FROM this week’s news ON: society generally, the climate crisis, environmental issues, and nuclear threats/issues [Note: Content Warning - may be 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”.

 

Frrom this week’s news on society generally, the climate crisis, environmental issues, and nuclear threats/issues (please note: this is a cut down and/or combined version of what I used to do):

on society generally:

• “Wearable devices can now harvest our brain data. Australia needs urgent privacy reforms”   https://theconversation.com/wearable-devices-can-now-harvest-our-brain-data-australia-needs-urgent-privacy-reforms-229006      

• “Risk of ‘genetic discrimination’ by insurance companies is ruining people’s trust in vital medical science”   https://theconversation.com/risk-of-genetic-discrimination-by-insurance-companies-is-ruining-peoples-trust-in-vital-medical-science-230112   We need to follow other nations’ lead and put people before corporate profits      
  

• “Panic. It's Good For You”   https://www.okdoomer.io/panic-all-you-want-its-good-for-you/   “Overturning a stigma”   An interesting article from a favourite author of mine     
  

• “Is the Internet bad for you? Huge study reveals surprise effect on well-being”   https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01410-z   “A global, 16-year study of 2.4 million people has found that Internet use might boost measures of well-being, such as life satisfaction and sense of purpose — challenging the commonly held idea that Internet use has negative effects on people’s welfare.”      

• “154 million lives saved in 50 years: 5 charts on the global success of vaccines”   https://theconversation.com/154-million-lives-saved-in-50-years-5-charts-on-the-global-success-of-vaccines-229707     
  

the climate crisis: 

• “‘Impossible’ heatwave struck Philippines in April, scientists find”   https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/14/impossible-heatwave-philippines-april-scientists   “Human-caused climate crisis brought soaring temperatures across Asia, from Gaza to Delhi to Manila”      “Summer 2023 was northern hemisphere’s hottest for 2,000 years, tree rings show”   https://theconversation.com/summer-2023-was-northern-hemispheres-hottest-for-2-000-years-tree-rings-show-230021     
  

• “How Climate Disasters Could Destabilise Major Banks”   https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-climate-disasters-could-destabilize-major-banks/      

• “Floating robots reveal just how much airborne dust fertilises the Southern Ocean – a key climate ‘shock absorber’”   https://theconversation.com/floating-robots-reveal-just-how-much-airborne-dust-fertilises-the-southern-ocean-a-key-climate-shock-absorber-225793      

• “New Report ‘Ringing the Alarm Bell’ for Climate Advocacy Conflict of Interest”   https://www.desmog.com/2024/05/08/f-minus-brown-university-report-conflict-of-interest-fossil-fuel-lobbying-climate-advocacy/   “F Minus research reveals CO fossil fuel lobbying firms continually fought for and against environmental regulations”      

• “Fossil fuel subsidies cost Australian governments $14.5 BILLION”   https://youtu.be/v6ZSZfWL9F0?si=n7RsIl9Q8oYXdU4_   Or more than half a million per person ...  
  

environmental issues: 

• “‘Untold harm to nature’ from wildlife trafficking, warns UN crime agency”   https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/05/1149646      

• “Forestry social science is failing the needs of the people who need it most”   https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01411-y   “Rich nations’ fixation on forests as climate offsets has resulted in the needs of those who live in or make a living from these resources being ignored. A broader view and more collaboration between disciplines is required.”      
  

• “Two-thirds of us support banning pet cats from roaming. A ban would save millions of native animals – and billions of dollars”   https://theconversation.com/two-thirds-of-us-support-banning-pet-cats-from-roaming-a-ban-would-save-millions-of-native-animals-and-billions-of-dollars-229180     
  

nuclear threats/issues: 

• “Lidia Thorpe warns new laws will turn Australia into “the world's nuclear waste dump””   https://nit.com.au/13-05-2024/11377/lidia-thorpe-warns-new-laws-will-turn-australia-into-the-worlds-nuclear-waste-dump     
  

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/