The John James Newsletter 168
25 March 2017
When Americans were asked whether the federal government was spending too little on “assistance to the poor”, 65% agreed. When they were asked whether it was spending too little on “welfare”, 25% agreed.
George Monbiot
The corporate grip on opinion in the US is one of the wonders of the Western world. No First World country has ever managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all objectivity – much less dissent
Gore Vidal
Trump Is Following Scott Walker’s Playbook
If you think things are bad now for the nation, a closer look over what happened in Wisconsin shows us that we need to brace ourselves. It seems like Reince Priebus [who came to the Trump administration out of Walker’s political machinery in Wisconsin] has been printing up copies of Walker’s playbook and handing it out not only to Trump but to the Republican leadership in Congress, as well,”
The US Pulls Out of Planned Human Rights Hearing
EPA hit hardest as Trump budget 31% cut.
The EPA would sustain the biggest cut of any federal agency to clear away regulations Trump claims are hobbling oil drillers, coal miners and farmers. It would effectively erase Obama’s initiatives to combat climate change by cutting funding for the agency’s signature Clean Power Plan aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-budget-epa-idUSKBN16N0E1
Climate Change Forces Northwest Natives From Their Ancestral Homes
As is true in many Native communities around the world, the Quinault have borne witness to the marked signs of climate change over the past century. In Taholah — which is home to some 825 people — these signs are becoming increasingly impossible to ignore.
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/39974-losing-home
Greece To Surrender Gold, Utilities and Real Estate in Exchange For Pieces of Paper Printed in Brussels
The untold story of the Greek “bailouts” is that it wasn’t a “bailout” — it was an auction of Greek assets. Real, tangible things with real, tangible value were seized in exchange for pieces of paper that guarantee Athens will be chained to Berlin and Brussels for the foreseeable future. It’s your basic extortion racket.
Plankton turns water blue off Tasmania
Waters off the coast of Tasmania turn a shimmering blue, caused by Noctiluca scintillans – also known as sea sparkle. Despite people flocking to photograph the eerie scenes, scientists have warned that they are, in fact, a worrying sign of climate change
Emergency shelters made from paper
Long before sustainability was a buzzword, architect Shigeru Ban was using ecologically sound building materials such as cardboard tubes. He uses them to build remarkable temporary structures for disaster-struck nations such as Haiti, Rwanda and Japan. Yet often, these buildings remain a beloved part of the landscape long after they have served their intended purpose.
https://www.ted.com/talks/shigeru_ban_emergency_shelters_made_from_paper
The Oceans are Warming Faster than Thought; Rate is accelerating
This increased rate of warming is rather concerning when you consider that 93% of the extra heat ends up in the oceans. Ocean heat gain is probably a better determiner of overall global warming than atmospheric heat gain.
Global sea level rise surged
Between November 2014 and February 2016 the El Niño event helped the oceans rise by 15mm. That jump would have take five years under the steady rise seen in recent decades.
Improved estimates of ocean heat content from 1960 to 2015
All ocean basins examined have experienced significant warming since 1998, with the greatest warming in the southern oceans, the tropical/subtropical Pacific Ocean, and the tropical/subtropical Atlantic Ocean.
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/3/e1601545
Can pop-up ‘repair cafes’ save broken gadgets and solve growing waste levels?
One of the first to open, The Bower in Marrickville, Sydney, said its volunteer fixers had helped to repair items for more than 800 people and “diverted 97 tonnes of waste from landfill”.
Carbon emissions are not soaked up by trees as well as initially thought
While the trees captured the carbon well up to the present day, they could not capture more. “We saw no growth response to the trees, to the elevated CO2, and we saw no productivity response either,”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-07/future-co2-levels-may-be-too-high-for-trees-to-store/8330620
Cambodia Rejects US War Debt, Slams US Imperial Brutality
“They dropped bombs on our heads and then ask up to repay. When we do not repay, they tell the IMF not to lend us money.” Between 1970 and 1975, US fighter jets carried out secret carpet-bombings killing more than 500,000 people, many of them women and children. After the Khmer Rouge took over the country in 1975, more than 2 million people died as a result of political executions, disease and forced labor, and many credited US imperialism in the region for fueling the death toll.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/46706.htm
Regulators Aren’t Ready For New techniques being used to produce our food
Lab-made meat. Hornless cattle. Designer bacteria. Dozens of futuristic-sounding products are being developed using new tools and synthetic biology.
Want to see where the rich are planning to hide out?
Sales of underground bunkers have increased in some instances by 300% since Trump won.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4332818/Inside-billionaire-bunkers-bought-super-rich.html
Drought grips southern India, set to worsen in summer
Three of India’s southern states are facing a severe drought that has cut water supplies to cities and farms
http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/drought-grips-southern-india-set-to-worsen-in-summer
