FROM this week’s news ON: the climate crisis, environmental issues, and nuclear threats/issues [Note: Content Warning - links to distressing reports on this topic. Reader discretion is advised]

Note: CONTENT WARNING - some of this content is about upsetting, disturbing or triggering events & attitudes. Seek competent help - including professional - if you need it. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that linked articles may contains names and/or images of deceased people. READER CAUTION IS RECOMMENDED! For anyone distressed by anything in this post, or for any other reason considering seeking support, resources are available in Australia here, here, and here. In other nations, you will have to do an Internet search using terms such as “mental health support - <your nation>” (which, for instance, may lead to this, this, and this, in the USA, or this, this, and this, in France [biased towards English-language - my apologies]), or perhaps try https://www.befrienders.org/. 

Note: in my “from the news” posts, quotes are shown italicised and blue, my comments are in a different shade of blue, and “good” items are shown in green. I have loosely grouped the posts where such seemed reasonable, but that is subjective (i.e., my opinion - others are free to disagree), and challenging, as some posts belong in multiple “groups”.

From this week’s news on the climate crisis, environmental issues, and nuclear threats/issues (note: I may continue to add links for a few days, possibly up to a week, after these are published), noting that at least some issues will not have made it into the news that I see: 

• “‘It’s not game over – it’s game on’: why 2024 is an inflection point for the climate crisis”   https://theconversation.com/its-not-game-over-its-game-on-why-2024-is-an-inflection-point-for-the-climate-crisis-221497   
  

• “1 billion people left dangerously exposed to heat stress by gaps in climate monitoring”   https://theconversation.com/1-billion-people-left-dangerously-exposed-to-heat-stress-by-gaps-in-climate-monitoring-221313    I have friends who live in such circumstances - I am helping their son get through Uni  Also, see   “Kalgoorlie faces a week without electricity amid heatwave due to WA power outages | Western Australia | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/19/wa-power-outage-blackout-kalgoorlie-weather-temperatures-heatwave  
  

• “It is time to draw down carbon dioxide but shut down moves to play God with the climate”   https://theconversation.com/it-is-time-to-draw-down-carbon-dioxide-but-shut-down-moves-to-play-god-with-the-climate-220422   Yes!   “Devastating drought in Amazon result of climate crisis, study shows”   https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/24/devastating-drought-in-amazon-result-of-climate-crisis-study-shows   “Extreme weather threatens world’s biggest carbon store as the rainforest is already close to tipping point”    “Old Forests are Essential for Slowing Climate Change: Prohibit Logging Them!”   https://www.juancole.com/2024/01/forests-essential-prohibit.html       “I fulfil Wiradyuri tradition by tree-hugging with purpose. Each hug aims to leave some love behind | Brisbane | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/jan/21/i-fulfil-wiradyuri-tradition-by-tree-hugging-with-purpose-each-hug-aims-to-leave-some-love-behind   I like and agree with this, and do it when I can - and have for most of my life   “Mindblowing Video of Plants Talking to Each Other In Real Time”   https://youtu.be/hd-h_y1X4oA?si=nTeUQfisillcW02k   

• “The cutting edge technology of Europe's biggest greenhouse | DW News”   https://youtu.be/8APpeti82hw?si=A-LJsJoeO5TIY_R-   In my opinion (IMO), this is how most of our crops will have to be grown as the climate crisis continues to destroy our world   

• “CRISPR-edited crops break new ground in Africa”   https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00176-8   “Scientists in the global south use the popular technique to protect local crops against local threats”   This is good, but I would still like to know long term impacts - such as any risks of monoculture or diseases evolving into something else  
  

• “As another cyclone heads for Queensland, we must be ready for the new threat: torrential rain and floods”   https://theconversation.com/as-another-cyclone-heads-for-queensland-we-must-be-ready-for-the-new-threat-torrential-rain-and-floods-221737   Floods were something we knew about and accepted in central Queensland in the 1970s: I suspect the grossly irresponsible  and offensive pro-tourism censorship of cyclone risks is when that knowledge was lost  
  

• “When floodwater reaches the sea, it can leave a 50 metre thick layer of brown water – and cause real problems”   https://theconversation.com/when-floodwater-reaches-the-sea-it-can-leave-a-50-metre-thick-layer-of-brown-water-and-cause-real-problems-213548   

• “Canada’s oil sands spew massive amounts of unmonitored polluting gases”   https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00203-8   “Fossil Fuel Companies Don't Want You to Understand The Buzzwords”   https://youtu.be/U4rLdnlrf7Q?si=VsJEM2yVzMLpAYj4   Important to note   “Imran Ahmed on CNN about the New Climate Denial”   https://youtu.be/MRdmXRiGvvM?si=1SEu2H4idMqYvGn5   This is an important - and NEW - perspective  “New Shell Files Could Aid Climate Cases, Attorneys Say  - DeSmog”   https://www.desmog.com/2024/01/17/new-shell-files-could-aid-climate-cases-attorneys-say/    

• “To curb plastic pollution, industry and academia must unite”   https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00155-z  
  

• “Mesmeric Weapons: South Africa’s Nuclear Program”   https://theaimn.com/mesmeric-weapons-south-africas-nuclear-program/   “The lessons of the South African nuclear weapons program are deep, profound and largely ignored by non-proliferation dogmatists. They show that a regime, even one subject to sanctions and exiled to the diplomatic cold room, can still show aptitude and resourcefulness in creating such murderous weapons.   ...   Where there is a pathological will, there will be a way”   

• “Dingoes pay the ultimate price on K’gari but some believe people are the real menace | Queensland | The Guardian”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/21/dingoes-pay-the-ultimate-price-on-kgari-but-some-believe-people-are-the-real-menace   I agree: people are the problem  
  

 

My links for activism post may aid any activism you may decide to do on any/all of these. If you do, don’t get too fixated on specific instances of problems - important though they may well be: take a moment to also consider the broader issues these incidents and groups of incidents may suggest/reveal.

 

Assumptions / basis 

In writing this, I have assumed / started from the following: 

• this blog states quite clearly that it is about political and human rights matters, including lived experience of problems, and thus I will assume readers are reasonable people who have noted the content warning in the post header;

Possible flaws 

Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:

• there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan  Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”; 
  
• I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
  

 

If they are of any use of interest, the activism information links from my former news posts are available in this post. 

 

If you appreciated this post, please consider promoting it - there are some links below.

Remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing, and all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering”.

Copyright © Kayleen White 2016-2024     NO AI   I do not consent to any machine learning aka Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language model, machine learning, chatbot, or other automated analysis, generative process, or replication program to reproduce, mimic, remix, summarise, or otherwise  replicate any part of this post or other posts on this blog via any means. Typo’s may be inserrted deliberately to demonstrate this is not an AI product.     Otherwise, fair and reasonable use is accepted under Creative Commons 4.0 on an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike basis   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/