Killer Fossil Fuels

Feeling extra socialist this week so gonna keep this open to all. Support my work here for as little as $5 a month.

LISTENING: to airport lounge music
FEELING: anxious about all my work
SEEING: water gather below my Henny cocktail

I'm in New Orleans! Every time I'm here, I think of the folks over in Cancer Alley. The people who can't escape the fumes of fossil fuels and pollution. The families rising up to demand clean air.

As if we needed another reason to be mad at polluters, a new study published in Nature Wednesday found that 213 heat waves across 63 countries from 2000 to 2023 became more likely due to 180 of the world's biggest polluters. These guys aren't just fossil fuel companies, either; cement producers are some of the biggest carbon emitters, too.

The authors conclude that up to 53 heat waves would've been virtually impossible if not for some of these polluters. Sigh.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government gives the fossil fuel sector some $35 billion in subsidies a year, according to a new report from Oil Change International.

The good news is that this research helps build a case against not only dirty energy companies—but also the governments investing in them. Two lawsuits (here and here) are already targeting ExxonMobil, one of the polluters named in the report, for its influence on the 2021 heat wave that contributed to the deaths of 159 people in Washington state.

"The carbon majors must pay for the devastation they’ve caused," said
Louise Hutchins, a co-convenor with Make Polluters Pay International, in a press release. "For decades, they knew their products were heating up the planet, costing homes, jobs, and lives. Yet they put profits before people, raking in billions every day from ordinary bill payers. Making them pay is right, fair, and long overdue."

With the International Court of Justice's July ruling clarifying that governments have a duty to address the climate crisis, maybe there's hope after all. I feel pretty cynical most days, especially in the aftermath of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk's violent death. I didn't like the guy, but I really don't like the direction this country is headed.

If I close my eyes and breathe deeply, I can still see a future full of peace, windmills, bicycles, and community. The image is fading, but it's still there. Maybe I'm naive. Or maybe I'm just trying my damndest to keep my soul alive.

The darkness can't win. Not when we have climate activists like Greta Thunberg putting their lives on the line for Gaza. Not when Palestine is not yet free. Not when babies are being born into this madness. Not when we still have tomorrow. 🌀

Rest in Power

While we can't say for certain that climate change led to these specific weather events (we need attribution studies for that), we do know that the Earth's rising temperatures are already creating more frequent and/or stronger disasters like these.

I'm not finding anything, but I'm also rushing because it's almost 11 p.m. I'm sleepy. Low key, I don't want to read about death right now, either. My heart is heavy enough.

Currently Reading

Plastics are slowly destroying us. The Washington Post's Shannon Osaka, Frank Hulley-Jones, and Simon Ducroquet have the story.

Hamilton Nolan always knows what to say when the world is crumbling.

Guantánamo survivor Mansoor Adayfi writes: "Like Guantánamo, Alligator Alcatraz is a machine built to break people. Remote. Hard to reach. Hard to see. Hard to scrutinize. No cameras. No names."

I still haven't read this story from Danya Issawi for The Cut on the Palestinian women who escaped and the little they took with them. But I know I am going to be in tears by the end of it.

Poetry

WE ARE GRATEFUL by Mazin Qumsiyeh

We are grateful for those who resist and remain,
Who struggle through genocide, bearing the pain.
For doctors in Gaza who heal night and day,
Risking their lives so that others may stay.
For journalists daring to tell what is true,
Two hundred and fifty struck down as they do.
For martyrs whose courage still kindles the flame,
For survivors who rise and give hope with their name.
For friends in the city refusing to flee,
For millions who march, for the jailed yet free.
For hearts that stay open, for minds that will fight,
For Hind Rajab’s voice that was honored that night.
----
We are grateful for meetings that circle the earth,
For the dream of one country, one land of true worth.
For networks that link us through fifty-plus lands,
For gifts of supporters, their hearts and their hands.
For staff and for volunteers steady and kind,
For children whose questions awaken the mind.
For gardens and museums where memory stays,
For prayers and good wishes that brighten our days.
For animals, plants that remind us we’re one,
For food and for water, for light of the sun.
For friendships enduring, unbroken, and strong,
That carry us forward, that lift us in song.
---
We are grateful for tyrants who showed us their face,
Their hatred, their greed, their corruption, their race.
For Trump and for Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir, and the rest,
Whose crimes strip the mask, put their lies to the test.
For trials that teach us endurance and care,
For joy in the sorrows we’re chosen to bear.
----
We are grateful for parents who taught us the way,
To cherish the good, and to not go astray.
For family and friends who still walk by our side,
For ancestors’ struggles, their unbroken stride.
For birth in a land where my soul will remain,
Palestine’s soil, through the joy and the pain.
The Fertile Crescent, where rivers still flow,
The cradle of peoples all humanity know.
A crossroads of wisdom, of story, of seed,
A beacon of justice in humanity’s need.
The wind strips the mask from hypocrisy’s eyes,
Revealing the truth and unmasking the lies.

I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Mazin during my visit to the West Bank. Subscribe to his newsletter here. 🇵🇸

- Yessenia xx