The ways humanity produces and consumes food cause up to 30 percent of planet-warming emissions, generate widespread malnutrition, and perpetuate poverty and inequality—but a new report released Monday claims that 10 global transformations over the next decade could help the international community tackle the climate crisis and feed over nine billion people.
—Jeremy Oppenheim, FOLU principal
The report, Growing Better: 10 Critical Transitions to Transform Food and Land Use (pdf), comes from the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU), which launched in 2017 to bring together organizations representing key actors—from business and civil society leaders to scientists and policymakers—to transform global food and land use systems.
"The term 'food and land use systems' covers every factor in the ways land is used and food is produced, stored, packed, processed, traded, distributed, marketed, consumed, and disposed of," the report explains. "It embraces the social, political, economic, and environmental systems that influence and are influenced by those activities."...
....If every acre of farmland were returned to a soil carbon level of just 3%, one trillion tons of carbon dioxide would be removed from the atmosphere and stored in the soil, making the size of the potential solution agriculture presents equivalent to the size of the problem we face....Regenerative farming practices include cover cropping, rotational cropping, reduced or no tillage, reduced chemical and fertilizer application, and livestock integration.
....Since at least 2005, experts have known that every $1 spent by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on mitigation saves U.S. taxpayers $4....
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'Heartless and Unconscionable': Outrage as General Motors Cuts Off Healthcare for 50,000 Striking Workers [Hideous corporate behavior putting 50,000 families at greater health and bankruptcy risk.] "It is cruel and outrageous that GM has cut off the healthcare benefits from their employees in a blatant attempt to force the union into submission," said Sen. Bernie Sanders.  United Auto Workers (UAW) members walk the picket line at the General Motors Flint Assembly Plant after the UAW declared a national strike against GM at midnight on September 16, 2019 in Flint, Michigan. (Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images) In a move critics said exposes both the particular cruelty of General Motors executives and the systemic inhumanity of the American healthcare system, GM on Tuesday stopped covering health insurance premiums for the nearly 50,000 auto workers striking for fair wages and decent benefits. The move shifts healthcare costs to the United Auto Workers (UAW), which will be forced to reach into its strike fund to pay the bills. As HuffPost reported, UAW negotiators on Monday sought to confirm with GM that workers' benefits would be covered through the end of the month. Hours later, GM said the benefits have been terminated. "A note to anyone who wants to use union members as a wedge to oppose Medicare for All: UAW has one of the best plans in the country, but management can still use it to hold workers hostage. M4A puts power back in our hands." —Sara Nelson, Association of Flight Attendants "GM's decision to yank healthcare coverage away from their dedicated employees with no warning is heartless and unconscionable," said Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). "GM's actions could put people's lives at risk, from the factory worker who needs treatment for their asthma to the child who relies on their parents' insurance for chemotherapy." "The UAW workers on the strike lines are showing immense bravery in the face of intimidation," added Henry. The auto workers' nationwide strike, described as the largest in more than a decade, began just before midnight on Sunday after negotiations between UAW and GM broke down, with union leaders and members accusing management of proposing insulting wage increases and paltry benefits. As the New York Times reported, GM is pushing for "employees to pay a greater portion of their healthcare costs" even as the company rakes in record-level profits and massive gains from the GOP tax bill. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, said in a statement Tuesday night that GM's decision to stop healthcare payments "is the type of corporate greed that the American people are sick and tired of."... Jake Johnson, staff writer | Common Dreams
Whole Foods Will Cut Health-Care Benefits for Nearly 2,000 Employees [Hideous corporate behavior putting 2,000 families at greater health and bankruptcy risk.] It’s been two years since Amazon acquired Whole Foods, putting a corporate banner over a mission-based company. In that time, there’s been very little in the way of good news for employees, and with reports that Amazon will no longer pay for health-care benefits for about 1,900 of its employees, the downward trend continues. Business Insider reports that starting on January 1, 2020, employees will have to work a minimum of 30 hours per week to qualify for health-insurance coverage. Previously, that number was 20 hours per week. In a statement to BI, a company spokesperson said the change was made “to better meet the needs of our business and create a more equitable and efficient scheduling model.”... Nikita Richardson | NY Mag.'s Grub Street
Employment in the industry is projected to grow, but women – particularly women of color – are being left behind  In the US, nine out of 10 home care workers are women and 25% are African American. Photograph: jacoblund/Getty Images/iStockphoto ....The job is physically strenuous and ranks high on the list for work-related accidents. It is also emotionally taxing. Deborah O’Bryant, a home health aide for the past 12 years, remembers one of her hardest experiences was caring for a cancer patient: “I had to take her to radiation every day. She could not speak. I learned how to read lips.” And yet many of these workers fail to earn a living wage. According to government data, healthcare support occupations such as home health aides had a median annual wage of $24,060 in May 2018, lower than the median annual wage for all occupations in the economy. According to a report by Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI), a not-for-profit organization based in New York City that works to improve long-term services and support for elders and individuals with disabilities, in 2017, one in five home care workers lived below the federal poverty line and over half relied on some form of public assistance [bad link]. Caitlin Connolly, an expert at the National Employment Law Project (NELP) sees a direct link between low wages in the care giving sector and the legacy of slavery. African American women who didn’t work the fields had to provide unpaid household care for white families. Even after emancipation those former slaves and their descendants were kept out of good-paying industries and denied the protections given to other workers. “Up until 2015, home care workers did not have the right to a federal minimum wage,” she says. Care workers were even excluded from the protections provided by the landmark Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to accommodate southern segregationists. And despite the demands of an ageing US population and the tight labor market, wages for women across the United States remain lower than men’s. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, female home health aides and registered nurses earn 92% of their male counterparts’ wages. Able to earn more elsewhere, it appears men are ditching healthcare. Nora Higgins, a nurse practitioner who teaches at nursing school has witnessed how men have been dropping out of her classes since she started teaching back in 2001. “Out of a class of 90 there used to be 12 to 15 [men]. Now there are only a handful,” she says. Across all occupations, female full-time employees earn 80 cents for every dollar that a man earns. And the gap is far worse for women of color. On average black women in the US are paid 38% less than white men.... Milli Legrain | The Guardian
While bribing your child’s way into an elite college is pretty bad, it pales in comparison with the millions of dollars in bribes paid every hour in America at the federal and state level so billionaires and big corporations can get the laws they want. Thom Hartmann | Common Dreams
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"Global greenhouse gas emissions need to decline today rather than tomorrow, and global CO2 emissions should be brought to net zero."  Amazon forest area is burned in rural Novo Progresso north of Brazil on Thursday, August 28, 2019. (Photo: Gustavo Basso/NurPhoto via Getty Images) New climate models unveiled by French researchers Tuesday showed Earth's average temperature could rise a "terrifying" 6.5-7.0°C above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century if dramatic action is not immediately taken to slash carbon emissions. The findings, presented at a press conference in Paris, suggest the planet may be warming significantly faster than scientists previously believed as the world's major economies continue to burn fossil fuels at unsustainable rates.... Jake Johnson, staff writer | Common Dreams
The Swedish environmentalist was one of several who spoke at a Senate climate crisis task force  Greta Thunberg attends a Senate climate change task force meeting in Washington DC. Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images Lauren Gambino in Washington | The Guardian
The climate crisis isn’t the only reason to kick fossil fuels – the prospect of a war to protect Saudi crude reminds us of that 'See you on the street!' Greta Thunberg urges all to join Friday's climate strike – video e are sadly accustomed by now to the idea that our reliance on oil and gas causes random but predictable outbreaks of flood, firestorm and drought. The weekend’s news from the Gulf is a grim reminder that depending on oil leads inevitably to war too. Depending on how far back you want to stand, the possibility of war with Iran stems from a calculated decision by Tehran or its Houthi allies to use drones and missiles on Saudi installations, or on the infantile rage that drove President Trump to tear up a meticulously worked out and globally sponsored accord with Iran and to wreck its economy. But in either case, if you really take in the whole picture, the image is rendered in crude, black tones: were it not for oil, none of this would be happening. Were it not for oil, the Middle East would not be awash in expensive weapons; its political passions would matter no more to the world than those of any other corner of our Earth. Were it not for oil, we would not be beholden to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – indeed, we might be able to bring ourselves to forthrightly condemn its savagery. Were it not for oil, we would never have involved ourselves in a ruinous war with Iraq, destabilising an entire region. (I remember the biting slogan on a sign from an early protest against the war with Saddam Hussein: “How did our oil end up under their sand?”)... Bill McKibben | The Guardian
Why Trump Can’t Learn: An Educated Guess by a Veteran Teacher [Might dyslexia explain the Republican party, generally?] Dyslexia may explain a lot about the twisted behavior of the president.  President Donald Trump brandishes a graphic during an Oval Office briefing on the status of Hurricane Dorian in Washington, D.C. on September 4, 2019. (Photo: Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images) While dyslexia has been mentioned now and then as one of the reasons Donald Trump is so ignorant of what it takes to govern in a free society, I want to explore it as foundational to his inability to learn and grow while in office—and also as a way to link disparate troubling elements in his makeup. So what follows is the informed speculation of a former classroom teacher. Considering Trump’s well-documented aversion to reading and his difficulty with complex sentence structures when he talks without a script, my hunch is that he has mild to moderate dyslexia, a neurobiological condition that makes it difficult to learn to read and can also affect sentence formation and vocabulary. When he was young it may not have been adequately diagnosed and treated. "I am suggesting that Trump’s lifelong experience with dyslexia, instead of increasing his capacity for compassion, has instead combined with problematic elements in his personality, including a penchant for revenge that was apparent even when he was a young adult." Because trying to read was frustrating, as time went on he read as little as possible. Because he experienced humiliation and shame in the early grades when he saw other children acquiring information with ease from books, I believe he came to resent those children who were academically successful, who loved school, and drew the teacher’s praise. His own natural curiosity about the world waned. Trump has left himself no way to enjoy learning and to benefit from knowledge. As he grew older, he neither had the patience to laboriously read even moderately difficult material. Nor could he enjoy listening to people who knew a lot more about specific realms of knowledge than he did. That felt like school, which he hated. Reporting indicates he still can’t tolerate policy briefings of more than a few minutes. How does Trump’s difficulty in reading relate to his penchant for uttering falsehoods? I think he began faking when he was six or seven and couldn't keep up with the other children his age who had learned their letters and were starting to read sentences and little stories. He wanted to be "great" so he made things up. Faking got baked into his personality. He couldn’t stop now, not for anything. Harriet Feinberg | Common Dreams
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Six whistleblowers and ex-government scientists describe how the Trump administration made them bury climate science – and why they won’t stay quiet Oliver Milman | The Guardian
Both Democrats and Republicans attack black culture, but refuse to enact the redistribution of wealth and power that could end racial inequity Bhaskar Sunkara | The Guardian
A Californian court has ruled that gig economy workers should be treated as employees Editorial | The Guardian
"America needs a president who isn't going to appease and compliment drug companies—we need a president who will take on the pharmaceutical industry, whether they like it or not." Jake Johnson, staff writer | Common Dreams
Joel Mathis | The Week
The list of problems getting buried by money is nearly endless. Gun control; health care; a living wage; the high cost of education; endless war; each is rooted in the power of the oligarch’s coup, and each is a function of money in politics. But only two candidates – Sanders and Warren -- address this issue head on in the debates, and to hear the media, the pundits’ and the Party’s post mortem, both are “extreme” and the guy who’s debating whether the lifeboat needs a patch is “reasonable” and the best bet for winning the election. John Atcheson | Common Dreams
Major CBS News poll released as part of Covering Climate Now, a collaboration of more than 250 news outlets around the world to strengthen coverage of the climate story Oliver Milman in New York | The Guardian
A new, billion-dollar pharmaceutical to treat peanut allergies is up for approval. It’s simply peanut flour. JAMES HAMBLIN | The Atlantic
To protect their networks and bottom lines, health insurers don’t aggressively pursue widespread fraud, making it easy for scammers. Then they pass the costs off to you. Marshall Allen | ProPublica
Medicare for All doesn’t just provide everyone with the care they need, free of charge. It’s also a potent anti-poverty program, reducing poverty by over 20 percent and increasing poor people’s incomes by 29 percent. MATT BRUENIG | JACOBIN
Everyone is clear on exactly where Bernie Sanders stands on Medicare for All. But despite the release of her health care plan this week and embrace of the phrase “Medicare for All,” Elizabeth Warren’s precise health care proposal remains murky. NATALIE SHURE | JACOBIN
Taco Bell customer who was treating homeless group to meals says she was kicked out of restaurant [A coarsening of public behavior...] Alexandra Deabler | Fox News
California church leaders 'used homeless as forced labour' [A coarsening of public behavior...] Unattributed | BBC News
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The climate crisis is so severe the actions of the denialists are now an immediate threat to our children Tim Flannery for the Conversation | The Guardian
The prime minister’s pre-election tactics underline why he must be ousted from office Observer editorial | The Guardian
The goal of this fortification around Europe and the Anglosphere is all too clear: Convince people to stay where they are, no matter how miserable it is, no matter how deadly. ....The climate science will no longer be denied; what will be denied is the idea that the nations that are the largest historical emitters of carbon owe anything to the black and brown people impacted by that pollution. This will be denied based on the only rationale possible: that those non-white and non-Christian people are lesser than, are the other, are dangerous invaders. In much of Europe and the Anglosphere, this hardening is already well under way. The European Union, Australia, and the United States have all embraced immigration policies that are variations on “prevention through deterrence.” The brutal logic is to treat migrants with so much callousness and cruelty that desperate people will be deterred from seeking safety by crossing borders.... Naomi Klein | The Intercept
Donald Trump’s hostility towards Iran and support for Saudi Arabia has made a delicate situation explosive Simon Tisdall | The Guardian
After 50 years of occupation, our freedom is shrinking every day. But even if Netanyahu loses, little will change Raja Shehadeh | The Guardian
The Indian prime minister is being feted in the west. But he is arbitrarily curbing the human rights and civil liberties of minorities on a vast scale Editorial | The Guardian
Iraqi intelligence official tells MEE the strikes were in retaliation for earlier Riyadh funded Israeli drone attacks on Iraqi militia David Hearst | Middle East Eye
A minuscule number of wealthy people would benefit from such a move. Everyone else would be hit by higher taxes Torsten Bell | The Guardian
There’s no shortage of work for Australia’s Indigenous rangers – and no shortage of women who’d like to do it – but funding security is needed Lorena Allam | The Guardian
Kaïs Saïed and media mogul Nabil Karoui appear to have taken the top two spots and will progress to a runoff Peter Beaumont in Tunis and Sousse | The Guardian
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For neoliberal zealots, no deal represents a great opportunity to dramatically reshape Britain George Monbiot | The Guardian
Deregulation means a company once run by engineers is now in the thrall of financiers and its stock remains high even as its planes fall from the sky Matt Stoller | The Guardian
The New York Attorney General's Office has allegedly uncovered $1 billion in wire transfers by the Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma, which could suggest attempts to hide its wealth as it faces litigation over its role in the opioid crisis. The transfers include some done through Swiss bank accounts, The New York Times reported. RACHEL FRAZIN | The Hill
"Every network should be covering this. Trump's dangerous takeover of our courts will last a generation." Jake Johnson, staff writer | Common Dreams
CHRISTINA ZHAO | Newsweek
BRIAN PASCUS | CBS News
The great break-up of Big Tech is finally beginning [Facebook and Google effectuate the evil of data analytics] Google and Facebook are the subject of big antitrust investigations. This is good news for our democracy and the free press Matt Stoller | The Guardian
IDEA: Virtual Nations could replace nation-states, allowing everyone to be agents for a better world Marc Cherbonnier | The Baltimore Chronicle | Ref.
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