A selfish drive through one of the most intense rainstorms ever

The MoJo Daily newsletter, Monday through Friday. [View in browser]( [Mother Jones Daily Newsletter](     July 11, 2023 After weeks of [choking on smoke]( and [record-breaking heat](, I spent two hours on Sunday driving through one of the most intense rainstorms of my life. The situation was downright harrowing. But in the moment, as we drove from Vermont and through the Hudson Valley, I had been unaware of [the flooding's enormous devastation](. Instead, I was consumed with anger over the traffic that the storm had created; it wasn't until the next day that I learned of the considerable, [potentially lethal danger]( I had just trudged through. I've been thinking about this, specifically my chamber of ignorance amid overwhelming peril, as [new images of the wreckage continue to emerge](. How our views of the cascading crises before us—global warming, the decimation of civil rights, unrelenting inequality—rely so much on how they inconvenience the individual. Little do we know that while we're fussing over personal indignations like traffic, we're barely escaping serious calamity, even death. I've felt sharp stabs of embarrassment looking at these photos and recalling the head-splitting whining I deployed in real-time. So this is what I wish for myself going forward: We might feel largely powerless in the fight against climate change—I for sure do—but perhaps we can put aside small irritations and be more readily available, far more open to the larger picture. I'm also planning to reread some of the pieces from our [excellent decarbonization package]( and drill it into my brain that unless I train myself to drop the flashes of selfishness, I'll be standing in the way of progress just like the rest of them. —Inae Oh Advertisement [Oxford University Press - Vengeance]( [Top Story] [Top Story]( [Top Democratic-Run Firms Won’t Discuss Their Work for No Labels]( Has the dark-money group preparing to run a third-party 2024 candidate become radioactive? BY DAVID CORN SPONSORED CONTENT BY HEIFER INTERNATIONAL   Free Goat Tote with Your Monthly Gift Heifer International is a global nonprofit dedicated to ending hunger and poverty. As a monthly donor, you’ll give families the resources, education and opportunity to thrive. If you join now, we’ll send you your very own goat tote to say thanks. [Join today]( — and make a difference for a lifetime. [Trending] [A Nebraska mom helped her daughter get an abortion. They are both facing prison time.]( BY MADISON PAULY   [A teen died in a sawmill accident as Republicans push to roll back child labor laws]( BY ABIGAIL WEINBERG   [More nations are growing wary of deep sea mining]( BY KAREN MCVEIGH AND CHRIS MICHAEL   [A court just allowed Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors to take effect]( BY ABBY VESOULIS Advertisement [Oxford University Press - Agreeing]( [Special Feature] [Special Feature]( [Did Planet Earth just have its hottest-ever week?]( The average global temperature hit an unofficial high last Tuesday and Wednesday. Then, Thursday was even steamier. BY ABBY VESOULIS [Fiercely Independent] Support from readers allows Mother Jones to do journalism that doesn't just follow the pack. [Donate]( Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by [forwarding]( it to a friend or sharing it on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Donate Monthly]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755