Dear Friends:
These next few weeks are critical for Biden’s climate legislation. For maximum effectiveness, we will let you know immediately what bills and Congressional committees to reach out to. Let us know what you know too.
Belle, Victoria and the Climate Team
Links to Articles
Infrastructure Bills (climate policies, fossil fuel lobbying)
At the heart of a budget bill is a powerful mechanism that would cut the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, which are fueling climate change.
The most powerful climate mechanism in that bill is a $150 billion incentive and penalty program designed to replace most of the nation’s coal- and gas-fired power plants over the next decade with wind, solar and nuclear plants. The program would pay electricity suppliers for increasing the amount of power they produce from clean zero-emissions sources, and fine those that don’t.
Congress is considering bills to help communities prepare for extreme weather and to cut the greenhouse gases that are driving climate change. But passage is not assured.
UN Reports and Glasgow
September 7, 2021
Pope Francis, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians issued a joint statement on Tuesday, pleading for delegates at the upcoming climate summit to “listen to the cry of the Earth” and take strides against climate change.
The joint statement is the first of its kind, issued by the top Christian leaders in the world, and pleaded for the attendees at the November summit and the world as a whole to make choices for the good of the planet.
An accounting of promises made by countries in the years since the Paris accord found that they are not enough to avoid drastic impacts from climate change.
August 30, 2021
An accounting of promises made by countries in the years since the Paris accord found that they are not enough to avoid drastic impacts from climate change.
“Now science is shouting from the rooftops that it’s time to level up actions in an order of magnitude sufficient to the challenge,” Christiana Figueres, a former head of the United Nations climate agency, said in a statement.”
Politics, regulations, deniers, advocacy, human interest
Executives from Exxon, Shell, BP and others are being called to testify in Congress next month after a secret recording this year exposed an Exxon official boasting of such efforts.
The office will be the first government effort to focus specifically on the public health dangers of global warming.
Nicolette Hahn Niman was an environmental lawyer who became a cattle rancher, and didn’t eat meat for 33 years. For both the ecosystem and human health, she argues, it’s how animals are farmed that matters
September 18, 2021
Extreme Weather (wildfires, drought, heat, flooding, hurricanes)
By Henry Fountain
Aug. 31, 2021
California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Utah faced historic heatwaves, which were made possible by human-caused global heating, a study found
By Coral Murphy Marcos, Photographs by Amanda Lucier
California Wildfires
Despite a visit meant to emphasize his actions on wildfires, experts say there is little the president can do for now to reduce the damage as climate change gets worse.
Until 2018, the largest wildfires in the state seldom burned more than 300,000 acres, according to state data. In 2018, the Ranch fire consumed more than 400,000 acres, and last year, the August Complex fire topped 1 million acres, making it the largest blaze in the state’s history.
The Dixie Fire Disaster and Me
Can My Town Rebuild After Losing It All?
Firebrands are pieces of flaming material that break off from burning vegetation or structures and are transported through the air. They particularly become a problem when heat and drought dry out grasses and trees and the wind picks up.
Climate Legislation
Amid drought and wildfire crises, the state’s powerful industries have stymied 12 bills meant to address climate change and industry accountability.
Natural and working lands are the state’s only resource that can safely and immediately remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere today. Investments in these lands now will provide climate benefits long into the future. AB 284 would have established a pathway forward to accomplish ambitious climate goals by implementing practices that reduce carbon while supporting natural and working lands.
Business leaders for a better environment, stronger economy
As members and supporters of E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs), we write in strong support of Assembly Bill 1395. AB 1395 is the next step in California’s climate leadership and will provide important market signals to drive job growth and investment in California’s clean energy economy while promoting safe and innovative carbon removal solutions.
This bill would establish the California Zero-Emission Vehicle Authority within the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.
The well-known three-arrows symbol doesn’t necessarily mean that a product is actually recyclable. A new bill would limit the products allowed to feature the mark.
Marin Climate
By Cynthia Koehler and Monty Schmitt
August 29, 2021
“Ecologically Sound Practices Partnership: Community Collaboration Delivers for the Environment,” Mike Swezy
Electrification: EVs, power grid, homes
The electric future is coming. But how quickly is less certain.
Science and Technologies
The Western drought will likely expand eastward, spreading to nearly all of Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska.
By Henry Fountain
The Solar Futures Study explores solar energy’s role in transitioning to a carbon-free electric grid. Produced by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and released on September 8, 2021, the study finds that with aggressive cost reductions, supportive policies, and large-scale electrification, solar could account for as much as 40% of the nation’s electricity supply by 2035 and 45% by 2050.
There’s worry that even discussing such ideas might open the door to using them.
"It's a major problem. We need a global governance mechanism to make sure that rogue actors don't begin tampering with the world climate system without adequate international consultation and assent," said Michael Gerrard, director of Columbia University's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.
Green hydrogen is more expensive to produce, but it can be manufactured with zero emissions using renewable electricity to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. Globally, less than two per cent of hydrogen is produced this way.
Aug. 31, 2021
After lying relatively dormant for the better part of the last decade, demand for voluntary carbon offsets has seen a sharp uptake since 2019, driven by the growing number of private entities that are starting to operationalize their net-zero pledges and seeking to neutralize the non-abated balance of their emissions.
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