Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Fiona Harvey, Damian Carrington, Ajit Niranjan and Dharna Noor report on Antonio Guterres' warning to the COP29 climate conference that 2024 has been a masterclass in destruction - though there's reason to worry that even worse is in store. And Paige Bennett reports on new research from the International Chamber of Commerce showing the cost of the climate breakdown is already upwards of $2 trillion per year. 

- Noor also reveals that the fossil fuel sector's private awareness (and self-serving public obfuscation and denial) of climate science dates back at least 70 years. And Bruce Huber discusses how commitments to reduce subsidies for dirty energy have all too often been discarded. 

- Kim Siever points out how Alberta's corporate sector relies disproportionately on low-wage temporary foreign workers. And Cory Doctorow discusses the importance of the labour movement in ensuring that employers can't exploit the most vulnerable workers.  

- Finally, Stephanie Swensrude examines how Canada's current housing crisis can be traced to the decision to abandon the construction of non-market homes.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- The Guardian's This is Climate Breakdown series offers first-hand accounts of the current catastrophes arising out of the climate crisis. And Michael Mann writes that it's possible to avoid the worst anticipated effects of climate change - but only if we stop spewing carbon pollution in a hurry. 

- But Sehoon Kim discusses how the corporate sector is buying cheap and meaningless credits rather than taking steps to reduce its own environmental harm. Fatima Syed reports on Enbridge's laughable attempt to avoid any regulation of emissions by claiming that greenwashing is more than enough. And Angela Amato and Carly Penrose examine Alberta's plans for fossil fuel propaganda in schools - even as Breene Murphy notes that oil and gas aren't viable long-term investments.  

- John Clarke writes about the importance of cultivating truth and understanding against the entrenched interests seeking to drown out anything that might threaten their accumulation of wealth and power. But Charlie Warzel points out the immense resources being used to try to push people away from reality-based media, while Carole Cadwalladr discusses the especially dangerous combination of media and government power currently coalescing under the impending Trump regime. And Zak Vescera reports on Stockwell Day's role in building an alt-right echo chamber to try to install the BC Cons in government. 

- Finally, David Climenhaga reports on Danielle Smith's summary termination of the pension board it wants to put in charge of all Albertans' retirement income - while Paula Sambo, Layan Odeh and Dawn Lim confirm the UCP's plans for AIMCo are so political that they're planning to hand it over to Stephen Harper.

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- The Climate Historian writes that COP climate change conferences are now far more a matter of theatre than of action. Justin Rowlatt reports on yet another COP conference being hosted by a fossil fuel operative seeking to use the cover of climate action to cut oil and gas deals. And David Suzuki offers a reminder that fossil gas is a bridge to nowhere rather than any solution to the climate crisis.

- Meanwhile, James Dyke notes that the disastrous floods in Spain should remind us that even the most developed countries are far from equipped to deal with the catastrophe that's in store if we don't avert more of a climate breakdown.

- Stockholm University studies the harmful effects of plastic pollution on other environmental dimensions including the climate crisis, biodiversity and water safety. And Miriam Freedman and Heidi Busse note that microplastics may be responsible for unusual cloud formation (and resulting increases in precipitation).

- Steven Staples warns that Donald Trump is coming for Canada's already limited and threatened fresh water.

- Finally, Steven Waldman examines how voters' news sources are a strong indicator of their voting preferences - with voters who rely on social media or cable news unsurprisingly repeating the positions of right-wing echo chambers. And Don Moynihan points out that the loudest forms of identity politics are those seeking to maintain while male supremacy - even as they're normalized so as to make the public falsely perceive marginalized groups as having outsized influecen.