Articles by: Sonali Kolhatkar

Elon Musk Plans to Profit From Twitter, Not Create a Town Square for Global Democracy

Elon Musk Plans to Profit From Twitter, Not Create a Town Square for Global Democracy

The world’s richest man has bought one of the world’s most popular social media platforms. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, is currently worth about $210 billion, and in November 2021 he was worth nearly $300 billion—an unheard-of figure for any individual in human history. Not only does his wealth bode ill for democracy, considering the financial influence that he has over politics, but[Read More…]

by 02/11/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Brazil’s Lula Remerges—in a Very Different Political World

Brazil’s Lula Remerges—in a Very Different Political World

If Lula wins reelection, he must not only rebuild the social investments that Bolsonaro destroyed, but also restore trust in a nation damaged by fascism’s sophisticated propaganda machine. Brazil’s first round of elections, held on October 2, yielded a major victory for the man who held the presidency from 2003 to 2010, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Winning 48 percent of[Read More…]

by 11/10/2022 Comments are Disabled World
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse — Death, Famine, War, and Conquest — result from our everyday choices and are not preordained

Tech Billionaires Are Actually Dumber Than You Think

 It turns out that many of today’s billionaires are selfish, lonely men fantasizing about how they will survive the end times they have played a part in creating. In mid-September, for just a few days, Indian industrialist Gautam Adani entered the ranks of the top three richest people on earth as per Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. It was the first time an Indian,[Read More…]

by 01/10/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Connecting the Dots Between Climate Devastation and Fossil Fuel Profits

Connecting the Dots Between Climate Devastation and Fossil Fuel Profits

What do Pakistan, Puerto Rico, and Jackson, Mississippi, have in common? They’ve all recently experienced climate-related catastrophic rains and flooding, resulting in the loss of homes, electricity, and running water. But, even more importantly, they are all low-income regions inhabited by people of color—the prime victims of climate injustice. They face inaction from negligent governments and struggle to survive as[Read More…]

by 24/09/2022 Comments are Disabled Climate Change
Evil Empire: Let the Monarchy Die Along With Elizabeth

Evil Empire: Let the Monarchy Die Along With Elizabeth

There is no good reason to allow the evil empire to retain any legitimacy as the British royal family papers over the pillage it continues to benefit from. The death of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-serving monarch of British royalty, has sparked global fascination and spawned thousands of clickbait reports of the details of her funeral. Americans, who centuries ago[Read More…]

by 17/09/2022 Comments are Disabled World
How Corporate Food Monopolies Caused the Baby Formula Scandal

How Corporate Food Monopolies Caused the Baby Formula Scandal

It’s a tough time to be the parent of a newborn in the United States today. Not only is child care prohibitively expensive, but the cost of all things including baby products is rising, COVID-19 poses a threat to children too young to be vaccinated—and there has been a months-long shortage of baby formula. The formula scarcity began when the COVID-19 pandemic[Read More…]

by 22/06/2022 Comments are Disabled World
As the Planet Warms, Let’s Be Clear: We Are Sacrificing Lives for Profits

As the Planet Warms, Let’s Be Clear: We Are Sacrificing Lives for Profits

Climate change is the result of a deadly calculus: human lives are worth risking and even losing over the profits of global corporations. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) recently dropped a bombshell announcement that should have garnered news headlines in the major global and U.S. media, but did not. New WMO research concludes that “[t]here is a 50:50 chance of the annual[Read More…]

by 14/05/2022 Comments are Disabled Climate Change
If High Gas Prices Are So Painful, Shouldn’t We Move Away From Fossil Fuels?

If High Gas Prices Are So Painful, Shouldn’t We Move Away From Fossil Fuels?

Not only is it possible to switch to renewables, but it’s also cheaper and would make economies less vulnerable. Yet, bizarrely, politicians and the fossil fuel industry, who are using the war on Ukraine to justify high gas prices, are now calling for more oil to be produced. Long used to cheap gas at the pump, Americans are experiencing serious[Read More…]

by 12/03/2022 Comments are Disabled Counter Solutions
Fossil Fuel Companies and Their Mouthpieces Offer Net-Zero Logic on Climate Change

Fossil Fuel Companies and Their Mouthpieces Offer Net-Zero Logic on Climate Change

Oil and gas CEOs were too chicken to show up to a recent congressional hearing—perhaps fearing that their climate pledges will be revealed as nothing more than slick PR. Everywhere around us there is evidence of climate change, from the increase in winter storms such as New England’s late January blizzard, to California’s recent record-breaking winter heat wave. Meanwhile, the world’s biggest oil and[Read More…]

by 12/02/2022 1 comment Climate Change
As Our Bodies and Planetary Systems Become “Inflamed,” How Do We Heal?

As Our Bodies and Planetary Systems Become “Inflamed,” How Do We Heal?

In their new book, authors Rupa Marya and Raj Patel explore how capitalism and colonialism have caused sickness and how Indigenous knowledge can offer healing. Multiple planetary crises are breaking out simultaneously: a global pandemic, heat waves, deadly floods, disappearing biodiversity, failing infrastructure. To authors Rupa Marya and Raj Patel, these crises—and their solutions—are intimately linked and ought to be viewed[Read More…]

by 31/08/2021 Comments are Disabled Counter Solutions
Why Amazon Is Fighting So Hard to Stop Warehouse Workers From Unionizing

Why Amazon Is Fighting So Hard to Stop Warehouse Workers From Unionizing

Thousands of warehouse workers at an Amazon plant in Bessemer, Alabama, are at the center of a potentially game-changing union vote taking place right now. On February 8, the warehouse workers were sent ballots by mail to decide over the next seven weeks if they want to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Just getting to this point was[Read More…]

by 15/02/2021 1 comment World
Our Planet Is Angry

Our Planet Is Angry

“Storm of a lifetime” is how the National Weather Service in Wilmington, N.C., described Hurricane Florence as it came lumbering across the Atlantic to hurl its ferocious winds and rain onto that coastal state. Pointing to the storm’s unusual path, one meteorologist said, “There’s virtually no precedent for a hurricane moving southwest for some time along the Carolina coast.” Florence is expected[Read More…]

by 15/09/2018 3 comments Climate Change