Scientists map radioactive soil in Western Europe


For the new map, scientists were able to differentiate between radionuclides released by military tests and radionuclides released by the Chernobyl accident. Photo by Katrin Meusburger, et al. / Scientific Reports
July 16 (UPI) -- Using old data and a new measurement technique, scientists have mapped radioactive soil contamination in Switzerland and several surrounding countries.

Researchers used a new analysis method to calculate caesium and plutonium concentrations in an archive of European soil samples. The team published their new map on Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports.

Over the last half-century, particularly during the 1960s, the two radionuclides were released during dozens of military nuclear tests. Caesium was also released by the Chernobyl accident in 1986.

"We have created a new map to provide a basis for estimating the soil loss since the anthropogenic release of radionuclides," first study author Katrin Meusburger, researcher with the group Environmental Geoscience at the University of Basel, said in a news release. "To do this, it is important to know the proportion of radioactive fallout from Chernobyl."

RELATED 75 years ago, 'Trinity' test ushered in nuclear age, changed the world

In addition to revealing the long-term effects of nuclear fallout, the new map can also help researchers analyze soil erosion rates since the 1960s.

The soil archive used by scientists featured samples collected from beneath grassland, land that has remained stable over the last several decades.

The new analysis method allowed researchers to differentiate between the radionuclides caused by military testing and the caesium released into the environment by the Chernobyl fallout.

RELATED Cold War nuclear bomb tests help scientists measure age of whale sharks

"Unlike with the previous map, we can now distinguish between the sources of nuclear fallout," said Meusburger.

The new map suggests caesium released during the nuclear tests spread out across the atmosphere's upper layers before being carried to the ground by rain. The nuclear tests-derived caesium is relatively evenly distributed in European soils, though it is found in slightly greater concentrations across wetter regions, including Massif Central, the Ardennes and Brittany.

Because the caesium released by the Chernobyl accident failed to reach such high altitudes, remaining in the tropospheric level, its footprint is much smaller. Rains quickly brought the Chernobyl caesium back to the ground, contaminating only the soil beneath the plume that circled Ukraine in the aftermath of the explosion.

RELATED Arctic climate change: Recent carbon emissions worse than ancient methane

The mapping effort revealed higher Chernobyl caesium concentrations in Alsace, Franche-Comté and the foothills of the Alps, northern Italy and southern Germany.

Malaysia to return toxic trash to Romania

Malaysia has reported illegal imports of trash including plastic waste and toxic materials since 2019. File Photo by Fazry Ismail/EPA-EFE

July 20 (UPI) -- Malaysia is returning more than 1,800 tons of toxic waste to Romania after local authorities discovered the shipping containers of hazardous materials at the Port of Tanjung Pelepas.

The containers, 110 in total, include 1,864 tons of electric arc furnace dust, a toxic byproduct of steelmaking. The containers first came to the attention of authorities on June 3, Malaysia's Bernama news agency reported Sunday.

Malaysian Environment and Water Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said local authorities had intercepted 28 attempts to illegally import toxic waste in the first half of 2020.

"The discovery of the EAFD, on transit in Malaysia and bound for Indonesia, is the biggest finding of its kind in Malaysian history," Tuan Man said.

The containers shipped to Romania were falsely declared as concentrated zinc. Malaysia has asked Interpol to investigate the illegal shipments, CNN reported Monday.

Malaysia is a member of the Basel Convention, which oversees the movement of toxic materials across borders. The global garbage-dumping crisis has become a major headache for Malaysia and other countries in Southeast Asia, as countries in the West have increasingly sought to dump their waste overseas.

In 2019, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to declare war against Canada after accusing the Canadian government of dumping garbage.

In January, Malaysia sent 4,120 tons of plastic waste back to 13 countries in the developed world, including 43 containers filled with garbage back to France, according to Kuala Lumpur.

"If people want to see us as the rubbish dump of the world, you dream on," then-Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin said at the time.

In 2018, China prohibited plastic waste imports, leading in the rise of trash shipments to ASEAN member states. In May, Malaysia returned 450 tons of plastic waste to countries in the West and Japan.

Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli, mother admit to tax evasion

THE RICH ARE GREEDY IT'S THEIR NATURE

Israeli model Bar Refaeli arrives Monday at court in Tel Aviv, Israel, to sign a plea bargain agreement to settle a long-standing tax evasion case against her and her mother. Photo by Oded Balilty/UPI/Pool | License Photo


July 20 (UPI) -- Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli and mother Tzipi Refaeli formally admitted to tax evasion charges in Tel Aviv Monday as part of a plea agreement that will allow the entertainment star to avoid prison.

As part of the deal, the model will perform nine months of community service, pay a $720,000 fine and $2.3 million in back taxes.


Tzipi Refaeli, her mother, will serve 16 months in jail and also must pay a fine and back taxes.

The court determined that the pair evaded taxes on as much as $10 million in income.

The case included Bar Refaeli's work between 2009 and 2012, when she was required to pay taxes in Israel and overseas.

Refaeli argued that she was in a relationship with American actor Leonardo DiCaprio in the United States during that time, and had been under U.S. tax jurisdiction.

Israeli tax officials said she'd actually lived in Tel Aviv during that time, under the names of different family members.

Bar Refaeli, who has been married to businessman Adi Ezra since 2015, gave birth to their third child in January.

Florida teachers sue to stop 'reckless and unsafe' school reopening plans

BEFORE SCHOOLS OPEN ANYWHERE IN NORTH AMERICA THEY HAD BETTER HIRE MORE CUSTODIAL STAFF, A LOT MORE CUSTODIAL STAFF IN ORDER TO KEEP SCHOOLS CLEAN AND DISINFECTED/SANITIZED

Florida teachers filed a lawsuit Monday to block efforts to re-open schools to in-person learning while COVID-19 cases are increasing in the state. Photo by Oleksandr Berezko/Shutterstock

July 20 (UPI) -- The Florida teachers union filed a lawsuit Monday asking to delay the start of the school year and to re-evaluate the "reckless and unsafe reopening" of public schools for in-person classes.

"Governor DeSantis needs a reality check, and we are attempting to provide one," said Florida Education Association President Fedrick Ingram at a press conference. "The governor needs to accept the reality of the situation here in Florida, where the virus is surging out of control."

"Everyone wants schools to reopen, but we don't want to begin in-person teaching, face an explosion of cases and sickness, then be forced to return to distance learning," Ingram added.

The suit was filed in state circuit court in Miami against DeSantis, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, the Florida Department of Education and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

RELATED New York City enters final reopening stage; L.A. on 'brink' of new lockdown

State education chief Corcoran, a former Republican House Speaker, announced on July 6 that state public schools would reopen in August. He later walked back the order saying he recommended that school districts offer 180 days of instruction and that schools would submit their own plans to reopen based on local conditions, encouraging districts to offer "complete flexibility" to parents.

Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools said it was too early to say whether school would reopen on Aug. 24 for the district's 350,000 public school students.

In Florida, more than 10,000 confirmed positive cases of coronavirus per day have been reported in the state for 12 days running. The state has reported a total of 360,400 cases and 10,347 deaths. The average daily rate has been 114 deaths per day for the past week.

The state has recorded hot spots in Miami-Dade and Broward counties as well as Osceola County south of Orlando and in counties around Bay and Escambia counties in the northwest panhandle.

In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday that all children would have the option of attending school via online classes in the fall. The state's Department of Education would be releasing guidance this week allowing parents to choose all-remote learning for their children, the governor said.

"There are a lot of moving parts with back to school. This is about as complex a step as we will take ... and we want to make sure we get it right," Murphy said.

RELATED Republicans to limit crowds at national convention in Jacksonville

New Jersey has seen a drop to fewer than nine confirmed new cases per county per day. Since the pandemic began, the state has reported a total of 178,937 confirmed cases, with a total of 15,715 deaths, according to the state health department.

In Arizona, where cases are rising, a group of 87 doctors sent a letter to Gov. Doug Ducey asking that state schools remain closed and schools teach via online learning for at least the first quarter of the year.

"Many of us are also parents of school-age children," the letter says. "The tremendous pressure to return to in-person schooling in August is ill advised and dangerous given the uncontrolled spread of Covid-19 in our community."

Students in Phoenix also released a video asking Ducey for a state policy on returning to in-person classes. An Arizona elementary school teacher died of COVID-19 in June after teaching summer school with "extra precautions." Two of her fellow teachers also caught the virus.

Ducey had announced that the state was still considering reopening schools on Aug. 17.

"I want you to know that Arizona will be opening for learning this school year," Ducey said during a press conference Thursday.

The Arizona state health department reported 145,183 confirmed cases as of Monday, with 2,784 deaths. More than 1,500 new cases were reported on Monday.

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced revised guidelines for schools to open in August.

"Schools must provide meaningful instruction during this pandemic whether they're physically open or not," Newsom said Monday. "We all prefer in-classroom instruction for all the obvious reasons, but only if it can be done safely."

To open for in-person learning, a school district's local county health department must be off the state's COVID-19 watch list for 14 days. Thirty-three of the state's 58 counties, housing about 80% of California's population, are on the watchlist now.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Sunday that the city reopened too early and is on the brink of a new lockdown.

New California rules for K-12 schools include sending all classmates home if a student in a class is found positive for COVID-19. The state's new rules will mandate that entire districts will close down and teach via remote learning if 25% of a district's students or teachers test positive for the virus. Schools will close down if 5% of teachers or students test positive.


California reported a record number of new hospitalizations Sunday and reported 6,846 new cases on Monday for a total of 391,538 and nine new deaths for a death toll of 7,694.

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#23SKIDOO

23 states sue Trump administration over LGBTQ health rollbacks

Attorneys general from 23 states sued the Trump administration for rolling back federal healthcare protections for LGBTQ people and people who have had abortions. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

July 20 (UPI) -- A coalition of 23 attorneys general sued the Trump administration over its decision to roll back federal anti-discrimination healthcare for LGBTQ people and those seeking reproductive care.

The suit, co-led by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy, New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra alleges that the decision to roll back implementation of Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act allows discrimination against vulnerable and protected groups.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately impacting some of our most vulnerable residents, yet this White House is moving forward with a rule that puts these communities at even further risk," said Healey. "We need to focus on expanding access to care -- not on rolling it back. We are suing to ensure our residents don't face unnecessary or discriminatory barriers in accessing the health care services they need."

Other states participating in the suit include Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

Section 1557 of the ACA prohibits federally funded health programs and facilities from discriminating against patients based on race, color, national origin, sex disability or age.

In June, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it would enforce the rule "by returning to the government's interpretation of sex discrimination according to the plain meaning of the word 'sex' as male or female and as determined by biology."

The lawsuit stated that the rule change is arbitrary, capricious and contrary to the Administrative Procedure Act and would present opportunities for hospitals and insurance companies to deny care to transgender and nonbinary patients in addition to women who have had abortions.

RELATED GLAAD finds 2019 films more LGBTQ inclusive, less diverse

HHS Alex Azar and Roger Severino, head of the HHS's office of civil rights, are named as defendants in the lawsuit, which alleges that the department ignored the harms the rule change will impose.

Late last month, a group of LGBTQ advocates and clinics also filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration.

About 28% of Southwest employees opt for buyouts or extended leave

Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said Monday 28% of the workforce has agreed to sign up for early retirement buyouts or extended leaves of absence. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

July 20 (UPI) -- Southwest CEO Gary Kelly told employees Monday that about 28% of the workforce opted for extended leaves of absence or buyouts amid furlough threat.

About 4,400 employees agreed to the buyouts and nearly 12,500 agreed to partially paid extended leave, representing about 17,000 employees, or 28% of the workforce, Kelly told CNBC.

Southwest offered what it called "the most generous buyout package in our history" to avoid layoffs and furloughs in the fall, Dallas Morning News had reported last month.

Along with other airlines, Southwest has been trying to reduce costs before the Sept. 30 end to obligations under the Payroll Support Program in the CARES Act to not make any layoffs in exchange for government aid.

RELATED Airlines cancel 60 more orders for Boeing 737 Max

According to the Transportation Security Administration, the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the air carriers hard with traffic down 80% year-over-year since March and down by up to 96% in April. Over Fourth of July weekend, air travel was still down 70 percent year-over-year, TSA figures show.

The Dallas-based Southwest Airlines buyout package offered employees who worked more than a decade at the company and retire early a year's pay along with company paid health insurance for a year, and four years of flight privileges, according to the Dallas Morning News report. It also offered pilots about two-thirds of their average salary for five years or until they hit 65. The extended leave plan for up to 18 months would give employees 50 percent pay along with health and flight benefits. For pilots, this same extended time off plan would offer them about 60 percent of their regular pay.

"Overall, I'm very pleased with the response to these programs," Kelly told the Southwest team. "I'm incredibly grateful to those of you who answered the call. I know there are stories behind every one of those 16,895 decisions."

RELATED Delta reports $7B Q2 loss; Qantas alters schedule through March

Other airlines have also offered early retirement packages amid declining business due to the pandemic.

Sunday was the deadline for pilots at Delta Air Lines to sign up for early retirement packages and more than 2,000 pilots did so, according to the pilots' union.

"The voluntary early-out program participation exceeded our expectations, which is positive," Air Line Pilots Association spokesman and Delta pilot Christopher Riggins said.

RELATED United Airlines warns 36,000 employees of potential layoffs

Earlier this month United Airlines and its pilots union agreed to voluntary furlough and early retirement plans to cut costs, as the U.S. carrier expected widespread cuts after Sept. 30.

Other airlines have found other ways to cope with the sharp decline in travel demand amid the pandemic.

Last Thursday rival airlines American, JetBlue, agreed to temporarily share passengers on certain domestic and international flights.

On Friday, British Airways retired its whole fleet of Boeing 747 airliners, otherwise set to retire in 2024, because of damage to the travel industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Wealthier in U.S. have larger carbon footprints, energy use survey shows

WHICH HAS A GREATER IMPACT ON THE WHOLE WORLD AND NOT JUST THE USA


Despite the bad rap they have, researchers say cities are more efficient than suburbs in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Pictured, traffic heads into downtown Chicago on Lake Shore Drive in 2007. File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI | License Photo

July 20 (UPI) -- Wealthy homeowners contribute more to global warming than Americans in lower-income neighborhoods, according to a new survey of household energy use.

The first of its kind study -- published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences -- looked at energy use by 93 million American homes, revealing the ways energy use drives greenhouse gas emissions in different neighborhoods and across varying parts of the country.

"One of the motivations for our study was to try to get a handle on the specifics and drivers of household energy use, which is about 20 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions in the United States," senior study author Joshua Newell told UPI.

"The more digging we did, the more we realized no one had used big data and big data analysis to understand the drivers and variables involved household energy use," said Newell, an associate professor at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability.

Newell and his research partners used a database of standardized tax assessor records to estimate building-level energy use and decipher the influence of climate, the electrical grid, household income and building attributes on a building's "greenhouse gas intensity," calculated as emissions per square meter of residential floor space.

Their statistical analysis showed a that greenhouse gas intensity is lowest in the West and highest in central areas of the United States.

The research also showed that even in places with relatively green and efficient electrical grids, affluence can have a sizable influence on greenhouse gas intensity.

"As we got deeper into our research, and as we did more detailed analysis of energy use in Los Angeles and Boston, the effects of affluence on greenhouse gas emissions began to stand out," Newell said. "You have such disparity, for example, between South Central L.A. and Beverley Hills, where you can really see the role of affluence on the size of carbon footprints."

According to Newell, it's the lack of density and the size of the houses in affluent neighborhoods that are driving disparities in greenhouse gas intensity.

Newell and his colleagues hope their findings will guide policy makers as they work to curb greenhouse gas emissions and slow climate change.

The new analysis showed that if the U.S. electrical grid is decarbonized, with fossil fuels entirely eliminated, the residential housing sector can reduce greenhouse gas emissions 28 percent by 2025, one of the targets set by the Paris Agreement.

The data showed, however, that a lot more must happen for the housing sector to meet the 80 percent emissions reduction target for 2050, researchers said.

"There is also a lot that can be done in terms of home energy retrofits and improvements to insulation and more efficient windows, which can be incentivized by policy makers and local governments," Newell said.

"One thing is that we need to encourage density wherever we can," Newell said. "Cities have gotten a bad rap during the COVID pandemic, but they are really highly efficient in terms of energy use and greenhouse gas intensity."

By highlighting the influence of affluence on greenhouse gas emissions, Newell said the research asks the question: "What responsibility do wealthier households have for combating climate change, and for paying some of the necessary energy efficiency reforms and retrofits?"

The work of Newell and his research partners at Michigan, Dimitrios Gounaridis and lead study author Benjamin Goldstein, suggests technology improvements, alone, won't be sufficient to stave off catastrophic climate change.

To stop climate change, serious lifestyle changes are likely necessary.

"I'm of the firm belief that green tech and technology can get us part of the way, but I think we all need to look in the mirror and think about our own consumption patterns," Newell said.

"That's why part of our study looked at a size of homes and emphasized the important of density, to get people to ask the question: do we really need this big of a home?"

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Scientists warn: Affluence is killing the planet

The world’s top 10 percent income earners are responsible for at least 25 percent and up to 43 percent of our environmental impact. Photo by Midnight Runner/Wiki

June 25 (UPI) -- Would you like to be rich? Chances are your answer is: "Yes! Who wouldn't want to be rich?" Clearly, in societies where money can buy almost everything, being rich is generally perceived as something good. It implies more freedom, fewer worries, more happiness, higher social status.

But here is the catch: Affluence trashes our planetary life support systems. What's more, it also obstructs the necessary transformation toward sustainability by driving power relations and consumption norms. To put it bluntly: The rich do more harm than good.


This is what we found in a new study for the journal Nature Communications. Together with co-author Lorenz Keyßer from ETH Zürich, we reviewed recent scientific literature on the links between affluence and environmental impacts, on the systemic mechanisms leading to over-consumption and on possible solutions to the problem. The article is one of a series of Scientists' Warnings to Humanity.

Technology and consumption

RELATED Superpower U.S. is on the brink of failure

The facts are clear: the wealthiest 0.54 percent, about 40 million people, are responsible for 14 percent of lifestyle-related greenhouse gas emissions, while the bottom 50 percent of income earners, almost 4 billion people, only emit around 10 percent. The world's top 10 percent income earners are responsible for at least 25 percent and up to 43 percent of our environmental impact.

Most people living in developed countries would fit into this category, meaning you don't have to consider yourself rich in order to be globally affluent. Even many poorer people in wealthy countries have a disproportionately large and unsustainable resource footprint compared to the global average.

It is less clear, however, how to address the problems that come with affluence. Progressive mainstream policymakers talk about "greening consumption" or "sustainable growth" to "decouple" affluence from climate breakdown, biodiversity loss and other planetary-scale destruction.

RELATED Study: Climate change crisis requires less growth-oriented global economy

Yet our research confirms that, in reality, there is no evidence that this decoupling is actually happening. While technological improvements have helped to reduce emissions and other environmental impacts, the worldwide growth in affluence has consistently outpaced these gains, driving all the impacts back up.

And it appears highly unlikely that this relationship will change in the future. Even the cleanest technologies have their limitations and still require specific resources to function, while efficiency savings often simply lead to more consumption.

If technology alone is not enough, it is therefore imperative to reduce the consumption of the affluent, resulting in sufficiency-oriented lifestyles: "better but less." This is all easier said than done though, for there is a problem.

RELATED Ford plans to be carbon neutral by 2050

The super affluent

The lockdown has seen a massive drop in consumption. But the resulting unprecedented dive in CO₂ and air pollutant emissions was merely incidental to the lockdown, not a deliberate part of it, and will not last.

So how can we reduce consumption as much as necessary in a socially sustainable way, while still safeguarding human needs and social security? Here it turns out the main stumbling block is not technological limits or economics itself, but the economic imperative to grow the economy, spurred by over-consumption and the political power of the super affluent

Affluent, powerful people and their governments have a vested interest in deliberately promoting high consumption and hampering sufficiency-oriented lifestyles. Since consumption decisions by individuals are strongly influenced by information and by others, this can lock in high-consumption lifestyles.

"Positional consumption" is another key mechanism, where people increasingly consume status goods once their basic needs are satisfied. This creates a growth spiral, driven by the affluent, with everyone striving to be "superior" relative to their peers while the overall consumption level rises. What appears average or normal in a developed country then rapidly becomes a top contribution at the global level.

So, how can we get out of this dilemma?

We reviewed a variety of different approaches that may have the solution. They range from reformist to radical ideas, and include post-development, de-growth, eco-feminism, eco-socialism and eco-anarchism. All these approaches have in common that they focus on positive environmental and social outcomes and not on economic growth. Interestingly, there seems to be quite some strategic overlap between them, at least in the short term. Most agree on the necessity to "prefigure" bottom-up as much as possible of the new, less affluent, economy in the old, while still demonstrating sufficiency-oriented lifestyles to be desirable.

Grass-roots initiatives such as Transition Initiatives and eco-villages can be examples of this, leading to cultural and consciousness change. Eventually, however, far-reaching policy reforms are needed, including maximum and minimum incomes, eco-taxes, collective firm ownership and more. Examples of policies that start to incorporate some of these mechanisms are the Green New Deals in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe or the New Zealand Well-being Budget 2019.

Social movements will play a crucial role in pushing for these reforms. They can challenge the notion that riches and economic growth are inherently good and bring forward "social tipping points." Ultimately, the goal is to establish economies and societies that protect the climate and ecosystems and enrich people with more well-being, health and happiness instead of more money.

Thomas Wiedmann is a professor of sustainability research at UNSW; Julia K. Steinberger is a professor in social ecology and ecological economics at the University of Leeds; and Manfred Lenzen is a professor of sustainability research in the School of Physics at the University of Sydney. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.



Study: Climate change crisis requires less growth-oriented global economy


The pursuit of affluence is a major impediment to curbing global warming and repairing Earth's damaged ecosystems, researchers argue in a new paper. Photo by nikolabelopitov/Pixabay

June 19 (UPI) -- Economies and consumers can't aspire to both affluence and sustainability, researchers warn in a new paper, published Friday in the journal Nature Communications.

Hundreds of studies have highlighted the challenges facing the planet's climate, biodiversity and food systems -- global warming, pollution, habitat loss -- but few have focused on the relationship between Earth's climate and ecological crises and the planet's growth-oriented economies and the pursuit of affluence.

Many economists, business leaders, policy makers and even a few climate scientists have suggested technological advances will see planet Earth and its economies through the climate crisis -- continuing economic growth but with a smaller carbon footprint.

But a new paper by an international team of scientists argues such predictions ignore the realities of economic and environmental history.

RELATED Carbon dioxide reaches a record level despite COVID-19's drastic impact

The authors claim the pursuit of affluence is a major impediment to curbing global warming and repairing Earth's damaged ecosystems.

"Our paper has shown that it's actually dangerous and leads to planetary-scale destruction," Julia Steinberger, a professor of ecological economics at the University of Leeds in Britain, said in a news release. "To protect ourselves from the worsening climate crisis, we must reduce inequality and challenge the notion that riches, and those who possess them, are inherently good."

For the study, researchers looked at the drivers of consumption across the world's largest economies, as well as the role of technology in the pursuit of sustainability.

RELATED New map highlights China's export-driven CO2 emissions

"In our scientists' warning, we identify the underlying forces of overconsumption and spell out the measures that are needed to tackle the overwhelming 'power' of consumption and the economic growth paradigm -- that's the gap we fill," said lead study author Tommy Wiedmann, professor of environmental engineering at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

Analysis of economic and energy-use trends over the last four decades showed that wealth growth has continuously outpaced efficiency gains.

"Technology can help us to consume more efficiently -- to save energy and resources -- but these technological improvements cannot keep pace with our ever-increasing levels of consumption," Wiedmann said.

RELATED Trade can spread economic toll of local disasters globally

The new research also highlighted what many critiques of climate change mitigation plans have pointed out -- that the world's wealthiest citizens shoulder most of the blame for the planet's environmental problems.

The wealthiest citizens have the largest carbon footprint and apply the greatest negative pressure to natural resources, researchers said.

"Consumption of affluent households worldwide is by far the strongest determinant - and the strongest accelerator -- of increased global environmental and social impacts," said study co-author Lorenz Keysser, researcher at ETH Zurich in Switzerland.

RELATED Greta Thunberg at Davos: 'Pretty much nothing' done on climate change

But authors of the new study suggest it is not just individual attitudes about affluence that must change. They also note that all of the world's largest economies are designed to prioritize growth, which they call problematic.

"The structural imperative for growth in competitive market economies leads to decision makers being locked into bolstering economic growth, and inhibiting necessary societal changes," Wiedmann said. "So, we have to get away from our obsession with economic growth -- we really need to start managing our economies in a way that protects our climate and natural resources, even if this means less, no or even negative growth."

To address the problem of overconsumption by the planet's wealthiest citizens, researchers suggest a range of taxes could be used to alter spending behaviors and shift investment patterns.

Some scientists estimate that the world's economies will actually need to shrink in order to stave off ecological disaster.

"'Degrowth' proponents go a step further and suggest a more radical social change that leads away from capitalism to other forms of economic and social governance," Wiedmann said.

"Policies may include, for example, eco-taxes, green investments, wealth redistribution through taxation and a maximum income, a guaranteed basic income and reduced working hours," Wiedmann said.

While there is disagreement on what must be done, authors of the new paper claim there is no doubt that current economic trends are unsustainable.

"The strongest pillar of the necessary transformation is to avoid or to reduce consumption until the remaining consumption level falls within planetary boundaries, while fulfilling human needs," researchers wrote in the new paper.

"Avoiding consumption means not consuming certain goods and services, from living space (overly large homes, secondary residences of the wealthy) to oversized vehicles, environmentally damaging and wasteful food, leisure patterns and work patterns involving driving and flying."

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Index: 95% of world's 'highly vulnerable' live in undeveloped nations

UNEVEN AND COMBINED DEVELOPMENT

OF CAPITALIST IMPERIALISM
A woman and her children stand inside a refugee camp in Khan Younis, Gaza, where poverty has grown in recent years. Monday's survey drew a correlation between family size and those who are least able to afford basic survival needs. File Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI | License Photo

July 20 (UPI) -- In a global situation made even worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, three-quarters of the world's population struggled last year to meet basic needs and the vast majority lived in underdeveloped nations, Gallup said in an analysis Monday.

Gallup surveyed at least 1,000 persons over the age of 15 in a total of 142 nations in 2019 for its Basic Needs Vulnerability Index. Monday's was Gallup's second analysis of the index, following the first last month.

Before the coronavirus crisis arrived, the survey found that about 710 million of the world's 750 million "highly vulnerable" resided in developing nations.

While every nation had a high-vulnerability population, researchers said, the vast majority live in those with underdeveloped economies that may not be capable of answering the needs of its people.

Persons classified in the "high" vulnerability category are those who said there were times over the past year when they couldn't afford food or shelter -- or that they struggled to afford them. They also had no family or friends who could help.

Among the highly vulnerable, the segments of the population in both developed and underdeveloped nations were similar. The poor and less educated accounted for higher shares of the population classified as highly vulnerable.

"People in the highly vulnerable group were potentially more at risk in almost every area of their lives before the pandemic, and of utmost importance amid the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in regard to their health," Gallup wrote.

RELATED About 1 in 7 worldwide can't afford food or shelter, survey shows

Researchers found that family size could be more of a factor in determining vulnerability in underdeveloped nations. There, 13% live in a high vulnerability situation with a family size of one, but the share rises to 18% among those with a family of four or more.

Monday's analysis, however, found that there is a large gap between segments of the population in developed and underdeveloped areas. The poorest people in developed nations like the United States and Britain, for example, are just as highly vulnerable as the richest persons in underdeveloped countries

With the arrival of the coronavirus, the survey said the predicament will only get worse for millions of the world's most vulnerable.

"With economic growth and globalization in jeopardy in the post-COVID-19 world, the shocks from the pandemic will be difficult for everyone -- high-income and low-income alike -- to recover from," Gallup added.

"But for hundreds of millions in the developing world, who were disproportionately highly vulnerable before COVID-19, it may put meeting the sustainable development goals further, if not completely, out of reach."

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Uneven and combined development - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Uneven_and_combined_development

The idea of uneven and combined development, as formulated by Trotsky, as well as Lenin's "law" of uneven economic and political development under capitalism are still being used today, especially in academic studies of international relations, archaeology, anthropology and development economics, as well as in ...

‎Background · ‎Trotsky's theory · ‎Contemporary applications

Uneven And Combined Development In History Part 1

https://www.marxists.org › archive › novack › works › history

The law of uneven and combined development is a scientific law of the widest application ... The second law grows out of and depends upon the first, even though it ... development in the light of the new problems presented to world socialism in the ... Indeed, Trotsky's theory of the Permanent Revolution represents the most ...

The uneven and combined development of world capitalism ...

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Trotsky later generalized this capitalist law of uneven and combined development to the colonial world. Based on this analysis, Trotsky argued that workers even ...

The Explanatory Value of the Theory of Uneven and ...

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Feb 26, 2018 - First, if Trotsky's law of UCD is the product of his historical analysis of ... Second, even if the law only applies to capitalist development, what is ...

USA National 'Strike for Black Lives' to fight racism, low wages 

Demonstrators participate in a Juneteenth rally near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on June 19. The date, which marks the official end of slavery in the United States, took on added significance this year following the death of George Floyd. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

July 20 (UPI) -- Thousands of workers in dozens of cities nationwide will walk off the job briefly on Monday to demand companies and governments take action to defeat systemic racism, in an event billed as the "Strike for Black Lives."

Major unions and social organizations said the strike will last for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, a reference to the length of time former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee onto George Floyd's neck before he died on May 25.

Those unable to strike are asked to join supporters, take a knee or remain silent for the length of time beginning at noon.

Labor groups -- including the Service Employees International Union, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, American Federation of Teachers and United Farm Workers -- support the Strike for Black Lives, as well as demands to end white supremacy, calls for a $15-per-hour minimum wage, allowing workers to form unions, sick leave and expanded healthcare coverage.

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"From our nation's founding, white supremacy and economic exploitation have been inextricably linked," SEIU President Mary Kay Henry said in a statement. "In this national moment of reckoning, working people are demanding fundamental changes to America's broken system."

Union members, Black Lives Matter and other groups are scheduled to hold rallies in 25 cities Monday.

In Chicago, workers plan to gather at the James R. Thompson Center and march through the loop to a downtown McDonald's restaurant.

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"We've heard enough talking and platitudes," pro-labor group Fight for 15 Chicago said. "If our bosses think [Black lives matter], then they should show us by giving us better wages and guaranteeing our safety on the job."

In Detroit, food workers demanding a $15 minimum wage will strike outside a McDonald's on the city's east side to demand the company demonstrate commitment by raising wages, guaranteeing paid sick leave and providing safety equipment to workers.

Nursing home employees at six facilities in the Detroit metro area will walk off the job briefly. They say owners are treating workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis as "disposable, not essential."

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In St. Paul, Minn., nursing home workers will strike Monday after months of failed bargaining with their employer.

The workers will join a caravan that will stop at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, where they will be joined by protesting airport workers seeking a $15 minimum wage and a "just and safe" plan to return people to public and travel spaces.

House Dems call for investigation into Trump's use of force at protests in Portland

BILLY BARR'S BULLY BOY'S 

THEY AIN'T COPS THEY ARE

PRISON GUARDS  & BORDER GUARDS


House Democrats on Sunday called for inspectors general to investigate the Trump administration's use of force during protests. Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI | License Photo

July 20 (UPI) -- Democratic congressional leaders have called for an investigation into the legality of the Trump administration's use of federal law enforcement officers during protests following reports of abusive practices being deployed against demonstrators in Portland.

In a letter to the inspectors general of the Justice and Homeland Security Departments on Sunday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson and Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney urged for an investigation to be opened into reports Trump administration officials have abused emergency authorities to prevent Americans from exercising their right to peaceful assembly.

"We write to request an investigation by your offices into the use of federal law enforcement agencies by the attorney general and the acting secretary of Homeland Security to suppress First Amendment-protected activities in Washington, D.C., Portland and other communities across the United States," the three Democratic congressional leaders said in the letter.

The call follows reports that federal officers have been using unmarked vehicles to snatch protesters from the streets without explanation amid escalating protests against police brutality and racial inequality in Portland that began six weeks ago, sparked by the police-involved killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in late May.

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The three Democrats accused Attorney General William Barr and Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf of abusing an executive order President Donald Trump signed on June 26 to protect statues as justification for the arrests.

Wolf, in a statement on Thursday, chastised local and state leaders of failing in their response to the protests in Portland, urging them to accept his offer of assistance.

"DHS will not abdicate its solemn duty to protect federal facilities and those within them," he said.
ln a statement on Friday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said agents were deployed to Portland in support of that executive order as "violent anarchists" have organized in the city "with wilful intent to damage and destroy federal property as well as injure federal officers and agents."

On Saturday, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum announced the state is suing federal law enforcement agencies over their officers' alleged seizure and detainment of residents without probable cause and excessive force.

The Democratic leaders wrote Sunday that Barr "does not have unfettered authority" to direct federal law enforcement agents to arrest and detain Americans exercising their First Amendment rights and that Wolf appears to be relying on Trump's executive order intended to protect statues as justification "for arresting American citizens in the dead of night."

"The administration's insistence on deploying these forces over the objections of state and local authorities suggest that these tactics have little to do with public safety but more to do with political gamesmanship," they wrote.

The Democrats also accused the Trump administration of abusing its power on June 1 when horse-mounted federal agents used chemical agents, smoke and rubber bullets to disperse a crowd of peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square near the White House in Washington, D.C., so the president could take a photo holding his bible in front of a church.

Trump defended his administration's actions in Portland on Sunday, saying "we are trying to help Portland, not hurt it."

"Their leadership has, for months, lost control of the anarchists and agitators," he tweeted. "They are missing in action. We must protect federal property, AND OUR PEOPLE. These were not merely protesters, these are the real deal!"