Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Kai Kupferschmidt reports on the recognition among scientists around the globe that the Omicron COVID variant is almost certain to precipitate another major wave of infections and hospitalizations. CBC News reports on the Ontario COVID19 science table's recommendation of a circuit breaker to reduce the damage, while Laura Sciarpelletti reports on similar calls being ignored by Scott Moe in Saskatchewan as he once again insists on "vaccines only!" in response to impending disaster. 

- Which means at least from a governance standpoint, we're in much the same boat as Ed Yong's description of the U.S., with our leaders lacking any willingness to ensure a collective response to a social problem. And Karl Nerenberg writes that the Libs' fiscal update pays lip service to COVID while failing to address ventilation as a core determinant of community spread. 

- David Dayen warns against causing severe and immediate deprivation for large number of people by cutting off supports in the name of making a marginal dent in the far less important issue of inflation. Solani Kolhatkar recognizes that the main source of price increases has been corporate exploitation. And David Macdonald points out there are plenty of other options to address inflation by managing prices rather than abandoning the people who most need help.   

- Alfred McCoy discusses the global unrest we can expect if we don't succeed in reining in catastrophic climate change. Ben Phillips discusses how gross inequalities are spurring widespread human rights violations and democratic backsliding, while Gabrielle Canon notes that people already faced with homelessness end up bearing the brunt of extreme weather events. And Diane Coyle writes about the need to start measuring our social progress in terms of well-being rather than GDP and investor moods. 

- Rebecca Leber writes about the move in New York and other jurisdictions to eliminate natural gas distribution as a building standard. And Leanna First-Arai rightly questions the claim that crypto mining somehow serves as solution to climate destruction, rather than a generator of unnecessary pollution which exacerbates the problem. 

- Finally, Asha Banerjee et al. examine the broad effects of unionization, and find important benefits going far beyond the workplace. And Anna North writes about the culture that has left so many people continuing to muddle through work even in the midst of multiple crises - and severe dangers to their own health and well-being.