When I began Schwartzreport my purpose was to produce an entirely fact-based daily publication in favor of the earth, the inter-connectedness and interdependence of all life, democracy, equality for all, liberty, and things that are life-affirming. Also, to warn my readers about actions, events, and trends that threaten those values. Our country now stands at a crossroads, indeed, the world stands at a crossroads where those values are very much at risk and it is up to each of us who care about wellbeing to do what we can to defend those principles. I want to thank all of you who have contributed to SR, particularly those of you who have scheduled an ongoing monthly contribution. It makes a big difference and is much appreciated. It is one thing to put in the hours each day and to do the work for free, but another to have to cover the rising out-of-pocket costs. For those of you who haven’t done so, but read SR regularly, I ask that you consider supporting it.
— Stephan
Schwartz Report Episode 51: The Precognition That is Shaping Our Culture
References to further explore this episode can be found HERE
TheAmerican Oil Lobby launched an eight-figure media campaign this week promoting the idea that fossil fuels are “vital” to global energy security, alarming climate experts.
“US natural gas and oil play a key role in supplying the world with cleaner, more reliable energy,” the new initiative’s website says. The campaign comes amid record fossil fuel extraction in the US, and as the industry is attempting to capitalize on the […]
Would you please do me a service? Work to get 10 friends to join you, and ask them to get 10 of their friends to join as well and vote only for Democrats. We have to see that the Democrats win the Presidency and win a majority in both Houses. This is not about partisanship. The Democrats have all kinds of problems, but the Republicans are planning to destroy America as a democracy. They do not care about climate change or, as this article describes, the preservation of the earth’s ecosystem. If we don’t get enough votes the United States as you and I know it will disappear. Be very clear about this, the facts are irrefutable.
U.S. Lawmakers, mostly Republicans, have inserted a record number of anti-wildlife measures into the appropriations bills for fiscal year 2024, the Center for Biological Diversity reported Tuesday.
The attack comes despite the fact that scientists warn human activity may be triggering a sixth mass extinction, as species disappear at unprecedented rates. A September study found that vertebrate species groups are dying off at a rate 35 times higher than it would be without anthropogenic pressure.
“Republicans have weaponized the appropriations process to launch a full-blown assault on our natural heritage,” Center for Biological Diversity senior policy specialist Stephanie Kurose said in a statement. “These heartless attacks would strip away lifesaving protections from our most imperiled creatures—from wolves to whales to freshwater mussels. If passed, these bills would put multiple species on a direct path to extinction.”
“I hope the white-nose syndrome wipes all of them out,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said during a hearing in July. “We won’t have to worry about […]
Nonlocal consciousness research for half a century has made it clear to me that all life is interconnected and interdependent. All the beings in the Matrix of Consciousness have consciousness. Studies are emerging from all over the world proving what I am saying.
A group of Japanese scientists has successfully filmed plants communicating and warning others about potential dangers in real-time, making a breakthrough in an observation first documented in the early 1980s.
What they observed: Published in the journal Nature Communications in October 2023, the research team, led by molecular biologist Masatsugu Toyota from Japan‘s Saitama University, successfully captured undamaged plants sending defense responses to nearby plants after sensing volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are produced by other plants in response to mechanical damages or insect attacks.
How the study was conducted: The team, which included Yuri Aratani, a Ph.D. student at the university, and Takuya Uemura, a postdoctoral researcher, attached an air pump to a container filled with leaves and caterpillars and to another chamber containing Arabidopsis thaliana, a common weed from the mustard family. The Arabidopsis was genetically modified to make their cells fluoresce green after detecting calcium ions, which serve as stress messengers. The team then used a fluorescence microscope to monitor the signals the undamaged plants […]
Climate denialism is part of the evangelical movement. This is what Christianity has become. Fifty percent of evangelicals also do not believe in evolution. Their worldview is an amalgam of misinformation, and willful ignorance, and it is having a very negative impact, particularly in Red states, which are not doing enough to prepare themselves for what is happening. As a result of this denierism the Red states are going to suffer a great deal of unnecessary misery.
If you’ve been on YouTube lately, you might have come across someone claiming wind and solar energy don’t work, that rising sea levels will help coral reefs flourish, or that climate scientists are corrupt and alarmist.
These are all false and misleading statements taken from a handful of thousands of YouTube videos analyzed by the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), which has identified a stark change in the tactics of climate deniers over the past few years.
Where once climate deniers would outright reject climate change as a hoax or scam, or claim that humans were not responsible for it, many are now shifting to a different approach, one which attempts to undermine climate science, cast doubt on climate solutions and even claim global warming will be beneficial at best, harmless at worst.
The past five years have seen a “startling” rise in this “new denial,” according to a CCDH analysis published Tuesday, which also suggests this shift in narrative could also be helping YouTube video creators circumvent the social media company’s ban on monetizing climate […]
As I have been telling you for years, we are going to have three internal migrations, away from coasts, out of the Southwest, and ut of the central states. Here is a projection that offers a bleak picture of what this may look like.
By contrast, high-income cities across all the regions will likely experience population growth.
And for some rural cities with low median incomes, populations are likely to grow.
Only time will tell how large regions and specific cities will be affected by populations over time.
Stagnant cities can usually support their population, but as cities shrink, the ability of city services to support the population may not keep up with the local demand.
This, in turn, can speed up depopulation as people move away from cities that become unlivable.
The team warned: ‘The implications of this massive decline in population will bring unprecedented challenges, possibly leading to disruptions in basic services like transit, clean water, electricity and internet access’ as cities shrink and populations age.
High taxes and cost of living associated with bustling metropolises have been pushing people away from cities for decades, trends which data suggests were […]
Corporate media barely touches on this, but I am majorly concerned that what is taking place in the United States is altering not just our culture but our place in the geopolitical world. Listen to my podcast this Friday and next Friday because I share my thinking about the tragedy that is happening in our society. The world order as we have known it since WWII is ending. This article will give you a taste of what is occurring and how the rest of the world sees us now.
When I asked the European ambassador to talk to me about America’s deepening partisan divide, I expected a polite brushoff at best. Foreign diplomats are usually loath to discuss domestic U.S. politics.
Instead, the ambassador unloaded for an hour, warning that America’s poisonous politics are hurting its security, its economy, its friends and its standing as a pillar of democracy and global stability.
The U.S. is a “fat buffalo trying to take a nap” as hungry wolves approach, the envoy mused. “I can hear those Champagne bottle corks popping in Moscow — like it’s Christmas every fucking day.”
As voters cast ballots in the Iowa caucuses Monday, many in the United States see this year’s presidential election as a test of American democracy. But, in a series of conversations with a dozen current and former diplomats, I sensed that to many of our friends abroad, the U.S. is already failing that […]
Decades of industrial chemical mono-crop agriculture has left the soil in much of the United State badly over-acidic, and climate change is just making things worse. This has all kinds of negative implications not just for farmers but for everyone who buys the crops those farmers grow. But a new organic technique is providing an answer, as this article describes. It is new practices such as this, little discussed outside of the farming world that are going to provide a way through what climate change and old practices did to the soil. So I see this as good news.
Across the country, farmers are taking a chance on a new method: adding crushed volcanic rock to fields to improve soil health (and sequester carbon in the process).
Chris Rauch was strolling past booths at the annual ag show in Spokane last summer when he spotted a large jar full of basalt powder. A nearby sign urged him to spread it on his croplands to help improve soil pH.
Rauch looked at the gray dust and shook his head.
“That’s crazy,” he thought. “Why would I want to put even more rocks in my fields?”
Rauch grows dryland wheat in the rolling gold-brown hills surrounding the Pendleton, Oregon, municipal airport. His farm lies on the Columbia Plateau, a 63,000-square-mile basin formed by ancient basalt lava flows. At the end of the last Ice Age, retreating glaciers scoured the bedrock, leaving a wake of grit and gravel to form the deep loess soil.
Not much rain falls in this grassland habitat. Some years, it’s 9 to 12 […]
AS a result of Republicans blocking American world health funding, as described in this report, millions will suffer and the reputation of the U.S. will be further diminished. America’s status as an international leader is fading like a dispersing fog.
Two decades ago, the United States led the establishment of a new global public health order that began with the fight against a devastating HIV epidemic in Africa. The initiative’s success solidified America’s role as the world’s biggest funder of global health programs and the most influential actor in coordinating global efforts to combat infectious diseases. Though the American-led push to fight AIDS does not draw much domestic attention, it is perhaps the single-most impactful US government program ever, saving 25 million lives over the past 20 years.
Global health is necessarily an exercise in long-term thinking. Investments can take decades to pay off. The Covid-19 pandemic infused a fresh urgency into these efforts — but it also politicized public health to a degree not seen in decades. Now, the global health community is trying to forge a new consensus while facing novel […]
