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.