The John James Newsletter 119
21 May 2016
I have seen men march to the wars,
and then I have watched their homeward tread,
and they brought back the bodies of living men,
but their eyes were cold and dead
Edmund Vance Cooke
We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people
Martin Luther King Jr.
The concept of global warming was created by the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive
Donald Trump
Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of our problems
Financial meltdown, environmental disaster and even the rise of Donald Trump – neoliberalism has played its part in them all. It has played a major role in a remarkable variety of crises: the financial meltdown of 2007‑8, the offshoring of wealth and power, of which the Panama Papers offer us merely a glimpse, the slow collapse of public health and education, resurgent child poverty, the epidemic of loneliness, the collapse of ecosystems, the rise of Donald Trump. But we respond to these crises as if they emerge in isolation, apparently unaware that they have all been catalysed by the same coherent philosophy; a philosophy that has no name. What greater power can there be than to operate namelessly?
Why has the left failed to come up with an alternative?
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot
The Demoralized Mind
Western consumer culture is creating a psycho-spiritual crisis that leaves us disoriented and bereft of purpose. How can we treat our sick culture and make ourselves well?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44653.htm
Naomi Klein: Radical Solutions
Climate crisis ‘might just be the catalyst we need to knit together the great many powerful movements bound together by the inherent worth and value of all people.’
Civil Disobedience is the Only Way Left to Fight Climate Change
Across the world, thousands of protesters are taking on the planet’s biggest fossil fuel companies. We should support them, and if we can, we should join them
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/05/13/civil-disobedience-only-way-left-fight-climate-change
Climate Change Causing Earth’s Poles To Shift
Scientists solve mystery of why the planet’s axis is tilting eastward. The position of Earth’s axis has dramatically shifted, likely because of melting ice sheets
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/earth-poles-climate-change_us_5706c52ee4b0537661892db4
Earth’s magnetic heartbeat in a new alien worlds
After two years of data collection Swarm has uncovered significant and rapid changes in the direction and strength of the magnetic field. Animation shows changes in the field, with a pulsation that is directly tied to the heart of the planet.
https://theconversation.com/earths-magnetic-heartbeat-a-thinner-past-and-new-alien-worlds-59442
We could suffocate from lack of oxygen
About two-thirds of the planet’s atmospheric oxygen is produced by ocean phytoplankton, and therefore any reduction in plankton from heat or acidification would deplete atmospheric oxygen global;y, resulting in the mass mortality of animals and humans.
Global air pollution is worsening, and poor countries are being hit the hardest
80% of people in cities and towns are breathing particulates at concentrations higher than the WHO’s recommended level. Air pollution in urban areas as a whole was 8% worse in 2013 than it was in 2008.
Key Hothouse Gas at Record Rate Near 408 Parts Per Million
Atmospheric CO2 keeps being pushed into record ranges by ongoing fossil fuel emission. Levels are now high enough to force rapid sea level rise, glacial destabilization, greater droughts, floods and wildfires, and declining ocean health.
https://scripps.ucsd.edu/programs/keelingcurve/
Obama the worst president ever?
Read this list and the references and judge for yourself
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2016/05/obama-presided-war-longer-president-history.html
I Am His Hands. He Is My Eyes
Since 2002, they have spent their days planting trees for the environment and for future generations. Despite their respective hardships, they say, “When we work together, two become one.” At first, the village was skeptical the men could overcome what was a wasteland. Today, over 10,000 new trees guard the village “like green soldiers.” “Planting trees has become an important mission of ours. It may be hard financially, but we’re so delighted spiritually.”
http://www.commondreams.org/further/2016/05/13/i-am-his-hands-he-my-eyes
Mobil’s Chief Executive Warned of CO2 From Oil Sands Fuels in 1982
Concerned that carbon-heavy fuels would speed up global warming, the CEO put his trust in the UN and federal scientists to point the way to solutions.
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/09052016/
Dyson could become the next Tesla motors as it develops a new electric car,
Filed patents show the Dyson vehicle may use solid-state batteries, which would see the car’s range stretch to hundreds of miles and also be safer than current batteries.
http://www.whatsonaroundhere.com/australia/nsw/sapphire-coast
Venezuela accuses US of plotting coup as Washington warns of ‘imminent collapse’
The US has a long history of seeking to interfere in the politics of Venezuela, as well as elsewhere in Latin America. In addition to supporting those who ousted Mr Chavez in 2002, the US poured hundreds of thousands of dollars to his opponents
Venezuela Opposition Calls for Coup, Protests Turn Violent
Three key signs that point to Washington’s hand in Brazil’s ‘coup’
As Brazil’s left-wing president, Dilma Rousseff, has been suspended from office to face trial for disregarding budget laws, details have emerged on key figures involved in the coup involving the US.
https://www.rt.com/news/343390-brazil-rousseff-impeachment-us/
Current US Ambassador to Brazil Served in Paraguay Prior to 2012 Coup
Examining the role of the US in the ouster of the President Dilma Rousseff, it emerged that Liliana Ayalde, the present US ambassador to Brazil, previously served as ambassador to Paraguay in the lead up to the similar 2012 coup against President Fernando Lugo.
US debt dump deepens
central banks sold a net $17 billion. Sales had hit a record $57 billion in January. So far this year, the global bank debt dump has reached $123 billion.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/16/news/economy/us-debt-dump-treasury/index.html
Antarctic model raises prospect of unstoppable ice collapse
Before the last ice age began 130,000–115,000 years ago sea levels were 6–9 metres higher than today while C02 was about 30% lower. And 3 million years ago, when CO2 levels roughly equalled today’s, the oceans may have been 10–30 metres higher.
http://www.nature.com/news/antarctic-model-raises-prospect-of-unstoppable-ice-collapse-1.19638
The ‘New’ Australia: Agile, Greedy And Inequitable
Since 2010, 24,000 mostly poor people have had to represent themselves in court, thanks to budget cuts to legal aid by successive governments. Also, 160,000 people are turned away from community legal centres, including women who have suffered domestic violence. Indigenous people, who make up 3% of the population, now account for 28% of adult prisoners.
https://newmatilda.com/2016/05/17/the-new-australia-nimble-agile-greedy-and-inequitable/
South Australia launches biggest solar + storage trial to defray network costs
SA Power Networks has announced the biggest trial of rooftop solar energy storage in Australia, in a bid to prove that the new “distributed generation” technologies can avoid the need to build additional network infrastructure.
and
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2016/wind-and-solar-become-new-base-load-power-for-south-australia-99364
How Portugal went 107 hours on only renewable energy
Portugal generates 30% of its electricity from hydropower, about one quarter from wind, 6.4 percent from biofuels and waste, and 1.2% from solar. Wind energy production grew by more that 600% 2004-09, and in 2014, Portugal was second only to Denmark in wind power. “How did Portugal assume such impressive leadership in the clean energy transition? The key, as usual, lies in ambitious supportive policies.”
London borough installs 6,000 solar panels over marketplace
£2m scheme by Hounslow council on Western International Market will be biggest solar scheme by any local authority, and use batteries to store energy
UNSW solar team achieves huge leap in solar cell efficiency
It sets the scene for a change in the cost of solar, which is already falling below 3c/kWh in recent contracts, and is set to become unbeatable in levellised cost across all energy sources. Future modules will be smaller, more powerful, and offer cheaper power.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2016/unsw-solar-team-achieves-huge-leap-in-solar-cell-efficiency-29541
Fort McMurray and the fires of climate change
More than 1,500 buildings had been destroyed and the blaze had spread through an area covering more than 300 square miles. It was burning so hot that that it was easily able to jump major rivers. One Canadian official Another called it a “multi-headed monster.”
http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/fort-mcmurray-and-the-fires-of-climate-change
For animated map of fire’s expansion
Trump’s Bizarre Climate Beliefs Would Jeopardize Meaningful Global Climate Action
he could as President block the “ratcheting down” of climate targets needed to avoid catastrophic warming. His threat to blow up the only process we have to avoid multiple irreversible catastrophic climate impacts must be taken as seriously as his candidacy.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/18/3779417/donald-denier-destroy-paris-climate-deal/
US financial regulations increase starvation among Syria’s children
Nearly 7 million people are displaced within Syria, half of them are children and more than two million of the youngsters are at risk of becoming ill, malnourished, abused, or exploited. In rural areas of Damascus one in 20 children is severely malnourished with 14 per cent classed acutely malnourished.
America and NATO’s Outrageous Behavior, Greatest Threat that Exists
Violating the promise that George Bush made in 1990 to Mikhail Gorbachev — and on the basis of which the USSR was dissolved and the Warsaw Pact terminated — that NATO would not be expanded “one inch to the east”