Earth Day the Right Way: The Hot Take Podcast Is Back!

This Friday is Earth Day and we’re taking it back to its roots: social justice and pointing out the real villains: oil companies. We’re thrilled to be relaunching the pod with Crooked Media this week. First ep? The Real Fuckbois of Fossil Fuel, a reminder of all the shit oil companies are actually getting up to despite all those greenwashing campaigns and “net zero” promises. You can check out the trailer here, and make sure to tune in wherever you get your podcasts, or via our new page on the Crooked site!

Also reminder that we're running a special throughout the month of April, 30% off for new paid subscribers!

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April 20 Is Still Fuck BP Day

By Mary Annaïse Heglar

Last year, we started a little tradition of trolling the oil giant BP especially hard on April 20. And this year, we’re keeping it up! For those who don’t know, April 20 is the anniversary of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that quickly overtook the Exxon Valdez spill as the biggest in U.S. history. We wrote before about how devastating that spill was, so we won’t rehash that here. Instead, this is just a quick invitation to join us on the Internet machine—be it Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, whatever—and send a terse “fuck you” to the folks over at BP to remind them that we ain’t forgot!

If last year is any indication, BP will likely not post that day… guilty conscious maybe? But it doesn’t matter. Troll their old posts, find their subsidiary accounts. They have a shit ton of them! And get in that ass!

And, oh yeah, have fun!


The Definition of Insanity

By Mary Annaïse Heglar

On Tuesday, New York City experienced a nightmare come true: an active shooter on the subway. Complete with smoke bombs and at least rumors of other “undetonated devices,” the event struck terror in the heart of the city. Anyone who has ever spent much time in New York knows that the subway is the lifeblood of the city, and almost everyone takes it. The other thing you know is that the subway is almost always crawling with cops. And not only did they not stop the shooting—which, with its smoke bomb, was VERY not subtle—the shooter just waltzed the fuck out the station! Still, there are folks clamoring for MORE cops!

Look, I don’t necessarily need to be yet another person pointing out the extraordinarily obvious fact that more cops do not solve or prevent crime, but I do want to point out that policing is not the only place where this happens. I can’t help but hear the calls for more cops on the subway and hear echoes of the calls for more fossil fuels as a solution for the war in Ukraine...


Media and Climate Accountability

By Amy Westervelt

The March 2022 numbers on climate coverage from our friends over at the Media and Climate Change Observatory (MeCCO) came out the same week in early April that brought us the very first IPCC report to ever mention the media. The numbers show an increase from February 2022 to March 2022, but a decrease from March 2021 to March 2022. Radio coverage has also seen a sustained decline every month this year so far, which isn’t great given that about half of Americans still get their news from radio (really!). I suspect April will see the usual Earth Day spike, but I can’t help but look at the way the media has been covering soaring gas prices and the Biden administration’s subsequent moves to bend over backwards for the fossil fuel industry and wonder how the fuck it took so long to start including media in the conversation about climate accountability.


It’s Not Depression, It’s Betrayal

By Mary Annaïse Heglar

Over the past few years, I’ve seen a lot of talk about how kids today are so much more depressed than they were before. And I’ve experienced it in my own life, with the young people I care about. It’s palpable in pop culture, especially in shows like Euphoria, as I’ve written about before. The blame is laid at the feet of a lot of new phenomena: the pandemic, social media, the economy (of course). Almost always, these discussions tend to overlook a very obvious reason kids today are so depressed: climate change. All of those other reasons are things that can get better. Climate change is guaranteed to get worse, in all of our lifetimes.


Digest

Your weekly roundup of climate coverage.

Rising Temperatures, Rising Tides

The Other Side of Disaster, by Yessenia Funes for Atmos

A Week of Extreme Weather - The New York Times, by Scott Dodd for The New York Times

Ocean Warming Doubles Odds for Extreme Atlantic Hurricane Seasons, by Bob Berwyn for Inside Climate News

Expanding drought leaves western US scrambling for water, by Susan Montoya Bryan for AP News

'Uprooted, Overturned, Stripped:' Two Tornadoes in Texas Hospitalize 12, by Lauren Leffer for Earther

The Wild, Uncertain Future of Carbon Dioxide Removal, by Molly Taft for Earther

Death toll from South Africa's Durban floods rises to 341 | Climate Crisis News, in Al Jazeera

Global Warming Drove a Deadly Burst of Indian Ocean Tropical Storms, by Bob Berwyn for Inside Climate News

Search is on for 103 missing after Philippine storm kills at least 138, by Neil Jerome Morales for Reuters

Scientists Solve an Antarctic Puzzle, by Henry Fountain for The New York Times

S.Africa releases emergency funds for deadly floods on east coast, by Rogan Ward for Reuters

Southern Africa storms fuelled by climate change - study - BBC News, by BBC Staff

Alarm bells but little action as Horn of Africa faces unprecedented drought, by Obi Anyadike for The New Humanitarian

India: Workers face health risks in world's 'most polluted' city | Climate News | Al Jazeera, by Al Jazeera Staff

Studies find climate change is driving ‘decisive increase’ in violent hurricanes, by Lina Tran for Grist

The Earth Is Facing a Nitrogen Shortage Due to Climate Change, Study Says, by Becky Ferreira for Vice

2 dead, more than 200 homes charred in New Mexico wildfire, by Susan Montoya Bryan and Paul Davenport for AP News

We're Failing to Prepare Our Children for the Climate Fight | The New Republic, by Eleanor Cummins

Tropical Storm Megi: 25 killed in Philippines tropical storm - BBC News, by BBC Staff

Hurricanes Dropping More Rain Due to Climate Change, by Lauren Leffer for Earther

The Climate Presidency?

Biden's Quest for Energy Independence Is Taking America in the Wrong Direction, by Kate Aronoff for The New Republic

WH environmental justice advisors press for Justice40 action, by Drew Costley for AP News

Gas Prices Force Biden Into an Unlikely Embrace of Fossil Fuels, by Michael D. Shear and Lisa Friedman for The New York Times

Biden's Climate Shift - The New York Times, by the staff of The Daily

Biden will allow summertime sales of higher-ethanol gas, by Lisa Friedman and Michael D. Shear for The New York Times

Marine Le Pen's Climate Policy Has a Whiff of Ecofascism, by Kate Aronoff for The New Republic

They derailed climate action for a decade. And bragged about it, by Kate Yoder for Grist

Gina McCarthy, Top Climate Adviser, Is Said to Be Planning Departure, by Lisa Friedman and Coral Davenport for The New York Times

A 'Silent Victim': How Nature Becomes a Casualty of War, by Emily Anthes for The New York Times

Climate Accountability

Blue State Activists Are Working to Decarbonize Trillions, by Nathan Newman for The Nation

Rich countries are illegally exporting plastic trash to poor countries, data suggests, by Joseph Winters for Grist

Former Central California water manager stole $25 million in water over 23 years, prosecutors say, by Gregory Yee for the LA Times

Press Freedom Is an Essential Climate Solution, by Giles Trendle for The Nation

California could shrink water use in cities by 30% or more, study finds, by Ian James for the LA Times

PG&E Avoids Criminal Charges for 2 Massive Wildfires by Paying $55 Million, by Audrey Carleton for Vice

Justice Is Justice Is Justice

Indigenous people are being killed to 'protect' a Congolese park, by Joseph Lee for Grist

Give Communities Control of Carbon Removal, by Andrew Bergman, Holly Buck, Olúfemi O. Táíwo, and Toly Rinberg for The New Republic

Young Montanans wage historic climate fight, by Ray Levy Uyeda for The Guardian

A Biomass Power Plant in Rural North Carolina Reignites Concerns Over Clean Energy and Environmental Justice , by Aman Azhar for Inside Climate News

Study proves connection between redlined neighborhoods and pollution | Grist, by Julia Kane

5 years after Hurricane Harvey, many in Houston are still waiting for help | Grist, by Lina Tran

Why Incarcerated Firefighters Struggle to Go Pro After Prison, by Justin Silverman for Vice

What is Extinction Rebellion and what does it want? - BBC News, by BBC Staff

Climate policies must allow women to control their bodies and their fates, by Zainab Yunusa for The New Humanitarian

How Vanessa Nakate Mobilizes the Masses | Atmos, by Vanessa Nakate as told to Daphne Chouliaraki Milner

When Protest Becomes Criminal | Atmos, by Talia Woodin

Autocracies and Fossil Fuels Go Hand in Hand | The Nation, by Bill McKibben

'Cancer Alley' Residents Accuse Louisiana of Racial Discrimination in EPA Pollution Complaints, by Angely Mercado for Earther

Glimmers of Hope

Extinctus Plant Not Extinct, by Ed Cara for Earther

Canada greenhouse gas emissions fell nearly 9% in 2020 pandemic year | Reuters, by Reuters Staff

Study: Keeping climate pledges limits warming to 2 degrees | AP News, by Seth Borenstein for AP News

California Reveals Its Plan to Phase Out New Gas-Powered Cars by 2035, by Lisa Friedman for The New York Times

Inside Just Stop Oil, the youth climate group blocking UK refineries | Grist, by Damien Gayle

Scientists map Caribbean coral reefs to tackle climate change - BBC News, by Helen Briggs

Climate in Culture

Our food system isn't ready for the climate crisis | Food | The Guardian, by Nina Lakhani, Alvin Chang, Rita Liu, and Andrew Witherspoon

I Wrote an Essay About “Petromasculinity,” and Conservatives Freaked Out,  by Liza Featherstone for The New Republic

Rightwing populist parties blight climate policy, study finds, by Helena Horton for The Guardian

Battle over carbon capture as tool to fight climate change | AP News, by Drew Costley

'Capitalism didn't understand community': Brian Eno steps up the climate crisis battle, by Greg Cochrane for The Guardian

Iraq's ancient buildings are being destroyed by climate change, by Hannah Lynch for The Guardian

Culture-Building as Climate Work | Atmos, by Whitney Bauck

I went on TV to explain Just Stop Oil – and it became a parody of Don't Look Up | The Guardian, by Miranda Whelehan

How Tesla and EV charging networks threaten the future of gas stations - Vox, by Rebecca Heilweil

Plus More

Look at This Stretch of Amazon Rainforest Cleared in a Year, by Angely Mercado for Earther

Growing Pains, by Willow Defebaugh in Atmos

Polar regions normalize – for now – after record-breaking heat | Climate Crisis News | Al Jazeera, by Lyse Mauvais

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