Hi subscribers! Thanks for being patient with me this week as I get settled into my new apartment. I want to introduce you to my new roommate, Fish. He’ll be making periodic appearances in the newsletter as HEATED’s official emotional support mascot.
Fish technically belongs to my other new roommate, Lara, but really he belongs to all of us.
My life is still mostly in boxes, but slowly getting there. While I’m unpacking, I was hoping, could you share a climate story you’re reading or thinking about this week? It’ll help me (and Fish) catch up once we’re fully back in action.
I also have my eyes on youth climate activists in the United States. Biden/Kamala have no time to lose when they take office on Jan. 20. Where do young climate activists say the new administration should start working first?
Hi, lotsa likes! I hope you will keep a close eye on Kerry, help us keep track of what he’s doing and saying. Yesterday he was with the Maine Governor’s Climate Council lauding the release of its “Action Plan,” and he was OK - but he for some reason felt compelled to point out that the U.S. is responsible for only 13% (I think) of global emissions, and until the rest of the world does its part, blah blah blah. I felt this was a bad omen for his coming forays into world climate cooperation!
Also, please note Gutierrez’s passionate plea for carbon pricing and remember to explore both EnROADS climate simulator and https://energyinnovationact.org/ for a just and equitable carbon pricing approach!!!! Thanks for being awesome
Please consider interviewing Ben Goldfarb, who is writing a book about road ecology. Goldfarb won the PEN/E.O. Wilson Science Writing Award last year for a book on beavers, who are also critical to climate conversations out west.
Congrats on your new digs! Enjoy your time with your new roommates. Life is so much better when having friends and four legged companions. Thanks for all of your work and advocacy!
I’m thinking about the movement to “monetize” nature’s value using wall street’s own tactics against it to save nature. I am really struggling to determine if this is really going to help fight climate change and increase biodiversity or if it will just put us on the wrong track and would love to hear both sides of the argument.
This group seeks to value/monetize the intrinsic value of the services nature provides and lost it on their exchange so people can invest in nature:
The big news here is that Maine just yesterday went public with its Climate Action Plan after a year and a half in the making. The 39 member Maine Climate Council, assisted by nearly 200 other experts in various working groups, and pushed hard by a well organized coalition of non-profits, developed one of the most ambitious plans in the country. John Kerry "attended" the launch and pointed to this as a nation leading effort. Big takeaway is that a small state with a well organized movement can have an outsized impact. https://www.maine.gov/future/initiatives/climate/climate-council
This is not necessarily a recent event, but it is current. Baltimore City is engaged in an ongoing legal battle to pass the Baltimore Clean Air Act, regulating how industry pollutes - specifically the major trash incinerator in South Baltimore.
Climate scientists and energy experts weighed in and there was an extended discussion - Glen Peters, Jesse Jenkins, and David Roberts chimed in, among many others.
NETs and CCUS are relied on somewhat heavily in IPCC modeling for the more ambitious emissions reduction scenarios. The trouble is, these are not off-the-shelf technologies that can be rolled out at the pace and scale needed for decarbonization - they should not be relied upon to get us to net-zero emissions.
Electrification and renewable energy rollout should be the main focus while NETs and CCUS are developed and become scalable. Relying too heavily on yet-to-be produced/scaled/tested technologies is akin to kicking the can down the road and hoping for a silver bullet to get to net zero emissions.
Fossil fuel companies can use the same technology to continue BAU and reach net-zero emissions so its wise for anyone that cares about climate to be vigilant when looking at how CCUS and NETs are used, especially when they feature heavy in IPCC reports. The last 15% we can’t decarbonize (heavy industrial processes requiring high temperatures) will need these technologies, they are essential, but having them detract from renewable energy rollout would be unwise.
Line 3, a tar sands oil pipeline through northern MN, gets final permits and starts construction while appeals are pending and while Gov and state agencies are promoting electric cars and other climate change actions. Stay of construction filed by two tribes, we'll find out today if state's DOC joins the stay request.
My local chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby shared this article with us this morning:
"This is another fabulous article from Our World In Data: https://ourworldindata.org/cheap-renewables-growth. It may indicate we don't have to worry so much about pushing the economics with pricing fossil fuels, but seems wonderful that both efforts - high tech and CFD - have terrific promise. Some of the charts will be useful for presentations/education."
I've been reading and sharing the Intercept story on the Georgia Public Service Commission Race, and am wondering if anyone knows of a progressive organization or news source that tracks public utilities commission work across the country? As someone who works in that space in a reddish state, I know it can be a very impactful space to accomplish clean energy/climate work that doesn't get a lot of the coverage that legislative efforts do.
Hi Fish and Em, I am actually entering the part of our Envi Sci high school curriculum that focuses on the carbon cycle among others and introducing the boys to the concepts of feedback loops. Unfortunately, the week has been full of reports of positive feedback loops already already kicking in which I have read about but one webinar with Yale Blue Green alumni covered an Arctic Ice research program where they are studying the potential for spreading silicate glass beads on the surface of remaining "older" sea ice to help increase the albedo and stem the further losses of critically important sea ice at northern latitudes. Meanwhile Zack Labe's twitter feed shows we reached a new all time low point and delayed refreezing point on the annual measurement of sea ice minimums and refreeze.
My son's friend has a cat named Bear and our best friend's feline carries the moniker of Chicken, thus causing irreparable angst to the poor creatures in an age of existential identity angst. Much like poor old Fish.
Carbon Brief's hydrogen report. I haven't read it yet but want to get to it because I think that hydrogen economy stories are going to be the fossil fuel industry's next attempt(*) to survive / escape a reckoning. They get to keep the infrastructure and maybe even make the stuff out of methane if we really mess it up.
(* Like, my Dad is "waiting for hydrogen" rather than getting an electric car -- where did that come from?)
My jaw dropped while reading this story about truck owners evading emission controls, which sickens fellow Americans and accelerates the climate crisis, but it appears nothing is being done to reduce the practice? Everyone was excited to go after VW for doing much the same thing, but with lower emission effects. I hope this story can get more traction, or follow up.
This is almost 2 years old now, but just popped up on my radar. Really interesting insight into how complicated even a simple initiative at the most local level can be. Gives me a lot to think about.
'Astongate' has been doing the rounds on (UK / Euro) climate twitter over the last week or so. First of all The Times published an article about how EVs are bad for the climate. It was pretty quickly debunked by Auke Hoekstra (https://twitter.com/AukeHoekstra/status/1332464525602410498) and then Michael Liebreich discovered it was created by a fake PR company created by Aston Martin, with help from Bosch, Honda and McLaren (https://twitter.com/MLiebreich/status/1332721360456593408).
Maybe you're well aware of this, but the climate case against Shell started two days ago in the Netherlands. A group of climate organizations is trying to force Shell to reduce emissions, because they're a danger to the global emission reduction targets.
If the judges rule against Shell, this might be the start of many cases against big polluters worldwide.
The story I'm worried about right now is the Adani mine which is wanting a $1B loan from State Bank of India [1] (because no bank here will touch them) and I'm both anxious that it's out of our control but encouraged by protests all over the globe.
Adani has also just been fined [2] for breaking their environmental permits. At the start of this year one of their main contractors Siemens said, after much pressure by Germany's Fridays For Future organisers [3], that they'd only work with Adani if they complied with all the requirements of their mining lease. So I wonder if this is another angle we can use to stop the mine.
It just makes me think about how we need to keep organising collectively, globally.
Not sure if this counts as a "climate story" BUT have you heard of the book - Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All by Michael Shellenberger...
The Right is LOVING it - retweeting, quoting it, supporting it - as a way to say Climate Change is over blown by the left. Reminds me of the right hype around Michale Moore's doc :/
I haven't dug deep into the book yet but as I was reading all the discussion on twitter I thought "I hope Emily does a hot take on this! I need to know what the smart climate people have to say about it...."
Fish is wonderful <3 Like cookies and cream ice cream in dog form! I hope it's okay to share something I just made: http://www.birdandmoon.com/comic/strategies/ It's a comic with quotes from various fossil fuel industry people/documents, so I got to spend several days reading some of the scummiest documents I've ever read, oof. I adore HEATED and all that you do.
Nevada released it's Nevada Climate Strategy last night (https://climateaction.nv.gov/)-- while the stories are just starting to come out in NV about it, local activists are digging into reading through this modernized strategy plan and wrap our heads around how we do this with massive budget cuts coming
My favorite climate story right now is the way politics is shaping up to favor strong bipartisan climate solutions, while experts are being put into key positions in the new Administration who know what they are doing.
Two things:
(1) Mock COP led by youth climate leaders
(2) Report finds "More Women in Boardrooms Mean Better Climate Policy, BNEF Says"
A very unlikely climate solution, in honor of Fish: letting big fish die and collect carbon on the ocean floor https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2020/11/an-unexpected-climate-champion-big-fish/
I liked the @drvox piece advising Biden to do everything at once. https://twitter.com/drvox/status/1333846634862682112
Fish is adorable. :-)
LOVE the ears! (The best kind of roommate because, even if they eat your saved food, they never get pissy.)
Cute. My daughter just got a puppy named Squid. Marine dog names are in, it seems.
Yes, Fish is SO adorable!!
I also have my eyes on youth climate activists in the United States. Biden/Kamala have no time to lose when they take office on Jan. 20. Where do young climate activists say the new administration should start working first?
Fish is wonderful!
Hi, lotsa likes! I hope you will keep a close eye on Kerry, help us keep track of what he’s doing and saying. Yesterday he was with the Maine Governor’s Climate Council lauding the release of its “Action Plan,” and he was OK - but he for some reason felt compelled to point out that the U.S. is responsible for only 13% (I think) of global emissions, and until the rest of the world does its part, blah blah blah. I felt this was a bad omen for his coming forays into world climate cooperation!
Also, please note Gutierrez’s passionate plea for carbon pricing and remember to explore both EnROADS climate simulator and https://energyinnovationact.org/ for a just and equitable carbon pricing approach!!!! Thanks for being awesome
The news that caught my eye today was this — and I see that you’re quoted in the article! https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/arctic/
Fish is really adorable and needs to be squeezed at every opportunity!
We need more discussion about the relationship between roads and the climate crisis; the Tongass smash-and-grab deal may be a good route into it:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/tongass-national-forest-americas-last-climate-sanctuary/
Please consider interviewing Ben Goldfarb, who is writing a book about road ecology. Goldfarb won the PEN/E.O. Wilson Science Writing Award last year for a book on beavers, who are also critical to climate conversations out west.
Congrats on your new digs! Enjoy your time with your new roommates. Life is so much better when having friends and four legged companions. Thanks for all of your work and advocacy!
HI FISH!
I am excited that you have added Fish to our group. Good decision. He makes me smile. Thanks for all your good work.
I’m thinking about the movement to “monetize” nature’s value using wall street’s own tactics against it to save nature. I am really struggling to determine if this is really going to help fight climate change and increase biodiversity or if it will just put us on the wrong track and would love to hear both sides of the argument.
This group seeks to value/monetize the intrinsic value of the services nature provides and lost it on their exchange so people can invest in nature:
https://www.the-ive.com/about
There is also a movement to adjust official profits for the impact they have on the climate:
Impact-Weighted Accounts - Harvard Business School https://www.hbs.edu/impact-weighted-accounts/Pages/default.aspx
The big news here is that Maine just yesterday went public with its Climate Action Plan after a year and a half in the making. The 39 member Maine Climate Council, assisted by nearly 200 other experts in various working groups, and pushed hard by a well organized coalition of non-profits, developed one of the most ambitious plans in the country. John Kerry "attended" the launch and pointed to this as a nation leading effort. Big takeaway is that a small state with a well organized movement can have an outsized impact. https://www.maine.gov/future/initiatives/climate/climate-council
I 💚 Fish! 🐶
https://www.baltimorebrew.com/2020/04/22/baltimore-will-appeal-clean-air-act-ruling-solicitor-says/
This is not necessarily a recent event, but it is current. Baltimore City is engaged in an ongoing legal battle to pass the Baltimore Clean Air Act, regulating how industry pollutes - specifically the major trash incinerator in South Baltimore.
The recent climate Twitter and energy Twitter discussion on net zero emissions technologies (NETs) and CCUS (carbon capture and storage).
It was sparked by David Wallace-Wells sharing this book chapter written in 2018 by Wim Carton. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345992520_Carbon_unicorns_and_fossil_futures_Whose_emission_reduction_pathways_is_the_IPCC_performing
Climate scientists and energy experts weighed in and there was an extended discussion - Glen Peters, Jesse Jenkins, and David Roberts chimed in, among many others.
NETs and CCUS are relied on somewhat heavily in IPCC modeling for the more ambitious emissions reduction scenarios. The trouble is, these are not off-the-shelf technologies that can be rolled out at the pace and scale needed for decarbonization - they should not be relied upon to get us to net-zero emissions.
Electrification and renewable energy rollout should be the main focus while NETs and CCUS are developed and become scalable. Relying too heavily on yet-to-be produced/scaled/tested technologies is akin to kicking the can down the road and hoping for a silver bullet to get to net zero emissions.
Fossil fuel companies can use the same technology to continue BAU and reach net-zero emissions so its wise for anyone that cares about climate to be vigilant when looking at how CCUS and NETs are used, especially when they feature heavy in IPCC reports. The last 15% we can’t decarbonize (heavy industrial processes requiring high temperatures) will need these technologies, they are essential, but having them detract from renewable energy rollout would be unwise.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/oct/15/the-great-unravelling-i-never-thought-id-live-to-see-the-horror-of-planetary-collapse
This article has moved me very much this week.
Line 3, a tar sands oil pipeline through northern MN, gets final permits and starts construction while appeals are pending and while Gov and state agencies are promoting electric cars and other climate change actions. Stay of construction filed by two tribes, we'll find out today if state's DOC joins the stay request.
My local chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby shared this article with us this morning:
"This is another fabulous article from Our World In Data: https://ourworldindata.org/cheap-renewables-growth. It may indicate we don't have to worry so much about pushing the economics with pricing fossil fuels, but seems wonderful that both efforts - high tech and CFD - have terrific promise. Some of the charts will be useful for presentations/education."
I've been reading and sharing the Intercept story on the Georgia Public Service Commission Race, and am wondering if anyone knows of a progressive organization or news source that tracks public utilities commission work across the country? As someone who works in that space in a reddish state, I know it can be a very impactful space to accomplish clean energy/climate work that doesn't get a lot of the coverage that legislative efforts do.
Here's the story: https://theintercept.com/2020/11/23/georgia-runoff-public-service-commissioner/
Hi Fish and Em, I am actually entering the part of our Envi Sci high school curriculum that focuses on the carbon cycle among others and introducing the boys to the concepts of feedback loops. Unfortunately, the week has been full of reports of positive feedback loops already already kicking in which I have read about but one webinar with Yale Blue Green alumni covered an Arctic Ice research program where they are studying the potential for spreading silicate glass beads on the surface of remaining "older" sea ice to help increase the albedo and stem the further losses of critically important sea ice at northern latitudes. Meanwhile Zack Labe's twitter feed shows we reached a new all time low point and delayed refreezing point on the annual measurement of sea ice minimums and refreeze.
My son's friend has a cat named Bear and our best friend's feline carries the moniker of Chicken, thus causing irreparable angst to the poor creatures in an age of existential identity angst. Much like poor old Fish.
Hey Fish! What a stud
I just finished reading Ministry For the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson last night. It's a climate story through and through.
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/kim-stanley-robinson/the-ministry-for-the-future/9780316300162/
Carbon Brief's hydrogen report. I haven't read it yet but want to get to it because I think that hydrogen economy stories are going to be the fossil fuel industry's next attempt(*) to survive / escape a reckoning. They get to keep the infrastructure and maybe even make the stuff out of methane if we really mess it up.
(* Like, my Dad is "waiting for hydrogen" rather than getting an electric car -- where did that come from?)
Good luck getting settled in!
My jaw dropped while reading this story about truck owners evading emission controls, which sickens fellow Americans and accelerates the climate crisis, but it appears nothing is being done to reduce the practice? Everyone was excited to go after VW for doing much the same thing, but with lower emission effects. I hope this story can get more traction, or follow up.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/25/climate/diesel-trucks-air-pollution.html
Not recent, but this is my #1 go-to article on climate change, on how to address people's Immunity to Change in working with them through their emotional reactivity and towards effective collaborative action: https://medium.com/@dennis.wittrock/immunity-to-climate-change-ce4b366ed66
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-11/why-detroiters-didn-t-trust-city-tree-planting-efforts
This is almost 2 years old now, but just popped up on my radar. Really interesting insight into how complicated even a simple initiative at the most local level can be. Gives me a lot to think about.
'Astongate' has been doing the rounds on (UK / Euro) climate twitter over the last week or so. First of all The Times published an article about how EVs are bad for the climate. It was pretty quickly debunked by Auke Hoekstra (https://twitter.com/AukeHoekstra/status/1332464525602410498) and then Michael Liebreich discovered it was created by a fake PR company created by Aston Martin, with help from Bosch, Honda and McLaren (https://twitter.com/MLiebreich/status/1332721360456593408).
It's now back in the UK press, but this time the angle is that Aston Martin created a 'sockpuppet PR firm' to spread misinformation (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/dec/02/aston-martin-pr-firm-anti-electric-vehicle-study). Sound familiar?
I consider the Prime Directive to be 'make love and love what you make'. I always wanted children and have two in their 30s now. The upcoming new Hockey Stick curve with humans not reproducing has begun. This NYPost article summarizes a recent study: https://nypost.com/2020/11/27/climate-change-fears-keep-americans-from-having-kids-study/
I'm thinking about Ben Shapiro's comment that lower income residents who are built on flood plains near the sea should simply "sell their homes" before it gets too late. https://www.indy100.com/news/ben-shapiro-climate-change-video-sea-level-comedian-8939886 in light of this story https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/1/21747466/rising-sea-levels-flood-affordable-housing-2050
Maybe you're well aware of this, but the climate case against Shell started two days ago in the Netherlands. A group of climate organizations is trying to force Shell to reduce emissions, because they're a danger to the global emission reduction targets.
If the judges rule against Shell, this might be the start of many cases against big polluters worldwide.
This article focuses on Whitebark pine trees but what I hadn't thought about was that species move up mountains to adapt to increasing temperatures and eventually, like the Whitebark tree, they will run out of place to retreat to. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/01/whitebark-pine-trees-dying-us-west-environment
And here is Zack Labe's cool graphic site for Arctic Sea Ice. https://sites.uci.edu/zlabe/arctic-sea-ice-extentconcentration/
Signing in from Australia - and hello Fish!
The story I'm worried about right now is the Adani mine which is wanting a $1B loan from State Bank of India [1] (because no bank here will touch them) and I'm both anxious that it's out of our control but encouraged by protests all over the globe.
Adani has also just been fined [2] for breaking their environmental permits. At the start of this year one of their main contractors Siemens said, after much pressure by Germany's Fridays For Future organisers [3], that they'd only work with Adani if they complied with all the requirements of their mining lease. So I wonder if this is another angle we can use to stop the mine.
It just makes me think about how we need to keep organising collectively, globally.
That's all, please stay safe up there everyone! 🙏
[1] https://science.thewire.in/environment/stop-adani-protests-carmichael-coal-mine-sbi-loan-new-coal-financing/
[2] https://www.smh.com.au/national/queensland/deeply-inadequate-adani-fined-25k-for-breaching-environmental-approval-20201202-p56jy3.html
[3] https://www.rechargenews.com/wind/fridays-for-future-activist-snubs-seat-on-siemens-energy-board/2-1-736495
I found this article pretty interesting. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2020/11/27/climate-solutions-seaweed-methane/
Not sure if this counts as a "climate story" BUT have you heard of the book - Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All by Michael Shellenberger...
The Right is LOVING it - retweeting, quoting it, supporting it - as a way to say Climate Change is over blown by the left. Reminds me of the right hype around Michale Moore's doc :/
I haven't dug deep into the book yet but as I was reading all the discussion on twitter I thought "I hope Emily does a hot take on this! I need to know what the smart climate people have to say about it...."
ANYWAYS Fish is adorbs & Happy unpacking!
Fish is wonderful <3 Like cookies and cream ice cream in dog form! I hope it's okay to share something I just made: http://www.birdandmoon.com/comic/strategies/ It's a comic with quotes from various fossil fuel industry people/documents, so I got to spend several days reading some of the scummiest documents I've ever read, oof. I adore HEATED and all that you do.
Nevada released it's Nevada Climate Strategy last night (https://climateaction.nv.gov/)-- while the stories are just starting to come out in NV about it, local activists are digging into reading through this modernized strategy plan and wrap our heads around how we do this with massive budget cuts coming
So glad to hear you on NPR! Great
Such a cute doggie! <3 <3
This seems good if governments and corporations listen https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-55147647
This phenomenally bad news - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3418075878305925&set=a.593401674106707&type=3
My favorite climate story right now is the way politics is shaping up to favor strong bipartisan climate solutions, while experts are being put into key positions in the new Administration who know what they are doing.
John Kerry's real role in Biden's climate plans - https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/daily-on-energy-john-kerrys-real-role-in-bidens-climate-plans
"The fastest way to cut carbon emissions is a ‘fee’ and a dividend, top leaders say" - https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/the-fastest-way-to-cut-carbon-emissions-is-a-fee-and-a-rebate-top-leaders-say/2020/02/13/b63b766c-4cfc-11ea-bf44-f5043eb3918a_story.html
Economist's non-partisan statement supporting cash-back carbon pricing: http://clcouncil.org/economists-statement
Bipartisan climate policy under Biden - https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05112020/election-2020-biden-mcconnell-senate-climate-change-policy
Senator Murkowski, Alaskan Republican, on the potential for bipartisan carbon fee and dividend climate legislation - https://www.youtube.com/embed/aE6vxzWJRts?start=2701&end=2719&autoplay=1&rel=0
The GHG emissions-reducing power of federal Carbon Fee and Dividend legislation: https://sites.google.com/view/carbon-cashback-coalition/benefits?authuser=0#h.p_uJeLR2lAMFce
The highly progressive result of returning all the money collected from a carbon fee paid by fossil fuel producers back to all households on an equal basis each month: https://sites.google.com/view/carbon-cashback-coalition/benefits?authuser=0#h.p_DLj-w4bIRMlJ
This phenomenally good news - https://ourworldindata.org/cheap-renewables-growth?fbclid=IwAR0jnTMIv0QC8T_aCgTmIegn6wmk0TH_LYuD5xTaVi7Nuab_axznPHcPLM8
PS- Check Janet Yellen re carbon fee and dividend. She's right.
Some good coverage of youth climate activists being included in this morning's BBC OS program: check it out-- https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w172xsx4c45sd19
And welcome, Fish: rat terrier? Pretty darn beautiful....
Terrified by the story on Slate about the Supreme Court : https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/12/supreme-court-gundy-doctrine-administrative-state.amp