• After two years of wildfires and massive floods, voters in Australia ousted the ruling conservative coalition in favor of Labor party leader Anthony Albanese with support of independents and Greens. Albanese won by advocating dramatic action to address the climate crisis, while voters rejected Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who has close ties to powerful coal and natural gas interests.
(“Australians Voted for Strong Action on Climate Change. Will They Get It?” CNN, May 27, 2022; Australia’s ‘Climate Election’ Finally Arrived. Will It Be Enough?” New York Times. May 22, 2022)
• America’s hunger for beef is fueling the destruction of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. Over the last year, under right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, destruction of the Amazon rainforest hit a 15-year high as cattle ranches exported 2 million tons of raw beef. Two years ago, the United States lifted a ban on Brazilian beef over food safety concerns. Now, the U.S. is Brazil’s second largest buyer of beef, with imports expected to double by the end of the year.
( “Brazil’s Amazon Deforestation Hits April Record, Nearly Double Previous Peak,” Reuters, May 6, 2022)
• After years of false starts, the coronavirus pandemic forced the city of Oakland to take the digital divide seriously and find the funding to distribute laptop computers and expand the city’s Internet hotspots for low-income students. At the start of the pandemic, only 12 percent of such students had a computer at home with broadband Internet access.
(“How Oakland Closed the Digital Divide for Nearly All of Its Students,” Christian Science Monitor, April 14, 2022)
This week’s News Summary was narrated by Anna Manzo
