In Between Times 3-30-2023
Renewables just surpassed coal in the USA, Ford to build 500K EV trucks per year at new plant, Congress' "Five Families", You can now use free satellite data to track the environment
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Currently the most purchased vehicle in the United States is the Ford F-150 pickup truck. That's a lot of trucks and that is a lot of fossil fuels.
But this initiative represents a clear evolution of the American truck and a shift in the industry in general. Manufactured in the heart of truck country, employing 6000 Americans with solid jobs, the EV truck plant decision is one to be celebrated.
Please click here to sign this petition of encouragement!
Construction on the Tennessee site began last year.
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U.S. renewable electricity surpassed coal in 2022
It was bound to happen as the price for wind and solar continues to plummet. “Renewables” had already surpassed nuclear output in this country as of last year.
A few points.
One of the reasons coal is being outstripped is because of the burning of natural gas in powerplants instead of coal. Natgas appears to be very much to be the “bridge energy” it was once touted as.
The lower cost of solar panels has been driven by China, which according to many reports has been augmented by slave labor. See this report from The Center for Strategic and International Studies : A Dark Spot for the Solar Energy Industry: Forced Labor in Xinjiang
The Biden administration has also made solar more expensive (in recent months) because of the Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act which seeks to penalize Chinese manufacturers who use slave labor in Xinjiang China.
Wind power is centered on the eastern slopes of the Rockies and the high plains. This energy must be transferred to population centers farther east (and west) and to do this means new transmission lines. Right now our regulatory regime makes constructing such lines particularly burdensome. In order for wind energy to work at full scale we must institute permitting reform so that a proper network can be built.
(From The AP)
Growth in wind and solar significantly drove the increase in renewable energy and contributed 14% of the electricity produced domestically in 2022. Hydropower contributed 6%, and biomass and geothermal sources generated less than 1%…
…California produced 26% of the national utility-scale solar electricity followed by Texas with 16% and North Carolina with 8%.
The most wind generation occurred in Texas, which accounted for 26% of the U.S. total followed by Iowa (10%) and Oklahoma (9%).
Click here for the article.
Washpo: Meet ‘the five families’ that wield power in McCarthy’s House majority
The “families” are:
For the record there are dozens of other caucuses that focus on everything from spina bifida to Serbia, but for the next 2 years the 5 caucuses listed above will be the most important.
(From The Washington Post)
It all started with a meeting that then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) convened after the midterm elections. He wanted to discuss how a razor-thin Republican majority would operate — and whether he still had a pathway to lead the fractious Republican conference and become speaker of the House…
…Each week the House is in session, the chairs of the five caucuses meet in the speaker’s office to discuss how lawmakers in their individual factions feel about bills that are set to be voted on in the near term and strategize on how to reach common ground on more consequential items that must be addressed in the not-so-distant future.
Click here for the article.
The most interesting think tank in American politics
At least that is what Molly Ball at Time thinks. She’s probably right.
She is referring to The Niskanen Center in Washington DC.
Named for a stalwart of libertarian thinking, it’s founder Jerry Taylor, charted what some call a “liberaltarian” path for the policy shop however. That was 8 years ago, and we remember when the institution was born, well.
Liberaltarian, center-right, center-left, whatever, The Niskanen Center is indeed interesting and it blazes many of its own policy trails. On the one hand inside-the-Beltway wonky establishmentarian, on the other hand innovative, transpartisan, and a little punk rock with legitimate anti-establishment libertarian roots, Niskanen is an interesting place where interesting people do interesting thinking about difficult problems.
Anyone interested in innovation in American policy should have them on their radar.
(From Time)
…At Niskanen’s headquarters near Capitol Hill, a small team of wonks is busy cooking up unconventional proposals to address intractable problems. Want to solve climate change? Forget the Green New Deal and focus on building more electric transmission lines. Want to reduce incarceration? Don’t defund the police—give them funding to solve crimes. Want to improve access to health care? Slash outdated regulations to increase the supply of doctors…
…At a time of polarization, Niskanen has become a home for heterodox thinkers from left and right alike. In its D.C. office suite, a former Bernie Sanders campaign staffer is working on proposals to increase access to health-care and disability benefits by simplifying regulations; at the same time, a former staffer at the libertarian Cato Institute is mapping out new ideas for copyright reform.
Click here for the article.
AllSides: American values, National identity questioned following WSJ-NORC survey
We saw this survey earlier in the week and we asked people what they thought of it. In our very small (think around a table) survey there was indeed a sense that the loss of American values was real. This sentiment came from folks on the left and it came from folks on the right. There is a malaise in this country, again. But unlike in the late 70s the very principles that hold the USA together and not just “religion” and patriotism”, but even life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, equality under the law, a sense that this is the “land of opportunity”, don’t seem to be givens anymore.
AllSides has a summary of the coverage from left, right, and center.
How to use free satellite data to monitor natural disasters and environmental changes
What we now call environmental science has a long history of amateur scientists, Charles Darwin being one. He was part of a golden age of naturalists.
A new golden age may be dawning however as incredibly powerful and inexpensive (in many cases free) tools can now be accessed by layperson and official expert alike. It is part of the great democratizing of science that is happening. We encourage our readers to explore.
(From TheConversation.com)
Traditionally, access to satellite data has been limited to researchers and professionals with expertise in remote sensing and image processing. However, the increasing availability of open-access data from government satellites such as Landsat and Sentinel, and free cloud-computing resources such as Amazon Web Services, Google Earth Engine and Microsoft Planetary Computer, have made it possible for just about anyone to gain insight into environmental changes underway.
I work with geospatial big data as a professor. Here’s a quick tour of where you can find satellite images, plus some free, fairly simple tools that anyone can use to create time-lapse animations from satellite images.
Click here for the article.
“An upside down coral reef” - The mystery of the new 5000 mile seaweed patch sloshing around in the tropical Atlantic
Your editor grew up surfing in Virginia Beach which is adjacent to the Sargasso Sea, which has traditionally been where most sargassum has grown. I can remember large patches of the stuff washing up at my home surfing break draping the shoreline and the surfers in a green-brown mess. It has a particularly pungent odor. I also remember is that there was always a lot of life in the floating mats, from fish to rather nasty (and painful) sea lice.
The patch documented below has only formed over the last decade and scientists are not sure why it has.
JOIN US IN DALLAS! The EARTHX LEADERSHIP CIRCLE SUMMIT
with Van Jones
An unusually positive discussion on policies and strategies
Do you sometimes feel powerless to stop climate change? Like it’s too big and it’s too late?
Here’s the reality you won’t often hear. We have the time, the power, and the will to stop the worst climate change impacts before it’s too late. Seven-in-ten Americans support the actions we need to take, to stabilize and begin to cut emissions before a 1.5-degree C temperature rise - when we talk.
Climate change is real and human caused - 70% of red and blue Americans agree. Yet political media make billions by isolating red and blue Americans in separate echo chambers, where all we hear is the worst denial or defeatism of the other side. We’re convinced we can’t agree. But we can.
At the Leadership Circle Summit, you will roll up sleeves and work shoulder-to-shoulder with citizens, NGOs, corporate leaders, scientists, and donors across the partisan divide - not to just listen, but to actively help plan how to unite Americans for pragmatic climate solutions that work.
CNN host Van Jones will lead our circle in person as we share how we can work together to achieve breakthrough climate solutions, by applying lessons he learned to pass “impossible” criminal justice reform backed by progressives and conservatives and signed into law by President Trump.
You will be surprised to meet the unexpected allies already working quietly together to stop climate change. You won’t just hear their stories - you will be at the table to hear, discuss, and improve a positive strategy that we will deploy to break the gridlock and lead to bipartisan climate solutions.
The strategy we begin with brings together the knowledge, power, and money to protect life on earth this decade. Together we will improve and begin to deploy that plan to:
● Create a more circular economy that thrives like nature, closing the loop on the throwaway economy, so we continuously reduce and renew our draws on earth.
● Modernize the electric grid, build out utility-scale wind and solar, commercialize renewable fuels, capture carbon, and introduce Net Zero oil and gas,
● Rebuild our auto manufacturing industry around electric, low-carbon, bio, and hydrogen fleets
● Shift from industrial to more regenerative agriculture and aquaculture
● Replace our infrastructure of old nuclear power with new safe modular plants, and begin the shift to near-zero-waste fusion.
● Unleash a robust sustainable critical minerals industry, break our dependence on China, and manufacture all the electric vehicles, batteries, fuel cells, and smart tech we need. ● Prove the most promising forms of advanced recycling, and reduce, reuse, and recycle 80% of the waste from all these processes and more.
● Protect our oceans, forests, and wildlife diversity, with a prosperous economy that grows and develops like nature, sustainably.
● Achieve energy independence and speed us toward Net Zero carbon, with clean choices that free us from regimes in China, Russia, or the Middle East.
Come plan the 2023-2024 agenda uniting citizens, lawmakers, corporate leaders, and top environmental donors, to take the pragmatic actions that can end the wars over our planet, and save it instead.
Summary Agenda
EARTHX LEADERSHIP CIRCLE SUMMIT
with Van Jones
Presented by In This Together
April 21-22, 2023
EarthX at Fair Park
Dallas, Texas
Held under Chatham House Rule unless noted - No Attributions Please Day 1: April 21, 2023
12:00 pm LUNCH
12:30 pm PART 1: WELCOME TO THE CASE FOR CLIMATE PRO-ACTIVISM A discussion of the costs of climate pessimism, and why a strategy founded on realistic optimism and positive activism is our most effective, self-fulfilling path forward.
1:00 pm A BIPARTISAN CLIMATE AGENDA - WHY, WHAT, AND HOW? An open conversation with donors, strategists, advocates, and media insiders for Pragmatic Energy and Climate Solutions that Work, and the roles each play.
1:30 pm BREAK
2:00 pm PART 2: PRAGMATIC CLIMATE SOLUTIONS THAT WORK
2:30 pm IRA FUNDING AND PERMITTING AGENDA
Updates and Action featuring IRA, BIL, and Permitting Reform.
3:00 pm CIRCULAR ECONOMY AGENDA
Updates and Action featuring EPR, Deposits, Innovative Source Reduction, and Real Advanced Recycling.
3:30 pm CLEAN ENERGY CHOICES AGENDA
Updates and Action on Carbon Capture. Nuclear, Hydrogen, Digital, Solar, Wind, Net Zero O&G, and others.
4:00 pm CONSERVATION AND NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS Work with leading conservation donors, wildlife protection and hunting groups, eNGOs and business executives on issues that draw the broadest public support.
4:30 pm ELECTRIFICATION
Learn how to smooth the way to transportation and other forms.
5:00 pm SUMMARY, AND NEXT STEPS
Day 2 April 22, 2023
7:00 am BREAKFAST
8:00 am PART 3: BUILD THE STRATEGY
CNN host and climate and justice champion Van Jones with Bill Shireman will lead a discussion on how to apply lessons from the landmark criminal justice breakthrough to build a pro-climate alliance so broad and deep it can’t be stopped.
9:00 am BREAKOUTS ON CLEAN ENERGY, CONSERVATION, AND CIRCULARITY We break into small groups to review the strategy we improved on the prior day, and map a path to secure the popular, business, and political support we need.
10:00 am SUMMARY, PROCESS, AND NEXT STEPS
12:00 noon LUNCHEON SPEECH AND DISCUSSION WITH VAN JONES We will move to a larger luncheon ballroom open to the public where Jones will take the stage with unusual allies to share inspiring stories and non-private outcomes from our process, and inspire us all to take our campaigns forward.
1:30 pm ADJOURN THE SUMMIT AND BEGIN THE CLIMB
2:00 pm PRIVATE VIP SESSION - maximum 10 with Van Jones