The biggest win for the working class in generations is within reach

The Guardian – Opinion

The biggest win for the working class in generations is within reach

Bernie Sanders         

If our budget passes, it would be one of the most important pieces of legislation since the New Deal. But we must fight for it.

Independent Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders<br>epa09341205 Independent Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders speaks to members of the news media regarding his meeting at the White House with US President Joe Biden, after arriving on Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC, USA, 12 July 2021. President Biden and Sanders discussed a budget resolution that would allow the Senate to move forward with a massive infrastructure plan. EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS
‘This legislation will create millions of good paying jobs as we address the long-neglected needs of working families and the planet.’ Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA.
Now is the time.

 

At a time when the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider, when two people now own more wealth than the bottom 40% and when some of the wealthiest people and biggest businesses in the world pay nothing in federal income taxes, the billionaire class and large profitable corporations must finally start paying their fair share of taxes.

Now is the time.

At a time when real wages for workers have not gone up in almost 50 years, when over half our people live paycheck to paycheck, when over 90 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured, when working families cannot afford childcare or higher education for their kids, when many Americans no longer believe their government represents their interests, the US Congress must finally have the courage to represent the needs of working families and not just the 1% and their lobbyists.

Now is the time.

At a time of unprecedented heatwaves, drought, flooding, extreme weather disturbances and the acidification of the oceans, now is the time for the US government to make certain that the planet we leave our children and future generations is healthy and habitable. We must stand up to the greed of the fossil fuel industry, transform our energy system and lead the world in combating climate change.

As chairman of the US Senate budget committee I fought hard for a $6tn budget which would address these and other long-neglected needs. Not everyone in the Democratic caucus agreed with me and, after a lot of discussion and compromise within the budget committee, an agreement was reached on a smaller number. (Needless to say, no Republicans will support legislation which taxes the rich and protects working families.)

While this budget is less than I had wanted, let us be clear. This proposal, if passed, will be the most consequential piece of legislation for working people, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor since FDR and the New Deal of the 1930s. It will also put the US in a global leadership position as we combat climate change. Further, and importantly, this legislation will create millions of good-paying jobs as we address the long-neglected needs of working families and the planet.

Why is this proposal so significant?

We will end the days of billionaires not paying a nickel in federal income taxes by making sure the wealthy and large corporations do not use their accountants and lawyers to avoid paying the massive amounts that they owe. This proposal will also raise the individual tax rate on the wealthiest Americans and the corporate tax rate for the most profitable companies in our country. Under this proposal, no family making under $400,000 a year will pay a nickel more in taxes and will, in fact, receive one of the largest tax cuts in American history.

We will aggressively reduce our childhood poverty rate by expanding the child tax credit so that families continue to receive monthly direct payments of up to $300 per child.

We will address the crisis in childcare by fighting to make sure that no working family pays more than 7% of their income on this basic need. Making childcare more accessible and affordable will also strengthen our economy by allowing millions more Americans (mostly women) to join the workforce.

We will provide universal pre-kindergarten to every three- and four-year-old.

We will end the international disgrace of the United States being the only major country on Earth not to guarantee paid family and medical leave as a right.

We will begin to address the crisis in higher education by making community colleges in America tuition-free.

We will address the disgrace of widespread homelessness in the United States and the reality that nearly 18m households are paying over 50% of their incomes for housing by an unprecedented investment in affordable housing.

We will ensure that people in an ageing society can receive the home healthcare they need and that the workers who provide that care aren’t forced to live on starvation wages.

We will save taxpayers hundreds of billions by having Medicare negotiate prescription drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry and use those savings to cover the dental care, hearing aids and eyeglasses that many seniors desperately need.

We will rebuild our crumbling roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater treatment plants, broadband and other aspects of our physical infrastructure.

We will take on the existential threat of climate change by transforming our energy systems away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy.

This effort will include a nationwide clean energy standard that moves our transportation system, electrical generation, buildings and housing and agriculture sector toward clean energy.

Through a Civilian Climate Corps we will give hundreds of thousands of young people good-paying jobs and educational benefits as they help us combat climate change.

We will fight to bring undocumented people out of the shadows and provide them with a pathway to citizenship, including those who courageously kept our economy running in the middle of a deadly pandemic.

In the midst of the many long-ignored crises that this legislation is attempting to address, we will not have one Republican senator voting for it. Tragically, many Republican leaders in Congress and around the country are just too busy continuing to lie about the 2020 presidential election, undermining democracy by suppressing voting rights, denying the reality of climate change and casting doubts about the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccines.

That means that the 50 Democrats in the US Senate, plus the vice-president, will have to pass this most consequential piece of legislation alone. And that’s what we will do. The future of working families is at stake. The future of our democracy is at stake. The future of our planet is at stake.

Now is the time.

Bernie Sanders is a US senator, and the ranking member of the Senate budget committee. He represents the state of Vermont, and is the longest-serving independent in the history of Congress

Climate, Not Conflict. Madagascar’s Famine is the First in Modern History to be Solely Caused by Global Warming

Climate, Not Conflict. Madagascar’s Famine is the First in Modern History to be Solely Caused by Global Warming

Cropland is covered by sand in Betsimeda, Maroalomainty commune, Ambovombe district
Cropland is covered by sand in Betsimeda, Maroalomainty commune, Ambovombe district. Cropland is covered by sand in Betsimeda, Maroalomainty commune, Ambovombe district, Madagascar May 2, 2021. Credit – Viviane Rakotoarivony/United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs/Reuters.

 

Heatwaves, wildfires, floods. If there’s still any doubt that the summer of 2021 is a turning point for a global awakening over the looming climate crisis, you can add one more plague of biblical proportions to the list: famine.

The southern part of the island nation of Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa, is experiencing its worst drought in four decades, with the World Food Program (WFP) warning recently that 1.14 million people are food-insecure and 400,000 people are headed for famine. Hunger is already driving people to eat raw cactus, wild leaves and locusts, a food source of last resort. The WFP, which is on the ground helping with food distribution, describes scenes of unimaginable suffering, with families bartering everything they have—even cooking pots and spoons—for the paltry tomatoes, scrawny chickens and few bags of rice still available in the markets. “The next planting season is less than two months away and the forecast for food production is bleak,” writes WFP spokesperson Shelley Thakral in a dispatch from the most affected area. “The land is covered by sand; there is no water and little chance of rain.”

The WFP warns that the number of locals facing phase 5 catastrophic food insecuritydevelopment speak for famine—could double by October. And the group has the responsible party squarely in their sight. “This is not because of war or conflict, this is because of climate change,” says WFP Executive Director David Beasley.

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Historically, famines resulted from crop failure, disaster or pest invasion; modern famines are largely considered to be man-made—sparked by conflict combined with natural disasters or incompetence and political interference. Madagascar is facing none of those, making it the first famine in modern history to be caused solely by climate change alone. It’s unlikely to be the last, says Landry Ninteretse, the Africa director for climate advocacy organization 350.org. “In recent years we’ve seen climate calamities hitting one country after another. Before it was the horn of Africa, and now it is Madagascar. Tomorrow the cycle will go on, maybe in the northern part of Africa—the Sahel—or the west. And unfortunately, it is likely to continue happening because of climate change.”

Increasing temperatures are disrupting global weather patterns that farmers, particularly those in the developing world, have relied upon for centuries. Monsoons have become increasingly unpredictable, starting later than usual, showing up in the wrong place, or sometimes not showing up at all. This is wreaking havoc in places that depend on rain for agriculture. The southern part of Madagascar, a lush, largely tropical island famous for its biodiversity, has experienced below average rainfall for the past five years. Most people in the south depend on rain-fed, small-scale agriculture for survival, but because of the drought, rivers and irrigation dams have dried up.

The WFP says it needs $78.6 million dollars to provide lifesaving food for the next lean season in Madagascar, but it is going to take a lot more than that to help the countries most affected by climate change able to adapt in ways that prevent future famines. Southern Madagascar, for example, will probably need irrigation systems, along with more drought-tolerant crops and hardier breeds of cattle. Madagascar, one of the poorest nations in the world, is unlikely to be able to afford such innovations on its own.

As part of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, wealthy nations agreed to set aside $100 billion a year in climate financing to help developing nations adapt, but they have yet to meet that goal. In 2018, the latest year for which data are available, donors were still short $20 billion. But investing in climate change adaptation and mitigation plays dividends in the long run. The World Bank estimates that climate change could cause more than 140 million people to move within their countries’ borders by 2050 in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America, with severe consequences on economic development. Many others will seek to leave their countries entirely. “We used to see our brothers and sisters in the Sahel leaving because of conflict and looking for better economic opportunities, but now it is climate change that is becoming one of the major drivers, pushing out people who can no longer cultivate their land,” says Ninteretse. “This is not only going to impact Africa, but also Europe, Asia, and America as well, as people seek safer places where they can live.”

Madagascar may seem far away, but the issues should feel close to home, wherever “home” might be. “This famine in Madagascar, the heat wave in America, the floods in Germany, this is an indicator that climate change needs to be taken seriously,” says Ninteretse. “In the same way the world reacted the pandemic and were able to get vaccines in less than a year—If the world would have reacted in the same way when we started sending the first warning signals of climate change, the situation would be much better than what it is now.”

North America about to turn into a graveyard of mega pipeline projects

The U.S. built the equivalent of 28 Keystone XLs over the past decade, but continent expected to become an increasingly inhospitable place for new projects, says a new report.

After a remarkable period of pipeline expansion, primarily in the United States over the past decade, North America is expected to become an increasingly inhospitable place for new projects, according to a new report.

While the upturn in crude oil prices, recovering oil demand and a surge in natural gas development for power generation will drive pipeline construction globally in the next few years, development of new pipelines in North America will be relatively subdued, says the report by Westwood Global Energy Group analysts Ben Wilby and Arindam Das.Globally, pipelines planned and spending on pipeline construction is set to rise US$45 billion in 2021, 10 per cent more than 2020, but still lower than the near-US$60 billion spent in 2019, according to the London, U.K.-based consultancy.

“Overall pipeline capex however, is forecast to be lower than the previous five-year period, predominantly due to a reduction in North American installation levels,” Wilby and Das said in the report. “Asia, Eastern Europe & FSU (former Soviet Union) and the Middle East are key to the realization of forecast activity levels and associated spend.”

Canada’s pipeline capital expenditures will reach US$6 billion this year, before falling to $4.7 billion in 2022 and $1.5 billion by 2023, Westwood estimates show. In terms of miles, Canada will account for 23 per cent of all North American pipeline installations until 2025.The findings may not come as a huge surprise as virtually every major North American crude oil pipeline has faced pressure from local activists and environmental groups over the past decade.

A call for climate action and Line 3 pipeline protest signs in Park Rapids, Minnesota on June 5, 2021.
A call for climate action and Line 3 pipeline protest signs in Park Rapids, Minnesota on June 5, 2021. PHOTO BY KEREM YUCEL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES FILES

The cancellation of TC Energy Corp.’s 1,947-kilometre Keystone XL pipeline by U.S. President Biden earlier this year has already cast a gloom over energy infrastructure spending across the continent, while Enbridge Inc.’s proposed changes to the operational Line 5 project also faces regulatory delays. TC Energy has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government under NAFTA rules, while Enbridge is in mediation with the state of Michigan, which is opposed to the changes.

“The pendulum has swung towards a lot more focus on ESG (environmental, social and governance), and a lot more focus on transition and to the extent it is right now a significant consideration in North America,” Das said in an interview.Several other obstacles also hover on the horizon that suggest there are more downside risks to the forecast, especially in North America.

“Chief among these are geopolitics, focus on climate change and the increasing momentum of the energy transition particularly in the western hemisphere,” Westwood noted in its report. “There exists the potential risk of reduced appetite from financiers and lenders to project finance fossil fuel projects going forward. This has led to increased delays (and subsequently increased costs) on several projects as well as cancellations.”

The decline in North American pipeline capex is also a reflection of prospects of lower production. The U.S. Department of Energy expects U.S. oil output to decline to 11.1 million barrels per day this year, compared to 11.3 million bpd last year, while many analysts believe U.S. shale basins may not be able to repeat their rapid growth of the past decade.The U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics show the U.S. built 51,139 miles of oil pipelines, including 33,000 miles of crude pipelines — equivalent to 28 Keystone XL pipelines since the project was first proposed in 2008.

And while Canadian companies were unable to build the massive Energy East, Northern Gateway and Keystone XL pipelines, they still managed to build nearly 11,000 kilometers of liquids pipelines between 2010-19 — their most active construction period in over seven decades, according to the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association.

“The Canadian growth trajectory was always underpinned by U.S. demand, and to the extent net zero and ambition Biden is laying down are well underway to be achieved in the next 10-15 years, what you start to see is that demand for energy in the U.S. also starts to shift,” Das said. “And in that case, if demand profile starts to shift, the requirement for the demand for oil starts to change.”IHS Markit expects Canadian oilsands production to reach 3.6 million bpd by 2030, compared to its previous estimate of 3.8 million bpd. Heavy oil production stood at 2.48 million bpd in March, according to the Canada Energy Regulator.

“Even prior to the pandemic, IHS Markit expected the coming decade to be one of sustained-but-slower growth for the oilsands, with transportation constraints such as a lack of adequate pipeline capacity and the resulting sense of price insecurity in Western Canada weighing on new large-scale incremental investments,” the energy research firm said.

Canada’s pipeline capacity stands at around 4 million bpd. Enbridge’s Alberta-to-Minnesota Line 3 has a capacity of 370,000 bpd, while the Alberta-to-British Columbia Trans Mountain conduit will add 590,000 bpd to capacity.If Enbridge Line 3 and Trans Mountain pipeline, as well as other announced smaller expansion projects are able to proceed as planned, pipeline export capacity may be adequate to keep the market in balance. However, the absence of Keystone XL pipeline leaves little room to absorb any disruption to the system and could contribute to price volatility.

While private sector funding — and appetite — for financing new pipelines may be drying up in Canada, provincial and federal governments have stepped up to fill the gap.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development estimates that provincial and federal governments in Canada bankrolled three uncompleted pipeline projects in the country.“We found at least eight different types of financial support measures provided for Trans Mountain, two for Keystone XL, and two for Coastal GasLink,” according to an IISD report published earlier this month. “Cumulatively, Canadian governments have provided over $23 billion in government support since 2018. Of this, over $11 billion is in loans, and at least $10 billion is loan guarantees or liabilities. Over $10 billion in government support to pipelines was provided after the COVID-19 pandemic hit.”

The Institute said that it crunched the number after filing access to information requests, and the final figure is “likely an understatement.”

Death for some, sunbaked cookies for others. We must get serious about the climate crisis.

Death for some, sunbaked cookies for others. We must get serious about the climate crisis.

 

Parking at the Northern California hospital where I work, I quickly break into a sweat during the 80-foot walk to the entrance. It’s 100 degrees outside, and it’s only 8 a.m. Outdoors, I can feel the intense sunlight on my skin, but inside the cool wards of the hospital, I experience the effects of the recent heat wave in my soul: My first patient of the day is gravely sick from severe heat stroke.

A healthy athlete, he became severely lightheaded, disoriented and unable to put together a coherent sentence. He had only spent 15 minutes in a car driving without air conditioning, but these effects were lasting hours. At one point, we thought he was developing a true stroke in his brain and not just heat stroke.

He’s not the only one suffering. I am seeing more and more people experiencing adverse health consequences of a warming environment. Put more bluntly, more people are getting sick from climate change. I am seeing them today. Not years in the future. Right now. For our health and survival, we need to be brave enough to stop and even reverse climate change by supporting state and national policies that strive to do this.

Heat stroke, dehydration and wildfires

That our planet is warming up is indisputable, and virtually all scientists agree that it is worsened by human activity.

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Extreme temperatures and extreme weather events like hurricanes and tropical storms are becoming more frequent. The recent heat wave on the West Coast is another symptom of climate change, with the thermometer reaching triple digits for days at a time. New records were set, including the 130 degree mark in Death Valley – the second highest temperature on Earth ever recorded.

A burnt car after a wildfire in Alpine County, Calif., on July 17, 2021.
A burnt car after a wildfire in Alpine County, Calif., on July 17, 2021.

 

People have found fun in the extreme temperatures, cooking breakfast or baking cookies using just the sunlight. But the heat can be deadly for our most vulnerable. At least 150 deaths have been attributed to the heat in the Pacific Northwest during this recent unprecedented heat wave. If British Columbia, Canada, is counted, then that number nears 1,000 people. In my hospital, we are seeing more heat strokes and dehydration cases, especially among our elderly and homeless population.

Can-do and optimistic: We’re conservatives and we’re fighting against climate change

This is all happening as wildfire season is starting. Last year in California, the skies turned an ominous shade of red as much of the West Coast burned. Despite efforts in forest management, uncontrolled wildfires are raging once again. The environment is so dry, in fact, that one wildfire was set off by a golf club sparking when it struck the ground.

The health consequences are palpable. Last year, our medical wards filled with the sounds of wheezing lungs from struggling patients, both from COVID-19 and also pulmonary damage from wildfire smoke. Climate change continues to make these fires all the more frequent.

No time left for political bickering

President Joe Biden has argued that fighting global warming is a key priority in American infrastructure – but it’s more than that, it’s a priority for humanity’s infrastructure.

We cannot turn this battle into more political bickering; we don’t have the time. We need to push our elected officials to support policies curbing carbon emissions and promoting clean energy. We need to invest in the science. We need to believe the science.

Bipartisan infrastructure bill is a start: Climate change is no longer other worldly, and inaction is no longer an option

Aside from rising sea levels, destruction of animal habitats, melting polar caps, increased flooding and the other myriad existential hazards, we are still at grave direct health risks with worsening climate change. And those dangers are now. Nowhere is this more evident than inside a hospital, filled with patients suffering from the increasing heat and smoke. More than just causing an unpleasantly hot walk across a parking lot, climate change will certainly lead to more death and suffering unless we pull together across the political spectrum and act before it’s too late.

Thomas K. Lew, MD, is an assistant clinical professor of Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine and an attending physician of Hospital Medicine at Stanford Health Care – ValleyCare. All opinions are solely his own.

Every Trump campaign and administration official who has been indicted on federal criminal charges

Every Trump campaign and administration official who has been indicted on federal criminal charges

Thomas J. Barrack Jr. Private Equity Real Estate investor and the founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Colony Capital, headquartered in Santa Monica, California.
Inaugural Committee chairman Tom Barrack
Former Trump Inaugural Committee chairman Tom Barrack speaks at at a pre-Inaugural “Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration” at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017 AP Photo/David J. Phillip.
  • Tom Barrack is the latest former top Trump campaign official to be hit with federal charges.
  • The former inauguration chair is charged with lobbying violations, obstruction, and false statements.
  • Barrack, the 8th former Trump official to face federal charges, will plead not guilty.

Tom Barrack, the chairman of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 Inaugural Committee, became the 8th former official in Trump’s orbit to be hit with federal criminal charges on Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged Barrack on seven counts of unlawful lobbying, obstruction of justice, and making false statements to investigators.

Barrack is accused of violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, in connection with his work lobbying on behalf of the United Arab Emirates. Barrack’s spokesman told Insider that he will plead not guilty to all charges.

Other Trump officials were charged as part of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign’s role in it, and were subsequently granted full presidential pardons in the final months of the Trump administration.

Here’s the full list:
  • Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted in 2018 on federal bank and tax fraud charges, pleaded guilty to more federal conspiracy charges, and was sentenced to seven and a half years in federal prison. Trump granted Manafort a full pardon in December 2020.
  • Former campaign chief Steve Bannon was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with a scheme to defraud donors to fund a wall at the US southern border. Trump pardoned Bannon in January 2021 before he could face trial.
  • Informal Trump adviser and “fixer” Roger Stone was convicted on seven counts on obstruction, making false statements, and witness tampering in connection to the Mueller probe and was sentenced to three years in prison. Trump commuted Stone’s sentence in July 2020 and fully pardoned him in December 2020.
  • Deputy Trump campaign manager Rick Gates, a key aide to Manafort, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy and false statements and received only a 45-day sentence thanks to his extensive cooperation with investigators in the Mueller probe. He did not get a presidential pardon.
  • Trump’s short-lived National Security Adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to one count of lying to the FBI in connection. Flynn, who went on to push conspiracy theories about non-existent fraud in the 2020 election, received a full pardon from Trump in November 2020.
  • Longtime Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to tax fraud, bank fraud, campaign finance violations, and lying to Congress in 2018, and was sentenced to three years in federal prison. Cohen, who turned on Trump after pleading guilty and cooperated with prosecutors, did not get a pardon.
  • Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in connection to the Mueller probe and served 14 days in federal prison.
  • Trump Inaugural Committee chairman Tom Barrack was charged with federal crimes including unlawful lobbying, obstruction of justice, and making false statements to investigators in July 2021.

Republicans’ confidence in science has dropped significantly from 1975, poll finds

Republicans’ confidence in science has dropped significantly from 1975, poll finds

 

Science, welcome to 2021 — you’ve been politicized.

A new Gallup poll reveals that, in 2021, just 45 percent of Republicans report having a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in science, compared to 72 percent of Republicans in 1975. Democrats and independents have remained largely confident in science as an institution over the years, shifting from 67 percent to 79 percent, and 73 percent to 65 percent, respectively, between 1975 and 2021, per Gallup.

Gallup Poll.
Gallup Poll.

 

The current partisan gap regarding confidence in science (79 percent to 45 percent) is “among the largest Gallup measured” for any of the institutions in its annual Confidence in Institutions survey. It is “exceeded only by a 49-point party divide in ratings of the presidency and 45 points in ratings of the police,” Gallup writes.

Such distrust toward the scientific community can be felt in recent Republican attitudes toward mask mandates, the COVID-19 vaccine, and the seriousness of the pandemic as a whole, Gallup notes. Ironically, just 46 years ago, Republicans were actually more likely than Democrats to report a great deal of trust in science — but now, conservative thought and political leaders are seemingly pushing their caucus in the opposite direction.

Among all Americans, trust in science between 1975 and 2021 is down only 6 percentage points, from 70 percent to 64 percent, Gallup notes.

Gallup surveyed 1,381 adults from July 1-5, 2021. Results have a margin of error of three percentage points. See more results at Gallup.

Water wells are at risk of going dry in the US and worldwide

Water wells are at risk of going dry in the US and worldwide

Debra Perrone           May 10, 2021


An orchard near Kettleman City in California’s San Joaquin Valley on April 2, 2021.
 Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

 

As the drought outlook for the Western U.S. becomes increasingly bleak, attention is turning once again to groundwater – literally, water stored in the ground. It is Earth’s most widespread and reliable source of fresh water, but it’s not limitless.

Wells that people drill to access groundwater supply nearly half the water used for irrigated agriculture in the U.S. and provide over 100 million Americans with drinking water. Unfortunately, pervasive pumping is causing groundwater levels to decline in some areas, including much of California’s San Joaquin Valley and Kansas’ High Plains.

We are a water resources engineer with training in water law and a water scientist and large-data analyst. In a recent study, we mapped the locations and depths of wells in 40 countries around the world and found that millions of wells could run dry if groundwater levels decline by only a few meters. While solutions vary from place to place, we believe that what’s most important for protecting wells from running dry is managing groundwater sustainably – especially in nations like the U.S. that use a lot of it.

About 75% of global groundwater pumping occurs in India, the U.S., China, Pakistan, Iran, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
About 75% of global groundwater pumping occurs in India, the U.S., China, Pakistan, Iran, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
Groundwater use today

Humans have been digging wells for water for thousands of years. Examples include 7,400-year-old wells in the Czech Republic and Germany, 8,000-year-old wells in the eastern Mediterranean, and 10,000-year-old wells in Cyprus. Today wells supply 40% of water used for irrigation worldwide and provide billions of people with drinking water.

Groundwater flows through tiny spaces within sediments and their underlying bedrock. At some points, called discharge areas, groundwater rises to the surface, moving into lakes, rivers and streams. At other points, known as recharge areas, water percolates deep into the ground, either through precipitation or leakage from rivers, lakes and streams.

Pumping can remove groundwater from underground faster than it recharges.
Pumping can remove groundwater from underground faster than it recharges.

 

Groundwater declines can have many undesirable consequences. Land surfaces sink as underground clay layers are compactedSeawater intrusion can contaminate groundwater reserves and make them too salty to use without energy-intensive treatment. River water can leak down to underground aquifers, leaving less water available at the surface.

Groundwater depletion can also cause wells to run dry when the top surface of the groundwater – known as the water table – drops so far that the well isn’t deep enough to reach it, leaving the well literally high and dry. Yet until recently, little was known about how vulnerable global wells are to running dry because of declining groundwater levels.

There is no global database of wells, so over six years we compiled 134 unique well construction databases spanning 40 different countries. In total, we analyzed nearly 39 million well construction records, including each well’s location, the reason it was constructed and its depth.

Our results show that wells are vital to human livelihoods – and recording well depths helped us see how vulnerable wells are to running dry.

Millions of wells at risk

Our analysis led to two main findings. First, up to 20% of wells around the world extend no more than 16 feet (5 meters) below the water table. That means these wells will run dry if groundwater levels decline by just a few feet.

Second, we found that newer wells are not being dug significantly deeper than older wells in some places where groundwater levels are declining. In some areas, such as eastern New Mexico, newer wells are not drilled deeper than older wells because the deeper rock layers are impermeable and contain saline water. New wells are at least as likely to run dry as older wells in these areas.

Wells are already going dry in some locations, including parts of the U.S. West. In previous studies we estimated that as many as 1 in 30 wells were running dry in the western U.S., and as many as 1 in 5 in some areas in the southern portion of California’s Central Valley.

Households already are running out of well water in the Central Valley and southeastern Arizona. Beyond the Southwest, wells have been running dry in states as diverse as MaineIllinois and Oregon.

What to do when the well gives out

How can households adapt when their well runs dry? Here are five strategies, all of which have drawbacks.

– Dig a new, deeper well. This is an option only if fresh groundwater exists at deeper depths. In many aquifers deeper groundwater tends to be more saline than shallower groundwater, so deeper drilling is no more than a stopgap solution. And since new wells are expensive, this approach favors wealthier groundwater users and raises equity concerns.

– Sell the property. This is often considered if constructing a new well is unaffordable. Drilling a new household well in the U.S. Southwest can cost tens of thousands of dollars. But selling a property that lacks access to a reliable and convenient water supply can be challenging.

– Divert or haul water from alternative sources, such as nearby rivers or lakes. This approach is feasible only if surface water resources are not already reserved for other users or too far away. Even if nearby surface waters are available, treating their quality to make them safe to drink can be harder than treating well water.

– Reduce water use to slow or stop groundwater level declines. This could mean switching to crops that are less water-intensive, or adopting irrigation systems that reduce water losses. Such approaches may reduce farmers’ profits or require upfront investments in new technologies.

– Limit or abandon activities that require lots of water, such as irrigation. This strategy can be challenging if irrigated land provides higher crop yields than unirrigated land. Recent research suggests that some land in the central U.S. is not suitable for unirrigated “dryland” farming.

Households and communities can take proactive steps to protect wells from running dry. For example, one of us is working closely with Rebecca Nelson of Melbourne Law School in Australia to map groundwater withdrawal permitting – the process of seeking permission to withdraw groundwater – across the U.S. West.

State and local agencies can distribute groundwater permits in ways that help stabilize falling groundwater levels over the long run, or in ways that prioritize certain water users. Enacting and enforcing policies designed to limit groundwater depletion can help protect wells from running dry. While it can be difficult to limit use of a resource as essential as water, we believe that in most cases, simply drilling deeper is not a sustainable path forward.

Read more:

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Walmart, Target, and Amazon are among the biggest corporate polluters thanks to overseas shipping

Walmart, Target, and Amazon are among the biggest corporate polluters thanks to overseas shipping

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The Exxon Valdez is one of thousands of ships dismantled at the Alang ship-breaking yard in western Indian state of Gujarat, India. AP Photo

  • new study measures the climate pollution retailers emit from overseas shipping.
  • Retail giants Walmart, Target, Ikea, and Amazon are among the top 10 maritime polluters.
  • Walmart generates more greenhouse gas than a coal plant would in a year, The Verge first reported.

new report from Pacific Environment and Stand.earth reveals 15 major corporations that emit as much climate pollution from overseas shipping as 1.5 million American homes.

Retail giants Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Ikea, Amazon, and Nike are among the worst polluters, according to the report. Walmart tops the list, generating more greenhouse gas than a coal plant would in a year, The Verge first reported.

“There really hadn’t been an investigation into this pillar of companies’ emissions portfolio,” Madeline Rose, primary author of the report, told The Verge. “Quite frankly, with the climate emergency on our doorstep, we just feel like there needs to be disruption of the data system and there needs to be greater transparency.”

15 retailers maritime pollution
Pacific Environment / Stand.earth

 

Right now, Americans are buying so many imported goods that shipping companies are racing to build more boats and brands are paying ten times typical shipping prices, Insider reported in July.

The study measures greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution released by the 15 retailers while importing goods overseas to the US.

To calculate the final rankings, researchers tracked cargo ships used by each company as a way of estimating fuel consumption and emissions. The results do not include the cargo ships’ return, meaning the pollution is probably even more severe than the study found.

In 2019, Ikea announced an ambitious plan for the company to become “climate positive” – meaning it would reduce more pollution than it creates – by 2030. According to the study, shipping from the world’s largest furniture retailer is the seventh-biggest polluter, a ranking worse than Amazon’s.

Last year, Walmart said it will eliminate its carbon footprint by 2040. This goal does not encompass Walmart’s entire supply chain, and therefore does not calculate emissions released by overseas shipping.

Similarly, Amazon has pledged to be net-zero carbon across its business by 2040. An Amazon spokesperson told Insider that the company includes indirect emissions such as cargo shipping into its carbon footprint calculations, which are published online.

Target’s sustainability goals do take its entire supply chain into account – the company also aims to be net-zero by 2040.

“Major retail companies are directly responsible for the dirty air that sickens our youth with asthma, leads to thousands of premature deaths a year in U.S. port communities, and adds to the climate emergency,” Rose said in a statement. “We are demanding that these practices change.”

Walmart, Target, Ikea, and Amazon did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.

Paul Krugman Points Out The Unusual Thing About The GOP Cult Of Donald Trump

Paul Krugman Points Out The Unusual Thing About The GOP Cult Of Donald Trump

Economist Paul Krugman, in his latest column for The New York Times, pointed out the “unusual thing” about the GOP’s cult-like devotion to one-term, twice-impeached former President Donald Trump.

The party “doesn’t have a monopoly on power; in fact, it controls neither Congress nor the White House,” noted Krugman in his essay published Monday.

“Politicians suspected of insufficient loyalty to Donald Trump and Trumpism in general aren’t sent to the gulag. At most, they stand to lose intraparty offices and, possibly, future primaries,” Krugman continued. “Yet such is the timidity of Republican politicians that these mild threats are apparently enough to make many of them behave like Caligula’s courtiers.”

Krugman, who was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 2008, pointed out that “many people, myself included, have declared for years that the GOP is no longer a normal political party.”

But it now “bears a growing resemblance to the ruling parties of autocratic regimes,” he added.

The GOP “has become something different, with, as far as I know, no precedent in American history although with many precedents abroad,” Krugman concluded. “Republicans have created for themselves a political realm in which costly demonstrations of loyalty transcend considerations of good policy or even basic logic. And all of us may pay the price.”

The Democrat blocking progressive change is beholden to big oil. Surprised?

The Democrat blocking progressive change is beholden to big oil. Surprised?

<span>Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP</span>
United States Senator from West Virginia
Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP

 

As “thousand-year” heat waves caused by the climate crisis rock the west coast and biblical floods engulf major cities, Senate Democrats are negotiating a $3.5tn budget package that could include an attempt to slow the use of fossil fuels over the next decade.

One prominent senator is very concerned about proposals to scale back oil, gas and coal usage. He recently argued that those who want to “get rid of” fossil fuels are wrong. Eliminating fossil fuels won’t help fight global heating, he claimed, against all evidence. “If anything, it would be worse.”

Which rightwing Republican uttered these false, climate crisis-denying words?

Wrong question. The speaker was a Democrat: Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

West Virginia is a major coal-producing state. But Manchin’s investment in dirty energy goes far beyond the economic interests of the voters who elect him every six years. In fact, coal has made Manchin and his family very wealthy. He founded the private coal brokerage Enersystems in 1988 and still owns a big stake in the company, which his son currently runs.

In 2020 alone, Manchin raked in nearly $500,000 of income from Enersystems, and he owns as much as $5m worth of stock in the company, according to his most recent financial disclosure.

Despite this conflict of interest, Manchin chairs the influential Senate energy and natural resources committee, which has jurisdiction over coal production and distribution, coal research and development, and coal conversion, as well as “global climate change”.

He even gave a pro-coal speech in May to the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) while personally profiting from Enersystems’ coal sales to utility companies that are EEI members, as Sludge recently reported.

Manchin is one of many members of Congress who are personally invested in the fossil fuel industry – dozens of Congress members hold Exxon stock – but he is among the biggest profiters. As of late 2019, he had more money invested in dirty energy than any other senator.

How can this be? Wouldn’t basic ethics prevent someone from being in charge of legislation that could materially benefit them? Unfortunately, conflict-of-interest rules in the Senate are remarkably weak. And guess who is seeking to strip conflict-of-interest rules from a 2021 democracy reform bill?

His proposal “leaves out language that S 1 would add to federal statute prohibiting lawmakers from working on bills primarily for furthering their financial interests”, Sludge reported.

Manchin, the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, has used the evenly split chamber to block Joe Biden’s agenda. In the process he has become arguably the most powerful person in Washington. Hardly any Democratic legislation can pass without his vote.

That’s a problem – especially given that Manchin sometimes seems like he’s an honorary Republican. Earlier this month the Texas Tribune and other publications reported that Manchin was heading to Texas for a fundraiser hosted by several major Republican donors, including oil billionaires.

Manchin, along with Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, has vowed to protect the filibuster – a rule, frequently used to empower white supremacists, that requires 60 votes for most Senate bills to pass. That includes vital voting rights legislation, passed by the House, that is the only way to stop the Republican party from eviscerating what’s left of our democracy in the name of the “big lie” of voter fraud.

Because of his uniquely powerful position as a swing vote, Manchin can rewrite major legislation to his liking – effectively dictating the legislative agendas of Congress and the White House.

It appears that Manchin will have his way with the White House’s infrastructure package as well, and his changes will probably be more devastating, given the climate emergency we live in.

Manchin isn’t just sticking up for the coal industry and his family’s generational wealth; he’s doing the bidding of oil and gas executives, who also stand to lose money if the nation transitions away from toxic fuels.

Manchin’s political campaigns are fueled by the dirty energy industry. Over the past decade, his election campaigns have received nearly $65,000 from disastrously dishonest oil giant Exxon’s lobbyists, its corporate political action committee, and the lobbying firms that Exxon works with. A top Exxon lobbyist recently bragged about his access to Manchin.

In the 2018 election cycle, his most recent, Manchin’s campaign got more money from oil and gas Pacs and employees than any other Senate Democrat except then North Dakota senator Heidi Heitkamp. Manchin was also the mining industry’s top Democratic recipient in Congress that cycle.

If Biden wants to have any kind of legacy, he needs to stand up to Manchin, a member of his own party, and work with the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, to get him in line. I don’t fully know why Biden permits the West Virginian to dictate his own presidential policy agenda. But what is crystal clear is that the leader of the United States should be doing a whole lot more.

  • Alex Kotch is an investigative reporter and editor with the Center for Media and Democracy, a nationally recognized watchdog that leads award-winning investigations into the corruption that undermines our democracy, environment, and economic prosperity
  • This article was produced in partnership with the Center for Media and Democracy