Atomic bombing of #hiroshima #nagasaki was #terrorism, pure and simple.

The Boston Globe: "compelling evidence that it was the Soviet entry into the Pacific conflict, not Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that forced Japan’s surrender. His interpretation could force a new accounting of the moral meaning of the atomic attack. It also raises provocative questions about nuclear deterrence, a foundation stone of military strategy in the postwar period. And it suggests that we could be headed towards an utterly different understanding of how, and why, the Second World War came to its conclusion."

G20 countries pay over $1,000 per citizen in fossil fuel subsidies, says IMF | Environment | The Guardian

Guardian: "“In particular, these figures reveal that the G20 countries are wasting trillions of dollars each year on subsidies for fossil fuel pollution,” Stern said. “It is time for the G20 to recognise that the extent of subsidies is far greater than has been previously understood, and to honour their commitment.”"

World population increasing by 9 New York Citys each year

Low birth rate is best way to save the biosphere, but capitalism needs growth

Here is the admission. Capitalism must grow or die. This means that degrowth needs another system.

DW.COM: "We estimate by today's standard, that by the year 2018 the economic development will decrease by 0.56 every year provided the fertility remains at a similar level. In only 10 years time, Taiwan will be a super-ageing society. One fifth of the population will be elderly, above 65 years of age. Our pension and health care systems will be in danger because we cannot support such a big elderly population without young people entering the labor market. It will be a big problem for our society."

Free public transport, an international campaign

Many places have it already:

Many groups are trying to spread it:

New York, London, Shanghai underwater in 50 years?

Resource Insights: "In 1896 Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish chemist, was the first person to realize that human-created fossil fuel emissions might change the climate. He calculated that it would take 2,000 years to double the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The latest calculations suggest a doubling by 2050, only 154 years after Arrhenius' realization. The Hansen research also reminds us that the pace of warming is increasing: "[T]wo-thirds of the 0.9 degrees C global warming (since 1850) has occurred since 1975.""

NOAA

Recognizing framing tricks

When you see the phrase "get people out of their cars" -- what do you think?

implications:

• manipulation, social engineering
• no threat to car ownership
• worries for people who are car dependent
• people, not system, are the problem

Purpose is to turn people against public transit and signal autosprawl bosses the writer is on their side.

We’re Now Entering the Earth’s Sixth Great Extinction

Earthjustice: "According to a new study published last month in the journal Science Advances, Earth has entered its sixth period of large-scale extinction. Scientists from universities in the U.S. and Mexico found that species are disappearing at a rate 114 times faster than normal. The last time extinction rates were this high was when dinosaurs were wiped off the face of the Earth more than 65 million years ago."

Ecovillage concept a failure

The Ecologist: "Take the Findhorn Ecovillage in Scotland, for example, probably the most famous ecovillage in the world.
...An ecological footprint analysis was undertaken of this community. It was discovered that even the committed efforts of this ecovillage still left the Findhorn community consuming resources and emitting waste far in excess of what could be sustained if everyone lived in this way.
...based on my calculations, if the whole world came to look like one of our most successful ecovillages, we would still need one and a half planet's worth of Earth's biocapacity. Dwell on that for a moment."
...Even after five or six decades of the modern environmental movement, it seems we still do not have an example of how to thrive within the sustainable carrying capacity of the planet.

It should be no surprise that the author of the above has no answers to the problems of #climate and #energy since his transport plan is "ride bikes more."

Oil-dependent areas collapse first

Our Finite World: "We all know one thing that Greece, Cyprus, and Puerto Rico have in common–severe financial problems. There is something else that they have in common–a high proportion of their energy use is from oil."