Fossil fuels fall below 50% of US electricity for the first month on record | Ember
Record-high solar and wind bring the US to a clean power tipping point.
progress
What’s behind the ongoing Bay Area tech layoffs? ‘Nobody is safe,’ expert says
"The main culprit is artificial intelligence driving the industry’s economic success while also driving its workers out."
The main culprit is artificial intelligence driving the industry’s economic success while also driving its workers out.
The Upside Down | Blog | Andrew Yang
The President is upending longstanding alliances and seems to gravitate to strongmen – perhaps because that’s what he aspires to be. Career professionals are cast aside arbitrarily. Health researchers are on the run. Projects that have been on the books for years might get thrown out the window.
I have felt for a long time that our two-party system has devolved into the Democrats as defenders of faltering institutions vs. the ‘burn it down’ crew that has come to define today’s Republican Party. Institutional mistrust and polarization, and Joe Biden overstaying his welcome, led to this past November’s outcome. Meanwhile, most of us are somewhere in the middle, thinking that the institutions do indeed need revamping and modernization but that a chainsaw isn’t the tool of choice.
The President is upending longstanding alliances and seems to gravitate to strongmen – perhaps because that’s what he aspires to be. Career professionals are cast aside arbitrarily. Health researchers are on the run. Projects that have been on the books for years might get thrown out the window.I have felt for a long time that our two-party system has devolved into the Democrats as defenders of faltering institutions vs. the ‘burn it down’ crew that has come to define today’s Republican Party. Institutional mistrust and polarization, and Joe Biden overstaying his welcome, led to this past November’s outcome. Meanwhile, most of us are somewhere in the middle, thinking that the institutions do indeed need revamping and modernization but that a chainsaw isn’t the tool of choice.
Protecting Our Democracy Act
VOTE QUESTION: On Passage, DESCRIPTION: Protecting Our Democracy Act, VOTE TYPE: Yea-And-Nay, STATUS: Passed
"Gradually, then suddenly”: How the Protecting Our Democracy Act addresses institutional decay | ACS
In the Press - Protect Democracy
State lawmaker leaves GOP for Forward Party on last day of session
Utah Sen. Dan Thatcher left the Republican Party. The Forward Party promotes ranked choice voting.
German experiment gave people a basic monthly income – the effect on their work ethic was surprising | CNN
A German experiment has found that people are likely to continue working full-time even if they receive no-strings-attached universal basic income payments.
New Mexico Governor Signs Open Primaries Bill, Granting 330,000 Voters A More Meaningful Say | Unite America
With SB 16 now law, independent voters will have the freedom to participate in the most consequential elections
New Mexico made childcare free. It lifted 120,000 people above the poverty line
The state, which has long ranked worst in the US for child wellbeing, became the first and only in the country to offer free childcare to a majority of families
Big ten joint pact trump administration universities
The potential pact would mark an escalation in resistance from universities to President Trump's push for them to follow his agenda.
Winner-take-all ranked ballot - it's no solution - Fair Vote Canada
Argues that winner-take-all ranked ballot isn't great, but a proportional RCV works
Trying bring back manufacturing jobs fools errand
Senate rejects NIH cuts
The Senate Appropriations Committee rejected the Trump administration’s massive proposed funding cut to the National Institutes of Health, advancing a measure that would increase the agency’s budget by $400 million. The White House budget called for slashing NIH by $18 billion, a decrease of 40 percent. Instead, the committee advanced the bill on a 26-3…
Universal Income vs the Robots: Meet the Presidential Candidate Fighting Automation
"It’s much more feasible to modify our capital flows than it is to overhaul over dysfunctional educational system or train millions of Americans for jobs that they may or may not be well suited for."
The Socialist Case for Automating Our Jobs Away - OneZero
(I'd argue that it's not "socialist.") "While not “revolutionary,” robust welfare policies, like UBI and universal healthcare, are steps toward socialized production, where people, empowered to work on their own terms, can redirect the economy towards new goals: promoting human health and well-being, building rich social and cultural lives, and guaranteeing environmental sustainability."
Why we need to invest in transformative placemaking
"In fact, between 2010 and 2016, fully half of the country’s employment gains took place in just 20 metropolitan areas, led by New York, Boston, the Bay Area, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., along with fast-growing Sunbelt areas like Dallas, Atlanta, and Orlando."
If democratic socialism is so bad, why is Norway so great?
Sure, there are downsides to Norway as well. But if you're telling me Norway can have decent health care and we can't ...
Post-work: the radical idea of a world without jobs | News | The Guardian
The long read: Work has ruled our lives for centuries, and it does so today more than ever. But a new generation of thinkers insists there is an alternative
It’s a Myth That Corporate Tax Cuts Mean More Jobs - The New York Times
As Congress prepares to take up tax reform, we looked at 92 companies that pay very low taxes. Their job growth rate was negative.
Many countries have decoupled economic growth from CO2 emissions, even if we take offshored production into account
It is possible to reduce emissions while growing the economy. But this decoupling needs to happen faster.
Why Gen X is the real loser generation
Don’t cry for millennials or Gen Z. Save your pity for those in their 50s
COP29: Exxon CEO Pushes Back on Trump’s Radical Anti-Climate Agenda
The chief executive of Exxon Mobil Corp. on Tuesday discouraged President-elect Donald Trump from withdrawing the US from the landmark Paris climate pact, arguing that would mean forfeiting a chance to push for “common sense” carbon-cutting policy on the world stage.
Can spreading tiny glass beads on the Arctic ice keep it from melting?
In the Arctic, the thick ice that reflected sunlight from the Earth is melting. Ice911 thinks it can slow this process by coating the ice with glass particles.
Crispr gene-editing will change the way Americans eat – here's what's coming | US news | The Guardian
Could be a good thing if it yields crops that require fewer resources to grow and have a lower likelihood of suffering blights. Could be a bad thing if it's unregulated and we end up with unintended consequences.
The Military, Not the White House, Is Readying for Climate Change
The Pentagon seems at odds with the president over how best to prepare for climate-related extreme weather
Conservatives should change how they think about global warming. I did | Jerry Taylor | Opinion | The Guardian
The uncertainty of climate change is an argument for – not against – decarbonizing the economy as quickly as possible
China grows cotton plant on the far side of the moon - Big Think
It marks the first time a plant has been grown on the moon.
Beflow Startup is Making Super Bees to Save Crops
The bee population is plummeting and the ecosystems and food systems that depend on their pollination are declining. One startup’s solution to the incoming beepocalypse is to make better bees.
'Like sending bees to war': the deadly truth behind your almond-milk obsession | Environment | The Guardian
Bees are essential to the functioning of America’s titanic almond industry – and billions are dying in the process