Daily News Digest January 12, 2024
2023 was Hottest Year on Record, Close to 1.5°C The European Commission’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) says 2023 was the first year on with all days over 1°C warmer than the pre-industrial period. . . .
Global surface air temperature highlights
- 2023 is confirmed as the warmest calendar year in global temperature data records going back to 1850.
- 2023 had a global average temperature of 14.98°C, 0.17°C higher than the previous highest annual value in 2016.
- 2023 was 0.60°C warmer than the 1991-2020 average and 1.48°C warmer than the 1850-1900 pre-industrial level.
- It is likely that a 12-month period ending in January or February 2024 will exceed 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level.
- 2023 marks the first time on record that every day within a year has exceeded 1°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial level. Close to 50% of days were more than 1.5°C warmer then the 1850-1900 level, and two days in November were, for the first time, more than 2°C warmer.
- Annual average air temperatures were the warmest on record, or close to the warmest, over sizeable parts of all ocean basins and all continents except Australia.
- Each month from June to December in 2023 was warmer than the corresponding month in any previous year.
- July and August 2023 were the warmest two months on record. Boreal summer (June-August) was also the warmest season on record.
- September 2023 was the month with a temperature deviation above the 1991–2020 average larger than any month in the ERA5 dataset.
- December 2023 was the warmest December on record globally, with an average temperature of 13.51°C, 0.85°C above the 1991-2020 average and 1.78°C above the 1850-1900 level for the month. You can access information specific for December 2023 in our monthly bulletin.
Ocean surface temperature highlights
- Global average sea surface temperatures (SSTs) remained persistently and unusually high, reaching record levels for the time of year from April through December.
- 2023 saw a transition to El Niño. In spring 2023, La Niña came to an end and El Niño conditions began to develop, with the WMO declaring the onset of El Niño in early July.
- High SSTs in most ocean basins, and in particular in the North Atlantic, played an important role in the record-breaking global SSTs.
- The unprecedented SSTs were associated with marine heatwaves around the globe, including in parts of the Mediterranean, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and North Pacific, and much of the North Atlantic.
European temperature highlights
2023 was the second-warmest year for Europe, at 1.02°C above the 1991-2020 average, 0.17°C cooler than 2020, the warmest year on record.
- Temperatures in Europe were above average for 11 months during 2023 and September was the warmest September on record.
- European winter (December 2022 – February 2023) was the second-warmest winter on record.
- The average temperature for the European summer (June-August) was 19.63°C; at 0.83°C above average, it was the fifth-warmest on record.
- European autumn (September-November) had an average temperature of 10.96°C, which is 1.43°C above average. This made autumn the second-warmest on record, just 0.03°C cooler than autumn 2020.
Other remarkable highlights
- 2023 was remarkable for Antarctic sea ice: it reached record low extents for the corresponding time of the year in 8 months. Both the daily and monthly extents reached all-time minima in February 2023.
- Arctic sea ice extent at its annual peak in March ranked amongst the four lowest for the time of the year in the satellite record. The annual minimum in September was the sixth-lowest.
- The atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane continued to increase and reached record levels in 2023, reaching 419 ppm and 1902 ppb respectively. Carbon dioxide concentrations in 2023 were 2.4 ppm higher than in 2022 and methane concentrations increased by 11 ppb.
- A large number of extreme events were recorded across the globe, including heatwaves, floods, droughts and wildfires. Estimated global wildfire carbon emissions in 2023 increased by 30% with respect to 2022 driven largely by persistent wildfires in Canada, greenhouse gas concentrations, El Niño and other natural variations.
Images of the Day:
Since World War I, ‘the war to end all wars’, there have been perpetual wars for perpetual peace, this Laura Gray’s cartoon from the front page of The Militant August 18, 1945, Under the Banner Headline: “There Is No Peace”
Capitalism as a Failed System: World Capitalism Has Been Aware of the Comming Catastrophe of Global Warming Over 5 Decades Ago and Did Nothing!: Under Capitalism — Human Lives Don’t Matter Capitalism Does Not, and Never Has, Worked for the Masses! In Its Death Agony, Capitalism Is Traveling About The World Like The Four Horsemen of the The Apocalypse, Spreading Racism, War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. The very future of Humanity Is Now At stake!
During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three-Point Political Program: Austerity, Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, andThe Iron Heel! For Decades, Blacks Have Been Subjected to The Iron Heel! Currently, the US Capitalist Class is Divided Over When — Not If, to Apply It to Everyone! Due to Years of Austerity, Cuts to Public Health Care, And An Anti-Science and Profiteering President, The United States Now Leads the World In Coronavirus Cases and Deaths in the World!
Always Remember: That President Obama, With a Majority Democrat Legislature Supported the Wall Street Bailout and Remember, That he Established, in writing, the United States Capitalist Austerity Program. — The Race to the Bottom/Pauperization of the 99%!
Democracy?: As the Capitalist Robber Barons Steal from the 99%, Only the 1% Voted For Austerity! The 99% Should Decide On Austerity — Not Just The 1%, Who Profit From Austerity!! Under Austerity, All of the World Will Eventually Be Pauperized, Humbled, and Desecrated Like Greece and Puerto Rico.! Socialism Means True Democracy, that the 99% Will Rule, Not the Few!
Quote of the Day:
These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. — Thomas Paine
Videos of the Day:
Gaza War Fuels Climate Crisis: “Massive” Carbon Emissions from Israeli Bombing
United States:
The United States is not a Democracy (A government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly)! Only the 1%, through their ownership of the Republicrats and who profit from war and the war budget, vote for War and the war budget — A policy, which Gore Vidal called a Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace. — The 99% Should Decide On War — Not Just The 1% Who Profit From War! Under a Democracy, The 99% would have the right to vote on the policy of Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace! The United States takes from the poor and gives to the Rich. Tax the Rich! — They Can Afford ford To Pay! Both Parties Support U.S. Capitalism’s Wars! (The Only War the Democrats Opposed was the Civil War!)
We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both. — Louis D. Brandeis Quotes
The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government. MLK, Beyond Vietnam
Sunsetting the War on Terror — Or Not: The Stubborn Legacy of America’s Response to 9/11 This week marks the 22nd anniversary of the opening of the Guantánamo Bay detention facility, the infamous prison on the island of Cuba designed to hold detainees from this country’s Global War on Terror. It’s an anniversary that’s likely to go unnoticed, since these days you rarely hear about the war on terror — and for good reason. After all, that response to al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks, as defined over the course of three presidential administrations, has officially ended in a cascade of silence. Yes, international terrorism and the threat of such groups persist, but the narrative of American policy as a response to 9/11 seems to have faded away. Two and a half years ago, the Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal from the 20-year-long Afghan War proved to be a last gasp (followed the next summer by the killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri, successor as al-Qaeda’s leader after Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011).
An Ex-CIA Agent Looks Back at 22 Years of Torture at Guantánamo Bay “Guantánamo has been universally condemned by every human rights, civil liberties, and civil rights group in the world that has expressed an opinion, as well as by the United Nations, and most countries in the world,” writes John Kiriakou.
Biden Backed Repeal of Iraq War Authorization. Now He’s Using It. Twenty-two years after Congress gave former President George W. Bush the greenlight to use military force against Iraq, the Biden administration is citing the same 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to justify the most recent deadly U.S. airstrike in Iraq.
ICE May Get Its Largest Budget Ever, Signaling Surveillance Capitalism’s Triumph The Biden administration is expanding the surveillance of immigrants to unprecedented levels. Aided by electronic monitoring and data mining companies that extract, aggregate, and sell personal information from tens of thousands of private and public digital databases without the consent of individuals, the Biden administration is expanding the surveillance of immigrants to unprecedented levels — stifling dissent and political organizing and sowing fear among non-citizens and civil rights advocates.
U.S. Funded Palestinian Genocide:
Nations Urged to Back ICJ Case Against Israel After Experts Confirm Genocide Underway “How many more alarm bells have to ring and how many more civilians must unlawfully suffer or be killed before governments take action?” asked one human rights expert. Human rights advocates are ramping up pressure on nations to formally back South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice after a panel of experts determined that the Israeli military’s actions in the Gaza Strip—paired with officials’ overt statements of intent to wipe out the Palestinian population—constitute sufficient evidence that a genocide is underway.
Israeli Lawmakers Reaffirm Genocidal Rhetoric on Eve of ICJ Trial “I stand behind my words,” said Deputy Knesset Speaker Nissim Vaturi. “It is better to burn down buildings rather than have soldiers harmed. There are no innocents there.” Two Israeli lawmakers from right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party doubled down Wednesday on calls to destroy or depopulate Gaza, prompting an admonition from the country’s attorney general on the eve of an emergency hearing in the South African-led genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Environment:
One of Many Ways to Begin to End Global Warming: Expose ‘Greenwashing’ — Tax the Polluters 100%! After World War II Rosa Luxenburg Coined the Slogan: ‘S0cialism or Barbaism’! Now the Slogan Should Be: ‘Ecosocialism or Ecocide’!
Trends in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: Weekly average CO2 at Mauna Loa
- Week beginning on December 31, 2023:422.52 ppm
- Weekly value from 1 year ago: 419.34 ppm
- Weekly value from 10 years ago: 397.73 ppm
- Last updated: January 10, 2024
‘This Is Terrible’: Eco Emergency in Spain as Plastic Pellets Invade Coast The countless beads of plastic, which experts fear are toxic and harmful to marine life and people, are believed to have spilled from a cargo ship. Millions, or perhaps billions, of plastic pellets continue to wash up on the shores of Spain, leading local governments to declare an environmental emergency and launch a criminal probe after a cargo ship off the coast of Portugal lost six containers overboard last month. “These little balls of plastic are an environmental problem because fish confuse them with fish eggs and eat them and they enter the food chain … and end up on our dinner tables,” Cristobal López, a spokesperson for the Spanish environmental group Ecologistas en Acción, explained to the Associated Press from a cleanup site in Galicia.
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
- Ban the War Criminals from King Day Celebrations Most Martin Luther King birthday celebrations are tawdry displays of political cynicism and cooptation. The people must recapture the day from war criminals and their Black misleadership puppets
- SPEECH: Haiti: A Black Revolution Will Repeat Itself, 1966 On the 220th anniversary of Haitian independence, we reprint the speech given at the first Solidarity Conference of the Peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America by Haitian revolutionary, Paul Lantimo.
- Gavin Newsom: Zionist in Waiting The Democrats’ rising star Gavin Newsom offers more of the same: Zionism and militarism.
- Negroes Steppin’ and Fetchin’ for Imperialism The current Black political leadership in the country is filled with puppets, content with acting in the service of the empire. This misleadership class works to undermine international solidarity and African liberation.
- International Organizations Sign Letter Urging International Support For South Africa’s Genocide Case Against the State of Israel The Black Alliance for Peaceplayed a leading role in coordinating global support for South Africa’s invocation of the Genocide Convention against Israel’s ongoing war crimes in Gaza. Over 800 Organizations Globally Sign On To Letter Urging International Support For South Africa’s Genocide Case Against the State of Israel
- Oriental Blindess: How the New York Times Reimagined Israel’s Mass Murderers as Victims Victimhood is determined by those who hold power. In Palestine as in the US, despite fact and evidence, the media works at the behest of the capitalist class to construct the narrative.
- Ralph Poynter Used His Strong Voice and Stout Heart to Fight for Justice Ralph Poynter was a pioneer in the fight against white supremacy, oppression, and injustice around the world.
- On White Supremacy and Zionism: a Reflection on Claudine Gay’s Tenure as President of Harvard University Anti-Black racism and Zionism are two cornerstones of Harvard’s flawed foundation. We should mourn Claudine Gay’s tenure at Harvard because she was both a victim and an agent of white supremacy.
- Haiti’s Legal Claim for Restitution This article discusses Haiti‘s efforts to seek restitution from France for the “Double-Debt” imposed in 1825. After Haiti gained independence in 1804 following a slave revolt, France threatened to invade and re-enslave the Haitian people if they did not pay compensation to French slave owners for their lost “property.” This became known as the Double-Debt, as French and American banks profited by converting the debt into high-interest loans.
- Sudan Talks Between Military Leaders Cannot Bring Genuine Peace Since April 15 the two most armed institutions inside the Republic of Sudan have turned the weapons on each other resulting in massive deaths, destruction and dislocation in this oil-rich state of 46 million people.
Labor:
Economy:
World:
In Blow to Democracy, British Parliament Votes to Outlaw University and Council Boycotts of Israel amid Gaza Genocide On January 10, the UK parliament passed the third and final reading of the anti-boycott bill proposed by pro-Israel Conservative hawk Michael Gove, who serves as Secretary of State for Leveling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Governmental Relations. The House of Lords still needs to approve it before it becomes a law. The bill makes it illegal for public institutions such as councils and universities to adopt policies and campaigns that involve boycotting Israel or engage in any Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) directed at Israel — which in effect makes Israel a state above the law.
Education, and Welfare:
The government of the United States can pass laws in a few days to spend tens of trillions of dollars for war and the bailout of Wall Street and the bankers. Yet, those who, pass universal healthcare for themselves, but cannot spend even one trillion dollars for universal health for those who are ‘governed’! This is what is considered, by the powers to be, a democracy and part of the democratic way. — Roland Sheppard, Let the People Vote on Healthcare