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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.
Brynne Keith-Jennings, Staff - Center on Budget and Policy Priorities - truthout
Stephan: How is it possible that the richest nation in the world has 25% of its children facing food shortages and insecurity? The answer of course is that our entire economy is based on neoliberal policies in which profit is the only priority, human suffering and wellbeing are not even factors to consider. We have a desperate need to restructure our economy, on principles that make fostering wellbeing the first priority. Have we the courage, the intelligence to do it? I don't know, but we will learn something from the November election.
As policymakers consider what could be the last COVID-19 relief package this year, they should respond to the alarming rise in the number of children who aren’t getting enough to eat by increasing SNAP (food stamp) benefits, which would minimize COVID-19’s lasting impact on a generation of children.
Policymakers, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Democrats, have called for policies that support children in the next package. That’s wise, because many families with children, particularly low-income families, already struggled with food insecurity and other hardship before the pandemic, and they’ve been hit especially hard by the crisis. With schools closed, many children, particularly low-income children, have missed out on educational instruction and other supports with potentially lasting consequences; many families of low-income children who normally eat free- or reduced-price meals at school also suddenly had to provide those meals just as they were losing jobs and other income.
Compared to childless families, families with children were likelier to lose employment income — over half of families with children report such losses — and likelier to be behind on rent or mortgage payments. Rising food costs are also […]
Stephan: This is the best inside the game commentary I have read about current Republican thinking. It is my profound wish that in November the entire Republican Party is flushed down the toilet like the toxic turd it has become, and something new arises, just as the Republicans themselves arose as an anti-slavery conscience party in 1854 after the Kansas-Nebraska Act of that same year replacing the Whig Party which had been torn apart over slavery and race.
President Donald Trump returns to his seat after speaking at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, near Keystone, S.D Trump Rushmore, Keystone, United States – 03 Jul 2020 Credit: Alex Brandon/AP/Shutterstock
Shooting rubber bullet grenades at protesting priests. Catastrophically botching the pandemic response, resulting in a public health and economic calamity. Tweeting “white power” memes. Ranting in front of empty arenas about how he navigated a “slippery ramp.” Being MIA while his Russian benefactors put out a hit on American soldiers in Afghanistan.
The last three months have been a political dumpster fire for President Trump, and the flames have engulfed Republicans up and down the ballot. But while pockets of Republican resistance have roasted Dear Leader, elected officials in D.C. and their Svengalis in the consultant class have remained steadfast.
These swamp creatures were never the biggest Trumpers in the first place — his initial campaign team was an assortment of D-listers and golf course grunts rather than traditional GOP ad men. So why, as Trump’s numbers plummet, are these establishment RINOs continuing to debase […]
Stephan: Here is some very interesting good news. Bravo Jack Dorsey. I will follow this closely and report on what happens.
Chief executive officer of Twitter Inc. and Square Inc. Jack Dorsey arrives to attend the “Tech for Good” Summit at Hotel de Marigny on May 15, 2019 in Paris, France. Credit: Chesnot/Getty
Twitter boss Jack Dorsey is donating $3 million to a coalition of mayors advocating for the introduction of universal basic income in dozens of cities.
The billionaire co-founder of the social networking giant announced on Thursday that he was investing the funds into the Mayors for a Guaranteed Income—a project launched last month by Michael Tubbs, the 29-year-old mayor of Stockton, California.
“This is one tool to close the wealth and income gap, level systemic race and gender inequalities, and create economic security for families,” Dorsey tweeted.
The coalition is promoting the benefits of a guaranteed income for citizens in at least 15 cities so far, which would potentially affect more than 7 million Americans.
The system, if rolled out, would give a monthly cash payment directly to individuals with “no strings attached and no work requirement,” it explains online. Several U.S. cities are now backing the project, including […]
Stephan: Here, as clear as could be, is proof of Schwartz' Law of Wellbeing; which says that policies that foster wellbeing are always, easier to implement, more productive, more efficient, nicer to live under, longer enduring, and much, much, cheaper. I have never been able to find a counter example to this law.
Second growth redwood trees are seen in a grove at Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland, California, on April 29, 2020. Save the Redwoods League is now focusing on preserving and restoring forests that have been clearcut in the past 100 or so years, after studies showed these forests sequester more carbon, faster than any other forest in the world. Credit : Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle/Getty
“This report unequivocally tells us that the time to finance nature—for people and for planet—is now.”
“The benefits to humanity are incalculable, and the cost of inaction is unthinkable.” —Jamison Ervin, UNDP
That’s how Jamison Ervin, manager of the Global Program on Nature for Development at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), summed up a new study commissioned by Campaign for Nature (CFN), a coalition of over 100 conservation groups and scientists who support protecting at least 30% of the planet’s land and ocean by 2030.
Stephan: Collapse of the earth's ecosystem, extinction of thousands of species, sea rise, death of the coral reefs, temperature rise -- it was 119*F in Phoenix yesterday -- and now this. And yet we have a political party, the Republicans, whose members either don't believe in climate change, or who don't see it as a major priority. My prediction is that somewhere between 2040-2045 we will reach a catastrophic crisis that will forever change the earth and human civilization. All because of stupidity and greed.
Authors of a new study warned Thursday that increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is nearing a level not seen in 15 million years. Dawn Ellner / Flickr
As a United Nations agency released new climate projections showing that the world is on track in the next five years to hit or surpass a key limit of the Paris agreement, authors of a new study warned Thursday that increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is nearing a level not seen in 15 million years.
For the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom examined CO2 levels during the Late Pliocene about three million years ago “to search for modern and near future-like climate states,” co-author Thomas Chalk explained in a series of tweets.
“A striking result we’ve found is that the warmest part of the Pliocene had between 380 and 420 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere,” Chalk told the Guardian. “This is similar to today’s value of around 415 parts per million, […]
Stephan: The previous report was about the rise of CO2 to unprecedented levels, he is a viable remediation. There are a lot of things we could do, but aren't because the Republican Party led by Traitor Trump is doing everything it can to keep carbon energy alive. It is very important to always keep in mind that it isn't just Trump, it is the entire Republican party, and all the Republicans in public office. This party is killing America, and I say that not in a partisan way, but on the basis of objectively verifiable social outcome data.
Researchers are clear that cutting the fossil fuel burning that releases carbon dioxide is the most important action needed to tackle the climate emergency. But climate scientists also agree that, in addition, massive amounts of CO2 need to be removed from the air to meet the Paris Agreement goals of keeping global temperature rise below 2C.
According to new research, one way we could suck billions of tons of CO2 from the air every year is by spreading rock dust on farmland. Apparently, the chemical reactions that degrade the rock particles lock the greenhouse gas into carbonates within months, and some scientists say this approach may be the best near-term way of removing CO2 from the atmosphere.
The rock dust approach, called enhanced rock weathering (ERW), has several advantages, the researchers say. First, many farmers already add limestone dust to soils to reduce acidification, and adding other rock dust improves fertility and crop yields, meaning application could be routine and desirable. The first detailed global analysis of the technique, published in the journal Nature, estimates that treating about […]
Paul Krugman, Nobel Laureate Economist and Columnist - The New York Times
Stephan: I will just let Paul Krugman speak for me. I agree with everything he says in this essay.
Interstate 10 in Red Rock, Ariz. Credit:Cheney Orr/Reuters
I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling more and more as if we’re all trapped on the Titanic — except that this time around the captain is a madman who insists on steering straight for the iceberg. And his crew is too cowardly to contradict him, let alone mutiny to save the passengers.
A month ago it was still possible to hope that the push by Donald Trump and the Trumpist governors of Sunbelt states to relax social distancing and reopen businesses like restaurants and bars — even though we met none of the criteria for doing so safely — wouldn’t have completely catastrophic results.
At this point, however, it’s clear that everything the experts warned was likely to happen, is happening. Daily new cases of Covid-19 are running two and a half times as high as in early June, and rising fast. Hospitals in early-reopening states are under terrible pressure. National death totals are still declining thanks to falling fatalities in the Northeast, but they’re
Stephan: I cannot find the words, at least words I am willing to publish, to express how angry this story makes me. Between human-mediated climate change, and human-caused destruction of the beings with whom we share the earth we are creating a catastrophe for which all future generations will suffer. And it is occurring for two reasons: greed and stupidity. You could make a strong case that humans are a cancer eating away at the earth's matrix of life.
All 17 species of Red Colobus, including Temminck’s Red Colobus (Piliocolobus basius temminckii) are threatened, making this Africa’s most threatened genus of monkeys. Hunting for bushmeat—much of it illegal—and habitat loss continue to pose the most urgent threats to primates across the continent. Credit: Mic Mayhew/IUCN
The U.S.-based Center for Biological Diversity warned Thursday of the “urgent action needed to save life on Earth” in response to a new global assessment revealing that nearly 27% of over 120,000 analyzed plant and animal species are now threatened with extinction.
“At this point it’s a matter of political will to rapidly move away from fossil fuels, stamp out the wildlife trade, and overhaul the toxic ways we produce food.” —Tierra Curry, CBD
“This assessment shows that one in four mammals are facing extinction, and although we don’t prefer to think of ourselves as animals, we humans are mammals,” Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at CBD, said in a statement. “We have to take bold and rapid action to reduce the huge damage we’re doing to the planet if we’re going to save whales, […]
