Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Besame, jck, and now moi, JeremyBloom. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw.
OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00 AM Eastern Time. Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
There’s an election coming up in just a few weeks.
You may have heard some doomism. But don’t mourn: Organize!
It’s not just good advice — it’s science!
(Ready to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT? We’ll include a link at the end of this news roundup)
There is also some serious kicking of butt going on
And as usual, Katie has the receipts:
And so does Dark Biden
Clean energy wins just keep on coming — thanks, Biden!
President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced two actions Wednesday aimed at lowering costs amid inflation by targeting domestic battery supply chains – new efforts the administration is rolling out 20 days before the midterm elections
The Department of Energy is awarding $2.8 billion in grants from the bipartisan infrastructure law passed last year to 20 manufacturing and processing companies for projects across 12 states. The battery investments include components affecting both the electric grid and electric vehicles.
Biden also announced the formation of the American Battery Materials Initiative, which the White House has called “a new effort to mobilize the entire government and securing a reliable and sustainable supply of critical minerals used for power, electricity and electric vehicles.”
The Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credits for electric passenger vehicles have garnered the most intense scrutiny. No shade to those tax credits — which are bringing a wave of battery and auto manufacturing to U.S. shores — but the tax credits to electrify medium- and heavy-duty transport could be an even bigger deal.
A new report from policy modeling shop Energy Innovation and shared exclusively with Protocol shows that the law’s tax credits could double or even triple the share of electrified trucks and vans used in fleets by 2030 compared to business as usual. That would pay huge dividends by cleaning up what is one of the dirtiest segments of the transportation sector in terms of carbon and air pollution that disproportionately affects disadvantaged communities.
There’s no precedent for a policy that could lead to that type of explosive growth in the commercial fleet sector. “The fact that the IRA includes a new commercial EV tax credit is, to my mind, a game changer,” Sara Baldwin, the director of electrification at Energy Innovation, said.
And that could be a game-changer
While Tesla fans and logistics companies anxiously await deliveries of the first electric Semis, China leads the world in low-emissions trucking. Bloomberg reports that light commercial electric vehicle sales have gone from 1% of market share to 10% in the last two years, and may be a big factor in early onset peak oil demand.
Medium- and heavy-duty truck sales in China are also on the rise. Sales of electric semi trailers haven risen from close to zero two years ago to 3.4% of the market in mid-2022. As Bloomberg’s Colin McKerracher puts it: “the trend for the year is still strongly up and to the right.”
“China is the largest commercial vehicle market in the world, so what happens there moves the needle globally. At 10% electric share, China is well ahead of almost all other countries in this segment. Only South Korea has a higher adoption rate, with more than 20% of its light commercial vehicle sales already electric so far in 2022.” 18,000 light commercial vehicles were sold in China in August.
In California, they’re showing how EVs HELP the grid (sorry, doomers!)
Can electric buses become batteries on wheels, ready to back up public buildings during wildfires, heat waves and other grid emergencies? A new project in Oakland, California intends to find out…
It’s called the V2B Oakland project, and it’s backed by $3.2 million in California Energy Commission funding, another $400,000 in matching funds from nonprofit West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project and regional transit operator AC Transit, and contributions from a long list of technology partners
… unlike diesel generators, buses don’t just sit around waiting for emergencies — they’re providing a valuable service the rest of the time, moving people around. The ability to provide backup power could make these buses even more valuable to the transit agencies and school districts buying them, he noted.
Meanwhile, in Texas, it turns our that renewable energy is the exact OPPOSITE of expensive:
And for all the delayers who say “We simply can’t replace fossil fuels, it’s not possible”… actually, yes, it IS possible
In April, Portugal announced that it was accelerating its energy transition, aiming to increase the proportion of power produced by renewables in the country to 80 per cent by 2026 - four years earlier than previously planned. It already gets 60 per cent of its electricity from clean sources - one of the highest in Europe.
According to research published by industry experts Oliver Wyman earlier this year, the Netherlands is leading Europe’s energy transition. Offshore wind power generation is set to double by the end of the decade with a goal for 150 GW of electricity production in the North Sea by 2050 - enough to power 230 million European homes.
In response to the Ukraine war, the Danish government is still planning to phase out natural gas entirely and quadruple the production of solar and wind power. Though the output of natural gas may increase in the short term to help Europe wean itself off of Russian fossil fuels, the country says plans to terminate production in the long term haven’t changed... Denmark is also hoping to become a renewable power exporter. By 2030, the country is aiming for 100 per cent renewable power production.
In 2021, the Austrian National Parliament introduced the Renewable Energy Sources Expansion Act (EAG). It set the goal for the country to use 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2030.
Solar, too, is the EXACT OPPOSITE OF TOO EXPENSIVE!
We’re making good progress
But we still have so much work to do…
We should abandon the illusion that our politicians will come to the rescue of planet Earth, especially those who delight in calling themselves climate leaders. Time and again they have betrayed the faith that has been placed in them – using greenwashing and PR strategies disguised as politics.
But we cannot despair: the way we see and talk about the climate and ecology crisis has shifted. A critical mass of people – especially younger people – are demanding change and will no longer tolerate the procrastination, denial and complacency that created this state of emergency. I believe in democracy and in the power of collective wisdom.
It is not too late. We have a duty to help as many of our fellow citizens as possible understand the dire situation we are in. We must all do more to explain, inform and educate; public pressure can create profound change.
Rivers running dry
One thing nobody seems to have thought would happen with climate change — the rivers that are the arteries of our planet’s landmasses are simply drying up.
In other news…
Kroger is about to get a lot more pricing power, because it is merging with Albertsons, a company that already bought Safeway, Haggen, Acme, Jewel Osco, Shaw's, Pavilions, Von's and too many others to fit in here.
But there are some companies Albertsons definitely doesn't own, because they're owned by Kroger: Ralph's, Dillon's, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Harris Teeter, King Soopers, Mariano's, and many more. As David Dayen writes for The American Prospect, "the illusion of choice in supermarkets masks the dominance." and this the "preposterous" $24.6b merger will produce a price-gouging juggernaut.
The leadership of both companies assure us that they will not use their combined might to raise prices. These are, of course, the same leaders who have been publicly boasting about their ability to raise prices thanks to their existing scale. With five giant companies controlling nearly the entire US grocery market, it's not really a mystery why grocery prices are up 13% in the past year, while eggs are up 30.5%, chicken up 17.2% and coffee up 15.7%.
As Kroger CEO told his shareholders: "a little bit of inflation is always good in our business" because it lets him raise prices and "customers don’t overly react."
Truth or Consequences
A new book, "The Petroleum Papers", goes inside a 1991 conference whose goal was to make people doubt climate change is real.
The goal of the utility-led campaign, which was given the name “Informed Citizens for the Environment,” was to shift what people thought and believed about climate change. “Reposition global warming as theory (not fact),” read a strategy document. “Target print and radio media for maximum effectiveness.” The optics of coal interests leading an advertising effort to confuse the public weren’t great, so they decided to “use a spokesman from the scientific community” to deliver their message.
Throughout the spring of 1991, Michaels was their man. The University of Virginia professor met with editors and writers at media outlets across the three test communities and appeared on local radio shows. “We believe it is wrong to predict that higher levels of carbon dioxide will bring a catastrophic global warming,” he claimed. The goal was to make it seem as though these ideas were being generated organically by ordinary people. “Change often begins with one person,” Michaels would say after disputing the validity of climate science
Let’s go out with some cool science
And some cool life
And something adorable…
Ready to ACT? Here’s your chance!
A comprehensive list of the ways you can get involved to change the outcome of the 2022 election, why these activities will make a difference, and how to decide which ones are right for you.
You can follow the link above for the main page with ALL the options, but here are direct links to a few:
Click here to view GOTV opportunities near you.
VOLUNTEER ONLINE: Click here to find virtual get-out-the-vote events
Sign up today to be a nonpartisan Election Protection volunteer
Click here to make remote phone calls with MoveOn.
Click here to send text messages to young voters in the battleground states
Click here to verify your registration status.
Click here to register to vote.
Click here to find your polling place.
Click here to request an absentee ballot.
Click here for the entire list
What are YOU doing to make sure our next Congress can abolish the filibuster, pass legislation making ROE the law of the land, finally pass Build Back Better, and generally make our great nation a paradise for all instead of Mordor ruled by a handful of dark lords with their rings of power?
It’s up to US. It’s up to YOU.
Tell us in the comments!