This Week I Learned: CO2 Levels, Tor Browser, Justices

As human behavior changes we learn more and more about the environment, specifically protecting it. In terms of protection, the world’s most popular private internet browsing software was actually created by the government. And once again, I share a reminder that the course of the world can drastically change because of one single decision.

Human Behavior and CO2 Emissions

An early story from this year was the dramatic drop in CO2 levels around the world when people were forced to quarantine. As more time has passed, and people continue to work from home, a recent climate research study found that personal transportation CO2 levels have decreased by 40% worldwide.

While reducing CO2 levels good for the environment, this is clearly not sustainable. As the researchers suggest, it still wouldn’t be enough to make a big impact on long-term CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. Meaning, substantial changes to energy production and consumption remains crucial to our survival. 

Private Internet and the Navy

My love of biographies led to me renting the book Permanent Record by Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower who revealed unlawful government spying activities on the internet. He’s the reason many of us cover our laptop’s camera.

Among the many disturbing things I learned reading his book, one that really surprised me was about the Tor Network. This is a private internet browsing software and was actually created in the early 2000s by the U.S. Navy. 

Originally used by the government to protect themselves against foreign spies, Tor is now open and available to anyone so they can browse online anonymously. 

Bill Clinton Supreme Court Vacancies

Much focus has been on the Supreme Court recently and just a few weeks ago I briefly wrote about the short history of court-packing, which was actually a threat by Franklin D. Roosevelt that was never carried out.

This week, however, I learned from a book on the history of the Supreme Court that during Bill Clinton’s presidency he had a very hard time trying to fill the vacancy left by Byron White in 1993. By very hard I mean he went through several candidates that rejected his offer, before finally landing on Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

Such an important and transformational nomination almost never happened.