lemmy.thesanewriter

"Nearly three in four of us will face extreme weather changes within the next two decades, a new study predicts.

"In the best case, we calculate that rapid changes will affect 1.5 billion people," says physicist Bjørn Samset from the Center for International Climate Research (CICERO) in Norway.

This lower estimate would only be reached by dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions – something that is yet to occur.

Otherwise, CICERO climate scientist Carley Iles and colleagues' modeling finds that if we continue on our current course, these dangerous changes will hit 70 percent of Earth's human population.

Their modeling also suggests that much of what's to come is already locked in.

"The only way to deal with this is to prepare for a situation with a much higher likelihood of unprecedented extreme events, already in the next one to two decades," explains Samset.

We've already lived through examples of these extremes..."

Mirror

Archived version

A Christian pastor from California has been freed from China after nearly 20 years behind bars and is back home in the U.S., the State Department said Monday.

David Lin, 68, was detained after he entered China in 2006, later convicted of contract fraud and sentenced to life in prison, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and advocacy groups.

[...]

The Biden administration has been working on David Lin’s case and those of other wrongly detained Americans in China for years and have raised them at every meeting with senior Chinese officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s meeting this summer with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Laos.

[...]

Lin was formally arrested in 2009 on suspicion of contract fraud and, after a court review, was sentenced to life in prison, China Aid said.

The charge is frequently used against leaders of churches that operate outside state-sponsored faith groups, and it is a crime that Lin denied, according to the Dui Hua Foundation, a humanitarian group that advocates for prisoners in China. The commission on religious freedom says those leading and taking part in churches not sanctioned by the Chinese government “often face intimidation, harassment, arrest and harsh sentences.”

In China, all Christian churches must pledge loyalty to the ruling Communist Party and register with the government. Any unregistered congregation is considered an underground church whose activities are illegal in China. Beijing has always cracked down on “unlawful preaching,” and efforts have only intensified in the past decade.

[...]

Other Americans known to remain detained in China include Kai Li, a businessman who is being held on espionage-related charges that his family says are bogus, and Mark Swidan, who was sentenced on drug charges. The State Department’s office of the special presidential envoy on hostage affairs has designated the two as “wrongful detainees,” a label given to Americans jailed in foreign countries for what the U.S. government considers legally specious allegations or for improper motivations.

[Edit typo.]

From the Saporta Report:

A group of residents in south Fulton County are gearing up for a legal battle to stop plans for a battery energy storage plant that they fear could catch fire. Mose James IV, Paul Loveless and Tiffany Patterson have started a GoFundMe campaign to pay attorney fees in efforts to block a lithium-ion battery energy storage […]

The post Residents ready for legal fight to block battery energy storage plant appeared first on SaportaReport.

[alt text: a screenshot of a headline that says, "Concord Players Have Started Killing Themselves".]

From WABE Politics News:

Donald Trump claimed without evidence Monday that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ comments that he is a threat to democracy had inspired the latest apparent attempt on his life, despite his own long […]

What if citizens were called to policymaking duty the way they are called to jury duty?

All over the world, ordinary people are finding out what that’s like when they’re selected by civic lottery to participate in a citizens’ assembly, a democracy innovation that may just be the antidote to the polarization of the world we need.

[...]

According to the OECD database, environment and other long-term policy issues are the most popular topics addressed by citizens’ assemblies, and local governments are the most frequent users of these methods.

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In citizens’ assemblies, there are teenagers and octogenarians, business people and activists, people of all genders, races and abilities, individuals who have been regulars at city council and those who have never engaged in local democracy before. Inevitably there is a wide range of political leanings, lots of passion and some trepidation.

[...]

The challenges range from giving everyone a base of technical knowledge to effectively participate in discussions — a component often missing in public consultations — to ensuring complex accessibility needs are met, something required to address the gap in effective involvement of people with disabilities in decision-making.

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The OECD estimates that roughly half of the recommendations of deliberative processes are implemented. We’ve also found that the side benefits of citizens’ assemblies, such as increased community cohesion and a sense of hope, are substantial.

[...]

Building trust with government may be another important outcome. Research shows trust in government is significantly higher among Canadians who feel they have a say in what the government does (79 per cent compared to 21 per cent who do not).

[...]

My daughter wants to edit footage from roblox for her stuff, yknow, and she's been using CapCut but it has a size limit which is frustrating.

Is there an easy and fun foss alternative to capcut?