Assorted content to end your week. – Graham Lawton writes that continued (or worse yet growing) inequality represents an intractable obstacle to ameliorating the climate crisis. Laurence Tubiana discusses the importance of taxing polluters, while Arielle Samuelson and Emily Atkin expose how big oil is trying to bribe its way
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Accidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Joan Westenberg discusses how to fight back in the war against knowledge, while Julia Doubleday calls out the lengths to which the New York Times and other outlets are going in avoiding any acknowledgment of the continuing effects of COVID-19. And in
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This and that for your Thursday reading. – Rachel Fairbank discusses how a patient-led research collaborative is filling in the gaps in long COVID research and treatment. – Re.Climate examines (PDF) the state of Canadian public opinion on the climate crisis – which sadly features a stark and growing gap
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Brian Klaas writes about the death of substantive policy discussion as both media and political actors focus primarily on horse-race messaging rather than identifying and solving problems. And Kohei Saito highlights the limiting effects of an underlying assumption that our society and
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Assorted content to end your week. – Maximilian Kotz et al. study the foreseeable effect of the climate crisis on the cost of food, and find that increased global warming will result in systemic inflation in food prices. And Matthew Taylor reports on research showing that the carbon pollution from
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett discuss why the world can’t afford the rich. And Cory Doctorow points out that class-based advocacy for better material conditions tends to be a political winner even in the U.S. – but that it’s not generally presented as an option by
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Andrew Phillips offers a reminder that Canada will pay the price for a climate breakdown whether or not it partially prices emissions in the moment – though it’s worth noting that even the existing combination of taxes and regulations falls far short of
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This and that for your Thursday reading. – Kate Irwin reports on new research showing that dozens of the U.S.’ largest corporations are doling out more money to their five top executives than they paid in total federal income tax. And Robert Renger makes the case that windfall gains in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Brishti Basu reports on the ill effects of WorkSafeBC’s decision to push people back to work while they continue to suffer from long COVID. And Alex Skopic calls out the CDC’s choice to direct people back to work while they’re still infected
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Assorted content to end your week. – Oshan Jarow discusses Sapien Labs’ work measuring mental health levels around the globe – and the resulting conclusion that “conveniences” including smartphones and ultra-processed foods may contribute to a lower level of mental wellness. And Michelle Gamage writes about the plummeting life expectancy of
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Assorted content to end your week. – Ziyad Al-Aly offers a reminder of the immense body of evidence showing that COVID-19 leaves a lasting impact on the brain. And Hannah Devlin reports on new research on the sustained impact of “brain fog” in particular. – Ryan Meili writes about the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Susan Riley points out the glaring gap between the urgency of the climate crisis, and the Canadian political response which (Charlie Angus aside) ranges from mealy-mouthed corporatism to outright sabotage. And Gillian Steward calls out the UCP’s continued climate denial which is preventing
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This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Andre Picard highlights the dangers of treating the return of measles (and other threats to health exacerbated by anti-science zealotry) as something to be mocked rather than taken seriously. And John Paul Tasker discusses the widespread frustration Canadians are experiencing trying to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Kevin Jiang reports on the results of the largest-ever study into the effects of COVID-19 vaccines – which concludes they’ve been extremely safe (while serving to prevent far worse outcomes). But Gregg Gonsalves laments that public health authorities are under attack by the
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: About Alberta’s Proposed Ban On Trans Athletes
Among the heartless and cruel things that Danielle Smith announced in her "policy package" about parental rights (anti-transgender policy, really), was an absolute ban on transgender women competing in sports in Alberta. The rationale being that somehow "transgender women have massive advantages in athletics", and somehow that having transgender women
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Let’s Talk About Protecting Children
The ostensible reason for the UCP government's recently announced bundle of policies around transgender youth (actually, all trans people – but we'll come back to that) is to "protect children". I'm going to speak to this from a professional and therapeutic perspective, because I have relevant training and experience in
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: About That Consultation Thing
I'm sure that we all heard Premier Smith claim that she has consulted widely on the draconian anti-transgender policies that she announced last week. Now it starts to come out exactly whom she consulted with – and surprise, surprise, it's not exactly a group of people well-qualified to help guide
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Alberta’s Proposed Trans Policy
It's been 3 days since Premier Danielle Smith dropped a bomb on Alberta's transgender community, and I'm still reeling. I'm alternating between being angry with the government, and grieving for the youth that will be most deeply affected by these policies. Before I dive into a deeper analysis of what
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Ian Welsh discusses how COVID-19 is the second-most important story in the world – and how our failure to respond with appropriate regard for human life and well-being mirrors our inability to address any social challenge. And Ruth Link-Gelles et al. find that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg examines why seemingly healthy macroeconomic indicators – and even positive personal expectations – haven’t translated into public satisfaction with political economic leaders. But Dougald Lamont is setting out how our economic system has been torqued at the behest of corporate robber
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