#Contribution to Cost Reduction

[apacnewsnetwork0]

Managed Cloud Services: Panacea for Enterprises

In today’s ever-evolving and fast-paced business landscape, organizations that do not keep up with technological advancements and seek innovative solutions will be left behind. Organizations across industry verticals in this digital era are relying more and more on new-age technologies, specifically cloud computing infrastructure to stay ahead of the curve.  Having existed for many decades now, cloud computing infrastructure continues to offer numerous business benefits to organizations of all sizes. 

Elasticity, scalability, pay-per-use model, streamlining of operations, and other advantages it brings lead to significant improvement in the organization’s bottom line.   

While cloud technology delivers several business advantages, managing and optimizing these services can be challenging and time-consuming as well.  Businesses have to depend on IT expertise and 24/7 support to efficiently leverage cloud services, but not all of them have the resources to house an internal IT team that can keep pace with the constantly evolving technology landscape. This is where managed service providers or MSPs can play a crucial role in supporting organizations to effectively and efficiently navigate the cloud landscape.  

Read More - https://apacnewsnetwork.com/2023/12/managed-cloud-services-panacea-for-enterprises/

[khruschevshoe]

Starkid is one of the absolute best arguments for supprting independent art. The fact that the shows you're invested in can't get canceled by Big Daddy Streaming, the quality is always amazing, the love of the cast and crew doesn't get squeezed out by surprise budget reductions, the fact that since crowd funding provides almost all costs up front (plus the presence of voluntary digital ticket/in person tickets for additional funding), the fan base can access the full material for whatever cost they can contribute (even if you can give nothing monetarily, you will still get a professionally shot version of the material eventually, without surprise fees or password crackdowns, AND with captions/completely accesible regardless of location). The same goes for Tin Can Bros, Shipwrecked, and all the other associated theater and web series companies loosely connected to Starkid. Like, I cannot believe the amazing content provided to us at the same level as Broadway or streaming services with billion dollars at hand, with almost none of the catches that come with others. Like, I cannot believe that we get all of this right at our hands.

[videolari]

ISTANBUL OBESİTY CENTER

Welcome to the Istanbul Obesity Center, where transformative weight loss solutions meet world-class medical expertise. As obesity continues to be a growing concern across the globe, our center is dedicated to providing patients with effective and safe surgical options, tailored to individual needs. Whether you’re exploring gastric sleeve surgery, gastric balloon placement, or gastric bypass surgery, our skilled team in Turkey is here to guide you through every step of the process.

Gastric Sleeve Surgery in Turkey

Opting for gastric sleeve surgery in Turkey can be a transformative choice for individuals seeking effective weight loss solutions. This minimally invasive procedure involves removing a significant portion of the stomach, allowing patients to feel fuller quicker and consume fewer calories. With highly trained medical professionals and state-of-the-art facilities, Turkey has emerged as a premier destination for this type of surgery.

One of the key benefits of undergoing gastric sleeve surgery in Turkey is the affordability without compromising quality. The cost of the procedure is significantly lower than in many Western countries, allowing more patients to access this life-changing surgery. Moreover, many clinics offer comprehensive packages that include accommodation, pre-operative assessments, and post-operative care, enhancing the overall experience.

Patient reviews consistently highlight the exceptional care received during their weight loss journey in Turkey. From the initial consultations to the post-operative follow-ups, the emphasis is placed on patient comfort and outcomes, which has contributed to high satisfaction rates. This reinforces the credibility of Turkey as a leading destination for gastric sleeve surgery.

If you are considering gastric sleeve surgery, now is the perfect time to take the first step toward a healthier and happier life. Explore your options and see how this life-changing procedure can make a difference in your life today!

Gastric Balloon in İstanbul

For those seeking an effective and less invasive option for weight loss, the gastric balloon in Istanbul offers an excellent solution. This non-surgical procedure involves the temporary placement of a silicone balloon in the stomach, which helps to significantly reduce hunger pangs and promote a feeling of fullness. As a result, patients can effectively control their food intake and achieve their weight loss goals.

The gastric balloon is designed to remain in place for six months, during which time individuals often experience substantial weight reduction. Many patients report losing 15 to 30 kilograms, giving them the confidence to lead healthier lifestyles. This procedure is ideal for individuals who may not be ready for more permanent solutions like gastric sleeve surgery in Turkey or gastric bypass surgery in Turkey.

Another important aspect of the gastric balloon procedure in Istanbul is its flexibility. Patients can opt for an outpatient experience, allowing for a quick recovery and minimal disruption to their daily lives. The Istanbul Obesity Center is known for its comprehensive aftercare, ensuring that patients receive the support they need throughout their weight loss journey.

With positive weight loss surgery Turkey reviews highlighting the success and satisfaction rates, the gastric balloon has become a popular choice among those looking to kickstart their journey towards better health. If you've been considering options for weight loss, the gastric balloon in Istanbul might be the perfect step for you.

Gastric Bypass Surgery Turkey

Choosing gastric bypass surgery in Turkey can significantly change your life for the better. This advanced surgical procedure is designed to ensure effective weight loss for those who have struggled with obesity. At the Istanbul Obesity Center, we focus on providing state-of-the-art treatments combined with exceptional care, ensuring our patients have the best possible experience and outcomes.

Key Benefits of Gastric Bypass Surgery

Effective Weight Loss: Gastric bypass effectively reduces the size of your stomach and alters the digestive process, leading to substantial weight-loss results.

Improved Health Conditions: Many patients experience a reduction in obesity-related health issues, such as diabetes, hypertension, and sleep apnea.

Enhanced Quality of Life: Beyond physical benefits, patients often report improved mental health and overall life satisfaction after surgery.

Success Stories

We have countless testimonials from satisfied patients who have transformed their lives through gastric bypass surgery in Turkey. These real-life success stories showcase not only the physical changes but also the newfound confidence and active lifestyles our patients have embraced post-surgery.

If you're considering gastric bypass surgery, take the first step towards a healthier and happier life by contacting us today. Our team at the Istanbul Obesity Center is ready to assist you on your journey to weight loss and improved well-being!

Weight Loss Surgery Turkey Reviews

When considering weight loss surgery Turkey reviews play a crucial role in understanding the quality of care and the outcomes experienced by others. Many individuals who have opted for gastric sleeve surgery in Turkey, gastric balloon in Istanbul, or gastric bypass surgery in Turkey have shared their positive transformations, contributing to a growing pool of success stories.

Patients frequently highlight the professionalism and expertise of healthcare providers at Istanbul Obesity Center. From the initial consultation through the surgical procedure and post-operative care, they rave about the support and guidance received, making their journey smoother and more reassuring.

Moreover, several reviews emphasize the transformation not just in weight but also in lifestyle and confidence levels post-surgery. Many individuals report achieving their desired weight goals, leading to improved physical health and overall well-being.

For those contemplating these procedures, reading testimonials and reviews can provide valuable insights. Clients often recommend reaching out for consultations to discuss their personal goals and objectives, ensuring that weight loss surgery aligns perfectly with their expectations.

[reasonsforhope]

"The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 3.6% in 2024 as coal use dropped to the lowest level since 1666, the year of the Great Fire of London, according to new Carbon Brief analysis.

Major contributions came from the closure of the UK’s last coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire and one of its last blast furnaces at the Port Talbot steelworks in Wales.

Other factors include a nearly 40% rise in the number of electric vehicles (EVs) on the road, above-average temperatures and the UK’s electricity being the “cleanest ever” in 2024.

Carbon Brief’s analysis, based on preliminary government energy data, shows emissions fell to just 371m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in 2024, the lowest level since 1872.

Other key findings from the analysis include:

The UK’s emissions are now 54% below 1990 levels, while GDP has grown by 84%.

About half of the drop in emissions in 2024 was due to a 54% reduction in UK coal demand, which fell to just 2m tonnes – the lowest level since 1666.

Another third of the drop in 2024 emissions was due to falling demand for oil and gas, with the remainder down to ongoing reductions in non-CO2 greenhouse gases.

UK coal demand fell at power stations (one-third of the reduction overall) and at industrial sites (two-thirds). In 2024, the UK closed its last coal-fired power station, as well as the final blast furnace at the Port Talbot steelworks. Furnaces at Scunthorpe paused operations. Both sites are due to convert to electric-arc furnaces that do not rely on coal.

Oil demand fell 1.4% despite increased road traffic, largely due to the rise in the number of EVs. The UK’s 1.4m EVs, 0.8m plug-in hybrids and 76,000 electric vans cut oil-related emissions by at least 5.9MtCO2e, Carbon Brief analysis finds, only slightly offset by around 0.5MtCO2e from higher electricity demand.

The UK’s EV motorists each saved around £800, on average, in 2024 – some £1.7bn in total – relative to the cost of driving petrol or diesel vehicles.

Gas demand for heating increased, despite warmer average temperatures than in 2023, as prices eased from the peaks seen after the global energy crisis.

However, gas demand fell overall due to lower gas-fired electricity generation, thanks to higher electricity imports and increased output from low-carbon sources.

The UK would need to cut its emissions by a larger amount each year than it did in 2024, to reach its international climate goal for 2035, as well as its national target to reach net-zero by 2050...

Lowest since 1872

...

Apart from brief rebounds after the global financial crisis and the Covid-19 lockdowns, UK emissions have fallen every year for the past two decades."

-via CarbonBrief, March 12, 2025

[sizzlingsandwichperfection-blog]

A Big TB Announcement

Greetings from Washington D.C., where I spent the morning meeting with senators before joining a panel that included TB survivor Shaka Brown, Dr. Phil LoBue of the CDC, and Dr. Atul Gawande of USAID. Dr. Gawande announced a major new project to bring truly comprehensive tuberculosis care to regions in Ethiopia and the Philippines. Over the next four years, this project can bring over $80,000,000 in new money to fight TB in these two high-burden countries.

Our family is committing an additional $1,000,000 a year to help fund the project in the Philippines, which has the fourth highest burden of tuberculosis globally.

Here’s how it breaks down: The Department of Health in the Philippines has made TB reduction a major priority and has provided $11,000,0000 per year in matching funds to go alongside $10,000,000 contributed by USAID and an additional $1,000,000 donated by us. This $22,000,000 per year will fund everything from X-Ray machines, medications, and GeneXpert tests to training and employing a huge surge of community health workers, nurses, and doctors who are calling themselves TB Warriors. In an area that includes nearly 3,000,000 people, these TB Warriors will screen for TB, identify cases, provide curative treatment, and offer preventative therapy to close contacts of the ill. We know this Search-Treat-Prevent model is the key to ending tuberculosis, but we hope this project will be both a beacon and a blueprint to show that It’s possible to radically reduce the burden of TB in communities quickly and permanently. It will also, we believe, save many, many lives.

—

I believe we can’t end TB without these kinds of public/private partnerships. After all, that’s how we ended smallpox and radically reduced the global burden of polio. It’s also how we’ve driven down death from malaria and HIV. For too long, TB hasn’t had the kind of government or private support needed to accelerate the fight against the disease, but I really hope that’s starting to change. I’m grateful to USAID for spearheading this project, and also to the Philippine Ministry of Health for showing such commitment and prioritizing TB.

—

One reason this project is even possible: Both the cost of diagnosis (through GeneXpert tests) and the cost of treatment with bedaquiline are far lower than they were a year ago, and that is due to public pressure campaigns, many of which were organized by nerdfighteria. I’m not asking you for money (yet); Hank and I will be funding this in partnership with a few people in nerdfighteria who are making major gifts. But I am asking you to continue pressuring the corporations that profit from the world’s poorest people to lower their prices. I’ve seen some of the budgets, and it’s absolutely jaw-dropping how many more tests and pills are available because of what you’ve done as a community.

—

I don’t yet have the details on which region of the Philippines we’ll be working in, but it will be an area that includes millions of people–perhaps as many as 3 million. And it will include urban, suburban, and rural areas to see the different responses needed to provide comprehensive care in different communities. This will not (to start!) be a nationwide campaign, because even though $80,000,000 is a lot of money, it’s not enough to fund comprehensive care in a nation as large as the Philippines. But we hope that it will serve as a model–to the nation, to the region, and to the world–of what’s possible. 

—

I’m really excited (and grateful) that our community gets to have a front-row seat to see the challenges and hopefully the successes of implementing comprehensive care. Just in the planning, this project has involved so many contributors–NGOs in the Philippines, global organizations like the Partners in Health community, USAID, the national Ministry of Health in the Philippines, and regional health authorities as well. There are a lot of partners here, but they’ve been working together extremely well over the last few months to plan for this project, which will start more or less immediately thanks to their incredibly hard work.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Global Emergency Compounded by the AIDS-like Features of SARS-CoV-2 Infection - Published Sept 1, 2024

Over a million people in the US are being infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) every day.

Originally named after the acute respiratory syndrome it can cause as a consequence of blood vessel damage in the lungs, SARS-CoV-2 is actually primarily a blood vessel virus that spreads through the airways. It causes a complex multisystem disease (1). It is airborne (2). It can persist in the body, and is detectable in body and brain tissue even at autopsy of “recovered” patients (3).

Each infection ages the body, causes damage to the blood vessels and the immune system, and affects organs including the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, bones, etc. (4, 5, 6)

Each infection ages the brain. Specifically, it reduces gray matter and cognitive ability (7), and potentially IQ score (8). It increases the risk of psychiatric disorders (9). SARS-CoV-2 has also been identified as contributing to accelerated dementia (10).

The potential post-acute phase impacts of SARS-CoV-2 include long COVID, some manifestations of which are chronic conditions that can last a lifetime, including heart disease, diabetes, myalgic encephalomyelitis and dysautonomia (11).

The Economist has estimated excess deaths from the beginning of the Pandemic through May 2024 at up to 35 million people worldwide. (12)

In Addition, Many Scientists Are Now Issuing Warnings… SARS-CoV-2 triggers a new airborne form of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (13, 14, 15) (some are proposing specific terms such as “CoV-AIDS”).

This is not AIDS as we know it from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, it is a new type of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome with different deleterious effects on immune function (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21), but both resulting in increased vulnerability to infections (22). Immune system deficiency and other COVID properties also suggest a potential link to greater risk of cancers (23, 24, 25, 26, 27).

The “original” AIDS caused by HIV takes up to around 10 to 15 years to make its presence felt, with the initial infection usually barely noticed and often resembling the common cold or a flu-like disease until its damage manifests itself leading to death in the absence of treatments (28, 29).

With SARS-CoV-2, immunodeficiency develops in the weeks and months following infection. It involves reduction and functional exhaustion of T Cells (30), enhanced inhibition of MHC-I expression (31), downregulating CD19 expression in B cells (32) and other evidence of immune dysregulation (33, 34). In one study, the dysregulation persisted for 8 months following initial mild-to-moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection, the length of the study (35). There is no “cure” for any of the damage caused by SARS-CoV-2 including immune dysregulation.

Did You Know? Repeated infections are leading to prolonged immune dysregulation, and increase the risk of progressive disability and death.

Long COVID is a multisystem disease with debilitating symptoms, which has had a profound impact on society and the global economy. In the USA, economists have estimated that long COVID will incur cumulative future costs of more than US$4 trillion (36, 37).

The worldwide devastating economic consequences of this mass disabling event have been measured in terms of total work hours and GDP lost around the world (38).

It theoretically only takes a single viral particle to initiate an infection, and most infections are initiated by very few viral particles (39).

Despite current popular belief, the immune system is NOT a muscle, and does NOT benefit from being repeatedly challenged with disease-causing microbes. In fact, its finite resources are depleted with each new infection.

Herd immunity is unattainable for a rapidly mutating, immune-disrupting virus, and there is no basis to believe that a vascular infection will evolve into the common cold. Continuing to ignore SARS-CoV-2 will not make it go away. Depriving the virus of publicity does not deprive it of its continuing lethal effects.

SARS-CoV-2 is continuing to evolve and mutate – it is not running out of evolutionary space. It is not a cold or the flu, but primarily a blood vessel disease. It is damaging society as we know it.

How many repeated infections can we expect young people to endure and survive? Even if they get only 1 infection each year, that’s 10 infections in 10 school years. This is not compatible with health and a long life. Repeated infections can lead to long COVID and shortened lifespans.

How Do We Protect Ourselves, How Do We Protect Our Children, When Government Public Health Advice Has Failed?

By reducing transmission so that R0 remains less than one (meaning that each person infects less than one other), we can suppress and gradually eliminate the virus, targeting a safer return to pre-2020 normal.

Handwashing is helpful, but it is not the main way to stop the spread of this airborne virus.

Respirators can block 95% or more of virus particles through electrostatic action, and are therefore highly effective at reducing infection even if only one person in a conversation is wearing them. They are far more effective if all people are wearing them (40).

Transmission can be reduced with HEPA filtration and ventilation of indoor air.

The virus spreads more quickly in indoor settings, but also spreads outdoors.

For medical facilities, it is essential to clean the air with ventilation and filtration and require universal high-quality masking (with N-95/ FFP3 respirators or better) to protect medical staff and patients.

For workplaces, clean air will reduce transmission; and encouraging employees to test and stay home when infectious is essential. High-quality masking should be encouraged in the case of symptoms, a sick person at home, or any other suspicion that one could be carrying the virus. Remote work should be normalized and encouraged wherever possible.

For entertainment venues, events should be held outdoors when possible; and if indoors, clean air is key to protecting audiences. Audiences should also be encouraged to wear respirators to avoid getting infected and infecting others. Digital streaming options should always be offered.

For restaurants, an emphasis on outdoor dining will substantially reduce transmission. Patio service should be encouraged, and indoor dining areas should be well-ventilated with a high level of air-exchanges. Home or curbside delivery offers a safer alternative.

For schools, clean air will reduce transmission; encouraging students to test and stay home when infectious is essential to preserving their health. Masking or remote learning should be initiated whenever a case is detected or the incidence in the general population sharply increases. A permanent hybrid model / digital option can accommodate children with disabilities or those who simply do better learning from home.

Teachers and medical professionals may prefer to use transparent masks, or to wear HEPA-filtered headgear equipment that may be more universally tolerated/accepted.

To track our progress, we need sustained wastewater and population-level testing.

With just 60-70 percent of people taking mitigation measures such as masking, testing and isolating when infected, we can dramatically reduce forward transmission of the virus.

Even with very imperfect measures, as long as one infected person does not infect more than one person on average, the virus will eventually die out. The fewer people each person infects on average, the faster it will happen.

We still have a window of opportunity. Protecting ourselves and our families is in fact protecting the economy and the continued orderly functioning of our society.

[yourreddancer]

The Czech company mmcité+ has developed an innovative noise reduction barrier, "noba," made from recycled tires. This project exemplifies sustainable engineering by transforming waste into functional infrastructure. The barriers not only reduce noise pollution along highways and railways but also engage local communities by allowing them to influence the design and aesthetics of these structures.

Each square meter of "noba" incorporates four recycled tires, leveraging the inherent sound-absorbing properties of rubber. The panels are lightweight, durable, and easy to install, making them a cost-effective alternative to traditional materials like aluminum or concrete. Moreover, the design promotes a circular economy by giving new purpose to used tires, aligning with European regulations that prohibit their disposal in landfills.

The project's budget of approximately €600,000 and three years of research highlight its commitment to sustainability. Additionally, similar efforts by other companies globally demonstrate the viability of recycled rubber in soundproofing applications, contributing to noise reduction in urban and rural environments while supporting eco-friendly waste management.

[yesornopolls]

The article under the cut

Allies of Elon Musk stationed within the Education Department are considering replacing some contract workers who interact with millions of students and parents annually with an artificial intelligence chat bot, according to internal department documents and communications.

The proposal is part of President Trump’s broader effort to shrink the federal work force, and would mark a major change in how the agency interacts with the public. The Education Department’s biggest job is managing billions of dollars in student aid, and it routinely fields complex questions from borrowers.

The department currently uses both call centers and a rudimentary A.I. bot to answer questions. The proposal would introduce generative A.I., a more sophisticated version of artificial intelligence that could replace many of those human agents.

The call centers employ 1,600 people who field over 15,000 questions per day from student borrowers.

The vision could be a model for other federal agencies, in which human beings are replaced by technology, and behemoth contracts with outside companies are shed or reduced in favor of more automated solutions. In some cases, that technology was developed by players from the private sector who are now working inside or with the Trump administration.

Mr. Musk has significant interest in A.I. He founded a generative A.I. company, and is also seeking to gain control of OpenAI, one of the biggest players in the industry. At other agencies, workers from the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Mr. Musk, have told federal employees that A.I. would be a significant part of the administration’s cost-cutting plans.

A year after the Education Department oversaw a disastrous rollout of a new federal student aid application, longtime department officials say they are open to the idea of seeking greater efficiencies, as have leaders in other federal agencies. Many are partnering with the efficiency initiative.

But Department of Education staff have also found that a 38 percent reduction in funding for call center operations could contribute to a “severe degradation” in services for “students, borrowers and schools,” according to one internal document obtained by The Times.

The Musk associates working inside the Education Department include former executives from education technology and venture capital firms. Over the past several years, those industries have invested heavily in creating A.I. education tools and marketing them to schools, educators and students.

The Musk team at the department has focused, in part, on a help line that is currently operated on a contract basis by Accenture, a consulting firm, according to the documents reviewed by The Times. The call center assists students who have questions about applying for federal Pell grants and other forms of tuition aid, or about loan repayment.

The contract that includes this work has sent more than $700 million to Accenture since 2019, but is set to expire next week.

“The department is open to using tools and systems that would enhance the customer service, security and transparency of data for students and parents,” said Madi Biedermann, the department’s deputy assistant secretary for communications. “We are evaluating all contracts to assess effectiveness relative to costs.”

Accenture did not respond to interview requests. A September report from the Education Department describes 1,625 agents answering 462,000 calls in one month. The agents also handled 118,000 typed chats.

In addition to the call line, Accenture provides a broad range of other services to the student aid system. One of those is Aidan, a more rudimentary virtual assistant that answers basic questions about student aid. It was launched in 2019, during Mr. Trump’s first term.

Accenture reported in 2021 that Aidan fielded 2.2 million messages in one year. But its capabilities fall far short of what Mr. Musk’s associates envision building using generative A.I., according to the internal documents.

Both Mr. Trump and former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. directed federal agencies to look for opportunities to use A.I. to better serve the public.

The proposal to revamp the communication system follows a meltdown in the rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, last year under Mr. Biden. As FAFSA problems caused mass confusion for students applying for financial aid, several major contractors, including Accenture, were criticized for breakdowns in the infrastructure available to students and parents seeking answers and help.

From January through May last year, roughly three-quarters of the 5.4 million calls to the department’s help lines went unanswered, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.

More than 500 workers have since been added to the call centers, and wait times were significantly reduced, according to the September Department of Education report.

But transitioning into using generative A.I. for student aid help, as a replacement for some or all human call center workers, is likely to raise questions around privacy, accuracy and equal access to devices, according to technology experts.

Generative A.I. systems still sometimes share information that is false.

Given how quickly A.I. capabilities are advancing, those challenges are potentially surmountable, but should be approached methodically, without rushing, said John Bailey, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former director of educational technology at the Education Department under President George W. Bush.

Mr. Bailey has since become an expert on the uses of A.I. in education.

“Any big modernization effort needs to be rolled out slowly for testing, to see what works and doesn’t work,” he said, pointing to the botched introduction of the new FAFSA form as a cautionary tale.

“We still have kids not in college because of that,” he said.

In recent weeks, the Education Department has absorbed a number of DOGE workers, according to two people familiar with the process, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the department’s security procedures and feared for their jobs.

One of the people involved in the DOGE efforts at the Education Department is Brooks Morgan, who until recently was the chief executive of Podium Education, an Austin-based start-up, and has also worked for a venture capital firm focused on education technology, according to the two people.

Another new staffer working at the agency is Alexandra Beynon, the former head of engineering at Mindbloom, a company that sells ketamine, according to those sources and an internal document.

And a third is Adam Ramada, who formerly worked at a Miami venture capital firm, Spring Tide Capital, which invests in health technology, according to an affidavit in a lawsuit filed against the Department of Government Efficiency.

None of those staffers responded to interview requests.

[katacala]

1.20.25 • Today the United States Climate Alliance delivered a letter to UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, making it clear to the global community that our climate work will continue regardless of federal action or inaction.

If you're not familiar with the U.S. Climate Alliance, they are a bipartisan climate action coalition of 24 governors representing approximately 55% of the U.S. population and 60% of the U.S. economy.

To read their letter, read more here or explore their press release on their website. Onward!

•••

Mr. Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

P.O. Box 260124

D-53153 Bonn, Germany

January 20, 2025

Dear Executive Secretary Stiell,

We write as co-chairs of the United States Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of two dozen governors representing nearly 60 percent of the U.S. economy and 55 percent of the U.S. population, to make it clear to you, and the rest of the world, that we will continue America’s work to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and slash climate pollution.

As you know, this is not the first time we’ve responded to this challenge in the U.S. Our coalition was launched after the President’s decision to withdraw our country from the Paris Agreement back in 2017. Since then, our reach, resolve, and impact have only grown.

In fact, our states and territories are now on track to meet our near-term climate target by reducing collective net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 26 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. Our recent progress reflects a wave of ambitious state policies and federal funding enacted over the last few years – and it builds on our coalition’s 15-year trend of cutting emissions while simultaneously growing our economies. We have continued to ramp up our longer-term commitments as well, pledging to reduce GHG emissions at least 50-52 percent by 2030 and 61-66 percent by 2035, below 2005 levels, in alignment with the U.S. Nationally Determined Contribution. Most importantly, this action is bringing better health, cleaner air, good-paying jobs, new economic development, and lower costs to our communities.

Our states and territories continue to have broad authority under the U.S. Constitution to protect our progress and advance the climate solutions we need. This does not change with a shift in federal administration. States across our coalition are implementing a suite of policies and programs to secure our net-zero future, including statewide and regional carbon markets, 100 percent clean energy standards, and methane reduction programs for the oil and gas, waste, and agricultural sectors, among many others. We are also deploying billions of dollars to eliminate pollution in our communities and sustain our country’s clean energy boom.

It’s critical for the international community to know that climate action will continue in the U.S. The Alliance will bring this message to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Brazil (COP30) later this year – just as we have at every COP since our coalition’s founding – as we work to implement our climate goals. We are also committed to tracking and reporting on our progress and look forward to working with you and the global community to identify the most impactful ways to do so. The Alliance is proud to publish an annual report each year on our latest action, and we are enclosing here our most recent report for your reference.

We will not turn our back on America’s commitments. For our health and our future, we will press forward.

Sincerely,

Governor Kathy Hochul, Co-Chair

State of New York

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Co-Chair

State of New Mexico

[darkmaga-returns]

Joseph Addington

Oct 26, 2024

Argentina’s President Javier Milei announced Monday that he would shutter the Federal Administration of Public Revenue (AFIP), the Argentine equivalent to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The institution will be replaced by the Agency of Customs Collection and Control (ARCA), with a new structure reorganized to increase the efficiency of customs and tax administration. As part of the restructuring, the government will eliminate 34 percent of the current AFIP workforce, which it estimates will save the nation some $6.5 million annually.

In addition to cutting staff positions, the government will also adjust the salary structure for the new agency. This includes dramatically reducing the salaries of top officials in the tax bureaucracy, whose pay has ballooned far higher than most positions in the Argentine government. The director of AFIP was receiving a salary equivalent to more than $365,000 a year, an astronomical figure in the South American nation. The new director of Arca will receive a salary equivalent to that of government ministers, approximately $50,000 annually—a cost reduction of more than 86 percent.  Also to be eliminated is the system of incentives known as the “account ranking,” in which a certain proportion of tax revenues is distributed among the employees of the administration to reward the effective collection of taxes. The arrangement made AFIP employees some of the best-paid in the government, but also provoked resentment from citizens and contributed to its large budgetary footprint.

The reform also has a political angle. The president’s statement notes that the reform will “eliminate 3,155 agents who entered AFIP in an irregular manner during the previous Kirchnerist government, totaling 15 percent of the current staff. This step is indispensable for dismantling the unnecessary bureaucracy which has obstructed the economic and commercial liberty of Argentinians.” The government believes that the purging of Peronists from the tax administration will result in an institution that is much more responsive to leadership and more supportive of the economic priorities of Milei’s administration, which has made the reduction and rationalization of the Argentine tax code a key point of its political program.

[wachinyeya]

https://app.wedonthavetime.org/posts/049d2fdc-e078-475b-b217-abbf52d9be70

U.S. Sets Bold Methane Target in New NDCs: A Game-Changer for #BuyMoreTime

FACT SHEET: President Biden Sets 2035 Climate Target Aimed at Creating Good-Paying Union Jobs, Reducing Costs for All Americans, and Securing U.S. Leadership in the Clean Energy Economy of the Future | The White House

Just one month before Donald Trump takes office, President Joe Biden delivered a bold climate legacy: a revised 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement. This updated plan targets a 61-66% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 (from 2005 levels) and, for the first time, explicitly includes a commitment to reduce methane emissions by 35%.

This focus on methane—a powerful short-lived climate pollutant—aligns perfectly with the goals of the #BuyMoreTime campaign, which We Don’t Have Time has championed throughout 2024. Methane reductions act as an emergency brake on short-term temperature rises, giving the world crucial time to address the long-term climate crisis.

The U.S. Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) is an economy-wide, all greenhouse gas target of reducing net emissions by 61-66 percent below 2005

Why the U.S. NDC Is a Game-Changer

The U.S. methane target sets a new global standard in three key ways:

Maximizing Impact: Reducing methane delivers rapid cooling, as methane’s near-term warming potential far exceeds that of CO2. The U.S. commitment shows how integrating methane into NDCs can amplify their overall effectiveness.

Setting the Bar: By explicitly including methane, the U.S. provides transparency that allows scientists to assess whether climate pledges truly align with temperature goals like limiting warming to 1.5°C.

Providing a Model: Few countries today specify methane reductions in their NDCs. The U.S. inclusion serves as a blueprint for how nations can use methane mitigation to supercharge their climate strategies.

The new U.S. NDC also addresses other overlooked pollutants, such as nitrous oxide and HFCs, while exploring reductions in tropospheric ozone—further demonstrating how targeted action can strengthen climate goals.

Biden’s new methane commitment reflects the urgency and practicality of the solutions we’ve been advocating. It demonstrates how methane-focused policies can help stabilize temperatures while global efforts to reduce CO2 emissions ramp up.

[vren-diagram]

What are the great positive effects of automated freight handling that longshoremen are denying you? What would become so much cheaper?

https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/transport/why-ports-matter-global-economy

Efficient port infrastructure has also been identified as a key contributor to overall port competitiveness and international trade costs. Unfortunately, ports and terminals, particularly for containers, are too often main sources of shipment delays, supply chain disruptions, additional costs, and reduced competitiveness. The result far too often is that instead of facilitating trade, the port increases the cost of imports and exports, reduces competitiveness, and inhibits economic growth and poverty reduction. The effect on a country or the countries served by the port can be severe. Inefficient ports can slow the circular system of container shipping, thereby reducing capacity, and reducing costs. Ships have to wait unnecessarily incurring additional fuel costs, additional emissions, and additional costs.

Improving container port performance lowers the cost of trade, contributes to food security, improves resilience, and reduces unnecessary emissions from vessels. The role of ports as the linchpin in the global economy is a major reason why the World Bank and S&P Global Markets are tracking port performance for nearly 350 global ports in the Container Ports Performance Index (CPPI).

When the cost of things goes up, that makes almost everyone worse off. I don't know how this could be clearer. You don't like it when you pay more money for things. Almost nobody likes paying more money to get the same things.

The US currently has some of the worst performing ports in the world. Because of resistance to modernization and make-work programs. Driven by dockworkers unions that use their monopolization of government-granted monopolies on infrastructure to....extract large amounts of money for themselves. This literally causes everything to be a little more expensive than it has to be. This to benefit dudes doing the equivalent of digging up holes just to fill them in again.

[muzzleoleum]

this is an unfriendly reminder that if you voted for trump this is not a safe space for you, i'm not sorry. My rights as a queer and visibly disabled person are on the fucking line right now. I don't care what reasoning you have for voting for a bigoted racist, transphobic, ableist, rapist piece of shit.

To everyone else, we have to hold each other close, it is a genuinely terrifying and bleak time right now, but regardless of who won we have to put in the work, organize, talk to your neighbors, provide mutual aid, we have to do the hard fucking work regardless even if we have to grieve. Kamala would've been a small comfort for a huge price paid in Gaza, either way we would be contributing to the genocides in many places in the world, we cannot rest, we have to fight back. Our lives are going to be made up as resistance and they shouldn't have to be, but they will be, and at least for me it's death before detransition, I will never back down from the life i have fought so hard to live.

If any of you personally need any kind of harm reduction tips, or anything for wherever you live please let me know, i will give any of you my discord and we can call if you need help, please please reach out to me personally if you need it, the cost and pain of losing anyone else is far greater than listening, there is no comparison. Whatever you are going through is not scary to me and not frightening, we are in this together. I love you all, and i am here for you all unequivocally. We will live, it will be hard, but we will live and make lives for ourselves, but we HAVE to live if anything else.

Organize, talk to your neighbors, provide support and mutual aid, resist.

[phoenixyfriend]

Raising the Minimum Wage and Its Effects

Ko-fi prompt from [name redacted]:

So, what does raising the minimum wage really do to the rest of the economy?

Hecking Complicated! I think I might need a doc of just. References for this one. But here are a few elements!

(Also, the Congressional Budget Office has an interactive model of how different changes to the minimum wage could affect various parts of the economy, like poverty rates and overall employment. Try it out!)

Reduction of Benefits

A common claim that is used to argue against the minimum wage is that it will result in companies cutting hours for their employees in order to recoup losses by having to provide benefits to fewer employees. This isn't 'the minimum wage is bad' so much as 'corporations are assholes,' but it is unfortunately still a thing that happens. (Harvard Business Review)

This is not a problem with the minimum wage itself, in my opinion, but these issues are emblematic of the weight that self-serving elements of capitalism carry. The low minimum wage is just one part of many that contribute to the current wealth disparity; if things like health insurance were universal, then bosses wouldn't be as able to cut them to employees in order to save money. Current regulations incentivize companies to hire more part-time workers than full-time, in order to avoid paying out benefits. Some cities have enacted Fair Workweek Laws in order to combat these approaches, though the impact is as of yet uncertain (Economic Policy Institute, 2018). Early reports, like the Year Two Worker Impact Report on Seattle’s Secure Scheduling Ordinance, do seem to indicate positive results, though:

In addition, the SSO led to increases in job satisfaction and workers’ overall well-being and financial security. In particular, the Secure Scheduling Ordinance had the following impacts for Seattle workers: - increased work schedule stability and predictability - increased job satisfaction and satisfaction with work schedules - increased overall happiness and sleep quality, and reduced material hardship. (direct quote from the Year Two Eval)

Unfortunately, these were approved at the earliest in 2015 (San Francisco's Formula Retail Employee Rights Ordinances, which went into effect in March 2016), which means that none of them were in play for longer than five years before COVID-19 ground the planet's economy to a near halt. I tried to find results for the San Francisco laws, but I couldn't find any studies for it; I did find an article from March 2023 that summarized which cities in California have brought in fair workweek laws, though, so maybe someone could use that as a jumping off point (What Retailers Should Know About California Scheduling Ordinances).

Companies prevented from cutting benefits by cutting hours would probably find another way to do the same thing, but let's be real: keeping the minimum wage low won't stop them from cutting every corner possible. EPI has some articles, like "The role of local government in protecting workers’ rights," that talk about how these measures can be, and have been, implemented to protect workers from cost-cutting employers.

Cutting the hours and benefits of part-time employees is a real, genuine concern to have about raising the minimum wage, and those need to be anticipated and combated in concert with raising the minimum wage. However, it is not a reason to keep the minimum wage depressed. It's just a consequence to be aware of and plan for.

Passing Costs On To Customers

A common argument against raising the minimum wage is that companies will raise costs in order to cover the raise in expenses, to a degree that nullifies the wage hike. This is, um. Uh.

Really easily debunked?

Like, really easily.

Over a ten-plus year period, research found that a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage resulted in just a 0.36 percent increase in prices passed on to the consumer at grocery stores. A similar Seattle-based study showed that supermarket food prices were not impacted by their minimum wage increase. - (Minimum Wage is Not Enough, Drexel U.)

I've talked about it before, but in some cases it's just a matter of how US-based labor is such a comparatively small portion of costs for medium-to-large businesses that raising wages doesn't raise corporate expenditures that much.

That said, some companies rely on drastically underpaying their employees, like Walmart. Walmart's revenue in 2020 was approximately $520 billion (Walmart Annual Report, page 29). Now, this report doesn't actually tell us what amount is spent on labor, but it does give us the "Operating, selling, general and administrative expenses, as a percentage of net sales." This is, to quote BDC, "[including] rent and utilities, marketing and advertising, sales and accounting, management and administrative salaries."

So, wages are just part of the (checks) 20.9% of revenue that is operating SG&A expenses. But maybe I'm being mean to Walmart! After all, the gross profit margin is only 24.1%, so only 3.2% is left for those poor shareholders!

Oh, oh, that means the profit is still over 16billion USD? And Walmart cites having 2.2 million associates in that same report? And that's about $7,500 per employee per year that's being withheld? And that's before we take costs up by like three cents per product?

Which, circling back: A study from Berkeley by the name of "The Pass-Through of Minimum Wages into US Retail Prices: Evidence from Supermarket Scanner Data" found that

a 10% minimum wage hike translates into a 0.36% increase in the prices of grocery products. This magnitude is consistent with a full pass-through of cost increases into consumer prices.

Of course, Walmart does sell more than just groceries, but isn't it interesting that raising a minimum wage resulted in such a small cost increase? If we assume this is linear (it's probably not, but I have so many numbers going on already), then doubling wages from 7.25 to 14.50 would still mean only a 3.6% increase costs! Your $5 gallon of milk would go up to [checks] $5.18.

Hm. Those 18 cents might be meaningful to our poorest citizens, but if those poorest citizens are more likely to be raised out of poverty by raising the minimum wage, then it might just be the case that they too can afford the new price of milk, and have more money left over for things like... rent. Or education. Or healthcare.

Maybe even a cost cutting loss leader like Walmart can reasonably increase its wages. After all, they still have 13 stores on Long Island, where the minimum wage is $15, and has been since 2021.

(I could have just cited the Berkeley study and moved on, but after a certain point I was too deep in parsing the Walmart report to not include it.)

But also... minimum wage increases are often staggered. They start out on the bigger companies, which have the resources to accommodate those changes (unless they've been doing stock buybacks), and then later on the smaller businesses, now that a portion of the economy (those working for the big companies) has the spare change to spend money at those smaller businesses that are raising their prices by a little more than the corporations.

And at that point, all I can really say is, well.

If you can't afford to pay your employees a living wage, you're not an oppressed company. You're just a failing company. Sorry, Walmart&Co, your business model is predicated on fucking over poor people, and so it's a bad business model.

Being a dickhead, while successful, is not actually 'smart' business practice.

(This doesn't even get into the international impacts, like what an "American companies should pay higher wages abroad, especially if they charge higher-than-American pricing for their products, but also at factories where we know they're committing human rights abuses" approach could be but this is already long as fuck so that'll have to wait for another post.)

Anyway.

Inflation

This one is tied into the cost argument above, but like...

Inflation is already a thing? Inflation is happening whether we raise the minimum wage or not. Costs go up whether we raise the minimum wage or not. Who is this argument serving? Not the people who can't afford rent, surely.

Quoting the earlier-mentioned Drexel report (red highlights mine):

While the minimum wage has been adjusted numerous times since its implementation in 1938, it has failed to keep up with inflation and the rising cost of living. The purchasing power of minimum wage reached its peak in 1968 and steadily declined since. If it had kept up with inflation from that point it would have reached at least $10.45 in 2019. Instead, its real value continues to go down, meaning minimum wage employees are essentially being paid less each year. Additionally, some economists argue if minimum wage increased with U.S. productivity over the years, it would be set currently at $26 per hour today and poverty rates would be close to non-existent with little negative impact on the economy. However, because gradual change was avoided, the extra funds were instead shifted to CEO compensation. A sudden change in wages now could possibly make a more noticeable impact on the economy, which is often cited as reasoning for a slower increase over time moving forward. Gradual increases with inflation and productivity could have avoided any potential economic ripple effects from wage increases and should be considered in ongoing plans.

Increasing Unemployment

A common argument is that the unemployment rate would jump as employers were forced to let employees go. Assuming they didn't just hire more employees so they could give them less hours in order to cut benefits... not really!

A 2021 article from Berkeley News summarizes the issue, along with several others, covering some thirty years of research that started with "Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania," published in 1993. They also touch on the issue of subminimum wages for tipped workers, though they do not address the subminimum wages set for underage and disabled workers.

“A minimum wage increase doesn’t kill jobs,” said Reich, chair of UC Berkeley’s Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics (CWED) . “It kills job vacancies, not jobs. The higher wage makes it easier to recruit workers and retain them. Turnover rates go down. Other research shows that those workers are likely to be a little more productive, as well.” - Berkeley News article, "Even in small businesses, minimum wage hikes don’t cause job losses, study finds"

Lower turnover rates also save money for employers, as it causes them to have much lower HR expenses. How much money do you think large employers spend on using sites like Indeed or Glassdoor to find new employees?

This article from Richmond Fed does, admittedly, encourage a slightly grayer analysis:

In a 2021 review of some of the literature, [researchers] reported that 55.4 percent of the papers that they examined found employment effects that were negative and significant. They argued that the literature provides particularly compelling evidence for negative employment effects of an increased minimum wage for teens, young adults, the less educated, and the directly affected workers. On the other hand, in a 2021 Journal of Economic Perspectives article that analyzed the effect of the minimum wage on teens ages 16-19, Alan Manning of the London School of Economics and Political Science wrote that although the wage effect was sizable and robust, the employment effect was neither as easy to find nor consistent across estimations. Thus, although the literature supports an effect on employment among the most affected workers, it does not appear to be as sizable as theory might suggest.

The International Labor Organization has a similarly mixed result when taking a variety of studies into account. (I left in their own reference links.)

In high-income countries, a comprehensive reviews of about 70 studies, shows that estimates range between large negative employment effects to small positive effects. But the most frequent finding is that employment effects are close to zero and too small to be observable in aggregate employment or unemployment statistics (1). Similar conclusions emerge from meta-studies (quantitative studies of studies) in the United States (2), the United Kingdom (3), and in developed economies in general (4). Other reviews conclude that employment effects are less benign and that minimum wages reduce employment opportunities for less-skilled workers (5).

And there's the 60-page "Impacts of minimum wages: review of the international evidence" from University of Massachusetts Amherst, which looks at data from both the US and UK. I'll admit I didn't read this one beyond the introduction, because this is very long already.

Not all US studies suggest small employment effects, and there are notable counter examples. However, the weight of the evidence suggests the employment effects are modest. Moreover, recent research has helped reconcile some of the divergent findings. Much of this divergence concerns how different methods handle economic shocks that affected states differently in the 1980s and early 1990s, a period with relatively little state-level variation in minimum wages.

I'd encourage you to think of it this way:

Employer A pays $7.25/hr. Employer B also pays $7.25/hr. An employee works 25hrs/week for Employer A, and 20hr/wk for Employer B. The minimum wage goes up to $15/hr. Employer B cuts the employee. Employer A cuts employees as well, but not this one, and instead increases their hours to 30/wk for greater coverage.

The employee has gone from just under $400/wk to $450/wk. They lost a job, sure, but the end result... They have an extra fifteen hours of free time per week! Or more! With time to level out, you have less jobs, but more employment, because people aren't taking up multiple jobs (that someone else could have) just to survive.

This is a very, very simplified example, which doesn't take into account graduated wage increases (see the NYS labor table) or the benefits issue from before, but it does show the reality that "less jobs" doesn't necessarily mean "less pay" or "fewer employed" people, when so many of those employed at this pay are working multiple jobs.

Even the Washington Post agrees that the wage hike wouldn't cost as many jobs as conventional wisdom claims, and they're owned by Bezos. (Though I recognize the name of the article's author as the same person behind that 60-page Amherst report, so there's that to consider.)

The Kellogg Institute also points out that individual workers were, on average, more productive after receiving the pay increase, so the drop in the bottom line was softened. This is a bit debatable; the results varied based on the level of monitoring, but it's worth noting that most minimum wage jobs are pretty high-intensity, high-monitoring. Goodness knows you don't get a whole lot of time to yourself outside of the critical eye of your shift lead or customers if you're working fast food. They also note a decrease in profits, but I'd point out that they speak specifically of profits, not share of revenue.

To explain the difference: imagine you sell $100 of product in a day. The product cost you $50. Overhead (rent, utilities, taxes) cost you $10. Labor cost you $15. Profit, then, was $25, or $25.

A 16% reduction in the profit does not mean you now retain $11. It means that you retain 16% less of the $25. You now retain $21.

(This is, as with many of my examples, INCREDIBLY simplified, but I need to illustrate what the article's talking about, and I don't have infographics.)

Some other articles on the topic are from The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Business for a Fair Wage, The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (more critical), the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, UCLA Anderson, Vox, and The Intelligencer, which cites another Berkeley article. I do not claim to have read all of these, especially the really long ones, but the links are there if you want to look into them.

In the interest of showing research from groups that do not serve my own political views, I'm going to link an article from the Cato Institute; I do encourage you to read that one with a grain of salt, given that it's written by a libertarian thinktank, and they are just as dedicated to hunting for research that serves their political views as I am. There were a few other libertarian articles I came across, but the way they presented information kept feeling really duplicitous so I just... am not linking those, or the leftist ones I am also uncomfortable with due to the whole "I'm totally not tricking you" vibes. Also eventually I just got tired, there are so many articles on this and I am just one blogger who is not actually working for a magazine or thinktank, I am working for my own personal tumblr.

Negatively Impacting Slightly-Higher Paid Employees

Did you know that raising the minimum wage affects more than just those making minimum? It affects those just above as well. It's referred to as the ripple effect of minimum wage hikes by this Brookings article. They estimate that a wage hike would affect nearly 30% of the country's workforce.

"Price adjustments provide the principal adjustment mechanism for minimum wage increases: higher labor costs are passed through to consumers, mainly for food consumed away from home. Such an increase does not deter restaurant customers. Price increases are also detectable for grocery stores (Leung 2018; Renkin, Montialoux and Siegenthaler 2019), but not more generally. The effect on inflation is therefore extremely small." - "Likely Effects of a $15 Federal Minimum Wage by 2024," Testimony prepared for presentation at the hearing of the House Education and Labor Committee, Washington, DC (2019)

This overlaps with general criticisms of widening income equality, citing an AEA article I cannot access since it's behind a paywall. I wonder if it touches on companies like Amazon being headquartered in the city and manipulating the job market by sheer size? I can only speculate.

Plus, there are the health benefits! Which are mostly connected to lessening poverty, and through that lessening stress and increasing healthcare access, but still! Some of these results are debated, but I'd need to know more about the details to know how they're related (University of Washington).

------

I've spent most of the day on this, so if you guys have made it this far and are interested in supporting me, please donate to my ko-fi or commission an article. (Preferably for more than the base price; I'm effectively working at a fraction of minimum wage myself, which is ironic considering the theme of this post.)

(I realistically shouldn't have spent more than two or three hours on this, but I have so many strong opinions on the subject that I couldn't stop.)

(Also: There were so many more sources I didn't even get to read the basic premise of because it was so repetitive after a while.)

[reasonsforhope]

"Cody Two Bears, a member of the Sioux tribe in North Dakota, founded Indigenized Energy, a native-led energy company with a unique mission — installing solar farms for tribal nations in the United States.

This initiative arises from the historical reliance of Native Americans on the U.S. government for power, a paradigm that is gradually shifting.

The spark for Two Bears' vision ignited during the Standing Rock protests in 2016, where he witnessed the arrest of a fellow protester during efforts to prevent the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline on sacred tribal land.

Disturbed by the status quo, Two Bears decided to channel his activism into action and create tangible change.

His company, Indigenized Energy, addresses a critical issue faced by many reservations: poverty and lack of access to basic power.

Reservations are among the poorest communities in the country, and in some, like the Navajo Nation, many homes lack electricity.

Even in regions where the land has been exploited for coal and uranium, residents face obstacles to accessing power.

Renewable energy, specifically solar power, is a beacon of hope for tribes seeking to overcome these challenges.

Not only does it present an environmentally sustainable option, but it has become the most cost-effective form of energy globally, thanks in part to incentives like the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

Tribal nations can receive tax subsidies of up to 30% for solar and wind farms, along with grants for electrification, climate resiliency, and energy generation.

And Indigenized Energy is not focused solely on installing solar farms — it also emphasizes community empowerment through education and skill development.

In collaboration with organizations like Red Cloud Renewable, efforts are underway to train Indigenous tribal members for jobs in the renewable energy sector.

The program provides free training to individuals, with a focus on solar installation skills.

Graduates, ranging from late teens to late 50s, receive pre-apprenticeship certification, and the organization is planning to launch additional programs to support graduates with career services such as resume building and interview coaching...

The adoption of solar power by Native communities signifies progress toward sustainable development, cultural preservation, and economic self-determination, contributing to a more equitable and environmentally conscious future.

These initiatives are part of a broader movement toward "energy sovereignty," wherein tribes strive to have control over their own power sources.

This movement represents not only an economic opportunity and a source of jobs for these communities but also a means of reclaiming control over their land and resources, signifying a departure from historical exploitation and an embrace of sustainable practices deeply rooted in Indigenous cultures."

-via Good Good Good, December 10, 2023

[sanseterrer]

Sunk into Oblivion; fragments from an abandoned veteran's house // part 1

«Dear Nikolay Fedorovich! It has been more than 37 years since the fireworks in honor of the winners of the Great Patriotic War, to which you were a participant, died down. The motherland has highly appreciated your military exploits, awarding you orders and medals, and giving you a number of benefits and advantages. And in peacetime, with your tireless work and exuberant energy, you made an invaluable contribution to the development of the collective farm, following the decisions of the party and the government on labor growth and productivity, cost reduction, economy and thrift, production of grain, potatoes, flax, milk, meat and other products. Throughout your life, you have not sought an easy path, you have always been at the forefront of the struggle for bread and prosperity of the Motherland, and you have earned the deep respect of all the people who worked alongside you. On this solemn day of the 60th anniversary of the formation of the USSR, the board, the party committee, the trade union committee and the Komsomol organization, all collective farmers warmly and cordially congratulate you and your family, wish you good health, great personal happiness, and new successes in carrying out the tasks of communist construction outlined by the May and November (1982) Plenums of the Central Committee of the CPSU» (December 21, 1982)