The following is from the introduction to the October newsletter from SEHN [Science & environmental Health Network] Other content from the newsletter is linked below. It’s midnight and the doves are in tears.* In the introduction to the New York Times’ opinion series, At the Brink, which addresses the threat of nuclear weapons in an unstable … [Read more...] about The Damage of False Solutions
capitalism
What do Three Mile Island, the Julian Assange case, and the US role with Israel have common?
I think they all show the government's willingness to protect itself (and corporations) even when it harms the people, violating its fundamental responsibility to act in the best interests of the people. They also demonstrate the willingness to keep government actions secret (even while reducing individual privacy). Here are four stories that shed some light on this: … [Read more...] about What do Three Mile Island, the Julian Assange case, and the US role with Israel have common?
Sustainable Lehigh Valley 2024 is here!
The 2024 issue of Sustainable Lehigh Valley is available now! It is full of thought-provoking and enjoyable work — essays, art, poems, and stories — by Rebecca Canright, Dani Dollenger, David Fadem, Faramarz Farbod, Lillie Gensel, Samuel Griffith, Regine Henry, Gene Hunter, Hannah Kraybill-Greggo, Orly Kvitka, Ema Miele, Corena Munroe*, Felix Murch, Ericka Nimbley*, … [Read more...] about Sustainable Lehigh Valley 2024 is here!
Why American capitalism is so rotten, Part 1
From Robert Reich, an excellent primer on how things actually work here in the U.S.: … Power has been leached out of conventional discussions about what is occurring. … But you cannot understand American capitalism today without confronting power head on. It is the most important subterranean force. Power is exercised through institutions — big Wall Street banks, global … [Read more...] about Why American capitalism is so rotten, Part 1
Bright Green Lies
This book made me recall the line 'Stop the world — I want to get off'. (I think it's actually the title of a Broadway musical back in the 1960s.) I won't attempt to do a review of Bright Green Lies,* but the opening gives you a glimpse of the problem: “We need to stop being guided by the general story that we can have it all,” Derrick concluded, “that we can have an … [Read more...] about Bright Green Lies
Making Lithium Batteries
EV and their batteries don't only create huge environmental, health, and environmental justice problems in the mining process— they also create problems in the factories that make the batteries. This story describe harmful working conditions in the Ultium Cells plant in Ohio, but the same problems are found in other plants as well. Like other 'clean energy' plants, they have … [Read more...] about Making Lithium Batteries
Neocolonialism v. Stewardship & Rights of Nature
It's widely accepted that electric vehicles [EV] are a solution to the fossil-fuel problem. Unfortunately, the huge demand for lithium and other minerals is actually creating another massive wave of environmental degradation and environmental injustice. Have we learned nothing in the last 100 years about the disastrous effects of colonialism and irresponsible extraction‽ We … [Read more...] about Neocolonialism v. Stewardship & Rights of Nature
Nuclear Fusion: Eternal Energy = Eternal Damnation
By Don Fitz and Stan Cox Like a third-rate zombie movie on Netflix, delusions of nuclear fusion repeatedly rise from the dead. The cover story in the June 2023 issue of Scientific American by Philip Ball, “Star Power: Does Fusion Have a Future After All?” recycles the corporate line which was broadcast on December 13, 2022. The US Department of … [Read more...] about Nuclear Fusion: Eternal Energy = Eternal Damnation
The Rich Human Being: Marx and the Concept of Real Human Development
By Michael A. Lebowitz Editor’s Note: We mourn the loss of Michael Lebowitz who died at home on April 19. 2023. Mike was a superb Marxist economist, teacher, and author of many valuable works about Marx, the socialist project, and capitalism. Perhaps it is not an exaggeration to say that Mike more than any of his contemporaries contributed to reviving Marx’s ideas about … [Read more...] about The Rich Human Being: Marx and the Concept of Real Human Development
Let’s push for a radical labor movement in 2023
By Michael D. Yates The year 2022 saw a significant increase in working-class unrest in the United States. Millions of workers quit their jobs in 2021, and this trend has continued in 2022. Most moved on to different employment, while others continued their education or retired. Recently, many Twitter employees quit in response to the severe force reduction … [Read more...] about Let’s push for a radical labor movement in 2023