6/26/20 Recommended Issues: climate change, unity, politicization

Issues Worth Reading

Here is this weekend’s Worth Reading-- a set of interesting newsletter issues that may have flown under your radar:

• The climate case for working from home  (In Heated, by Emily Atkin on June 22, 2020) If you’re interested in the effects businesses have (or could have) on carbon emissions, this is a fantastic read. It goes into detail on data related to commuting, business travel, office space, etc and is presented in an intelligible, well-structured way. Who knew that “No single activity contributes more greenhouse gas emissions than driving to and from work”? It’s worth a read if you want to be informed about the impact workplace policies have on the environment or to have a leg to stand on if you ever want to talk with your company about strategies for improving corporate responsibility. (1400 words ; 5 minutes)

• Unity. (In Roll Call by Austin Channing Brown on June 21, 2020) If you haven’t heard of Austin Channing Brown, she’s a New York Times bestselling author, speaker, and media producer, focused on racial justice-- and she has a voice and perspective that we can all benefit from. In this short but poignant issue, she advocates that not all unity is rooted in racial justice and she pushes readers to really question whether they can “recognize when you are being asked to participate in a “unity” that’s not rooted in justice.” It’s not just a theory piece; she gives examples and also suggests questions you can ask yourself.  It’s very much worth reading if you’d like tools, ideas, and support for, as she puts it, “standing on the side of justice” -- not just on the side of “unity”.  (580 words; 2 minutes to read + a few to think afterwards)

• The politicization of the United States Department of Justice (In Letters from an American, by Heather Cox Richardson on June 24, 2020)  Heather is a history professor with an excellent ability to translate history and politics into regular English. In this issue, she first delves into an explanation of what the US Department of Justice actually is and how it works (or is supposed to work). Then she launches into a very clear (somewhat chilling) historical account of what has happened over the past year and a half in the DOJ, building a fairly strong case for questioning whether it can still really be considered a-political. This is absolutely worth reading if you’d like to really understand the chronology of events and their implication for the theoretical impartialness of the Department of Justice -- or if you last thought about the DOJ in your highschool history class and you’d like to fill in gaps in your memory :). (1600 words; 6 minutes)  

We hope you find these reads perspective-enhancing.

If you’re interested in receiving more from any of the newsletters above, you’re always welcome to subscribe to Heated, Roll Call, or Letters from an American. 

Also, if you haven't signed up to narrowSCALE's newsletter so you get Worth Reading delivered to your inbox, do that below...