Link Blog
At least 100 elephants have died in Zimbabwe’s largest national park in recent weeks because of drought, their carcasses a grisly sign of what wildlife authorities and conservation groups say is the impact of climate change..
Authorities warn that more could die as forecasts suggest a scarcity of rains and rising heat in parts of the southern African nation including Hwange National Park. The International Fund for Animal Welfare has described it as a crisis for elephants and other animals.
At least 100 elephant deaths in Zimbabwe national park blamed on climate change - CBS News
Israel has shifted the so-called “safe zone” again. First Khan Younis was supposedly safe, but after continuous bombing, Palestinians are now being forced into the barren sands of al-Mawasi. The narrow strip of land, about the size of the airport, is where Israel wants Gaza’s 2.3 million civilians to relocate to. But the small, undeveloped zone has no infrastructure for safety or survival. As Bisan Owda shows us, there is no clean water to drink and not enough fuel to keep people warm.
‘It’s Bisan From Gaza, And Israel Is Forcing Everyone To The Desert' - YouTube
Fossil fuels won at COP28 - YouTube
Another year, another climate summit. …tainted by the influence of record numbers of fossil fuel lobbyists and the blatant hand of fossil fuel companies..
She concludes: “So, we’ve got to take things into our own hands and act in our own spheres as well.”
NPR’s The Sunday Story: Media faces the question of how to cover Donald Trump and his extreme rhetoric
As he campaigns for a second term as President, Trump is increasingly threatening retribution and violent acts if he’s reelected.
They interview the Guardian’s Margaret Sullivan who recently published The public doesn’t understand the risks of a Trump victory. That’s the media’s fault and the Atlantic’s Brian Klaas who recently published: Trump Floats the Idea of Executing Joint Chiefs Chairman Milley.
Is the media is failing to convey the danger Trump poses? Thus far, yes.
We are surrounded by stuff. We buy and buy and buy - it’s the foundation of how our economies run, how they grow. But all this buying, all this economic “growing”, is devastating people and our planet. In the third episode of All Hail The Planet - a series delving into the social, economic and political forces undermining meaningful global action on climate change - Ali Rae speaks with economic anthropologist Jason Hickel, economic sociologist Juliet Schor, and development economist Ndongo Samba Sylla.
Our obsession with economic growth is deadly | All Hail The Planet - YouTube
I can’t sleep. I’m lying in bed every night, and images of Gaza are running through my head. Fathers holding their babies, dead, caked in dust. Bombs dropped on homes, on hospitals, on schools. Tens of thousands of dead in indiscriminate bombings.
In a world where the dark, dystopian visions of Cyberpunk have long dominated our sci-fi imaginations, a new genre emerges as a beacon of hope: Solarpunk
A brief, really enjoyable overview of Solarpunk.
In this Our Changing Climate climate change video essay, I look at how we can decrease overconsumption, overproduction, and consumerism through degrowth. Specifically, I look at why we need degrowth. What exactly degrowth is, and then I explore how we might achieve a degrowth-oriented zero-carbon world.
A study of more than 1,500 species of herbivorous insects in Europe, spanning 34 years of data, has found that 60% of insects are already struggling to keep up with the plants they rely on because climate change is advancing key seasonal timings (phenology), such as plant blooming or insect emergence, earlier in the year, at different rates.
Climate change causing 60% of plants and insects to fall out of sync
The latest Team Human podcast is an excellent discussion with Carne Ross about democratic confederalism as a bottom-up form of human social organization. Put another way, community-based democracy and economics.
Fantastic.
Republicans on Capitol Hill have vastly downplayed the importance of former President Donald Trump twice stating in the past week that he wants dictatorial powers on the first day of his next term in office, should he win the 2024 presidential election.
Republicans Are Defending Trump’s “Dictator” Comments, Calling It Entertainment | Truthout
If you’re concerned about energy and climate this is a fantastic podcast and this episode in particular is worth a listen.
With so many moving pieces, how can we begin to create a coherent story of the world around us and - even more difficult - start preparing responses to coming challenges? What should individuals aware of these converging crises be thinking about in order to prepare themselves, their families, and their communities for a materially smaller future?
When most people in the US need to go somewhere, they reach for their car keys. There are plenty of reasons for this: driving is easy, it’s comfortable, and it requires very little preparation. But also, it’s hard to do anything else, and maybe the hardest of those hard things is cycling.
But plenty of people do it anyway. Whether by choice or because it’s their only option, millions of Americans bike to get where they’re going…
“Carbon emissions may continue to rise, the polar ice caps may continue to melt, crop yields may continue to decline, the world’s forests may continue to burn, coastal cities may continue to sink under rising seas and droughts may continue to wipe out fertile farmlands, but the messiahs of hope assure us that all will be right in the end. Only it won’t.” — Chris Hedges
Yes, the Climate Crisis May Wipe out Six Billion People | The Tyee
The report, released on Wednesday by the United Nations in collaboration with a team of international scientists, found that countries still plan to produce more than double the amount of fossil fuels in 2030 than would be required to limit warming to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels.
It is an indictment of the state of our nation today that Trump could be a viable candidate for the office he has disgraced. Even putting aside for now the lack of legal barriers; can he run if convicted, does the 14th Amendment apply; the fact that he has not been cast aside on the trash heap of history is frightening. … The next year may be the most crucial in our history since the Civil War.
Increasing public activism in the United States and the world for a ceasefire in Gaza is also helping highlight Israel’s apartheid policies.
It also signals how people across the globe recognise the Palestinians’ suffering and their battle for national rights as among the last anti-colonial struggles in the world.
Israel deserves every bit of the global public criticism it is receiving | Al Jazeera
In just 13 weeks, Republicans will likely lock in a criminal nominee determined to end democracy
But then I saw yesterday’s deeply sobering _Washington Post_column by Robert Kagan that opens by telling readers to “stop the wishful thinking and face the stark reality.” The headline pretty well sums it all up: “A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending.”
They’ve dedicated their lives to understanding the problems then communicating to the world only to be ignored or, worse, threatened.
Decades ago, three pioneering Australian scientists were some of the first to warn the world about a looming climate crisis. They were branded alarmists and faced political pressure. We hear how they made their discoveries, the personal toll it took on them, and how, during the hottest year on record, they stay hopeful
“We are talking about over 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners inside Israeli prisons right now. More than 2,500 are being held under administrative detention … without a charge and without a trial,” says Tala Nasir, a lawyer with Addameer, a group that advocates for Palestinian prisoners. We also speak with Israeli journalist Orly Noy, who says the sheer number of Palestinian prisoners shows “how central the tool of incarceration is in the Israeli project” of occupying and oppressing Palestinians
Incarceration Is a Central Tool of Israel’s Oppression of Palestinians | Truthout