When the mainstream media gets around to discussing the need for transforming our energy system, which they sporadically do these days, they focus on how greenhouse gases are harmfully transforming our climate at a pace unseen since long before modern humans left Africa. What gets the most coverage are the perils that lie ahead or how certain things happening right now, many of them lethal—like wildfires, droughts, and heat waves—are going to worsen as the climate shifts. That’s a welcome change from not so long ago when reporters typically gave lying fossil fuel shills an equal say with climate scientists in one of the most shameful examples of journalistic both sides-ism.
But for decades, a huge, deadly toll has been exacted by burning coal, oil, and gas. And—surprise—the media hasn’t given it nearly the attention it deserves even as we get to hear daily about, say, the relationship between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.
Regulations have greatly reduced air pollution from tailpipe emissions, but vehicles still contribute significant amounts of deadly particulates.
A Harvard study published last month concluded that 8.7 million people around the planet are dying every year from the emissions of these fossil fuels. A Lancet study published this week put the number of people dying from global air pollution at 9 million, although that includes pollution from other sources, too. You can read about it here.
In another study published this week in the journal GeoHealth, the authors conclude that adopting policies to eliminate emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5, also known as soot) sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides from the electric power, transportation, building, and industrial sectors could prevent 53,200* premature deaths a year in the contiguous United States. That’s the population of Leesburg, Virginia. Dead. Every year. As we know from other studies, people of color are more likely than white people to live in a county where soot and smog levels exceed regulatory limits. Clean energy policies could also save “$608 billion a year in benefits from PM2.5-related illness and death,” the authors write.
Proposing that we fund a Green New Deal at that level to transform our economy into a climate-friendly one would be greeted with shrieks of outrage about the “far left” from the usual suspects, those being most elected Republicans, a few Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin, and of course the greenwashers at Exxon-Mobil, Chevron et al. who, after years of spreading claims about the climate they knew to be untrue are now spending millions in advertising to convince us that they’re all in for the environment. No outcry from them about 50,000 preventable deaths a year or those wasted billions.
Together with his fellow researchers, Nick Mailloux, lead author of the U.S.-focused study and a graduate student at the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment in the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, writes that the findings "offer a clear rationale for mitigating climate change on public health grounds, showing that the sooner the U.S. acts to reduce emissions, the more preventable death and disease from energy-related air pollution can be avoided."
Nick Mailloux is a doctoral student in the Environment and Resources program in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interests lie at the intersection of climate change, energy policy, and public health.
Unfortunately, the authors also point out that "the current pace of decarbonization in the U.S. is still incompatible with a world in which global warming is limited to 1.5°C or 2°C above pre-industrial levels [and that] "deep and rapid cuts in GHG emissions are needed in all energy-related sectors—including electric power, transportation, buildings, and industry—if states and the country as a whole are to achieve reductions consistent with avoiding the worst impacts of climate change."
Given the current makeup of Congress, “deep and rapid cuts” are not on the agenda. As we know all too well, major climate-related legislation has stalled. That doesn’t mean nothing is being done. The Biden administration is moving ahead with plans to tighten regulations on soot and other particulates. The current annual standard is 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air, with a daily exposure threshold of 35 micrograms. An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) advisory panel has recommended this be cut to an annual standard of 8-10 micrograms and 25-30 micrograms daily. EPA Chief Michael Regan is expected to put forth a new standard sometime this summer, with a finalized version in the spring.
An improvement is an improvement, but such a modest regulatory adjustment just doesn’t cut it. The Mailloux team’s study speaks plainly to the reality we already know when it comes to the climate crisis: We need to leave most fossil fuels in the ground. The other reality is it will require twisting arms to accelerate the green transformation that is already underway but is proceeding at far too slow a pace.
Volunteering and voting for candidates who don’t hem and haw or indulge in campaign feints in climate matters is obviously a key element of this. But after 30 years of denial, foot-dragging, and tedious timidity by all too many of our leaders who have brought us to this point, it’s more obvious than ever that peaceful direct action, including civil disobedience, is also going to be needed to make what needs to happen actually happen. A lot more than 50,000 lives are at stake.
*Note: The 53,200 number is the average of 46,900–59,400 premature deaths each year that the researchers assigned a 95% confidence interval to. Likewise, the $608 billion figure is an average based on a range of $537–$678 billion in benefits.
WEEKLY ECO-VIDEO
TRACKING PRESIDENT BIDEN’S ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIONS
(This Washington Post feature is regularly updated.)
GREEN TAKES
Despite the world’s continuing struggle with the coronavirus, a war that’s exacerbated an acute energy crisis, and trade battles, installations of new renewable sources of electricity are expected to hit another record this year, surpassing a cumulative global total of 300 gigawatts of generating capacity. In its Renewable Energy Market Update, the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts an increase in installations of 8% compared with the 6% increase in 2021 that took the total to 295 gigawatts. For comparison, the world’s total installed electricity-generating capacity is about 11,000 gigawatts.
John Engel at Renewable Energy World cites IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol, who writes that "lasting solutions … lie in reducing demand via the rapid deployment of renewables, energy efficiency and other low emissions technologies. ... Nobody should imagine that Russia’s invasion can justify a wave of new large-scale fossil fuel infrastructure in a world that wants to limit global warming to 1.5 °C." Birol also suggests that major oil and gas companies should invest their immense profits from high prices in renewable energy. The IEA estimates that oil and gas revenue this year will be nearly $2 trillion higher than 2021. Said Birol, "If the global oil and gas industry were to invest this additional income in low emissions fuels, such as hydrogen and biofuels, it would fund all of the investment needed in these fuels for the remainder of this decade in the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario." Yes, and if pigs could fly, few people would be eating bacon. These companies would much rather buy back shares, pay bigger executive bonuses, and shower their investors with dividends.
It’s estimated that there are 500,000 emperor penguins in the world. That may seem like a lot, but biologist Marcela Libertelli, who studies the birds at the Argentine Antarctic Institute, thinks they could all be gone by 2060.
The world's largest penguin, the emperor is one of only two of the species endemic to Antarctica. All but a handful of 50 emperor colonies nest on sea ice instead of the land or the ice sheet that covers most of it. That requires solid ice from April through December when the fledglings have grown their waterproof plumage, without which they drown from the cold. A late freeze or an early melt of sea ice can thus wreak havoc with the ancient reproductive cycle. At the Halley Bay colony in the Weddell Sea, all the chicks have died for three years running, with the adult population dropping from 30,000 to 50,000 to near nothing. Lauren Leffer at Gizmodo reports:
The UK researchers linked the Halley Bay failure to a particularly strong El Niño event, but climate change is certainly impacting Antarctic ice as well. NASA data has demonstrated that Antarctica has been continually losing total ice mass since 2002. Earlier this year, Antarctic sea ice hit a new record low. Antarctic sea ice is cyclical and influenced by many other factors besides climate change, like ocean currents, so, it’s hard to draw any direct line between the of current level of Antarctic sea ice and climate change. Future models though, do predict worsening climate change will lead to less Antarctic sea ice.
Last Friday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his revised $300 billion 2022-2023 state budget proposal, which benefited from a $97 billion surplus. His “California Blueprint” is a revised version of his January budget, with an added $9.5 billion designated for dealing with the climate crisis, making for a record $47 billion assigned to that purpose. This includes $1.75 billion for accelerating clean car programs and charging infrastructure; $1.5 billion for electric school buses; $970 million for residential solar and storage for grid resilience; $1.4 billion to protect nature, conserve land, and create wildlife corridors; $1.2 billion pay some residents’ months-overdue utility bills; and $5.2 billion to create a “Strategic Electricity Reliability Reserve” (SERR) to prevent energy outages. The budget must be passed by June 15, and for the next few weeks the governor will be making the rounds at the heavily Democratic legislature to get support for it.
At Climate Wire, Anne C. Mulkern notes (paywall) state and grid officials said earlier this month that California could suffer electricity blackouts this summer. They calculate that available supplies of electricity compared with likely peak demand could fall short, enough to hit 1.3 million homes, or if there is a West-wide heat wave, three times as many.
The $5.2 billion proposed for SERR will be focused on finding enough electricity supply to provide as much as 5 gigawatts of emergency generation. That could power between 3.75 million to 5 million households.
At the press conference, Newsom again expressed his complaint that “abuse” of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is unjustly holding up key projects. “I look forward to working with legislative leaders and advocates" on reforming CEQA, he said, "so we can address the systemic issues in this state, like housing, and affordability, and the looming potential crises of not meeting our goals as it relates to extreme weather across a spectrum, from drought preparedness to wildfire preparedness.”
ECO-QUOTE
“I don't think people understand that we really are in the midst of an energy revolution. I said, on some days Texas gets half its power from wind, and I get these emails: “That's bullshit!” Let's look at the data. On these six days, they got over 50%, and that's just going to keep getting bigger. You'll tell people, here's the cost of solar and wind, and they don't believe you. People's understanding of energy, I think, lags reality by many years. Most people think that solar and wind are expensive, and they were 10 years ago. But they're not now, and people don't understand all the work that's been done on how you build a grid that runs on wind and solar and still produces power reliably.” —Andrew Dessler, atmospheric sciences professor at Texas A&M University.
ECO-OPINION
Some for Me and None for You, by Mary Annaise Heglar at Hot Take. “On this week’s episode of the podcast, Amy [Westervelt] and I talked to David Wallace-Wells about all the parallels between the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. This was David’s second appearance on Hot Take. The first time was in March 2020, just a few days after lockdowns had gone, well, viral across the nation. We hadn’t planned to talk to him about the pandemic for that episode; we just couldn’t avoid it. This time, it was the whole point. David is one of many climate journalists who drifted into the COVID beat and we wanted to learn how that disaster had colored his lens on the climate crisis.”
Greenwashing is propaganda.
Here's How to Spot Wall Street's Increasingly Infuriating Greenwashing by Alex Connon at Common Dreams. A recent full-page newspaper advertisement for Bank of America boasted about Bank of America planning to make its credit and debit cards from recycled plastic by 2023, reducing single-use plastics by 235 tons a year. More 300 million tons of plastic is produced every year; 235 tons is but a tiny drop of the plastic in the ocean. But the real problem with the advertisement isn’t the insufficiency of the actions it advertises. In 2021, Bank of America provided more than $31 billion in financing to the fossil fuel industry. The advertisement, which proclaimed Bank of America is helping to “shape the low-carbon, clean energy future we all want,” made no mention of the bank’s fossil fuel funding. Bank of America is far from the only major bank engaging in such greenwashing.
Trolling Is Taking a Toll on Science Journalism by Lisa Palmer and Silvio Waisbord at Undark. “Science journalists say they face threats of online harassment—and that newsrooms are doing little to protect them. “We spoke with reporters who said they repeatedly received harassing phone calls from readers. In some cases, scary, accusatory messages would arrive by the hundreds on Twitter, Instagram, and by email. Women appeared to bear the brunt of these attacks. What’s especially discouraging is that science journalists can be subjected to messages that show little, if any, regard for facts. [...] These barrages of digital harassment have toxic consequences. The journalists we’ve talked to say it has made them feel unsafe. For some science journalists, it has contributed to a sense of burnout that may make them consider leaving the profession altogether—or moving to other beats. And for those who stay, it can alter the way they cover the beat.”
Solar panel installers in Santa Monica, California.
California solar policy misaligned with clean air board’s rooftop priority by Ryan Kennedy at PV Magazine. “Regulators from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) released a comprehensive report outlining the state’s path to carbon neutrality, and chief among the recommendations was support for solar, specifically rooftop solar. However, regulators from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) have been developing policies that are set to slash the value of rooftop solar in the state. [...] Based on California’s clean energy goals, as much as 28.5 GW of rooftop solar needs to be installed through 2045, according to Environment California. If all this capacity were instead installed on land, 148,000 acres would be needed to support it, an area about half the size of Los Angeles.”
America’s Fracking Boom Is Tilting the World Toward Climate Disaster by Nina Lakhani and Oliver Milman at The Guardian. “The fate of the vast quantities of oil and gas lodged under the shale, mud and sandstone of American drilling fields will in large part determine whether the world retains a liveable climate. And the US, the world’s largest extractor of oil, is poised to unleash these fossil fuels in spectacular volumes. Planned drilling projects across U.S. land and waters will release 140 billion metric tons of planet-heating gases if fully realized, an analysis shared with The Guardian has found. The study, to be published in the Energy Policy journal this month, found emissions from these oil and gas ‘carbon bomb’ projects were four times larger than all of the planet-heating gases expelled globally each year, placing the world on track for disastrous climate change.”
ECO-TWEET
HALF A DOZEN OTHER THINGS TO READ (OR LISTEN TO)
Rep. Raúl Grijalva.
Arizona activists push for passage of environmental justice bill by Lindsey Botts at the Arizona Republic. “Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), who chairs the House Committee on Natural Resources, toured the country to tout the benefits of a piece of legislation he hopes will help communities get a seat at the table for projects that impact them. So far, he's taken his message to numerous states, including New York, New Mexico, and now Arizona. Some lawmakers and environmental advocates hope the legislation will fill some of the gaps left by the now-stalled Build Back Better Act. While not a complete replacement, the Environmental Justice for All Act would make the process of starting federal projects a more equitable, holistic endeavor, supporters say. The bill would require federal agencies to increase inclusiveness and seek input from communities affected by environmental projects before they even begin.”
How Artists are Transforming Climate-Related Storytelling by Breanna Draxler and Kate Schimel at Yes! Magazine. “The Center for Cultural Power is led by women of color who have prioritized intersectional storytelling by, for, and about Black, Indigenous, Latino, and other communities of color. That’s partly because communities of color and other marginalized communities feel the effects of climate change most acutely, but it’s also because they are often leaders in climate action and organizing. Uribe points to the presence of “land back”—the movement to return Indigenous lands—in the wider cultural conversation as an example of what effective storytelling paired with organizing can do.”
An online interactive map maintained by New Mexico’s Mining and Minerals department pinpoints abandoned uranium sites in the Grants Mineral Belt, which was a booming uranium region until the mid-1980s. The area stretched from Laguna Pueblo almost to Gallup in New Mexico’s northwest checkerboard region.
Mining is a polluting business. Can new tech make it cleaner? by Madeleine Stone at National Geographic. “Mining will always have environmental impacts, but new approaches could help reduce them as the world digs up more metals for renewable energy. Mining involves digging ore out of the ground, hauling it to processing plants, crushing it, separating and refining the metals, and then disposing of the waste. Land is stripped bare to make way for mines and surrounding infrastructure, which often uses considerable amounts of energy and water, produces air pollution, and generates hazardous waste. Mining accounts for 22% of global industrial emissions. But emerging technologies could make extraction of the so-called critical minerals and metals required for this energy transition more sustainable than it is today.”
Why our continued use of fossil fuels is creating a financial time bomb by John Timmer at Ars Technica. “All of these stranded [fossil fuel-related] assets may ultimately be written off as losses, leading to sudden changes in profitability throughout the economy. This will obviously affect their financials. But it will also affect things like retirement funds, college endowments, and other entities that, either directly or indirectly, have invested in these companies. ‘The residential housing crisis of 2008 was not the whole market; it was rather a very isolated and smaller portion of the financial market,’ [Armon Rezai of the Vienna University of Economics and Business] said. ‘Because of the interconnectedness of the banking system, [that] led to a meltdown on a bigger scale.’ While he and [Rick] van der Ploeg are skeptical that fossil fuels will create problems on a similar scale, the risks aren't zero.”
Fernando Llerenas picks pears in Hood River, Oregon.
Oregon adopting rules to protect workers from excessive heat and wildfire smoke by Lynne Terry at the Oregon Capital Chronicle. “The rules are the most comprehensive in the nation and are welcomed by environmental groups and farmworker advocates. They are expected to protect tens of thousands of workers from illness and death when temperatures soar past 80 degrees or when the air becomes clogged with wildfire smoke. The heat protections mandate paid breaks so workers can get relief from the heat, access to shaded areas outdoors, supply adequate drinking water, and have a heat illness prevention plan. The smoke rules require employers to provide N95 masks when the air quality worsens and make the masks mandatory when the air becomes dangerous to breathe. Employers also have to provide medical checks. The rules will affect construction workers, forestry professionals, highway workers, utility personnel, and others. The biggest single group being protected will be Oregon’s 87,000 farmworkers.”
Energy for the planet’s most vulnerable remains a distant hope by Owen Grafham at Chatham House. “Despite almost a decade of increased attention, delivering sustainable energy solutions for those forced to flee their homes is now further away than ever. Back in 2015, Chatham House estimated 89% of forcibly displaced people in camps had no access to meaningful electricity supply for lighting, while 77% relied on only the most basic fuels—primarily wood—for cooking. Eight years on, with more knowledge about the specifics of energy supply and usage, the statistics have worsened, with 94% of forcibly displaced people living in camps now estimated to not have meaningful access to power, and 81% lacking anything other than the most basic fuels for cooking. The effects of such terrible figures are debilitating as both adults and children are forced into harmful coping strategies such as skipping meals or trading fuel for food, and having limited ability to work, learn, or play outside of daylight hours. And yet, despite the worrying figures, stories of significant recent progress do exist.”
ECO-BITS
• Federal Highway Removal Program Raises Hopes in California • The world’s biggest hydrogen fuel cell EV has started work in South Africa • To Save the Whales, a Vacation Paradise Is Turning Tourists Into Scientists • Portugal set to start up Europe's largest floating solar park • Plastics Recycling ‘Does Not Work,’ Environmentalists Stress as U.S. Recycling Rates Drop to 5% • Five Years Into Recovery Plan, Endangered Whale Population Plummeting • Oregon Gas Utility Wants to Bill Customers Millions for Executive Bonuses and ‘Misleading’ Advertising • The Art of Building a Human-Hawk Relationship.• Study: Most EV Rebates Had No Effect on Buyers’ Choices • Pipeline Company Targets Individual Tribal Members in Court Battle for Line 5
