Musical interlude

Sofia Kourtesis - Madres

Friday Afternoon Links

 Assorted content to end your 2023.

- Shannon Hall discusses new research showing that the positive effects of COVID-19 vaccination include a reduction in long COVID in children. And Erin Prater warns about the building Pirola wave which is already causing record-high infection levels in some countries. 

- Meanwhile, Carly Weeks reports on the dire state of Canada's health care system even before that wave crests. And Larissa Kurz details the cascading failures within Saskatchewan's emergency care system, as the spillover effects from overwhelmed and under-resourced hospitals and emergency rooms has led to a lack of ambulances available for people in urgent need of care.  

- Lucy McAllister et al. examine the coverage of climate issues in English-speaking countries, with the National Post getting called out as inflicting particularly inaccurate coverage of the climate breakdown including more outright denialism than any other outlet. 

- Emily Chung reports on new data showing the industries which spew the most carbon pollution in each of Canada's provinces and territories - with fossil fuels taking the top spot in most jurisdictions due to factors including oil and gas production, coal-fired power and vehicular fuel consumption. And Shawn Fluker, Drew Yewchuk and Martin Olszynski discuss the Alberta Auditor General's conclusion that the Alberta Energy Regulator has failed to meet any outstanding recommendations to ensure that polluters pay the cost of closing down oil and gas well sites.  

- Finally, Sally Younger discusses how warming Arctic waters are resulting in yet another climate feedback loop as more melting results in increased carbon dioxide releases. And Alec Luhn reports on the climate-driven releases of iron and sulfuric acid which are turning many of Alaska's rivers most pristine rivers into a rusting orange froth. 

Thursday Night Cat Blogging

Cat in perspective.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Jessica Wildfire offers a reminder of the breadth and depth of harm continuing to be caused by COVID-19. Julia Doubleday calls out the role of the media in normalizing perpetual reinfection, while Arijit Chakravarty and T. Ryan Gregory discuss the importance of naming things in the context of the termination of any effort to identify new variants for public awareness purposes. And Paul Withers reports on new research warning of the potential for a COVID-related heart failure pandemic, while Stephanie Soucheray discusses the revelation that brain injury markers show up in the blood even of people who are lucky enough to avoid neurological symptoms during the acute phase of COVID. 

- Chris Russell and Joel Tansey interview Akshat Rathi about his optimism based on the reality that it's now cheaper to fund a clean energy transition than to keep spewing the carbon pollution that's causing a climate breakdown. And Amanda Stephenson discusses the potential for geothermal energy to be a major part of Canada's transition. 

- But Graham Thomson offers a reminder that Danielle Smith and other petropoliticians are determined to spend obscene amounts of money on laughable promises of carbon capture and storage in order to avoid the affordable and feasible path to clean energy. And Ainslie Cruickshank reports that Fernie, B.C. is now searching for potable drinking water due to the ongoing leaching of selenium from a Teck Resources coal mine. 

- Finally, Katharina Maier, Carolyn Greene, Justin Tetrault and Marta-Marika Urbanik make the case to treat violence targeted at unhoused people as a hate crime. And Kyle Swenson reports on the right's attempts to systematically punish both people facing housing challenges and the communities who make any effort to help them.