​Scotland is generating so much wind energy, it could power all of its homes — twice over

Why doesn't the U.S. generate more electricity from wind?

Image source: Jason Blackeye
  • Wind turbines in Scotland produced more than 9.8 million megawatt-hours of electricity in the first half of 2019.
  • Scotland is a global leader in renewable energies, generating more than half of its electricity consumption from renewables.
  • The U.S. currently generates about 7 percent of its electricity from wind.
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Politics & Current Affairs

Climate change: A slow-burn existential threat

  • There are islands in the Chesapeake Bay that have already succumbed to sea level rise, one of them is Holland Island.
  • Even in a best case scenario, the consensus is that we'll get at least two feet of sea level rise by the year 2100.
  • One big question is: What will happen when flooding gets worse and worse and people decide there's no hope for them anymore to live in their respective towns.
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Should Bernie Sanders drop socialism?

The term socialism makes political discourse difficult. Should we do away with it altogether?

(Photo: Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons)
  • Politicians such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have self-styled themselves as socialists.
  • Linguist John McWhorter argues the term is so polluted that even well-intented usage will make critical discourse impossible.
  • He recommends leftists drop the liberal and socialist labels and transition fully to progressives.
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Politics & Current Affairs

No, Mr. Putin, liberalism is not dead

Когда рак на горе свистнет.

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  • Russian President Vladimir Putin recently stated that liberalism has "outlived its purpose."
  • Research suggests, however, that liberal ideals — among them, democracy, individual agency, and economic freedom — are not only on the rise but improve the wellbeing of people living in countries that support them.
  • Recent challenges to liberalism are serious but have not overpowered the liberal tradition.
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Politics & Current Affairs

Andrew Yang: We need a human-centered capitalism

A universal basic income is just one of Andrew Yang's ideas to update capitalism for the 21st century.

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  • Andrew Yang's universal basic income proposal has gained a lot of attention, but it is just one part of his "human-center capitalism" philosophy.
  • Human-centered capitalism calls for government to refocus on human wellbeing, not GDP growth, as the go-to metric of economic success.
  • Yang is one of many thinkers looking to update capitalism for the 21st century.
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Politics & Current Affairs