Another theme in this report is that mitigation and adaptation efforts often yield near-term benefits unrelated to their value in reducing risks associated with climate change. Drought-resistant crops help poor farmers now. Increased energy efficiency makes business sense now. Coastal marsh restoration protects against flooding now. Even climate change skeptics could appreciate these co-benefits.
The Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) focuses on the observed and projected impacts of climate change in the US, with special consideration given to risk reduction. Although the report is around 1600 pages long and would thus take some time to read, news media outlets were quick to react to the report’s release. CNN, in particular, was on it…
The FBI released its 2017 Hate Crime Statistics report a couple days ago. The report was covered by a bunch of news outlets, but the stories were mostly a rehash of the FBI’s relatively short press release. Few reporters dived into the detailed data tables that accompanied the report. I found none that compared the 2017 data to the previous year’s numbers. But I did.
To be pragmatic doesn’t mean one is shallow or selfish, lacking compassion or ideals. Pragmatists may be motivated by a strong sense of right and wrong, but they’re likely to keep their emotions in check in the service of whatever moral good they’re trying to achieve. That’s because strong emotion can make us stupid and short-sighted.
And yet in some other countries, for-profit schools and prisons are considered an improvement on their government-run counterparts. For-profit schools are doing wonders for poor children in India and Nigeria and for-profit prisons are widely accepted and praised in Australia.
The rationale for the proposed $450 billion home ownership program is that home equity is an important source of “iterative wealth building”, especially the use of home equity loans to build businesses and put the kids through college. Current disparities in wealth could therefore be reduced if more people owned homes. But does home equity actually play a significant or essential role in financing business or college educations in America?
The basic idea is that home owners are able to leverage their home equity to move up the economic ladder. Thus, the rationale for the Act is to right historical wrongs through a massive home ownership program to promote economic mobility within previously discriminated communities; hence the name, “American Housing and Economic Mobility Act”. Sounds good but would it work?
Then again, Americans love their specialists – nothing soothes the soul so much as expensive displays of conspicuous compassion.
“The Republicans [walked] away from the 1946 midterms with gains of 56 seats in the House and 13 in the Senate—and majorities in both houses…” - Top 10 Historic Midterm Elections by T.A. Frail/Smithsonian October 13, 2010
… a coalition of 17 states, 540 cities, counties and tribes, 1,914 businesses and investors, 253 faith-based and cultural organizations, and 343 higher education institutions have pledged their support for the Paris Agreement.
…Damning the Inner Other: a propensity to focus on and condemn the beliefs, motivations, biases, and inner life of out-group members and political opponents, as in accusations that rich people only give to charity out of self-interest. …
So there are three challenges here: 1) increase the likelihood of socioeconomic developments that present lower challenge to climate change mitigation and adaptation; 2) limit the rise in global temperatures; and 3) improve our ability to adapt to climate change. Per the IPCC report, here are some ways to address all three challenges:
This post will address: How has the US government sought to redress historical inequities in home ownership within previously discriminated communities? How successful have these efforts been?
“Sixty-two percent of jobs fall short of that middle-class standard when factoring in both wages and the cost of living in the metro area where the job is located, according to the study by Third Way, a think tank that advocates center-left ideas.” Whopping 62 percent of jobs don't support middle-class life after accounting for cost of living by Paul Davidson/USA Today October 30, 2018
The earth has been warmer many times before. The biosphere survived and sometimes thrived. It’s just that humans are used to a cooler planet. So we have to change our ways. This is new for us. Coasts need to be protected; crops made more resilient, wild habitat expanded and better managed. We need to reduce some stressors unrelated to climate change (over-fishing, poor governance) to build resilience to the new stressors.
To the morally outraged, justice is a righteous Reckoning, a collection of what is due. Punishment is a necessary payment to balance the books. But when is enough, enough?
“…a charming stroll through the ruins of late capitalism that feels real and metaphorical at once.” - Review of the TV show Lodge 49: “Lodge 49 Nails the Sad Absurdity of Modern Life” by Matt Zoller Seitz/Vulture.com
Of the 200 CEOs listed, five made more than $50 million, 17 made between $30-49 million, and 178 made between $14-$29 million….
First, the IPCC report’s full name is Global Warming of 1.5°C, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty. …
…support for strong border controls does not imply traditional marriage values, just as support for universal health care does not imply hostility to large corporations. That certain political opinions tend to go together is mostly a product of American history - an artifact of our two-party system and the dynamics of coalition politics.