News with Nuance: Jan. 13, 2023

Your Friday dose of News with Nuance: the week's biggest stories, unpacked + more ..

Turning away this week in the News from the constant jostling and horse race coverage of American politics to look at a couple of global stories that crystallize the human tragedy of a profit-driven world economy that is hastening global warming, illness, and death, especially for poor people and migrants.

You and I might think that economic inequality means that the wealthiest kids who go to the fanciest private schools guarantees them admission to the Ivy League, while we’re over here budgeting to afford school lunches, new boots, and field trips - but the truth is that most of us middle-class Americans reading this newsletter sit far on the privileged side of massive global inequality. Too often we compare ourselves only to the wealthier people we can see among us, ignoring the truth that millions of people worldwide do not have a safe, warm or cool place to sleep at night - a home or shelter to call their own - and millions of people worldwide, especially children and elderly people, do not have enough food to eat each day, while we lament the rising price of eggs and gasoline. (And yes, I do miss the farm fresh eggs I used to get every Sunday in my rural Minnesota congregation!)

Anyway, this week’s top two stories are tough but so important to read, because they make clear how interconnected we all are, especially when it comes to the health crises related to climate change and global warming, and the inattention paid to the deaths of migrants, who like you and me, have parents, families, friends, loved ones, hopes and dreams - and deserve much, much better from the world.

The Headline: The world’s torrid future is etched in the crippled kidneys of Nepali workers

In case that headline wasn’t clear enough, read the subhead: “One-third of transplant patients at a center near Kathmandu have been young men who worked abroad in extreme heat.”