Growth economy, even “green”, means rising climate emissions “Two years and $300 billion into Biden’s Climate Plan, we’re seeing that increased renewable energy investment goes hand in hand with increased fossil fuel production and climate emissions. EPA Administrator Michael Regan acknowledged the IRAs shortcomings but explained, ‘We’re using every tool in our toolbox to drive down climate pollution’. What if the toolbox itself is inadequate? What if, on the contrary, all the tools only make a dire crisis even worse? Because that’s exactly what’s happening. “The United States increased its natural gas production to break all global records in crude oil production in 2023 and, in the same year, claimed an emissions reduction. When we look at the countries that are held up as green growth success stories, we find that the green energy transition is being paid for by fossil fuel production, by the logging and mining industries that deplete and poison our clean water, and by military production, the automobile industry and the aviation industry. It’s based on land stolen from Indigenous peoples and policed by human-rights violators. ‘Green growth’ is a marketing strategy. Nothing more. “Whatever emissions reductions individual countries have been able to conjure up with accounting tricks, we face a stark reality: Globally, carbon emissions have risen almost 600% since 1950. They rise every year with only a few exceptions. Fossil fuel companies cannot and will not abandon their massive, fixed investments in fossil fuel infrastructure. “Capital exists on a continuum between liquid and fixed. Liquid capital is money that can be quickly sold. Fixed capital is the opposite. The initial investment cannot easily be moved into another form — eg. a $100 million coal excavator, a $7.6 billion gas pipeline, or a $6 billion petroleum refinery. If the company that owns those investments stops selling oil or gas, their huge investment is mostly just going to rust. “Growth-based economies by any name have demonstrated they are an enemy to our survival. More green energy is not slowing this catastrophe. What we need is to stop the construction of new pipelines, drilling operations and airports; to end our structural dependency on cars; to recover ecosystemic and localized forms of food production that are inalienable from the communities that rely on them. “We need to throw our support behind the movements that have already proven that their priority is healing our planet, its ecosystems and its inhabitants. These movements are intersectional. Rather than siloing every problem into a single issue dominated by experts, we encourage one another to explore how interconnected all these oppressions and disasters are.” More at – Two Years and $300 Billion into Biden’s Climate Plan, Emissions Are Higher than Ever | In These Times. Data centers forcing unsustainable electricity growth “Grant County [Washington] utility district owns two public dams on the colossal Columbia River that are capable of powering more than 1.5 million homes. For decades, this sparsely populated county had enough clean hydroelectricity to meet its own power needs and sell the excess at a low cost across the Northwest. Then wealthy companies, catering to the insatiable demands of our digital world, arrived in the county. “Attracted by the cheap electricity, they built power-guzzling data centers. But with demand soaring and the power from dams finite, Grant County has been forced to look to other sources of energy, or risk rolling blackouts in homes, factories and hospitals. At least three utilities in other Washington counties are similarly contending with the voracious demands of data centers. Artificial intelligence, internet searches, storing photos on the cloud, and streaming videos are accelerating the need to build data centers across the world. “Data centers in neighboring Douglas County, which include cryptomining facilities, used about 39% of the county’s electricity in 2022. The state has added miles and miles of wind turbines and solar farms to its grid in recent years, making up about 9% of its fuel mix in 2022. But those efforts compete against growing demand not just from data centers but also from the ongoing transition away from gas-powered vehicles, appliances, and industries.” More at – Data centers guzzle power, threatening WA’s clean energy push | Sea-Tac Airport. Ocean rise: unequal impact on Southwest Pacific islands “A ‘worldwide catastrophe’ is imperiling Pacific Islands and the world must respond to the unprecedented and devastating impacts of rising seas before it is too late’, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned. Sea surface temperatures in the Southwest Pacific have risen three times faster than the global average since 1980. “Ocean heating is boosting sea level rise, as water expands when it heats, and melting ice sheets and glaciers have added to the volume. Sea levels in the region have risen at almost twice the global average over the past 30 years. ‘This is a region with an average elevation just 1 to 2 meters above sea level, where around 90% of people live within 5 kilometers of the coast, and where half the infrastructure is within 500 meters of the sea’, Guterres said.” More at – UN chief issues global SOS as new reports warn Pacific sea-level rise outstrips global average | CNN. Bicycle commute for fun and convenience “In the age of endless traffic jams, escalating gas prices, and environmental concerns, many are finding freedom in a simple, two-wheeled solution: the bicycle commute. The switch to a bicycle commute isn’t just about saving money — it’s about embracing a more mindful way of living. “Here are some additional joys of ditching the car and embracing a bicycle-centric lifestyle — financial freedom, less stress in traffic, lower environmental impact, minimalism, building community, physical fitness, mental clarity, time management, easier parking, better sleep, local economy, calmer streets, active transportation, spontaneity, enjoyment, and more.” More at – 21 Joys of Ditching the Car for a Bike Commute | Momentum Mag. Rewilding of 25% of Europe is possible “Nearly a quarter of Europe is pristine enough to support key herbivores and carnivores, hallmarks of functional wild ecosystems, according to new research. Large tracts of land with minimal human presence offer the potential to meet biodiversity targets by restoring wildlife, a process sometimes referred to as ‘rewilding’. Europe, like much of the world, has set an ambitious goal of conserving 30% of land by 2030 to counter the habitat destruction that is central to the global decline of wildlife. “Miguel Araújo and a colleague at the University of Évora scrutinized maps of Europe to find places that met three key criterial: Less than 5% of the land had a human footprint; the land was clustered in areas no smaller than 100 square kilometers; and that the it was already occupied by a key herbivore or carnivore. It turns out nearly 1.2 million square kilometers of land in Europe meets these criteria.” More at – Nearly a quarter of Europe could be a wildlife haven | Anthropocene Magazine. Killing wild animals to relieve human hunger from drought “Namibia is one of several countries across southern Africa struggling with devastating drought driven by El Niño and exacerbated by the human-caused climate crisis. Namibia declared a state of emergency in May as the impacts of drought worsened. An estimated 1.4 million people — around half the population — are expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity. “The country’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism announced last Monday that it is planning to kill more than 700 wild animals, including elephants, zebras and hippos, and distribute the meat to the people. The culling program will take pressure off water resources by reducing wildlife in areas where their numbers ‘exceed available grazing and water’. It also aims to reduce the potential for conflicts between elephants and humans, which can increase during drought.” More at – Namibia will kill elephants, zebras, hippos and give meat to people affected by drought | CNN. Brazil’s Pantanal is burning, wildlife decimated “Wildfires are laying waste to Brazil’s Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland and one of the most important biodiversity sanctuaries on the planet. The blazes, the worst on record since Brazil started tracking fires in 1998, are taking a deadly toll on wild animals, including at-risk species that scientists have been working for decades to protect. “The Pantanal is a maze of rivers, forests and marshlands that sprawl over 68,000 square miles, an area 20 times the size of the Everglades. About 80% lies within Brazil, with the rest in Bolivia and Paraguay. Usually flooded for much of the year, the Pantanal in recent years has been parched by a string of severe droughts that scientists have linked to deforestation and climate change. “The wetlands are home to the world’s biggest parrot, the highest concentration of caimans, and threatened wildlife including the giant otter. Scientists say it is too early to say precisely how many animals are dying in the blazes. But they fear the toll could exceed that of fires that ravaged the region in 2020, killing some 17 million animals.” More at – The world’s largest wetland is burning, and rare animals are dying | WLRN. How valid are corn and soy biofuels in “Climate-Smart Ag” program? “Agriculture accounts for 10% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The Democrat Party platform said the U.S. farm sector would be the first in the world to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 with the assistance of projects such as the USDA’s climate-smart agriculture initiatives. ‘Under President Biden’s landmark climate law, the Agriculture Department is paying farmers to adopt climate-smart practices, which sequester carbon from the atmosphere, improve soil health and biodiversity, and restore water cycles’, said the platform. “The USDA is arguing for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), the 45Z tax credit regulations. SAF credits are available for fuels that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% compared to petroleum-based jet fuel. ‘The real game here is 45Z’, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at an ethanol trade group meeting in Omaha.” More at – Democratic platform calls for net-zero agricultural emissions by 2050 | Successful Farming, and More crops, more farming practices should get a share of SAF credits, says Vilsack | Successful Farming. The smartest guys in the room “Donald Trump and Elon Musk dwelled on the problem of the climate crisis during their much-hyped conversation on X, agreeing that the world has plenty of time to move away from fossil fuels, if at all. One prominent activist labeled the event ‘the dumbest climate conversation of all time’. Trump said of fossil fuels, ‘I think we have, you know, perhaps hundreds of years left. Nobody really knows’. The former US president added that rising sea levels, caused by melting glaciers, would have the benefit of creating ‘more oceanfront property. “The one thing that I don’t understand is that people talk about global warming, but they never talk about nuclear warming’ Trump pondered. Musk, meanwhile, said it was wrong to ‘vilify’ the oil and gas industry. ‘If we were to stop using oil and gas right now, we would all be starving and the economy would collapse’ said Musk.” More at – ‘The dumbest climate conversation of all time’: experts on the Musk-Trump interview | The Guardian UK.