Stuff YOU Should Know
The Price of an Epidemic
By now, you’ve likely heard about coronavirus, and you’re probably aware that it’s not a good thing. The disease continues to spread worldwide; just last week, the number of cases in Italy spiked from three to 152 in just a few days. South Korea has raised its national threat level to “red alert” now that its number of confirmed cases is approaching 800 (the highest number outside of mainland China). And in China, where it all began, there have been 77,150 confirmed cases and 2,592 deaths so far.
But aside from sickness and loss of life, coronavirus has also had negative impacts that you might not even think about. China is at the heart of global manufacturing. It accounts for more than half of the world’s total electronics manufacturing, for example. This is the time of year when factories are producing at high levels. But because of coronavirus, millions of workers are staying home, as restaurants and stores shut down and factories cease to operate. This could have a devastating impact not just in China itself, but on a global scale, as manufacturers all over the world depend on Chinese products.
Some factories are trying to get workers from uninfected regions to fill these jobs, but that’s tricky; the government requires that anyone relocating around the country must spend two weeks in quarantine. Smaller businesses, such as restaurants and retail, are particularly hard-hit; a recent study showed that 85 percent of small and medium-sized businesses can only last about three months without income before going bankrupt
.Dig Deeper The coronavirus outbreak is often compared to the swine flu epidemic that took place a decade ago. What impact did the swine flu have on the global economy? Use the Internet to help you figure out your answer.
Amazon Fights Climate Change . . . or Does It?
Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, is the wealthiest person in the world, worth about $126.9 billion. And now, he has pledged to spend $10 billion of his own fortune to help fight climate change. In a statement last week, he announced the creation of the Bezos Earth Fund, which will fund nonprofits, scientists, companies, and anyone else who is working towards the development of real sustainability solutions. In the statement, Bezos makes it clear that the only way to successfully to save the earth is if large and small companies, governments, and private individuals come together to fight climate change.
But a lot of people, including Amazon employees, are critical of the announcement. They say that it’s hypocritical because Amazon itself has had such a negative impact on the environment (think about the trucks delivering goods, the packaging and cardboard boxes, etc.). Amazon Employees for Climate Justice issued its own statement in response to Bezos’, saying that a better move would have been for the company to agree to move from diesel-burning to all-electric trucks, to end contracts with oil and gas companies, and to adopt other climate-friendly policies. Last September, as 1,700 Amazon employees planned a global walkout, the company issued a Climate Pledge, in which in promised to move to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. It will also purchase 100,000 emissions-free electric vehicles.
While $10 billion is certainly a huge amount of money–and far more than any other private entity has ever pledged toward the climate change fight–scientists argue that it is nowhere near what will be needed to fight climate change in any real way. On a worldwide scale, any plan to decarbonize would cost about $73 trillion. By comparison, the oil and gas companies receive trillions of dollars in new investments annually.
What Do You Think? Imagine that you are a member of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice. What policies would you demand that the company put into place to become more earth-friendly?
Eat, Sleep, and . . . Game?
There are hotels with pirate ship themes, Egyptian pyramid themes, and even hotels shaped like teepees and dogs. So by comparison, a video-game-themed hotel isn’t crazy at all. In fact, it sounds like fun, giving new meaning to the phrase, “eat, sleep, and play.” And who better to create the first one than Atari, the original video game pioneer?
The company announced last week that it would begin construction this fall on a series of at least eight new hotels that are not only video game themed but capture the “virtual reality” experience of video games on the inside as well. Some will even have specialized venues to host e-sports events. While each will have its own distinct size, look, and design, all eight of the hotels will have a similar nostalgic, retro feel. The global games market continues to grow, and there are now about 2.5 billion gamers worldwide. A big piece of that is e-gaming, and the Atari hotels hope to tap into this market. The company hopes that the hotels will attract all kinds of visitors: gamers, certainly, but also people who are just looking for a nostalgic, 1970s-style experience.
The first Atari hotel will be built in Phoenix, Arizona and is expected to open sometime in the next two years. After that, the company plans to build additional hotels in Las Vegas, Denver, Chicago, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, and San Jose. But if you don’t want to wait that long, you can already get a taste by signing up online to become an Atari Hotel Member.
Dig Deeper What’s the biggest e-sports facility in North America? You can use internet resources to help you locate your answer.
Boy Scouts Bankrupt!
Boy Scouts of America, or BSA, is the largest youth organization in the United States. And now, it is filing for bankruptcy. This is because of the huge number of people who are now coming forward with claims that they were sexually abused by members of the organization as children.
So far, about three hundred men have come forward with these allegations. It used to be that most states had statutes of limitations, which said that after a certain number of years had passed after a crime was committed, you could no longer file a claim. But now, because of the number of abuse allegations against the Catholic Church, many states have relaxed these laws. That means that now, adults can come forward and seek retribution for crimes committed against them during their childhood. BSA filed for bankruptcy because of the amount of money that these lawsuits will cost, which will probably be very large: one similar case in Oregon in 2010 fined the organization nearly $20 million. Also, if the national BSA organization files for bankruptcy, it protects the local councils, which are their own legal and financial entity. That way, the local councils can still continue providing programming as usual.
Currently, the national BSA organization is worth about $1.4 billion, which includes all of the land that it owns. Local BSA councils together are worth about $3.3 billion.