The UK’s Royal Meteorological Society wrote about the deadly heatwave that affected western North America in 2021. An underlying message was to prepare for more disasters like the destruction of Lytton, BC. This might happen even if governments get truly serious about climate change, an unlikely scenario even as death
Continue readingTag: climate change
Accidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Crawford Kilian reviews two new books on the effects of an overheating planet. Damian Carrington reports on the science tracing unprecedented heat waves to climate change. And Jag Bhalla warns about the dangers of undue optimism about the state of our living environment – with the people with
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Even a single lamp dispels the deepest darkness
Substance use disorder (SUD) affects human’ brains and behaviors, leading to uncontrolled use of substances. Symptoms can be moderate to severe. For individuals, this might involve drugs or alcohol. For industrialized societies, it certainly involves fossil fuels.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Ekaterina Pesheva writes about the continued uncertainty as to the driving mechanism behind long COVID even as large numbers of people suffer from it. Eric Berger notes that experts are cautioning Americans to keep a close eye on COVID exposure as new
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Arianna Johnson reports on new research showing how COVID-19 can continue to affect organ function long after the lungs have healed. Philip Finkelstein calls out the lack of any effective response to the widespread and continuing risk of long COVID. Erin Prater examines
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Rachel DuRose writes about the rise of the Eris COVID-19 variant, while Esther Choo notes that health care workers are bracing for another fall wave even as the ongoing risks have been disappeared from any public attention by authorities looking to squelch any
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Jennifer La Grassa reports on the impending wave of the EG.5 COVID-19 variant, even as Phil Hahn warns that what little and belated data we have on COVID infections in the form of wastewater analysis may soon be cut off. And Ed Yong
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: A Letter to Protest Moratorium on Renewable Energy Projects
Dear Readers: It’s August.We should be enjoying what’s left of summer but with the Smith government it’s one stupid thing after another. Premier Smith Smith’s decision to impose a 6 month moratorium on new renewable energy projects was the last straw. Yesterday I sent a letter of protest to Smith,
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: A Return to Social Cohesion
Bill McKibben wrote about being asked Where Should I Live to avoid the climate change issues. He outlined the problems with many places that might seem ideal, and concluded that we’re best off staying where we are if possible, but working on building social cohesion: “Get to work building that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Hanwen Zhang highlights yet another rise in COVID cases – albeit paired with obviously-unwarranted minimizing of the risks involved. – Jessica Wildfire pushes back against the establishment demand that people somehow evolve to become cacti in order to survive a climate breakdown,
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Collapse of modern society
University of Manchester’s Dr. Kevin Anderson is a visiting researcher in the Department of Earth Sciences at Sweden’s Uppsala University. Anderson warns that continuing on our current path will result in a catastrophic outcome due to climate change. He cautions against believing the political rhetoric about progress and says the
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Unspent Billions Exacerbating our Healthcare Crisis
From MPP Catherine Fife: “Ontario’s Budget Officer has found that the Ford government failed to spend $7.2 billion of its budget last year, including $1.7 billion unspent on health as ERs are closing and surgery waitlists are growing.” Meanwhile, in just one specific case, three teens who were stabbed at
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Hope or Doom: Can’t it be Both?
There’s a new type of minimizer article out about climate change: concern with it indicates a mental health disorder! It’s the same tactic people use to get the public to ignore the ongoing Covid virus. Check out Monbiot’s comments on this article. And then there’s the learn to live with
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: A world defined by impacts long called catastrophic
New York Times science writer David Wallace-Wells, author of The Uninhabitable Earth, issues a weekly newsletter for subscribers. The August 2 edition is a powerful and disturbing look at the future.
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: The Origin of Climate Goals
Professor Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist and author, wrote an educational post about climate goals back in 2019, but it’s currently useful information to understand the news (since climate change is finally in the news): “When it comes to what climate goals we should be aiming for, there are a lot
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Climate change denial, indifference, concern
— Climate change denial is based on prioritizing consumerism and wealth accumulation over human health and survival. — Climate change indifference is based on false hope, inattention, or ignorance. — Climate change concern is based on altruism and science.
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Every alarm bell is ringing, but political reporters aren’t listening
I looked at the writings of Vaughn Palmer, a person considered by many to be the Dean of the BC Press Gallery. The province’s production of fossil fuels is accelerating, and wildfires — with months to go in fire season — have consumed 450 percent of the average of the
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: AMOC – What it is and Why You Should Care
AMOC stands for Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. It’s slowing down significantly, and people in the know are pretty worried about it. According to Professor Stefan Rahmstorf, AMOC is “a near-surface northward flow along the Atlantic, from the far south up to the high north. There the water gives off its
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: Methane, gas or liquid, is not clean energy
Governments responsible for regulation of fossil fuels are also promoters of its production and consumption. British Columbia has committed billions of dollars to encourage liquified fossil gas and has extended subsidies by way of royalty credits worth over $15 billion in today’s dollars. Government’s commitment to growing the fossil fuel
Continue readingIN-SIGHTS: COP37
A Conference of the Parties (COP) is held regularly to assess the effects of the measures taken by Parties and the progress made in dealing with climate change. Dubai, most populated city of the world’s seventh largest oil producer, will host COP27 in December 2023. Leaders of the top five
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