By Benjamin Wehrmann | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Avoiding and better managing plastic waste should receive much greater attention by the German government in its bid to achieve a climate neutral economy, economic research institute DIW said in an analysis. Producing and disposing of one tonne of plastic on average causes about […]
Archives for July 2021
Why We cannot meet sustainable development goals with a sick ocean
By Josep Lluís Pelegrí Llopart | – The United Nations declared the start to the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development earlier this year. Its aim is to promote science-based ocean and coastal management, making healthy oceans one of the pillars of progress for all of humanity. Under the slogan “The science we need […]
Top 5 Differences between the Fourth of July and the Capitol Insurrection
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – 1. The Fourth of July celebrates a revolutionary event. January 6 was a counter-revolutionary event. Why do I say this? The chief feature of the Declaration of Independence was not that it announced an insurrection (or rather confirmed one already announced by some 90 councils and other local bodies). Insurrections […]
Eye of Fire as Ocean burns in Gulf of Mexico foretells Earth Future if we Keep Burning Fossil Fuels
By Julia Conley, staff writer | – ( Commondreams.org) – A fire that raged for hours in the Gulf of Mexico Friday offered the latest illustration of the climate emergency and the urgent need to end fossil fuel extraction and invest instead in burgeoning renewable energy industries. An underwater gas pipeline controlled by Mexico’s state-owned […]
The Declaration of Independence wasn’t really complaining about King George, and 5 other surprising facts for July Fourth
By Woody Holton | – Editor’s note: Americans may think they know a lot about the Declaration of Independence, but many of those ideas are elitist and wrong, as historian Woody Holton explains. His forthcoming book “Liberty is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution” shows how independence and the Revolutionary War were influenced […]
Iranian Voters sent a Message to Iran’s Leaders with Dismal Turnout For Presidential Election
( RFE/RL) – The Iranian leadership has a problem: a record number of voters — more than half of them — turned their back on the presidential election by not taking part in the vote. Official turnout in the June 18 election was 48.8 percent, the lowest ever registered in the Islamic republic, which was […]
United Nations Accuses Israel of ‘Grave Violations’ against Palestinian Children
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – This week, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres presented a report to the 75th General Assembly on the “Promotion and protection of the rights of children: promotion and protection of the rights of children: Children and Armed Conflict” It had a damning section on the situation in Israel […]
Gaza Disability Rights Defender recounts harrowing Flight from Israeli Airstrikes at U.N.
By Abier Almasri | Research Assistant, Middle East and North Africa Division | @abier_i | – ( ) – Abeer al-Harakli, a 28-year-old disability rights defender from Gaza, addressed the United Nations earlier this month at the 14th session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. […]
Biden is a Transformative President Domestically, but from China to Iran he embraces the Same old Washington Militarism
America is back–to the same old, same old. ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) -On the domestic front, Joe Biden is flirting with transformational policies around energy, environment, and infrastructure. It’s not a revolution, but it’s considerably less timid than what Barack Obama offered in that pre-Trump, pre-pandemic era. When it comes to foreign policy, […]