarm climate scientists
The Guardian – March 20, 2022 – Fiona Harvey
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/20/heatwaves-at-both-of-earth-poles-alarm-climate-scientists
The rapid rise in temperatures at the poles is a warning of disruption in Earth’s climate systems. Last year, in the first chapter of a comprehensive review of climate science, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned of unprecedented warming signals already occurring, resulting in some changes – such as polar melt – that could rapidly become irreversible. The danger is twofold: heatwaves at the poles are a strong signal of the damage humanity is wreaking on the climate; and the melting could also trigger further cascading changes that will accelerate climate breakdown… Now we have record temperatures in the Arctic which, for me, show we have entered a new extreme phase of climate change much earlier than we had expected.
We Traveled Deep Into the Amazon to Investigate Deforestation. A Grisly Discovery Awaited Us.
The Washington Post – March 17, 2022 – Terrence McCoy
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2022/brazil-amazon-deforestation-highway-br-319/
The Amazon is already believed to be at the precipice. If much more is lost, scientists warn, the forest could suffer destabilizing ecological changes that convert immense swaths into degraded open savanna. What has historically been a carbon sink could suddenly become a “carbon bomb,” upending the world’s efforts to avert catastrophic warming. Already, some regions of the Amazon are exploding — emitting more carbon gas than they absorb. The shift has been particularly acute in the most deforested sections of the Amazon’s degraded southeast, where in the past 40 years the average temperature during the annual dry season has risen more than 4 degrees.
Jane Fonda Establishes a Climate PAC
Ecowatch – March 18, 2022 – Paige Bennett
https://www.ecowatch.com/jane-fonda-climate-pac.html
“Scientists have been very clear: We have to cut our fossil fuel emissions in half by 2030,” Fonda said in a video about the PAC. “We have eight years — that’s just four election cycles — before the point of no return.” “We have one goal: do whatever it takes to defeat the political allies of the fossil fuel industry no matter which side of the aisle they’re on,” she added… “I don’t say this lightly, but I feel this is likely to be the most important thing I do in my life,” Fonda said on her website. “The climate crisis poses unprecedented threats to our communities, our environment, our economy, and our security. It’s not too late to change course. But it won’t happen as long as oil, gas, and coal companies maintain their stranglehold on American politics.”
UN Calls for Extreme Weather Warning Systems for Everyone on Earth Within Five Years
Ecowatch -March 25,2022 – Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
https://www.ecowatch.com/extreme-weather-warning-earth-un.html
It’s a fact: early warning systems for extreme weather save lives. Since the 1970s, they have helped reduce the number of people killed by natural disasters by 76 percent, Reuters reported. With the climate crisis intensifying, monitoring to provide early warnings for extreme weather has become more important than ever. There are currently about five times more disasters related to weather than occurred in the 1970s. UN Secretary-General António Guterres is calling for an early warning system that covers everyone on the planet. “Half of humanity is already in the danger zone,” said Guterres, as reported by Reuters. But, “one-third of the world’s people, mainly in least developed countries and small island developing states, are still not covered by early warning systems.”
Here’s the ‘energy transition’ needed to stave off climate catastrophe
Grist – March 23, 2022 – Kate Yoder
https://grist.org/energy/the-energy-transition-needed-to-stave-off-climate-catastrophe/
The analysis, from researchers at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in the United Kingdom, found that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial temperatures (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) requires more stringent emissions cuts than what any country is currently considering. The report, published Tuesday, is focused on avoiding going past that 1.5-degree threshold — a sort of danger line beyond which the effects of global warming turn from catastrophic to … well, something even worse… The Tyndall Centre report dismissed any notion that either blue hydrogen or carbon capture technology could make a solid dent in fossil fuel emissions in the near future… The way things are going, many climate scientists think that the world will blow past its targets, with nearly half saying they think that a beyond-catastrophic 3 degrees C (5.4 degrees F) of warming is likely. Under this scenario, people living in Arizona would live in temperatures 95 degrees or higher for nearly four months out of the year, coastal areas where 12 percent of the world’s population lives today would be submerged, and a full quarter of the species on Earth could go extinct. And that’s just a taste of the “something even worse.”
Europe can lead the way through an energy crisis without more fossil fuels
Vox – March 26, 2022 – Rebecca Leber
https://www.vox.com/22983893/europe-us-lng-gas-russia-climate
In five years, European countries hope to end dependence on Russian fossil fuels, and by the end of the year, they look to slash reliance on Russian gas by two-thirds. If Europe follows through on these pledges, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could propel one of the swiftest energy transitions in history. The biggest question now is whether it’s a transition off oil and gas — or just off Russian oil and gas… European countries are the ones that face the real choice between building new fossil fuel infrastructure or speeding up their timeline on clean energy investments. And they could hasten their transition off of fossil fuels by prioritizing climate-friendly solutions, like incentivizing energy efficiency, installing heat pumps, and speeding up renewable permitting. Two new reports from independent think tanks this week outline a viable path that doesn’t replace Russian oil and gas with other fossil fuels.
How to Get Past Despair to Powerful Action on Climate Change
Yes! Magazine – March 16, 2022 – Michael E. Mann and Thomas S. Bateman
https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2022/03/16/climate-action
Our species is in a race with climate change, and a lot of people want to know, “Can I really make a difference?” This question concerns what’s known as agency. Its meaning is complex, but in a nutshell, it means being able to do what you set out to do and believing you can succeed. How well people exercise their agency will determine the severity of global warming—and its consequences… As professors, we bring complementary perspectives to the challenges of taking action on climate change. Tom Bateman studies psychology and leadership, and Michael Mann is a climate scientist and author of the recent book “The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet.”… Individual agency should be seen as a gateway for group efforts that can more quickly and effectively change the trajectory of climate change…
The United States Is Exceptional
Tom Dispatch – March 24, 2022 – Aviva Chomsky
https://tomdispatch.com/the-united-states-is-exceptional/
Today, as humanity confronts a looming climate catastrophe, what’s needed is a new political-economic project. Its aim would be to replace such exceptionalism and the hoarding of the earth’s resources with what’s been called “a good life for all within planetary boundaries.”… In sum, the United States is exceptional when it comes to both its size and wealth. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn then that, until 2006, it was also by far the world’s top CO2 emitter… If energy is a scarce and precious resource, then ways must be found to prioritize its use to meet the urgent needs of the world’s poor, rather than endlessly expanding the luxuries of the wealthiest among us. And that’s precisely what degrowth thinking is all about: scaling back the mindless pursuit of production, consumption, and profit in favor of “human wellbeing and ecological stability.”
We Are in the Midst of a Global Struggle With Nothing Less Than the Future of the Planet at Stake
Reader Supported News – March 20, 2022 – Bernie Sanders
https://www.rsn.org/001/we-are-in-the-midst-of-a-global-struggle-with-nothing-less-than-the-future-of-the-planet-at-stake.html
This has been a humanitarian disaster for the people of Ukraine, but it is much more than that. The Russian invasion threatens global energy and food supplies, is contributing to greater economic instability and the rising prices we see everywhere. And oh, by the way, this is all happening at a time when the world is already struggling with a global pandemic that has killed millions and the devastating impacts of climate change which threaten the very existence of the planet. That is the bad news. And it cannot be sugar-coated. It is very bad… This has been a humanitarian disaster for the people of Ukraine, but it is much more than that. The Russian invasion threatens global energy and food supplies, is contributing to greater economic instability and the rising prices we see everywhere. And oh, by the way, this is all happening at a time when the world is already struggling with a global pandemic that has killed millions and the devastating impacts of climate change which threaten the very existence of the planet. That is the bad news. And it cannot be sugar-coated. It is very bad.
Bernie Sanders on the Worldwide Oligarchy
Portside – berniesanders.com – March 23, 2022 – Bernie Sanders
https://www.portside.org/2022-03-23/bernie-sanders-worldwide-oligarchy
If you watch the corporate media, you’ll often hear the word ‘oligarch’ preceded by the word ‘Russian.’ But oligarchs aren’t uniquely a Russian phenomenon or a foreign concept. No. The United States has its own oligarchy… It’s not just the increased income and wealth gap between the very rich and everyone else. It’s a growing concentration of ownership and brute economic and political power. Something which is not talked about much, either in the media or political circles, is the reality that a handful of Wall Street firms, Black Rock, Vanguard and State Street, now control over $21 trillion in assets – roughly the GDP of the United States. This gives a tiny number of CEOs enormous power over hundreds of companies and the lives of millions of workers. The result: in recent years we have seen the ultra-wealthy significantly increase their influence over media, banking, health care, housing and many other parts of our economy. In fact, never before have so few owned and controlled so much.
Why Trump, Putin, Xi and other dictators make disastrous decisions
Robert Reich’s website substack – March 21, 2022
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/why-trump-putin-and-xi-have-made?s=r
Putin has no reality check. According to a new report by a respected independent reporter with sources inside the Kremlin, the Fifth Service was “afraid of angering” Putin, so “simply told him what he wanted to hear.”… Dictators like Putin are particularly vulnerable to inaccurate feedback. Instead of independent truth-tellers, they’re often surrounded by truth-deniers. Rather than experts and investigative journalists, their world is filled with pseudo-scientists and propaganda. In place of a free press, they have agitprop and disinformation… Trump, Putin, Xi — these men aren’t stupid. What’s stupid is their systems for making decisions. They don’t include naysayers. They have no way of eliciting, recognizing, or assessing useful criticism. All are trapped in halls of mirrors that reflect back at them what they want to see and hear… Yet when people like Trump, Putin, and Xi make terrible decisions, the world suffers. Worse: Putin and Xi have the power to blow up the world.
US Deplores Russia’s ‘Shock and Awe’ against Ukraine, but Found its own Against Iraq “Spectacular”
Informed Comment – March 24, 2022 – Juan Cole
https://www.juancole.com/2022/03/deplores-russias-spectacular.html
The scenes of the horrible destruction that Russia is inflicting on Ukraine’s civilian cities, from Kharkiv to Mariupol, and the killing of nearly 1,000 civilians, including nearly 100 children, have tugged at the world’s heart strings — and rightly so. Nineteen years ago, when the George W. Bush regime unleashed its “Shock and Awe” campaign on Iraqi cities, there was more celebration in the US press than condemnation… I wouldn’t myself use the word “spectacular” for the destruction rained down on civilian cities in a war of aggression. Sunsets are spectacular. This was horrifying.
Putin’s Holy Man Pushed for the ‘Eradication’ of Ukraine
The Daily Beast – March 22, 2022 – A. Craig Copetas
https://www.thedailybeast.com/vladimir-putins-holy-man-russian-orthodox-patriarch-kirill-pushed-for-the-eradication-of-ukraine
Byzantine and Orthodox church historian Henry Hopwood-Philipps reckons NATO and all those who stand against Putin’s klepto-theocratic regime are in for a long wait. “The information war, the military war against Putin looks to be effective,” Hopwood-Philipps says. “But for all the West’s digital gunpowder, we’re up against nearly 700 years of a deeply entrenched otherworldly belief system.”
‘Morally bankrupt’: outrage after pro-Israel group backs insurrectionist Republicans
The Guardian – March 23, 2022 – Chris McGreal
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/23/aipac-pro-israel-group-backs-insurrectionist-republicans
The US’s most powerful pro-Israel lobby group has been accused of putting support for Israel before American democracy after it declared its backing for the election campaigns of three dozen Republican members of Congress who tried to block President Biden’s presidential victory… Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, described the endorsement of politicians who “undermine democracy” as “morally bankrupt and short-sighted”. “What ties the 2 countries is a commitment to democracy. An undemocratic America could easily distance itself from the Jewish state,” he tweeted.
Asian Americans Have Always Lived With Fear
The New York Times – March 18, 2022 – Min Jin Lee
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/18/opinion/asian-american-violence-fear.html
Ever since Asians began arriving in the United States, they have been met with hostility and rejection, often sanctioned by state and federal legislation. The sad part is that so little has changed… Asians and Asian Americans pay the price of nativist fear. As income inequality grows and social services are cut, the vulnerable among us are left untreated and unhoused.
The cost of prison phone calls is staggering. Congress has a chance to change that.
The Washington Post – March 27, 2022 – editorial board
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/26/cost-prison-phone-calls-is-staggering-congress-has-chance-change-that/
Prisons and jails contract with the correction telecom industry based less on getting the best service at the least cost and more on raking in the most generous kickbacks. The industry earns itself a more-than-comfortable $1.4 billion per year as a result, while the people it supposedly serves struggle to afford human connection…. Many would say the only fair price is none at all. Studies have shown that close touch with family members reduces recidivism — so enabling these conversations could end up saving taxpayers money.
We Have New Evidence of Saudi Involvement in 9/11, and Barely Anyone Cares
Jacobin – March 25, 2022 – Branko Marcetic
https://jacobinmag.com/2022/03/911-revelations-saudi-arabia-al-bayoumi-bandar-bush
It’s amazing that explosive new information about an allied government’s complicity in one of the worst attacks on US soil in history has simply come and gone with barely any notice. Last week, the FBI quietly declassified a 510-page report it produced in 2017 about the 9/11 terrorist attack twenty years ago. The disclosure is in accordance with President Joe Biden’s September 2021 executive order declassifying long-hidden government files about the attack, which many hoped would reveal what exactly US investigators knew about the Saudi Arabian government’s possible involvement. They weren’t let down.
Legal Scholars Are Shocked By Ginni Thomas’s “Stop the Steal” Texts
The Nerw Yorker – March 25, 2022 – Jane Mayer
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/legal-scholars-are-shocked-by-ginni-thomass-stop-the-steal-texts
Several of the country’s most respected legal scholars say that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas must immediately recuse himself from any cases relating to the 2020 election and its aftermath, now that it has been revealed that his wife, Virginia (Ginni) Thomas, colluded extensively with a top White House adviser about overturning Joe Biden’s victory over then President Donald Trump. On March 24th, the Washington Post and CBS News revealed that they had obtained copies of twenty-nine text messages between Ginni Thomas and Mark Meadows, the Trump White House chief of staff, in which she militated relentlessly for invalidating the results of the Presidential election, which she described as an “obvious fraud.”… Stephen Gillers, a law professor at N.Y.U. and a prominent judicial ethicist, described the revelations as “a game changer.”
The Future We Need: Economic Democracy
Portside – Inequality.org – March 26, 2022 – Erica Smiley and Sarita Gupta
https://www.portside.org/2022-03-26/future-we-need-economic-democracy
Organizing people as workers is not enough. Economic democracy in the twenty-first century cannot be achieved solely within a framework focused exclusively on worksites. Rather we must explore a more expansive definition of collective bargaining that adapts to the context of global capitalism and all its features, including addressing the material and cultural needs of the modern worker—who, shockingly, does not solely identify as a worker, but sees themselves as having a diverse array of identities… Building a more powerful people’s movement for economic democracy will require the spread of a more expansive view of democracy, one that moves past individual rights and into the realm of shared responsibilities. Economic Democracy brings to greater numbers of ordinary people the opportunity to participate in processes that lead to them governing themselves and their conditions, thus helping to expand access to economic democracy—one of the crucial goals of the twenty-first century.
The U.S. Constitution Was Meant to Be a Work in Progress
Yes! Magazine – March 1, 2022 – Sonali Kolhatkar
https://www.yesmagazine.org/democracy/2022/03/01/constitution-work-in-progress
In his newly released first book, “Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution,” legal scholar Elie Mystal, justice correspondent for The Nation, argues that the founders wrote the original Constitution narrowly and with such haste that they were forced to add on the Bill of Rights to remedy its gaping holes, rather like a “day-one patch” to a piece of prematurely released software. It is precisely for this reason that the resultant legal framework needs constant updating in order to ensure full equality for all. “The law is not science; it’s jazz,” writes Mystal. “It’s a series of iterations based off a few consistent beats.”… Conservatives don’t believe we should have fundamental fairness and equality in our laws and in our government. They like things the way they are. That’s why they don’t actually want amendments to happen, because they think that this racist country is working as intended. I think it’s not.