Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- The Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research discusses a new study showing that the effects of a climate breakdown could far exceed what has generally been treated as the worst-case outcome, with the potential for temperatures to increase by up to 25 degrees Fahrenheit. Bob Burwyn writes about the dangerous feedback loop in which global warming results in the release of previously-trapped methane. And the Climate Historian observes that the uninhabitable surface of Venus is the result of a runaway greenhouse effect. 

- Daisy Dunne writes about the role climate change is playing in the outbreak of extreme heat events. Anna Betts reports on new research showing that the number of deaths caused by extreme heat in the U.S. has doubled over the past 25 years, while Ashifa Kasaam reports on a study showing that people with lower incomes bear a disproportionate share of the burden of heat waves. 

- Andrew Whelton points out that the effects of increased wildfire activity extend to widespread water pollution and harm to agriculture. And Emma Bryce discusses how there's ample food production capacity to feed the whole of humanity (and reduce carbon emissions) if the wealthiest few people adjust their consumption patterns to fit what the Earth can support.  

- But George Monbiot notes that the factory farm lobby is looking to ban any form of food production that could endanger its existing profit margins by making a healthy diet more affordable and accessible. And Tom Perkins reports on the corporate-owned scientists trying to keep toxic forever chemicals flowing into drinking water. 

- Finally, Colin Bruce Anthes discusses how the treatment of land is at the root of our housing crisis - with fair taxes on land value and investment in building affordable housing serving as the most obvious means of turning a current policy oversight into a logical solution. And James Hardwick notes that the accumulation of housing as a store of wealth prevents the people who need homes from finding them.