Welcome to Forge the Future, your weekly guide to all things climate.
Protests have continued around the world against institutional racism, and amidst all the brutality it’s been heartening to see so many rallying around such an important cause. From my own perspective, it’s really brought home again how privileged I am to be able to focus full time on the climate crisis. I’m also aware that I’ve tended to focus more on environmental issues, and at times skirt away from the many intertwined social and societal causes. As I mentioned last week, it’s more and more clear that all these problems are linked, and they need fighting together. I’m still figuring out how that translates to my own work, but I have a responsibility to not shy away from societal and social issues.
State of the Climate
CO2 levels this week: 416.76 ppm
This time last year: 414.41 ppm
Atmospheric CO2 levels reached a new high of 417ppm in May, despite a huge drop in global emissions due to the pandemic. It is likely the emissions increase will slow this year, but will still go up - it would take CO2 reductions of 20-30% for 6-12 months to significantly alter the atmospheric CO2 levels. On the subject of CO2, a new study found that large amounts of drained peatland in SE Asia is subsiding by as much as 2.2cm per year, and releasing significant CO2 into the atmosphere. The lower ground also puts more land at risk of flooding.
Another cyclone has slammed into India, this time on the west coast, hitting Mumbai and the state of Maharashtra. Fortunately the impacts don’t appear to have been devastating, but the state has been hit hard by COVID-19, and with large numbers of people evacuated ahead of the storm, there are worries that the virus could spread further. Vanuatu is struggling after being hit hard by Cyclone Harold, the first major storm to overlap with the pandemic.The country has had a strict quarantine in progress, and has remained virus free, but now has to balance maintaining that status with bringing in sorely needed aid to the remote nation.
New research from MediaMatters has shown that in the US, in three years of corporate broadcasts, almost all coverage of hurricanes failed to cover the outsize impacts of the storms on marginalised communities, with only a few short segments from PBS making the link. Another piece of research released this week found that living close to high-producing oil wells was correlated with low birth weights, which is in turn associated with a number of serious infant health conditions.
The numbers are finally in for deforestation in 2019, and they aren’t good. 3.8m hectares of tropical primary forest were cut down last year - a football pitch every six seconds. Primary forest (the oldest growth forest that takes the longest to regrow) loss was up 2.8% from 2018, although a few areas of the world showed a marked decrease in tree cover loss. The announcement coincides with the release of the 2020 Amazon burn season forecast, with another record burn likely this year, particularly as the world is now preoccupied with COVID-19.
Last but not least, Russia declared a state of emergency after a fuel container ruptured, spilling 20,000 tons of diesel in the Arctic. The governor of the region only found out two days later after the incident was posted to social media.
Visualisation of the Week
This week’s visualisation comes from the Guardian, and shows the UK’s continuing coal-free power run - now at 60 continuous days!
Now is not the time for my voice, and I certainly have nothing meaningful I can add to the information on the current protests and movement. So instead, this week I’m highlighting a few of the more diverse voices I follow in the climate movement:
Jerome Foster II - Youth climate activist, organiser of Fridays For Future.
Mary Annaïse Heglar - climate justice writer and co-host of the RealHotTake podcast and newsletter.
Dr Ayana Elizabeth Johnson - marine biologist, writer, founder of Ocean Collectiv and Urban Ocean Lab.
Rhiana Gunn-Wright - Director for Climate Policy at the Roosevelt Institute.
Vanessa Nakate - Youth climate activist, founder of the Rise up Movement.
If you have other recommendations for more diverse voices I should be listening to, please reach out and let me know!
News Highlights
US vs the Climate
Trump has signed off an executive order that waives environmental requirements for a range of major construction and energy projects, effectively allowing them to skip any form of environmental checks and safeguards.
Grist looks at how US states have been gradually criminalising protests, particularly after significant environmental or civil rights protests, and more measures are likely to follow the current wave of Black Lives Matter protests across the country.
Trump also announced on Friday that he will be opening up a 5000sq mi conservation area off the coast of New England to commercial fishing.
Renewable energy use surpassed coal in the US for the first time in 130 years!
New York has approved construction of the state’s largest onshore wind farm - a 340MW project south of Buffalo.
The Trump administration has rolled back a 2016 ban of various much criticised hunting practices in Alaska, including shooting bear and wolf cubs/pups in their dens.
Another senior official at the Department of the Interior has been found guilty of violating ethics rules - Douglas Domenech broke ethics rules twice in six months. Given the Interior Secretary himself, David Bernhardt, has broken ethics rules in the past, don’t expect this guy to be going anywhere though.
Other News
Germany has unveiled the world’s greenest (so far) recovery plan, with around ⅓ of the €130bn plan focused on green initiatives, and zero money towards internal combustion vehicles. The plan will also put EV charging stations at every petrol station in the country.
CATL, one of the world’s biggest battery companies, has unveiled a million mile battery. This marks another turning point for EVs, as batteries will now potentially outlast vehicles.
China has just completed construction of a 1000 mi ultra-high voltage transmission line that is claimed to be the first to only transport clean energy. CarbonBrief crunched the numbers and found that due to the decreasing cost of renewables, China could potentially decrease emissions and save money by accelerating renewable energy rollout.
Kenya is banning single-use plastics on beaches, national parks, forests and conservation areas, in order to curb pollution.
The UK’s largest private pension manager is to exit tobacco, thermal coal and more controversial weapons manufacture. It’s a low bar, but they got there eventually.
Long Reads
An exploration of the potential of floating wind turbines.
Dr Ayana Elizabeth Johnson explains how racism derails efforts to save the climate.
Bloomberg looked at links between the biggest US and European banks and either green or polluting industries. Unsurprisingly almost all the biggest banks have strong ties to either oil or other polluting sectors.
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