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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.
COURTNEY BUBLÉ, Staff Correspondent - Government Executive
Stephan: A minor Trump appointee is trying as hard as she can to screw up the presidential transition by refusing to do what was previously pro forma. What it tells me is that one of the first things the Biden administration should do is establish a committee to go through every agency and department in the government and fire everyone appointed over the last four years by Trump. We need to get back to clean nonpolitical government infrastructure.
GSA Administrator Emily Murphy is in charge of giving the green light for Biden to receive full transition resources. SUSAN WALSH/AP
Two days after the news networks declared Joe Biden the winner of the presidential election, lawmakers, a leading transition resource center and others are calling on the General Services Administration to give the green light for Biden’s team to access certain crucial transition funds and resources such as briefing books prepared by career federal employees.
The Electoral College is set to meet on December 14 and Inauguration Day is January 20, but the Trump campaign is continuing to contest the results of the election through lawsuits and requests for recounts as well as soliciting donations to fund its legal efforts. Jason Miller, senior adviser to Trump’s election campaign, told Fox Business on Monday that the word concede “is not even in our vocabulary right now.” A few Republicans (including former President George W. Bush) acknowledged Biden’s win and many foreign leaders have called to congratulate him.
Ben Santer, Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences - Scientific American
Stephan: In order to deal with climate change we must develop policies on two principles: 1) That fostering wellbeing must be the first priority, and 2) it must be fact-based. The antipode to where we are today.
National Academy of Sciences Credit: Britannica
Dear Mr. President-elect,
In the last four years, federally funded science agencies were unmade and remade. They were given new marching orders. The mandate of providing the nation with unbiased scientific advice was replaced by a new mandate—that science is subordinate to the political goals and ego of President Trump.
The consequences of this new mandate are serious and far-reaching. The Environmental Protection Agency became the Environmental Pollution Agency, rolling back protections on clean air and clean water, and providing regulatory relief to President Trump’s campaign contributors from the fossil fuel industry. Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were censured for challenging President Trump’s incorrect forecast of the path of a major hurricane. Their sin? Failing to adhere to the prime directive that the president is never wrong. At multiple federal agencies, climate science became “the subject that must not be named”—and the subject that should not be studied. And most recently, federally funded scientists unwilling to support the president’s incorrect narrative of a country “rounding […]
David W. Blight, Professor of History - Yale - The New York Times
Stephan: We face a long list of crises and attacks on our democracy, and a large percentage of our population live in a fact free world dominated by fear, hate, and resentment. But I am optimistic. The key to the future is a change in consciousness, and that can only be achieved when each of us holds the intent that everything we do must foster wellbeing. If we can do that there is no force, no power, no politics that can resist the intention to be an agent of change to create a society that is compassionate, life-affirming, and fostering of wellbeing.
How to do this? The Quotidian Choice. Every day make every choice you make the option that is the most compassionate, life-affirming, and fostering of wellbeing.
That is not a political statement or a speculation, it is a statement of historical fact.
“I speak the password primeval . . . . I give the sign of democracy,” wrote Walt Whitman in “Song of Myself.” “By God! I will accept nothing which all cannot have their counterpart of on the same terms.”
One of our greatest poets sought the deepest forms of democracy, where people are completely unleashed to share their fullest humanity. Whitman endlessly sang of rebirth and renewal, in nature and in human society. Near the end of the same poem, he breathed his epitaph: “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,/ If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.”
As a mythic, defining characteristic, the idea of rebirth has a profoundly fertile history in this land. Americans — their nation, their polity, their multiethnic culture — have never stopped being reborn, despite the conflicted meanings invoked by that concept. We admire second and third acts; we endured at least two reconstructions of our Constitution and our race relations. We revived with lasting significance from a colossal Civil […]
Stephan: This is a first assessment of what Biden's administration will be able to accomplish about climate change. we will see how this plays out.
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
Though the counts aren’t finished and the legal challenges could drag on for weeks, Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential election is looking increasingly likely. If he does triumph, it will also be a win for action on climate change. But his ability to push through any sweeping legislation will be seriously constrained if, as appears likely, Republicans retain control of the Senate.
This outcome is far from the landslide repudiation of President Donald Trump’s assaults on environmental policy, science, and pluralism that climate activists had fervently hoped for. Climate change did appear to be a motivating issue in certain regions and races, and a concern for a solid majority of voters. But polling found that the economy, health care, and the coronavirus outbreak were far more important issues to voters than climate change, where they remain sharply divided along partisan lines.
“The potential for Biden to do something big on climate feels, to me, pretty small,” says David […]
Stephan: Although the Republican Party has done everything it can to keep carbon energy corporations alive and profitable -- so the party, in turn, can continue to get the millions of dollars of funding it presently enjoys -- the trend is against them. Here, for instance, is the latest on geothermal energy production, which is going through major changes.
Sunlight glows through the steam of a geothermal power plant in Niland, California. Mickey Strider/Loop Images/Universal Images Group/Getty
Geothermal power is the perpetual also-ran of renewable energy, chugging along in the background for decades, never quite breaking out of its little niche, forever causing energy experts to say, “Oh, yeah, geothermal … what’s up with that?”
Well, after approximately 15 years of reporting on energy, I finally took the time to do a deep dive into geothermal and I am here to report: This is a great time to start paying attention!
After many years of failure to launch, new companies and technologies have brought geothermal out of its doldrums, to the point that it may finally be ready to scale up and become a major player in clean energy. In fact, if its more enthusiastic backers are correct, geothermal may hold the key to making 100 percent clean electricity available to everyone in the world. And as a bonus, it’s an opportunity for the struggling oil and gas industry to put its capital and skills to work on […]
Stephan: Climate change is going to have aspects few have even considered. For instace, as this report proposes what happens when the U.S. South West gets too hot for farm animals?
Cattle farming in the San Pedro Valley, Arizona. Credit: Witold Skrypczak/Alamy
As temperatures rise, farmers are being forced to adapt, experimenting with new breeds and cooling methods
South-west of Phoenix, Arizona, in the hottest desert in North America, Beth and Tim Wilson use sprinklers to cool their 300 pigs. Nearby, the Adams Natural Meats bison ranch employs shaders and misters. North of the city, chicken farmer Dave Jordan says he cannot put his 10,000 birds out to pasture.
“If they were out in the sun, they would just get cooked.”
Animal agriculture accounts for one-third of the US south-west’s agricultural revenue. Like the rest of the world, however, the region is changing. Between 1901 and 2016, its average temperature increased by 0.9C (1.6F), and by 1.6C (3F) in some of its hottest places. Arizona recently struggled through a summer that was the hottest ever recorded in some parts of the state.
Animal farmers are now compelled to find ways to adapt to this climatic shift, exploring new ways of keeping chickens and cows cool, or importing more heat-resistant breeds. Lingering in the air […]
Stephan: Except for the Saudis and the Israelis, the world's leaders all recognize the era of Trump is over, and are happy to welcome America back to the world community.
Biden Harris Victory Speech
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was looking forward to working with Biden and said the transatlantic relationship is “irreplaceable.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said of Vice President-elect Harris, who is the daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, that her “success is pathbreaking.”
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the U.S. is Britain’s most important ally
WASHINGTON — Leaders from around the world congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris Saturday.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted his congratulations, calling Harris’ accomplishment of becoming the first woman and person of color elected to the vice presidency a “historic achievement.”
“The US is our most important ally and I look forward to working closely together on our shared priorities, from climate change to trade and security,” he wrote.
In a pair of tweets, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated Biden and Harris.
Modi said of Harris, who is the daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, that her “success is pathbreaking.” He also added that her success was of immense pride for all Indian-Americans.
Stephan: One of the least noticed outcomes of this election is that the insanity over the criminalization of drugs (as opposed to therapy as needed) has been significantly eliminated. I live in a state where marijuana has been legal for some years and the answer as to what happens when it is legalized, is nothing happens, except, there seem to be less illegal drug transactions and less police thuggery. Those who use marijuana use it, those who don't don't. It is revealed to be a non-issue. So I take this as good news.
San Francisco (CNN Business)Plenty of uncertainty remains with the 2020 election, but one thing is clear: Recreational cannabis had a big night at the ballot box.Voters in Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota cleared cannabis for adult use, bringing the total number of states that have approved it for that purpose to 15.”They passed overwhelmingly; they were not close races,” said John Hudak, a cannabis policy expert and deputy director at the Brookings Institution. “This is a resounding win for cannabis.”Most industry estimates peg Arizona and New Jersey as billion-dollar markets in a few years, and companies like Curaleaf Holdings (CURLF) and Scotts Miracle-Gro (SMG) have been making chess moves well in advance of Tuesday’s election to ensure they capitalize.Curaleaf, which operates cannabis businesses in 23 states, has been investing heavily to increase production and its retail footprint in both states, said Joe Bayern, the company’s president.
