Julia Conley , Staff Writer - truthout / Common Dreams
Stephan:
The just released study on the extreme danger humanity and all living beings on earth now face as a result of climate change frankly ought to command the attention of every politician in the world, and it should be at the top of every nation’s agenda. But it does not, and is not. In the United States, for instance, I did not see a single television corporate media channel even mention this report. Today’s news was about how Hunter Biden five years ago when he was a cocaine addict, bought a gun, which he never used, or even loaded and in buying it falsely answered a form question as to whether he was using drugs when he bought the gun. A gun he owned for a total of 11 days. How many Red state gun owners who smoke marijuana, which is illegal in their states, as well as federally, do you think have done the same, when filling out the form? A hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, a million? The point of this drill is obviously to create counter programming about the Biden’s to counteract and take up media time so there is less coverage of Trump’s criminality.
Six of nine planetary boundaries are currently transgressed. The length of the wedges symbolizes what the current state of the corresponding process is, in relation to the distance from the planetary boundary (end of the green area) and the Holocene baseline (origin of the diagram). The color symbolizes the risks associated with each. For example, a wedge may be very long because the current state is already very far from the planetary boundary and the Holocene. But it may still not be purple, because that is not yet associated with very high risks in this particular case. In other cases already a “small” overshoot (short wedge) results in a big risk: Then the color further inside already changes to purple. Illustration: Richardson et al., Science Advances, 2023 (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Scientists behind a new study on the crossing of the Earth’s “planetary boundaries” on Wednesday likened the planet to a sick patient, warning that six out of nine barriers that ensure the Earth is a “safe operating space for humanity” have now been breached.
Jessica Corbett, Senior Editor and Staff Writer - Common Dreams
Stephan:
Yet another alarm about climate change. Yet, I don’t see a single corporate media network talking about this. Some Democrats like Elizabeth Warren, and Independents like Bernie Sanders are trying to wake up America to what is happening, and what needs to be done, but not a single Republican member of America’s Congress is saying a word about this. The only thing that is going to change this is if you, and I, and everyone we know votes only for Democrats in 2024. I know that sounds partisan, but it is not. If the Demncorats take both houses of Congress, and Biden retains the Presidency, I think we may stand a chance of properly preparing for what is happening. If Republicans retain the House, take the Senate, and Trump again becomes President, lean over and kiss your ass goodbye.
Sea ice breaks up in Antarctica. Credit: Ted Mead / Getty
The new study’s lead author said that “it is extremely concerning to see such significant warming in Antarctica, beyond natural variability.”
Antarctica is warming at about double the rate of the rest of the planet and far more quickly than widely cited models projected, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Nature Climate Change that swiftly alarmed scientists around the world.
“This is absolutely devastating news,” declared climate scientist and University College London professor emeritus Bill McGuire.
“First, one has to wonder if perhaps we have already passed the West Antarctic collapse tipping point,” the expert added on social media. “Second, it begs the question, are other climate model projections underestimating the speed of climate breakdown?”
Polar amplification, a phenomenon that causes higher temperatures near the poles, is well established in the Arctic, with a study published last yearshowing that the northern region is warming nearly four times faster than the global average. However, it has been less clearly identified […]
Dharna Noor, Fossil Fuel and Climate Reporter - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan:
The Fossil Fuel industry, it is now clear, knew what their technologies were doing to harm the planet and chose to put their profits ahead of the planet’s wellbeing. And yet none of these evil executives have ever been held accountable. The paperwork that is coming out makes their choice clear and irrefutable.
The former US secretary of state Rex Tillerson, who was the chief executive of ExxonMobil between 2006 and 2016. Credit: Cliff Owen / AP
ExxonMobil executives privately sought to undermine climate science even after the oil and gas giant publicly acknowledged the link between fossil fuel emissions and climate change, according to previously unreported documents revealed by the Wall Street Journal.
The new revelations are based on previously unreported documents subpoenaed by New York’s attorney general as part of an investigation into the company announced in 2015. They add to a slew of documents that record a decades-long misinformation campaign waged by Exxon, which are cited in a growing number of state and municipal lawsuits against big oil.
Many of the newly released documents date back to the 2006-16 tenure of former chief executive Rex Tillerson, who oversaw a major shift in the company’s climate messaging. In 2006, Exxon publicly accepted that the climate crisis posed risks, and it went on to support the Paris agreement. Yet behind closed doors, the company behaved differently, the documents show.
Shannon Firth, Health Policy Correspondent - MedPage Today
Stephan:
Here, in this article, you can clearly see why the United States has the highest drug prices in the developed world, and why the U.S. illness profit system serves only one purpose: to create unimaginable profits at the cost of the wellbeing of Americans.
Experts debated the claims made by drug companies and industry allies suing the federal government over its recently launched drug price negotiation program during an online panel discussion opens in a new tab or window hosted by KFF on Tuesday.
At issue is whether the federal government is “coercing” companies into making their drugs available at lower-than-market prices, explained Dan Troy, JD, managing director at the Berkeley Research Group, who currently serves on the litigation counsel advisory board for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of the groups suing.
“The bottom line is this is not a price negotiation. These are price controls by other names,” argued Troy, who is not involved in the lawsuit.
LAUREN LEADER, CEO of All In Together - Politico Magazine
Stephan:
The obsessive actions of the MAGAt Taliban to control women is producing, as this article describes, a major change in American culture, and this change is going to have profound implications for the country’s future. And be very clear this has nothing to do with people pro-life. If the MAGAt Taliban were actually pro-life then they would be supporting child care, working to reduce maternal mortality, working to alleviate child poverty, supporting school lunch programs, but they aren’t doing any of those things. This is about men controlling women, and keeping them in a subordinate position. It is evil, and the only way it is going to stop is voting Republicans out of office.
Poor or unavailable maternal healthcare post-Dobbs is leading a third of women to alter one of their most important life choices. Credit: Christophe Archambault / Getty
The end of Roe v. Wade in June 2022 has had a profound effect on maternal healthcare and abortion access across the country. Fourteen states have now completely banned abortion and two dozen more have bans at 22 weeks or less. As a result, an already grim maternal health care landscape has worsened.
New data reveals an unexpected consequence of these developments: Young women, even those in states where abortion remains legal, say they are foregoing having children because they are afraid to get pregnant because of changes that followed the Dobbs decision that ended Roe.
Polling conducted in August by my organization, All In Together, in partnership with polling firm Echelon Insights found that 34 percent of women aged 18-39 said they have “decided not to get pregnant due to concerns about managing pregnancy-related medical emergencies.” Put another way, poor or unavailable maternal healthcare post-Dobbs is leading a third of women to alter one […]
