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The world’s biggest polluters are also the most protected from the environmental harm they helped create, a new study finds.

 
 

Death fainting! Walking embryos! Resistance to snake venom! And other weird facts about the underrated Virginia opossum.

 

Evidence shows how major fossil fuel companies use climate disinformation and greenwashing to delay climate action and evade accountability.

The report: Decades of Deceit: The Case Against Major Fossil Fuel Companies for Climate Fraud and Damages

From the report:

Research has determined that just 122 companies are responsible for more than 94 percent of all industrial carbon dioxide (CO~2~) emissions since 1959 and 75 percent of all industrial CO~2~ emissions since 1981. In these time frames, fossil fuel companies already had clear scientific evidence that their products were contributing to climate change.

 

In today’s edition of The Capitals, read about why the EU's defence pact with the UK makes sense, Spain’s rail system struggling despite billions in EU funding, and so much more.

[–] solo@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 week ago

So, not only Climeworks is actually far away from achieving their own goals,

they also already sold 1/3 of the credits that

Mammoth capture plant is expected to capture from the atmosphere over the next 25 years

while

Climeworks cannot yet offset its own carbon footprint

Reality check is needed.

 

Show Notes

In this episode we are joined by Kristian Williams, anarchist historian and author of Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America, and Garrett, an anti-repression activist and anarchist legal worker who resisted repression as one of the RNC 8.

The conversation covers:

  • How models of policing protest have shifted over time
  • How they are shifting again today and why it matters
  • How this can inform repression preparation and response

Stay tuned after the interview for a poem by Malik Farrad Muhammad, a political prisoner from the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor Uprisings.

[–] solo@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 week ago

I think the rest of the article (just below the graph you added) gives a decent overvue on how the situation is, and includes some equaly decent projections. It looks like there is a possibility that they have peaked, and will plateau or hopefully will diminish emittions. Still, no certainty that this is a trend, or that it will continue.

And June is a month to keep an eye out to see how its new electricity pricing policy for renewable energy will be.

 

Nature and climate protection takes another major hit in EU proposal to “simplify” agricultural policy

 

You’re helping nature — but nature also has ways to help you, make you more resilient, and relieve the stress caused by environmental destruction.

 

The authors caution that the assumptions behind these scenarios are ambitious. "Systems are slow to change and we're modeling near-universal shifts—like widespread dietary changes—which may be overly optimistic given current global trends," they note.

"Nonetheless, the message is clear. We can still bend the curve," says Van Vuuren.

 

The latest data, for the first quarter of 2025, shows that China’s CO2 emissions have now been stable or falling for more than a year, as shown in the figure below.

However, with emissions remaining just 1% below the recent peak, it remains possible that they could jump once again to a new record high.

Outside of the power sector, emissions increased 3.5%, with the largest rises in the use of coal in the metals and chemicals industries.

Sector-by-sector analysis suggests that, in addition to the power sector, emissions have likely also peaked in the building materials and steel sectors, as well as oil products consumption.

[–] solo@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 week ago

The carbon footprint sham: A 'successful, deceptive' PR campaign

British Petroleum [BP], the second largest non-state owned oil company in the world, with 18,700 gas and service stations worldwide, hired the public relations professionals Ogilvy & Mather to promote the slant that climate change is not the fault of an oil giant, but that of individuals.

[–] solo@slrpnk.net 12 points 2 weeks ago (12 children)

Economic growth makes us all better,

No. Economic growth under capitalism is the problem. Capitalism requires infinite growth on a finite planet, and this is what got us here in the first place. So this is not a sustainable economic system.

[–] solo@slrpnk.net 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

The answers are out there, but one problem is that we - the people - expect that those in power will implement them, and they don't.

So, we need imaginative solutions, in order for these fixes to be implemented.

[–] solo@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I'm not really sure what the proper definition of a robot is tbh. Apart from that, the article does talk about sensors.

Each device would be equipped with biodegradable sensors for collecting environmental data like water pH, temperature, pollutants, and the presence of microorganisms, which could be read out after collection or by remote sensing.

Edit: I took a look in wiki and I think it tracks?

A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. (...)

[–] solo@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (5 children)

I could say, I do share your anxiety about what will happen in the near future. Still, personally, I don't like doomerism because imo it restricts our collective imagination towards solutions.

Apart from that, lets keep in mind that this is an article about amphibians specifically, not about saving the planet or humans in general.

[–] solo@slrpnk.net 10 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

I would like to explain my downvote.

This quote is part of a stand up comedy by George Carlin that was performed many decades ago. When I saw it on yt I really liked it.

This quote here, out of context is pure doomerism.

[–] solo@slrpnk.net 3 points 2 weeks ago

Thank you, I can't stop laughing!!!

[–] solo@slrpnk.net 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If I understand you correctly in the part you talk about labor, robotics and AI, it reminds me of what was said by capitalists when automations started being employed in factories, meaning many, many decades ago.

At the time the capitalist narrative was saying to workers stuff like "we know you work hard, but thanks to the technological advancements in automations your children will work less and have a better life". We very well know this never happened, only the rich got richer, to the detriment of everybody else and the planet as a whole.

So, allow me to say, this approach is not new.

[–] solo@slrpnk.net 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

I was wondering if anyone here has read it as well. And what your take is.

Personally, I will not read it because:

Meet the authors

James Arbib is a technology investor and the founder of Tellus Mater, an independent philanthropic foundation dedicated to exploring the impacts of disruptive technology and its potential for solving some of the world’s most challenging problems.

Tony Seba is a world-renowned thought leader, author, speaker, educator, investor and Silicon Valley entrepreneur.

In relation to the content of the book, I wouldn't be too surprised if these two capitalists suggest misleading technological "solutions" to a problem that is not technological in nature, but systemic. Meaning, the problem is the eternal growth of the capitalist system on a finite planet, and there is no techno-fix for that. Also, I'm pretty sure they are making baseless claims about humans and human societies to back their proposals.

Anyways, now that I said all that, may I suggest another reading? Totally free and priceless :)

What is Solarpunk?

[–] solo@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Let's not forget an important factor: within the span of 30 years.

I spent too many hours yesterday trying to find the relevant info without taking this into consideration.

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