OCTOBER 10, 2022
Dear Friends:
We reference the amazing legislative accomplishments of the Biden administration and of Governor Newsom’s budget and legislative session. Globally, the U.S. has an unprecedented chance to meet the Paris goals. Still, it is complicated and vast. We try to convey some of these trends. Excerpts cover August to early October 2022. Check out events at the end.
Belle, Victoria, and the Climate Team
Links to Articles
U.S. CLIMATE POLICY – LEGISLATION, REGS, POLITICS
Senate passes the climate and tax bill, with all Republicans opposed.
The climate bill could short-circuit EV tax credits, making qualifying for them nearly impossible
WTO Threats Against US Electric Vehicle Tax Credit Prompt Calls for 'Climate Peace Clause'
"It's time to end this circular firing squad where countries threaten and, if successful, weaken or repeal one another's climate measures through trade and investment agreements."
Can Biden’s climate bill undo the fossil fuel industry’s decades of harm?
After Signing Climate Bill, Biden Prepares More Actions to Cut Emissions
Regulations from the E.P.A. and elsewhere will help the president meet his aggressive climate goals, administration officials say.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/us/politics/biden-climate-bill-emissions.html
Expansion of Clean Energy Loans Is ‘Sleeping Giant’ of Climate Bill
The bill President Biden signed into law recently will greatly expand government loans and loan guarantees for clean energy and automotive projects and businesses.
A Frustrating Hassle Holding Electric Cars Back: Broken Chargers
Owners of battery-powered cars sometimes struggle to refuel on longer trips because public chargers don’t work or malfunction while cars are plugged in.
Why We Don’t Have a Carbon Tax
Climate Change Could Worsen Supply Chain Turmoil
A drought that has crippled economic activity in southwestern China hints at the kind of disruption that climate change could wreak on global supply chains.
Solomon Hsiang, the Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and a co-director of the Climate Impact Lab, agreed that trade might simultaneously make the world more resilient to these disasters and more vulnerable.
EUROPE
‘The new normal’: how Europe is being hit by a climate-driven drought crisis
Water shortages across the continent, from France through Italy, Spain and beyond, are creating a critical situation.
Energy citizenship: Europe’s communities forging a low-carbon future
From solar panels in the Netherlands to biomass burners in Spain, communities across Europe are increasingly making, consuming and selling their own energy, a trend the EU sees as vital if the bloc is to meet its climate targets.
EXTREME WEATHER: SCIENCE, IMPACTS
A ‘Nightmare’ for Forecasters: Here’s Why Hurricanes Are Getting Stronger, Faster (see attached)
In a First Study of Pakistan’s Floods, Scientists See Climate Change at Work
A growing field called attribution science is helping researchers rapidly assess the links between global warming and weather disasters.
The floods in Pakistan are the deadliest in a recent string of eye-popping weather extremes across the Northern Hemisphere: relentless droughts in the Horn of Africa, Mexico and China; flash floods in West and Central Africa, Iran and the inland United States; searing heat waves in India, Japan, California, Britain and Europe.
AG
Climate-Smart Agriculture Has the Wind at its Back
Scientists Boost Crop Performance by Engineering a Better Leaf
Researchers increased yield in soy plants by making them better at photosynthesis, the process that powers life. The findings hold promise for feeding a warming world.
From solar panels to biomass burners, boom in green initiatives seen as vital to achieving EU climate targets.
As Congress funds high-tech climate solutions, it also bets on a low-tech one: Nature
From boosting forest preservation to incentivizing climate-smart farming practices, the Inflation Reduction Act includes an acknowledgement that land is a profound ally in the fight against climate change.
Electrification – technologies
Batteries Included: EV Aviation Taking Off
Demand on the rise for electric vehicle charging at multifamily properties
Geothermal’s Methane Challenge
September 1, 2022
Geothermal energy is a wild card, and potential game changing technology in the coming decade – as advanced drilling techniques pioneered by the fracking industry make possible wells at a depth unthought of 20 years ago.
Tony Ingraffea PhD is the Dwight C. Baum Professor of Engineering Emeritus and a Weiss Presidential Teaching Fellow at Cornell University.
California
California’s historic ban on gas-powered cars includes one major exception
The science behind California’s worsening heat waves, explained
Chronicle Editorial Board
The clock is ticking to decarbonize California. For all its flaws, Prop. 30 is a crucial effort to meet the urgency of the moment.
Why is Lyft bankrolling this California ballot measure on electric cars?
Democrats Designed the Climate Law to Be a Game Changer. Here’s How.
California E.V. Mandate Finds a Receptive Auto Industry
Marin
Marin assemblyman’s housing mandate reform adopted into law
Biomass
A Backbone For The Circular Economy, Kore Infrastructure Turns Trash Into Treasure
Marin study explores new uses for biomass
By WILL HOUSTON | whouston@marinij.com |
Wildfires
Case Against Commercial Logging in Wildfire-Prone Forests
By Chad Hanson and Michael Dorsey
How to Save a Forest by Burning It
Prescribed burns, an age-old practice that rids forests of the small trees, brush and other matter than can fuel wildfires, are getting a 21st-century upgrade.
How New Mexico's Largest Wildfire Set Off a Drinking Water Crisis...
Forest Service employees lost control of two prescribed burns
Two fires that merged to create the largest wildfire in New Mexico history have both been traced to prescribed burns set by U.S. forest managers as preventative measures, federal investigators announced Friday.
Fossil Fuels
Oil Executives Privately Contradicted Public Statements on Climate, Files Show
The documents, subpoenaed in a House investigation of climate disinformation, show company leaders contravening industry commitments.
Documents obtained by congressional investigators show that oil industry executives privately downplayed their companies’ own public messages about efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and weakened industry-wide commitments to push for climate policies.
Global Trends
Kathmandu Finally Got Tap Water. After a Climate Disaster, It Was Gone.
Water that had finally gushed from household taps in Kathmandu, drawing shouts of joy from rooftops, abruptly went dry. A painful realization soon set in: The project had never seriously accounted for climate change, even as evidence of the risk of Himalayan glacial melt mounted. And now it must go back to the drawing board.
Pakistan’s Crisis only Deepens
October 9, 2022
EVENTS
Thursday, October 13 at Noon
Home electrification offers tremendous benefits for low and moderate income families to increase comfort and safety, and to lower energy burdens. We will hear from Efficiency Maine and The Portland Clean Energy Fund about the exciting programs they are implementing to deliver electrification equitably.
Wednesday and Thursday, October 19 & 20
How are Marin residents adapting their homes to combat climate change, improve air quality, generate clean energy, and move towards a safer, healthier, greener, more resilient future? The free, virtual Marin Home Tour features short video tours of 10 Marin homes, followed by live Q&As with homeowners. Extras include short presentations on heat pumps, induction cooking, solar + storage, rebates, and more. This event is a project of Sustainable Marin. Learn more and register at MarinGreenHomeTour.org.