Stephan: Mis and dis-information about Covid have killed hundreds of thousands, and continue to kill anti-vaxxers every day. But as bad as that is it is small potatoes compared to what climate change is going to do. So how can a ordinary person sort out truth from the many lies about climate change? Here are some thoughts on that.
People hold League of Conservation Voters signs during a news conference urging action on climate change outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., July 28, 2021. Credit: Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
When you’re talking about climate change, facts alone may not be enough to make a compelling argument.
“It’s not only what you say, but how you say it that’s important,” Arunima Krishna, an assistant communications professor at Boston University, tells CNBC Make It.
Krishna studies the spread of climate science disinformation, among other topics — and after conducting a recent survey, she found that 40% of respondents were “disinformation receptive,” meaning they’d already accepted some type of falsehood about climate change.
What’s more, she says, disinformation might be stifling conversation on the important topic: If you don’t believe in climate change or doubt humans’ role in accelerating it, you’re less likely to want to discuss it, according to Krishna’s survey.
That means you’ll need to find enough common ground to set the stage for a productive talk. These four conversational strategies, Krishna says, can help.
Stephan: I absolutely agree with this judge. We are nearly a year after the end of the Trump debacle, and yet while all the peasants are caught up in he law, none of the Trump aristocracy, let alone king Trump himself, have been held to account, or paid any price for attempting to overthrow American democracy, let alone the myriad other crimes for which they are culpable.
During a Friday sentencing hearing of MAGA rioter John Lolos, United States District Judge Amit Mehta reflected on the fact that former President Donald Trump has not yet been held accountable for telling the lies that incited the January 6th mob at the United States Capitol.
Just before sentencing Lolos to 14 days in prison, reports Buzzfeed News’ Zoe Tillman, Mehta said it seemed unjust that Capitol rioters were bearing the brunt of consequences for their actions while those who riled them up with false claims of a stolen election are still free.
Specifically, Mehta argued that the Capitol rioters “were called to Washington, DC, by an elected official, prompted to walk to the Capitol by an elected official,” who then stood by for hours while they started rioting on his behalf.
“People like Mr. Lolos were told lies and falsehoods and told that an election was stolen when it clearly was not,” Mehta said. “Regrettably, people like Mr. Lolos for whatever reason are impressionable and will believe such falsehoods and such lies… And they […]
Dan Keating and Lenny Bernstein , Reporters - The Washington Post
Stephan: As with so many other negative social outcome measures the United States is an outlier with results that are orders of magnitude worse than any other developed nation when deaths due to drug overdoses are compared. Over 100,000 people - 275 each day -- died from over doses between April 2020 and April 2021. Poverty, wealth inequality, poor healthcare, lack of opportunity, racism are some of the circumstances provoking drug overdose deaths. Millions of Americans are miserable, and drugs are their escape from their misery.
America has become a feudal culture designed to support the rich and the truth, I am sorry to say, is that on the basis of actions not words, no one cares. No one really gives a damn if 100,000 peasants kill themselves with drugs.
The U.S. drug epidemic reached another terrible milestone Wednesday when the government announced that more than 100,000 people had died of overdoses between April 2020 and April 2021. It is the first time that drug-related deaths have reached six figures in any 12-month period.Tracker: U.S. coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalizations
The people who died — 275 every day — would fill the stadium where the University of Alabama plays football. Together, they equal the population of Roanoke, Va.
The new data shows thereare now more overdose deaths from the illegal synthetic opioid fentanyl than there were overdose deaths from alldrugs in 2016.
Despite the efforts of governments, health-care providers, activists and others, the problem is growing much worse. The new figures, which are provisional but rarely change much in final tallies, represent a 28.5 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. The financial, social, mental health, housing and other difficulties of the covid-19 pandemic are widely blamed for much […]
David G. Victor and Michael Panfil , - Brookings Institution
Stephan: Brookings has brought into focus an aspect of the climate change trend that few even think about and even fewer understand. The effects of climate change on the world's economic structure, based on my assessment, are going to be dramatic and profoundly disruptive.
As the climate change conference concluded last week in Glasgow, one thing set it apart from all the other conferences before: The world’s bankers were there in force. In recent years, the world’s leading financial centers, and their regulators, have been talking a lot about climate change.
For all the attention to climate in the world of capital, investment dollars still too often aren’t moving in the right ways. In particular, the world of finance is flying blind on how the physical risks of climate change will affect the value of assets. When that changes there will be surprising, possibly massive, shifts in capital.
When bankers talk about climate change, they nearly always focus on the capital-intensive process of cutting emissions. That’s critically important, of course, and there’s some evidence that as attention to climate change rises, the share price of highly polluting assets slides. Markets are beginning to signal a transition to low pollution futures.
We must continue to urgently press ahead with deep cuts in emissions, but […]
Stephan: Here is some good news about the transition out of the carbon power era.
Solar installation
A new Guidehouse Insights report, The Renewable Energy Economic Benefits of Microgrids, reveals the forecasted growth and economic benefits of microgrids to create a compelling case for why policymakers, businesses, and renewable energy advocates should collaborate, invest in and scale up implementation of microgrids. The report takes a high-level forecast of microgrids growth within the United States, and features California and Puerto Rico as case studies. Both areas have experienced power disruptions caused by natural disasters attributed to climate change, inducing long-term impacts on local economies.
Microgrids are not only a solution for climate resilience, but also for economic resilience. According to Guidehouse, every $1 million invested in renewable energy microgrid assets will create 3.4 skilled jobs and $500,000 in economic benefits. Further, both Puerto Rico and California have mandates of 100% renewable energy by 2050. Through exploring the less researched space of the impacts that microgrids have on economies, this report showcases microgrids as the best viable pathway to meeting state-level climate goals.
