Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Annika Stechemesser et al. study the effectiveness of various countries' climate policies - and find that while carbon pricing is a necessary element in achieving emission reductions, it needs to be part of a full policy mix in order to get us anywhere near a country's Paris commitments. Dana Nuccitelli offers a reminder that the climate crisis represents a collective action problem where it's essential for everybody to be part of the solution (rather than looking for excuses to refuse). And Lisa Friedman writes about Kamala Harris' rightful characterization of climate policy as an issue of freedom - with the fossil fuel industry wanting nothing more than to eliminate any choice other than to keep feeding it profits by blocking cheaper and cleaner energy alternatives.

- Meanwhile, Flora Graham discusses the role of flash droughts in contributing to Canada's catastrophic string of wildfires. And Luca Ittimani reports on the unprecedented "heat engine" resulting in summer weather in the middle of Australia's winter season,

- Northwestern University examines how COVID-19 has mutated to more easily infect the central nervous system.

- Finally, Ali Velshi highlights how Project 2025 sets out the U.S. Republicans plan to undermine the wages and bargaining power of workers if they get the chance. And Tom Wall discusses how life as a gig worker in the UK is only getting more precarious - as a decade and a half of eliminating protections for migrant workers has only resulted in deteriorating conditions for everybody.

Musical interlude

Stoto - Afterlife

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Paul Rogers discusses the imminent threat of more extreme weather events, shortages of the necessities of life and increased division and inequality if the climate crisis is allowed to continue unchecked - while trying to find some hope in more widespread awareness of the dangers we face. Michael Mann writes about the place of the Republicans' Project 2025 as part of the right's attempt to block global climate action. And Patrick Greenfield reports on Susana Mohamed's warning that even meeting our greenhouse gas emission targets is only a small part of the work to be done in restoring our living environment to balance. 

- Meanwhile, Bob Weber reports on the pleas from Alberta municipalities for the UCP to stop allowing the dirty energy industry to extract resources and spew pollution without contributing to its own cleanup costs. 

- Phil Tank discusses how unsafe commercial transport trucks remain the norm in Saskatchewan as commercial transporters have carried on business as usual even after the Humboldt Broncos tragedy. And Gabriela Calugay-Casuga points out that the main demand of the railway workers who have since been deprived of a place at the bargaining table by the federal government is to avoid the type of catastrophes caused by corporate railways' disregard for worker and public safety. 

- Nadia Khan reports on a new Centre for Future Work report showing that racialized workers continue to be underpaid compared to other Canadian workers - but that union organization helps to close the gap. And Lucy Uprichard compares the cultural funding and organizational models in Montreal and Toronto, noting that the corporate-focused version in the latter is leading to the steady erosion of community-level activity. 

- Finally, Sarah Butler reports on the false "discounts" being peddled by big retailers who grossly inflate prices, then demand that consumers hand over personal information in order to access the previous price as part of a membership program. And Jim Stanford points out the gross dishonesty of the Poilievre Cons in peddling selective or outright false information about the state of Canada's economy. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Anna Betts reports that the fallout from the climate crisis may include threats to blood donations, while Zoe Schlanger writes about the dangers of relying on steel-based infrastructure which will fail under the temperatures which are becoming the norm. James Dyke, Robert Watson and Wolfgang Knorr discuss the folly of making choices which deliberately overshoot past emission targets in the short term based on the bare hope that carbon pollution can be captured or reduced later. Kate Yoder writes that action on climate change is far more popular than one would think from corporate-captured governments' reluctance to carry it out. And Richard Sandbrook is right to note that Canada can't use other countries' climate sabotage as an excuse for doing nothing - though it's unduly generous to characterize a track record of stagnation and delay as something to be continued rather than improved upon. 

- Betsy Agar and Raidin Blue examine the renovations and retrofits needed to make buildings safe amid a warming climate and more extreme weather, while Carissa Wong writes about new research showing that the temperatures which humans can survive are lower than previously assumed. And Adam Thorn points out that any transition to an electrified fleet of vehicles will require buildings to be EV-ready. 

- Douglas Main reports on new research showing that the ubiquity of microplastics now extends into the human brain. 

- Finally, William Brangham interviews Eric Topol about the current state of the COVID pandemic, including a summer surge in infections which has been met with no policy response. And Clovis Palmer et al. find that the effects of COVID-19 can include type 2 diabetes - but that there's a prospect that post-infection vaccination can reduce the risk.  

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Concentrating cat.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Jeff Masters sets out some of the anticipated timelines for climate change to fundamentally reshape life in the U.S. - with immense disruption expected in a matter of just a few years. Vikas Parashram Mekram discusses how climate change is threatening groundwater supplies, while Darrin Joy points out the risk that melting permafrost will unleash massive quantities of mercury into the environment. And Hope Lompe reports on a new study showing how migrant workers in British Columbia are suffering from extreme heat in housing not designed to protect against it, while Stuti Mishra writes about the dangers and stresses of life at 50 degrees Celsius in India. 

- Meanwhile, Mostafa Henaway discusses how both the Cons and Libs have chosen to turn Canada's temporary foreign worker program into constant supply of cheap, powerless labour for corporate masters. And Prem Sikka sets out some suggestions to rein in extreme executive pay and income inequality. 

- Nojoud Al Mallees reports on new research showing that corporate capital gains have nothing to do with the creation of jobs in Canada. And Judd Legum offers a reminder that the inflation make life unaffordable for consumers has been primarily the result of corporate price-gouging which Republicans have now decided is fundamental to their way of life. 

- Finally, David Moscrop discusses how Doug Ford has thrown any concern for health and well-being out the window in directing his government's attention (and massive amounts of public money) toward alcohol liberalization as a top priority. 

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Ayesha Tandon discusses a new study showing that the limiting factor in averting a climate breakdown is public policy rather than technological limitations. Aaron Wherry rightly points out that there's no either-or choice between mitigation and adaptation - and that indeed investment in the former can make the latter more manageable. And Natasha Bulowski reports on Danielle Smith's predictable decision to put an oil industry insider in charge of climate policy (and obstruction), while Kyle Bakx notes that the UCP is also actively pushing the construction of fossil fuel-powered data centres.

- Meanwhile, David Climenhaga highlights how the UCP is looking to turn limited addictions treatment into a donor profit centre. And Joel Dryden reports on the its choice to use public money to turn urgent care and other core health services over to private control. 

- Marc Bou Mansour examines how even a "featherlight" wealth tax could produce $2.1 trillion in annual revenue for public purposes. Ann Pettifor writes that the UK (like other countries) can afford to do what it has the will to do - making any focus on austerity in the name of growth an utterly counterproductive impulse. And Richard Murphy warns that the Starmer government seems inclined to pursue "balance" over a single term at the expense of underdevelopment and corporate control in the longer term. 

- Finally, Tory Shepherd discusses how the pathological fixation on growth in the name of perpetual profit generation includes a demand to increase birth rates and population levels on a planet whose resources are already overextended.