Edition 54: high tide for some climate change
(This newsletter was sent to email subscribers on September 23, 2020.)
Happy Wednesday, muggles. As we push past six months of the pandemic, there’s no doubt that businesses are feeling the impact. A report from Yelp found that about 60% of business closures across the country since March will be permanent. The restaurant industry has been hit especially hard, so if you can, take some time to order from a local restaurant and tip well. Here are some stories you’ll also want to take to-go.
ELECTION
Thousands of mail ballots thrown out in Pennsylvania primary
Tue Sep 15
Yesterday was National Voter Registration Day, but even if you’re registered, there’s still a few things that can keep your vote from being counted. Recently in Pennsylvania, officials rejected more than 20,000 mail ballots for the state’s primary election.
There were three main reasons these votes weren’t counted:
- They didn’t arrive by election day
- Voters forgot to sign their ballot envelopes
- They were marked as undeliverable by the post office
If the same number gets rejected during the general election it could mean 50,000 ballots don’t get counted. For some context on what that means, in 2016, Trump won this swing state by just 40,000 votes — a stark reminder that your vote does count.
P.S. Pennsylvania also a new rule that requires ballots have a secrecy envelope, or they can be rejected. Click here to check your own state’s mail-in voting requirements.
In related news: An investigation by ProPublica found that postal workers aren’t being properly protected from the coronavirus and many of them are getting sick. More than 50,000 workers have taken off for virus-related reasons, which could have a huge impact on mail-in voting and delivery times.
CLIMATE
O`ahu’s beaches are disappearing because of rising sea levels
Mon Sep 21
Climate change has found its latest victim: the beaches on O’ahu, Hawaii. A new study found that 40% of this Hawaiian island’s beaches could be gone by 2050 due to rapidly rising sea levels and manmade seawalls.
How is this happening?
In short, the earth heats up, ice melts, and sea levels rise.
Okay, so how did seawalls factor in?
Naturally beaches migrate and cause coastal erosion of beachfront properties. In an effort to save their property, people started creating seawalls and other types of shoreline hardening, but this interrupts the natural beach migration. Seawalls actually accelerate coastal erosion on neighboring properties and lead the beach to drown instead of just migrate over time.
SOURCES: KITV4 News, Accuweather, Science Daily
TECHNOLOGY
Violence against protesters threatens booming Eastern European tech sector
Wed Sep 16
Trouble has been brewing in the eastern European country of Belarus after a disputed election last month, against which the EU cried foul. While protesters have been calling for an end to President Alexander Lukashenko’s 26 years in power, a violent crackdown from the government is now threatening the country’s tech hub.
Wait, what tech hub?
In recent years, political stability, favorable taxes and laws, and cheap labor has made the country’s capital, Minsk, an attractive hub for startups from the U.S. and Europe. This emerging technology sector held offices for more than 3,000 tech companies and contributed about 7% of Belarus’ GDP last year.
How has the government crackdown affected the tech industry?
Tech workers and founders who show support for the protests or protesters are being:
- Accused of financial crimes to justify detainment and investigation
- Grabbed, detained, and tortured by plainclothes officers while walking on the street
- Further repressed with internet outages, not only disrupting business but also blocking access to social media during protests
SOURCES: The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, CNN, Reuters, Politico
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That’s all for today. Have a magical week.✨
