We often view rising tides through the prism of predictive computer models; a future for which we need to prepare. In a photo essay in Hakai Magazine, Tommy Trenchard takes you to a small (and getting smaller) island in Sierra Leone, where the rise is swallowing land in realtime. The Water Is Eating the Island. "Returning to Nyangai in 2023, a decade after my first visit, I found the place almost unrecognizable. From a satellite image, I had seen that the island had been split in half by the sea, leaving two bean-shaped patches of land separated by a wide gulf. But as my boat approached, I could see only one: in the time since Google had last updated its satellite image in 2018, an entire village of several hundred people had vanished. 'The water is eating the island,' says Tewoh Koroma, a mother of six who lost her home to flooding in September 2023. 'We already fled from the water once and now we’re getting flooded again. The water is following us.'" 2It's Not the Economy, StupidOne of the most perplexing aspects of current polling is that people seem to think the economy isn't doing that well even though the economy seems to being doing pretty well; and the state of the economy doesn't seem to be mirrored by campaign trends. Last week, we touched on one very under-examined reason people feel bummed during the boom: We're still coping with the pandemic. Everything is not OK. You experienced a global pandemic that completely altered your view of health, safety, politics, and just how aggressively you could move to snag the last roll of toilet paper on the shelf. Sh-t Happened. In an adapted piece from his new book, Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present, my mom's favorite journalist (and she's like me, except she actually reads the articles), Fareed Zakaria looks at some other reasons why the economy isn't helping Biden and many other political leaders across the globe. "Explanations for this disconnect abound. Some say it’s a time lag, others that people are being swayed by social media, still others that residual feelings about inflation tends to trump all else. But I think that the real answer is that politics is no longer fundamentally driven by economics – that our political preferences are today shaped more by issues of culture, class and tribalism than by how much money we make." 3Enabling Cane"Archana Ashok Chaure has given her life to sugar. She was married off to a sugar cane laborer in western India at about 14 — 'too young,' she says, 'to have any idea what marriage was.' Debt to her employer keeps her in the fields. Last winter, she did what thousands of women here are pressured to do when faced with painful periods or routine ailments: She got a hysterectomy, and got back to work. This keeps sugar flowing to companies like Coke and Pepsi." NYT (Gift Article) with a bitter look at the modern-day slavery that puts the sugar in our sweets. The Brutality of Sugar: Debt, Child Marriage and Hysterectomies. This might come as news to you, but it's old news to the companies that benefit. "Sugar producers and buyers have known about this abusive system for years. Coca-Cola’s consultants, for example, visited the fields and sugar mills of western India and, in 2019, reported that children were cutting sugar cane and laborers were working to repay their employers. They documented this in a report for the company, complete with an interview with a 10-year-old girl." 4Taking a Bite Out of Barkley"You're totally on your own out there and most races will have checkpoints where they have, you know, some volunteers or checkpoint staff to feed you and give you a bit of a cheer and send you on your way. But this is not like that at all." Jasmin Paris: I ran 'toughest race' to inspire women worldwide. She's "one of only 20 people to have finished the Barkley Marathons in Tennessee, USA, since it was extended to 100 miles in 1989. She crossed the finish line on Friday with 99 seconds to spare before the 60-hour cut-off. The annual race at Frozen Head State Park involves five loops of roughly 20 miles, with 60,000 ft of ascents and descents - twice the height of Mount Everest from sea level." I usually need a nap after walking my beagles up a slight incline. (And they always do.) 5Extra, ExtraAbstain Strain: "Tensions between the United States and Israel were exposed on Monday when Washington stood aside and allowed the UN Security Council to pass a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza." The US usually vetoes such efforts (and abstained today because there's no insistence that hostages are freed). Israel cancels Washington visit after US allows UN Gaza ceasefire resolution to pass. Related from Politico Magazine: From ‘I Love You’ to ‘A--hole’: How Joe Gave Up on Bibi. 6Bottom of the News"The contestants warmed up with stretches and squats in front of City Hall, carefully repositioned croissants and glasses on their trays and tightened their aprons as pop music blared from loudspeakers. Then, they were off. On Sunday, for the first time in over a decade, Paris revived a tradition: an annual race of cafe and restaurant waiters." NYT (Gift Article): Ready, Set, Garçon! Paris Waiters Race as Storied Contest Returns. Thanks, Dave Pell with the Scoop from the Doom Loop.
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