Browsed by
Author: From elsewhere

The climate future arrived in 2023. It left scars across the planet

The climate future arrived in 2023. It left scars across the planet

Chico Harlan writes: By the time the flames were barreling down the slope, heading for 40 miles of parched forest, the fire chief said he already knew: This was the big one. His part of Greece had gone two months without rain. A record heat wave had baked the area for weeks. Within hours, the fire had sprinted through acres of pines, hissing and spouting 120-foot flames, reaching the brink of a village where a single home — belonging to…

Read More Read More

International Court of Justice could charge Israel with genocide in Gaza, state officials fear

International Court of Justice could charge Israel with genocide in Gaza, state officials fear

  Haaretz reports: The security establishment and the State Attorney’s Office are concerned that the International Court of Justice at the Hague will charge Israel with genocide in the Gaza Strip – this at the request of South Africa, which petitioned the court over the weekend. Haaretz has learned that a senior legal expert dealing with the matter has in recent days warned IDF brass, including Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi, that there is real danger that the court will…

Read More Read More

The quest to make Big Oil pay for climate change

The quest to make Big Oil pay for climate change

Jake Bolster writes: Eight days after the Marshall Fire [in Colorado in 2021], U.S. President Joe Biden toured the wreckage and gave a speech to the community, saying, “We can’t ignore the reality that these fires are being supercharged. They’re being supercharged by a change in the weather.” Three years before the Marshall Fire, Boulder and San Miguel counties had filed a lawsuit seeking damages from the oil companies Exxon and Suncor by claiming much the same thing. Changes in…

Read More Read More

Biden’s flip-flopping on fossil fuels is bad policy and bad politics

Biden’s flip-flopping on fossil fuels is bad policy and bad politics

The Washington Post reports: As U.S. oil production was soaring to record levels in December, Biden administration officials were at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Dubai assuring world leaders that the United States would help lead the global transition away from fossil fuels. That dichotomy stood out to Amara Enyia, an activist and policy director for the Movement for Black Lives, who attended the conference, known as COP28. “There’s this dissonance between the commitments that are being made versus…

Read More Read More

Black, Hispanic, young voters abandon Biden as election year begins

Black, Hispanic, young voters abandon Biden as election year begins

USA Today reports: President Joe Biden heads into the election year showing alarming weakness among stalwarts of the Democratic base, with Donald Trump leading among Hispanic voters and young people. One in 5 Black voters now say they’ll support a third-party candidate in November. In a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll, Biden’s failure to consolidate support in key parts of the coalition that elected him in 2020 has left him narrowly trailing Trump, the likely Republican nominee, 39%-37%; 17% support…

Read More Read More

How America’s diet is feeding the groundwater crisis

How America’s diet is feeding the groundwater crisis

The New York Times reports: America’s striking dietary shift in recent decades, toward far more chicken and cheese, has not only contributed to concerns about American health but has taken a major, undocumented toll on underground water supplies. The effects are being felt in key agricultural regions nationwide as farmers have drained groundwater to grow animal feed. In Arkansas for example, where cotton was once king, the land is now ruled by fields of soybeans to feed the chickens, a…

Read More Read More

What was it like to grow up in the last ice age?

What was it like to grow up in the last ice age?

April Nowell writes: The sun rises on the Palaeolithic, 14,000 years ago, and the glacial ice that once blanketed Europe continues its slow retreat. In the daylight, a family begins making its way toward a cave at the foot of a mountain near the Ligurian Sea, in northern Italy. They’re wandering across a steppe covered in short, dry grasses and pine trees. Ahead, the cave’s entrance is surrounded by a kaleidoscope of wildflowers: prickly pink thistles, red-brown mugworts, and purple…

Read More Read More

Israel plans to continue war on Gaza for the ‘entire coming year’

Israel plans to continue war on Gaza for the ‘entire coming year’

The Times of Israel reports: IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says the military is making adjustments to its deployment in the Gaza Strip, as it anticipates a long war against the Hamas terror group, stretching throughout the entire coming year. “We are adjusting the fighting methods to each area in Gaza, as well as the necessary forces to carry out the mission in the best way possible. Each area has different characteristics and different operational needs,” he says. “Tonight,…

Read More Read More

South Africa files genocide case against Israel at International Court of Justice over Gaza war

South Africa files genocide case against Israel at International Court of Justice over Gaza war

The Guardian reports: South Africa has launched a case against Israel at the UN’s international court of justice (ICJ) accusing the state of committing genocide in its military campaign in Gaza. Israel responded to the allegations “with disgust”, calling South Africa’s case a “blood libel” and urging the ICJ to reject it. Any case at the ICJ is likely to take years to resolve, but South Africa has called for the court to convene in the next few days to…

Read More Read More

Netanyahu says Israel must control Egypt-Gaza border zone

Netanyahu says Israel must control Egypt-Gaza border zone

Middle East Eye reports: Israel’s prime minister has said a narrow strip of land between Egypt and Gaza must be retaken by Israel. “The Philadelphi Corridor – or to put it more correctly, the southern stoppage point [of Gaza] – must be in our hands,” Benjamin Netanyahu said in a press conference on Saturday. “It must be shut. It is clear that any other arrangement would not ensure the demilitarisation that we seek,” he added. The Philadelphi Corridor is a…

Read More Read More

The greatest challenge for journalists in Gaza is staying alive

The greatest challenge for journalists in Gaza is staying alive

Afnan Abu Yahia and Lila Hassan write: Samer Abu Daqqa loved being a journalist. A cameraman for over 20 years with Al Jazeera, Abu Daqqa, 45, had covered at least seven wars. Israel’s war on Gaza, however, would turn out to be his last. While covering an air strike at a United Nations–run school on December 15, Israeli forces shot Abu Daqqa. Intense shelling prevented an ambulance from reaching him—three paramedics were killed trying to get to the area—and he…

Read More Read More

For the safety of Jews and Palestinians, stop weaponizing antisemitism

For the safety of Jews and Palestinians, stop weaponizing antisemitism

Bernie Steinberg writes: For eighteen years I had the great privilege of working as Executive Director of Harvard Hillel. As a leader of Jewish communities on campus, in New England, and around the nation, I have helped cultivate a new generation of Jewish leaders and citizens. I navigated moments of tension and war: the tumultuous 1990s, as the Oslo Accords began to crumble; the Second Intifada; 9/11 and its fallout; the Iraq War; Israel’s Second Lebanon War and its war…

Read More Read More

The EU should support Ireland’s bold move to regulate social media

The EU should support Ireland’s bold move to regulate social media

Zephyr Teachout and Roger McNamee write: Dublin, Ireland, was stunned a month ago by riots that transformed its downtown into chaos, the worst rioting in decades, stemming from far-right online rumors about an attack on children.  The riots, like Jan. 6, appear to be a direct outgrowth of the amplification ecosystem supported by social media networks such as TikTok, Google’s YouTube and Meta’s Instagram, which likely keep their European headquarters in Dublin for tax reasons.  Ireland, long ridiculed for bowing…

Read More Read More

Political identity appears to shape our choices in love and location — and the implications are troubling

Political identity appears to shape our choices in love and location — and the implications are troubling

PsyPost reports: New research demonstrates that an individual’s political identity is related to their romantic and residential preferences. The findings, published in Politics and the Life Sciences, suggests that political beliefs play an important role in choosing romantic partners and preferred living locations, especially for those with strong partisan views, potentially exacerbating political polarization. The research was based on niche construction theory, a concept from evolutionary biology. This theory posits that organisms, including humans, actively modify their environment and social…

Read More Read More