Mining the Deep Ocean: Commercial Harvesting Push

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Mining the Deep Ocean: Commercial Harvesting Push (Maria)

The author writes, “More than 13,000 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, a more-than-70-ton machine trundled like a tank on its caterpillar tracks for a tenth of a mile — sucking up nodules of rock packed with copper, manganese, cobalt and nickel. It was 2022, and that pilot run of a sea harvester by a Canadian business was called a success. The Metals Company is now seeking a green light to deploy machines for commercial harvesting over 65,000 square kilometers. … Researchers, conservation groups and 40 countries have called for a ban or moratorium on deep-sea mining until more is known about the potential ecological impacts.”

The World Energy Shock Is Coming (Sean)

From The New Statesman: “Do you remember the days when the world already knew that there was a Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan and that it was spreading rapidly, but you were not under lockdown yet? An in-between moment when it was clear a catastrophe was coming, but not what it meant. This stage of the US and Israel’s illegal attack on Iran is another such moment. The shock is here. The shockwaves are on their way. One fifth, one third, one third, two fifth, nearly one half — these are the respective shares of global exports of liquefied natural gas, crude oil, fertilisers, helium and sulphur normally passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Our research shows that these are essentials the world economy depends on. … The passage through the strait of these raw materials — key for making everything else — has been effectively suspended since the beginning of the war.”

The Joe Kent Saga Lays Bare the Real Trump Derangement Syndrome (Reader Steve)

From The Seattle Times: “When Joe Kent resigned this past week in protest of the war with Iran, he did so in a way that was characteristically MAGA. Which is to say: He didn’t blame the president for the president’s war. ‘High-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign,’ wrote Kent, the Washington state resident and now ex-head of the National Counterterrorism Center. Together, those two actors formed an ‘echo chamber (that) was used to deceive’ Trump. So it was their fault — the Israelis and, as always, the media’s. Not Donald Trump’s.”

Top Architecture Firm Won’t Design More ICE Prisons After Employees Revolt (Dana)

The author writes, “They thought their firm focused on humane design. Then they learned of the private detention center contract.”

‘Another Internet Is Possible’: Norway Rails Against ‘Enshittification’ (Bethany)

The author writes, “The video’s opening shot shows a man hiding under a bed snipping in a hole in someone’s sock. Seconds later, the same man uses a saw to shorten a table leg so that it wobbles during breakfast. ‘My job is to make things shitty,’ the man explains. ‘The official title is enshittificator. What I do is I take things that are perfectly fine and I make them worse.’ The video, released recently by the Norwegian Consumer Council, is an absurdist take on a serious issue; it is part of a wider, global campaign aimed at fighting back against the ‘enshittification,’ or gradual deterioration, of digital products and services.”

‘Harvard Thinking’: The Things We Carry (Angelle)

From The Harvard Gazette: “In podcast, experts discuss how trauma can reshape us — down to the cellular level.”

A Red Fox’s Fantastic Voyage Starts in England and Leads to the Bronx (Russ)

The author writes, “He is about 2 years old, weighs about 11 pounds and appears to be in good health. Nearly everything else about him is a mystery. He doesn’t even have a name. For now, he is just ‘the red fox.’ He was found about a month ago aboard a huge ship meant to carry cars. In the course of a 3,600-mile voyage from the Port of Southampton in England to the Port of New York and New Jersey, crew members discovered him hidden among the regular cargo.”