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Consider this strange (or perhaps not strange enough): we’re now on a planet where, in late September, the temperature reached a record-breaking 117 degrees in Phoenix, Arizona, a state that also set records this summer for “the most days over 110 degrees, most consecutive days over 100 degrees, and the hottest meteorological summer on record.” Meanwhile, in the East, a Category 4 hurricane, Helene, crossing the ever warmer waters of the Gulf of Mexico, hit Florida’s Big Bend like a sledgehammer and traveled another 600 miles, clobbering states all the way to Tennessee, leaving more than 220 dead and many more still missing, destroying significant parts of North Carolina’s largest mountain city, and clobbering other parts of that state, halting mail service, and “disrupting absentee voting, thousands of voters cut off from polling locations and election administrators scrambling to adjust,” while flooding parts of cities like Atlanta. And count on one thing: as bad as Helene proved to be, in the years (or even months) to come, it might seem like nothing special.
After all, on a planet where the production of fossil fuels — with the United States leading the way when it comes to oil and natural gas, and China taking the prize for coal — is still rising, this planet looks like it could become a hothouse of an historic sort. And under the circumstances, consider this all too strange: in each of the presidential and vice-presidential debates, a moderator brought up the subject of climate change with Donald Trump and then J.D. Vance. In both cases, Trump instantly started talking about migrants (though in the first debate with Joe Biden, he also referred passingly to a “green new scam”). In response, Biden briefly described his administration’s climate record, but all too quickly passed on to other subjects; just as Kamala Harris did, after mentioning that Trump called climate change a “hoax”; as would Tim Walz when responding to vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance’s quick and (meant-to-be) confusing answer on the subject.
In other words, in those three debates, the Republicans (of course!) but the Democrats (surprisingly!) did their best, if not to avoid, then to quickly pass by the subject of climate change as if it were… well, poison (which in a way, of course, it is for the planet as a whole). Forget that it’s a subject that matters deeply to many younger voters; this election season suggests that all too many Americans can’t fully face up to the crisis we’re in or so many of the difficulties involved in dealing with it. That’s why it’s well worth taking a moment and considering TomDispatch regular Joshua Frank’s look at one distinctly grim problem in the possible transition to a greener planet. As in the past, so today, the First World is intent on taking the Third World for… yes, a ride — and not in electric vehicles either. Tom
The Cash Will Soon Flow
Robbing Africa’s Riches to Save the Climate (and Power AI)
Considered Angola’s crown jewel by many, Lobito is a colorful port city on the country’s scenic Atlantic coast where a nearly five-kilometer strip of land creates a natural harbor. Its white sand beaches, vibrant blue waters, and mild tropical climate have made Lobito a tourist destination in recent years. Yet under its shiny new facade is a history fraught with colonial violence and exploitation.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to lay claim to Angola in the late sixteenth century. For nearly four centuries, they didn’t relent until a bloody, 27-year civil war with anticolonial guerillas (aided by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces) and bolstered by a leftist coup in distant Lisbon, Portugal's capital, overthrew that colonial regime in 1974.
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