“480 Minutes” - SMOG!

In the 1970s smog & poor air quality were a big issue here in NYC. This week felt like a return those days when insufficient fuel efficiency & emissions standards made it seem as if every surface in the borough of Manhattan was forever coated in soot. Science knew some of the causes, science came up with some solutions, federal & state governments took steps to address the situation, & for the past few decades NYC has enjoyed relatively good air.

For those of us who lived through the smog, this week was a reminder of a miserable unhealthy past that science helped to overcome. You know, like it did with vaccines. For those born after that era, the week has been eye-opening & throat-closing.

You’d think this unmistakable evidence of the unfolding human activity-caused climate catastrophe would lead to immediate calls for actions like speeding up the transition from fossil fuels to more eco-friendly energy, maybe redouble our efforts at Greenhouse Gas emission reductions. You’d think that, but here in the U.S. you’d be wrong. You see, we are dogged by reality-denying Republicans owned by the fossil fuel industry doing quite the opposite like the Virginia governor (who ran as a moderate!) pulling his state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative; Republicans in the Pennsylvania legislature voting to change the name of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection to the Department of Environmental Services (b/c duh, the environment doesn’t need protection); the federal government rewarding intransigent Senator Joe Manchin by green-lighting his very own pet petrochemical pipeline in exchange for not blowing up the economy.

Our unfathomable capacity for cognitive dissonance astounds me.

Speaking of which, not that I give a pizza rat’s ass about golf, but the fact that this week the PGA merged with the Bonesaw Billions Bunch is a remarkable cave in to evil. Less than a year ago PGA commissioner Jay “lost loved ones on 9/11” Monahan asked a pointed question to those tempted by Saudi PetroBillions: “I would ask any player that has left, or that would ever consider leaving, have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?”

Thanks to Monahan not taking the BBB seriously & nipping it in the bud, it would seem that all pro golfers who continue to participate in PGA events will need to apologize for helping to whitewash a murderous human rights abusing dictatorship whose main source of income literally fuels the climate crisis.

Today’s live-hosted indie rock noise pop post-punk shoe gaze psych & garage rock show runs from 9am until 5pm Eastern U.S. Time & will feature new music by The Bug Club (Wales, UK, @TheBugClubBand), Charm School (Louisville, KY, @CharmSchoolUSA), Gutara Kyo (Kobe, Japan), Helen Kelter Skelter (Norman, Oklahoma, @HelenKelterSkelter), Ritual Howls (Detroit, MI, @RitualHowls), RVG (Preston, Australia, @RVG____), Water From Your Eyes (Brooklyn, NY, @WaterFromYourEyes), & WITCH (Zambia, @WeIntendToCauseHavoc).

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Videos

480 Minutes / 2023 Episode 20/Overall Episode 833