Stephan: The World Meteorological Organization has been tracking the rise in temperatures around the world, and they report "The most dramatic change is in the Arctic, which is warming more than twice as fast as the global average." You would think that would be a major wake-up call and that the U.S. Congress would be discussing in a bipartisan manner how to deal with this. But, of course, they are not. Instead, the Republican Party is spending its time destroying American democracy, and the Democrats are too timid to take them on and eliminate the filibuster.
This Sentinel-3 satellite image shows the June 20 heat wave striking above the Arctic Circle in Siberia. The darker reds indicate higher land surface temperatures. Credit: European Union/Copernicus Sentinel-3 imagery
It’s not just the Western region of the US that’s sweltering right now. Siberia in Russia is baking, and satellites are bearing witness to a brutal heat wave above the Arctic Circle. Copernicus Sentinel-3A and Sentinel-3B satellites captured a snapshot of land surface temperatures on June 20, and it was hot.
According to NASA, “Land surface temperature is how hot the ‘surface’ of the Earth would feel to the touch in a particular location.” The Sentinel image shows a peak ground temperature of 118 degrees Fahrenheit (48 degrees Celsius) near Verkhojansk, a small town usually known for its extreme cold temperatures.
The World Meteorological Organization has been tracking the rise in temperatures around the world. “The most dramatic change is in the Arctic, which is warming more than twice as fast as the global average,” the agency said Monday in a statement aimed at raising awareness of Read the Full Article
Stephan: Because American democracy is failing, authoritarians throughout the world are arguing that democracy is outdated as a system and incapable of governing successfully. As a result human rights in countries across the globe have been degraded. This linkage between what is happening in the U.S. and the rest of the world seems to be rarely acknowledged in the American media.
Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region has been wracked by war and with some 350,000 people threatened by famine.
The UN rights chief on Monday called for concerted action to recover from the worst global deterioration of rights she had seen, highlighting the situation in China, Russia and Ethiopia among others.
“To recover from the most wide-reaching and severe cascade of human rights setbacks in our lifetimes, we need a life-changing vision, and concerted action,” Michelle Bachelet told the opening of the UN Human Rights Council’s 47th session.
The session, which lasts until July 13 and is being held virtually, is set to feature an eagerly anticipated report by Bachelet about systemic racism, and draft resolutions on Myanmar, Belarus and Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.
In her opening address, Bachelet said she was deeply disturbed by reports of “serious violations” in Tigray, racked by war and with about 350,000 people threatened by famine.
She pointed to “extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests and detentions, sexual violence against children as well as adults,” and said she had “credible reports” that Eritrean soldiers were still operating in the region.
Stephan: What world leaders have not apparently gotten yet is that climate change cannot be handled at just the national level. The only way we are going to get through this and retain a civilization that would be familiar to any of us, is by seeing this as an international crisis.
Activists from the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion pour a black liquid to represent oil, into the mouth of a fellow activist as they demonstrate against oil giant Shell on the beach in St Ives, Cornwall on June 11, 2021, on the first day of the three-day G7 summit being held from 11-13 June. G7 leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., and the United States met for the first time in nearly two years for the three-day talks in Carbis Bay, Cornwall. Credit: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty
The Group of 7 leaders last week ended their summit without a firm and clear commitment on how they’re going to deliver on the annual $100 billion climate finance pledge they made over a decade ago, sparking criticism from United Nations climate chief Patricia Espinosa.
The climate finance for developing nations, Espinosa has said, is “absolutely crucial” to the success of ongoing climate negotiations.
“Regarding finance,” she told the UK Observer, “I’d have really hoped for a clearer signal on how and when we will be able to see the commitment to […]
Jack Healy - Photographs by Juan Arredondo, - The New York Times
Stephan: Phoenix today was 108°F. This is not sustainable for outdoor work. It is one thing to stand around in such heat, in the Sun, quite another to be doing physical labor. This reality is going to have many impacts on life in the city of Phoenix. This is part of the Out of the Southwest Trend I see.
Juan Gutierrez and his construction crew were working in the heat, racing to nail together the wooden skeletons of homes that had sold before they were even built.
PHOENIX — As the sun rose on another day of record-breaking heat, Juan Gutierrez and his construction crew were already sweating through their long-sleeve shirts. It was 91 degrees, and workers in a subdivision called Desert Oasis were racing to nail together the wooden skeletons of $380,000 homes that had sold before they were even built.
“Your skin falls off, you have to cover up everything,” said Mr. Gutierrez, 22, who has been undocumented since he came to the United States as a 4-year-old. “It’s work you have to do. You have no choice.”
Patty Tordigno directing traffic in downtown Phoenix. She keeps a cooler by the side of the road to help with the […]
ELIZABETH DIAS and RUTH GRAHAM, Virginian Pilot/The New Yokr Times - The Virginian Pilot
Stephan: I find this manufactured confrontation between the Roman Catholic Bishops, and the state, in the persons of Joe Biden and his wife, one of the stupidest political moves I have ever seen. The bishops are using their religious authority to influence state policies. It is positively medieval. Something from the Medici. And I predict there is going to be enormous pushback, resulting in a diminution of the bishops, and the church itself. But equally important there is going to be a wrenching apart of the Roman Catholic community and a challenge to the authority of the Pope himself. This is truly boneheaded.
The President and FIrst Lady at. mass
Pope Francis and President Joe Biden, both liberals, are the two most high-profile Roman Catholics in the world.
But in the United States, neither of these men is determining the direction of the Catholic Church. It is now a conservative movement that decides how the Catholic Church asserts its power in America.
That reality was unmistakably declared last week, when the country’s bishops voted overwhelmingly to draft guidelines for the Eucharist, advancing a conservative push to deny Biden Communion over his support for abortion rights.
“There is a special obligation of those who are in leadership because of their public visibility,” Bishop Kevin Rhoades, who heads the diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend in Indiana, said after the vote.
It was the most dramatic example of the conservative Catholic movement’s reach since Biden was elected. But the contingent had been gaining strength throughout the Donald Trump era, clashing with the Vatican, wresting influence away from Pope Francis’ top representatives in the United States and further polarizing the Catholic faithful in the process. And now, American […]
