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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.
Oliver Milman and Nina Lakhani, Environmental Reporters - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan:
This report in The Guardian describes both the shame and the corruption of the United States and other rich countries, and the servitude of the many to the few. It assures we will not meet the Paris accord for climate control. As it says, “the oil and gas rush, led by the richest countries, risks demolishing hopes that the world can stay within internationally agreed-upon limits aimed at preventing catastrophic heatwaves, wildfires, flooding and other impacts. No new oil and gas project can proceed if the Paris agreement, which calls for global temperatures to be restrained to a 1.5C (2.7F) rise above preindustrial levels, is to be met, according to the International Energy Agency.” What this means is that your life and mine, and the lives of our children and their children have been condemned to the misery, death, and forced migration climate change will create for humanity, so that a tiny percentage of the world’s population can stay rich.
A surge in new oil and gas exploration in 2024 threatens to unleash nearly 12bn tonnes of planet-heating emissions, with the world’s wealthiest countries – such as the US and the UK – leading a stampede of fossil fuel expansion in spite of their climate commitments, new data shared exclusively with the Guardian reveals.
The new oil and gas field licences forecast to be awarded across the world this year are on track to generate the highest level of emissions since those issued in 2018, as heatwaves, wildfires, drought and floods cause death and destruction globally, according to analysis of industry data by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).
The 11.9bn tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions – which is roughly the same as China’s annual carbon pollution – resulting over their lifetime from all current and upcoming oil and gas fields forecast to be licensed by the end of 2024 would be greater than the past four years combined. The projection includes licences awarded as of June 2024, as well as the oil and gas blocks open for bidding, under evaluation or planned.
Benoît Morenne and Collin Eaton, Reporters - Wall Street Journal
Stephan:
In this article in the Murdoch-owned fascist Wall Street Journal you see how blatant corruption in the United States has become, and how criminal Trump and his varlet J.D. Vance have openly whored themselves to the oil billionaires.
Donald Trump and Harold Hamm, the billionaire founder of Continental Resources, at a 2019 shale energy conference in Pittsburgh. Credit: Leah Millis / Reuters
As Donald Trump accepted the GOP presidential nomination last Thursday, he reminded the megawealthy coterie of oil tycoons backing him why he is their man.
“We have more liquid gold under our feet than any other country by far, we are a nation that has the opportunity to make an absolute fortune with its energy,” Trump said during his prime-time address.
The speech was music to the ears of oil billionaires Harold Hamm of Continental Resources, Kelcy Warren of Energy Transfer, Jeffery Hildebrand of Hilcorp, and George Bishop of GeoSouthern Energy. Since March, they, together with their spouses and companies, have contributed at least $9.9 million to Trump-aligned committees and the Republican National Committee, according to Federal Election Commission data.
Those donations make the magnates among some of Trump’s biggest donors and represent an increase from past election cycles. Their contributions and those of another oil billionaire, Tim Dunn of CrownRock, topped $16 million since October, compared with the more than $20 million the […]
LEC TYSON and BRIAN KENNEDY, - Pew Research Center
Stephan:
The tragic reality of the MAGAt cult that supports criminal Trump and his varlet Vance is that they have been conned by Trump and other leaders in the cult to not believe in the reality of climate change, as reflected by their sharp decline of support for non-polluting energy. Sadly, even Democrats have been influenced by this humanity threatening thinking, as you can see in this Pew Research Center research. I hate doing these stories, but SR is about trends shaping the future. And this is our future.
There’s been a decline in the breadth of support for wind and solar power. The shares who favor expanding solar and wind power farms are down 12 percentage points and 11 points, respectively, since 2020, driven by sharp drops in support among Republicans.
Interest in buying an electric vehicle (EV) is lower than a year ago. Today, 29% of Americans say they would consider an EV for their next purchase, down from 38% in 2023.
Still, a majority of Americans (63%) support the goal of the U.S. taking steps to become carbon neutral by 2050. When asked which is the greater priority, far more Americans continue to say the country should focus on developing renewable energy than fossil fuel sources (65% […]
Here is an aspect of climate change I have not seen mentioned previously. He shows that every part of our society is going to be affected, and it is just going to get worse if the nations of the world do not make radical changes. If the MAGAt cult wins that isn;t going to happen, as I showed you in the previous articles.
Credit: Martin Roll
Climate change is not just leading to more heatwaves and hurricanes — it’s making the atmosphere more turbulent, too. As I found out while flying from Kuala Lumpur to London a few weeks ago, sudden jolts from bumpy air can send your coffee flying. Riding jet streams can feel like being on a roller coaster.
Air turbulence has been in the news because dozens of passengers on a Singapore Airlines flight in May were injured and one person died when the aeroplane lost 54 metres of altitude within seconds over Myanmar. Those passengers were not just unlucky; the frequency of such events is rising, because global warming is making the air stormier.
As a researcher in fluid dynamics and climate change, I can assure you that flying remains one of the safest modes of travel. But I also know that the changing patterns of air turbulence need much more research. Scientists need to understand how climate change is […]
In the MAGAt textbook Project 2025 there isn’t a word about preventive programs to reduce what climate change is doing. Quite the contrary. The Trump/Vance position is the Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency should be curbed significantly or eliminated altogether. I simply do not understand how anyone with an IQ greater than their waist measurement could vote for any part of the MAGAt ticket from city council to President.
On Sunday, Earth saw its warmest day on record globally since at least 1940, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service in Europe.
Threat level: “We are now in truly uncharted territory and as the climate keeps warming, we are bound to see new records being broken in future months and years,” Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo said.
The big picture: The record, which exceeded the old milestone set last July, came in the middle of the planet’s hottest year yet since at least the pre-industrial era, and likely for at least 100,000 years before that.
The past 13 months have been the warmest such period on record, and the oceans have been at record warm levels for 15-straight months.
I try to avoid using The New York Times, or the Washington Post because they are behind a paywall. But this article from Raw Story catches the essence of the NYT piece. I think Aileen Cannon should be removed from the bench. She is one of the worst most biased judges in American history.
Aileen Cannon, one of the worst most biased judges in American history. Credit: Creative Commons
Former President Donald Trump’s allies are working to reshape American law into a weapon to be used against their political enemies, wrote Jesse Wegman in a scathing editorial for The New York Times.
Trump’s pick of Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) underscores this, he wrote, because Vance embodies the far-right’s commitment to a key goal of the controversial Project 2025 plan to transform the government into an authoritarian loyalty cult to the GOP.
Vance, wrote Wegman, “predicted … that the former president, who had been recently disgraced by his insurrectionary attempt to overturn the 2020 election, would nevertheless run again in 2024. Should Mr. Trump win, Mr. Vance said, he had some advice: ‘Fire every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people.’ And if the courts ruled against him? No problem, Mr. Vance said: […]
Here is some lovely good news. I am so happy to publish this. This is what I mean when I say that good governments create social policies that foster wellbeing.
Barb Ibrahim, left, drove half an hour to visit Amber and Matt Luman and their new daughter, Esserley. Ibrahim, a nurse of more than 30 years, is part of new program in Oregon that offers free home visits from a registered nurse for any family with a newborn. Credit: Cory Turner / NPR
Barb Ibrahim, a nurse of more than 30 years, unpacks in Matt and Amber Luman’s kitchen, in rural Jefferson County, Ore.
Ibrahim pulls a baby scale from a bottomless, black bag she totes everywhere, like Mary Poppins, and weighs the Lumans’ new daughter, Esserley. Sun lights Esserley, naked but for her diaper, as she wriggles on the smooth, white scale.
A tall window in the kitchen reveals a vertiginous view of the Lumans’ backyard: a rocky cliff’s edge dropping into a steep canyon dotted below by wisps of juniper and a smattering of miniature houses and cars.
Ibrahim drove half an hour to check in on Esserley and her parents. She’s part of a new program, slowly rolling out across Oregon, called Family Connects.
Anne Branigin, Reporter - Microsoft Start / The Washington Post
Stephan:
I have done several stories on the Incel movement of males. It turns out there is a female counterpart, boy sober. Less angry and resentful than Incel, it is still a generational change getting little attention. As I read this what I took away from it was that the internet and social media have affected American culture in ways that alter how men and women interact and relate to one another. I considered this also in terms of couples marrying later in life, and having fewer children. What I don’t see is much understanding of what is happening.
“Men are feeling like they’re not getting what they deserve and women are literally losing their rights — and everyone’s sort of blaming each other,” Woodard said. Credit: Joseph Ross / The Washington Post
Let’s talk about not having sex.
Some of our hottest celebs are not doing it. Julia Fox, Lenny Kravitz and Khloé Kardashian have all come out as celibate in the past three months.
Enough women appeared to stop having sex (or at least, stopped seeking it) that in May, the dating app Bumble launched an anti-celibacy ad campaign aimed at them. One billboard read, “Thou shalt not give up on dating and become a nun.” (Due to intense backlash, the campaign was short-lived. Bumble later acknowledged it had made “a mistake.”)
Not even warmer temperatures could shake the chill. In June, New York Magazine proclaimed it “a summer without sex.” The diagnosis: “Women are sick of dating,” Cosmopolitan UK declared.
It’s a season of celibacy — but not everyone is calling it that. Instead, young people are embracing going “boy […]
