In the face of crisis, more delay

Also, a big protest in DC today.

Happy Monday, everyone. I was under the weather this weekend so I’m skipping a full newsletter today. I’ll be back with an original story tomorrow.

In the meantime, here’s a recommended reading list to catch up with news you might have missed over the weekend. Taken together, the stories paint a clear picture of overwhelming climate crisis unfolding across the world, and continued denial and delay by those with the power to stop it.

Also, if you’re in Washington, D.C., there’s a big Sunrise Movement protest happening today at the White House. More details, and the reasons why, in the stories and tweets below.

Stories:

• Biden’s $579 billion bipartisan infrastructure deal “does relatively little to fight climate change,” by Coral Davenport and Lisa Friedman at the New York Times.
  
  Key quote: “The president had hoped to use a sweeping infrastructure bill as a vehicle to enact a national ‘clean electricity standard’ requiring power companies to gradually ratchet up the amount of electricity they generate from wind, solar and other sources until they’re no longer emitting carbon dioxide. That is not included in the bipartisan bill, nor are the hundreds of billions of dollars in spending on tax incentives for wind, solar and other clean energy.”
  

• This bill could represent Biden’s last change to pass big climate legislation, by Ella Nilsen at Vox.
  
  Key quote: “‘I’m terrified of what happens if we don’t act,’ Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) said. Heinrich, his Senate colleague in New Mexico, added, ‘My state is burning up.’”
  

• Biden administration allows Line 3 pipeline to move forward, by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
  
  Key quote: “The filing marks the first time President Joe Biden's administration has taken a position on the $3 billion-plus Line 3, which will transport particularly thick oil from western Canada to Enbridge's terminal in Superior, Wisconsin.”
  

• A “once in a millennium” heat wave unfolds in the Pacific Northwest, by Jeff Berardelli at CBS News, which is reliably great about including climate science in weather coverage.
  

• Another dangerous heatwave hits Siberia and Eastern Europe, including an astonishing 118 degree ground temperature recorded in the Arctic Circle, by Laura Millan Lombrana at Bloomberg and Isaac Schultz at Earther.
  

• Water shortages and mega-drought abound in the U.S., and things only stand to get worse, by Zachary Wolf at CNN.
  

• The climate connection to the Miami building collapse, by Susan Matthews in Slate. (Also features a HEATED shoutout).

Tweets:

Sunrise Movement 🌅 @sunrisemvmt

As heat waves tear through the West, we've been marching and organizing, trying to fight a climate crises that damages our communities everyday. Where has @POTUS been? Behind closed doors with Republicans. Join us & make sure he can't ignore us anymore: smvmt.org/June-28th

Ellen Sciales 🌅 @Lnsciales

TODAY: Over 500 Sunrise Movement Activists to Take Escalated Action at White House, Demanding “No Climate, No Deal” on Infrastructure 11am: March from John Marshall Park to Lafayette Square 12pm: Rally at Lafayette Square 1pm: March around White House

Bernie Sanders @SenSanders

Let me be clear: There will not be a bipartisan infrastructure deal without a reconciliation bill that substantially improves the lives of working families and combats the existential threat of climate change. No reconciliation bill, no deal. We need transformative change NOW.

Jane Seymour Fonda @Janefonda

I am sickened and deeply disappointed that President Biden has given the go-ahead to Enbridge Line 3 in Minnesota. This belies his promises on the campaign trail to follow science and stop new fossil fuel development and cut our carbon emissions in half by 2030.

tara houska ᔖᐳᐌᑴ @zhaabowekwe

Meanwhile, over in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, @GovTimWalz @POTUS are letting Enbridge bulldoze Line 3 tar sands pipeline through drought-parched rivers and wetlands. This is what human beings knowingly destroying ourselves looks like, in real time. #StopLine3 cc: @SecDebHaaland

The Washington Post @washingtonpost

The most severe heat wave that the Pacific Northwest has ever endured is underway. Predicted to be “historic, dangerous, prolonged and unprecedented," according to the National Weather Service, it’s already rewriting the record books. https://t.co/DcAduF1gnx

Jeff Goodell @jeffgoodell

Why do buildings fall down? In “The Water Will Come,” I wrote about the dangerous combination in Miami of cheap building, salt water, and lax enforcement of building codes.

Brian Kahn @blkahn

How does climate change influence heat waves? Just a relatively small increase in the global average temperature tilts the odds toward extreme, record-smashing events like what’s happening now in the Northwest

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Catch of the Day:

Fish is sorry for all the distressing news, but he and his actual owner (my roommate, pictured here) are grateful you take the time to read it.

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Stay hydrated, eat plants, break a sweat, and have a great day!