Rachel Donald and Ajit Varki in the latest Planet: Critical

“Most of the problems on the planet are not being caused by humankind, but by mankind.”

Rachel Donald’s invaluable Planet: Critical is always of-the-moment.

Portland, OR-based documentary filmmaker Jan Haaken looks at NuScale Power, SMRs, and the latest attempts to sell nuclear as “clean energy”.

As someone who agrees with RMI’s Amory Lovins, Stanford’s Mark Jacobson and others that we do not need nuclear power to decarbonize, Atomic Bamboozle is right up my alley. Filmmaker Jan Haaken and an all-star panel of activists are slated to talk following a screening next weekend:

• Jan Haaken, director, professor emeritus of psychology at Portland State University, a clinical psychologist, and documentary filmmaker

• Lauren Goldberg, executive director for Columbia Riverkeeper with over a decade of experience advocating for Hanford Nuclear Site cleanup 

• Lloyd Marbet, executive director Oregon Conservancy Foundation and longtime anti-nuclear activist

• Cathy Sampson-Kruse, associate producer, enrolled member of the Waluulapum Tribe of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, retired social worker, and a champion in protecting clean water from fossil fuels and nuclear waste 

• Greg Kafoury, attorney in private practice with Kafoury & McDougal Attorneys, served as Co-Director of Don’t Waste Oregon

• Moderated by Dr. Patricia Kullberg, former medical director of Multnomah County Health Department and member of Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility

A cursory search of last year’s Inflation Reduction Act suggests that the U.S. intends to keep pouring money into new nukes (aka “qualified” nuclear, “advanced” nuclear, and the like) for years regardless of the merits.

Of possible interest: The Necessity Defense, The “Inflation Reduction Act” is not the Green New Deal

Will the United States formally adopt and ratify “the biggest conservation victory ever”?

“Countries must formally adopt the Treaty and ratify it as quickly as possible to bring it into force, and then deliver the fully protected ocean sanctuaries our planet needs.”

— from story on Common Dreams

Of possible interest: The “Inflation Reduction Act” is not the Green New Deal

Progressive thought and scholarship are under assault on campuses as the idea of the university is hollowed out, says international development professor Somdeep Sen.

“Today’s neoliberal universities are no longer concerned with widening intellectual horizons and inspiring future generations to build a better tomorrow. Higher education is seen as a financial investment made by students.” link

Laura Flanders interviews author Kim Stanley Robinson

“People are responding to my novel—which is just a story—because they want that story.”

Of possible interest: Read the first chapter of Ministry for the Future for free.

You need a job, you get a job. Simple.

“This month, Money on the Left is joined by Thomas Schwab who, as mayor of Gramatneusiedl in Lower Austria, oversees a promising Job Guarantee pilot program. Seeking to eliminate long-term unemployment, the program guarantees public jobs to anyone in the community who seeks them.”

The Debt Collective’s comms are on point.

New from Linqua Franqa.

A quick musical rabbit hole

Starting point: Radiohead
Endpoint: Pinkshift

Of possible interest: What 80s Nostalgia Forgets

Two essays by the late great Glen Ford (1949-2021).

My favorite Taco Tuesday joint was doing decent lunchtime business today. I usually read an essay while I wait. Today I had time to read two by Glen Ford.

“None of Them Has Ever Been My President” (2016)
“Community Control of the Police — and a Whole Lot More” (2020)

Here’s an extended interview with Ford from 2012:

Of possible interest:
Dems and Repubs are Moneypots, Not Real Political Parties
The Black Agenda
Glen Ford and the Need for Black Radical Analysis

What does Post’s centering of “civility” mean in practice?

Someone I admire recommended Post.news a couple of months ago, so I joined. I deleted three Twitter accounts in 2020, and have been 100% fine with that decision. Like, Julie Andrews the-hills-are-alive-level fine. But the promise of a platform focused on actual discourse for (mostly) serious adults was too powerful to ignore.

Quality of posts, as always, is up to users. So there are people who post their daily Wordle scores (ugh). There are people who post a lot of cat pics (better). Some people post original content (best). Some post censored stories (interesting and a service to the public).

I haven’t quite got the hang of the site yet, but one thing’s obvious: Team Red vs. Team Blue nonsense is getting plenty of play on what should be a tabula rasa. Lots of users just carried their Twitter-optimized behavior onto Post, spinning the news of the day into We vs. They. This turns half the electorate—voters, not elected officials—into the enemy. OTHER TEAM BAD can whip up a base, but it’s fundamentally about preaching to the choir. It changes zero minds, and reinforces the two-party doom loop.

So what does “civility” mean in this context? Is it just a civility of manners / not crossing lines with profanity? Is civility of morals part of the equation at all?

Of possible interest: The Way Forward Isn’t Through the “Center”