While Israelis and Palestinians fight, climate change threatens the land

While Israelis and Palestinians fight, climate change threatens the land

Gershom Gorenberg writes: A century ago, Egyptian explorer Ahmed Hassanein found pictures of animals carved in rock in the depth of the Libyan desert. “There are lions, giraffes, ostriches, and all kinds of gazelles,” he recorded. It was evidence that the surrounding area had once been verdant savanna. A prehistoric shift in climate, from natural causes, had made the land unlivable for beasts and humans. I thought about that desolate place recently as I looked at the pale splotch of…

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Hurricane Ida proves that we need to step up political fight on climate change

Hurricane Ida proves that we need to step up political fight on climate change

Bill McKibben writes: In October, 1999, Kerry Emanuel, a professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, published a paper in the journal Nature that stated, quite baldly: “the evolution of hurricane intensity depends mainly on three factors: the storm’s initial intensity, the thermodynamic state of the atmosphere through which it moves, and the heat exchange with the upper layer of the ocean under the core of the hurricane.” Hurricane Ida followed his script this past weekend—in the…

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Federal judge strikes down Trump rule that allowed water pollution

Federal judge strikes down Trump rule that allowed water pollution

The New York Times reports: A federal judge on Monday struck down a Trump-era environmental rule that drastically limited federal restrictions against pollution of millions of streams, wetlands and marshes across the country. The Biden administration had already begun the lengthy process of undoing the policy, which President Donald J. Trump established in 2020 after farmers, real estate developers and fossil fuel producers complained that Obama-era rules had saddled them with onerous regulatory burdens. Mr. Trump’s policy allowed the discharge…

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‘They have better things to do’ – Major Republican donors are staying away from Trump

‘They have better things to do’ – Major Republican donors are staying away from Trump

CNBC reports: Several of the Republican Party’s biggest and most influential donors are signaling that they don’t plan on helping fund former President Donald Trump’s political operation, at least for the moment. Wealthy financiers such as Stephen Ross and Larry Ellison have instead opted to spend money on the GOP’s efforts to take back Congress during next year’s midterm elections or have shown support for potential 2024 presidential candidates such as Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Tim Scott of…

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As Biden winds down Afghanistan, a xenophobic backlash looms at home

As Biden winds down Afghanistan, a xenophobic backlash looms at home

Politico reports: President Joe Biden has faced a torrent of criticism for abandoning Afghan partners as their country fell to the Taliban. Now, there is also a looming political controversy over the thousands of Afghans Biden will end up resettling over here. An increasingly vocal group of Republicans — led by Donald Trump, who made immigration restrictions a hallmark of his presidency — oppose the resettlement of Afghan refugees in the U.S., claiming that they could be dangerous, or will…

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Chinese foreign minister tells top U.S. diplomat world must ‘positively guide’ Taliban

Chinese foreign minister tells top U.S. diplomat world must ‘positively guide’ Taliban

Reuters reports: Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call on Sunday that the international community should engage with Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers and “positively guide” them, China’s foreign ministry said. Washington should work with the international community to provide economic and humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, help the new regime run governmental functions normally, maintain social stability, and stop the currency from depreciating and the cost of living from…

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How a handful of Americans evacuated 5,000 Afghans

How a handful of Americans evacuated 5,000 Afghans

The Wall Street Journal reports: Zach Van Meter, a private-equity investor from Naples, Fla., phoned the government of Somaliland last week, asking if it would host thousands of Afghan refugees. “He just called me out of the blue,” said Bashir Goth, the Washington representative for a region of Somalia seeking independence. Two days later, on Aug. 25, Somaliland’s acting foreign minister signed a tentative accord with charities working with Mr. Van Meter, agreeing to temporarily house as many as 10,000…

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Vaccines could affect how the coronavirus evolves – but that’s no reason to skip your shot

Vaccines could affect how the coronavirus evolves – but that’s no reason to skip your shot

Vaccines against COVID-19 are the safest – and fastest – way to prevent the spread of variants. Luis Alvarez/ DigitalVision via Getty Images By Andrew Read, Penn State Takeaways A 2015 paper on a chicken virus showed vaccines could enable more deadly variants to spread – in chickens. But that outcome is rare. Only a minority of human and animal vaccines have affected the evolution of a virus. In most of those cases, evolution didn’t increase the severity of the…

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It’s easy to judge the unvaccinated. As a doctor, I see a better alternative

It’s easy to judge the unvaccinated. As a doctor, I see a better alternative

Jay Baruch writes: The anger I feel toward vaccine-hesitant people becomes a more complicated emotion when I witness them reckoning with their choices. Many of the unvaccinated people I’ve talked with are hard-working, loving individuals struggling to catch a break in a life that hasn’t been fair. They’re unmoored and don’t know what to believe when truth itself has supply-chain problems and the health care system has been letting them down for years. Belonging to a moral profession implies the…

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The NYT stopped shilling for cigarettes. Why won’t it stop shilling for fossil fuels?

The NYT stopped shilling for cigarettes. Why won’t it stop shilling for fossil fuels?

Emily Atkin writes: Millions of people will be seeking information this morning about Hurricane Ida, the Caldor Fire, and the Chaparral Fire—three ongoing climate disasters leaving tremendous pain and suffering in their paths. For timely, trustworthy news on these crises, many will likely turn to the New York Times. Ida howled into Louisiana on Sunday with powerful winds and dangerously high storm surges, lashing coastal communities and battering New Orleans. “This is one of the strongest storms to make landfall…

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HHS unveils small office to address climate change as a public health issue

HHS unveils small office to address climate change as a public health issue

Politico reports: The federal health department is creating a new office to address climate change as a public health issue, in an effort to tie growing environmental concerns to the administration’s broader health equity agenda. The Office of Climate Change and Health Equity will take a wide-ranging approach to evaluating the impact that the warming planet is having on people’s health, including initiatives aimed at reducing health providers’ carbon emissions and expanding protections to the most vulnerable populations. Senior National…

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98 countries pledge to accept Afghans after U.S. military departs

98 countries pledge to accept Afghans after U.S. military departs

The New York Times reports: The United States and 97 other countries said on Sunday that they would continue to take in people fleeing Afghanistan after the American military departs this week and had secured an agreement with the Taliban to allow safe passage for those who are leaving. The Taliban’s chief negotiator, Sher Mohammed Abas Stanekzai, had announced on Friday that the group would not stop people from departing, no matter their nationality or whether they had worked for…

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Having Covid once confers much greater immunity than a vaccine — but no infection parties, please

Having Covid once confers much greater immunity than a vaccine — but no infection parties, please

Science reports: The natural immune protection that develops after a SARS-CoV-2 infection offers considerably more of a shield against the Delta variant of the pandemic coronavirus than two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to a large Israeli study that some scientists wish came with a “Don’t try this at home” label. The newly released data show people who once had a SARS-CoV-2 infection were much less likely than vaccinated people to get Delta, develop symptoms from it, or become…

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Show me the data

Show me the data

Zeynep Tufekci writes: Who should get vaccine booster shots and when? Can vaccinated people with a breakthrough infection transmit the virus as easily as unvaccinated people? How many people with breakthrough infections die or get seriously ill, broken down by age and underlying health conditions? Confused? It’s not you. It’s the fog of pandemic, in which inadequate data hinders a clear understanding of how to fight a stealthy enemy. To overcome the fog of war, the Prussian general and military…

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