Showing posts with label Climate change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Climate change. Show all posts

Saturday, January 15, 2022

January 15: Climate Change, Civil War, Jimmy Carter

How a Handful of Prehistoric Geniuses Launched Humanity’s Technological Revolution
Next Week You’ll Be Able to Eat ‘Chicken’ Made From Plants at KFC
H2 Clipper Will Resurrect Hydrogen Airships to Haul Green Fuel Across the Planet
These 2021 Biotech Breakthroughs Will Shape the Future of Health and Medicine
A Chinese Company Says It Will Be Selling Driverless Cars by 2024

The Capitol Police and the Scars of Jan. 6 For many officers, their bodies, minds and lives will never be the same after the attack.
The Boy King of YouTube Ten-year-old Ryan Kaji and his family have turned videos of him playing with toys into a multimillion-dollar empire. Why do so many other kids want to watch?
This Isn’t the California I Married The honeymoon’s over for its residents now that wildfires are almost constant. Has living in this natural wonderland lost its magic?

An Evangelical Climate Scientist Wonders What Went Wrong

Are We Really Facing a Second Civil War? interviewed many people who’ve lived through civil wars, and she told me they all say they didn’t see it coming. “They’re all surprised,” she said. “Even when, to somebody who studies it, it’s obvious years beforehand.” .......... to some of those, like Walter, who study civil war, an American crackup has come to seem, if not obvious, then far from unlikely, especially since Jan. 6. ..........

this country is closer to civil war than most Americans understand

......... “I’ve seen how civil wars start, and I know the signs that people miss. And I can see those signs emerging here at a surprisingly fast rate.” ....... “The United States is coming to an end,” Marche writes. “The question is how.” ........ “By 2025, American democracy could collapse, causing extreme domestic political instability, including widespread civil violence,” he wrote. “By 2030, if not sooner, the country could be governed by a right-wing dictatorship.” ......... “Serious people now invoke ‘Civil War’ not as metaphor but as literal precedent.” ......... he knows many civil war scholars, and “very few of them think the United States is on the precipice of a civil war.” Yet even some who push back on civil war talk tend to acknowledge what a perilous place America is in. .........

The fact that speculation about civil war has moved from the crankish fringes into the mainstream is itself a sign of civic crisis, an indication of how broken our country is.

............ an academic definition of “major armed conflict” as one that causes at least 1,000 deaths per year. A “minor armed conflict” is one that kills at least 25 people a year. By this definition, as Marche argues, “America is already in a state of civil strife.” ......... extremists, most of them right-wing, killed 54 people in 2018 and 45 people in 2019. ........ most common in what she and other scholars call “anocracies,” countries that are “neither full autocracies nor democracies but something in between.” Warning signs include the rise of intense political polarization based on identity rather than ideology, especially polarization between two factions of roughly equal size, each of which fears being crushed by the other. ........... Instigators of civil violence, she writes, tend to be previously dominant groups who see their status slipping away. “The ethnic groups that start wars are those claiming that the country ‘is or ought to be theirs’” .......... “Left-wing radicalism matters mostly because it creates the conditions for right-wing radicalization.” ..........

many on the right are both fantasizing about and planning civil war

.............. Some of those who swarmed the Capitol a year ago wore black sweatshirts emblazoned with

“MAGA Civil War.”

............... The Boogaloo Bois, a surreal, violent, meme-obsessed anti-government movement, get their name from a joke about a Civil War sequel. Republicans increasingly throw around the idea of armed conflict. ........... In August, Representative Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina said, “If our election systems continue to be rigged and continue to be stolen, then it’s going to lead to one place and that’s bloodshed,” and suggested he was willing, though reluctant, to take up arms. ........... Citing the men who plotted to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Walter writes that modern civil wars “start with vigilantes just like these — armed militants who take violence directly to the people.” ....... the threat of America calcifying into a Hungarian-style right-wing autocracy under a Republican president seems more imminent than mass civil violence ............ increasingly, the right is rigging our sclerotic system so that it can maintain power whether the voters want it to or not. ........... most of Marche’s narratives seem more imaginable than a future in which Jan. 6 turns out to be the peak of right-wing insurrection, and America ends up basically OK.




Jimmy Carter: I Fear for Our Democracy One year ago, a violent mob, guided by unscrupulous politicians, stormed the Capitol and almost succeeded in preventing the democratic transfer of power. All four of us former presidents condemned their actions and affirmed the legitimacy of the 2020 election. There followed a brief hope that the insurrection would shock the nation into addressing the toxic polarization that threatens our democracy. However, one year on, promoters of the lie that the election was stolen have taken over one political party and stoked distrust in our electoral systems. These forces exert power and influence through relentless disinformation, which continues to turn Americans against Americans. ........... 36 percent of Americans — almost 100 million adults across the political spectrum — agree that “the traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast that we may have to use force to save it.” .......... 40 percent of Republicans believe that violent action against the government is sometimes justified. ......... Politicians in my home state of Georgia, as well as in others, such as Texas and Florida, have leveraged the distrust they have created to enact laws that empower partisan legislatures to intervene in election processes. They seek to win by any means, and many Americans are being persuaded to think and act likewise, threatening to collapse the foundations of our security and democracy with breathtaking speed. I now fear that what we have fought so hard to achieve globally — the right to free, fair elections, unhindered by strongman politicians who seek nothing more than to grow their own power — has become dangerously fragile at home. .......... I have also seen how new democratic systems — and sometimes even established ones — can fall to military juntas or power-hungry despots. Sudan and Myanmar are two recent examples. .......... while citizens can disagree on policies, people of all political stripes must agree on fundamental constitutional principles and norms of fairness, civility and respect for the rule of law. Citizens should be able to participate easily in transparent, safe and secure electoral processes. Claims of election irregularities should be submitted in good faith for adjudication by the courts, with all participants agreeing to accept the findings. And the election process should be conducted peacefully, free of intimidation and violence. ............... we must resist the polarization that is reshaping our identities around politics. We must focus on a few core truths: that we are all human, we are all Americans and we have common hopes for our communities and our country ..........

We must find ways to re-engage across the divide, respectfully and constructively, by holding civil conversations with family, friends and co-workers and standing up collectively to the forces dividing us.

............. we must act urgently to pass or strengthen laws to reverse the trends of character assassination, intimidation and the presence of armed militias at events .......... and engage in a national effort to come to terms with the past and present of racial injustice. .........

Our great nation now teeters on the brink of a widening abyss. Without immediate action, we are at genuine risk of civil conflict and losing our precious democracy. Americans must set aside differences and work together before it is too late.



Monday, November 29, 2021

AOC 2028: Green New Deal Nation





Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Beto, Your Courage Is In Running



Beto O'Rourke presidential campaign staff, 2020
Beto O'Rourke names Texas staff for presidential campaign
Beto for America
O’Rourke bolsters senior staff with 5 hires

5 factors that could determine the strength of Beto O’Rourke’s campaign for governor The former congressman must keep elements of his 2018 campaign against Sen. Ted Cruz, while fixing mess made in 2020 presidential effort.



Beto O’Rourke hires 4 for national communications team

https://betoorourke.com/

Tuesday, August 04, 2020

If Covid Is A Sneeze, Climate Catastrophe Is Full Blown Fever

April 21: The Medicine Men Of Yesterday The exponential growth of the pandemic is no different from the exponential graph of climate catastrophe that the world has been drawing for itself. And so this pandemic is also an opportunity for the world to put itself on a path to tackle climate change. 

April 6: The Virus Asks For Out Of The Box Thinking This virus can not be tackled in any one country. It will have to be tackled simultaneously in every country. .......  This is the dress rehearsal for climate change. The coronavirus is forcing the world to do what needs to be done to fight climate change.



Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway boards ...

COVID-19 is awful. Climate change could be worseeconomic hardship not seen in many generations ........  the only way to avoid the worst possible climate outcomes is to accelerate our efforts now. ...... More than 600,000 people have died, and tens of millions are out of work. This April, car traffic was half what it was in April 2019. For months, air traffic virtually came to a halt. ......... “To understand the kind of damage that climate change will inflict, look at COVID-19 and spread the pain out over a much longer period.” ............  The loss of life and economic misery caused by this pandemic are on par with what will happen regularly if we do not eliminate the world’s carbon emissions. ..........  by 2060, climate change could be just as deadly as COVID-19, and by 2100 it could be five times as deadly. .......... In the next decade or two, the economic damage caused by climate change will likely be as bad as having a COVID-sized pandemic every ten years. ........... “If we learn the lessons of COVID-19, we can approach climate change more informed about the consequences of inaction.” ............  The current global crisis can inform our response to the next one. ......  In the next decade or two, the economic damage caused by climate change will likely be as bad as having a COVID-sized pandemic every ten years. And by the end of the century, it will be much worse if the world remains on its current emissions path. .........  Let science and innovation lead the way. ....... overall, the world should be using more energy, not less—as long as it is clean. .......  Any comprehensive response to climate change will have to tap into many different disciplines. Climate science tells us why we need to deal with this problem, but not how to deal with it. For that, we’ll need biology, chemistry, physics, political science, economics, engineering, and other sciences. .......... Make sure solutions work for poor countries too. ........  More than anywhere else, climate change will dramatically increase death rates in poor countries near or below the Equator, where the weather will get even hotter and more unpredictable. ..........  the effects of climate change will almost certainly be harsher than COVID-19's, and they will be the worst for the people who did the least to cause them. ........  Start now. .......  Unlike the novel coronavirus, for which I think we’ll have a vaccine next year, there is no two-year fix for climate change. It will take decades to develop and deploy all the clean-energy inventions we need. ...........  Health advocates said for years that a pandemic was virtually inevitable. The world did not do enough to prepare, and now we are trying to make up for lost time.

This is why you should sneeze into your elbow | Humans

Monday, June 29, 2020

Coronavirus News (171)

Why Bitcoin Will Be Crucial in Our Cashless Future  People pay with cash just 20 percent of the time in Sweden and only 14 percent of the time in South Korea. ........   the end of cash might carry unanticipated costs too. Today, cash is the easiest way to buy things anonymously, whereas most digital transactions are tracked by some middle man. With no digital cash equivalent, then, a cashless society is a society in which we’ve traded financial privacy for convenience. 

Feelings of anxiety and helplessness often rise during natural disasters but rarely become chronic, health experts note, and the prevalence of severe mental disorders is unlikely to change.

The Pandemic’s Mental Toll: More Ripple Than Tsunami Some health officials have forecast a steep rise in new mental health disorders. But the impact isn’t likely to last. ..........  “a massive increase in mental health conditions in the coming months,” wrought by anxiety and isolation. .........  Psychiatrists and therapists who work with people in the wake of earthquakes, hurricanes and other disasters noted that surges in anxiety and helplessness were natural reactions that seldom become traumatic or chronic. ..........  “Very few people understand how resilient they really are until faced with extraordinary circumstances. In fact, one of our first jobs in these situations is to call attention to just that.” .........   “The acute shock and fear of the events of September 11 were not accompanied by a commensurate increase in the use of psychotropic medications” .........  Post-traumatic stress requires, first, experiencing a life-threatening event, either personally; through a loved one; or up close, like witnessing deaths in an intensive care unit. Nightmares and other reverberations of the trauma are common, but these typically must persist for at least three months to qualify for the full diagnosis of a chronic condition. ..............  Living through a pandemic is nothing like surviving a natural catastrophe such as those: it’s less visible, less predictable, a creeping threat rather than flying debris — a marathon, psychologically, rather than a sprint to safety. A wave of new mental health disorders may indeed be on the way, especially if Covid-19 cases explode again late in the year, or the economic downturn deepens.

WITH NO PATIENTS AT HOME, CHINA OUTSOURCES COVID VACCINE TRIALS CHINESE RESEARCHERS ARE HOLDING A PHASE THREE CLINICAL TRIAL IN THE UAE INSTEAD...........   A couple other experimental vaccines, like those developed by Moderna Inc, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson, have also reached phase three. But so far, none of the clinical trials have actually begun.   

FOR THE FIRST TIME, UN WARNS OF “CLIMATE-RELATED” REFUGEES  “interplay between climate, conflict, hunger, poverty, and persecution creates increasingly complex emergencies.” .......  Doing so clarifies that they are unable to return home later, not unlike refugees escaping long-term political or religious persecution. 




Sunday, October 06, 2019

The Nation State In Peril

I am looking at the (1) incarceration epidemic in the US, (2) the million detained Uighurs in Xinjiang, China, and (3) Kashmir having been turned into an open-air prison by the Indian government in Delhi, and I am thinking, the nation-state, as we have known for a few hundred years now, is in need of an overhaul. What we have is not working.

We need 4-5 layers of government on the planet. The local, the state, the national, and the global. Most countries could use federalism. And sometimes local is not enough. Some small cultural units need autonomy within that local/state government.

When the Prime Minister of India meets the President of China in their annual two-day summit, do you think they just hang out? No. Their foreign ministries have been doing the homework for weeks in advance. Bureaucracies are involved. Four-Layered governance on the planet will make for more efficient bureaucracies.

The nation-state is not in a position to tackle the big challenges of the day. Not climate change, not terrorism, not global poverty.



Friday, September 20, 2019

Andrew Yang MSNBC Climate Forum Town Hall