The people who own and ultimately control newsrooms have become a lightning-rod issue.

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The Delusion of “Advanced” Plastic #Recycling

The #plastics industry has heralded a type of chemical recycling it claims could replace new shopping bags and candy wrappers with old ones — but not much is being recycled at all, and this method won’t curb the crisis.

#News #Pyrolysis #Chemicals #Evironment #Plastic #Pollution #Science

https://www.propublica.org/article/delusion-advanced-chemical-plastic-recycling-pyrolysis

Suggestion: Reach out to your local government, emergency service provider, and/or news org. Let them know that Twitter has ended public access to content and that Mastodon is a working alternative *today*. I did this on the weekend with my local emergency folks and this morning I got a reply back saying they had noticed the embedded Twitter feed on their webpage was broken.

They didn't realize Twitter had cut that service. Now, hopefully, they are considering their options including Mastodon.

Reminder to go to your local library and volunteer to speak on their behalf. Let them know that if folks try to come and ban books that you'll speak publicly against them.

We found out folks were going to be commenting at our library calling for banning books.

So.

We all went and spoke out against them.

Only one person got up and called for a ban. She went first. Everyone after her started calling out her behavior and telling the library staff to keep the books.

The first woman and a couple others soon left before the end of comments.

Drive them out. Protect our libraries.

I just had to update my numbers for a lecture, so here's your periodic reminder: Starlink is now 55% of ALL active satellites in orbit.

And given the recent news about that awful billionaire unilaterally deciding to cut of Starlink internet access to parts of the world whenever he wants to, this is extra important to share. Why did our governments effectively gift Low Earth Orbit to one awful dude? This is so bad.

Half of all plastics *ever* manufactured have been made in the last 15 years.

Production increased exponentially, from 2 million tons of plastics in 1950 to 448 million tons by 2015.

Production is expected to *double* by 2050.

Every year, about 8 million tons of plastic waste escapes into the oceans from coastal nations.

INFO SOURCE — https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/worlds-plastic-pollution-crisis-explained/

GRAPHIC SOURCE — https://informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/the-problem-with-plastics-and-recycling-bioplastics-microplastics-ocean-waste/

#Plastic #Pollution #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

Alabama lawmakers refuse to create 2nd majority-Black congressional district in defiance of SCOTUS

Florida schools teaching that slavery was beneficial to Black people

Texas troops pushing brown migrant kids into the Rio Grande to drown them

Two thoughts from all this and more.

1) White supremacy is thriving in GOP. It’s a feature, not a bug.

2) GOP was never about law and order—they were always about advancing racism, and their defiance of their own right wing court is further proof.

The challenge faced by science in the United States isn’t that scientists are awkward and bad at communication. It’s that we’re beset by propaganda and mass media channels funded by corrupt billionaires to sow confusion.

We need big, generously funded communications channels dedicated to verifiable reality. Scientists who are slightly better at talking isn’t going to cut it.

This mind-bending timelapse with the Milky Way stabilized shows the Earth is spinning through space.

Video credit: Eric Brummel
Eric's Website: https://www.ericbrummel.com/
Watch the full HD version on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8OK7M2_hUg&list=PLc4W06G5-v7BDRHoh7n3QkUKUDJmgMO0n