Category: Uncategorized
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The Rumbling ESAS Methane Enigma
The northern continental shelves of Russia, inclusive of the Barents Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea (ESAS) are some of the least researched yet most controversial subjects in climate science today. It’s the one region that has the biggest potential to trigger runaway global warming because of sizeable subsea methane deposits, thereby…
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Green Party of St. Louis Endorses Howie Hawkins for President
n August 10-11, 2019 Green Party members in St. Louis joined others from across the state to hear from the leading contenders for the party’s nomination for President: Dennis Lambert, Dario Hunter, David Rolde, and Howie Hawkins. All had a very clear understanding that it would be futile to support a Democrat, because, even though…
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Addressing the Ravages of Capitalism: An Economic Perspective
“Capitalism’s War on the Earth”: The existential challenge of a moribund socio-economic system “…capitalism has remained essentially … what it was from the beginning: an enormous engine for the ceaseless accumulation of capital, propelled by the competitive drive of individuals and groups seeking their own self-interest in the form of private gain. Such a…
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The Fed Protects Gamblers at the Expense of the Economy
Although the repo market is little known to most people, it is a $1-trillion-a-day credit machine, in which not just banks but hedge funds and other “shadow banks” borrow to finance their trades. Under the Federal Reserve Act, the central bank’s lending window is open only to licensed depository banks; but the Fed is now…
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Mega Droughts Engulf Countries
Throughout the world, mega droughts are hitting hard with a ferocity not seen in decades and in some cases not seen in centuries. It’s not merely coincidental that as global warming accelerates droughts turn more vicious than ever before. All of which begs the logical question of when will world leaders wake up with a…
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Stop the Third World War
The tension between Iran and the west goes back to the joint U.S.-British coup against the democratically elected Dr. Mossadegh, the memorable prime minister of Iran who nationalized Iran’s oil industry, in 1953. Following the Islamic revolution of Iran in 1979, the exile of the last king of Iran who was considered to be a…
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A Measure of Societal Vitality
Following is my response to Robert Hunziker’s article “Kill GDP to Help Save the Planet,” published in Counterpunch on 2 January 2020. [1] Robert Hunziker describes why the economic statistical measure known as GDP — Gross Domestic Product — is a deeply flawed indicator of the actual economic health and societal wellbeing of the…
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Drawing Upon Humanity’s Revolutionary Heritage
The core cultural values of a revolutionary Science, imagination, education and democracy are core values for any revolutionary movement which aims for an ecologically sustainable civilization. Our reference to science, of course, is to scientific inquiry and its results, not to the institutions of science as limited by capitalist rule. Likewise, our reference to education is to the…
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The Amazon at a Tipping Point
The Amazon rainforest is a crucial life-support ecosystem. Without its wondrous strength and power to generate hydrologic systems across the sky (as far north as Iowa), absorb and store carbon (CO2), and its miraculous life-giving endless supply of oxygen, civilization would cease to exist beyond scattered tribes, here and there. Sad to say, a recent…
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Biosphere Collapse?
Five years ago: Nations of the world met in Paris to draft a climate agreement that was subsequently accepted by nearly every country in the world, stating that global temperatures must not exceed +2C pre-industrial. Global emissions must be cut! Fossil fuel usage must be cut! Today: Following Paris ’15, global banks have invested $1.9…