#202: There Goes Florida

Welcome back, Shit Giver.

Climate change

Oh, Florida

Miami Herald: "Housing advocates have long feared that Miami is one storm away from disaster; nearly a third of all housing structures in Miami-Dade County built before 1990 are at risk of wind damage, mold contamination and even complete devastation from a hurricane.

According to U.S. Census figures, nearly one million people could be left homeless in a worst-case scenario — the majority of them among the poorest of the county’s residents."”

⚡️  Take Action: in a year when we're running out of names for hurricanes. And on top of the revelation that researchers have already "identified a decline in sales in low-lying Florida coastal areas beginning in 2013, followed a few years later by a drop in prices compared with safer areas."

Climate change has been here. Whether you live in Florida or or not, you can help flip it blue in a few weeks with the tools at VoteSaveAmerica.com. Let's go.

Clean energy

Read the room

Yahoo Finance: "Exxon Mobil Corp. had plans to increase annual carbon-dioxide emissions by as much as the output of the entire nation of Greece, an analysis of internal documents reviewed by Bloomberg shows, setting one of the largest corporate emitters against international efforts to slow the pace of warming.

The drive to expand both fossil-fuel production and planet-warming pollution has come at a time when some of Exxon’s rivals, such as BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, are moving to curb oil and zero-out emissions. Exxon’s own assessment of its $210 billion investment strategy shows yearly emissions rising 17% by 2025, according to internal projections."

⚡️  Take Action: make sure fossil fuels aren't part of your investment portfolio by loading up with a couple high-performing ESG funds. Here's 15 to check out.

COVID

Your weekly reminder that they don't care if you die

The New York Times: “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention drafted a sweeping order last month requiring all passengers and employees to wear masks on all forms of public and commercial transportation in the United States, but it was blocked by the White House, according to two federal health officials.

The officials said that it was drafted under the agency’s “quarantine powers” and that it had the support of the secretary of health and human services, Alex M. Azar II, but the White House Coronavirus Task Force, led by Vice President Mike Pence, declined to even discuss it."

⚡️  Take Action: let's bring this shit home. Call some Super State voters this weekend with Swing Left. It's a blast.

Biology

Metastatic tumors kill 250,000 Americans every year. Enough.

Source: “"Using high resolution imaging to examine clusters of breast cancer cells in mouse and human models, the team discovered a space called "nanolumina" between the cells of each cancer cluster where the cells co-opt a signaling molecule called epigen to promote the growth of clusters.

Epigen appears to be accumulating between these nanolumina at about 5,000 times higher concentration than the fluid outside the structure, Cheung says. 

They found when epigen was suppressed within the nanolumina, primary tumor and metastatic outgrowth was greatly reduced.

"Epigen is like a toggle switch. When epigen is high, cluster tumor cells divide and proliferate. ... If we block the epigen within these [nanolumina] compartments, we block metastasis," Cheung says."”

⚡️  Take Action: fuck cancer. Fuck it a thousand times. 

Some of our favorite cancer research organizations are struggling for funding these days. You can help out by lacing on your sneakers, opening up your wallet, and running the Virtual End Childhood Cancer 5K - Halloween Edition with the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. Send us your fundraising page and we'll throw in $100.

Food & water

Cooking with gas, no more

The Atlantic: “"Although cooking food on any stove produces particulate pollutants, burning gas produces nitrogen dioxide, or NO2,, and sometimes also carbon monoxide, according to Brett Singer, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who studies indoor air quality. 

Brief exposures to air with high concentrations of NO2 can lead to coughing and wheezing for people with asthma or other respiratory issues, and prolonged exposure to the gas can contribute to the development of those conditions, according to the EPA. Homes with gas stoves can contain approximately 50 to 400 percent higher concentrations of NO2 than homes with electric stoves, often resulting in levels of indoor air pollution that would be illegal outdoors, according to a recent report by the Rocky Mountain Institute, a sustainability think tank. 

“NO2 is invisible and odorless, which is one of the reasons it’s gone so unnoticed,” Brady Seals, a lead author on the report, says."”

⚡️  Take Action:  you know what asthma feels like? Fucking terrible is what it feels like. Trust me. Here's Consumer Reports top induction stoves of 2020.

Where it all comes together

California's wildfires are 30 years ahead of schedule. Below the equator, our meat and soy addictions are driving massive wildfires up and down South America. Air quality is a nightmare everywhere. Here's a map of LA with two layers: pollution, and COVID. The math is easy.

Add it up, and here's a chart showing how much more dangerous COVID is than the flu, by age. You know, COVID, the disease that leaves 1/3 of patients with altered mental function. Meanwhile, LAUSD is betting hundreds of millions of dollars on a testing lab that didn't exist months ago. But maybe schools aren't super-spreaders, after all?

Confirmed: China's aiming for carbon neutral by 2060 (and yet approved a boatload of coal permits this year). Meanwhile, the US EPA (that's the "Environmental Protection Agency" for you newcomers) has "removed the requirement for curbing toxic air pollutants". 

Speaking of pollutants: gas insiders are *not* pleased about your house getting electrified. At least Rivian's new Amazon truck is here. I kind of want one? Updated: EV's really are cheaper to own overall.

Big Oil lie #83403: that plastic is recyclable.