Musical interlude

 MisterWives feat. PVRIS - Vultures

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- The University of California, Irvine examines the connection between air pollution and spontaneous preterm births. And Attracta Mooney and Jana Tauschinski discuss how the fossil fuel sector is far more interested in concealing its dangerous methane emissions than reducing them. 

- Hannah Brown interviews Faith Birol about the value of renewable energy in limiting our dependence on bad actors and vulnerability to crises - though it's well worth noting that the oil and gas sector which has amassed obscene amounts of wealth by preventing us from escaping won't be eager to see us take advantage. And Megan Gordon discusses the latest IEA report confirming that anybody focused on jobs should be supporting clean energy over fossil fuels. 

- Stéphane Leman-Langlois, Aurélie Campana and Samuel Tanner examine how the far right is expanding its reach in Canada. And Rachel Ward, Steven D'Souza, Andrew Culbert and Daysha Loppie report on the RCMP's video evidence showing the extremist ideology behind the armed insurrection at Coutts, AB. 

- Nick Falvo lists some of the gains made in homelessness and poverty policy in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic - though it's worth lamenting how those have been reversed (or worse) since. And Emmanuelle Bernheim writes about the flawed theory that involuntary treatment is a viable solution to homelessness. 

- Finally, Christopher Cheung talks to Rachel Bok about the self-serving corporate "solutions" being peddled to cities as a substitute for community-building. And Ian Welsh discusses how any nominal savings from Elon Musk's government destruction project are bound to be illusory as the corporate sector moves in to provide the same services at a marked-up price. 

Thursday Night Cat Blogging

Clutching cat.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Ajit Niranjan reports on Climate Action Tracker's latest assessment that we're making minimal progress toward any climate commitments, while Damian Carrington reports on new data showing that even the use of dirty fuels like coal, oil and gas continues to increase. 

- Bonny Ibhawoh writes about the need to address climate inequality if we're going to make any headway. Peipei Tian et al. study the relative share of responsibility for the overuse of natural resources - finding that the vast majority of environmental damage is caused by between 10-20% of people. And Phoebe Weston discusses how rapacious corporate conglomerates have taken over the COP biodiversity conference to an even more extreme degree than the fossil fuel-dominated climate version.

- Christina Pagel discusses new research showing that while COVID-19 still remains a problem for the general population, it leads to a particularly large increase in hospital admissions for babies (along with the elderly). Lian Duan et al. study the link between maternal infection and neurodevelopmental disorders. Katie Kerwin McCrimmon writes about the potential that COVID may increase the risk of cancer. Andn Josh Robertson reports that COVID-19 deaths are continuing to drive down general life expectancies in Australia.

- Ruth Patrick points out the unfairness and futility of demonizing people receiving social benefits as lazy - noting that conditionality and restrictions on benefits cause substantial harm to recipients while doing nothing to increase their rates of employment. 

- Finally, Diana Chan McNally offers a perspective on the real needs of people who have had to resort to tent communities - and the importance of treating them as human beings rather than as objects to be stripped of all rights in the name of denial.

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.

Musical interlude

Orbital - Nothing Left 1-2

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Michael Harris offers some lessons about the U.S.' values based on this week's election results. Rebecca Solnit opines that the largest failing of American progressives was to presume that the U.S. is a better country than it actually is, while Geoffrey Deihl writes that Donald Trump's election represents a descent into madness. Harrison Mooney discusses what it means about the dangers of majority rule - though it's worth a reminder that the U.S.' political system is warped so as to allow his party to exercise unchecked power even with minority levels of support. And Michael Mann notes that the U.S. figures to become even more of a petrostate under Trump.

- Meanwhile, Martin Lukacs, Lucy Uprichard, Tannara Yelland and Amanda Siino highlight some of the threats that Trump's ascent will pose to progressive politics in Canada. 

- Gabriela Calugay-Casuga discusses how the Bank of Canada's undue obsession with inflation resulted in an increasingly glaring wealth gap. And Alex Hemingway warns that tax giveaways are just as corrosive to public services when they originate with the NDP as when they're offered by the right. 

- Carl Meyer offers some takeaways from the long-delayed proposal for a federal oil and gas emission cap - with the predictable result being that a modest policy is being met with shrieks of contrived outrage by those who believe the only purpose of government is to ensure fossil fuel giants can rake in profits with no regard for our planet. And the Canadian Press reports on the Parliamentary Budget Office's finding that the Trans Mountain pipeline (which was bought and completed by the Trudeau Libs while emission regulations were held not to be a priority) isn't worth its cost of construction, leaving the public to take a loss on it. 

- Finally, Meyer parallels the current spin from the oil sector against its precedent from tobacco companies who likewise denied and buried their own scientific knowledge in order to maximize the harm their products inflicted on the public. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Martha Gill offers a reminder that the stakes of any climate change policy are nothing less than our ultimate survival. And Julia Musto discusses the warnings from climate scientists as to what a deliberately destructive U.S. climate policy may mean around the globe. 

- Meanwhile, George Monbiot makes the case for a progressive revolution to save a habitable Earth from an increasingly powerful array of forces bent on destroying it. And Teen Vogue offers some thoughts of empowerment and encouragement in light of the challenges to come.  

- Aditya Chakrabortty writes that the ultimate failure of U.S. Democrats was the lack of any apparent escape from the trap of a corporate-controlled economy and society - even as Donald Trump intends to make matters far worse. And Jeet Heer points out how a choice to act as the party of establishmentarianism left the Democrats with little to say to voters who wanted change.

- Emmett MacFarlane discusses what a Trump administration acting with absolute impunity will mean for Canada - while noting that at least some of our critical institutions haven't yet been undermined like their American counterparts. And Owen Schalk recognizes that Canada has too often served as a lackey to American imperial power - though it's hard to imagine a more important time to work on breaking that pattern.  

- Finally, Daniel Kudla discusses what has made Housing First an effective plan for eliminating homelessness - while noting that the typical neoliberal obsession with tying it to market mechanisms and punitive screening criteria undermines its value.

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Oliver Willis writes about the dangers of a second Donald Trump presidency - and the importance of not conceding core values out of deference or convenience in the face of an abusive state. Daniel Hunter discusses the importance of resisting the autocratic impulse to isolate and exhaust any opposition. And Hamilton Nolan rightly suggests that the labour movement should be a vital centre for organization. 

- Tim Rauf examines the source of the UCP's promotion of carbon pollution and other absurd statements of public policy. Crawford Kilian discusses how distrust and division produce direct damage to health and well-being. And Sander van der Linden and David Robert Grimes model how misinformation is passed between people - suggesting that it's similar to the spread of viruses, with the implication that prevention can limit both the spread and resulting damage. 

- But then, Kevin Quigley notes that public health is one of the areas where Trump is determined to inflict as much damage as possible - meaning that it will fall to Canada and other countries to develop our own capacity to monitor and manage risks. 

- Finally, James Wilt interviews Brett Christophers about the proliferation of asset managers who control many of the necessities of life - and are constantly extracting more out of the citizenry in order to boost owners' returns. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Dreamland cat.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

-  Pep Canadell and Gustaf Hegelius examine the carbon emissions from melting Arctic permafrost - finding that the near-term effects based on the release of methane figure to exacerbate the climate crisis. Mari Yamaguchi reports on the first time in 130 years that Mount Fuji has lacked a snow cap in November. And Monique Keiran reports on new research showing that exported fossil gas is even worse for the climate than coal.

- Rodielon Putol discusses a new study showing how microplastics are becoming increasingly concentrated in fresh water. And Elizabeth Whitten reports on the less-than-surprising news that previously-unidentified blobs on the east coast of Newfoundland appear to be an industrial adhesive dumped in the ocean.

- Ruth Talbot, Asia Fields, Nicole Santa Cruz and Maya Miller highlight how "sweeps" against homeless people are nothing but destructive and punitive toward the people who already have the least. Which means that it's especially cruel for right-wing politicians to be lining up to use the notwithstanding clause to trample homeless people's rights. 

- Oliver Heath and Laura Serra write that the main class divide in British politics isn't so much between party supporters as between voters and non-voters.

- Finally, Andrew Nikiforuk attempts to answer the question of how to define fascism - on a day when the world is holding its breath as to the danger the U.S. will become a laboratory for it.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Mark Harris examines the competing pressures which will determine how a climate breakdown in progress affects our food supply, while Fiona Harvey discusses how European farm policy has provided subsidies to big agriculture while failing to achieve environmental goals. Friedereke Otto comments on climate denialism as a major cause of deaths and destruction in Spain, while Kelsey Lahr writes that Asheville, North Carolina is still months away from having potable water after the damage wrought by Hurricane Helene. And Michael Harris points out how Canada will soon be under major pressure to export water to increasingly parched areas of North America - even as our own supplies are under threat from global warming and industrial pollution.  

- Patrick Greenfield and Phoebe Weston report on the seeming recognition by governments at this week's Colombia biodiversity conference that the climate and our natural environment are inextricably linked - but follow up by noting the absence of meaningful action as a result. 

- James Danckert and John Eastwood discuss how car-centric cities are boring as well as isolating. And Adam King highlights how the prioritization of house-based wealth over income security undermines social solidarity. 

- Finally, Dominique Charron and Cate Dewey write that a One Health plan would provide Canada with a needed knowledge network to address risks to our health and well-being. But it seems far too likely that the attitude of the powers that be will continue to be to demand that people "pretend to be well" - no matter how destructive that expectation provides to be.

Musical interlude

Gorgon City, Hayley May - Never Let Me Down

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Saul Elbein discusses the many ways in which the climate breakdown is affecting communities facing far more severe weather events than they've ever experienced before. And Mary Gilbert notes that the U.S. just faced one of the driest months on record, while Valerie Kipnis et. al examine the precarious state of water resources in central Asia.  

- Zoe Williams writes that the relentless hoarding of wealth by billionaires is warping democratic decision-making. And Mona Charen discusses how the wealthiest few are attempting to entrench a Trump-led oligarchy in the U.S. 

- Yushu Zhu and Hanan Ali write that Canada's housing crisis can be traced largely to the fetishization of homeownership and the assumption that property values must constantly be inflated.  

- Lucas Gutterman makes the case for regulation to ensure that consumer electronics aren't designed to be immediately turned to junk based on the manufacturer's whims or negligence.  

- Finally, Joan Westenberg warns of the shrinking of the Internet as non-corporate content becomes perpetually more difficult to find and share. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Mariana Lenharo discusses the arduous process of trying to recover from the trauma and destruction of a fossil-fueled climate disaster. Karl Mathiesen reports that in the case of Spain's unprecedented flooding, any attempt to survive and rebuild has been complicated by pitifully unprepared emergency alert systems (resulting from the political choices of the anti-science right). And Zach Colman and Jessie Blaiser write that the majority of a three-year-old U.S. fund for resilience measures is still sitting unspent. 

- John Woodside discusses how any case for liquid gas exports is crumbling as the environmental costs of fossil gas production become more obvious while the price of clean alternatives plummets. Sharon Riley reports on the rural Alberta residents warning of the risks of an eleven-figure carbon capture project being rammed through without any consideration of environmental effects or Indigenous rights. 

- Charlie Mather and Gerald Singh point out that industrialized food systems are becoming dangerously fragile. And Patrick Greenfiled reports on the warning from experts that governments are continuing to destroy vulnerable ecosystems at alarming rates even after committing to work on protecting biodiversity. 

- Rumneek Johal calls out the Trudeau Libs for scapegoating immigrants for political gain. And Arwa Madhawi offers a reminder that Elon Musk and other wealth hoarders will never face the restrictions and punishments they campaign to impose on mere commoners. 

- Jason Koebler writes that the recent spate of tycoon-driven stifling of endorsements of democracy in the U.S. presidential election confirms that we need to view billionaires as a threat to free media. 

- Finally, Angela Hennessy reports on the growing recognition that the same collusion and price-fixing already being investigated in the U.S. has also been applied to Canada's rental housing market. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Ajit Niranjan reports on new data from the World Meterological Organization showing that multiple greenhouse gases are accumulating to unprecedented levels in our atmosphere (primarily due to a continuing fossil fuel addiction). Sophie Kevany reports on new research finding that industrial fishing is undermining the effect of oceans as carbon sinks.

- Anna Bawden notes that the human-level effects of the climate breakdown include record numbers of heat-related deaths and widespread droughts. The University of Michigan points out that some of the areas of the U.S. facing the greatest environmental disasters are the ones where fossil-fueled climate denial is the most prevalent. And Saul Elbein reports on new research from the Lancet as to the health impacts of the climate crisis. 

- Alex Himelfarb offers a warning against allowing right-wing populists to use ritual invocations of "common sense!" as a substitute for any evidence or rational support for their regressive policies.

- Finally, Will Snell points out that the UK's already-appalling wealth gap has been getting worse over time - and that it will take a massive shift to equality-based policy to move in the right direction.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Collapsed cat.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Jonathan Watts reports on a new Oxfam report finding that the carbon emissions of the wealthiest few result directly in increased hunger and poverty for those less lucky. 

- Colin Bogle writes about the damage caused in Texas by a Republican party focused on corruption and climate denial at the expense of the basic functions of government. Geoff Dembicki reports on Gwyn Morgan's large donations to the development of a similar culture of ignorance north of the border. 

- Drew Anderson weighs in on what Saskatchewan can expect from another term of extractivist government. And Oliver Milman writes about some of the global environmental risks arising from the prospect of another Trump presidency, while Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood focuses on the potential fallout for Canada in particular. 

- Paul Willcocks discusses what the BC NDP's narrow election win (in the face of a concerted attempt by the corporate sector to install an alt-right party in power) means for the province. And Max Fawcett discusses how the spread of anti-democracy truthers following the election bodes ill for Canada's political system generally. 

- Finally, Chris Osuh reports on a new study showing that beyond the obvious social harms, the UK's social stratification also produces economic costs in the tens of billions of pounds per year.