Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week
18 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE
Ilana Cohen at Inside Climate News writes—Covid-19 and Climate Change Will Remain Inextricably Linked, Thanks to the Parallels (and the Denial)
Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and quality of life, especially for the diverse and low-income communities they’ve already hit hardest. [...]
But while Covid-19 has raised some people’s consciousness about the urgent need to act on climate change, it has had the opposite effect on others. At least in the United States, the president and much of his base have embraced the same science denialism that has for years greeted climate change, even as deaths from the coronavirus soared.
Whether or not the Covid-19 pandemic ultimately bolsters or hampers the prospects for U.S. and global climate action, the two crises remain inextricably linked. At least for the foreseeable future, any effort to meaningfully address the root causes of one will involve confronting the other.
Dealing with either crisis also involves tackling the rejection of science promoted by the Trump administration and pervading his base.
“If there is a silver lining, it is that the failure of the current administration to respond meaningfully to the pandemic lays bare the deadliness of ideologically-motivated science denial,” said Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Penn State University, who warned that such inaction around climate “will be even more deadly.”
Noting the pandemic’s minimal impact in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Mann said Covid-19 had shown the inadequacy of voluntary measures and individual behavior to satisfy the goals of the Paris Agreement and prevent dangerous levels of global warming. [...]
THREE OTHER ARTICLES WORTH READING
QUOTATION
“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.” ~~William E. Vaughan
At Daily Kos on this date in 2012—Give him some credit, at least Rick Santorum didn't say 'welfare queens'
Smart people know that who gets food stamps and covered by Medicaid has nothing to do with race and everything to do with poverty. Unless, of course, you're a Republican candidate looking for whatever wedge issue you can dredge up to distinguish yourself from all the other candidates in the final moments of the first big contest of the 2012 season.
It's not that the others would shy away from doing what Rick Santorum did Sunday. That was to raise the specter of African Americans leeching off the taxpayers when they should be getting jobs. You can't exactly call it a dog-whistle since the message was loud and clear to everyone.
In Sioux City at a campaign stop Santorum told a mostly white crowd that he [doesn't want] to give black people "somebody else's money."