Big Oil's "Low Carbon" Talk Smells Like Bullshit
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Big Oil's "Low Carbon" Talk Smells Like Bullshit
By Amy Westervelt
Every few months a new study or report comes out on methane emissions. They're higher than we thought. U.S. gas operations release more of them than we thought. They're worse for climate change than we thought. Now, new research indicates methane emissions are increasing more rapidly than we thought they would. In fact, in the past 20 years, methane emissions have risen by 150 percent while carbon dioxide emissions have risen by 50 percent. That's mostly because natural gas has replaced coal in a lot of places—that's that "bridge fuel" story the industry has been telling for years.
But here's the thing: methane ain't great! It's a greenhouse gas that is between 25 and 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide. That spectrum is due to the fact that methane causes more short-term warming than carbon dioxide, so in its first few years in the atmosphere, methane is 86 times more potent but as time goes on that number decreases because methane only hangs around in the atmosphere for about 12 years, while carbon dioxide can hang about for thousands of years. Currently, methane accounts for about 16 percent of warming, while carbon dioxide accounts for about 70 percent, but methane's impact seems to be growing every time we learn more about it.
A large portion of methane emissions can be attributed to "fugitive emissions" just leaking out of pipelines or being burned off at refineries, and that's a problem that should be pretty easily solved. (Although… why hasn't it been, then, given that the industry has been around for decades?) And it's important to remember that gas is not the only source of methane emissions; livestock also produce a ton so the impact of meat-eating needs to be taken into account too. Also, wasted and rotting food adds a ton of it to the atmosphere!
Still, none of this really supports the industry's rosy message about "natural" gas or its new favorite term, "low carbon gas." As the industry has adjusted to a U.S. administration that doesn't think climate change is a hoax, it's really ramped up the "low carbon" talk, pushing gas as part of a "low carbon" solution, investing in "low carbon" technologies, and so forth. Because of course if your problem is methane, you want to keep people focused on carbon, never mind that natgas produces about half as much carbon dioxide as coal...which is a far cry from zero or even "low" carbon. It's bullshit (literally).
The Week in Greentrolling
By Mary Annaïse Heglar and Amy Westervelt
The most delicious thing about greentrolling is getting to expose a hypocrite for what they are. And this week, Chevron and Shell made it real easy by releasing their sustainability reports. It’s like if a fox released a henhouse blueprint. Or if Wiley Coyote ran a “save the roadrunner” campaign.
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Meet the API's Evil Twin
By Amy Westervelt
The fossil fuel industry has done a remarkable job over the past few decades of separating itself almost entirely from the epidemic of plastic pollution. Petroleum is a key ingredient of plastic, and now ethane—a byproduct of fracking—is being used to make it, too. And yet somehow you rarely see plastics and oil & gas companies discussed as part and parcel of the same problem.
One group we have to thank for that is the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), the trade group for refineries and petrochemical plants. Petrochemical doesn't just mean plastic, of course. Petrochemicals—chemicals made from petroleum or components of petroleum—are also used in agriculture, textiles, and cosmetics (ew, but yes).
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We’re Back Baby! (Well, Sort Of)
By Mary Annaïse Heglar
Maybe I’m just saying this because I got my first shot of Pfizer this week, but it’s starting to feel like the pandemic is finally getting under control. Yeah, I know the case numbers are still rising and we’re not out of the woods yet, but it feels like there’s a path now. Compared to where we were last year, that’s a pretty dramatic improvement.
So….any Real Hot Cake would be asking themselves: what does this mean for climate coverage?
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Digest
Rising Temperatures, Rising Tides
As rainstorms grow more severe and frequent, communities fail to prepare for risks, by Jim Morrison for The Washington Post
First-Ever Observations From Under Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’ Are Bad News, by Dharna Noor for Earther
Bolsonaro Oversaw a Connecticut-Sized Chunk of Deforestation in the Amazon Last Year, by Molly Taft for Earther
Methane Has Never Risen This Fast in the Atmosphere, by Molly Taft for Earther
The Midwest’s Active Fire Season Is a Warning, by Dharna Noor for Earther
Hundreds of Glacial Rivers Are Pouring Into the Belly of Greenland’s Ice, by Dharna Noor for Earther
‘The world is getting scarier’: How climate change multiplies risk, by Kate Yoder for Grist
Should Governments Consider Engineering the Atmosphere? By Oliver Morton and Amy Westervelt for The Nation
Climate change shrinks marine life richness near equator: study, by Sarah Marsh for Reuters
Lemurs and giant tortoises among species at risk if global heating hosts 3C, by Phoebe Weston for The Guardian
Third of Antarctic ice shelves ‘will collapse amid 4C global heating,’ by PA Media for The Guardian
Sea-level rise is creating ‘ghost forests’ on an American coast, by Emily Ury for The Guardian
The Climate Presidency
Fossil fuels get too many government handouts. Biden wants to cut them off, by Lili Pike for Vox
Migrant children are being held in toxic U.S. detention centers, by Adam Mahoney for Grist
Big Oil Fed State Educators Stats Used to Push Back on Biden’s Climate Goals, by Molly Taft for Earther
Biden wants to give electric cars a huge boost. Will people buy them? By Umair Irfan for Vox
A ‘Just Transition’ Clean Energy Revolution Can Be a Boon for West Virginia – and the Country, by Katrina vanden Heuvel for The Nation
How an Oat Milk Pipeline in New Jersey Explains the Problem With Biden’s Climate Plan, by Kate Aronoff for the New Republic
A California county, despite the state’s climate goals, further embraces fossil fuels, by Miranda Green for The Washington Post
Tourists and looters descend on Bears Ears as Biden mulls protections, by Joshua Partlow for The Washington Post
In Asia, John Kerry urges bold action on climate to avoid global ‘suicide pact,’ by Joanna Slater and Brady Dennis for The Washington Post
America Favors Cars Over Public Transit. Can Biden Change That? By Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich for The New York Times
Climate Accountability
Duke Energy’s Green Facade Isn’t Fooling People Anymore, by Nick Martin for the New Republic
Can a pipeline company defy a governor’s orders? Gretchen Whitemer is about to find out, by Jena Brooker for Grist
How Big Meat Is Funding Climate Denial and Polluting the Planet, by Molly Taft for Earther
Shell Is Back, Baby :( by Dharna Noor for Earther
Fossil Fuel Companies Are Job Killers, by Kate Aronoff for The New Republic
As danger of major breach recedes, Florida seeks long-term solution for troubled plant, by Craig Pittman for The Washington Post
Why Investing in Fossil Fuels Is SoTricky By Mark A. Stein for The New York Times
Justice Is Justice Is Justice
The world won’t be a greener place until it’s a fairer one, by Simone Tagliapietra for The Guardian
What a fair climate target looks like for the US, the largest historical carbon emitter, by Lili Pike for Vox
The urgency of the Black climate agenda, by Jariel Arvin for Vox
‘This is environmental racism’: How a protest in a North Carolina farming town sparked a national movement, by Darryl Fears and Brady Dennis for The Washington Post
Kick the Fracking Industry Out of Indian Country, by Nick Martin for The New Republic
House hunters are fleeing climate change, causing a new kind of gentrification, by Ysabelle Kempe for Grist
Retreat from coastlines? Politicians don’t want to talk about it, by Zoya Teirstein for Grist
Cascadia’s communities of color speak out against climate injustice, by Iris M. Crawford for Grist
Care Work Is Climate Work, by Kate Aronoff for The New Republic
U.S. climate envoy Kerry says India is “getting job done” on climate, by Neha Arora and Sanjeev Migliani for Reuters
How Debt and Climate Change Pose a ‘Systemic Risk to the Global Economy’ By Somini Sengupta for the New York Times
Greta Thunberg Says She’ll Skip U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow By Somini Sengupta for the New York Times
Ecocide: Should Destruction of the Planet Be a Crime? By David Sassoon for Inside Climate News
Glimmers of Hope
California unveils sweeping wildfire prevention plan amid record fire losses and drought, by John Myers for the LA Times
Rights of Nature Push Has Oil Industry Nervous, by Amy Westervelt for Drilled
This River in Canada Is Now a Legal Person, by Jillian Kestler-D'Amours for Al Jazeera
Renewables Met 97% of Scotland's Electricity Demand in 2020, BBC
Climate in Culture
How do I get my neighbors to stop littering? By Eve Andrews in Grist
Mike Rowe’s New Discovery+ Show Is Big Oil-Funded Propaganda, by Dharna Noor for Earther
Last Judgment, by Jo Livingstone for The New Republic
Plus More
California Could Require Uber and Lyft to Go Electric by 2030, by Molly Taft for Earther
Six ways to stay balanced during the climate crisis, by Ariella Cook-Shonkoff and Neelu Tummala for The Washington Post
When rare California toads get thirsty for love, this tiny college helps set the mood, by Louis Sahagún for the LA Times
How to listen to all of Vox’s Earth Month podcasts, by Eliza Barclay and Lauren Katz for Vox
Why China is still clinging to coal, by Lili Pike for Vox
Activist Greta Thunberg to skip U.N. climate conference in Scotland, by Reuters Staff for Reuters
Hospitals try to curb astronomical emissions as pandemic brings new challenges, by Yara El Murr for The Guardian
Bill Gates is the biggest private owner of farmland in the United States. Why? By Nick Estes for The Guardian
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