Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Robert Reich comments on the U.S.' out-of-control oligarchy - while noting there are precedents in turning the tide. Alexander Hurst calls out Elon Musk in particular as a one-man rogue state, while the Guardian calls for the UK to take steps to limit foreign and corporate interference. And Paul Krugman talks to Michele Martin about how Americans have been let down by the institutions which were supposed to protect their interests - opening the door for nihilists and demagogues to make matters far worse. 

- On that front, Alexander Panetta writes about Donald Trump's plan to use the resources of the state to litigate American media into submission. 

- Malcolm Nance discusses what a new U.S. resistance may need to look like. Paul Waldman writes about the failure of most Democrats to stand up for values and supporters, rather than making bipartisanship and cooperation the top priority even in the face of an authoritarian opponent. And Judith Butler highlights how the treatment of trans people in particular reflects the acceptance of fascist logic by both U.S. parties. 

- Finally, Emiko Newman, Kai Nagata, Tracey Saxby and Melissa Lem set out the climate mandate letter they'd like to see in British Columbia. And Peter Dietsch makes the case for progressive carbon pricing which ensures the rich pay a fairer share for their discretionary carbon pollution. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Kat Kerlin writes about new research showing that the true social cost of carbon pollution is over $280 per ton - far higher than the prices currently attached to it, even as our policy debates center on whether to subsidize the climate crisis even further. And Nina Lakhan reports on the growing list of countries pushing for a just transition away from fossil fuels to avert a climate breakdown. 

- Martha Bebinger reports on the prescriptions for rooftop solar power which are helping to ensure people with specific medical needs aren't vulnerable to being cut off by private utilities. And Julian Fell, Tim Leslie, Alex Lim and Ashley Kyd discuss the global spread of solar power - and its ability to meet humanity's energy needs with far less disruption than fossil fuel alternatives. But Kate Aronoff warns that the fas of AI data centers risks keeping dirty energy onstream far longer than can reasonably be accepted. 

- Michelle Goldberg calls out the tech industry elites who have chosen fealty to Donald Trump over any other interest. And Andrew Egger warns that the silent surrenders of media organizations offer a dangerous precedent for the prospect of Trump's future wrongdoing being the subject of investigation and reporting. 

- Finally, Ron Filipkowski discusses the need for U.S. Democrats to build means of communicating with people in the face of a loud and closed conservative media ecosystem. And Ettingermentum examines the U.S. Democrats' retreat from substantive policy positions - which is now being used as an excuse to demand further drift toward the right. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- John Woodside reports on the pitiful excuse for climate finance advanced by developed countries at COP29. Kate Dooley highlights how the carbon trading scheme set up at COP29 falls far short of both actually reducing carbon pollution, and accounting for other environmental and social harms caused by credit-generating activities. Patrick Greenfield notes the absurdity of governments and businesses claiming credit for natural carbon sinks as somehow offsetting new carbon pollution. And Nancy Stauffer discusses how existing emission promises rely in particular on implausible assumptions about the viability and impact of carbon removal.

- Trevor Tombe and Jennifer Winter study the price impact of carbon pricing on Canadian food, and find that it's a fraction of the added cost imposed on consumers by corporate profiteering. And Andre Picard writes that the recent cluster of cases of scurvy in La Ronge reflects a far broader issue of poverty and food insecurity in northern regions. 

- Meanwhile, Cheryl Jahn interviews Alex Hemingway about the immense opportunity cost of offering boutique tax cuts rather than investing in underresourced public services. And Wency Leung reports on the dire state of Ontario's public education system as a result of decades of austerity. 

- Simon Spichak points out that recommendations being supported by the Public Health Agency of Canada may actually worsen the effects of long COVID, including by recommending exercise when it's strongly inadvisable. 

- Finally, Ricardo Tranjan discusses how to make rent regulation effective to ensure that housing is both available and affordable. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Ajit Niranjan reports on the extreme flooding in numerous cities in central Europe as a harbinger of the effect of a climate breakdown in progress. Shannon Sims reports on the similar example of Lake Charles, Louisiana, which has been battered by increasingly severe storms over the past two decades. And Chris Hatch discusses how another summer of extreme weather hasn't resulted in public engagement on the importance of climate change as an issue. 

- Syed Shams and Sudipta Bose discuss how business investment in climate policy produces superior economic performance and reduced risk. But Justin Villamil reports on BlackRock's cynical choice (in common with much of the financial sector) to feign climate concern while planning to keep shoveling funding toward dirty energy.  

- Xiaoli Li reports on the recognition by environmental groups that a narrow focus on consumer carbon pricing falls far short of the mark in developing a meaningful climate change policy - particularly when it's paired with approvals or even subsidies for fossil fuel expansion. Thomas Pedersen discusses how the Libs have undermined public support for a rebated carbon tax on a national scale, while Shannon Waters notes that what was once a multi-party consensus in B.C. has been caught in the federal crossfire. And Carl Meyer reports on the Moe government's methane policy which continues to be based on wishful thinking and non-reporting rather than actual measurements. 

- Isabel O'Brien reports on the immense gap between the carbon pollution reported by large AI data centres, and the 662% higher amount actually emitted. And Sean Patrick Cooper reports on the additional harms frequently inflicted by data centres on surrounding communities. 

- Adam King discusses how the Libs are finding new ways to undermine the right to strike - using administrative powers rather than legislation to avoid having to answer for a back-to-work bill. 

- Finally, Rose LeMay observes that "sanewashing" is as much an element of Canada's political media as the U.S.' - and that the public is ill-served when journalists try to make the likes of Pierre Poilievre sound more reasonable than they are. 

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.

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Ian Urquhart writes that while it's well and good to insist that the oil and gas industry stop attempting to greenwash its contribution to climate destruction, Canada also needs to reckon with its own unsupported claims to climate progress. Alienor Rougeot and Stephen Thomas discuss how Canada is falling behind the rest of the world in building clean energy capacity (while subsidizing continued fossil fuel emissions). And Marc Lee offers a reminder that British Columbia's carbon tax system is set up to favour polluting businesses over the public.  

- Gabriel Zucman writes that it's both feasible and necessary to make sure the rich pay their fair share. And Linda McQuaig calls out how the Fraser Institute and the Cons are teaming up to misrepresent how Canada's tax system works to ensure that never happens.  

- Gaby Hinsliff discusses how shrunken public services only end up imposing ever-more-unmanageable burdens on people to provide health and social care for relatives and loved ones. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow points out that when private equity sets out to extract wealth from an existing business, its marks include the people who invest their money based on the false promise that there's any plan to operate more efficiently (or at all) in the long term. Danyaal Raza and Karen Palmer write about the particular dangers of letting private equity take over health care services. And Audrey Guay highlights just a few examples of how privatization has undermined the public health care system while doing nothing to sustainably reduce waiting lists. 

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Rohan Best, Fatemeh Nazifi and Han Cheng study the effects of carbon pricing, and find that charges attached to carbon pollution also help to reduce numerous other dangerous pollutants. But Rebecca Hercher reports on new NOAA data showing that we're still experiencing record highs in carbon dioxide concentration as current policies fall far short of the mark in preserving a liveable environment. 

- Oliver Milman reports on the mutually reinforcing threats to the oceans posed by extreme heat, oxygen loss and acidification. And Kat Kerlin discusses new research showing that wildfire smoke is reaching nearly all lakes in the US - but recognizing that its effects aren't yet well known. 

- Micki Olson writes that heat warnings can save lives - but only if people understand them and have the resources to act in response.  

- Lauren Pelley offers a reminder that COVID-19 remains an ongoing threat rather than a seasonal disease. And Matt Gurney points out how Doug Ford's elimination of waste-water monitoring is utterly inexplicable based on the the immense public health returns on minimal costs. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow notes that other industries are following the lead of airlines in extracting profits from junk fees. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Lauren Chadwick reports on the WHO's findings that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a multi-year drop in life expectancy and undone a decade of health progress. Eric Topol and Ziyad Al-Aly examine the results of a new study showing that long COVID is linked to a large number of adverse health outcomes 3 years after an initial hospitalization. And Dan Luo et al. identify one possible mechanism by which COVID-19 may cause heart problems. 

- Amy Janzwood discusses the immense financial and environmental costs of the TMX pipeline which the Libs have chosen to prioritize over anything which could actually reduce carbon pollution. And Eric Van Rythoven notes that the spread of carbon tariffs among countries who don't share the Cons' denial of climate science would render Pierre Poilievre's anti-pricing sloganeering completely ineffective. 

- Marissa Alexander and Wade Thorhaug discuss how soaring food prices are the result of corporate control over the our food supply. And David Wainer points out that increased private equity involvement in U.S. health care has resulted in further ballooning costs in what was already a grossly unaffordable medical system.  

- Finally, Susan Jane Wright writes about the importance of taking to the streets in response to Danielle Smith's anti-democratic governance. But David Climenhaga notes that the UCP's contempt for voters includes a plan to dictate who's actually allowed to cast a ballot in order to have a say in how they're governed. And Charles Rusnell warns that the Alberta Legislature appears to be going out of its way to hire disgraced violent former police officers to control one of the most important public spaces in the province. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Benji Jones writes that the long-predicted mass death of coral reefs due to climate change is coming to pass even as the climate breakdown continues to escalate. Adam Bailey highlights the obscene amounts of money still being thrown at fossil fuels - and the opportunity cost of spending to lock ourselves into dirty energy rather than building a clean future. And Kevin Jiang asks why Canadian governments are ignoring readily-available plans to make indoor air healthy for children. 

- Matteo Cimellaro reports on the work being done by Indigenous leaders to call out the use of the Arctic region as a dumping ground for plastic waste and other dangerous substances. And Maria Paula Rubiano discusses new research showing that exposure to chemicals in plastics results in an increased risk of cancer (among other dangers to health). 

- Ed Zitron writes about the deliberate process which resulted in Google undermining the usefulness of its search engine in order to extract value from users and advertisers alike. And Stephen Moore is nostalgic for the sense of curiosity and excitement which has been ground down by the corporate takeover of online activity.  

- Luke LeBrun talks to economists about the typical false debate playing out over fair taxation - as overwrought Con attacks on feeble Lib plans ignore the reality that there's room to ensure the rich contribute far more to the sources of their wealth.  

- Finally, Arno Kopecky discusses how Pierre Poilievre is bent on seeing the next election fought over a false portrayal of carbon pricing - to the exclusion of any issues which could actually improve people's lives to any meaningful extent. And Christopher Holcroft writes about the risks of normalizing Poilievre's contempt for truth and democracy. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Brian Klaas writes about the death of substantive policy discussion as both media and political actors focus primarily on horse-race messaging rather than identifying and solving problems. And Kohei Saito highlights the limiting effects of an underlying assumption that our society and economy must serve the cause of perpetual growth while ignoring a worsening polycrisis. 

- John Woodside discusses how Pierre Poilievre and the Cons are fully devoted to misinformation about carbon pricing, while Gillian Steward notes that the purpose and effect of a grossly simplistic and misleading slogan is to escape any willingness to even acknowledge - let alone propose action to address - the ongoing climate crisis. 

- Meanwhile, Carl Meyer reports on Irving Oil's lobbying efforts to do even less to answer for a business model built on carbon pollution. And Tim Rauf writes about Danielle Smith's double standard which mouths environmental principles in order to stall the development of clean energy, but allows for fossil fuel interests to spew carbon pollution and toxic chemicals without limit in a direct public subsidy to dirty energy operations. 

- Meanwhile, David Climenhaga discusses the UCP's decision to treat offloading patients into unequipped motels as a complete substitute for providing health care. 

- Finally, Glen Pyle writes about the latest research showing that COVID vaccinations help to prevent cardiovascular risks and other harmful outcomes. 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Andrew Phillips offers a reminder that Canada will pay the price for a climate breakdown whether or not it partially prices emissions in the moment - though it's worth noting that even the existing combination of taxes and regulations falls far short of the investments we should be making in transitioning to a clean society (especially when compared to the massive subsidies incentivizing increased fossil fuel extraction). And Aaron Wherry notes that thanks in part to the know-nothingism of the Cons and their oil industry backers, there's very little public awareness of the rebate side of the federal carbon pricing system. 

- Andrew Nikiforuk points out that Danielle Smith is adopting some of the most laughable coal baron talking points on the planet in an attempt to excuse pushing further extraction with no regard for the climate crisis or the need for potable water. 

- David Climenhaga writes about the UCP's plans to assemble a provincial police force under their political control. And Jim Bronskill reports that the bigoted Flu Trux Klan was given primacy over any interest in police safety, as officers weren't warned of active threats to harm police.   

- David Moscrop writes about the immense power accumulated by Loblaws as a provider of everything, and corporate tech giants as the largest monopolists on the planet. And Erica Johnson et al. report on the continued pressure banks are putting on their employees to push financial products which consumers don't want or need. 

- Finally, Susan Riley writes that the prescription drug plan being developed at the federal level represents only a few baby steps toward a full pharmacare program - and wonders whether we'll ever see that latter goal reached. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Meghan Bartels interviews Maria Van Kerkhove about the continuing and emerging threats in the fifth year of a pandemic which most of the powers that be have long since disappeared from any discussion. And Andrew Nikiforuk talks to Ziyad Al-Aly about the unconscionable lack of attention to long COVID even as it disables immense swaths of people. 

- Malcolm McCulloch writes about his new research suggesting that we may have blown past the 1.5 degree climate target a decade ago while continuing to see global warming escalate. Environmental Defence and Keepers of the Water call out the failure of provincial and federal governments alike to hold the oil sector responsible for the harm caused by toxic tailings. And David Thurton reports on Charlie Angus' push to at least limit misleading advertising by fossil fuel companies, while Rick Knight points out the gap between (propaganda-based) perception and reality as to the effects of carbon pricing. 

- The Circle Economy Foundation's latest report highlights how we're consuming more and more unsustainable quantities of natural resources - while actually reducing how much secondary material gets repurposed. 

- David Zipper discusses how vehicular bloat is making the infrastructure intended to favour private vehicles obsolete. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow writes about Apple's practice of thumbing its nose at regulators - along with the prospect that its malicious compliance with new anti-monopoly rules may not go unchallenged. 

[Edit: corrected name.]

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Ryan Meili discusses how a blinkered focus on austerian "efficiency" and exit strategies prevents the development of care systems capable of meeting long-term needs. And Dione Wearmouth reports on the fallout from the UCP's insistence on putting performative politics over even those restrictive policy goals. 

- David Climenhaga points out that Danielle Smith's reflexive Trudeau-bashing has reached the point of actively criticizing her own government's actions where they're approved of by a federal department. And Arno Kopecky offers a reminder that it's the greed of the Cons' corporate backers - not a carbon tax which is more than fully rebated for most people - that's made life ever less affordable for Canadians. But Alan Westwood, Manjulika Robertson and Samantha Chu discuss how the experts who could better inform the public about the urgency of the climate crisis and the viability of the available solutions are being muzzled. 

- Dan Zakreski reports that the Moe government's idea of investing in supportive housing is to take over and clear out a building with over a hundred tenants so it can be flipped (presumably for a friendly developer's profit).  

- A.R. Moxom discusses how fascists use denial and both-sidesing to play the victim while avoiding answering for their eliminationism. 

- Finally, Katie Baker rightly questions how a steady stream of prosecutions of previous crypto pitchmen has had little apparent effect on people's willingness to throw money at the concept. And Cory Doctorow notes that the key question in evaluating AI isn't whether it's a bubble at all, but what type of bubble it will prove to be. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Jessica Wildfire examines how employees are being illegally forced to put their health at risk by employers determined to impose policies which facilitate the spread of COVID-19. And Craig Ellingson and Chelan Skulski report on the Alberta Medical Association's warning that the province's health care system is on the verge of collapse, while Timm Bruch reports that the UCP is trying to spin naturopathy and other quackery-for-profit as a substitute for the availability of public health care. 

- Jake Bittle calls out the large number of fossil fuel lobbyists at COP28, while Nina Lakhani reveals that hundreds of the attendees charged with working out a global response to the climate crisis have a history of actively denying its existence. So it's no surprise that the output has been grossly insufficient - according to the International Energy Agency as well as other expert participants. And Oliver Milman reports on the continued establishment focus on magical future technology as a substitute for near-term cuts to carbon pollution. 

- Andrew Nikiforuk points out that Alberta bears the dubious distinction of having the world's single most harmful methane leak. And Bob Weber reports that Saskatchewan too continues to report fictitious figures while spewing far more methane than it's bothering to measure. 

- Ryan Hogg reports on new research by IPPR and Common Wealth showing that large companies predictably capitalized on messaging about inflation by extracting massive windfall profits far exceeding any increase in costs. And Trevor Tombe and Jennifer Winter discuss the Canadian twist on  the exploitation of inflation to further enrich the already-wealthy, as the Cons use a false narrative blaming carbon pricing rather than corporate greed to try to transfer even more wealth to the top. 

- Christopher Cheung examines how the non-profit industrial complex is a poor substitute for public programs with the resources to meaningfully address social needs.

- Finally, Ian Kreitzberg reports on the UAW's ambitions to organize every automaker in the U.S. to spur broad-based gains in wages and working conditions.

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Adam King discusses how governments and employers have memory-holed some of the most important lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic as to the need for paid sick leave to ensure workplaces don't exacerbate the spread of dangerous diseases. 

- Debbie Cenziper, Michael Sallah and Michael Korsh examine how the FDA put millions of people at risk by failing to regulate the use of tainted breathing machines. And Carey Gillam reports on new research showing how the use of glyphosate herbicide endangers pregnant women and their children even who merely live near fields which have been sprayed. 

- Joe Vipond discusses how an actual cap on carbon emissions would have massive spillover health benefits, while Arthur Neslen reports on a push to put climate policy in the hands of experts rather than politicians and their donors. But Peter Zimonjic reports that the Libs are instead watering down existing targets for the oil and gas sector (even setting aside their continued blithe ignorance of emissions at the consumer level). 

- Meanwhile, Carl Meyer points out the recognition by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and Greenpeace Canada that there's no effective plan to counteract fossil sector greenwashing. And Ani Dasgupta sets out the crucial myths which have been exploited by the oil and gas sector to excuse the continued expansion of an industry which is already the leading cause of an ongoing climate breakdown. 

- Robson Fletcher talks to Trevor Tombe about the distributional impact of the carbon tax currently on the books - with the inescapable conclusion being that the Cons are looking to hand free money to the rich rather than helping those who are less well off. And Tracy Smith-Carrier examines the myths used to perpetuate poverty and block wide-scale implementation of a basic income. 

- Finally, David Climenhaga rightly notes that the Alberta NDP should have far more important things to do than to pursue a name change. (Though I'd raise an additional point on the futility of rebranding: to the extent the UCP's mantra of a "Trudeau-Notley-Singh alliance" carries an ounce of weight, the inclusion of the Trudeau Libs signals that nothing about a different party name or structure will change the messaging one iota.)

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Archie Mitchell and Adam Forrest report on the revelation from the UK's COVID inquiry that now-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was entirely eager to let people die, and considered it more important to control scientists than COVID-19 itself. And Luke LeBrun highlights how the Poilievre Cons are recruiting anti-public-health cranks into their candidate pool, while Janet French reports on Preston Manning's use of his supposedly non-partisan, multi-million dollar inquiry into a partisan tool. 

- Damian Carrington reports on the UN Environment Programme's warning that we're currently on course for 3 degrees of global warming. And Andrew King writes about the significance of yet another set of temperature peaks and spikes, while David Dodwell discusses the "doom loop" resulting from the combination of hotter weather, drier vegetation and increased storm activity. 

- Meanwhile, Bill McKibben calls out Canada and other petrostates for refusing to take responsibility for carbon pollution they're actively promoting and subsidizing. Seth Klein discusses how yet another round of posturing over consumer carbon prices is causing us to miss the bigger picture of a climate breakdown in progress. And Carrington and Jonathan Watts each examine how wealthier people contribute disproportionately to greenhouse gas emissions. 

- Finally, Rebecca Solnit discusses how the combination of immense power and utter detachment from the reality of most of humanity makes billionaires dangerous to everybody else. Eric Burdon points out how the uber-wealthy pitch self-help hokum in order to distract people from the systemic burdens they impose on the working class. Jason Linkins discusses how billionaire philanthropy is a scam. And Adam King reports on the growing gap between the rich and the rest of us in Canada. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Bryan Harris, Steve Bernard and Chris Campbell discuss the danger that a drying Amazon rain forest will accelerate the climate breakdown. 

- Jordan Omstead reports on Canada's place of shame as one of the countries looking to increas carbon pollution in the face of the climate emergency. And Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood writes that the current state of politics around carbon pricing is undermining support for any climate action at all. 

- Meanwhile, Marc Fawcett-Atkinson points out that a group of corporate-friendly MPs are pushing eliminate any requirement that pesticides or GMO seeds be assessed by regulators for safety or environmental risks before they're used in Canada. 

- Drew Anderson exposes how Danielle Smith and the UCP lied about their explanation for banning renewable energy development. And David Climenhaga examines the PR apparatus being assembled to paper over the plan to sell off public health care - even as Emanuel Maiberg reports on the reality that privatized providers operate only by abusing workers and neglecting patients in the name of squeezing out profits. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow discusses how the Biden administration is making some effort to root out the most unscrupulous investment advisors - but also notes that the greater problem is an "every man for himself" system of retirement income. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Jingwei Li et al. offer an update on the current state of knowledge surrounding long COVID, including the need for far more work dealing with its wide range of harmful effects. Kavita Bajeli-Datt reports on a new survey from India finding an increase in strokes, heart attacks and cancer acceleration as COVID has been allowed to run wild. Beth Mole reports on the abysmal state of both vaccination levels and public information in the U.S., while Mark Villani reports that health care workers are begging the UCP to be honest about alarming case and hospitalization numbers. And Lauren Woods discusses the EPA's findings that cheap and easily-assembled filters can make a world of difference in limiting the spread of COVID and other airborne viruses. 

- Ajit Niranjan exposes how big banks are funneling billions upon billions of dollars into carbon bombs. Robson Fletcher points out the glaring contrast between Danielle Smith's enthusiasm for implausible and distant claims about future energy sources, and her hostility toward affordable existing technology which can reduce our reliance on dirty fossil fuels (which is of course identical to the delay tactics of Scott Moe and other petropoliticians). And Cory Doctorow discusses how oil tycoons are working from the tobacco industry's playbook in pushing for non-solutions which allow them to keep raking in windfall profits. 

- John Woodside reports on the immense future costs of failing to take climate action now. But Trevor Tombe worries that the Trudeau Libs have undermined the only meaningful mechanism for emission reductions in Canada by prioritizing political concerns over maintaining a carbon price. 

- The Associated Press reports on the $328 million settlement being paid by Uber and Lyft for failing to pay wages in New York alone.

- Finally, Matt Kennard discusses how corporations are using "free trade" agreements to overthrow democracy. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Nina Lakhani reports on the latest data showing greenhouse gas emissions rising at an alarming rate. Bill McKibben discusses the math of climate change - including the vanishing budget for continued carbon pollution if we want to avoid catastrophic outcomes, and the plummeting price of actually making a transition to renewable energy. And Matthew Rosza writes about the foreseeable risks of a world with far less fresh water than we've come to count on. 

- Mitchell Beer writes that pipeline megaprojects invariably result in massive cost overruns, while also pointing out how the plan to offload TMX onto an Indigenous buyer seems designed to result in the transfer of a soon-to-be-stranded asset. 

- Meanwhile, Chris Hatch highlights the latest Conservative carbon tax tantrum. 

- Sharon Lerner reports on the EPA's inexplicable approval of a plastic-based fuel which looks to drastically exacerbate cancer rates among people exposed to it. 

- Finally, Victoria Gibson discusses how Toronto's homelessness crisis only stands to get worse as higher levels of government refuse to contribute - though the city's own focus on policing rather than providing services represents another key part of the problem. But on the bright side, Jason McBride reports on the non-profit Neighbourhood Land Trust's work in ensuring that rental housing is made available based on community need rather than a drive for profit. 

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Jasmine Kerrissy and Judith Stepan-Noris examine the state of the U.S. labour movement for Labour Day. And Gil McGowan points out the many basic freedoms which are lacking for Canadian workers and their unions.

- Alex Himelfarb writes about the politics of inflation - and particularly the deliberate effort to allow profits to rise while suppressing any associated improvement in wages. And Ted Johnson discusses the significance of even modest student debt relief in making clear that working people can benefit from public policy choices.

- Jeremy Clifton and Nicholas Kerry study the values which best map to political ideology, and find that the most important dividing line is not based on fear (as often assumed) but the acceptance of hierarchy and inequality. And Ariel Kalil et al. find that welfare restrictions driven by both neoliberal and conservative politicians served to exacerbate those factors by preventing parents living in poverty from providing needed emotional support to their children.

- Kevin Rennert et al. find that our current estimates of the social cost of carbon - though far higher than the prices set by public policy - are themselves far short of sufficient to account for the damage wrought by carbon pollution. And Megan Rowling reports on the prospect of a rapid transition if only the money currently spent on fossil fuel subsidies is instead put into a clean economy. 

- Finally, Kate Aronoff writes about Mississippi's example of eco-apartheid, while the Economist's review of two new books points out the imminent reality of large number of climate refugees from around the globe.