A professor of environmental sciences gives a quick punchy take on the "eye-popping" numbers re. how clean air promotes economic growth.
An EPA analysis of 20 years of the Clean Air Act (1970-90) found the economic benefits of the regulations were about 42X greater than the costs.
No pay wall.
"USAID is worth every penny. I wish I could say the same for the Department of Defense, which spends money on a scale USAID could only dream of, and often with more waste."
A seagull drinks from a container marked “DOGS ONLY, NO SEAGULLS.”
every day we see more and more evidence of society descending into utter lawlessness and chaos
This is correct.
"As it was fifty years ago, so it is today: The fact that the Constitution’s enemies now include the president of the United States does not relieve members of Congress of their responsibility to that oath."
There is nothing "conservative" or "right-wing" about Patel, Gabbard or RFK Jr. They rather represent a new form of obscurantist radicalism: anti-evidence, anti-science, and opposed to the rule of law
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
It’s official: Elon Musk’s staffers have now illegally obtained classified information from the USAID office.
Here’s a recap of what’s happening:
is it good or bad that a billionaire oligarch with close ties to foreign dictators is currently downloading the most sensitive information the us federal government has about its citizens to his own private servers?
Remember:
The tariffs aren’t about economics, and DOGE isn’t about fiscal responsibility.
They are both about ••psychopathology**.
"America First" becomes "America Alone"
from @davidfrum.bsky.social
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
All scrolling is doom scrolling now.. 😂😭
stone text inlay: HERE WE ADMIT A WRONG
I went to post about the National Japanese American Memorial in D.C., which is beautiful but usually missed by tourists. It is a deeply staggering admission of guilt and a warning to future Americans. I went to link to the inscriptions and-
Well, they took the site down. www.nps.gov/places/japan...
if you cared about morale and recruitment you would not alienate a group that disproportionately enlists into the military, but if you are a white nationalist…
👇🎯
I'm not teaching my grad course 'Civil Resistance: How It Works' this semester. But here is an abridged version of the course schedule, readings, and films I used the last time I taught it (in 2022). Just in case it's useful. drive.google.com/file/d/14RRJ...
We've finally defeated cancel culture. Now people only get fired for criticizing the government
A photo of a small sea slug that is primarily green with pink tipped cerata. The green colour comes from the stolen chloroplasts that the slug uses to photosynthesise and produce sugars. It has two small black “eyes” on its face with a yellow patch below.
So this little #SeaSlug is a type of sap sucker in the genus Costasiella. These are not technically #Nudibranch and belong in the super order of #Sacoglossa. They perform kleptoplasty where they steal chloroplasts from their Avrainvillea algae host and utilise them for photosynthesis
#🦑 #🦐 #📷
Just about every major social problem we can think of is exacerbated by the collapse of local journalism. Tackling collective action problems—from the climate crisis to the erosion of democracy— is impossible without viable local media infrastructures.
"What shall-
What should I do? And the sea says in its lovely voice:
Excuse me, I have work to do" -Mary Oliver
This is so sad
Wrote this in 2020, about the Chinese plan to take over UN institutions, starting with WHO
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
“What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence.”
“Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one.”
— Jeff Bezos, in an op-ed in some newspaper that’s dying in darkness, Oct. 28, 2024
if there is one funny thing about yesterday’s blitzkrieg of executive orders is that it makes the “democratic opposition went too far last time” crowd look like total dipshits
this is it
The Internet is so good for stuff like mutual aid and keep people informed amid crisis. Like, when I feel despair--and these days I often do--it's a small encouragement to be reminded that when we are proximal to suffering, we are capable of extraordinary generosity.
I think Mark Zuckerberg might be a kinda uncool dude…
Forget the division of Left and Right. We are entering the age of the New Obscurantism: politics fused with magical solutions, superstition, an aura of spirituality and the cultivation of fear
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
Dear World,
We’re sorry.
Sincerely,
Sane, Decent Americans
I’m always looking for things that explain a lot but that people have a hard time remembering.
Examples: Air is stuff. Pee comes from blood. All land vertebrates have a single common ancestor. Venus is bright enough to cast visible shadows. Clouds are heavy. Bones are alive.
Any others you know?
