It’s time once again for news and views that you can peruse! It’s time for another Weekly Reader! As always, if you have something you’d like to share, drop a link in the comments!
Threatened by rising seas, the first of Panama’s Indigenous islanders are forced to leave (from CNN): “Even if the world dramatically cuts the planet-warming pollution that causes climate change, scientists say a certain amount of sea level rise has already been locked in until the end of the century. And that rise won’t happen uniformly around the world. Small, low-lying islands in the tropics, like those in the Guna Yala archipelago, will bear the brunt. Here, the rise is existential.”
Exclusive: Cows infected with bird flu have died in five US states (from Reuters): “Some of the animals died of secondary infections contracted after bird flu weakened their immune systems, said state veterinarians, agriculture officials, and academics assisting in state responses to bird flu. Other cows were killed by farmers because they failed to recover from the virus.”
The forgotten racial history of Red Lobster (from CNN): “Red Lobster attracted both working-class and affluent Black diners during the 1970s and 1980s at a time when many sit-down restaurants were unwelcoming of Black patrons, said Marcia Chatelain, a professor of Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania and author of “Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America,” which explores the relationship between McDonald’s and Black consumers.”
These disabled people tried to play by the rules. It cost them their federal benefits (from NPR): “In Philadelphia, Karen Williams was caught off guard when, in 2019, she got a letter from Social Security telling her she needed to come to the local office.
That’s where Williams was told she was over the $2,000 limit on assets. And that she had been for a long time.
Someone at Social Security had noticed she’d accumulated the $260 in her checking account and had spotted her life insurance policy with its $1,900 cash value.”
A Black photographer added himself to places where history didn’t want him (from CNN): ““Being There” came to life when Shulman noticed many of the slides contained an empty seat – presumably that the photographer had vacated to take the photo. “There was an absence,” he told CNN in a joint video interview with Diop. That they were taken in America circa the civil rights movement, but also of a segregated South, “played on my mind a lot,” he explained. That absence became abstracted. The person missing from the seat evolved into a totem of worlds and peoples often excluded from the privileges of White America. “Every time I saw that chair, I saw Omar in (it),” Shulman added.”
Hawaii’s birds are going extinct. Their last hope could be millions of mosquitoes (from NPR): “Still, small pockets of birds have endured because the mosquito onslaught has been halted by an invisible line. Above 4,000 to 5,000 feet in elevation, temperatures are too cold for mosquitoes, so the birds there have remained safe. But as temperatures rise with climate change, the mosquitoes are advancing into the birds’ last remaining refuge.”
How an unassuming ‘sponge’ in your home could suck planet-heating pollution from the atmosphere (from CNN): “Sucking up carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere “is a last resort,” Forse added, “but given the scale of the climate emergency, it’s something we need to investigate.””
Joro spiders are big and colorful, but they shouldn’t be nightmare fodder (from NPR): “Joro spiders have venom like all spiders, but they aren’t deadly or even medically relevant to humans, Nelsen said. At worst, a Joro bite might itch or cause an allergic reaction. But the shy creatures tend to stay out of humans’ way.”
UN chief says world is on ‘highway to climate hell’ as planet endures 12 straight months of unprecedented heat (from CNN): “Copernicus released its data the same day as United Nations Secretary General António Guterres made an impassioned speech in New York about climate change, slamming fossil fuel companies as the “godfathers of climate chaos” and, for the first time, explicitly calling on all countries to ban advertising their fossil fuel products.
Guterres urged world leaders to swiftly take control of the spiraling climate crisis or face dangerous tipping points. “We are playing Russian roulette with our planet,” he said Wednesday. “We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell.””
A fierce battle is being fought in the soil beneath our feet – and the implications for global warming are huge (from The Conversation): “We sampled phosphorus in all parts of the ecosystem, tracing its journey from the soil to the trees. We found under high-CO₂ conditions the microbes keep more of the phosphorus they produce, to aid their own metabolism. This left less available for trees to take up.
This occurred despite the trees trying to “bargain” for phosphorus by releasing extra carbon into the soil to feed the microbes.
What’s more, trees are big “recyclers” of phosphorus – they remove half of the phosphorus from any leaf before it falls. But this was still not enough to support extra tree growth.”
The plastics industry says this technology could help banish pollution. It’s ‘an illusion,’ critics say (from CNN): “The plastic industry is pitching this technology, also known as advanced recycling, as a great new hope in the battle against the plastic pollution crisis. But critics say it’s failing to meet the hype, plagued by missed targets, plants closed or shelved and reports of fires and spills.
The claims are big, but the reality is very different, Congdon told CNN. “It’s a PR stunt. It’s an illusion,” she said.”
The New York Times goes all in on “lab leak” (from Respectful Insolence): “In fairness, I also note that “lab leak” didn’t necessarily start out as a conspiracy theory, as lab leaks have happened before—although none had ever caused a pandemic that has thus far claimed millions of deaths worldwide, over a million in the US alone. However, it did rapidly take on the characteristics of a conspiracy theory such that even those advocating the “lab leak” hypothesis often had difficulty avoiding interspersing their more serious scientific arguments with what can be only described as a heaping helping of conspiratorial thinking. As time went on, if anything, the lab leak hypothesis drifted further and further from legitimate science and deeper and deeper into conspiracyland, such that, try as I might, I can no longer find examples of lab leak advocates who don’t add conspiracy mongering narratives to their arguments; for example, Alina Chan.”
Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are surging “faster than ever” to beyond anything humans ever experienced, officials say (from CBS News): “”Not only is CO2 now at the highest level in millions of years, it is also rising faster than ever,” Ralph Keeling, director of Scripps’ CO2 program, said in the release. “Each year achieves a higher maximum due to fossil-fuel burning, which releases pollution in the form of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Fossil fuel pollution just keeps building up, much like trash in a landfill.””
Rare skull of an extinct, massive ‘thunder bird’ discovered in Australia (from CNN): “Big, flightless emus and cassowaries (which are not close relatives of thunder birds) currently roam Australia, but cast a far smaller shadow than the long-lost mihirungs, which still loom large in the popular imagination, McInerney said. There is much about the anatomy of these extinct giants that is yet to be discovered, she added, such as how inner ear structures associated with head stabilization and locomotion may have been affected by gigantism and flightlessness.”
Here’s how climate social scientists are finding their way in the era of climate crisis (from The Conversation): “Over the last two years, I have interviewed more than 20 colleagues across the climate social sciences about how they are navigating the climate crisis in their research, teaching and personal lives. These interviews were undertaken as part of an ongoing project exploring the perspectives and roles of climate social scientists in a time of climate crisis. They may offer a useful and motivating perspective that the world could certainly use.”
A new Disney ride opens soon, splashing right out of the culture wars (from CNN): “The original Splash Mountain ride — which first opened at Disneyland in 1989, and at Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland in 1992 — was based on characters from “Song of the South,” a 1946 Disney movie that has long been criticized as racist for its stereotypical portrayals of African Americans and a romanticized view of the antebellum South.
Turning Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is also happening at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, with an opening date yet to be announced. Tokyo Disneyland is also home to a Splash Mountain ride, but the theme in that location is not changing.”
The Joro spiders are coming – and these photos from people along the East Coast show what you can expect (from CBS News): “Joro spiders do have venom, but so far, there is no evidence showing that they are dangerous to humans or pets. Researchers say it’s likely that their fangs can’t even pierce the skin if given the chance, and that when disturbed, they’re known to freeze for more than an hour. Researchers at Clemson University have even noted that this species is among the “shyest” of spiders.”
Charlie Kirk once pushed a ‘secular worldview.’ Now he’s fighting to make America Christian again. (from NBC News): “By appealing to conservative Christians’ fears of shifting cultural norms around LGBTQ acceptance, and by portraying the election as part of a spiritual struggle, Kirk and Turning Point are banking that they can drive evangelical turnout to secure Trump victories in key swing states. But extremism experts warn that this framing — the idea Trump is on a mission from God to restore Christian righteousness in America — could lead followers to take radical action if he doesn’t prevail in November.”
A blind woman was kicked out of a Texas church for bringing a service dog with her (from the Friendly Atheist): “According to Ramos, she was told her dog couldn’t enter the building because there was a live band and “flashing lights” and those would not be “appropriate” for a service animal… but why is the church making that call for her instead of letting her decide if Betty can handle that? She knows her service animal better than they do. (Also, service dogs can guide people who are blind through traffic and crowded places; they’re literally trained to deal with loud noises and bright lights.)”
Once celebrated, an inventor’s breakthroughs are now viewed as disasters — and the world is still recovering (from CNN): “Midgley would go on to leave his mark in history with another destructive invention, also a solution to a problem: the need to replace the noxious and flammable gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning. He found that CFCs, or chlorofluorocarbons, were an ideal substitute and harmless to humans. However, they turned out to be deadly to the ozone in the atmosphere, which blocks dangerous ultraviolet radiation that can cause skin cancers and other health problems, as well as harming plants and animals.”
That’s all for this week, but don’t fret! I’ll drop off another info-dump of articles you just might find entertaining! Until then, have a great rest of your week and happy reading!
Iacon East 