The U.S. has the most expensive health care system among the 36 mostly high-income countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. But for all that money, we rank just 28th in life expectancy and 31st in infant mortality. Nothing about this system is healthy or caring. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Source: Truthdig
It’s been a harrowing couple of weeks for climate change observers. First, as Vice reported, there was an analysis from an Australian think tank, co-written by Ian Dunlop, a former fossil fuel company CEO, that posits that the planet is “reaching a ‘point of no return’ by mid-century, in which the prospect of a largely uninhabitable Earth leads to the breakdown of nations and the international order.’ ”
Then, on Wednesday, Brown University released a report revealing that the Department of Defense is “the world’s largest institutional user of petroleum and correspondingly, the single largest producer of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the world.” According to the report, the DOD released approximately 1.2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, between 2001 and 2017.
Duterte will take control of Congress, but his quest for more power must be stopped.
Rural and indigenous populations in countries like Guatemala and Honduras are increasingly on the move – either migrating internally or to neighboring countries. But the focus on these populations has been limited, leaving them forgotten and marginalized as they continue to be disproportionately affected by climate change.
Two Iraqi peace activists discuss their commitment to peace and undoing the violence wrought by the last two U.S. wars in their country.
Source: The Guardian
A Guardian report from 11 countries tracks how US waste makes its way across the world – and overwhelms the poorest nations
What happens to your plastic after you drop it in a recycling bin?
According to promotional materials from America’s plastics industry, it is whisked off to a factory where it is seamlessly transformed into something new.
This is not the experience of Nguyễn Thị Hồng Thắm, a 60-year-old Vietnamese mother of seven, living amid piles of grimy American plastic on the outskirts of Hanoi. Outside her home, the sun beats down on a Cheetos bag; aisle markers from a Walmart store; and a plastic bag from ShopRite, a chain of supermarkets in New Jersey, bearing a message urging people to recycle it.
Copyright Toward Freedom 2019