[✔️] March 16, 2024 Global Warming News |

Sat Mar 16 14:15:51 EDT 2024

/*March*//*16, 2024*/

/[ Is this news?  or is it publicity?   (both? ) Worth seeing the play 
and this performance ]/
*‘No theatre on a dead planet’: climate activists disrupt Jeremy Strong 
Broadway show*
Production of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People halted when 
protesters warned the audience about environmental damage
Benjamin Lee
Fri 15 Mar 2024

Climate change protesters disrupted a preview showing of Jeremy Strong’s 
new Broadway show on Thursday before being forcibly ejected.

During a revival of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, led by the 
Succession actor, activists brought the production to a stop during a 
major scene.

“I object to the silencing of scientists,” a protester said to the 
audience. “I am very, very sorry to interrupt your night and this 
amazing performance.” He then proceeded to warn about impending 
environmental chaos as members of the cast, including the Sopranos star 
Michael Imperioli pushed back.

“You need to leave, you’re interrupting,” he said while Strong stayed in 
character saying: “Let them speak.”

“No theatre on a dead planet!” the activist shouted as he was escorted 
to the exit.

Responsibility for the protest has been claimed by a group known as 
Extinction Rebellion NYC with a later post on X sharing the video. The 
group defines itself as “a global, non-partisan climate justice movement 
using non-violent direct action to pressure governments to act now”.

https://twitter.com/XR_NYC/status/1768475497636237526

“This play highlights that climate activists are not the enemy,” said 
the group’s spokesperson, Laura Robinson. “But why are we being treated 
as such? Non-violent climate protesters are being charged as if they 
have committed very violent acts. This is not sustainable and this is 
unacceptable.”

An Enemy of the People, which opens officially on Broadway next week, 
tells the story of a Dr Thomas Stockmann who finds harmful bacteria in 
the spas of a small town but his attempts to make others aware turn him 
into a pariah. Another version of the play, starring Matt Smith, is 
currently playing in the West End.

Imperioli, who plays Stockmann’s brother and mayor of the town, later 
made reference to the incident on Instagram. He wrote: “tonight was 
wild….no hard feelings extinction rebellion crew. michael is on your 
side but mayor stockmann is not.”

“Theater-as-usual won’t be possible on a planet in which humanity fails 
to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius,” a statement from the 
group read. “If activists don’t disrupt these shows, dangerous weather 
will make it impossible for the show to go on.”

Last October, a London performance of Les Misérables was similarly 
interrupted by Just Stop Oil protesters.
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/mar/15/jeremy-strong-broadway-climate-protest 

/[ Get your Duct Tape ready for wildfire smoke season - 30 minutes to 
construct ]/
*Wildfire smoke getting into your home? Build a DIY Corsi-Rosenthal air 
filter.*
Designed to combat the spread of COVID-19, this simple air purifier can 
help keep indoor air clean, protecting your health during wildfires. And 
you can build one for less than $100.

by SAMANTHA HARRINGTON
JANUARY 16, 2023
As climate change makes wildfires more extreme, people are increasingly 
living with smoke. The number of people residing in areas that 
experience at least one day of dangerous smoke pollution per year has 
increased 27-fold over the last decade, according to research led by 
Stanford scientists.

A DIY air purifier called a Corsi-Rosenthal box can help clean the air 
in your home, making it safer for you and your family to breathe. The 
boxes cost under $100 to build, less than half the price of commercial 
air filter units.
The design was originally created by Richard Corsi, the dean of 
engineering at the University of California, Davis, and Jim Rosenthal, 
the CEO of filter manufacturer Tex-Air Filters, to help reduce the 
spread of COVID-19. The Corsi-Rosenthal box uses four air filters and 
one box fan. To save space and money, some people build a filter with a 
box fan and a single air filter.
I don’t live in an area with many wildfires, but I built a 
Corsi-Rosenthal box to help my friends gather safely during the 
pandemic. Here’s how I did it.

*Step 1: Get your supplies*
To build a Corsi-Rosenthal box, you’ll need:

    One 20-inch box fan
    The cardboard box the fan comes in
    Four 20×20-inch MERV 13 filters
    One roll of duct tape
    Scissors or a box cutter

The Environmental Protection Agency recommends using a newer-model box 
fan, as they have better safety features. Fans made before 2012 pose 
fire risks. I found my supplies at my local hardware store.
*Step 2: Duct tape the filters together to form the sides of a cube*
The side of the filters should have arrows on them. Make sure that the 
arrows point to the cube’s center. Tape over the full length of the 
corner where the filters meet to create a seal. A well-sealed 
Corsi-Rosenthal box ensures that air is forced to go into the box 
through the filters before being pushed out of the fan.
*Step 3: Cut a square of cardboard and tape it to the bottom of the 
filter cube*
The base of a typical Corsi-Rosenthal box is a piece of cardboard. I cut 
my cardboard square out of the box the fan came in. For extra filtration 
power, some people put a filter as the base of the cube. If you choose 
to make that variation, you’ll want to raise the cube so it doesn’t sit 
directly on the floor.
*Step 4: Place the box fan on top of the cube and identify gaps*
The box fan will sit on top of the four filters. Place it there and 
check the corners for holes that air can get through. Cover these gaps 
with small pieces of cardboard.
*Step 5: Tape the box fan to the top of the filter cube*
Place the box fan on top of the cube and make sure that the air is 
blowing up, out of the box. Once again, you’ll want to tape over all of 
the gaps to ensure that air can’t get into the cube without first going 
through the filters. I also taped a few inches down the electrical cord 
to make sure there were no gaps at the place where the cord met the fan.
*Step 6: Breathe easier*
Combine your new Corsi-Rosenthal box with other safety precautions, such 
as keeping windows tightly sealed. If your home is drafty, the 
Environmental Protection Agency suggests designating one room to be the 
“clean air room.” Keep your Corsi-Rosenthal box in that room and spend 
as much time as you can there.

The Environmental Protection Agency tested DIY air filters for safety 
and found that “none of the scenarios tested posed any observable fire 
hazards.” But you should make sure that your fan meets safety standards 
for electric fans (look for a UL or ETL safety marking). You should also 
follow the box fan manufacturer’s instructions, which may include not 
leaving children unattended when the fan is in use, avoiding use of an 
extension cord, and not using a damaged or malfunctioning fan. And make 
sure that you have working smoke detectors throughout your home.

During a heavy smoke event, you may need to change out the filters on 
your Corsi-Rosenthal box. If you see large particles accumulate, the 
filters darken in color, or smell smoke odor coming from the fan, 
replace the filters.
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/01/wildfire-smoke-getting-into-your-home-build-a-diy-corsi-rosenthal-air-filter/

/[ for youth and high energy adults -- where can we go? ]/
*Choosing a Climate Destination*
American Resiliency
Aug 3, 2023
A lot of people who email me are very focused on trying to find the 
perfect climate destination.  But it's just the reality that in a future 
of intense global change, every destination will experience some level 
of change.  In this video I talk a little about managing change and 
thinking more about to live and be of service in a changing landscape, 
rather than striving for a fantasy of total security.

And Jay C, I forgot to add you to the donor slide!  Thank you for being 
our first member here on YouTube, I'm fixing it now so you'll be 
included in the next video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucUdhHO091g

/[cynically - more like a parasitic monster that cannot be killed - like 
a bad horror movie  ]/
*The Zombies of the U.S. Tax Code: Why Fossil Fuels Subsidies Seem 
Impossible to Kill*
For the fourth year in a row, President Biden is trying to eliminate 
federal tax breaks for coal, oil and gas companies. But fossil fuel 
subsidies have proven difficult to stop.
By Lisa Friedman
March 15, 2024
SHINGTON — As a candidate in 2020, Joseph R. Biden Jr. campaigned to end 
billions of dollars in annual tax breaks to oil and gas companies within 
his first year in office.

It’s a pledge he has been unable to keep as president.

Mr. Biden’s budget request to Congress this week was his fourth attempt 
to eliminate what he called “wasteful subsidies” to an industry that is 
enjoying record profits.

“Unlike previous administrations, I don’t think the federal government 
should give handouts to big oil,” Mr. Biden said after his inauguration. 
His new budget proposal calls for the elimination of $35 billion in tax 
breaks that would otherwise be provided to the industry over the next 
decade.

Mr. Biden’s wish is opposed by the oil industry, Republicans in Congress 
and a handful of Democrats. In Washington, it seems, oil and gas 
subsidies are the zombies of the tax code: impossible to kill.
“Everybody agrees fossil fuel subsidies are wasteful, stupid and moving 
things in the wrong direction,” said Michael L. Ross, a political 
science professor at the University of California, Los Angeles who 
studies fossil fuel tax breaks. “Getting rid of them seems to be one of 
the hardest things to achieve on the climate agenda.”

The oil and gas industry enjoys nearly a dozen tax breaks, including 
incentives for domestic production and write-offs tied to foreign 
production. Total estimates vary widely; environmental groups take a 
broad view of what constitutes a subsidy while the industry hews to a 
more narrow definition. The Fossil Fuel Subsidy Tracker, run by the 
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, calculated the 
total to be about $14 billion in 2022.

Two of the biggest tax breaks have been in place for about a century.

The oldest, known as “intangible drilling costs,” was created by the 
Revenue Act of 1913 and was aimed at encouraging the development of U.S. 
resources. The deduction allows companies to write off as much as 80 
percent of the costs of drilling, things like employee wages and survey 
work, in the first year of operation, even before producing a drop of oil.
Another subsidy, dating from 1926 and known as the depletion allowance, 
initially let oil companies deduct their taxable income by 27.5 percent, 
a number that seemed strangely specific.
“We could have taken a 5 or 10 percent figure, but we grabbed 27.5 
percent because we were not only hogs but the odd figure made it appear 
as though it was scientifically arrived at,” Senator Tom Connally, the 
Texas Democrat who sponsored the break and who died in 1963, was quoted 
as having said in “Sam Johnson’s Boy, a Close-Up of the President From 
Texas,” a biography of Lyndon B. Johnson.
That tax break proved so lucrative it prompted celebrities like Jimmy 
Stewart, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby to become oilmen on the side, 
buying interests in oil wells and using the deduction to shelter their 
Hollywood income.

The allowance was eliminated in 1975 for large producers and reduced for 
smaller companies, which are still allowed to deduct 15 percent of their 
revenue from their taxable income.

Early on, lawmakers justified the deductions by saying they would help 
attract investors to oil drilling, which could be a risky venture. After 
all, not every well strikes oil.

Today, Exxon Mobil and Chevron, the largest U.S. energy companies, are 
enormously profitable. Last year, American companies pumped 13 million 
barrels each day on average, a record that had made the United States 
the largest crude oil producer in the world, according to the U.S. 
Energy Information Administration. The country is also the world’s 
leading exporter of liquefied natural gas.
The oil and industry is expected to reap $1.7 billion in 2025 from the 
intangible drilling tax break, and $9.7 billion over the next 10 years, 
according to the White House. It is expected to realize $880 million in 
benefits from the depletion allowance tax break in 2025, and $15.6 
billion by 2034.

Instead of investing in their businesses, the oil and gas companies have 
poured profits into “stock buybacks, mergers, and acquisitions that 
benefited executives and wealthy shareholders,” the Biden administration 
said on a fact sheet accompanying the budget proposal.
The two tax incentives together have increased the expected value of new 
oil and gas projects by billions of dollars in most years and as much as 
$20 billion in years when the price of oil was high, according to a 2021 
study by the Stockholm Environment Institute, a research organization.

A New York Times analysis of lobbying reports found that energy 
companies have spent more than $30 million since Mr. Biden was elected 
on lobbying efforts that included preserving the intangible drilling and 
depletion allowance tax breaks. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which 
spends more than $100 million annually in lobbying on a wide range of 
issues, also cited energy tax breaks on its lobbying reports.
Ending subsidies for oil and gas is not a new idea, but it has never 
gotten far.

President Barack Obama tried in almost every budget to scrap the tax 
breaks but failed, even when Democrats controlled both the House and 
Senate from 2009 to 2011.
Among the Democrats who have fought to preserve the subsidies has been 
Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, the state that is ranked 
second for coal production and fourth for natural gas. In the House, 
Representatives Vicente Gonzalez Jr. and Henry Cuellar, both Texas 
Democrats, implored party leaders in 2021 to maintain the subsidies. 
They were joined by Filemon Vela Jr., a Democrat who also represented 
Texas in the House at the time.

Mr. Manchin said this week that Congress had enacted tax incentives for 
both clean energy and fossil fuels and that coal, oil and gas should not 
be singled out for changes.
“The Biden Administration and their radical climate advisers have 
disregarded common sense by requesting Congress remove these incentives 
before we accomplish an energy transition that doesn’t sacrifice 
reliability and affordability,” Mr. Manchin said in a statement.
Oil executives reject the term “subsidy” to describe the tax policies. 
They argue that most industries enjoy tax deductions and oil companies 
write off just a sliver of what they pay in federal taxes.

They also point out that federal subsidies for wind, solar and other 
forms of clean energy are rapidly expanding. The Energy Information 
Administration found that about 46 percent of federal energy subsidies 
between 2016 and 2022 were associated with renewable energy.

Anne Bradbury, chief executive officer of the American Exploration & 
Production Council, called Mr. Biden’s call to change the tax code “a 
direct attack on American energy production” that would harm an industry 
that supports more than 9 million jobs.

“This budget should not even receive a vote in the House or Senate, and 
lawmakers in both chambers should craft budgetary policy that does not 
impede American energy production,” Ms. Bradbury said in a statement.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, dismissed Mr. Biden’s 
request to end tax breaks as messaging aimed at young climate activists. 
“Do I think it’s going to go anywhere? No,” she said.

The debate over semantics aside, the result is that the government is 
helping to artificially lower the price of producing oil, gas and coal 
in a way it does not do for other manufacturers, economists said.

“It’s just corporate welfare,” said Joseph Aldy, a professor at the John 
F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University who served as a 
special adviser to President Barack Obama on energy issues.

Others note the irony of continued government support for fossil fuels 
at a time when scientists say nations must rapidly transition away from 
oil, gas and coal to cut the carbon emissions that are driving climate 
change.

Congress has a “fiscal and moral responsibility to stop taxpayer dollars 
from padding the profits of an industry that is destroying our planet,” 
said Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont.

Last year nearly 200 countries signed a global accord at the United 
Nations climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to move away from 
fossil fuels and eliminate “inefficient” subsidies for coal, oil and 
gas. The United States was among the signatories.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/15/climate/tax-breaks-oil-gas-us.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/15/climate/tax-breaks-oil-gas-us.html?unlocked_article_code=1.c00.gA0Y.rEd01du0sbwS&smid=url-share

/[The news archive - House of MacBeth - everything is drama ]/
/*March 16, 2004 */
March 16, 2004: The Craig Unger book "House of Bush, House of Saud,_"_ 
which explores the business connections between the Bush family and the 
Saudi royal family, is released.

    'House of Bush, House of Saud'' is a book with dual aspirations. On
    one hand Craig Unger seeks to chronicle the intertwined ascent of
    two powerful dynasties, the Bush family in the United States and the
    royal family of Saudi Arabia. On the other he attempts to establish
    that close connection became pernicious collusion, contending that
    ''the secret relationship between these two great families helped
    trigger the Age of Terror and give rise to the tragedy of 9/11.''

    Mr. Unger succeeds in the first task, detailing the business
    interests and personal friendships that evolved between the Bush
    family's inner circle and the Saudi elite. The book, however, falls
    well short of its second aim, with Mr. Unger failing to provide
    persuasive evidence implicating the ties between the two families in
    the terror attacks of 9/11.

    The story begins in the 1970's, when the Saudi elite arrived in
    Houston and pumped petrodollars into the local economy. Members of
    the bin Laden family and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who would later
    become Riyadh's ambassador to Washington, were among those who
    developed close contacts with Texas's political establishment,
    including individuals linked to the Bush family...
    - -
    Mr. Unger also questions the Bush administration's motives in
    helping Saudi elites leave the United States in the days immediately
    following 9/11. Despite the restrictions on air traffic, the F.B.I.
    and other relevant agencies arranged for private aircraft to gather
    prominent Saudis -- including members of the bin Laden family --
    from different parts of the country to enable them to begin
    departing the United States on Sept. 16.

    Mr. Unger does an impressive job of reporting this admittedly
    puzzling effort to shepherd Saudis out of the country even as the
    investigation into the attacks was just beginning. The House of
    Saud's connections to the Bush family surely mattered; Prince Bandar
    visited the president in the White House on Sept. 13. But the
    episode demonstrates only the administration's concern for the
    safety of prominent Saudis during the tense days after the attacks,
    not that the president was coddling the sponsors of terrorism.

    The Bush administration's handling of foreign affairs can be
    legitimately criticized on many counts, its errant war in Iraq and
    its dismissive attitudes toward allies most prominent among them.
    Mr. Bush's critics have plenty of ammunition and need not muddy the
    waters by mounting attacks based on loose innuendo rather than
    compelling evidence.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/12/books/books-of-the-times-saudi-and-american-elites-find-friends-in-high-places.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/12/books/books-of-the-times-saudi-and-american-elites-find-friends-in-high-places.html?unlocked_article_code=1.c00.Puag.lmhqfBe87UNa&smid=url-share

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