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When I began Schwartzreport my purpose was to produce an entirely fact-based daily publication in favor of the earth, the inter-connectedness and interdependence of all life, democracy, equality for all, liberty, and things that are life-affirming. Also, to warn my readers about actions, events, and trends that threaten those values. Our country now stands at a crossroads, indeed, the world stands at a crossroads where those values are very much at risk and it is up to each of us who care about wellbeing to do what we can to defend those principles. I want to thank all of you who have contributed to SR, particularly those of you who have scheduled an ongoing monthly contribution. It makes a big difference and is much appreciated. It is one thing to put in the hours each day and to do the work for free, but another to have to cover the rising out-of-pocket costs. For those of you who haven’t done so, but read SR regularly, I ask that you consider supporting it.
Here is the latest from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration concerning what is likely to happen to North Carolina as climate change continues. It is going to produce massive change in the state, displace large numbers of people, and cause enormous negative economic impacts. This is going to be replicated from Florida to Maine, and we are not doing anywhere enough to prepare for it.
An interactive map shows how parts of North Carolina could be submerged in water as sea levels rise due to the effects of climate change.
The state faces particular risks because of its barrier islands, known as the Outer Banks, its extensive coastline and its low elevation.
The map also allows users to click on certain streets and landmarks and view a projected image of how they would look if partially underwater.
The United Nations‘ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects that by the year 2100, global sea levels will have risen by between 0.95 and 3.61 feet. However, it notes that a rise of around 6.6 feet “cannot be ruled out.”
If sea levels rose by just 3 feet, parts of North Carolina’s barrier islands and coastal areas would be encroached by water, according to projections by the NOAA.
If sea levels were to rise to 6 feet, nearly the entire counties of Dare, Hyde and […]
Another report on the corruption and scams of the carbon industries which always place profit above the wellbeing of the people and communities impacted by their work. These reports, one after another — SR has been covering them for years — all tell the same story: Greed for profit ends in environmental catastrophes. Trump was a disaster in this area, and Biden is not much better. The fact is in the United States the entire system is designed for the benefit of corporate profit not the protection of American citizens.
The destruction caused by a pipeline explosion can be catastrophic, both in the blast zone and in areas contaminated by exposure to volatile petrochemicals. Credit: Ohio EPA photo obtained by Ohio Sierra Club through open records request
The inspectors warned for months that the construction crew was burying the pipeline on unstable ground. In at least a dozen reports, they described soupy soil, landslides and failed efforts to contain runoff. But the crew kept working as the problems mounted. The Revolution ethane pipeline had to get built.
In September 2018, just below a neighborhood outside Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, the muddy hillside gave way. The landslide severed the pipe, and the dense gas inside erupted into a roaring inferno.
The blaze incinerated a house. The family inside escaped with just the clothes they were wearing and one of their dogs. Their other pets, a dog and several cats, died in the fire.
Karen Gdula, who lives nearby on Ivy Lane, raced through the […]
I picked this article because I think it raises a very pertinent issue that needs international attention. The carbon industries through corruption of politicians and scams have avoided taking responsibility let alone paying for the damage they are doing to the matrix of life. They should be held responsible and should pay for damages out of profits without raising prices. Will it happen? We’ll see, and that will show us how corrupt the whole system is.
Flooding in Dhaka, Bangladfesh Credit: Syed Mahabubul Kader / Zuma
A new tax on fossil fuel companies based in the world’s richest countries could raise hundreds of billions of dollars to help the most vulnerable nations cope with the escalating climate crisis, according to a report.
The Climate Damages Tax report, published on Monday, calculates that an additional tax on fossil fuel majors based in the wealthiest Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries could raise $720 billion by the end of the decade.
The authors say a new extraction levy could boost the loss and damage fund to help vulnerable countries cope with the worst effects of climate breakdown that was agreed at the Cop28 summit in Dubai—a hard-won victory by developing countries that they hope will signal a commitment by developed, polluting nations to provide financial support for some of the destruction already under way.
David Hillman, the director of the Stamp Out Poverty campaign and co-author of the report, said it “demonstrates that the richest, most economically powerful […]
Fascism is arising in countries around the world, and Israel, under Netanyahu, has joined the trend. As a country it is also, in my view a nation guilty of crimes against humanity. I am not the only one with this view as polls show. Israel is becoming a pariah nation, and now it is sabotaging journalism, a classic fascist move. I also think Biden has handled this war very badly, and it may cost him the election because with 18 to 24 year old voters Trump leads him by 11 points. What I think will actually happen is that this cohort just won’t vote or vote for a third party. Either way it may cost Biden the election, and America its democracy.
BEIRUT, LEBANON — The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Israeli cabinet’s decision to shut down Al-Jazeera’s operations in Israel and warns that the vote could set a dangerous precedent for other international media outlets working in Israel.
The cabinet vote on Sunday, announced by the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on X, came after Israel’s parliament passed a law on April 1 allowing the shutdown of a foreign channel’s broadcasts in Israel if the content is deemed to be a threat to the country’s security during the ongoing war. The shutdown took immediate effect, according to Al-Jazeera and multiplenewsreports. Al-Jazeera is funded by Qatar, which is mediating between Hamas and Israel.
“CPJ condemns the closure of Al-Jazeera’s office in Israel and the blocking of the channel’s websites,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna in New York. “This move sets an extremely alarming precedent for restricting international media outlets working in Israel. The Israeli cabinet must allow Al-Jazeera and all international media outlets to operate freely in Israel, especially during wartime.”
Al-Jazeera journalists have faced multiple threats, including intimidation, obstruction, injuries, arrests, and
Several readers wrote me to ask my views on the Time Magazine cover article about Trump, and I have seen commentators talking about it all day on various television channels. I read the interview, thought it was crap, and then found this CNN fact-check which shows it was just what I thought it was. It is indeed nothing but a sequence of 32 lies. Time Magazine should be ashamed of publishing such an interview. I don’t think Trump knows the truth. It is not so much that he is lying, it is that he is mentally ill; he is a psychopath. He doesn’t really live in reality. He lives in his fantasy world of being victimized, and of accomplishing things he does not, in fact, accomplish; being a hero when he is actually a criminal villain.
Washington, D.C.– Former President Donald Trump delivered a bombardment of dishonesty in his interviews with Time magazine.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, made at least 32 false claims in the two April interviews that Time released this week. His serial inaccuracy spanned a wide range of subjects, including the economy, abortion, the NATO military alliance, the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, his legal cases, his record as president and the 2020 election he has relentlessly lied about for more than three years.
Trump claimed that, during his presidency, “there was very little terrorism. We had none. I had four years of — we had no terrorism. We didn’t have a World Trade Center knocked down.”
Facts First: While it’s true, of course, that Trump’s presidency didn’t feature anything comparable to the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, his claim that “we had no terrorism” isn’t true. There […]
Yet another example of a corporation choosing greed for profit over integrity and fostering wellbeing. What can you do about something like this? The answer is simple, and it can be very effective. Do not ever buy anything produced by the Tyson Foods Corporation. Tell your family and friends. Do not buy anything produced by Tyson Foods, and ask them to tell their families and friends. Tyson Foods is a modern, multi-national, protein-focused food company producing approximately 20% of the beef, pork and chicken in the United States in addition to a portfolio of foods under the Tyson®, Jimmy Dean®, Hillshire Farm®, BallPark®, Wright®, Aidell’s® and State Fair® brands. If you want to make a difference that fosters wellbeing this is what to do. Be assured Tyson will notice and pay attention.
A new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has found that Tyson Foods dumped hundreds of millions of pounds of pollutants into U.S. waterways from 2018 to 2022. The pollutants came from company facilities including slaughterhouses and processing plants.
UCS analyzed publicly available data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and found that Tyson Foods processing plants released 371.72 million pounds of pollutants into waterways from 2018 to 2022. Half of the pollutants were dumped in waterways of Nebraska, Illinois and Missouri. The group published the findings in a report titled Waste Deep: How Tyson Foods Pollutes US Waterways and Which States Bear the Brunt.
“As the nation’s largest meat and poultry producer, Tyson Foods plays a huge role in our food and agriculture system and has for decades exploited policies that allow big agribusiness corporations to pollute with impunity,” Omanjana Goswami, co-author of the report and an interdisciplinary scientist with the Food and Environment Program at UCS, said in a press release. “In 2022, the latest year for which we have data, Tyson plants processed millions of cattle and pigs […]
Jingwen Hu, Professor, Michigan Transportation Research Institute, University of Michigan - Live Science
Stephan:
Here is the best report I have found after considerable research on the safety of EVs. It is clearly an evolving technology, but moving in the right direction which, I think, is good news.
Crash test results, field injury data and injury claims suggest that EVs are better at protecting their occupants than conventional vehicles. Credit: DPA / Alamy
Public opinion about EV crash safety often hinges on a few high-profile fire incidents. Those safety concerns are arguably misplaced, and the actual safety of EVs is more nuanced.
I’ve researched vehicle safety for more than two decades, focusing on the biomechanics of impact injuries in motor vehicle crashes. Here’s my take on how well the current crop of EVs protects people:
The burning question
EVs and internal combustion vehicles undergo the same crash-testing procedures to evaluate their crashworthiness and occupant protection. These tests are conducted by the National Highway Safety Administration’s New Car Assessment Program and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
These analyses use crash test dummies representing midsize male and small female occupants to evaluate the risk of injuries. The tests can evaluate […]
This flooding in Texas, I think, should be taken as a warning as to what climate change is doing, and how it is going to get worse and worse. Texas under the Republicans is not preparing properly, but then nor is much of the rest of the country, particularly the Red States. It is a sad business to watch because it is going to cause so much misery, suffering, and death.
Mandatory evacuations were ordered in parts of Texas, and residents in Harris County, home to Houston, were told to be ready to stay put for days after heavy rain caused flooding.
Harris County Judge Linda Hidalgo, the county government’s top executive, declared a disaster Thursday.
Mandatory evacuations were ordered along the East Fork of the San Jacinto River, and residents were urged to leave before nightfall.
“What we’re going to see tonight and into the weekend will not be Hurricane Harvey, but we are going to see significant impacts,” Hidalgo said in a statement.
“At this time, folks in the impacted area should either prepare to stay where they are for the next 2-3 days or leave,” she said.
The American Red Cross of the Texas Gulf Coast opened shelters, and the National Weather Service warned drivers to beware, especially at night.
A section of U.S. Highway 59 in Polk was completely closed because of flooding Thursday, the state Transportation Department said. It warned drivers to “turn around, don’t drown.”
More than 7 inches of rain had fallen in parts of Harris County by 11 a.m. Thursday, the National Weather Service said. A flood watch was in effect for Houston until 7 p.m. Friday.
