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Well, this is one reason:

Martin Frick told the BBC that some of the most deprived areas had now reached a tipping point of having “zero” harvests left, as extreme weather was pushing already degraded land beyond use.

He said that as a result, parts of Africa, the Middle East and Latin America were now dependent on humanitarian aid.

Mr Frick warned that without efforts to reverse land degradation globally, richer countries would also begin to suffer crop failures.

The Global Environment Facility estimates that 95% of the world’s land could become degraded by 2050. The UN says that 40% is already degraded.

This seems… bad. Of course, we could do something about it. In theory:

It’s Wednesday and as usual I present commentary on a range of topics that are of interest to me. They don’t have to be connected in any particular way. Today, RBA interest rate decisions, COVID and some great music. Yesterday, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) held their target interest rate constant. In their media…

Friends of the Earth Media Release National environmental justice group Friends of the Earth Australia (FoE) has slammed opposition leader Peter Dutton’s release of the Coalition nuclear policy, describing it as a nuclear nightmare and a cynical ploy to keep burning coal and gas. Nuclear is simply too expensive and will take far too long…

The post Dutton’s nuclear nightmare a blatant attempt to keep burning coal and gas appeared first on The AIM Network.

Climate Council Media Release THE CLIMATE COUNCIL has slammed the Coalition’s energy scheme as “a smokescreen for its commitment to coal and gas” and “radioactive greenwash”, which would delay Australia’s urgent and accelerating shift to clean energy and away from fossil fuels. Analysis of Dutton’s scheme shows it has a gaping hole at its heart.…

The post Dutton’s climate policy: Let it burn appeared first on The AIM Network.

Solutions for Climate Australia Media Release Coalition’s nuclear fantasy would create billions of tonnes more climate pollution The federal Coalition’s announcement today that they would transition Australia to nuclear reactors is a dangerous distraction from the urgent need to take action to reduce climate pollution this decade. Solutions for Climate Australia director Dr Barry Traill:…

The post Nuclear is a fantasy, not a climate policy appeared first on The AIM Network.

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has told colleagues that the nuclear energy plan that the Coalition’s traditional owner, Gina Rinehart, has been working on is finally ready to be released to the public. ”Gina’s a very busy person, what with looking... Read More ›

The hero worship of Donald Trump has reached new heights. It’s now Kim Jong Un level. Dan Morrison at USA Today writes: It’s the Summer of Trump in the House of Representatives, where Republican lawmakers have flooded the chamber with bills and resolutions honoring the former president, convicted felon and 2024 GOP frontrunner.  These largely symbolic gestures are a way to get noticed by the Republican powerhouse, who can make or break politicians with his endorsements, according to a former member of Congress. Earlier this month, Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., introduced a bill requiring the U.S. Treasury to start printing $500 bills again after 79 years, with the pricey legal tender now “featuring a portrait” of Trump in place of the late President William McKinley. Gosar said the proposal was meant to draw attention to high inflation under Joe Biden.  There’s cash, and then there’s gold.  In May, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., pushed a bill to award Trump the Congressional Gold Medal for his administration’s foreign policy successes.

Viewers will get a new omnibus edit of "Pyramids of Mars" with updated FX during Doctor Who: Tales of the TARDIS on Thursday, June 20th.

My generation of filmmakers shook up cinema forever. Where are history’s periodic surges of creativity taking us?

The post The Force Was with Them appeared first on Nautilus.

Ferris Jabr’s 3 greatest revelations while writing his book, Becoming Earth.

The post How Life Made Our Earth appeared first on Nautilus.

Judd Legum writes about the factual disconnect on crime: According to the latest FBI data, violent crime and property crime are down sharply in 2024. The new data shows substantial drops in every category, including murder (-26.4%), rape (-25.7%), robbery (-17.8%), and property crime (-15.1%). These declines follow steep drops in violent crime and property crime in 2023.  And yet, according to a recent Gallup poll, “77% [of Americans] believe there is more crime in the U.S. than a year ago.” Why? There are two key factors. First, high-profile politicians are constantly making false claims about crime rates in the United States. For example, speaking at a Black church in Detroit last Saturday, former President Trump said the following: We’ll bring back public safety and defend our communities for law-abiding American citizens. The crime is most rampant right here in African American communities. And more people see me, and they say, “Sir, we want protection. We want the police to protect us.

The Biden campaign has good reason to run ads drawing attention to Trump’s criminal conviction: President Joe Biden’s campaign had been restrained in its attacks on Donald Trump’s New York criminal conviction for weeks until the campaign said internal polling and focus groups showed the verdict turned off voters. The result, hitting TV sets across the country on Monday, was the campaign’s unleashing of its sharpest attack ad yet, depicting Trump as a “convicted criminal who’s only out for himself.” And the campaign says it’s just the start. Biden advisers say they plan to hammer Trump over the coming weeks — aiming to both set up a favorable narrative ahead of next week’s debate and keep Trump’s felony conviction top-of-mind for voters who haven’t yet fully tuned into the election. “We’ve seen in polling since the conviction that the more the conviction is front and center in voters’ attention, the worse it is for Trump,” said a Biden campaign pollster granted anonymity to describe internal polling because they were not authorized to do so publicly.

Such a move would support the peace efforts, not undermine them, as some have argued. Over the last eight months, we have witnessed the mass killing and displacement of Palestinians and the devastation and destruction of Gaza carried out by Israel under the guise of “self-defence”. As the Israeli government continues to disregard its obligations under Continue reading »

Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s visit underscores the significance of the Australia-China relationship, especially given China’s status as Australia’s largest trading partner. A deeper relation should develop, but that will take time. Trust needs to be reestablished not only at diplomatic and business levels, but also in the Australian mass media, whose China opinion writers have Continue reading »

How many more wrongful convictions does Australia have to have before state and federal attorneys-general and senior members of the legal profession agree that they must address this serious problem? Why is Australia languishing so far behind similar legal systems in England and Wales, Scotland, New Zealand and Canada? In the case of the UK, Continue reading »

In Australia, the demon of penal regulation clings in its stubbornness. Keeping government accountable and open to the suspicious eye of the public is a weary worn task that yields little by way of change. Secrecy remains addictive, even pathological. Reforms, to that end, remain cosmetic, patchy, and indeterminate. What is the public interest useful for Continue reading »

The Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited New Zealand last week (June 13-15) and held talks that were generally agreed to be frank but friendly. It was the highest ranking visit by a Chinese official for seven years and coincided with the tenth anniversary of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries. Li Qiang was Continue reading »