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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.
Russell Gold and Ben Foldy, - The Wall Street Journal
Stephan: More good news about the trend out of carbon energy, and the best assessment I have read on what is happening with the emerging battery technologies that are going to be a big part of the new non-carbon era.
Credit: Niclas Ortega
Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries were first commercially used in hand-held camcorders in 1991. Laptops soon followed. A decade later, batteries enabled the rise of tech titans such as Apple Inc. by powering smartphones and wearable devices, then made their way into electric vehicles. The basic technology throughout remained pretty much the same: Lithium ions move through a liquid from the cathode to the anode, and back again.
This, however, was just the beginning. After a decade of rapidly falling costs, the battery has reached a tipping point. No longer just for consumer products, it is poised to transform the way the world uses power.
In the energy sector, affordable batteries are making it possible for companies to store electricity and harvest renewable power. In the auto industry, they are set to challenge the gas-powered engine’s centurylong domination. Costs have come down so far and so fast that most car makers expect that electric vehicles, which are currently more expensive than their gas-powered counterparts, will cost the same amount to build within the next five years.
Stephan: When one thinks about carbon energy one usually focuses on its pollution, climate change, and the effects that has on the earth, and its matrix of consciousness. But what about the effects on humans. This story lays that out, and it will appall you.
Citation for the primary research journal paper upon which this article is based: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935121000487
“Our study adds to the mounting evidence that air pollution from ongoing dependence on fossil fuels is detrimental to global health,” said co-author Eloise Marais. Credit: Marcel Kusch/picture alliance/Getty
While arguments for rapidly phasing out fossil fuels and shifting to renewable energy are often based on the climate crisis and its devastating impacts, a study published Tuesday bolsters the public health case for clean power sources, revealing that fossil fuel-related air pollution killed an estimated 8.7 million people in 2018 alone, accounting for 18% of total global deaths that year.
“We now have conclusive evidence that fossil fuels kill millions of people every year.” —Colette Pichon Battle, Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy
The new findings, published in the journal Environmental Research, suggest exposure to particulate matter from fossil fuel emissions is far more deadly that previously thought. An earlier study put the annual death toll for exposure to outdoor airborne particulate matter, or PM2.5, from all sources at about half that.
“The health gains we can achieve from getting off fossil fuels is twice what we thought it was yesterday,” said Dr. […]
University of Cambridge (U.K.), - Neuroscience News
Stephan: You would think that helping children develop a sense of empathy would be an obvious goal for primary school education but, except for Waldorf schools, I know of no pedagogy that explicitly works to help children attain that awareness.
Research showed a statistically significant increase in creativity amongst pupils who went to schools where emphasizing empathy was a part of the curriculum.
Teaching children in a way that encourages them to empathise with others measurably improves their creativity, and could potentially lead to several other beneficial learning outcomes, new research suggests.
The findings are from a year-long University of Cambridge study with Design and Technology (D&T) year 9 pupils (ages 13 to 14) at two inner London schools. Pupils at one school spent the year following curriculum-prescribed lessons, while the other group’s D&T lessons used a set of engineering design thinking tools which aim to foster students’ ability to think creatively and to engender empathy, while solving real-world problems.
Both sets of pupils were assessed for creativity at both the start and end of the school year using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking: a well-established psychometric test.
The results showed a statistically significant increase in creativity among pupils at the intervention school, where the thinking tools were used. At the start of the year, the creativity scores of pupils in […]
Stephan: Did you know that the ninth Vice President of the United States, Richard M. Johnson, was married to a slave, Julia Chinn? Here is her remarkable story.
She was born enslaved and remained that way her entire life, even after she became Richard Mentor Johnson’s “bride.”
Johnson, a Kentucky congressman who eventually became the nation’s ninth vice president in 1837, couldn’t legally marry Julia Chinn. Instead the couple exchanged vows at a local church with a wedding celebration organized by the enslaved people at his family’s plantation in Great Crossing, according to Miriam Biskin, who wrote about Chinn decades ago.
Chinn died nearly four years before Johnson took office. But because of controversy over her, Johnson is the only vice president in American history who failed to receive enough electoral votes to be elected. The Senate voted him into office.
The couple’s story is complicated and fraught, historians say. As an enslaved woman, Chinn could not consent to a relationship, and there’s no record of how she regarded him. Though she wrote to Johnson during his lengthy absences from Kentucky, the letters didn’t survive.
Andrew Oxford and Jen Fifield, Reporters - Arizona Republic
Stephan: You may be tired of reading stories about the Republican Party trying to destroy American democracy, but that doesn't mean the Republicans are tired of trying to severely damage our democracy, and overturn the just-completed vote outcome that elected Bidden and Harris. This is a story about Arizona, but in one variation or another, it is a story playing out in many Republican governed states. Trump may be gone, but Trumpism is alive, well and trying to do as much damage as it can.
Maricopa County Elections employee Charles Cooley tabulates the few thousand remaining ballots at the Maricopa County Elections headquarters in Phoenix, Ariz., on November 12, 2020. Credit: David Wallace/The Republic
An attempt by Republican state senators to hold the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in contempt failed on Monday as lawmakers seek to conduct their own audit of the presidential election results.
Breaking with the GOP caucus and casting the crucial vote against the measure, which could have led to the supervisors’ arrests, Sen. Paul Boyer said he wanted to give the county and Senate more time to work out their ongoing legal dispute over the Legislature’s proposed audit.
“Today’s vote merely provides a little bit more time for us to work together charitably and amicably as friends,” Boyer, R-Glendale, told the Senate.
Boyer said the Board of Supervisors does not have any policy disagreement with additional audits of the last election and that his vote was not intended as an end of the process.
“My vote is about patience,” he said.
The Senate issued subpoenas in December and January demanding copies of all the […]
Stephan: I think history is going to assess this pandemic as one of the worst screw-ups in the history of the country. Not a screw-up at the level of healthcare workers or researchers but a complete incompetent mess at the top of the Trump administration. This essay tells part of this story in detail.
A few weeks into her part-time job vaccinating nursing home staff members and residents against the coronavirus, Katherine, a pharmacist, noticed a problem: Roughly 15 to 20 vaccines were being thrown away at the end of each vaccination session. That’s because the number of doses that she and her co-workers had prepared — per the protocol established by Katherine’s manager at CVS, the pharmacy she works for — exceeded the number of people who showed up to be inoculated, often significantly.
Katherine — who asked to be identified by her confirmation name, because she is not authorized to discuss company matters — and her colleagues realized that if they prepared just one or two vials at a time, instead of 20 or more, as they had been doing, they could avoid wasting most doses.
“If you did it one vial at a time as people arrived, you’d never have more than five or six extra shots at the end of any clinic,” Katherine explained to me. “That’s few enough that you could find eligible recipients quickly, so you […]
Stephan: Here is some more good news from the Biden administration. Louis DeJoy, a particularly loathsome Trumpian orc who damaged the U.S. Postal Service so badly is going to be replaced. It will take a while, and several steps, but Biden is on the case.
Louis Dejoy, Trumpian orc
President Joe Biden this week took what could be the first steps necessary to replace USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
In a statement on Monday, the White House explained that the president has moved to fill vacancies at the postal service’s Board of Governors, which has the power to name a new Postmaster General.
“Only the Board of Governors of the US Postal Service has the power to replace the Postmaster General,” the statement said. “The President can, however, nominate governors to fill vacancies on the board pending Senate confirmation.”
The statement noted that three vacancies are currently open on the board. Additionally, a fourth nomination would replace an existing member who is serving a hold-over year.
“President Biden’s focus is on filling these vacancies, nominating officials who reflect his commitment to the workers of the US Postal Service — who can deliver on the post office’s vital universal service obligation,” the White House added.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who was appointed during President Donald Trump’s administration, came under fire after he was accused of trying to undermine […]
Stephan: If you or someone close to you has a baby, please read this and act accordingly. Clearly, there is not enough oversight and regulation of these corporations. It is very obvious that relying on the integrity of these companies is not the way to go because as this story describes no such integrity exists.
Credit: Getty
Gerber, Beech-Nut, HappyBABY and Earth’s Best Organic baby foods contain arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury.
A congressional report found many of the products made by the country’s largest commercial baby food manufacturers contain significant levels of toxic heavy metals, including arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury, which can endanger infant neurological development.
The report released Thursday from the House Oversight Committee’s subcommittee on economic and consumer policy found heavy metals in rice cereals, sweet potato puree, juices and sweet snack puffs made by some of the most trusted names in baby food.
Gerber, Beech-Nut, HappyBABY (made by Nurture) and Earth’s Best Organic baby foods (made by Hain Celestial Group) complied with the committee’s request to submit internal testing documents.
Campbell Soup, which sells Plum Organics baby foods, Walmart (its private brand is Parent’s Choice) and Sprout Foods declined to cooperate, according to members of the subcommittee.
The committee said the findings show the need for more stringent regulation of commercial baby food, including FDA standards for heavy metals, as well as mandatory testing for heavy metals.
