GAO: Climate change already costing US billions in losses
WASHINGTON (AP) — A non-partisan federal watchdog says climate change is already costing U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars each year, with those costs expected to rise as devastating storms, floods, wildfires and droughts become more frequent in the coming decades. A Government Accountability Office report released Monday said the federal government has spent more than $350 billion over the last decade on disaster assistance programs and losses from flood and crop insurance. That tally does not include the massive toll from this year's wildfires and three major hurricanes, expected to be among the most costly in the nation's history.
Poverty in the UK: If you’re poor, you should work harder
“This is what it feels like to be young now. Not only are we screwed, but we have to listen to lectures about our laziness..." Today, a polemical rant. We’ve wanted to get this off our moronic chests for some time now as a cathartic exercise. Why?
Oil giant Koch Industries try to stop the attempt to expand the electric vehicle federal tax credit - Electrek
With a new Republican-backed effort to expand the electric vehicle federal tax credit, the Koch brothers are urging senators to vote against it – putting their political donation dollars at work. The situation around the federal tax credit for EVs is weirder than ever right now. As Tesla hit the threshold to initiate the phase-out, there are two different legislative efforts to change it. Earlier this month, a Republican senator introduced a new bill to end the $7,500 federal tax credit for electric cars and tax them even more instead.
A Massive Oil Spill On Pakistan's Coastline Is Threatening All Sea Life And No One’s Taking Responsibility
The Pakistan oil spill might be the worst the country has ever seen. An oil spill off Pakistan’s coast specifically from Mubarak Village to Churna Island is causing major problems for the marine life and residents of the area. The oil spill is being attributed to Byco’s underwater pipeline which might have burst. However, Byco has denied this claim and said all their pipelines are perfectly intact.
Americans Will Pay Billions More For Climate Change, and That’s the Best Case
Photographer: The Washington Post/The Washington Post The Trump administration just published a major report documenting the advance of climate change, weeks earlier than expected and on a day many Americans are occupied with family and holiday shopping. The news is predictably bad, but this time the tally comes with a pricetag—one significantly larger than you’ll find at the mall. The report catalogs the observed damage and accelerating losses projected from a climate now unmoored from a 12,000-year period of relative stability.
Privatisation Harms Poor and Needy, Says UN Poverty Expert
Widespread privatisation of public goods in many societies is systematically eliminating human rights protections and further marginalising those living in poverty, according to a hard-hitting new report. The report was transmitted to the UN General Assembly on 19 October. Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, criticised the extent to which the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and even the UN itself have aggressively promoted widespread privatisation of basic services, without regard to the human rights implications or the consequences for the poor. He also criticised human rights groups for not responding strongly enough to the resulting challenges. “Privatising the provision of criminal justice, social protection, prisons, education, basic healthcare and other essential public goods cannot be done at the expense of throwing rights protections out of the window,” Alston said.
We don’t want billionaires’ charity. We want them to pay their taxes
“Charity is a cold, grey loveless thing. If a rich man wants to help the poor, he should pay his taxes gladly, not dole out money at a whim.” It is a phrase commonly ascribed to Clement Attlee – the credit actually belongs to his biographer, Francis Beckett – but it elegantly sums up the case for progressive taxation. According to a report by the Swiss bank UBS, last year billionaires made more money than any other point in the history of human civilisation.
War on the wildest places: US bill may open pristine lands to development
The Big Snowy Mountains wilderness study area in Montana represents 91,000 acres of the wildest land left in America. Viewed from a limestone bluff high in a timbered gulch, no houses are visible. No transmission lines or roads interrupting the expanse of green.
‘The devastation of human life is in view’: what a burning world tells us about climate change
I have never been an environmentalist. I don’t even think of myself as a nature person. I’ve lived my whole life in cities, enjoying gadgets built by industrial supply chains I hardly think twice about. I’ve never gone camping, not willingly anyway, and while I always thought it was basically a good idea to keep streams clean and air clear, I also accepted the proposition that there was a trade-off between economic growth and cost to nature – and figured, well, in most cases I’d go for growth.
'It's not fair, not right': how America treats its black farmers
On the summer day in 2014 that June Provost found three stray cats dead and lined up side by side in his tractor, the forecast had called for rain. It was hot and overcast, the air like a heavy and suffocating blanket, and the sugarcane was already 6ft high. Wenceslaus Provost Jr – who has gone by the name June since he can remember – stared in shock at the cats, each one with the tabby markings of strays. He could see no visible lacerations, no insides spilling out. He guessed it had been the work of a BB gun or a strangling. He looked away, disgusted.
