Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading.

- Christopher Cheung examines the privilege involved in being able to stay home during the course of the coronavirus pandemic. And Kate Allen, Jennifer Yang, Rachel Mendleson and Andrew Bailey report on the stark gap between wealthier Toronto families who were able to avoid COVID-19 during a lockdown, and poorer ones who saw their exposure continue to increase.

- Sara Mojtehedzadeh reports on one migrant worker who was threatened with deportation for daring to report that his roommate died of COVID-19 - and the reality that many more workers are being intimidated into silence without receiving the reprieve he eventually secured. Chinenye Anokwuru reports that as a result of the pandemic, the Regina Food Bank is seeing an alarming increase from its already-worrisome usage rates. And Conor Dougherty examines the particularly devastating effect of COVID-19 where people are making do with overly cramped housing.

- Eystein Jansen et al. study the reality that climate breakdown is likely to occur through abrupt events rather than incremental differences - and that the Arctic is undergoing just that. And Tim Flannery writes about the damage done by a single year of Australian wildfires exacerbated by man-made climate change.

- Finally, Oliver Milman highlights how the U.S.' presidential election may represent a point of no return if we're to have any hope of avoiding catastrophic climate change. Mary Robinson writes that Canada can become a climate leader - but that we first need to start ensuring that our actions match our words, rather than subsidizing the continued use of dirty energy while claiming to be concerned about the climate. And Jennifer Ann Brown and Aimée Bouka point out how Alberta (like other jurisdictions) can position itself for the future by focusing on clean energy as its core investment in rebuilding from the COVID-19 pandemic.