dumnezero

Contents

00:00 – Smokin’ hot Europeans

00:24 – State of the European Climate Report

01:15 - Headlines

02:27 – Extremes

04:16 – Polar impacts

07:50 – Global context

08:54 – Future change

10:02 - What to do

10:56 - Thanks

2024 was the world’s hottest year on record, and Europe is the continent warming the fastest. Extreme events ravaged Europe last year, including floods, wildfires and storms that claimed hundreds of lives and impacted many thousands more.

To find out more, I spoke to Julien Nicolas, a co-author of the European State of the Climate Report, a huge undertaking that was put together by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting on behalf of the Copernicus Climate Change Service and World Meteorological Organisation.

by Benn Jordan

On 19 March 2025, Erik Møse, chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, updated the Human Rights Council on the findings of the Commission's latest report, which found that Russian authorities have committed enforced disappearances of civilians in the areas of Ukraine that they control and these are crimes against humanity.

An intro to Russian propaganda with some words of wisdom at the end.

Belgrade authorities have used sound weapons on the crowd of protesters. The video description has some educational links.

There are lots of videos around.

https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/166-peter-strack

States averaging ten thousand watts per year - with other Western countries close behind - our excessive energy consumption is built into both our physical and cultural infrastructure. How much energy do we truly need to lead fulfilling lives, and what changes would be necessary in our neighborhoods and cities to achieve that? In today’s discussion, Nate is joined by Peter Strack, a French researcher and author, to explore the concept of 2000-Watt Societies—innovative models that aim to balance reduced energy consumption with the well-being of the people who live there. Peter explains the historical context of energy consumption and origins of lower-energy communities, as well as the necessary changes in infrastructure, social dynamics, and personal habits to reduce energy consumption while sustaining a lifestyle that is fulfilling and caring for residents. How can building relationships based on trust and reciprocity within our communities enhance resilience and help reduce energy consumption? What models already exist for communal infrastructure and sharing the labor needed for maintenance and care work? Finally, how could the 2000-Watt Society offer a more comfortable, connected way of living for more people – perhaps even more than high-energy Western lifestyles – while staying within our environmental and resource constraints?

Donald Trump is starting off his morning by doing something he’s done quite often, which is threaten tariffs on major US trading partners.

The latest salvo is aimed at the European Union and their alcoholic beverage industry, particularly France and its world-renowned vineyards. Trump says he’ll put tariffs on what the bloc exports to the United States, after the EU yesterday imposed their own levies on American whiskey in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs on imports of aluminum and steel.

The escalatory tit-for-tat is why these things are referred to as trade wars. Here’s what Trump wrote, on Truth Social:

The European Union, one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World, which was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States, has just put a nasty 50% Tariff on Whisky. If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES. This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.

Donald Trump has spent the week dizzyingly going back and forth on everything from tariffs to Russia to supporting veterans to Elon Musk. It's been a week of 180-degree-turned-360-degree turns causing confusion and chaos. Grant breaks down the biggest flip-flops, what they mean, and what to know next Grant also talks to Cory Doctorow, the inventor of the word "Enshitification," journalist, author, and activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (link below) to talk all about what enshitification is and how it applies to the US government now.

A longer article about energy costs, especially heating, and climate adaptation efforts, and how right-wing parties are profiting from fake populism about cheap fossil energy needs.

A relevant snippet:

In times of extremely high living costs, carbon pricing not softened by support measures is of enormous social and political significance: those who can afford to renovate or install renewable energy sources will be less impacted, whereas those who are poor or renting will have to spend much more of their income on heating costs and will furthermore be unable to free themselves of the dependency on CO2. Across Europe, a dispute over carbon pricing has erupted.

“We are currently seeing attempts by the conservative and right-wing factions in the European Parliament as well as by member states and the business community to undo climate efforts,” says Green Party MEP Michael Bloss. “It would make sense to start working now on establishing programmes for the potential revenues so money can be paid out directly from 1 January 2026. Otherwise, there is a risk of the ETS2 becoming a social trap from 2027.”

...

According to Sibylle Braungardt from the Öko-Institut in Freiburg, there are large subsidy programmes in Germany for energy-efficient renovations and replacements of heating systems by more sustainable alternatives. However, it is mostly high-income households taking advantage of these programmes. “It’s problematic if homeowners can renovate and install heat pumps to pay their way out of carbon pricing but renters cannot.”