breadandcircuses

breadandcircuses , 9 hours ago to random

Today is #ShowYourStripes day — every year on the summer solstice!

Get your local US stripes here: https://climatecentral.org/graphic/2024-warming-stripes

And get your international #WarmingStripes here: https://showyourstripes.info

#History #Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis

breadandcircuses , 1 day ago to random

If the scientists are "scared as hell," how should you and I be feeling?

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Peter Kalmus, a climate scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Rose Abramoff, a scientist fired [for protesting] from her job at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, are among more than 1,000 activists taking to the streets in nearly 30 countries across the globe under the slogan “1.5C is dead, climate revolution now!” – a campaign led by Scientist Rebellion, an activist group of scientists, academics, and students committed to disruptive, nonviolent action to raise alarm over the global climate emergency.

“It’s like a nightmare,” says Kalmus, that world leaders, corporate leaders, and people on the street “don’t understand that we’re in an emergency, that everyone’s still acting like things are normal.”

While burning fossil fuels is responsible for 90% of carbon dioxide emissions, the International Monetary Fund estimates that the fossil fuel industry received $7 trillion in subsidies in 2022, a rate of $13 million a minute.

Both Kalmus and Abramoff are incredulous that the Biden administration, despite its proclaimed commitment to tackling the climate crisis, approved more than 3,000 new oil-drilling permits on federal land last year – 50% more than Donald Trump did in a comparable period during his first three years in office.

For Abramoff, activism is “an expression of love, hope, and community”, she writes in an email. “It has been an effective and lasting solution to climate anxiety for me, and has also given me the perspective I needed to be more joyful, fearless, and inclusive when it comes to work, family, and living on Earth.”

---

FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/6/16/what-grief-for-a-dying-planet-looks-like-climate-scientists-on-the-edge-2

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateAction

breadandcircuses , 2 days ago to random

In a long, convincing, must-read article, Professor Julia Steinberger (@jks) explains "What we are up against."

She argues that climate breakdown is NOT something we can fix using better science and technology, because the climate crisis was created by and results from "highly unequal and undemocratic economic systems" — and unless we overturn those, the situation will only continue to get worse.

Each of the 10 points below is expanded upon in her full essay. I hope you'll read the whole thing!

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Exposing the secret history of the making of the climate crisis should change everything about how we act to stop it.

1. The cause. We know the climate crisis is brought to us by highly unequal and undemocratic economic systems.

2. The rise. The recent history of these economic systems, in the Americas and Eurasia, is dominated by the ascendance of neoliberal ideology.

3. The threat. Neoliberal ideology is antidemocratic at its very core. Its aim is to give free reign over our societies to corporations, not citizens.

4. The promoters. The fossil fuel industry is a long-time promoter, as well as beneficiary, of the neoliberal takeover of our societies.

5. The coordination. The organisation of this takeover is not haphazard: it is coordinated through think tanks, lobby groups, public relations and legal firms. These in turn are coordinated internationally, for instance via the Atlas Network, which is involved in more than 500 think tanks worldwide.

6. The buildup. These think tanks train their cadres internally, and promote them to places of influence in policy and communication.

7. The influence. One core goal of these organisations is to replace university research expertise by their own materials, influencing the influencers, with journalists and teachers identified as prize targets.

8. The message. These think tanks replicate their materials and strategies worldwide. Their poisoning of our public sphere runs the gamut from advocating brutally unequal neoliberal economic policies to promoting climate science denial. They also dabble in divisive culture war topics, on gender (against equal rights for women, queer and trans people), race or migration, for instance.

9. The implication. To counter such centralised and coordinated actors, the climate movement (and indeed all movements attacked by neoliberalism) should change radically, both in orientation and strategy.

10. The direction. Democracy, the fearsome foe of neoliberalism, should be at the heart of our new direction.

---

FULL ARTICLE -- https://archive.ph/3bKx0
ALTERNATE LINK -- https://jksteinberger.medium.com/what-we-are-up-against-2290ba8c4b5c

#History #Politics #Economics #Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis

breadandcircuses , 2 days ago to random

A reminder that #ShowYourStripes day is coming up on Friday, 21 June — every year on the summer solstice!

Get your personal U.S. city stripes at
➡️ https://climatecentral.org/graphic/2024-warming-stripes?graphicSet=City+Warming+Stripes+through+2023

And get your international warming stripes at
➡️ https://showyourstripes.info

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange

breadandcircuses , 3 days ago to random

You couldn't write a dystopian novel with a grimmer plot than what we're witnessing in reality.

Here's how the story goes: Capitalism removes the forests in search of profits, drills into the earth in search of profits, pollutes the air and water in search of profits... and now, what's left?

Oh, wait, say the capitalists, we haven't dug into the DEEP SEA yet in search of profits, er, um, minerals. And guess what, we can pretend we're doing that for the sake of the climate and environment!

Yeah, that's the idea. We need those minerals to make electric cars. So it's a win-win. We'll make billions more in profits, AND we'll make ourselves look good by promoting Green Growth! 😃

LEARN MORE -- https://www.wri.org/insights/deep-sea-mining-explained

SEE ALSO -- https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/challenges/deep-sea-mining/

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #Capitalism

breadandcircuses , 4 days ago to random

Today, there are around 1.31 billion personal vehicles (cars, trucks, and SUVs) in the world. Of those, only about 2% are hybrid or electric. The other 98% are ICE vehicles burning gasoline/petrol.

By 2050, it’s estimated we’ll have about 2.21 billion vehicles in the world. That’s a HUGE number, almost 70% greater than today.

But how many of those will be electric? Instead of only 2%, it’s expected they will increase to around 31% of the total.

That sounds great! More EVs is a good thing, right?

Well, if 31% are EVs in 2050, that means the other 69% will still be ICE vehicles burning gas/petrol. So the number of cars and trucks and SUVs burning fossil fuels will go UP from 1.28 billion now to about 1.52 billion by 2050.

That’s… not so good.

We don’t need more cars, more traffic, more congestion, more pollution, more road damage, and more CO2 emissions.

What we need is:

• More bicycles
• More electric bikes
• More pedestrians
• More mass transit
• More light rail

NOT MORE CARS!!

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

breadandcircuses , 5 days ago to random

#SilentSunday

breadandcircuses , 6 days ago to random

A healthy diet equals a healthy planet — so let’s all enjoy a healthy meal!

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange

breadandcircuses , 8 days ago to random

If degrowth is ever to gain traction as a viable, mainstream policy option — rather than simply as academic theory or as a personal individual lifestyle choice — it must first take hold among a large mass of people who can’t survive without it and who will demand system change.

That’s the view expressed by the author of this essay…

---

I believe that we have been discussing degrowth in an ass-backward manner. Slowing the economy will never be accomplished via the altruistic sacrifices of the materially privileged classes, but can only happen as a result of a transfer of power.

A coalition of poor, working, indigenous people and other allies will have to be sold on degrowth and be well-organized enough to engage in civil disobedience. Where has political change occurred without strikes, demonstrations, and massive numbers of people willing to take personal risks and be arrested?

Degrowth, I believe, is at a critical crossroad – advocates must now choose to continue to regard degrowth as an unending thought experiment, or to take degrowth into communities of ordinary folks. We have to create natural alliances, engage in civil disobedience, and compose a story. That is a lot to do in a very short time.

---

FULL ESSAY -- https://www.resilience.org/stories/2024-05-07/is-degrowth-an-academic-field-or-a-mass-movement-taking-degrowth-to-the-people/

#Politics #Economics #Degrowth

breadandcircuses , 8 days ago to random

It's likely that most of your friends and acquaintances have never heard of degrowth and thus have never even considered the concept. All they've ever known and been taught is the widespread myth that growth is always good.

Here's a piece you might want to show them that explains degrowth in fairly simple terms...

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Our global economy is built for growth. Governments pursue economic growth to compete with other countries and finance public services. Growing companies are praised as our model of success. Consumerism leads individuals to think that more is always better.

Today, growth has become part of the idea of human progress. But it has serious drawbacks, including the increasing destruction of nature.

Could there be another way?

Some people recommend “green growth,” which means greater efficiency. But others call for moving beyond growth. They’re advocating an approach called “degrowth.”

This article describes the challenges associated with growth, and the potential benefits of degrowth.

---

FULL ARTICLE -- https://nbs.net/degrowth-can-support-business-sustainability/

#Economics #Degrowth

breadandcircuses , 8 days ago to random

Is "green capitalism" the solution we need?

I think you already know that it isn't. But this article goes into some depth in answering the question...

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You can’t have infinite growth on a finite planet. That should be a commonplace idea. And it inevitably means facing up to the necessity of putting an end to capitalism in favor of an economic system of rationality, sustainability, and equity for all the world’s peoples.

Capitalism is dependent on consumerism. Household consumption (all the things people buy for personal use, from toothbrushes to automobiles) constitutes 60-70% of a typical advanced capitalist economy’s gross domestic product; it is because of this dependency that so much money and effort is put into advertising and marketing, creating ‘needs’ we didn’t know we had, and the pervasiveness of planned obsolescence.

Two statistics provide perspective on the high cost of ‘new and improved’ — about 40% of U.S. landfill waste is discarded packaging, and the cost of packaging constitutes 10% to 40% of a product’s retail price. No rational system would propagate such waste, but capitalism is not rational; the endless pursuit of profit and indifference to environmental costs are its natural consequences.

---

That's just a brief excerpt. I hope you'll read the rest.

FULL ARTICLE -- https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2024/05/29/capitalism-cant-overcome-physics/

#Capitalism #Science #Economics #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #Degrowth

breadandcircuses , 10 days ago to random

This is what capitalism gets us...

"Creating a throw-away culture: How companies ingrained plastics in modern life"

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In 1956, the plastics industry learned about a new way to boost sales — and profits. At the industry’s annual conference in New York, Lloyd Stouffer, the editor of an influential trade magazine, urged executives to stop emphasizing plastics’ durability. Stouffer told the companies to focus instead on making a lot of inexpensive, expendable material. Their future, he said, was in the trash can.

Companies got the message. They realized they could sell more plastic if people threw more of it away.

In a 1963 report for another plastics conference in Chicago, Stouffer congratulated the industry for filling dumps and garbage cans with plastic bottles and bags.

“The happy day has arrived,” Stouffer wrote, “when nobody any longer considers the plastic package too good to throw away.”

---

FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.npr.org/2024/06/09/nx-s1-4942415/disposable-plastic-pollution-waste-single-use-recycling-climate-change-fossil-fuels

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #Capitalism #Pollution

breadandcircuses , 11 days ago to random

It’s not only Earth’s atmosphere that is warming very rapidly. Perhaps even more worrisome is the tremendous amount of change occurring in our seas.

More than 90% of the excess heat trapped in the Earth system due to human-caused global warming has been absorbed by the oceans, which currently store 50 times more carbon than the atmosphere and 20 times more than land plants and soil combined.

It’s not certain, however, how long this ratio can be sustained. As the ocean continues to heat up like the rest of the planet, its waters are projected to become less efficient at taking in carbon dioxide and may release it back into the atmosphere more rapidly.

Also, the more CO₂ the ocean absorbs, the more acidic its chemistry becomes. After years of working overtime to take in some of the excess carbon we’ve pumped into the atmosphere, ocean acidification has already increased 30% compared to pre-industrial levels, and could increase an additional 120% in the decades ahead. That, in turn, could lead to severe disruptions in the worldwide food chain, followed by famine and starvation such as we’ve never seen.

I wish I was exaggerating. But I’m not. We are in grave danger.

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency

breadandcircuses , 11 days ago to random

In the usual course of events, Earth’s climate fluctuates naturally. Driven by subtle shifts in solar energy and the slightly wobbling tilt of our planet in space, Earth will experience periodic glacial maximums (ice ages) followed by interglacials (warmer times when the ice retreats). These changes normally operate over thousands of years.

But now something else has happened. Something new.

In an insanely dangerous gambit, capitalist industrialists decided to extract and burn hundreds of billions of tons of coal, oil, and gas. They counted on this to make them rich and powerful, which it did. What they didn’t count on — or didn’t care about — was the destructive impact it would have on Earth’s climate and environment.

The last time the global temperature changed dramatically, when it heated up overall by about 3° Celsius, was at the end of the most recent ice age. Large amounts of CO₂ were released into the atmosphere and temperatures went up. This was a big shift and had a huge effect on the biosphere, driving many plant and animal species to extinction while allowing others to thrive. But that’s just how it goes. That’s what happens naturally.

The difference between then and now is that the previous CO₂ release and corresponding temperature rise took place over a span of about 7,000 years. In geological terms, that’s considered fast.

Today, however, thanks to greedy murdering capitalists, we are in the midst of a rapid heating event unlike anything ever seen in the whole history of Earth. The planet is heating up so fast that species have no chance to respond or adjust. It’s so fast that scientists have no way of knowing how soon it will end or what all the consequences could be.

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

breadandcircuses , 12 days ago to random

It seems the United States is well on its way to becoming a failed state.

Here is more sad evidence…

"US has the highest rate of maternal deaths among high-income nations. Norway has zero."
➡️ https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/04/health/maternal-deaths-high-income-nations/index.html

"Most US states received a D or F grade on maternal mental health. It could get worse."
➡️ https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/29/health/maternal-mental-health-crisis-metrics-dg/index.html

Graphic shows that most states in the US received a failing grade on the Policy Center on Maternal Mental Health state report cards. California received a B- grade. Pennsylvania, Illinois, Arizona, Massachusetts in Colorado received C grades. Washington, Rhode Island, Maryland, and New Jersey got C-. All other states were D or F.

breadandcircuses , 12 days ago to random

#SilentSunday

breadandcircuses , 13 days ago to random

We are witnessing a slow-motion catastrophe…

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Across the globe, insect populations have seen a steep decline.

According to a meta-analysis of 16 studies, insect populations have declined by about 45% in just the last 40 years.

The large-scale death of insects poses huge threats not only to the ecosystems they exist in but also to much of our agriculture, as insects pollinate about 75% of global crops.

Two driving causes of the marked fall off are climate change and habitat loss.

---

SEE -- https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/environment/2023/07/13/researchers-study-the-global-decline-of-insect-populations-#

#Insects #Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #BioDiversity

breadandcircuses , 14 days ago to random

I can’t think of anything funny to say about this, so I’ll just post it as is… 😢

#Pollution

breadandcircuses , 16 days ago to random

This is not Planet Earth as we found it. The world we’ve known all our lives is vanishing in front of our eyes.

Human civilization arose and flourished over the last 10,000 years based on the certainty of a stable, predictable climate which meant consistently reliable agriculture leading to century after century of growth and allowing huge, thriving cities.

But now we're seeing what happens when we pump a TRILLION tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in only a few decades, when we heat the oceans to levels never seen in human history, and when we threaten the survival of everything that makes our lives possible.

Storms, floods, heat waves, droughts, crop failures, war, famine, mass deaths… that’s the future in a rapidly warming world.

The past is gone. Continue to hope and work for the best, but prepare for the worst.

#History #Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange

breadandcircuses , 16 days ago to random

In a long, informative, and sobering article, Richard Heinberg describes the difficulty of trying to “solve” climate change when it is intertwined with so many other equally complex and daunting problems...

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The polycrisis is a confluence of climate change with rising inequality, resource depletion, pollution, and the disappearance of wild nature, among other worsening dilemmas.

We can’t know what to do about climate change unless we understand this big picture. Once we do, we see that many things we might do to “solve” climate change will have their own damaging impacts.

For example, building renewable energy infrastructure or carbon removal technology at scale will require an enormous increase in energy usage and resource extraction. Further, many of the needed resources are in ecologically sensitive areas, or countries with a history of labor exploitation and steep income inequality.

Also, all this resource extraction, energy usage, and manufacturing will produce its own pollution and environmental degradation. So, we might reduce carbon emissions, but we will just worsen other aspects of the polycrisis — which are also significant threats to our human future.

The polycrisis impacts our capacity for climate response. Political polarization, driven in part by increasing economic inequality, makes it harder for nations to make the tough choices required to reduce emissions. And the accelerating depletion of mineral resources threatens the build-out of alternative energy infrastructure.

Altogether, this bigger picture leads to the conclusion that there is no techno-fix. If we wish to avert the worst impacts of climate change, we will have to live differently.

---

FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.resilience.org/stories/2024-05-28/navigating-climate-catastrophe-part-1-the-predicament/

#History #Politics #Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #Degrowth

breadandcircuses , 17 days ago to random

Look on the bright side! Be positive! 😃

breadandcircuses , 17 days ago to random

In order to make themselves look good so they'll be allowed to continue with Business As Usual, huge corporations try to project a public image of being "climate aware" and "green" and on track for "net zero" — but it's just a phony pose.

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Some of the world’s most profitable – and most polluting corporations – have invested in carbon offset projects that have fundamental failings and are “probably junk”, suggesting industry claims about greenhouse gas reductions were likely overblown, according to new analysis.

Delta, ExxonMobil, Disney, and Nestlé are among the major corporations to have purchased millions of carbon credits from climate friendly projects that are “likely junk” or worthless when it comes to offsetting their greenhouse gas emissions, according to a classification system developed by Corporate Accountability, a non-profit, transnational corporate watchdog.

The fossil fuel industry is by far the largest investor in the world’s most popular CO₂ offsetting schemes. At least 43% of the CO₂ credits purchased by the oil and gas majors are for projects that have at least one fundamental flaw and are “probably junk,” according to the analysis.

The transport industry, which accounts for about a fifth of all global planet-warming emissions, has also relied heavily on carbon offsetting projects to meet climate goals. Just over 42% of the total credits purchased by airlines and 38% purchased by automakers are likely worthless at reducing emissions, the analysis found.

“These findings add to the mounting evidence that peels back the greenwashed facade of the voluntary carbon market and lays bare the ways it dangerously distracts from the real, lasting action the world’s largest corporations and polluters need to be taking,” said Rachel Rose Jackson, Corporate Accountability’s director of research.

---

FULL STORY -- https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/30/corporate-carbon-offsets-credits

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual #Greenwashing

breadandcircuses , 18 days ago to random

Deadly heat is gripping India, Pakistan, the Middle East, and North Africa. You’ve probably seen the dreadful news stories.

This is what happens at “only” 1.5C above the pre-industrial average.

Humans did not evolve in a climate like this one — and it’s an open question how many of us can survive as global temperatures climb to 2C, 3C, or 4C before the end of this century.

We need system change before it's too late.

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency

breadandcircuses , 19 days ago to random

#SilentSunday

breadandcircuses , 20 days ago to random

The ugly truth.

breadandcircuses , 21 days ago to random

This could be humorous… but it’s actually tragic.

#History

breadandcircuses , 22 days ago to random

The "Enlightenment" of Western culture makes for a nice story, but that's really all it is — a story.

#Science #Economics #History #Capitalism

breadandcircuses , 23 days ago to random

"If SUVs were a country, they would be the world’s fifth largest emitter of CO₂"

I'm so disgusted, I can't find the words... 🤬

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SUVs accounted for 48% of global car sales in 2023, reaching a new record and further strengthening the defining automobile trend of the early 21st century – the shift towards ever larger and heavier cars.

There are now more than 360 million SUVs on the roads worldwide, resulting in combustion-related CO2 emissions of one billion tonnes, an increase of around 100 million tonnes from the previous year.

Despite advances in fuel efficiency and electrification, the trend toward heavier and less efficient vehicles such as SUVs, which produce 20% more carbon emissions than an average medium-sized car, has largely nullified the improvements in energy consumption and emissions achieved elsewhere in the world’s passenger car fleet in recent decades.

---

Capitalism is killing us.

FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.iea.org/commentaries/suvs-are-setting-new-sales-records-each-year-and-so-are-their-emissions

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

breadandcircuses , 23 days ago to random

I did a post about this from a different source back in January. And the problem is not going away. In fact, it’s only getting worse as capitalist industry and advertising continues to cram 'fast fashion' down our throats.

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The Atacama Desert in Chile has attained a distinction as one of the world’s fastest growing dumps of discarded clothes, thanks to the rapid mass production of inexpensive attire known as fast fashion. The phenomenon has created so much waste that the UN calls it “an environmental and social emergency.”

The numbers tell the tale. Between 2000 and 2014, clothing production doubled and consumers began buying 60% more clothes and wearing them for half as long as they once did.

Three-fifths of all clothing is estimated to end up in landfills or incinerators within a year of production. That can translate to a truckload of used clothing dumped or burned every second.

In northern Chile, colossal piles of discarded clothes, with labels from all over the world, stretch as far as the eye can see. In one ravine on the outskirts of Alto Hospicio, a pile of jeans and suit jackets, bleached by the harsh sun, rises above a mound of fake-fur coats and dress shirts, some still bearing price tags.

---

FULL STORY -- https://archive.ph/1z2Zf

#Environment #Climate #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

breadandcircuses , 23 days ago to random

Yesterday we looked at the problem of feedback loops in the northern forests of Canada and Siberia, where a warming climate dries out vegetation, making wildfires more frequent and more intense, with those fires then releasing tons of CO2, methane, and black carbon which warm up the climate even more, and so on.

See -- https://climatejustice.social/@breadandcircuses/112518840893017287

But another related problem is plaguing forests further south, in the United States. Trees there are threatened not only by drought, but also by infestations of bugs, such as bark beetles in the Rocky Mountains, and by fir borers in Oregon, Washington, and California.

These bugs are much more common now than they used to be, doing far more damage to forests, and it's all because of warmer, dryer weather brought on by — you guessed it — climate change. It's a vicious cycle that only gets worse, decade after decade.

Here's one story about the sad decline of fir trees in Oregon, where experts worry that forests there may be disappearing forever.

➡️ https://www.ijpr.org/environment-energy-and-transportation/2024-05-22/douglas-fir-die-off-in-southern-oregon-gives-a-glimpse-into-the-future-of-west-coast-forests

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis

breadandcircuses , 24 days ago to random

Please don’t buy drinks in plastic bottles.

breadandcircuses , 24 days ago to random

This is one of the scariest statistics I have ever heard...

🟥 Our oceans are 30% more acidic today than they were 150 years ago.

Think about that: 30% more ‼ in such a brief span of time. It's no wonder our whole ecosystem is crashing down.

---

For millions of years, the exchange of CO₂ between the surface of the ocean and the atmosphere remained constant. In the past 150 years, humans have greatly increased the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels and changing land-use practices. As a result, the ocean has absorbed about 29% of this additional carbon.

This added CO₂ has had significant effects on the ocean. Surface waters are now 30% more acidic than they were at the start of the industrial era. Ocean acidification is now happening at a faster rate than at any point in the last 66 million years, and possibly in the last 300 million years. And projections show that by the end of this century, ocean surface waters could be more than twice as acidic as they were at the end of last century if we do not reduce our carbon emissions.

---

LEARN MORE -- https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/co2-and-ocean-acidification

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis

breadandcircuses , 25 days ago to random

You’ve probably already seen some of the heartbreaking stories about monkeys falling dead from trees during the unprecedented killer heat wave now besieging Mexico.

Unfortunately, more bad news is on the way…

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The extreme heat smothering much of Mexico has already killed dozens of people, but the hottest temperatures are yet to come, officials say.

"In the next 10 to 15 days, the country will experience the highest temperatures ever recorded," researchers from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) said in a statement earlier this week. They called the heat wave "unprecedented."

---

➡️ https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/mexico-heat-wave-1.7214308

And it’s not just the searing heat. The nation’s capital, Mexico City — one of the largest cities in the world — is also experiencing extreme water shortages which are expected to get worse.

“Mexico City in Crisis: Severe Water Shortages Threaten Mexican Capital”
➡️ https://nearshoreamericas.com/mexico-city-in-crisis-severe-water-shortages-threaten-mexican-capital/

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency

breadandcircuses , 25 days ago to random

Maximiliano Herrera (@extretemps) is a professional climatologist on Mastodon. He also posts at Xitter under an account called Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) and has been VERY busy there lately.

He says, for example, that Mexico City recently had their hottest day in history 🔥 (more on that in my next post). New temperature records also are being set throughout Africa — in Senegal, Niger, Mali, Chad, and Libya — along with record heat in China, southeast Asia, Pakistan, South America... the list goes on and on.

In summary, Herrera writes: “160 countries/territories have broken heat records so far this month. This is 300% more than any single month before mid-2023, and more than any month before February 2024. Many more countries will join in the next few days with record heat waves all over the world.”

🚨 We are in a climate emergency.🚨

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency

breadandcircuses , 26 days ago to random

For city planners and elected officials almost everywhere else in the world, meeting the needs of car drivers is not the highest priority.

In the USA, however, that seems to be the only priority.

#USA #WarOnCars #BanCars

breadandcircuses , 26 days ago to random

#SilentSunday

iBlame , 27 days ago to random

Just saw a headline in the Guardian that read “Alaska’s Rivers Are Turning Orange.” Arguably the most depressing color for a river.

Thawing permafrost is apparently releasing iron.

Worst. Timeline. Ever.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/22/alaska-rivers-turning-orange #ClimateDiary

breadandcircuses , 27 days ago to random

I don’t own a car and I ride my bike a lot, often on very busy city streets. I always wear a helmet when I ride — not because it makes me less likely to get hit by a car, but because it makes me less likely to suffer from brain damage if and when I do get hit by a car.

However, as Dave Walker (@davewalker) points out, there are MANY other and much better ways to make cycling safer for everyone. 🚲

#BikeTooter #Cycling

breadandcircuses , 27 days ago to random

I’ve just finished reading Space Odyssey, a fascinating account of how Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey, was created. If you have any interest in that great film, or in science fiction movies, or the history of movies in general, or even just in well-written absorbing nonfiction, then I highly recommend this book.

📕 https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Space-Odyssey/Michael-Benson/9781501163944

#Books #Bookstodon #Movies #Film #History

breadandcircuses , 27 days ago to random

If you're not yet following Geoffrey Deihl (aka Sane Thinker @gdeihl), I strongly encourage it. I also recommend subscribing to his Substack feed.

Geoff’s writing is consistently excellent and highly informative. For example, check out his latest piece, about climate disinformation…

➡️ https://geoffreydeihl.substack.com/p/noxious-disinformation-climate-the

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis

JoBlakely , 28 days ago to random

Of the non dairy milks I’ve tried so far, all were great, but Oat Milk is my fave over Soy (2nd place so far) and Cashew, which I liked the least of them.
I am happy the one I like best is also the most sustainable.

breadandcircuses , 28 days ago to random

Hot take:

The people who control the Democratic Party don’t care if Donald Trump wins the election. If they did care, they would offer a better candidate than Joe Biden to oppose him.

#USA #Politics