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I fear things have crossed the point of no return, both in terms of the climate and of the international “order”. Time to go bush and enjoy what is left of nature.
Andrew GliksonLithium was such an inoffensive mineral when I was at school, but then so was uranium in my father’s day
Rob DurrochBy stating “no plateauing of human population growth by the end of this century” the IPCC report sidesteps the most important and damaging issue. My question: why bother to reduce fossil fuels if we do nothing to the major forcing: population? Isnt it time we were coercive and imposed sanctions on countries that do not take action to reduce their birth rate?
John JamesThey will stop at nothing to maintain the hegemony of the dollar, because this is the basis of the US empire. It’s not land-based, it’s not based on material goods, it’s based on lending dollars, getting out income and when countries can’t pay they dismantle the assets and take them over. This is how America built its empire.
Max KeiserThe fatuity of Christmas products is matched by the profundity of the impacts. Rare materials, complex electronics, the energy needed for manufacture and transport are extracted and refined and combined into compounds that are trashing the living world through utter pointlessness.
George Monbiot3 in 10 shoppers are going into the holiday season still carrying debt from last year’s festivities
Kelli GrantThe best things in life are free, but they’ve found a way of selling them to you.
George Monbiot
Warning of ‘ecological Armageddon’ after dramatic plunge in insect numbers
Three-quarters of flying insects in nature reserves across Germany have vanished in 25 years, with serious implications for all life on Earth. Insects are an integral part of life on Earth as both pollinators and prey for other wildlife and it was known that some species such as butterflies were declining. But the newly revealed scale of the losses to all insects has prompted warnings that the world is “on course for ecological Armageddon”, with profound impacts on human society.
Scientist unveils blueprint to save bees and enrich farmers
The collapse in bee populations can be reversed if countries adopt a new farmer-friendly strategy, with substantial gains in income and biodiversity from devoting a quarter of cropland to flowering economic crops such as spices, oil seeds, medicinal and forage plants.
Methane – Arctic now warmer than England
Sea surface temperatures in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf are 16.9 C compared to further south. The situation is especially critical in many parts of the Arctic Ocean where the water is very shallow. Some 75% of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) is shallower than 50 m. The danger here is huge, for at least five reasons:
• shallow waters can warm up very rapidly in case of an influx of warm water;
• these shallow seas are now covered by ice, so the heat cannot escape to the atmosphere;
• sea ice is very thin, so the sea ice won’t act as a buffer to absorb the heat;
• methane rising through shallow waters will pass through the water and enter the atmosphere more quickly;
• in shallow waters, large abrupt releases will more quickly deplete the oxygen in the water, making it harder for microbes to break down the methane.
Orwellian climate newspeak
It is since the dawn of the enlightenment that humanism and science have been rising above prejudices and witchcraft, in some parts of the world. The enlightenment, defined as “ideas centred on reason as the primary source of authority and legitimacy, advancing ideals like liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government and separation of church and state”, is nowadays in full retreat. Recently messengers of hate and racism have been descending on public forums, while those who try to warn humanity of the climate and nuclear calamities are commonly barred from the mainstream media. As mourned by the late Patrick White, had a fraction of the tens of thousands of those attending sport carnivals participated in peace rallies, perhaps the world would have been different. But such ideas are less in evidence as the world moves back toward totalitarianism, whose basic tenets are expressed by demagogues with mass appeal, hate speech, racial vilification, anti-intellectualism,anti-science, and the promotion of war.
The Gift of Death
So effectively have governments, the media and advertisers associated consumption with prosperity and happiness that to say these things is to expose yourself to opprobrium and ridicule. The growth of inequality that has accompanied the consumer boom ensures that the rising economic tide no longer lifts all boats. In the US in 2010 a remarkable 93% of the growth in incomes accrued to the top 1% of the population. The old excuse, that we must trash the planet to help the poor, simply does not wash. For a few decades of extra enrichment for those who already possess more money than they know how to spend, the prospects of everyone else who will live on this earth are diminished.
In Sweden, cash is almost extinct and people implant microchips in their hands to pay for things
More than 4,000 Swedes have gone the microchip route as cash use fades and the government scrambles to figure out the effects on society and the economy. The central bank, which predicts cash may fade from Sweden, is testing a digital currency — an e-krona — to keep firm control of the money supply. Lawmakers are exploring the fate of online payments and bank accounts if an electrical grid fails or servers are thwarted by power failures, hackers or even war.
In Australia the banks – who we know cannot be trusted at all – want all transactions to be cashless by 2020. Watch out!
US ‘Empire of Debt’ will go to war to stop emergence of petro-yuan
The imminent introduction of oil trading in yuan before the end of this year is a very bold move by the Chinese, because the US will not give up the basis of its hegemony – the dollar as the world’s reserve currency – without a fight. Marcos and Saddam Hussein wanted to trade oil in Euros and they were killed, Muammar Gaddafi wanted to trade his energy in something other than the US dollar – he was killed.
Pentagon’s ‘lost’ trillions went to people connected to US military-industrial complex
The lost trillions have nothing to do with defence, but to prop up the high lifestyles of those connected to the military-industrial complex. After spending nearly a billion dollars to find out what has happened to trillions in unaccounted-for spending, the long look through the books has concluded that only ten percent of all Pentagon agencies pass muster.
We need net zero by 2050
A crucial new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says limiting global warming to 1.5°C requires “rapid and far-reaching” economic transitions. Disappointingly, the report does not call for action on population, but acknowledges that high population growth is a “key impediment” to reaching climate targets. We are currently heading for a 1.5°C warmer world as early as 2040, with lasting and profound environmental and economic implications. IPCC members said the next few years are probably the most important in humanity’s history as government action (or inaction) based on these findings will determine whether we can avert large-scale catastrophe.
All 1.5˚C emissions pathways rely upon carbon removal
The IPCC report shows clearly that we will need to focus efforts not only on reducing emissions, but also removing and storing carbon from the atmosphere. Carbon removal is necessary for both moving to net-zero emissions and for producing net-negative emissions to compensate for any overshoot of 1.5˚C. The pathways studied in the report rely on different levels of carbon removal (ranging from 100-1,000 GtCO2 over the 21st century for scenarios with limited or no overshoot), but all rely on it to some extent. The report notes that carbon removal deployed at such a scale is unproven, and is itself a major risk to our ability to limit warming to 1.5˚C. The report also notes that feasibility and sustainability of carbon removal could be enhanced if a portfolio of carbon-removal approaches is pursued.
Ukraine – Poroshenko Initiated Clash With Russia To Gain Dictatorial Powers – He Failed
The Ukraine does not accept the decision the people of Crimea and insists that the peninsula is still part of its territory. The Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko sent the boats with the order not to coordinate their passage with Russian authorities. The captured sailors confirm that. He obviously wanted to provoke a violent Russian reaction. The government of Ukraine practically admitted that the mission had nefarious intent
Russia Blocks Ukrainian Navy From Militarizing The Sea of Azov
The Ukrainian government, urged on by the U.S., wants to establish a new military harbor in the Sea of Azov. Two of its navy ships, a rescue vessel and a tug, passed through the street on September 23. In October the Russian government warned that it will not allow any further militarization of the sea. Some U.S. hawks even want NATO ships to enter the Sea of Azov. The Sea of Azov has a maximum depth of 7 meters. Typical U.S. frigates have a draft of 10+ meters. What NATO or U.S. ship could even go there? As Russia firmly controls the sole entry point into the sea and can easily attack any ship in the Sea of Azov from within its borders the idea is incredibly stupid.
Ukraine’s provocation in the Azov Sea
The ongoing crisis is the most significant direct military confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, the countries with the two largest standing armies in Europe, since early 2014, when a far-right coup in Kiev, orchestrated and financed by the European Union and US imperialism, plunged the region into a state of perpetual crisis.
Antarctic melting slows atmospheric warming and speeds sea level rise
“Warming won’t be as bad as fast as we thought, but sea level rise will be worse,” As the Antarctic ice sheet melts, warming of the atmosphere will be delayed by about a decade but sea level rise will accelerate, In addition to slowing warming and increasing sea level, the melting of the Antarctic ice sheet will change precipitation regimes because the tropical rain belt will shift north. Ice losses from Antarctica have increased global sea levels by 7.6 mm since 1992, with two fifths of this rise (3.0 mm) coming in the last five years alone. The findings are from a major climate assessment known as the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise. It is the most complete picture of Antarctic ice sheet change to date — 84 scientists from 44 international organizations combined 24 satellite surveys to produce the assessment.
Trump administration downplays warnings of looming disaster
The Trump administration attempted to downplay the stark findings of its own climate change assessment, as Democrats sought to pressure the White House to avert looming economic and public health disaster. The US National Climate change assessment, the work of 300 scientists and 13 federal agencies, found that wildfires, storms and heatwaves are already taking a major toll on Americans’ wellbeing, with climate change set to “disrupt many areas of life” in the future, hundreds of billions of dollars lost, crop failures, expanding wildfires, altered coastlines and multiplying health problems, represents the most comprehensive and sobering analysis yet of the dangers posed to the US by rising temperatures.
Judge’s Ruling Against Trump Foundation Could Mean Beginning of Much Worse
“As we detailed in our petition earlier this year, the Trump Foundation functioned as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political interests. There are rules that govern private foundations — and we intend to enforce them, no matter who runs the foundation. We welcome Justice Scarpulla’s decision, which allows our suit to move forward.”
Climate change strike: thousands of school students protest across Australia
‘Strike 4 Climate Action’ brings thousands of students together in defiance of prime minister’s warning. More than a thousand primary and secondary students filled Sydney’s Martin Place and students in Melbourne marched through the streets, bringing traffic to a standstill. Freya, 13, and Bee, 14, from Sydney Girls high school, said they felt like their voices were being heard. “Because we don’t have a vote in the elections, it sometimes feels like you’re silent,” Freya said. Bee added: “You can influence something. Now it actually feels like I am making a difference about something I believe in. “I think they are misjudging who we are,” Freya said. “They are underestimating us, You can look around and see how many people are here.” Elly, 14, was there with her sister Aidan, 10, and said they hadn’t expected so many students to turn up. “I wasn’t expecting this many,” she said. “I thought it would be small. It’s so good. I didn’t know many people coming from my school, but it’s so cool to have everyone else here.”
This action was not covered by some newspapers and trashed by others. Scroll through YouTube for dozens of posts taken by the students themselves.
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