Musical interlude

Iva Olo - Remnants

 

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Emily Eaton, Andrew Stevens and Sean Tucker discuss how the corporate fossil fuel sector is blocking workers from pursuing sustainable jobs as part of a just transition. And Kate Yoder writes that there's an entirely plausible basis to hold big oil accountable for climate homicide. 

- Darrin Qualman writes that governments should focus on actual carbon emission reductions rather than treating agricultural "offsets" as a meaningful response to the climate crisis. And Julia-Simone Rutgers reports on Manitoba farmers who are taking wetland preservation into their own hands. 

- Dorothy Woodend reviews Food Inc. 2 - and concludes that the only problem with an updated look at the horrors of corporate food production is the apparent need to shoehorn in notes of optimism which seem wholly unwarranted. And Bill Marler discusses the gob-smacking revelation that children are suffering from lead poisoning due to a supplier's decision to add lead to cinnamon to increase the weight of its product. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow discusses the dangers of the concentration of wealth and power in corporations which are too big to care about actual competition. And Doc Burford offers a thorough review and critique of the anti-social management philosophy which is taken as gospel among our current corporate class. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Maanvi Singh reports on the corporate purchase of water rights in Arizona which signals the diversion of the necessities of life to the highest bidder once greed and mismanagement have undermined their availability. 

- Drew Anderson writes about the similar water crisis facing Alberta (and the rest of the prairie provinces who rely on the water which originates there). Michael Franklin reports on the new awareness of sulfolane contamination, as a chemical whose primary purpose is to "sweeten" fossil fuel operations risks making water resources unusable. And Margaret McGregor, Ulrike Meyer, Amira Aker and Élyse Caron-Beaudoin discuss the public health harms caused by fracking. 

- Jim Handy rightly argues that our current state of climate negligence will appear absolutely inexplicable from a historical perspective. But John Woodside reports on the swarm of dirty energy lobbyists who pushed to prioritize extraction and short-term returns over people's well-being in advance of the federal budget alone. And Fatima Syed reports on the Ford PCs' decision to make homeowners subsidize a continued flow of profits for Enbridge in the name of housing affordability. 

- Meanwhile, John Clarke discusses how we won't make any progress in making housing more available without making an effort to decommodify it. And Patrick Rail reports on Equifax' latest data showing that half of Canadians are living paycheque to paycheque as corporate profiteers extract every possible nickel from consumers. 

- Finally, Trevor Tombe highlights why higher taxes on capital gains make sense even based on pure economic theory - which of course won't stop the Cons and the anti-tax brigade from pretending that preferential treatment for the wealthy few is somehow an issue of affordability for the general public. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Jenna Wenkoff discusses how "ethical oil" is purely a (risible) marketing concept rather than any meaningful description of actual fossil fuel operations, while Chris Russell discusses how the tar sands' environmental disinformation is even worse than people assume. Ian Urquhart writes that the UCP's fervent ideological aversion to clean energy is resulting in it blocking viable development. And Jeremy Appel reveals the details of Danielle Smith's publicly-funded trip to undermine any climate progress in Dubai. 

- Bob Weber reports on the release of documents showing how the UCP conspired to push open-pit coal mining in the Rocky Mountains without any public scrutiny. And Gregory Beatty discusses how Scott Moe is bent on further endangering Saskatchewan's already-precarious water supply by planning to suck up massive amounts for industrial and irrigation use while undermining the natural wetlands which help protect water quality. 

- Meanwhile, Nature offers a warning that fossil fuel lobbyists are undermining any effort at developing a treaty to account for the dangers of plastics pollution. 

- Adele Peters discusses how thoughtful lawmaking can make a massive difference, as Oregon's right-to-repair law is forcing Apple and other manufacturers to start making part replacement an option rather than pushing people to discard their products and buy new. 

- Finally, Bob McDonald interviews Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly about the latest studies showing COVID-19's long-term impacts on the brain. And Nhung Trinh et al. find that a large set of data from Norway supports the effectiveness of vaccines in reducing the prevalence and severity of long COVID.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Centrepiece cat.

 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Emilia Belliveau makes the case for the fossil fuel sector to start paying for the harm it causes through carbon pollution, rather than being subsidized to lock us into dirty energy for decades to come. And Glenn Scherer reports on Johan Rockström's work to have planetary boundaries treated as the viral security issues that they are - though as Natasha Walter notes, the powers that be are more interested in using the power of the state to silence anybody who dares to mention the climate crisis. 

- Max Fawcett writes that many Albertans stand to pay the price for Danielle Smith's choice to focus primarily on stopping absolutely anything the federal government does, rather than allowing for anybody to work toward the well-being of citizens. 

- Jim Stanford discusses the drain on productivity in the gig economy where workers are regularly paid nothing to do nothing. 

- Finally, Andre Picard points out the absurdity of trying to blame a myriad of social woes (most with far more obvious policy-related sources) on the single issue of drug decriminalization. And Kenyon Wallace reports on an immense death toll among young Canadians as one of the harms caused by both drug toxicity and unpredictability of dosages where people are forced to seek out illicit supplies. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Amy Westervelt and Kyle Pope call out five of the most insidious fossil fuel propaganda messages. Fiona Harvey reports on Todd Stern's rightful observation that the continued pushing of fossil fuels in the name of "grownup" decision-making in fact represents a catastrophic failure of leadership. And Johannes Stangl points out that a concerted focus on removing the lowest-value carbon pollution could slash emissions by 20% with minimal economic impact. 

- Meanwhile, in case anybody wanted to pretend that the carbon-fueled status quo was somehow defensible as a means of improving the lot of developing countries, Andrea Shalai reports on the World Bank's warning that inequality between the richest and poorest countries is worsening as development stagnates at the lower end of the spectrum. 

- Jimmy Thomson discusses how Yellowknife, Fort McMurray and other communities hit with calamitous wildfires are bracing for their next emergencies. Crawford Kilian writes about the RCMP's concealed recognition of the stormy future in store for Canada. And Eric Shragge and Jason Prince write that municipalities could be the engines to tackle the most important crises we face - though of course right-wing provincial governments are doing everything in their power to prevent anybody else from filling their own leadership vacuums.  

- Finally, Andre Mayer writes that one of the main obstacles to housing affordability is the choice to financialize real estate. And John Dorman points out that nobody is well served by a situation in which some people feel obliged to stay in larger houses than they need for want of practical alternatives, while others are unable to find houses of exactly that size for their families.