Posts by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
(DIR) Post #AZpKaLT8m4iI1DQuBM by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-09-15T14:01:14Z
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Let this sink in for a minute...Of all the mammals on Earth, 96% are livestock and humans. Only 4% are wild mammals. Of all birds in the world, 70% are chickens and other poultry, just 30% are wild.#Nature #Biodiversity #Environment
(DIR) Post #AZpKaNb0rmCOcD8DjM by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-09-15T14:01:34Z
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SOURCE OF DATA — https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomassNote that the percentages shown are based on biomass, not on numbers of individuals. When I posted this graphic before, several months ago, some people said ‘What about all the rats?’ It’s true there are a lot of rats, but their body mass is tiny when compared to cows or pigs. The study that produced these findings has been examined, and it all holds up.
(DIR) Post #AZpP3wmjVrrPxzy4hs by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-09-16T11:30:05Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
You may say I’m a dreamer, but just imagine…#Imagine #Peace #AntiWar See -- https://worldbeyondwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/3militaryspending.pdf [PDF] ☮️
(DIR) Post #AZtQ8VHraxnhqwSwVM by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-09-18T12:29:15Z
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The US war machine is the world's biggest single source of institutional carbon emissions.See — https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2022/10/pentagon-climate-change-neta-crawford-book/The military-industrial complex is closely allied with the fossil fuel industry in their immensely profitable fight to continue with 💵 Business As Usual 💵 for as long as possible.See — https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/10/infographic-us-military-presence-around-the-world-interactive Our bloated US imperialism budget is eagerly supported by the leaders of both parties, urged on by free-spending lobbyists. This would be comically embarrassing if it wasn’t so tragic. 🤦♂️#USA #Politics #War #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual
(DIR) Post #AZw4W1pJdsTR6ZYwxk by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-09-19T19:29:32Z
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It can be difficult to understand just how un-equal our modern human society really is. We often talk about the 1% versus the 99%, but that’s not even close to an accurate ratio for the true scale of inequality — because the “haves” in our society (our owners, our rulers) do not possess a mere one hundred times more power and wealth than the rest of us. The disparity is FAR greater than that. Through consolidation and monopolies and lobbying and bribery and corruption, within the past four decades the wealthy and powerful have achieved complete dominance over us and over the world we live in. It’s not an exaggeration to say they own and control virtually EVERYTHING. They own the corporations. They own the resources. They own the governments. They own the major media. They own (most of) the Internet. And what are they doing with all that wealth and power? Simple. They’re grabbing more. And more and more and more. They will *never* have enough.In the meantime, while they continue hoarding, our owners are also working to convince you and me that everything is okay, that the status quo is just fine, that there’s nothing to worry about. They want to keep the stores open, the factories running, the airlines flying, and the cruise ships sailing. The longer our rulers can keep assuring everyone that Business As Usual is the way to go, the more money they will make. And they believe (though it's likely a delusion) that with enough money and enough power, they and their descendants will be able to survive and even thrive in the 3°C to 5°C world of the future.I’m not sure at this point if anything can be done about all this. It may be too late. But I hope I’m wrong.#Capitalism #Inequality #BusinessAsUsual
(DIR) Post #AZw4W3N1u12HtQLO9Q by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-09-19T20:06:25Z
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@cynblogger All true! The only change I'd make to your suggestions is that instead of taxing the mega-corporations and their super wealthy owners, I would like to see them tried and convicted for ecocide, among other crimes, then their assets confiscated and most of the industries nationalized.
(DIR) Post #AZxOKCbpv4EXJSr8We by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-09-16T12:30:14Z
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If you vote for Republicans, you’re voting for disaster. If you vote for Democrats, you’re also voting for disaster, except it will happen a little more slowly and less dramatically.*Neither* party offers the kind of change we need — which is SYSTEM change.#USA #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual
(DIR) Post #AZzPvfJiRAc0FbnEzQ by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-09-19T11:14:12Z
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We live in an upside down world.Swedish authorities are threatening Greta Thunberg with a prison sentence — while the real criminals, the owners of the fossil fuel companies and the multinational corporations, are making 💵 millions of dollars 💵 every day by destroying the ecosphere that Greta Thunberg and others are trying to protect.We live in an upside down world.https://www.commondreams.org/news/greta-thunberg-could-face-jail#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #ClimateJustice #GretaThunberg
(DIR) Post #AaAlyQbPw9nfDJM3Dk by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-09-26T14:30:11Z
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Scientists are now reporting on the "greening" of Antarctica. And that's NOT a good thing...___________________________As Antarctica is mostly covered in ice and snow, there previously hasn't been much space left for plants to grow. There are no trees or shrubs, and the plants that do exist are limited to a few islands and along the western Antarctic Peninsula.However, as global temperatures continue to rise and ice in Antarctica continues to melt, researchers have found that plants on the continent are growing more quickly.Comparing the results with surveys from the previous 50 years, they found that the sites had not only become more densely populated by the plants, but that they had also grown faster each year as the climate got warmer.The results were staggering, with the Antarctic hair grass growing as much in 2009-2019 as it had in the entire 50 years from 1960 from 2009.The Antarctic pearlwort moved even faster, growing five times more in the same periods.Peter Convey, at the British Antarctic Survey, touched on the impact of accelerated growth as he told New Scientist: “The most novel feature of this is not the idea that something is growing faster. It’s that we think we’re starting to see what is almost like a step change or a tipping point.”___________________________You and I no longer live in the natural world into which we were born. It's already very different, and the pace of change is accelerating.FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.unilad.com/news/world-news/antarctica-flowers-spread-climate-change-828134-20230922#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Antarctica
(DIR) Post #AaE2CqzMoNjpqPKyDw by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-09-28T12:05:09Z
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Could all the ice in Greenland melt again, raising global sea levels and drowning many of our huge coastal cities?Yes, it could, and at the rate we're going it almost certainly will someday. The problem is we don't know how close we might be coming to a catastrophic tipping point. Here's more from Planet Snapshots...__________________________Rewind about 400,000 years ago and Greenland was, in fact, green. Temperatures were warmer then, and global sea level was at least 5 feet (1.5 m) higher than today. Greenland is one of Earth’s most pressing climate tipping points — thresholds in the planet’s fine-tuned, self-regulating system that, once breached, cause dramatic and damaging changes. Its life support systems work like a game of Jenga: removing a few blocks may compromise the structure’s stability without ending the game. But there’s a critical block that will bring it crashing to the ground. Hiding within Jenga-Earth are critical blocks that, when pulled, will tip the whole structure.Global sea level would rise 23 feet (7 m) if Greenland’s ice sheet completely melted again. The goal is to keep that “if” from turning into a “when.”Scientists don’t know exactly how much atmospheric warming would trigger that level of melt, but some estimate a figure as low as 1.6°C. We’re well on track to surpass that target, especially considering that the loss of Greenland’s ice is creating a positive feedback loop. The same reflectivity that makes it difficult for satellites to image the ice sheet is also great at bouncing back sunlight. But more of the ice is melting and the surface is darkening, reducing its reflectivity, or albedo, and further accelerating ice loss.__________________________FULL ARTICLE -- https://medium.com/@planetsnapshots/issue-89-tipping-points-greenland-5bdda753bea8#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency
(DIR) Post #AaEOo91SvHzbTuVPSi by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-09-27T14:30:11Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
It can be argued that electric vehicles are an improvement when replacing ICE vehicles. But that misses a much bigger point — which is that the very best car is *not* an electric car. The very best car is no car at all!_______________________"EVs are a climate solution with a pollution problem: Tire particles."Tires shed tiny particles with every rotation. Tire wear happens most dramatically during rapid acceleration, braking, and sharp turns, but even with the most conservative driving, particulate pollution is an unavoidable consequence of car use. And it’s a problem that’s poised to get worse as drivers transition to EVs.The amount of tire pollution emitted per vehicle is increasing as more electric cars hit the road around the world — some 14 million of them this year, according to the International Energy Agency. EVs tend to be significantly heavier than gas-powered or hybrid cars due to their larger, heftier batteries.Tire particulate is a toxic slurry of microplastics, volatile organic compounds, and other chemical additives that enter the air, soil, and water around trafficked areas. The rubber, metals, and other compounds coming off tires settle along roads where rain washes them into waterways. Smaller bits of tire particulate linger in the air, where they can be inhaled, and the smallest of this particulate matter can directly enter the bloodstream.The tiny fragments that tires release into the environment are yet another reason to reduce car use._______________________FULL ARTICLE -- https://grist.org/transportation/evs-are-a-climate-solution-with-a-pollution-problem-tire-particles/#Environment #Pollution #WarOnCars #BanCars
(DIR) Post #AaF5EmUWzuoXUnU75E by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-09-28T18:46:28Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Wow. As much ice lost in the last two years as had been lost before over a span of 30 years...._____________________Swiss glaciers have lost 10% of their volume in just two years, a report has found.Scientists have said climate breakdown caused by the burning of fossil fuels is the cause of unusually hot summers and winters with very low snow volume, which have caused the accelerating melts. The volume lost during the hot summers of 2022 and 2023 is the same as that lost between 1960 and 1990.The ice, which traditionally builds up in winter and melts slowly in summer, provides fresh water vital to Europe's rivers, to irrigate Europe's crops or to cool its nuclear power stations.Last year and again this year, shipping on the river Rhine, a key waterway for Europe's freight, had to be restricted because the water had become too shallow.Experts have stopped measuring the ice on some glaciers as there is essentially none left. "Every time I come back to these sites that I have monitored for many years, it's different,' said Matthias Huss, head of the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network. "The ice is smaller, thinner, more grey. It's very sad."_____________________"Swiss glaciers lose 10% of their volume in two years"https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/28/swiss-glaciers-lose-tenth-volume-in-two-years-climate-crisis"Swiss glaciers record catastrophic ice loss"https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66950328#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency
(DIR) Post #AaKzFcu8h3vtH8F4S0 by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-10-01T12:09:56Z
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#SilentSunday
(DIR) Post #AaPCnaXc3x3fpO4OSO by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-10-03T14:31:20Z
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At this point, it's too late. If leaders in the Global North had shown true leadership 50 years ago — or perhaps 40 years ago or even 30 years ago — and begun an urgent shift away from fossil fuels and away from the mantra of growth-at-all-costs, then *maybe* we would be in a position today where some form of modern society could be maintained without enduring catastrophic collapse. But they did not make that choice. They did not display any vision or show true leadership. Instead, they did the exact opposite. Since 1990, greedy capitalists and the governments they own have doubled down (see attached graphs), completely wrecking our climate and environment, placing not only humans but thousands of other plant and animal species in grave danger of extinction. If you've been following me for a while and reading my posts, chances are you already understand how bad our current situation really is. But if you're just being introduced to this topic, or if you simply want to learn more about our impossible predicament, then here is an article filled with relevant information:"We have destroyed our ecosystem – now we await the collapse of civilization"https://wraltechwire.com/2023/09/22/doomsday-authors-analysis-we-have-destroyed-our-ecosystem-now-we-await-the-collapse-of-civilization/Too late? See the first comment below...#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Collapse
(DIR) Post #AaPCnbaq9REZ5gaU7s by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-10-03T14:31:58Z
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It’s already too late to prevent some level of collapse. But that doesn’t mean we should give up!Because we still have a choice, a vital choice, between (1) a world very different from our recent past, but likely survivable for a smaller population of humans, living simpler lives in closer harmony with their surroundings; or (2) a world where no humans remain at all, and millions of other species perish along with us, due to the terrible decisions we allowed our “leaders” to make. That is what we’re fighting for now. It’s why we urgently need system change, and a pivot toward Degrowth. Because the difference between a planet 2°C above the pre-industrial baseline (still perhaps achievable) and one 3°C or 4°C above the baseline (where we’re currently headed) is huge. In fact, it’s existential.
(DIR) Post #AaSe4lJD7lLQROU5a4 by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-10-05T13:15:27Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
It's hard to find this in the corporate-owned (and fossil fuel friendly) news media of the Global North, but here's a story from India's Hindustan Times about a devastating flash flood and dam burst, taking many lives...________________________"Sikkim: 14 dead, 120 missing, bridges, dams, roads washed away in flash flood"At least 14 persons were killed and another 120 people went missing after a flash flood triggered by a glacial lake outburst following heavy rains in north Sikkim in the early hours of Wednesday.The toll is expected to rise sharply with officials saying that at least 40 bodies have been recovered by different agencies after the disaster struck.“The Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF), which caused the rise of water levels with very high velocities downstream along the Teesta River Basin in the early hours of October 4, 2023, has caused severe damage in Mangan, Gangtok, Pakyong, and Namchi Districts,” said a statement issued by the Sikkim government.The flash flood also washed away the Teesta III dam at Chunthang. At least six bridges were washed away and the National Highway 10 (NH10) was damaged in multiple areas.“North Sikkim has been totally cut off from the rest of the state while Sikkim has been cut off from the rest of India as the flood had badly hit NH10,” said Prabhakar Rai, director of Sikkim’s disaster management department, said.North Sikkim received around 39 mm rain between Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning.“The rains had probably triggered an avalanche which led to a GLOF. As huge volumes of water and debris comprising boulders came gushing down they hit the hydro dam in Chunthang. The dam was washed away and the entire load gushing down with tremendous force,” said Ashim Sattar, a scientist with IISc Bengaluru, who had studied the lake and the glacier extensively.________________________Unfortunately, stories like this will become all too common in the months and years ahead. What now seems like (and is) an unthinkable tragedy may soon be almost a daily occurrence.We are in a climate emergency. It's past time for system change, and Degrowth.FULL REPORT -- https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/sikkim-14-dead-120-missing-bridges-dams-roads-washed-away-in-flash-flood-101696430052672-amp.html#India #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency
(DIR) Post #AaSeDlFci01qrr66SW by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-10-04T13:16:49Z
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Earth has a bad fever. Our ecosystem is gravely ill. If Gaia were a real person, she would be in the hospital, on life-support..._______________________Following the hottest June through August on record, and the globe's hottest-ever month in July, last month's preliminary data has astonished climate researchers who anticipated such extremes eventually.The figures show a temperature anomaly of about 0.9°C (1.6°F) above the 1991-2020 average. Converted to the preindustrial era, this amounts to a departure from average of 1.7°C (3.06°F), temporarily exceeding the Paris Agreement's temperature target of 1.5°C compared to preindustrial levels.In data from the Japan Meteorological Agency, September 2023 beat the previous warmest September by 0.5°C (0.9°F). Typically, monthly records are beaten by fractions of a degree, with such narrow margins that different climate centers around the world can rank them differently."We've never seen a record smashed by anything close to this margin," climate scientist Zeke Hausfather told Axios. "It's frankly a bit scary."September featured numerous extreme weather events, including heat waves in Europe, devastating and deadly flooding in Greece and Libya from an unusually powerful Mediterranean storm system, record heat in Japan, and continued anomalously large wildfires in Canada. In the U.S., the month ended with a record-breaking deluge on New York City and surrounding areas, bringing parts of the region to a halt."This month was, in my professional opinion as a climate scientist – absolutely gobsmackingly bananas," said Hausfather._______________________FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.axios.com/2023/10/04/earth-hottest-september-record-year#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency
(DIR) Post #AaUxqWzfwB3PO9l4jo by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-10-06T13:00:13Z
1 likes, 2 repeats
Our capitalist rulers, and the politicians they own, are playing the long game. Since the 1950s they have been working steadily to shift the Overton window, to reduce the influence of labor unions, to boost consumerism, and to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a few. A large part of that strategy involves privatizing services that used to be (and should be) public. They're playing the long game, and they are winning — much to the detriment of you and me and the environment we live in.#Politics #Capitalism #Environment
(DIR) Post #AaUxqZOD1vroopFhFw by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-10-06T13:20:47Z
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HT for image - @nathans420
(DIR) Post #AaVeTMW51PkSGK77WS by breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social
2023-10-06T12:00:11Z
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Want to hear some crazy radical ideas?Check this out..._________________________❝ Capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evil. Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of smaller ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital, the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights. ❞_________________________That's from 1949 (!) and it was written by...... wait for it...... Albert Einstein.LEARN MORE -- https://archive.ph/jvlFDALTERNATE LINK -- https://glenhendrix50.medium.com/einstein-in-1949-predicted-how-and-why-society-would-go-sideways-d9ab65ed4882#Politics #Capitalism