#Vermont has become the first state to enact a law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a share of the damage caused by climate change after the state suffered catastrophic summer flooding and damage from other extreme weather. #ClimateCrisis
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/vermont-1st-state-require-oil-companies-pay-damage-110709150
climatecrisis
#Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) will withdraw the state from particip in CA’s tough auto emissions standards at end of this year, using opinion from Virginia AG Jason S. Miyares (R) as justification for undoing an action taken by Gen Assembly.
“Once again, Virginia is declaring independence — this time from a misguided electric vehicle mandate imposed by unelected leaders nearly 3,000 miles away from the Commonwealth”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/06/05/youngkin-virginia-auto-emissions-california/
👍🏻 #Volkswagen Will Invest Up to $5 Billion in #Rivian
#VW & Rivian, a maker of #ElectricTrucks that has struggled to increase sales & break even, will work together on #software & other #tech.
#EV #ElectricVehicles #Climate #ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange #CorporateResponsibility
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/25/business/volkswagen-rivian-vw-investment.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
Today, there are around 1.31 billion personal vehicles (cars, trucks, and SUVs) in the world. Of those, only about 2% are hybrid or electric. The other 98% are ICE vehicles burning gasoline/petrol.
By 2050, it’s estimated we’ll have about 2.21 billion vehicles in the world. That’s a HUGE number, almost 70% greater than today.
But how many of those will be electric? Instead of only 2%, it’s expected they will increase to around 31% of the total.
That sounds great! More EVs is a good thing, right?
Well, if 31% are EVs in 2050, that means the other 69% will *still* be ICE vehicles burning gas/petrol. So the number of cars and trucks and SUVs burning fossil fuels will go UP from 1.28 billion now to about 1.52 billion by 2050.
That’s… not so good.
We don’t *need* more cars, more traffic, more congestion, more pollution, more road damage, and more CO2 emissions.
What we need is:
- More bicycles
- More electric bikes
- More pedestrians
- More mass transit
- More light rail
NOT MORE CARS!!
#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual
Climate crisis = forced immigration.
Have you noticed that the politicians who say there are "waves" and "invasions" of immigrants are the same politicians who refuse to fight the climate crisis that is causing mass migration that can only get much much worse?
#Switzerland is on course to approve a law aimed at accelerating the development of renewable energy as the country targets carbon neutrality by 2050, a polling institute said -AFP #ClimateCrisis
A record-breaking number of mosquitoes are carrying West Nile virus around Las Vegas
Climate change is expanding the reach of insect-borne diseases. #LasVegas' exploding mosquito population offers a case study of what's to come. #ClimateCrisis #Nevada
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/las-vegas-mosquitoes-carrying-west-nile-virus-record-rcna157818
“Good Day Sunshine: Thanks to the remarkable recent growth in #solar power, the world was expected to get roughly a fifth of its total electricity from the sun during the solstice, according to a new report on clean-energy capacity.” #ClimateCrisis
https://www.newsweek.com/good-day-sunshine-solar-hits-record-global-power-supply-summer-solstice-1915500
Didn't sleep much - its the heat. Can't really get going today - its the heat. Can't stay in - its the heat. Can't go out - its the heat. Remind me again why its important our governments urgently do nothing sustainable to remedy the climate disruption they've already caused through greed, corruption and ecocide. I'll wait, not going anywhere. 🤬
#climate #heatwave #COP29 #climateCrisis #GeneralElectionUK #WaveneyValley #NorthHerefordshire #BristolCentral #BrightonPavilion #theGreenParty
Reality check - mid 2024
What are the emission reduction requirements for 2025, now that we have failed at the 2024 requirement?
Asking for the children.
Climate Groups Begin $55 Million Ad Campaign for Kamala #Harris -
“Several organizations focused on combating #ClimateCrisis joined forces on Monday for a $55 million advertising campaign in support of Vice President Kamala Harris, embracing what they describe as the economic upside of the Democratic Party’s environmental efforts.
The campaign will include ads in at least six swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/19/us/politics/climate-ads-kamala-harris.html
#JaredKushner wants to turn a wild stretch of #Albania into a luxury resort
#Kushner’s use of foreign funds is again coming under scrutiny. Environmentalists fear his planned resort could destroy a delicate #ecosystem.
In one of his several trips to Albania over the past few years, Jared Kushner went hiking along a stretch of #Mediterranean coastline w/pristine sand #dunes & cliff-lined #beaches.
#environment #conservation #Climate #ClimateCrisis #law
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/08/17/jared-kushner-resort-albania-environment/
Car parks with space for 80 cars or more are now required by law to be covered with solar panels.
- Parks between 80-400 spaces have 5 years to comply
- Parks with spaces of 400+ have 3 years to comply
This will result in about 11 gigawatts of power.
This should be required everywhere!
As I've mentioned before, I think there really is something to the idea that we should be fighting climate crisis by going after banks, and not just fossil fuel companies, and as such I am pretty excited about the “Summer of Heat” civil disobedience campaign going on right now, that does precisely that.
Activists Are Bringing the Heat to the Banks Funding Climate Crisis
"Backed by a coalition of more than 80 climate and racial justice groups, the “Summer of Heat” is convening every day on Wall Street all summer to take direct action against the financial institutions bankrolling the oil and gas industry. At the center of activists’ divestment demands is Citibank, the second largest financier of fossil fuels worldwide.
In an age of widespread climate nihilism, there is real reason to think that this campaign in particular could successfully push Citibank to change course on investing in fossil fuels. The multigenerational, multiracial, cross-class movement is highly strategic in its embrace of nonviolent direct action, marking “the first time in history that climate activists will hold an entire season of sustained civil disobedience protests targeting Wall Street and big banks for their role in fueling the climate crisis.” There is a track record of similar campaigns getting big wins. And there are signs that Citi is starting to crack under the sustained pressure."
Although corporate media is trying not to report it, and nihilists will tell you this sort of thing doesn't work, the fact is that disrupting the large financial institutions that underwrite the companies boiling us all like soup for five pennies a share *does* have a recent track record of success; as this very article notes similar campaigns have knocked banks like HSBC and Barclays out of the financing new oil and gas wells business, to say nothing of historically successful actions that forced banks to divest from coal, or even stop bankrolling businesses and investments in apartheid South African - a model that student protestors all across America have being trying to replicate by demanding their colleges and universities divest from Israel over its ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and its maintenance of an apartheid state in the occupied territories.
This stuff works, and the hundreds of Summer of Heat protestors who've already been arrested for these nonviolent protests are relying on us, the people, to get the word out about these actions and the establishment's repressive response to them to make these tactics more effective - because the universe knows corporate media sure isn't going to tell folks about it unless they don't have a choice.
"Still, Summer of Heat activists are determined to persist with their chosen tactics. In July, Citi obtained a restraining order against one 63-year-old protester named John Mark Rozendaal, a grandfather, professional cellist and adjunct music instructor at Princeton University. Flying in the face of the order, Rozendaal returned to the Citi headquarters on August 8 to perform J.S. Bach’s “Suites for Cello” in the bank’s public plaza. At Citi’s behest, the New York City Police Department arrested Rozendaal, who now faces up to seven years in prison.
“Rather than engage on the merits of their arguments and acknowledge the role they play, Citibank has chosen to unleash a brutal police crackdown on organizers,” New York City Council Member Alexa Avilés said in a statement. “You cannot incarcerate your way to a livable planet. I am calling on Citibank to drop the charges and commit to meeting our shared vision of a livable planet for generations to come.”
The simple truth is that they can't arrest us all; tell your friends about the Summer of Heat, the police violence being used to try and stop it, and fight climate crisis by protesting banks that fund fossil fuel production today!
#ClimateCrisis #SummerOfHeat #Citibank #WallStreet #DirectAction #Protest
THIS should be front-page news every day.
THIS should be the primary focus of every major world leader.
But it's not.
Instead, all we get is month after month of more Business As Usual.
‼️ 🚨 ‼️ 🚨 ‼️ 🚨 ‼️ 🚨 ‼️ 🚨 ‼️
Dr. Robert Rohde (@RARohde) delivers the latest update on our global climate emergency:
"The last 12 months were each at least 1.5°C (2.7°F) warmer than Berkeley Earth's 1850-1900 baseline. This brings the 12-month moving average of Earth's global temperature to a record high of +1.68°C (+3.02°F) above the 1850-1900 baseline, far surpassing previous short-term warming events."
See ➡️ https://fediscience.org/@RARohde/112824106977970378
Learn more ➡️ https://berkeleyearth.org/june-2024-temperature-update/
#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency
Changing tracts for a moment; scientists have made an incredible discovery that alters not only how we understand the deep ocean, but also may alter what we know about the Earth's supply of the very oxygen we breathe - and unsurprisingly, capitalists are already working on fucking that up without the slightest care in the world for the harm it may cause our biosphere.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c728ven2v9eo
Oxygen discovery defies knowledge of the deep ocean
"About half the oxygen we breathe comes from the ocean. But, before this discovery, it was understood that it was made by marine plants photosynthesizing - something that requires sunlight.
Here, at depths of 5km, where no sunlight can penetrate, the oxygen appears to be produced by naturally occurring metallic “nodules” which split seawater - H2O - into hydrogen and oxygen."
The article goes on to describe how we discovered these deep sea nodules which may take millions of years to form, what it means that oxygen is being produced without marine plant photosynthesis, and how this probably changes our understanding of deep sea life that likely depends on that oxygen (fish need oxygen, they just get it differently than we do.) Science lovers are encourage to read the whole piece.
What I want to focus on here however, is the fact that immediately after we've discovered this natural wonder, deep sea mining companies and resource-hungry capitalists are looking to literally rip these metallic nodules from the sea floor with virtually no concern for how that might affect our oceans, or even life on Earth.
"And because these nodules contain metals like lithium, cobalt and copper - all of which are needed to make batteries - many mining companies are developing technology to collect them and bring them to the surface.
But Prof Sweetman says the dark oxygen they make could also support life on the seafloor. And his discovery, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, raises new concerns about the risks of proposed deep-sea mining ventures."
Are life-giving, water oxygenating metallic nodules our only source of lithium, cobalt, and copper? Nope. Have deep sea mining companies studied the potential harm harvesting these nodules might cause? Nope. Might ripping them out of the water affect the delicate balance of not only ocean life but potentially how the oxygen we breath is distributed across multiple ecosystems and even the whole planet? Yeap. Does capitalism give a shit about any of that? Apparently not. The simple truth here is that we don't know how important these nodules are, and if the capitalists have their way we're going to start destroying them to make batteries before we even find out.
Look you can call me an alarmist if it'll make you feel better, but this story is merely a microcosm of the entire reason you're living on a boiling planet, facing down a mass extinction event that may well wipe out billions of people and destroy a habitable biosphere for countless other species as well.
We live in an extractivist culture, driven by the capitalist profit motive, where time and time again the need to keep stacking money for incomprehensibly rich ghouls is prioritized over not only nature, but the very survival of the human species. Capitalism is killing us, and literally nobody in the wealthy ruling classes, or the governments they've bought lock stock and barrel is doing anything about it, or shows any signs of even *trying* to do anything about it.
I don't know if tearing metallic nodules that produce dark oxygen from the ocean floor to make more Tesla batteries will compromise the planet's supply of the precious air we all breathe or not. But neither do the rich bastards that want to do it anyway. And you and I both know that if even if they did know, they wouldn't care.
At some point the human species is going to have to get serious about prioritizing life on Earth over the material demands of capitalists and rich people, or we're going to run out of life to commodify; or you know, the very air necessary to sustain our own existence as animals on a planet uniquely capable of supporting that life. One thing I *can* tell you is that after hundreds of years of capitalist predation of our shared biosphere, it is clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that neither the capitalists, nor the states they own, are going to make the right choices to ensure our survival, for us.
“Most of the world’s cities will be unable to host the Games during summer in the coming decades as they blow past the threshold of safe humid heat, according to a CNN analysis of data from CarbonPlan, a climate science and analytics-focused nonprofit group.” #ClimateCrisis
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/11/climate/olympics-cities-extreme-heat?cid=ios_app
For >30 years, the world’s largest #iceberg was stuck in the Antarctic. 5X the size of NYC’s land area & >1k feet deep, the mammoth piece of ice became loose in 2020 & began a slow drift toward the #SouthernOcean.
Now, #A23a, as it’s known, is spinning in place.
After leaving #Antarctic waters, the iceberg got stuck in a #vortex over a seamount….
#Climate #ClimateCrisis #GlobalWarming #ocean
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/07/science/a23a-iceberg-antarctica-spinning.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
FREEDOM is on your 2024 Ballot.
🔷THE FREEDOM TO:
🔹VOTE & have your vote counted fairly
🔹DECIDE your medical treatment with your provider
🔹STAY SAFE from gun violence
🔹EXERCISE ALL Constitutional Rights
🔹PAY equitable taxes
🔹UNIONIZE
🔹PROTECT the environment and mitigate #ClimateCrisis effects
🔹LEARN TRUTH at all educational levels
🔹DEMAND all officials (elected & appointed) to keep their Oath of Office
🔹DEMAND the Rule of Law be respected & maintained for all
🔹EXPECT social programs be sustained & funded
🔹SUPPORT immigration reform & the DREAM Act
🔹EXPECT international relations, treaties & promises be upheld
🔹CHOOSE your own religion, or NO religion, without coercion
Etc.
🔷 ONLY DEMOCRATS WILL PROVIDE & CONTINUE THESE FREEDOMS.
#Harris2024
#VoteBlueDownBallot
#GOTV
@kamalaharrisforpresident
Recently I've found myself engaged in multiple discouraging conversations about our rapidly unfolding climate catastrophe with a number of disheartened people ostensibly on the left. While none of these discussions have been unproductive, I've frequently found myself having to push back on the prevailing sentiment that "it's far too late" and "nothing can be done" to stop climate catastrophe, or even the extinction of human life on Earth. Setting aside the fact that this sentiment is both counter-productive, and ignores the scaling nature of the climate crisis problem entirely, a recent United Nations report indicates that these sentiments are likely a product of an active propaganda campaign designed to convince folks that preventing the worst case climate scenario is too difficult, if not entirely impossible. And who might be behind that propaganda campaign? If you guess "fossil fuel companies profiting directly from boiling our planet like soup," you win a gold star.
‘Massive disinformation campaign’ is slowing global transition to green energy
“There is this prevailing narrative – and a lot of it is being pushed by the fossil fuel industry and their enablers – that climate action is too difficult, it’s too expensive,” he said. “It is absolutely critical that leaders, and all of us, push back and explain to people the value of climate action, but also the consequences of climate inaction.”
He contrasted the perception of a backlash with the findings of the biggest poll ever conducted on the climate, which found clear majorities of people around the world supporting measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The survey found 72% of people wanted a “quick transition” away from fossil fuels, including majorities in the countries that produce the most coal, oil and gas. Green parties and plans may have suffered reverses in some parts of the world, he said, but in others they have gained seats, and seen policies that would once have been considered radical enter the mainstream."
Look, I'm not here to blow sunshine up your ass, and as I've written in the past, a simple transition from fossil fuel consumption to renewable energy isn't likely to solve *all* of our climate problems; at least in part because Pig Empire capitalism itself is unlikely to survive such a transition, and the rich people driving us all off the ecological cliff are fighting tooth and nail to preserve their wealth and power, which is itself underpinned by fossil fuel production and consumption. Despite these complications however, it's important to understand that combatting climate catastrophe is not impossible, it's not too late, and everyday people overwhelmingly support doing what must be done to preserve a habitable planet no matter how much our ruling classes and the capitalists who own everything in our society object to that proposition.
While it's true that taking action to fight the climate crisis sooner would have been better for humanity as a whole, and a certain portion of extremely negative effects on our society are already baked-in because of longstanding climate inaction, the idea that it's too late for our species and nothing can be done is not only inaccurate, but it's also being fed to you by folks who have a vested interest in continuing to burn the planet for profit, no matter how many people that kills. These people, whether they be fossil fuel executives or ruling class capitalists who're heavily invested in a fossil fuel driven world, want you to give up hope because it's worth trillions of dollars to them; to say nothing of the power over Pig Empire society the possession of all that money entails. If it truly were too late, if fighting back against the capitalist interests boiling us all for profit was truly pointless, they wouldn't be spending millions of dollars on propaganda campaigns and misinformation designed to get you to give up on the idea of fighting climate catastrophe and the capitalism that's causing it.
The plain truth, even if it's hard to recognize amid waves of disheartening propaganda, is that there is still hope for a planet habitable by 8B+ humans. Unfortunately however, that hope depends entirely on ending fossil fuel consumption, and the capitalist order that dominates all of Pig Empire society. Furthermore our leaders, who are wholly devoted to that capitalist order, and largely in the pockets of ultra-rich mass murderers who have every intention of killing billions to preserve their wealth and way of life, are at best unreliable partners (and at worst, an active impediment) to making the changes necessary to save our world, and the human species that lives on it. It's almost certainly going to take some type of global revolution to either convince them otherwise, or replace them with people who don't see murdering billions of people for the profit of a handful of billionaires as an acceptable option.
“The impact of #Trump enacting the climate policies of the rightwing #Project2025 would result in billions of tonnes of extra carbon pollution, wrecking the US’s climate targets, as well as wiping out clean energy investments & more than a mil jobs..
…US’s planet-heating emissions will “significantly increase” by 2.7bn tonnes above the current trajectory by 2030, an amount comparable to the entire annual emissions of India” #ClimateCrisis
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/14/trump-project-2025-climate
As society battles pervasive climate nihilism, the UN reveals that the fossil fuel industry is behind propaganda designed to convince you it’s too late.
https://www.ninaillingworth.com/2024/08/18/nina-bytes-induced-hopelessness/
Nina-Bytes: Induced Hopelessness
"While it’s true that taking action to fight the climate crisis sooner would have been better for humanity as a whole, and yes, the beginnings of some extremely negative effects on our society are already baked-in because of longstanding climate inaction, the idea that it’s too late for our species and that nothing can be done is inaccurate; it is propaganda being fed to you by the same ghouls who have a vested interest in continuing to burn the planet for profit, no matter how many people have to perish. Whether they be fossil fuel executives or ruling class capitalists heavily invested in a fossil fuel dependent world, these greedy death-clowns want you to give up hope because it’s worth not just trillions of dollars to them, but also the power over Pig Empire society that their syphoning of it enables. If it truly were too late, if fighting back against the capitalist interests boiling us all for profit was truly pointless, they wouldn’t be spending millions of dollars on propaganda campaigns and misinformation designed to get you to give up on the idea of fighting climate catastrophe and the capitalism that’s causing it. The best time to fight fossil fuel induced climate catastrophe was sixty years ago, but the second best time is right now; billions of people’s lives are depending on it, and it’s not too late to save them."
#ClimateCrisis #Capitalism #FossilFuels #ClimateNihilism #NotTooLate #Propaganda
👏🏻🤞🏼
“#Walz's effort to resolve a major obstacle to the clean energy transition nationwide is getting new attention since he was tapped as Kamala #Harris' running mate. His experience enacting such laws in Minnesota could position him as a leader on climate issues if Harris wins in November.” #ClimateCrisis https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/boosting-clean-energy-minnesota-walz-lays-foundation-climate-113132812
This is a terrifying article.
Methane, an extremely potent greenhouse gas, is increasing fast in our atmosphere — both from industrial emissions AND from "natural" sources triggered by global warming, which then cause more global warming, and so on, and so on...
_______________________________
New research shows that feedbacks in the climate system are boosting methane emissions from natural sources, especially tropical wetlands.
Scientists say that an abrupt surge in methane emissions in the early 2000s is probably due mainly to the response of wetlands to warming, with additional contributions coming from fossil fuel use, “implying that anthropogenic emissions must decrease more than expected to reach a given warming goal.”
Increasing rainfall, a well-documented impact of global warming, is making wetlands larger and wetter, and a warmer world fosters more plant growth, which means more decomposing material that emits methane.
About 60% of methane emissions are from fossil fuel use, farming, landfills, and waste, with the rest coming from rotting vegetation in wetlands in the tropics and Northern Hemisphere.
A new trouble spot is in the Arctic, where scientists recently found unexpectedly large methane emissions in winter. And globally, the increase in water vapor caused by global warming is slowing the rate at which methane breaks down in the atmosphere.
_______________________________
FULL ARTICLE -- https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28082024/surging-methane-emissions-major-climate-shift/
#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis
Via USA Today's Rex Huppke:
If you claim to care even a little about the environment, maybe don’t sit this election out.
Aaron Rupar:
#Trump says global warming “is not our problem” #ClimateCrisis