Burying The Lede: Ice Shelf Collapses In East Antarctica

With corporate media paying nonstop attention to the proxy war in Ukraine and the flood of refugees (at least, those refugees who look like well-fed Europeans) and moderate attention to galloping inflation, and economic sanctions against Russia with consequent fuel and food shortages yet to come, who noticed this catastrophic news?

This morning I had to scroll through a couple of screens of my big daily newspaper to find an article on the subject after I'd seen the headline on Twitter yesterday. I went looking for it because it was a headline that stayed with me, a reminder that the most pressing security threat to humans -- no matter what wars are raging -- is climate crisis.

Both poles experienced temperatures 70 degrees Farenheit (21 degrees Celsius) higher than normal last week, and scientists speculate that their previous belief in the relative stability of the eastern ice sheet may have been in error. 

The East Antarctic Ice Sheet holds so much frozen water that, if it goes, the melting will cause planetary oceans to rise 160 feet (48.768 meters).

That seems like a hell of a lede to me, but what do I know?

One thing I do know is that militarism, and in particular U.S. militarism, is a major driver of global warming and climate crisis.

I've been collecting research and reporting on this for years. It's a little know fact that is routinely ignored in the corporate press, even when they are cheerleading for war.

Space exploration including rocket launches are also in the news, consistently reported in tones of breathless excitement, but it also contributes to climate change as well as other environmental harms (think PFAS and toxic rain) and damage to the ozone layer.

We ignore these realities at our peril. Because one thing I know for certain:

our planet's atmosphere is not patriotic and there are no good or bad emissions.

Scientific information is routinely subject to political control, but that does not change facts on the ground. 

Ground that is not yet underwater, at least for now.

Source: https://atlas-for-the-end-of-the-world.com/images/World_Maps/sea-level-rise.pdf