The Economist (February 8 Issue)
“If dealmaking means threatening catastrophe in order to win small gains, then Donald Trump is the master of the art.” Despite the collective sigh of relief when he suspended tariffs on Canada and Mexico in return for “some old promises,” the story is not necessarily over: “Donald Trump could still blow up global trade.” There is a real chance that “ideology, complacent markets and a need for revenue may still lead to big tariffs.”
Tags: Canada, Catastrophe, Complacent, Dealmaking, Global trade, Ideology, Mexico, Promises, Relief, Small gains, Tariffs, Threatening, Trump
Washington Post (October 16)
“Climate change is the catastrophe to end all other catastrophes.” Every other issue pales in comparison. “Even our boldest notions of how to improve the status of women — expanding access to education, health care, housing and liberty — will be meaningless if women are swept away in mega floods, buried in landslides or suffocated by wildfires.”
Tags: Access, Boldest, Catastrophe, Climate change, Education, Floods, Health care, Housing, Landslides, Liberty, Meaningless, Status of women
New York Times (October 27)
“Because of soaring deforestation rates under President Jair Bolsonaro, the Amazon ecosystem is on the brink of catastrophe.” For Brazilians, “this will be a painful election between two deeply flawed candidates. But for the future of human life on this planet, there is only one right choice.” Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva “promises to stop the destruction.”
Tags: Amazon, Bolsonaro, Brazil, Candidates, Catastrophe, Deforestation, Destruction, Ecosystem, Election, Flawed, Future, Human life, Lula da Silva, Planet, President, Soaring
Investment Week (August 11)
“Climate change mitigation is high on the global agenda, with escalating pressure on governments to take action to prevent a climate catastrophe.” In July, the European Commission “unveiled ambitious plans to deliver a 55% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 – relative to 1990 levels. The ‘Fit for 55’ package spans all sectors and could have a significant impact on high-emitting industries.” The plan could prove the “biggest investment story in decades.”
Tags: Catastrophe, Climate change, Cut, Emissions, European Commission, Fit for 55, GHG, Global agenda, Governments, Investment, Mitigation
Financial Times (July 18)
“With just over two months to go until polling day, the devastating floods that swept through western Germany this week have catapulted climate change to the heart of the German election campaign.” Most parties blame global warming “for a catastrophe that has left at least 140 people dead,” but the “dramatic scenes could prove of huge benefit to the Greens, who even before this week were set to make big gains in the September poll.”
Tags: Catastrophe, Climate change, Devastating, Election, Floods, Germany, Global warming, Greens, Parties, Poll, Polling
New York Times (May 12)
“Pressing ahead with the Olympics risks drinking poison to quench our thirst for sport. The possibility of a superspreader catastrophe is not worth it for an optional sporting spectacle. It’s time to cancel the Tokyo Olympics.”
Tags: Cancel, Catastrophe, Olympics, Optional, Poison, Risks, Spectacle, Sport, Superspreader
The Economist (May 8)
“India’s national government looks increasingly hapless. Confronted with catastrophe, the state has melted away” leaving citizens enraged. “Indians are accustomed to ineptitude and meagre support,” but “it is a sense of utter abandonment, especially among the politically noisy middle class, that is driving the anger.”
Tags: Abandonment, Anger, Catastrophe, Citizens, Confronted, Government, Hapless, India, Ineptitude, Meagre, Middle class, Support
Financial Times (April 22)
“The collapse of the eurozone would be a catastrophe. The ECB is the one institution able and willing to act. Governments should back it.”
Tags: Act, Catastrophe, Collapse, ECB, eurozone, Governments
New York Times (January 8)
“Given the century of medical progress” since 1918, one would assume “that we are far better prepared today to deal with such a worldwide catastrophe. Unfortunately, the opposite is true…. A 1918-type influenza pandemic could cause ruin on the order of what the Black Death did to 14th-century Europe, but on a global scale.” To escape such catastrophe, urgent priority needs to be placed on developing “a universal vaccine that effectively attacks all influenza A strains, with reliable protection lasting for years, like other modern vaccines.”
Tags: 1918, Black Death, Catastrophe, Europe, Influenza, Pandemic, Progress, Protection, Vaccine, Worldwide
Salon (November 26)
“A wholesale collapse of Pine Island and Thwaites would set off a catastrophe. Giant icebergs would stream away from Antarctica like a parade of frozen soldiers. All over the world, high tides would creep higher, slowly burying every shoreline on the planet, flooding coastal cities and creating hundreds of millions of climate refugees. But “what we do now will determine how quickly” this ensues. “A fast transition away from fossil fuels in the next few decades could be enough to put off rapid sea-level rise for centuries. That’s a decision worth countless trillions of dollars and millions of lives.”
Tags: Antarctica, Catastrophe, Climate refugees, Collapse, Flooding, Fossil fuels, Icebergs, Pine Island, Shoreline, Thwaites, Tides
