Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Ayesha Tandon discusses a new study showing that the limiting factor in averting a climate breakdown is public policy rather than technological limitations. Aaron Wherry rightly points out that there's no either-or choice between mitigation and adaptation - and that indeed investment in the former can make the latter more manageable. And Natasha Bulowski reports on Danielle Smith's predictable decision to put an oil industry insider in charge of climate policy (and obstruction), while Kyle Bakx notes that the UCP is also actively pushing the construction of fossil fuel-powered data centres.

- Meanwhile, David Climenhaga highlights how the UCP is looking to turn limited addictions treatment into a donor profit centre. And Joel Dryden reports on the its choice to use public money to turn urgent care and other core health services over to private control. 

- Marc Bou Mansour examines how even a "featherlight" wealth tax could produce $2.1 trillion in annual revenue for public purposes. Ann Pettifor writes that the UK (like other countries) can afford to do what it has the will to do - making any focus on austerity in the name of growth an utterly counterproductive impulse. And Richard Murphy warns that the Starmer government seems inclined to pursue "balance" over a single term at the expense of underdevelopment and corporate control in the longer term. 

- Finally, Tory Shepherd discusses how the pathological fixation on growth in the name of perpetual profit generation includes a demand to increase birth rates and population levels on a planet whose resources are already overextended. 

Musical interlude

WaltR Melody - Creation

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Jonathan Watts reports on the effort by scientists to account for the unexpected acceleration of global warming. And Fiona Harvey reports on the immense carbon pollution from last year's wildfires in Canada, even as a new round blankets much of the country in smoke (which may be causing dementia among other health problems). 

- Meanwhile, Hannah Ritchie discusses how increased air conditioning use is both a consequence of rising temperatures, and a cause of additional greenhouse gas emissions. Nina Lakhani reports on the workers collapsing from extreme heat in Florida due the combination of global warming and localized political attacks on workplace safety. And Geoff Dembicki exposes how a Shell-associated foundation has been pouring money and resources into both climate denialism and fascist politics. 

- Laura Brown reports that it has taken a feature article in the New York Times for any elected New Brunswick politician to push for any action on a cluster of neurodegenerative disease which has otherwise been firmly suppressed. And Lisa Song writes about the obvious problems with allowing the plastics industry to define what's recyclable - particularly when it bears no resemblance to what actually gets recycled. 

- Paul Prescod offers a reminder that much of the inflation people have experienced over the past few years is the result of corporate profiteering - and that voters are eager to opportunities to see a political response. And Cory Doctorow highlights the numerous collective action problems which are being continuously more brutally exploited by bad actors to accumulate wealth at the cost of public health, safety and well-being. 

- Finally, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety examines how both traffic fatalities and numerous risky behaviours have soared above previous levels since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Thursday Night Cat Blogging

Embedded cat.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Joan Westenberg writes about the insistence by Elon Musk and others that people be forced to listen to bigotry in the name of "free speech" - along with their dissatisfaction that people keep developing new communication systems to avoid their hate-filled channels. Athmeya Jayaram points out how extreme wealth is used to threaten decision-makers not to consider any interests other than the demands of the richest few individuals and corporations. And Ajay Parasram discusses how solidarity and cooperation have served as the most effective message to stop the political rise of the regressive right.  

- Kate Yoder discusses how politicians (and even the general public) drastically underestimate the popular support for climate action - due in no small part to anti-clean energy astroturfing funded by fossil fuel tycoons. Rebecca Hersher reports on the reality that our oceans are warming significantly faster than projected, producing even more severe weather than anticipated. And Jack Simpson reports on the effect of extreme weather on insurance payouts. 

- Everett Kehew highlights the folly of blaming a housing shortage on lower-income immigrant workers rather than the capital class which refuses to build homes which most people can afford. And Alex Lord discusses the reality that the UK (like other countries) needs to reverse decades of neglect to meet housing targets - though it's telling that the needed number of homes isn't unprecedented, merely unfulfilled due to a lack of public investment.  

- Jason Foster, Bob Barnetson and Susan Cake study how governments have meddled in public-sector collective bargaining in Canada. 

- Finally, Gus Speth discusses the need to focus on well-being as the basis for our policy choices, rather than fetishizing growth for its own sake. 

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Jonathan Watts reports on the unprecedented number of heat records being set in 2024, while the University of East Anglia examines how climate change has raised the risk of the wildfires we've seen in recent years. And Environmental Defence notes that oil industry lobbying is also reaching new highs. 

- Jonathan Safran Foer and Aaron Gross discuss how factory farming is a major vector for disease - meaning that any work to prevent future pandemics should include healthier food production models. Kevin Jiang reports on the imminent declaration of a global mpox emergency - and the refusal of Canada and other wealthier countries to help stop the spread in regions which have already been hard hit. 

- Anja Karadeglija reports on the findings of UN Special Rapporteur Tomoya Obokata that Canada's temporary foreign worker program is a breeding ground for contemporary slavery. And David Moscrop writes that it's long past time for the Libs to stop allowing their corporate buddies to use temporary foreign workers to make work worse for everybody. 

- Meanwhile, Maya Goodfellow writes that contrary to the bigotry spread by right-wing parties, there's no legitimate basis to blame immigrants themselves for societies designed to exploit them. And Simon Wren-Lewis discusses how the UK Cons' dehumanization of immigrants and minority cultures has served an open invitation to violent repression.  

- Finally, Cory Doctorow notes that the obscene power held by the likes of Wal-Mart and Amazon can be traced back to the Reagan-era decision to allow for monopsony control of purchasing in essential industries. And Larry Elliott reports on a new study showing that inflation disproportionately affect the poorest households who have fewer means to avoid the effects of corporate profiteering. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Syris Valentine writes about our severe and chronic environmental overshoot in using far more resources than the Earth can replenish. Clayton Page Aldern discusses how global warming is already having a measurable impact on our health and behaviour. And Kait Parker notes that climate change is making people sick directly as extreme weather diverts sewage and pollution into the waterways we rely on.  

- Ed Struzik reports on the effects of climate change in cutting off the food supply of communities in the Northwest Territories which can no longer be accessed by boat. And the Canadian Press discusses how extreme weather is raising food prices generally. 

- Phillip Inman reports on the growing movement to ensure the uber-rich pay at least some taxes to support the societies which allow them to accumulate their fortunes, rather than being able to play governments against each other in search of special favours. And Colin Bruce Anthes and Nathan Olmstead make the case for a focus on building community wealth as a general principle - not merely as a mechanism to alleviate extreme poverty. 

- Adam King discusses how Canada's measures of unemployment serve to overestimate the number of jobs available while underestimating the number of workers who could fill them (with the effect of providing misleading support for policy which favours employers' interests over workers). And Randy Thanthong-Knight reports on the systematic use of temporary foreign workers in the service sector even as scores of young workers are unable to find jobs. 

- Finally, David Climenhaga writes that Danielle Smith's latest salvo in the war on health is the shuttering of long-COVID clinics without any warning or available alternative for patients. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Richard Sandbrook makes the case for a Green New Deal as combining the ambition and the feasibility needed to halt climate change. And Stewart Elgie and Kathy Bardswick argue that we can still build a cleaner climate, rather than focusing solely on trying to hide from the effects of continued breakdown. 

- But then, Bill Hare rightly notes that Australia - like Canada and other fossil fuel exporters - is severely harming the cause of climate protection by subsidizing carbon pollution that's intended to be spewed without being counted as part of any global carbon budget.  

- James Faris discusses how a shortage of housing only figures to get worse as climate impacts make existing cities uninsurable and unliveable. Geoffrey Deihl observes that the harm we've already done our living environment is causing wildfires and other effects which cancel out our modest mitigation efforts. And Lou Robinson and Angela Dewan report on CarbonPlan's research showing that most of the world will be too hot to host an Olympic Games by 2050 if we don't change course. 

- Meanwhile, Troy Farah writes that the Olympics have become a painful reminder of collective denial around COVID-19, both through highly visible impacts on the athletic events themselves and on the mass infection which inevitably follows from large crowds doing nothing to mitigate spread. 

- Finally, A.R. Moxon points out the value of making a positive case for caring for other people as the only viable counter to the well-funded spread of fascism. David Moscrop discusses the absurdity of Pierre Poilievre's attempt to paint Justin Trudeau's neoliberalism as communism in order to bring conspicuous cruelty into the middle of Canada's Overton window. And Gerry McGovern notes that one of the main effects of artificial intelligence - and one of the ones which makes it particularly appealing to the techbro right - its role in outsourcing accumulated bigotry and prejudice to machines which can be treated as neutral. 

Musical interlude

Royksopp feat. Susanne Sundfor - Never Ever

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Ian Urquhart writes that while it's well and good to insist that the oil and gas industry stop attempting to greenwash its contribution to climate destruction, Canada also needs to reckon with its own unsupported claims to climate progress. Alienor Rougeot and Stephen Thomas discuss how Canada is falling behind the rest of the world in building clean energy capacity (while subsidizing continued fossil fuel emissions). And Marc Lee offers a reminder that British Columbia's carbon tax system is set up to favour polluting businesses over the public.  

- Gabriel Zucman writes that it's both feasible and necessary to make sure the rich pay their fair share. And Linda McQuaig calls out how the Fraser Institute and the Cons are teaming up to misrepresent how Canada's tax system works to ensure that never happens.  

- Gaby Hinsliff discusses how shrunken public services only end up imposing ever-more-unmanageable burdens on people to provide health and social care for relatives and loved ones. 

- Finally, Cory Doctorow points out that when private equity sets out to extract wealth from an existing business, its marks include the people who invest their money based on the false promise that there's any plan to operate more efficiently (or at all) in the long term. Danyaal Raza and Karen Palmer write about the particular dangers of letting private equity take over health care services. And Audrey Guay highlights just a few examples of how privatization has undermined the public health care system while doing nothing to sustainably reduce waiting lists. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Fiona Harvey reports on the UN's warning that fossil fuel propagandists are engaged in a massive disinformation campaign to keep us spewing carbon pollution, while Petra Stock discusses new research showing how false denialism is seen as more credible the more often it's repeated. And John Woodside reports that Canada's oil and gas sector is predictably trying to suppress any reporting and sharing of accurate information about greenhouse gas emissions. 

- Meanwhile, Carl Meyer reports on the constant contact between pseudo-populist Pierre Poilievre and fossil fuel lobbyists. And Matt Simmons and Mike de Souza report on TC Energy's attempt to work political channels within the B.C. premier's office after a report emerged on its multiple environmental violations. 

- Climate Central examines how the effects of a warming planet include dangerously high nighttime temperatures. And Michelle Gamage discusses how poverty more than doubles one's risk of dying from extreme heat - though it's worth noting the converse that relative wealth doesn't bestow immunity either. 

- Michael Phillis reports on the Environmental Protection Agency's emergency order against the use of a pesticide which harms fetal development. And the Canadian Press reports on research showing that ultrafine air pollution particles were responsible for 1,100 deaths in Toronto and Montreal alone over a 15-year span. 

- Diane Taylor discusses how truth is the antidote to racist violence. But Luke LeBrun highlights how Pierre Poilievre is deeply committed to lying in order to preserve potential support on the lunatic fringe. And Joan Westenberg writes that there's no more sure path to to far-reaching platforms and consistent income than to claim  have been "canceled" for one's bigotry. 

- Finally, Kevin Watkins reports on the prospect that the G20 could lead the way in eliminating hunger and extreme poverty - though there's reason to be concerned that international discussions won't be matched by budgetary resources. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Clingy cat.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- The Technical University of Munich highlights the uncertainties involved in putting a timeline on particular climate tipping points - even if their arrival is certain if we don't stop spewing carbon pollution. And Meghan Bartels discusses how the climate breakdown is damaging all kinds of infrastructure designed for a temperature range which is entirely in the past. 

- Meanwhile, Alexis Simmerman and Doyle Rice report that an oxygen-depleted "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico caused by industrial pollutants has expanded to over 6,700 square miles. 

- Emilia Belliveau and Nola Poirier discuss how oil tycoons are perpetually lobbying to avoid cleaner energy and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. And David Climenhaga points out how the UCP's hostility to renewable energy was able to shut down enough planned projects to power every house in Alberta - making it clear that Canada's right isn't interested in making energy available, but in ensuring that we have to pay off their dirty energy donors to access it. 

- Tom Perkins writes about the connection between increased food prices and blatant corporate profiteering.  

- Finally, Joe Mulhall rightly calls out against any attempt to legitimize racist violence. And Gil Duran warns that Twitter has been weaponized to favour exactly that - meaning that any responsible users need to be developing an exit strategy (if they haven't already). 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading.

- Gillian Steward asks how many communities need to be destroyed for the UCP and other climate denialists to start even pretending to care - though I'm not optimistic there's any level of real-world destruction that would dislodge a well-funded and deeply-ingrained culture of fossil fuel zealotry. Doug Cuthand writes that Canada's increase in wildfire activity is one of the many harms caused by climate change. And Erin Martin-Jones discusses how the same phenomenon has been observed around the globe, while Brian Owens points out the increase in "fire clouds" as a particularly severe form of fire activity.

- The University of Amsterdam examines how scientists are responding to the climate breakdown, and finds that the people who know the consequences of carbon pollution best are doing far more to try to avert it. And The University of the Basque Country finds that the oil industry's fraud on the public isn't limited to denying its longstanding knowledge of the climate crisis, but includes suppressing research into damage to biodiversity.

- Michelle Gamage offers a reminder that the COVID pandemic remains an ongoing crisis - even if British Columbia has joined other jurisdictions in treating it as less than an emergency. And Craig Brierly discusses new research showing that COVID-19 vaccines have helped people to avoid heart attacks and strokes.

- Cory Doctorow rightly questions why we allow the finance sector to loot the productive economy.

- Finally, Sarah Krichel discusses how Mark Zuckerberg's selective ban on Canadian news (allowing the right-wing pseudo-news echo chamber to reverberate while suppressing any journalism with standards of accuracy) is poisoning the flow of public information.

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Julia Simone-Rutgers highlights how extreme heat (which is only getting worse) already looms as a major cause of death and disruption in Canada. Alison Snyder discusses how the climate breakdown is contributing to the spread of wildfires, while Li Zhou points out how wildfires are exacerbating the housing crisis as people are driven from their homes. And Mark Gongloff discusses how the inability to insure against climate disaster stands to chip away at housing values.

-  Meanwhile, Maanvi Singh reports on new research showing that the drying out of saltwater lakes may result in yet another unaccounted-for carbon bomb.

- Nili Kaplan-Myrth offers a reminder that we should be taking care of each other in the midst of an ongoing pandemic. And Cynthia Porter et al. confirm that basic precautionary steps like getting children vaccinated can significantly reduce the effects of COVID-19, while Bobo Wing-Yee Mok et al. find that the consequences of letting supposedly mild strains run rampant may include increased cardiac dysfunction among other dangers.

- The Daily Hive discusses how corporate greedflation is behind increasing consumer prices. And Dean Baker notes that the explanation for lower restaurant patronage seems to be based largely on extreme price-gouging - even if NPR's reporting insists on blaming other nebulous causes rather than identifying the connection.

- Finally, Cory Doctorow points out that the more we accept obviously-exploitative practices aimed at perceived out-groups, the more likely we are to see the same normalized and applied to everybody.

Musical interlude

Our Lady Peace - Starseed

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Matt Simon discusses the continued escalation of global temperatures to record highs (which only figure to be exceeded in the years to come). Arno Kopecky writes about the haunting spectre of a burned-out Jasper, while Katharine Gammon warns that we're all test subjects for the dangerous health effects of wildfire smoke. And Pepukaye Bardouille highlights how disaster response mechanisms for vulnerable areas are woefully inadequate for the new baseline for climate-related events. 

- Meanwhile, Richard Schiffman interviews Kristie Ebi about the reality that already-appalling heat death tolls likely represent significant undercounts. And Valerie Volcovici reports on research showing that industry-reported methane emissions likely represent only a quarter of the actual fast-acting carbon pollution being spewed by fossil fuel operators. 

- Andrew Nikiforuk points out the risks of eliminating early-warning systems for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, while Trish Greenhalgh discusses the unpredictable and jarring course of long COVID. And while Tamara Schneider's reporting on the potential development of an effective nasal vaccine to prevent COVID transmission, it's not clear that policymakers determined to operate in denial will bother to facilitate and encourage its use. 

- Muneeb Javaid and Silas Xuereb discuss how the affordability crisis facing the Canadian working class is the result of corporate greed rather than carbon pricing. Rowan Burdge, Anastasia French and Véronique Sioufi warn that the good intentions behind British Columbia's anti-poverty strategy aren't being matched with action. And Rebecca Plavin and Dakota Smith reports that a basic income trial in Los Angeles is just the latest example of how a modicum of income security can produce immense benefits for recipients and society at large. 

- Finally, Justin Ling reports on the costly and conflict-ridden consultants being used by the Trudeau government as a poor substitute for a properly funded and supported civil service. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Simon Lee, Hayley Fowler and Paul Davies discuss how the climate breakdown has undercut the basis for existing models and assumptions about the type of extreme weather we'll face. And Kiley Price writes about the connection between the climate crisis and worsening wildfires. But Tim Bousquet points out that decision-makers are reacting by shrugging their shoulders and continuing to spew carbon pollution, while  Susan Riley asks how long we'll keep barging ahead with climate denial as our core operating principle. 

- David Zipper discusses how car-free neighbourhoods avoid the noise pollution (and other health hazards) which we accept as a given within a car-based culture, while also pointing out that the U.S. is funding massive highway expansions based on the laughable assumption that inducing more care use will somehow reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  

- George Monbiot highlights the numerous environmental and social benefits of a wealth tax, while asking who will back Brazil's push to implement one on an international scale. And Aaron Boley and Samantha Lawler note that the level of entitlement of the billionaire class has reached the point of endangering anybody on the surface of the Earth with uncontrolled falling space debris. 

- Philippa Roxby examines the connection between ultra-processed foods and poor health, while also noting the difficulty in demonstrating direct cause and effect. And Carl Bergstrom and C. Brandon Ogbunu write that social media is the junk food of information ingestion. 

- Finally, Jon Milton calls out the scam of "working-class conservatism" which uses the language of class politics as a means to further enrich and empower those who already have the most. Geoff Leo exposes the small- and large-C conservative connections of the shadowy group trying to take over Regina's city council. And David Climenhaga reports that Take Back Alberta is descending into the morass of criminality and internal bickering that represents the usual end point for a combination grift and right-wing ideological project. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Curled-up cat.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Jess Thomson points out a new NASA video showing the movement of carbon pollution in our atmosphere, while Oliver Milman reports on new research showing that methane emissions are rising at the fastest rate in decades. Peter Prebble calls out the Moe government's insistence on fighting any action to combat the climate crisis. And Amy Westervelt et al. weigh in on the fossil fuel sector's dishonesty and mendacity in painting carbon capture and storage as a panacea demanding massive public investment when it's never offered a viable pathway to meaningful emission reduction. 

- Christopher Holcroft writes that the wildfires which tore through Jasper (and continue to threaten it) represent a compelling example of climate denialism made policy. Andrew Nikiforuk discusses the difficulty in responding to the increasingly imminent and widespread threat posed by global warming-fueled forest fires. And the Associated Press reports on new research suggesting that wildfire smoke may be even more harmful to our health (particularly our brains) than other forms of air pollution. 

- Jason Hickel and Dylan Sullivan examine the relationship between material production and existing human needs, and find that we have plenty of global output to meet a desirable standard of living for every human on the planet if it were properly planned and fairly distributed. Christopher Ketcham exposes how billionaires are funding a statistics institute intended to equate high-end wealth accumulation with human progress. And Cory Doctorow writes about the warped definition of property which makes consumer purchases of goods subordinate to corporate interests in controlling their use.

- Meanwhile, Hickel, Morena Hanbury Lemos and Felix Barbour find that similar work is subject to gross variances in pay around the globe. And Joan Westenberg calls out hustle culture which tries to blame individual workers for the intolerable systemic demands placed on them. 

- Finally, Adam King discusses the need for improved social supports to enable people (and disproportionately women) to meet the unpaid care demands being foisted on them. 

Musical interlude

Mystic Tea Party - Honey

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Crawford Kilian writes about the profound and numerous forms of loss arising from the wildfires which leveled much of Jasper, while Marc Fawcett-Atkinson points out the typical firestorm of disinformation which immediately followed from the anti-reality right. Edward Struzik discusses the need for a more general strategy to deal with wildfires and other climate calamities, while Jen St.-Denis reports on the federal government's plan to launch satellites aimed at detecting and tracking fires. And Liny Lamberink reports on a study showing that the fallout from last year's fires near Yellowknife include the release of hundreds of tons of arsenic.

- Gloria Dickie reports on Antonio Guterres' renewed call for climate action in response to yet another peak in extreme heat. Darius Snieckus discusses Canada's place on the list of petrostates dooming any hope of reaching the world's Paris commitments through constant fossil fuel expansion. And Marco Chown Oved notes that Canada is falling behind international peers in renewable energy development, while Paul Rogers writes that climate change is one of the areas where a new Labour government may lead the UK to be a more constructive actor. 

- James Dinneen reports on the collapse of forests as carbon sinks as the climate breakdown both limits carbon absorption and results in increased emissions. Vincent Gauci discusses new research showing that tree bark absorbs methane - making natural forests all the more important in trying to save a habitable planet. And David Stanway reports on a new study showing how climate change is affecting rainfall patterns. 

- Finally, Martin Lukacs writes about the reality that decades of soaring corporate profits in Canada have been pocketed by the wealthy few rather than being invested in workers or business development. 

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Jonathan Watts discusses the strong argument to treat climate hypocrites primarily as destructive petrostates rather than honest actors in trying to address the climate crisis. Leyland Cecco points out how Canada in particular fits that description in subsidizing and promoting dirty energy while pretending to be a climate leader, while Amanda Follett Hosgood notes that British Columbia is in the same situation due to its insistence on pushing fossil gas. And Tim Rauf calls out the unambiguous denialism of Danielle Smith and the UCP, while Annie Hylton writes about Scott Moe's deliberate attack on the concept of reality-based policy in Saskatchewan. 

- Markham Hislop writes that the track record of climate policy shows that a green industrial strategy is far more effective than price signals which depend on private actors to make systemic change. And Susan Price writes about the need to go further and stop pretending the climate crisis can be solved with the same capitalist logic that precipitated it. 

- Liam Keenan, Dariusz Wojcik and Timothy Monteath discuss how an increasingly monopolized food system is harmful to our health and our planet. 

- Linda McQuaig discusses how Ontarians are paying a massive short-term price for Doug Ford's liquor privatization. And John Quiggin points out the longer-term costs as new governments try to pick up the pieces and rebuild public services after decades of corporatist selloffs in the UK and Australia. 

- Finally, Sara Moniszuko examines the causes this summer's COVID surge, while Adam Hunter reports on the Moe government's decision to end vaccine availability even as the latest wave is crushing Saskatchewan's population. Runar Solberg et al. study the continued importance and effectiveness of masks in protecting against COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases. And Maria Fernanda Ziegler writes about research showing that even mild COVID infections can lead to long-term cognitive losses. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett lament that inequality continues to get worse fifteen years after they warned of its myriad harms. And George Monbiot writes about the deadening effect of extreme wealth, as the people with the most achieve no particular benefit from hoarding and spending ever-more-unconscionable fortunes. 

- Alex Cosh examines new Statistics Canada data showing that the gap between the rich and poor is only widening, while Katia Lo Innes and Martin Lukacs offer a look at just ten of the mansions Pierre Poilievre has used to extract donations from the uber-wealthy to spend on ads pretending to care about the working class. 

- Meanwhile, Alex Hemingway notes that the replacement of right-wing Liberals with an NDP government in British Columbia has at least resulted in some level of tax fairness. And Kim Siever discusses how the proliferation of consumer debt suppresses workers' wages. 

- Adam King offers a reminder that Doug Ford (like other right-wing politicians) is refusing to allow migrant workers any protection against lethal heat in the workplace in order to protect corporate profits. And Allessandro Massazza discusses how extreme heat affects mental as well as physical health. 

- Finally, Jess Cockerill notes that the symptoms of our planetary climate breakdown include the rapid depletion of dissolver oxygen in water.

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Flattened cat.

Musical interlude

LAUREL - Wild Things

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Wide-eyed cat.

Musical interlude

Iris - Appetite

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Matt Stoller writes about the "economic termites" whose barely-noticed individual bites into personal finances are adding up to a fundamentally unsound economic structure. Imogen Tyler discusses how UK demagoguery against the receipt of social benefits has provided cover for an appalling increase in poverty, while Paul Krugman observes that needless austerity is having devastating impacts on the general public. And Owen Schalk points out that Canada is increasing military spending while doing nothing to rein in our own rising poverty rates. 

- Lewis Akenji notes that the wealthiest few people are inflicting the cost of disproportionate climate damage onto everybody else to no benefit in anybody's well-being. And Kim Scipes reviews Jason Hickel's Less Is More - while pointing out the need to start discussing and defining what degrowth means as an alternative to inherently unsustainable increases in exploitation. 

- Steven Greenhouse discusses how the U.S. Supreme Court's Republican majority has been using its power to attack workers without many of the people most affected even noticing. And Amy Howe discusses SCOTUS' decision today which effectively destroys the administrative state (ensuring there's no public mechanism to check corporate power). 

- Finally, Andrew Gregory reports on Carlos Monteiro's call to regulate and tax ultra-processed foods due to their harmful health effects.

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Crawford Kilian discusses how avoidable harms to people's health and well-being are inflicted on us as "costs of doing business". Patrick Miner et al. examine the harm cars cause to people and the environment - including a seven-figure death toll every year. Rishabh Chauhan highlights how the cultivation of consumerism is endangering our living environment. JTO writes that the emerging (and appalling) trend toward mask bans in the midst of an ongoing pandemic seems to be based in no small part on business' desire to encourage people to spend recklessly. 

- Meanwhile, the Club of Rome points out the widespread public demand for more fair taxes and stronger climate action across the G20. Jacob Nelson discusses how corporate control has undermined public trust in journalism. And Simon Spichak discusses how disabled people in Canada have been condemned to lives of poverty.

- The Associated Press reports on new research showing that the carbon emissions from Canada's 2023 wildfire season were four times those of every airplane in the world. And Ross Belot writes that the implications of Deloitte's recent report showing that carbon capture is non-viable include the reality that oil and gas development are similarly ill-fated. 

- Cory Doctorow points out that clean energy technology is at risk of falling into the same enshittified practices as every other form of commercial production. 

- Finally, Dougald Lamont warns that governments today are making the same mistakes that led to the rise of fascism in the 1930s - particularly in prioritizing laissez-faire doctrine over the well-being of citizens. And Greg Sargent notes that one of Donald Trump's most important weaknesses for electoral purposes may be his brazenly corrupt pandering to plutocrats. 

Wednesday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Christopher Nardi reports on Liam Iliffe's unwitting revelations about how fossil fuel companies regularly thumb their noses at lobbying requirements and other rules while pulling the strings of compliant Canadian governments. Amanda Follett Hosgood discusses the growing push to ban at least blatantly false greenwashing, while John Woodside notes that it's telling that only the oil and gas sector is screaming bloody murder over a standard of accuracy which would apply to all kinds of business.  And Genevieve Guenther examines the new language of climate denial (which will sound painfully familiar in the Canadian political context). 

- Eric Ralls reports on a new study finding that air pollution is responsible for a nine-figure death toll since 1980, while Joao Medeiros laments the reality that such an ubiquitous killer is barely even recognized. And point out that the damage from forest fires includes multiple harms to lakes and waterways.

- Simon Wren-Lewis discusses the importance of highlighting how right-wing attacks on public revenue are the cause of the crisis in public services - and the reality that more and fairer taxes are a must to build the public institutions people want and need. And Kim Siever points out that strong public-sector jobs are good for the economy - meaning that the perpetual right-wing drive to make them privatized or precarious is all about waging class warfare against workers. 

- Finally, Gabriel Zucman offers a proposal (PDF) for a coordinated wealth tax to ensure the global ultra-rich can't evade any responsibility to the social sources of their profits. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Countertop cat. 

Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Hazel Sheffield and Larry Elliott report on new research showing that the austerity and low-wage policies of the UK Cons have pushed nearly a million children into poverty.

- Caroline Anders notes that over 1,400 temperature records were broken just in the last week as multiple heat waves hit large swaths of the planet. Damian Carrington reports on a new data analysis showing that the climate crisis is causing an exponential rise in extreme wildfires. Stephanie Sy talks to residents about the depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer and the threat to the well-being and livelihoods of a substantial proportion of U.S. domestic food production. And Alexander Bradley and Ian Hewitt study how increasing ocean temperatures may cause even faster melting of Antarctic ice sheets than previously anticipated. 

- Andrew Nikiforuk writes about the numerous and severe harms caused by fossil gas extraction in British Columbia, while Fatima Syed exposes how Enbridge is lobbying and pressuring governments to lock consumers into gas-based infrastructure to avoid any transition to cleaner sources of fuel and energy. And Simon Evans examines how an ideological aversion to green energy has cost UK consumers tens of billions of pounds over the past decade (while also contributing to the climate breakdown). 

- Finally, Andre Picard points out that Canadian governments have been neglecting the value of directing resources toward prevention rather than limiting to reactive responses to health issues for upwards of half a century.  

Musical interlude

UFO X - Shine

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Geoffrey Deihl writes about the polycrisis we're currently facing - and the need to stand up to those determined to inflict it on us. And Laura Paddison discusses the juxtaposition between continually-increasing carbon pollution, and the extreme heat and weather it's causing.  

- Jaela Bernstien points out that the climate damage from Canada's oil and gas exports exceeds that from our entire domestic economy and society - but that our governments are choosing not to count it in setting climate policy. And Mike de Souza weighs in on the sudden disappearance of the Pathways Alliance's greenwashing the moment it was held to a standard of accuracy, while Sarah Krichel interviews Jordan Kinder about his book Petroturfing and the suppression of any message other than fossil fuel chearleading in Canada.  

- Mark Olalde examines how the fossil fuel sector is stifling any plans to ensure the cost of oil contamination is paid by the industry responsible. And Sarah Do Couto reports on a new study finding that the effects from last year's Ohio hazardous chemical spill reached 16 states as well as Canada (contrary to public assurances at the time). 

- Adam King reports on the work being done by unions to fight arbitrary return-to-office mandates and ensure safer work environments for workers generally. Aiyani Bodi discusses the strong desire among young workers to contribute to climate solutions rather than being forced into contributing to a climate breakdown. And Daron Acemoglu writes that the widespread crisis of democracy is based largely on the failure of politicians to represent workers' interests. 

- Finally, Olamide Olaniyan discusses the intersectionality of hate as the general theme of "anti-woke" is used to push - and build alliances between - multiple forms of bigotry and oppression. 

Friday Afternoon Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- Jennifer Sandlin discusses a new analysis showing how COVID-19 infections lead to numerous other types of infectious diseases, while Devika Rao writes about the medical recognition that they may also increase the risk of cancers. And Sam Wollaston offers Natacha Gray's account of the realities of life with long COVID. 

- Meanwhile, Andre Picard writes about a new report warning that we don't appear to have learned much about public health responses from COVID. And Luke Andrews reports on expert warnings that the CDC is flying blind in failing to work on testing as a dangerous bird flu spreads. 

- Danyaal Raza discusses a new World Health Organization report finding that corporate greed is the direct cause of millions of preventable deaths annually. Jessica Ray takes note of the ubiquity of "forever chemicals" in U.S. drinking water - as well as the lack of any apparent plan to address it other than telling people to filter their own water. And Beatrice Olivastri, Fe de Leon and Laura Bowman question why the Libs are dismantling a planned pesticide monitoring program. 

- David Macdonald and Jon Milton point out that contrary to the contrived outrage of the Cons and their corporate puppeteers, Canada's last increase in capital gains inclusion rates was followed by a doubling of investment. And Macdonald discusses the fundamental unfairness of giving capital returns any preferential treatment over wages. 

- Finally, Robert Reich writes that Joe Biden should welcome the hatred of plutocrats who think they're entitled to have government used as an instrument to further their already-unconscionable wealth and power. And the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce's child labour plans provide just one example of the type of anti-social position people will be happy to reject. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Bill Henderson writes that the immense temperature increases we've already seen - and the resulting spread of extreme weather events and other catastrophic consequences - should serve as a wake-up call for anybody still trying to hit the snooze button on climate action. But Maya Goodfellow discusses Tad DeLay's concern that we're in denial of how much damage has already been done. Similarly, Paul Abela warns that we may already be past the point where it's possible to reduce emissions in time to stay within tolerable temperature levels - particularly with so much money and power being applied to try to continue the dirty energy business as usual. And on that front, David Climenhaga discusses Danielle Smith's double bet against the future, as she seeks to confiscate Alberta's savings and divert the funds toward fossil fuel projects that are seen as dead losers even by the corporations currently making their money off of oil and gas.  

- But lest anybody think denialism in any way reflects what the public wants as opposed to the complete capture of power by capital, Damian Carrington reports on a UN poll showing that even in petrostates a strong majority of people want to see a rapid transition to clean energy. Justin Worland discusses how consumers want and expect the corporate sector which limits consumer choices to do far more to fight the climate crisis. And Dhitri Gupta points out that developer reticence is making it difficult to convert Toronto's housing stock to carbon neutrality - though it bears mention that the perceived need to cater to those same developers is itself something which could be changed.  

- Steve Genco examines what it means to talk about (and plan for) civilizational collapse, while Nitish Patwa discusses the multiple effects of the climate breakdown in progress. The Energy Mix reports on the move to establish "chief heat officer" positions at the municipal level to help alleviate the dangers at a local level. And Drew Anderson notes that Calgary (among other Canadian cities) can learn from the experiences of other areas which have seen their water supplies dry up due to the climate crisis. 

- Inayat Singh reports on one of the most stark consequences of the current North American heat wave, as monkeys are falling dead out of trees in Mexico due to unprecedented temperatures. 

- Finally, Fiona Harvey reports on new research showing that thousands of children under five are dying every day due to air pollution, making it the second-largest cause of death for young children around the globe. 

[Edit: fixed wording.]

Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Marianne Cooper and Maxim Voronov optimistically suggest that our state of denial surrounding the climate crisis and other collective action problems can't get any deeper. 

- But Julia Steinberger examines the array of wealth and power dedicated to pushing perpetually-increasing extraction regardless of the environmental damage it causes. Jack Marley writes about the manipulative and deceptive nature of fossil fuel advertising (which of course Canada's establishment is determined to push and echo at every turn). Arno Kopecky discusses the risk that the fossil fuel-funded far right will get to set the limits on any climate action. And Michael Harris warns that Canada is far from immune from the rise of violent fascist politics in Europe and the U.S.

- Martin Guttridge-Hewitt writes about the possibility that weather reports could systematically include a mention of climate impacts so people's day-to-day experiences aren't detached from the carbon pollution which is altering our living environment. Meryl Davids Landau points out how the climate crisis is affecting our brains. And Anna Pivovarchuk highlights how climate scientists are increasingly turning to direct action in an effort to avert a readily-foreseeable catastrophe. 

- Meanwhile, Amanda Stephenson reports on Deloitte's conclusion that even applying the self-serving standards set by the oil and gas industry, it's impossible for Canada to meet existing climate commitments without reducing our fossil fuel extraction. And Carl Meyer reports that RBC is starting to face pressure to acknowledge and respond to its role in financing climate destruction. 

- Finally, Andrew Gregory reports on new research showing the absolute declines in well-being for children in the UK who are shorter, sicker and more prone to obesity than earlier cohorts. 

Tuesday Night Cat Blogging

Tuckered-out cat.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Thom Hartmann discusses how the selfish preferences of billionaires are almost invariably winning out over the public interest in the U.S. due in part to the treatment of advertising dollars as the most vigorously-protected form of speech. Jim Stanford highlights the obvious flaws in the spin being used by the uber-wealthy to oppose paying a slightly more fair share of taxes off of their capital gains.  And Arthur Nelson reports on the less-than-surprising finding that fossil fuel firms have used corporate trade agreements to impose their wishes on governments. 

- Meanwhile, Steve Ruvakina reports on the finding of the Institut de recherche et d'informations socioéconomiques that deregulation will do nothing to solve a housing crisis caused by the inherent reality that for-profit developers make more money building houses that most people can't afford.

- Jenaye Johnson discusses how extreme temperatures and other climate calamities are harming the mental health of children. And Denise Balkissoon writes that the combination of heat and smoke is making it unsafe for children to be outside for much of any given summer. 

- Stephen Maher examines how the ineffective government response to the Flu Trux Klan was the result of an utter failure to recognize the nature of the threat. And Bill Graveland reports on the testimony from a convoy murder conspiracy trial has revealed the participation of Edmonton police officers in the violent resistance to public health measures. 

- Finally, Aiden Simardone discusses how Pierre Poilievre is threatening the end of guaranteed rights and freedoms in Canada to serve the interests of those with high property values. 

Monday Afternoon Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Monica Curtis offers a reminder that even from the standpoint of a blinkered fixation on limiting costs, we're better off working to avert a climate breakdown rather than suffering its effects. Kenza Bryan reports on Swiss Re's warning that large areas are becoming uninsurable. And Jeff Goodell discusses the impending heat and other extreme conditions which keep climate scientists up at night even as they're blithely disregarded by petropoliticians.  

- Meanwhile, Sam Meredith reports on the IEA's projections showing an imminent decline in fossil fuel demand. And Oliver Vardakoulias and Giulia Nardi highlight how handouts to the oil sector don't produce the intended results for anybody but oil barons.  

- John Michael McGrath discusses how planning processes which don't recognize the importance of meeting the right to housing represent one of the main barriers to any attempt to give effect to that right. And Samantha Beattie reports on the nine-figure liabilities left over from Ontario landlords who turned large investments into personal benefits.  

- Finally, Jess Reia discusses the biases which result when the definition of "disorder" is set by the wealthy and privileged. And Crawford Kilian points out that there are plenty of sources of disinformation and foreign interference in Canadian politics beyond the ones investigated by Parliament's national security committee.