Whatcom County Becomes First U.S. Refinery Community to Ban New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure
July 29, 2021 – the Energy Mix
A county on the northwest coast of Washington State has made a landmark decision to ban new fossil fuel development, reversing a trajectory that had it on course to become a gateway for oil, gas, and coal exports to Asia.
‘We Are in Deep, Deep Sh*t’: Climate Experts Shocked at Severity of Floods in Germany and Belgium
“This is your climate on fossil fuel.”
July 16, 2021 – JULIA CONLEY – Common Dreams
Climate scientists on Friday were stunned by the intensity of flooding in Germany and Belgium that killed at least 120 people and damaged tens of thousands of homes, with experts saying they did not expect such extreme weather to result from the human-caused climate crisis as rapidly as it has.
American west stuck in cycle of ‘heat, drought and fire’, experts warn
July 13, 2021 – The Guardian
As fires propagate throughout the US west on the heels of record heatwaves, experts are warning that the region is caught in a vicious feedback cycle of extreme heat, drought and fire, all amplified by the climate crisis.
Destroying Unsold Products Isn’t a Scandal, It’s How Amazon works
June 22, 2021 – Kevin Purdy – ifixit.com
… It’s cheaper for Amazon, and the companies leasing space in Amazon hubs, to simply destroy old inventory to make room for new items, rather than deal with the messy business of reselling, redistributing, or refurbishing them.
The media is still mostly failing to convey the urgency of the climate crisis
June 3, 2021 – Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope – the Guardian
… Today, all of humanity is under attack, this time from an overheated planet – and too many newsrooms still are more inclined to cover today’s equivalent of dance competitions.
1.5°C ‘Not Impossible’ with rapid action this decade, Climate scientists say.
May 24 –The Energy Mix
But whether Earth can stay within 1.5℃ warming involves two distinct questions, write veteran climate scientists… First, is it physically, technically and economically feasible. Second is whether governments will take sufficient action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This answer depends on the ambition of governments, and the effectiveness of campaigning by non-government organizations and others.
IT’S THE END OF OIL: BLOCKBUSTER IEA REPORT URGES NO NEW FOSSIL DEVELOPMENT
May 19, 2021 – Mitchell Beer- the Energy Mix
No new investment in oil, gas, or coal development, a massive increase in renewable energy adoption, speedy global phaseouts for new natural gas boilers and internal combustion vehicles, and a sharp focus on short-term action are key elements of a blockbuster Net Zero by 2050 report released Tuesday morning by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Climate scientists: concept of net zero is a dangerous trap
April 22, 2021 –
… a great idea, in principle. Unfortunately, in practice it helps perpetuate a belief in technological salvation and diminishes the sense of urgency surrounding the need to curb emissions now.
What next for councils who have declared a climate emergency?
March 24, 2021 – Centre For Alternative Technology, UK
Around three-quarters of local authorities in the UK have already declared a climate emergency. CAT’s Anna Bullen and Anthony Hurford look at how to move beyond declarations towards effective action.
New report Counts 600+ Cities In 72 Countries With 100% Renewable Energy Plans
March 23, 2021 – the Energy Mix
The latest global status report on renewable power in cities shows that 2020 was a good year for the development of targets and policies at the municipal level, with more than 610 municipalities in 72 countries setting 100% renewable energy targets by year’s end.
Time To Invest Now As Governments Devote Just 18% Of Covid Spending To Green Recovery
March 12, 2021 – the Energy Mix
The world’s 50 biggest economies devoted just 2.5% of their budgets in 2020 and only 18% of their pandemic spending to green recovery measures, according to a new analysis released this week by the University of Oxford and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Sketchy Carbon Accounting Turns Net-Zero Targets Into “Weapons-Grade Greenwash”, Scientist Warns
March 10, 2021 – the Energy Mix
… but while new national climate commitments, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), roll out ahead of this year’s UN climate conference in Glasgow, “a more insidious problem is emerging,” Lewis writes. “Net-zero increasingly involves highly questionable carbon accounting. As a result, the new politics swirling around net-zero targets is rapidly becoming a confusing and dangerous mix of pragmatism, self-delusion, and weapons-grade greenwash.”
Thousands of Indian women join farmers’ protests against new laws
Thousands of female farmers hold sit-ins and a hunger strike outside India’s capital on International Women’s Day against new agricultural laws.
![Women farmers attend a protest against farm laws on International Women's Day near Haryana-Delhi border [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-03-08T103605Z_1068191500_RC2U6M9T8OKS_RTRMADP_3_INDIA-FARMS-PROTESTS.jpg?resize=770%2C513)
Thousands of women have joined protests by farmers on the outskirts of New Delhi to mark International Women’s Day, demanding the scrapping of new agricultural laws that open up the country’s vast farm sector to private buyers.
The tweet below and the next two stories are the same story. It’s all about Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and the Gulf Stream. You need to know about this stuff. We are running out of time.
Atlantic Ocean circulation at weakest in a millennium, say scientists
Fiona Harvey – Environment correspondent – the Guardian – Fri 26 Feb 2021
Decline in system underpinning Gulf Stream could lead to more extreme weather in Europe and higher sea levels on US east coast
A Major Ocean Current Could Be on The Verge of a Devastating ‘Tipping Point’
DAVID NIELD -sciencealert.com – 25 FEBRUARY 2021
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) sea currents are vital in transporting heat from the tropics to the Northern Hemisphere, but new research suggests climate change might knock the AMOC out of action much sooner than we anticipated.
Mark Carney: Climate crisis deaths ‘will be worse than Covid’
By Sharanjit Leyl
BBC News Published 5 February,2021
The world is heading for mortality rates equivalent to the Covid crisis every year by mid-century unless action is taken, according to Mark Carney.
Polar Vortex: How the Jet Stream and Climate Change Bring on Cold Snaps
It might seem counterintuitive, but global warming plays a role in blasts of bitter cold weather. The reason: It influences the jet stream. Here’s how.
By Bob Berwyn – Inside Climate News – February 2, 2018
CAPITAL MARKETS ‘SHIFT DECISIVELY’ OUT OF OIL AND GAS AS INVESTORS PLACE THEIR BETS ON RENEWABLES
FEBRUARY 10, 2021 – the Energy Mix
Investors are increasingly placing their bets with renewable energy and abandoning oil and gas, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis reports, in an analysis that shows capital markets “shifting decisively towards cleaner investments”.
Investors Are Backing Away From Fossils
As more movers and shakers begin to agree with climate advocates for financial as well as environmental reasons, a permanent shift within the energy industry seems to be taking shape.
By Below2C | Yale Climate Connection| @CC_Yale -January 24, 2021
German EV Market Reaches Escape Velocity — Record 27% Share In December
January 8th, 2021 by Dr. Maximilian Holland – Germany, Europe’s largest auto market and the 4th largest in the world, achieved 26.6% plugin electric vehicle share in December. This is a stunning ascent from the 4.0% share seen in December 2019… 2020’s plugin vehicle sales grew over 2019 by a huge 263% to 394,632 units.
Denmark Wants to Make It Illegal to Ignore Climate Change
BY AUDREY ENJOLI Denmark has passed an ambitious law that makes it illegal to not act on climate change. The country’s new law, called the Climate Act, aims to ensure that Denmark will reduce its carbon emissions by 70 percent in 2030 compared to 1990 levels. The law also aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Windfarms in Great Britain break record for clean power generation
Sat Dec 19, 2020 – the Guardian- Blustery winter weather helped Great Britain’s windfarms set a record for clean power generation, which made up more than 40% of its electricity on Friday.
Our Stuff Weighs More Than All Living Things on the Planet
2020 was the year in which the weight of “human-made mass”—all the stuff we’ve built and accumulated—exceeded the weight of biomass on the planet.
By Bill McKibben – the New Yorker – December 17, 2020
Emergency ? – December 3, 2020
bloomberg.com – – Denmark will stop offering new oil and gas licenses in the North Sea and will phase out production all together in 2050 as part of the country’s goal to become fossil free.
@GretaThunberg – – The real news here is that Denmark will apparently go on extracting fossil fuels for another 3 decades. To us children, this is not the “good news” that some people seem to think. We’re in a climate emergency. Act accordingly.
Tasmania declares itself 100 per cent powered by renewable electricity
https://reneweconomy.com.au/
The Tasmania government has declared that it has become the first Australian state, and one of just a handful of jurisdictions worldwide, to be powered entirely by renewable electricity.
Michael Mazengarb –
FYI — Renew Economy is a great site to read about Clean Energy transition down under. You can also subscribe to their daily newsletter.
The Driven, EV news from Australia, features on the Renew Economy website and in every newsletter
“Age of the Jetsons”: Australian company unveils what it claims to be the world’s first electric air ambulance– Michael Mazengarb – 25 November 2020
MANUFACTURER SHUTS 3,400 MW OF CAPACITY AS COAL BECOMES ‘LITMUS TEST’ FOR CHINA’S CARBON NEUTRAL PLEDGE
The world’s biggest aluminum and textile producer has shuttered 3,400 MW of coal-fired generating capacity in China’s Shandong province, even as the country weighs the more than US$300 billion in stranded asset risk it could face if it doesn’t begin restricting construction of new coal plants.
NOVEMBER 26, 2020 the Energy Mix
Greenpeace Releases Far-Reaching ‘Just Recovery Agenda’ to Tackle Interlocking Crises of Inequality, Racial Injustice, Covid-19, and Climate Chaos
The report expands on what that means by pointing to “dignified work, healthcare, education, housing, clean air and water, healthy food, and more.” In this new work, says Greenpeace, the world must “shift from an economy that is extractive and exploitative to one that regenerates and repairs.”
November 17, 2020 by Andrea Germanos, staff writer Common Dreams
1% of people cause half of global aviation emissions – study
Airlines produced a billion tonnes of CO2 and benefited from a $100bn (£75bn) subsidy by not paying for the climate damage they caused, the researchers estimated. The analysis draws together data to give the clearest global picture of the impact of frequent fliers.
Damian Carrington – Guardian’s Environment editor – Nov 17, 2020
Tiny Atlantic island takes giant leap towards protecting world’s oceans
UK overseas territory Tristan da Cunha’s new marine protected area will be fourth largest sanctuary of its kind. A community of 250 people on one of the most remote inhabited islands on Earth has made a significant contribution to marine wildlife conservation by banning bottom-trawling fishing, deep-sea mining and other harmful activities from its waters. — The Guardian
‘This Is a Really, Really Big Deal’: Michigan Gov. Moves to Shut Down Line 5 Pipeline to Protect Great Lakes
“Enbridge has imposed on the people of Michigan an unacceptable risk of a catastrophic oil spill in the Great Lakes that could devastate our economy and way of life.”
by Jessica Corbett, staff writer – November 13, 2020 – Common Dreams
New Single-Use Tableware Biodegrades Fully in 60 Days
Made from sugarcane and bamboo, it could revolutionize the disposable container industry. It’s nice to dream of a zero waste world, in which people always remember to take their reusable containers to stores that happily fill them. — There will be a need for single-use, disposable containers for a long time yet, whether it’s for hygiene reasons (hello, COVID-19) or on-the-go convenience.
By Katherine Martinko – treehugger.com – Published November 12, 2020
‘Hypocrites and greenwash’: Greta Thunberg blasts leaders over climate crisis
Exclusive: Leaders are happy to set targets for decades ahead, but flinch when immediate action is needed, she says.
Damian Carrington Environment editor, The Guardian – Mon 9 Nov 2020
PHILIPPINES PUTS BRAKES ON COAL POWER DEVELOPMENT, BOOSTS GEOTHERMAL
“The costs trajectory and the current costs of renewable energy…when generated domestically is getting cheaper than imported coal and imported gas,” said Sara Ahmed, energy finance analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
NOVEMBER 1, 2020 00
INTERNATIONAL ‘RIGHT TO REPAIR’ MOVEMENT CALLS FOR END TO FORCED OBSOLESCENCE
A growing movement calling for the “right to repair” is finding deep, cross-partisan support. By 2021, EU citizens should find it easier to get laptops, phones, and tablets fixed, courtesy of new right-to-repair rules that were announced this past spring as part of the continent’s plan for a more sustainable and competitive circular economy.
The Energy Mix – OCTOBER 29, 2020
A new era in maritime travel: Electric boats
Maid of the Mist in Niagara Falls has launched North America’s first all-electric, zero-emissions tour boats. Earlier this month, the Maid of the Mist launched two electric catamarans into the gorge, the first of their kind in North America. The hulking double-deckers run on dual banks of lithium-ion batteries.
The Washington Post – OCTOBER 29, 2020
C40 Global Mayors’ Statement for a Green and Just Recovery
New research shows that investing COVID stimulus funds in green solutions would create 50 million jobs, prevent 270,000 premature deaths, and deliver $280bn in economic benefits globally
Just 3 – 5% of COVID stimulus funding is currently directed to sustainable recovery
C40 Global Mayors COVID-19 Recovery Task Force warns that, by ignoring these opportunities, “national governments and global institutions are likely leading us towards catastrophic climate change”
London, UK (28 October 2020)