Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Andrew Freedman examines how the climate breakdown is generating consequences far beyond those foreseen by previous projections. Seth Borenstein reports on the immense loss of Antarctic ice - and the danger it poses to coastal areas in particular. And Michael Mann points to the rise and fall of the Akkadian Empire as a precedent as to what can happen when heat and drought force people to migrate en masse. 

- The IEA offers a roadmap to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, with an emphasis on a rapid conversion to clean energy. And David Vetter notes that the arguments used by petropoliticians looking for excuses to block renewable power sources lack any basis in reality.

- But Sarah Munoz discusses how the oil industry is bent on spinning the climate crisis as a matter of individual responsibility rather than social organization in order to keep on spewing carbon pollution for decades to come. And Chris Tomlinson reports on the increased demands on energy systems (and resulting cost to consumers) from power-hogging crypto miners, while Victor Tangerman points out that the use of AI technology may produce a similar effect. 

- Devi Sridhar discusses how the UK Cons (like so many other right-wing parties) used the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to enrich cronies who lacked any ability to deliver what they were paid for. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow writes that we have every reason to be skeptical of corporate shows of progressivity - but that the appropriate response is for workers to organize and stand up to bosses on teir own terms, not to accept the reactionary position that nothing is worth improving. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Damian Carrington reports on new research showing that the cost of damage caused by extreme weather is already upwards of $16 million per hour (and escalating). And Peter Kalmus writes about the need to wind down the fossil fuel industry rather than accepting the loss of a habitable planet. 

- But Helena Horton reports that the UK Cons are joining other right-wing parties in trying to stop the ongoing transition to clean energy. Matt Simmons reports on the BC Energy Regulator's complete failure to enforce any regulatory requirements for gas pipeline construction, while Julia Simone-Rutgers reports on the systematic defunding of environmental monitoring and enforcement in Manitoba. And Andrew Nikiforuk discusses how the UCP is once again trying to sneak dirty coal projects past courts and the public alike. 

- And while governments are going out of their way to cater to the sociopaths looking to sell off humanity's future to make a quick buck, Nina Lakhari, Damien Gayle and Matthew Taylor report that they're also using the power of the state to criminalize climate activism. 

- David Climenhaga discusses how the UCP's choice of private telehealth providers has gone bankrupt, leaving millions without the health care they were forced to accept through corporate means.

- Finally, Mack DeGeurin does report on the approval of a right-to-repair law in California.  

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Sameer Elsayed offers a primer on what people need to know about current COVID-19 risks. Mary Van Beusekom discusses the likelihood that long COVID is being underdiagnosed in children who may not have either the same symptoms as adults, or the vocabulary to describe them. And Theocharis Kromidas et al. examine the incidence of long COVID by occupation, with education and care workers facing a higher risk of long-term effects. 

- Juan Cole theorizes that lawsuits against fossil fuel conglomerates could make for a turning point in the fight against climate breakdown. But Christopher Pollon warns that Canada's resource extraction sector offers a blueprint for corporate exploiters to avoid paying for the damage they inflict on our planet. 

- Cory Doctorow discusses the information imbalance which makes it impossible for citizens to hold corporate wrongdoers to account. And Brewster Kahle writes that U.S. libraries are facing twin threats from greedy publishers and anti-knowledge extremists. 

- But on the bright side, Amanda Marcotte points out how parents are pushing back against the bigoted right's attempted takeover of public schools. 

- Finally, Jennifer Liu highlights how workers are bearing the massive cost of being pushed back to the office even after it's been proven they can work just as effectively through alternate arrangements. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Geometric cats.