Enduring Optimism
Forge the Future #55 - protests, plastic rain and positivity
Welcome to Forge the Future, your weekly guide to all things climate.
Another week where it’s hard to know what to focus on. BLM protests continue around the world, whilst coronavirus restrictions are lifting here in the UK, and the US continues to strip environmental protections. It can be hard to keep up with everything, let alone know what to focus on. 2020 has been such a rollercoaster ride that it’s hard to know what will come next. A friend asked me earlier this week if I thought everything would go back to normal soon, to which I could only wonder - what is normal now? I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling a little overwhelmed by everything at times, exacerbated by social media and the temptation to doom-scroll.
This is a roundabout way of saying - there’s a lot going on right now, and a lot of important battles to fight, and causes to support. It’s easy to burn out, but this is a marathon, not a sprint. Take care of yourselves - you can’t fight for social and climate justice if you’re not strong and healthy. PSA over!
State of the Climate
CO2 levels this week: 416.80 ppm
This time last year: 413.06 ppm
Further research into microplastics has found that plastic particles falling in rain. A rough estimate suggests that at least 1000 tons fall on 11 protected areas in the western US each year (just 6% of the total US land area). This new discovery uncovers another piece of the plastic waste puzzle, but unfortunately takes us no closer to a solution to the the wider microplastics problem.
The annual predictions of the Gulf of Mexico dead zone have been released, and at 6,700 square miles, they’re pretty large. The dead zone is caused by fertiliser run-off being washed into the Mississippi and then into the Gulf, where it causes massive algal blooms. These then die, and the decomposition sucks the oxygen out of vast areas of ocean. The zone kills marine life as well as driving a number of species out of the area, and also significantly affects fisheries around the Gulf.
New research suggests that global warming will cause up to a 10% increase in the frequency and magnitude of extreme waves over the next 80 years, particularly in the Southern Ocean. This could in turn cause increased coastal flooding and erosion, further threatening coastal populations. CarbonBrief covered research reevaluating the costs of climate change, which found that the cost of extreme weather due to climate change is severely underestimated.
Visualisation of the Week
This week’s chart comes from Bloomberg NEF, and shows just how far renewables have come in the past decade, with solar edging out coal, and wind power ahead of gas.
I’m probably sounding like a stuck record at this point, but with the intersectionality of causes increasingly on my mind in recent weeks, I keep seeing it crop up again and again. An anti-poverty program in Indonesia, that gave cash payments to people in impoverished areas, ended up cutting tree loss in the country by 30%, despite no attached conditions to the payments. Whilst the result is likely country specific, it highlights how linked social and economic conditions are to environmental damage.
As Bill McKibben wrote last week, what’s the point of creating a world powered by clean energy, if it still has massive injustice and inequality? The links between pollution and racism are many - black communities are poorer, and receive less investment, will often be the site of polluting projects, all exacerbating existing inequalities in society. Environmentalism is closely linked to social justice, and solving one necessarily means solving the other, otherwise we’re just fixing symptoms rather than the underlying cause - a biased system.
Take the UN warning this week that coronavirus could cause the worst food crisis for 50 years. This is the collision of multiple areas - the virus is merely the (rather substantial) straw that has broken the camel’s back. Climate change, inequality in wealth, race, gender and more, compounded by ever thinner social security nets, all pushed over the edge by this current crisis. As one commentator said of the current race protests - it’s not surprising that protests are happening, what’s surprising is that folks have put up with the status quo for so long.
It might seem like everything is falling apart all at once, but what’s happening is that we’re seeing problems that have existed for a long time finally come to the surface. Hopefully, now we can see them, we can start to address them, and build a world that works for everyone, not just the few.
News Highlights
US vs the Climate
New analysis ranks the US 24th in the world on environmental performance, well behind many other industrialised nations. Denmark, Luxembourg and Switzerland made up the top 3.
The head of the Forest Service has ordered the agency to expedite environmental reviews on its land, opening up public land for commercial development with less oversight.
The EPA has claimed its decision to halt enforcement was to protect its own workers, despite their union claiming otherwise.
An investigation has been launched into what appears to be a coordinated phishing campaign targeting activists, journalists and others campaigning against Exxon Mobil.
A federal court has overruled the EPA and effectively banned a group of weedkillers that were approved by the agency despite significant evidence of harmful side-effects.
A new report suggests that a universal clean electricity standard could make the US energy grid 90% carbon free (and cheaper for consumers) by 2035, although such a policy is extremely unlikely to be passed.
In New Mexico, 18 pro-environment candidates won House and Senate primary races, of whom 14 were women. The state is forging ahead with numerous clean energy measures despite being one of the poorest in the country.
A new survey of Russell 3000 board seats suggests that whilst gender diversity is improving rapidly, racial diversity is not progressing at nearly the same rate.
Other News
A new IEA report shows that of 46 clean energy areas, only 6 are on track with respect to the Paris climate goals.
Unilever has unveiled a massive new climate plan to cut its own and its suppliers’ emissions by 2039, and will put carbon labels on all of its 70,000 products.
The EASA has granted the first ever worldwide certification for an electric aircraft - the Pipistrel Velis Electro, a two seat aircraft used for pilot training.
The Swiss parliament has approved a proposal to add a significant CO2 tax on air tickets, ranging from 30-120CHF. The UK has also announced a ‘Jet Zero’ scheme to work towards zero carbon transatlantic flights, though as always, details are scarce.
Putin is furious about the enormous diesel spill in the Arctic, and there are hopes that this may revive long stalled environmental legislation in Russia.
An Indian gas well blowout that has been leaking uncontrollably for two weeks caught fire, causing a massive explosion.
Australia is fast-tracking a massive new coal mine to help kick-start its economy. The new project is double the size of the controversial Adani Carmichael mine that has been mired in protests for the last couple of years.
Long Reads
A collection of articles, essays and books discussing the many links between racism and climate change.
Bloomberg Green breaks down what green stimulus plans should spend money on as well as what that can achieve.
The End Times
That’s all I have for you this week. As always, thanks for reading, and if you’ve any feedback or suggestions for me, I’d love to hear them (you can reach me at oli@forgethefuture.com). If you feel like sharing this, I’d massively appreciate it!
Stay safe, and see you next week,
Oli