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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.
Stephan: I think John Kerry is a good choice to oversee America's response to climate change. He has a long history of integrity, an exemplary record of handling negotiations, and an established commitment to fostering wellbeing. I take his appointment as good news.
John Kerry, Biden’s pick to oversee America’s response to climate change. Credit: Kevin Lamarque /Reuters
In a flurry of new cabinet appointments on Monday, the Biden transition team announced that John Kerry — a former secretary of state and key player in crafting the Paris climate agreement — will take over the crucial role of presidential special envoy on climate change.
Kerry will get a seat on the National Security Council, the chief body responsible for planning foreign policy and military matters. It’s the first time anyone on the council will be focused solely on the climate, and the latest sign that President-elect Joe Biden intends to use the tools of foreign policy — and not just executive actions at home — to combat global warming.
“The big question has been, ‘How serious is the new administration about climate change?’” said Nathaniel Keohane, senior vice president of the Environmental Defense Fund. “This is a tremendously important signal. It says that the Biden administration is committed to making climate change front and center in terms of how we engage with the world.”
Adriana Brasileiro Miami Herald, - Bakersfield.com
Stephan: In a world where the economy has only one priority and that is profit, with little or no concern for the environmental impact of that worldview, who cares about plastic waste and what it does to the wellbeing of the earth? No one, because there is no profit in it. And this is what happens.
Sea turtle trapped in plastic waste Credit: World Animal Protection
In Florida, a critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle was entangled in a plastic bag that had become filled with sand. The plastic bag had wrapped around the turtle’s neck, which likely led it to drown or suffocate.
In another Florida case, a recently hatched sea turtle was found with two plastic balloons in its gastrointestinal tract, causing a blockage that potentially led to the animal’s death.
Balloons, plastic bags, recreational fishing line and food wrappers are killing thousands of marine animals as they eat plastic items that later perforate internal organs, or become entangled and drown, Oceana said in a new report.
The conservation group surveyed dozens of government agencies, organizations and institutions to paint a grim picture of the impact of plastic on marine mammals and sea turtles in the United States. Oceana compiled data on plastic ingestion and entanglements, and called the growing plastic problem “an unfolding disaster” for marine animals in U.S. waters.
“Single-use plastics are simply everywhere, so this was an attempt to quantify the damage to marine life in […]
Stephan: In contrast to the previous story here is what one might do with plastic waste if fostering wellbeing were your first priority. And I think it is notable that the technology has begun in Norway, a country which has made fostering wellbeing its culture's first priority..
Artist’s impression of an Othalo community, imagined by architect Julien De Smedt. Credit: Othalo
One billion homes could be created from the world’s plastic waste.
The Othalo project will create demonstrator homes for Kenya, Cameroon and Senegal.
160 million affordable homes are needed in sub-Saharan Africa alone.
Since 1950, more than nine billion tonnes of plastic have been produced globally, of which only 9% is recycled, according to building tech company Othalo, while almost a billion people live in slums.
It has partnered with UN-Habitat – the United Nations program for human settlements and sustainable urban development – to create components to build three demonstration homes to help tackle Africa’s housing shortage.
“In sub-Saharan Africa alone, the immediate need for low-cost housing is 160 million units,” the company says.
This is expected to increase to 360 million by 2050 as a result of rapid urbanization. But with today’s plastic waste, Othalo believes […]
Stephan: Here is a first report on what I see as an emerging technology trend. Ford is taking a different path, and I see it as good news.
Yes, we’re talking about Ford the automaker, and a massive mixed-use, multimodal development project centered around a train station.
Many automakers have been dabbling in micromobility and autonomous vehicles as they try to prepare for the transport transformations of the 21st century rather than crumble underneath them. But a 30-acre walkable community centered around a train station is something else.
Naturally, Ford is working with others on this project, but it is the project lead. It puts the Michigan Central Station at its core. Renovation of Michigan Central Station is a years-long project, but one that must be exciting and breathing new life into people in the area, as the station has been closed since 1988! Michigan Central will also be a hub for innovation and a new economy. Around 5,000 people are expected to work in the district. “Ford will transform a set of abandoned elevated railroad tracks into a mobility platform – an open, versatile landscape where Ford and its innovation partners can test and showcase emerging technology, including autonomous vehicles and micro-mobility initiatives. It will also provide shared paths for pedestrians and cyclists and gathering spaces for the community, reconfigurable for a variety of […]
Philip Rucker, Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey and Amy Gardner, Reporters - The Washington Post
Stephan: I think Trump is mentally ill, but no one in the Congress, Democrat or Republican, is willing to address that reality, and so the country suffers. This is a very hard article to read, but I urge you to do so.
The facts were indisputable: President Trump had lost.
But Trump refused to see it that way. Sequestered in the White House and brooding out of public view after his election defeat, rageful and at times delirious in a torrent of private conversations, Trump was, in the telling of one close adviser, like “Mad King George, muttering, ‘I won. I won. I won.’ ”
However cleareyed Trump’s aides may have been about his loss to President-elect Joe Biden, many of them nonetheless indulged their boss and encouraged him to keep fighting with legal appeals. They were “happy to scratch his itch,” this adviser said. “If he thinks he won, it’s like, ‘Shh . . . we won’t tell him.’ ”
Trump campaign pollster John McLaughlin, for instance, discussed with Trump a poll he had conducted after the election that showed Trump with a positive approval rating, a plurality of the country who thought the media had been “unfair and biased against him” and a majority of voters who believed their lives were better than four years earlier, according to two people familiar with the […]
Stephan: Frankly, as this pandemic rages, while we still with no national strategy or policies, and small businesses are collapsing by the hundreds of thousands across the country, the last thing we need is a president and an administration, with a dysfunctional Senate, whose major activity, if they are doing anything, is screwing the wellbeing of the nation. But that is what we have got. If you voted Republican I don't know how you can live with yourself.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — At a wide range of departments and agencies, Mr. Trump’s political appointees are going to extraordinary lengths to try to prevent Mr. Biden from rolling back the president’s legacy.
Voters have decided that President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. should guide the country through the next four years. But on issues of war, the environment, criminal justice, trade, the economy and more, President Trump and top administration officials are doing what they can to make changing direction more difficult.
Mr. Trump has spent the last two weeks hunkered down in the White House, raging about a “stolen” election and refusing to accept the reality of his loss. But in other ways he is acting as if he knows he will be departing soon, and showing none of the deference that presidents traditionally give their successors in their final days in office.
During the past four years Mr. Trump has not spent much time thinking about policy, but he has shown a penchant for striking back at his adversaries. And with his encouragement, top officials are racing […]
Stephan: Since Richard Nixon created the EPA each president after him has expanded the agency's role as it became clear that pollution by corporations was detrimental to societal wellbeing. Each president that is until Trump, who has done everything in his power to castrate the agency in service to his rich supporters, and to the detriment of ordinary Americans. Here is his latest crime against the wellbeing of America.
EPA headquarters
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is declining to require oil and gas, coal, chemical and mining companies to have insurance to cover major spills and accidents.
Critics say the final rule, announced by the agency Wednesday, poses the greatest risk to communities of color and low-income communities that most often live in the shadow of polluting industries.
“EPA has found that existing environmental regulations and modern industry practices are sufficient to mitigate any risks inherent in these industries,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a release announcing the rule, adding that “the financial risks from facilities in these industries are addressed by existing state and federal requirements.”
The rule targets the financial assurances the Obama administration argued should be required by major polluters, ensuring companies have sufficient means to cover any costs related to accidents in order to avoid dipping into Superfund hazardous waste cleanup coffers.
The U.S. has more than 1,300 Superfund sites on its cleanup list, but many have become “orphaned” by companies that go bankrupt and can no longer fund the cleanup.
Stephan: Steve Mnuchin, one of the most prominent Trumpian orcs, is deliberately trying to screw you personally.
Steve Mnuchin and wife, prominent Trumpian orc
Something you’re probably aware of by now, unless you live in a cave or exclusively get your news from @realDonaldTrump and his big boy sons, is that there’s a very contagious disease ravaging the globe that is not just killing more than a million people but jobs and businesses as well. Jobs, for the lazy rich who are unaware, are how people buy stuff like food and pay for things like shelter. So losing them is bad; less bad if you live in a society where the government actually cares about people and doesn’t just say, “tough shit, them’s the breaks,” when you lose one, and more bad if you live in, for example, the United States of America. The current Treasury secretary presumably knows this and, yet, he’s apparently hoping to make a bad situation even worse!
On Thursday, Steven Mnuchinsaid that he doesn’t plan to extend a number of key emergency lending programs beyond the end […]
