Time's Up for Climate Week
Time’s Up for Climate Week
By Mary Annaïse Heglar
You may have missed it—I certainly almost did—but this week was Climate Week. What is Climate Week, you ask? Well, girl, I had to Wikipedia that shit too. Apparently, it’s a summit “alongside the UN General Assembly and brings together international leaders from business, government and civil society to showcase global climate action.” It was founded in 2009 and focused on New York City, because that’s where the United Nations headquarters is.
The first time I heard of Climate Week was in 2019, the year of the Big Climate Strike in New York. I was living in New York at the time and had created a profile for myself. Suddenly I was a sought-after guest and speaker for all of these events I probably never would have heard of otherwise. A lot of events. In one week. It was exhausting. I didn’t think Climate Week made a lot of sense as a concept then, and it makes even less sense now.
Climate Week—much like Earth Day and World Ocean Day—are relics of a time long gone when you needed to create a “moment” or a “news hook” to talk about climate change. This was back when climate change was a niche topic and you needed a reason to bring it up. Well, the world we live in today is tangibly and demonstrably on fire. Climate change is an everyday, everybody topic. So, we don’t need these manufactured events to talk about it—because even when we do that, we wind up only talking to ourselves anyway. When I looked around at those events in 2019, I saw only familiar faces, largely from my Twitter feed. No one else knew or cared that it was Climate Week. So what was the point?
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Race to the Bottom
By Amy Westervelt
While “moderate” Democrats argue about whether we *really* need to ratchet down fossil fuel development just yet, the oil majors, as usual, are several steps ahead. They’ve seen the writing on the wall for a while that in the not so distant future they won’t be allowed to drill for oil or gas anymore. But no one wants to be left holding a bunch of untapped oil reserves—stranded assets, as the industry calls them—so there is currently a worldwide rush to extract as much as possible while they still can. Not so much in the Permian Basin or the North Sea but off the coasts of Guyana, Côte d’Ivoire, Angola, and Ghana, throughout Namibia and Gabon...countries where, for the most part, the allure of oil profits outweighs the risk.
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Cooking Shows—But Make Them Vegan
By Mary Annaïse Heglar
I love a good cooking show. When I’m having a hard time getting up the motivation or the inspiration to get my ass in the kitchen, I turn on MasterChef. When I’m having a bad day (or week), I turn on the Great British Baking Show. It’s comfort food and comfort TV. But the thing is… I’m vegan, and I rarely see things I can actually eat on these shows. Every once in a while, there will be a vegan or vegetarian challenge, but mostly, I’m left to use my own imagination to veganize the food on the screen. At the same time, the pro-vegan content out there is usually found in the form of shoddy, preachy documentaries like Seaspiracy that pin the blame for everything from the health crisis to the climate crisis on individual people’s diets.
As annoying and off-putting (and poorly researched) as those documentaries are, it is true that animal agriculture, at the scale it’s practiced now, is cruel and unusual, and unsustainable. It is a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions. And we would do well if more people went vegan.
What if—hear me out—we split the difference and had vegan cooking shows instead?
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Q&A with Katie Worth, author of Miseducation: How Climate Change Is Taught in America
By Amy Westervelt
A few years ago, investigative journalist Katie Worth was working on a project for Frontline in the Marshall Islands, and was struck by how much kids there were learning about climate change. Some of the kids she talked to had family members who had immigrated to the U.S., some thought their families might head to the states soon, too, and that got Katie wondering what those same kids would be learning about climate change in the U.S. That prompted another year or two of research, the result of which is the book Miseducation: How Climate Change Is Taught in America. Katie talked with us about what she found.
This is the free version of the weekly Hot Take newsletter. If you'd like to upgrade to the paid version and finish reading this and the rest of this week's stories, you can do that here!
Digest
Your weekly round-up of climate coverage.
Rising Tides, Rising Temperatures
California wildfires reach edge of sequoia grove containing world’s largest tree in The Guardian from the AP
How Bigger Arctic Waves Are Changing Clouds, by Brian Kahn for Earther
State Officials Think Arson Is Cause of Fawn Fire Near Redding, by Jody Serrano for Earther
Neither Portland, Maine or Oregon, Is Refuge From Climate Change By Francis Wilkinson for Bloomberg
Lake Powell Could Lose the Ability to Generate Hydropower in Just 2 Years, by Dharna Noor for Earther
Climate change: Retreat won't stop wildfires. These steps can boost resilience, by Umair Irfan for Vox
‘Climate crisis on our shores’: Mediterranean countries sign deal after summer of fires by Helena Smith for The Guardian
How decades of stopping forest fires made them worse, by Kimberly Mas for Vox
Floods, power outages, no running water: Jails during Hurricane Ida by Adam Mahoney for Grist
California’s Wildfires Had an Invisible Impact: High Carbon Dioxide Emissions by Henry Fountain for The New York Times
US north-east faces rapid warming amid global climate crisis by Oliver Milman for The Guardian
Global wildfire carbon dioxide emissions at record high, data shows by Jonathan Watts for The Guardian
How climate change gave rise to a monster mosquito season by Zoya Teirstein for Grist
What is ‘fire weather,’ and why is it getting worse? by Matt Simon for Grist
Holding Back the Floodwaters by Ronda Kaysen for The New York Times
The Climate Presidency?
Biden Admin Says IPCC 'Does Not Present Sufficient Cause' to End Offshore Drilling, by Walter Bragman for Earther
As climate change warms workplaces, Biden directs safety agency to draft heat rules for workers by Eli Rosenberg for The Washington Post
Climate Change Is Slowly Killing American Workers, by Timothy Noah for The New Republic
President Biden launches strategy to combat extreme heat linked to climate change, including labor standards by Maxine Joselow for The Washington Post
Joe Biden's Worker Heat Protections Come After Decades of Warnings, by Dharna Noor for Earther
Biden vows to double aid to developing countries vulnerable to climate crisis by Oliver Milman for The Guardian
Biden ramps up international climate funding commitment by Scott Waldman for E&E News
Democrats fear climate impact of only passing bipartisan bill by Adam Aton for E&E News
Why the US isn’t ready for clean energy, by Madeline Marshall for Vox
Democrats May Be on the Verge of Climate Disaster by Robinson Meyer for The Atlantic
Biden may be the first president to address extreme heat by Emily Pontecorvo for Grist
As Climate Envoy, John Kerry Faces Tough Path By Lisa Friedman for The New York Times
Extreme Heat Is Killing Workers, So the White House Is Adding Protections, by Audrey Carleton for Vice
Climate Accountability
In Canada and Germany, climate is finally on the ballot. But can it win? by Angela Dewan and Laura Smith-Spark for CNN
Exxon's Secret Assist From the World's Top PR Firm, by Dharna Noor for Earther
Can billionaires like Amazon ex-CEO Jeff Bezos slow extinction and climate change? By Benji Jones for Vox
The ABCs of Big Oil: Why the Fossil Fuel Industry Infiltrated Schools, by Dharna Noor for Earther
The Myth of Regenerative Cattle Grazing, by Jan Dutkiewics and Gabriel N. Rosenberg for The New Republic
Joe Manchin's Vote Isn't That Mysterious. Look to the Fossil Fuel Money, by Kate Aronoff for The New Republic
Climate crisis: history will judge failure to act, Johnson says at UN by Heather Stewart and Fiona Harvey for The Guardian
Blue-lining and underwaterwriting: Banks consider climate change risk by Lindsey Jacobson for CNBC
Climate Activists 'Hack' More Than 200 Billboards To Protest Alleged Greenwashing, by Ruby Lott-Lavigna for Vice
Rupert Murdoch Has Known We've Been in a Climate Emergency Since 2006, Documents Show, by Geoff Dembicki for Vice
US and EU team up on methane - Grist by Jena Brooker for Grist
China's Xi Jinping promises to halt new coal projects abroad amid climate crisis by Caitlin Hu and Angela Dewan for CNN
Climate funding target for poorer countries ‘likely to be met’ by 2022, by Fiona Harvey for The Guardian
‘We’re going after creatives that greenwash fossil fuels’: the group targeting ad agencies, by Jocelyn Timperley for The Guardian
Shell's Big Sale of Oil and Gas Holdings Is a Climate Bait-and-Switch, by Molly Taft for Earther
Tesla to Reverse Huge Solar Roof Price Hikes for Some Customers, Court Document Shows, by Alyse Stanley for Earther
Justice Is Justice Is Justice
Climate crisis leaving ‘millions at risk of trafficking and slavery’ by Sarah Johnson for The Guardian
Amazon's Former Security Chief Now Guarding the Line 3 Oil Pipeline, by Tom McKay for Earther
Summer Wildfires Emitted More Carbon Dioxide Than India Does in a Year, by Dharna Noor for Earther
Louisiana's Native Tribes Were Crushed by Hurricane Ida. They Feel Forgotten, by Emma Ockerman for Vice
No, eradicating poverty is not gonna mess with climate goals by María Paula Rubiano A. for Grist
Meet The Next Generation Of Climate Justice Leaders by Taylor Mills for NowThis News
When the earth shakes in South LA, the results can be toxic by Adam Mahoney for Grist
California tribes get green light for 'cultural burns' - Grist by Zoya Teirstein & Mark Armao for Grist
The WHO’s new air quality guidelines ‘could save millions of lives’ by Joseph Winters & Zoya Teirstein for Grist
Glimmers of Hope
18-year-old climate activist shares how she finds courage, resilience by Catherine Clifford for CNBC
Why heaters are the future of cooling, by Christophe Haubursin for Vox
How weatherization can be a win-win for struggling Americans by Grist Creative for Grist
Young global climate strikers vow change is coming – from the streets by Damian Carrington for The Guardian
China Officially Bans All Cryptocurrency Transactions, by Shoshana Wodinsky for Earther
China's Xi Jinping Says Country Will Stop Financing Coal-Fired Power Abroad, by Molly Taft for Earther
Climate in Culture
Late-night comedians team up to tackle the climate crisis by Jeff Berardelli for CBS News
'Ted Lasso' Is an Unexpected Masterclass in Environmental Storytelling, by Matthew Schneider-Mayerson for Earther
Late Night TV Climate Comedy Segments, Ranked, by Brian Kahn and Molly Taft for Earther
Don't expect heroes (or evil villains) in this history of the climate crisis by Kate Yoder for Grist
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Rattles Off Green New Deal Conspiracy, by Molly Taft for Earther
One Bitcoin Transaction Generates Two iPhones Worth of E-Waste, by Jody Serrano for Earther
Plus More
'Carbon Footprint' and 'Net Zero' Don't Mean What You Think, by Audrey Carleton and Aaron Gordon for Vice
Opinion | We Need Trees, and Trees Need Us by Margaret Renkl for The New York Times
What one city's struggle to ban natural gas says about the challenge of electrifying buildings by Ysabelle Kempe for Grist
Economic Impact of Climate Change in Europe Is Scrutinized by Eshe Nelson for The New York Times
Will young voters stay active in elections post-Trump? by Janet Hook for The Los Angeles Times
The State of International Climate Talks by Somini Sengupta for The New York Times
How America’s hottest city is trying to cool down, by Joss Fong for Vox
Climate change: How to plant trillions of trees without hurting people and the planet, by Benji Jones for Vox
Specialized's New E-Bike Shows How Far E-Bikes Have Come, by Molly Taft for Earther
Fat Bear Junior Week Is Here, by Dharna Noor for Earther
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