In Between Times 4-6-2023
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Six of the world's largest companies have joined together to invest $1 billion collectively in Circular Services, the largest privately held recycling company in the US, in an effort to close at least part of the "waste loop".
For a circular economy to become a reality companies must find ways to change the waste cycle. This means innovation and changes to infrastructure. The investment in Circular Services has been called "a significant milestone" by consulting company GlobalData.
Let's encourage this coalition and encourage more investment in the circular economy by signing this petition!
CLICK HERE FOR THE PETITION!
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Dime-Sized battery is a step toward an EV with a 1,000-mile range
Electrics have a number of obstacles to become the go-to vehicles of choice. Major issues include;
-Sourcing: EV batteries need both cobalt and lithium, two minerals that often come from places where mining conditions are troubling from both an environmental and human rights perspective. Near slave labor exists in and around many of the cobalt mines in central Africa.
-Infrastructure: People need to know that even if they are in the middle of nowhere that they can fuel their cars. Right now EV owners are still challenged on this front.
-And range: To date the range on EVs does not generally compare to the range of gasoline and diesel powered vehicles.
The last issue is being tackled perhaps the best of the three. With each year EV range increases. In fact there is now a car that is available for purchase, the Lucid Air, that has a range of over 500 miles. This is longer than the median range for gas powered cars which is just over 400 miles. Though it must also be noted that the Air will set you back at least $139,000 and likely much more than that once optioned up. So recouping one’s gas costs with a new Lucid is not likely to happen. At least not anytime soon.
But the technology keeps improving. Solid state batteries look especially promising, and perhaps game changing.
(From Inside Climate News)
The real world implications of the technology are substantial, with the potential for batteries that could power an EV for 1,000 miles on a single charge. That’s a lot, even when compared to other designs for solid state batteries, and it’s three to four times more than most current EVs…
…Every major automaker is working on solid-state batteries, either in-house or through partnerships with battery manufacturers like QuantumScape and Solid Power. The plans vary, but they point toward having a few EVs with the batteries on the market within about five years, and having a lot more on the market in the early 2030s.
Click here for the article.
Pass permitting reform & recycling policy to build America’s advanced energy future
Coal capacity climbs worldwide despite promises to slash it
In the US we continue to cut our dependence on coal. As we have covered in the past in this publication this has much to do with cheap and much cleaner natural gas coming online coupled with increasingly inexpensive and more efficient renewable energy.
But in much of the world less coal is not the trend, particularly in China.
In fact;
“China accounted for 92% of all new coal project announcements.”
(From The AP)
The capacity to burn coal for power went up in 2022 despite global promises to phase down the fuel that’s the biggest source of planet-warming gases in the atmosphere, a report Wednesday found.
The coal fleet grew by 19.5 gigawatts last year, enough to light up around 15 million homes, with nearly all newly commissioned coal projects in China, according to a report by Global Energy Monitor, an organization that tracks a variety of energy projects around the globe.
That 1% increase comes at a time when the world needs to retire its coal fleet four and a half times faster to meet climate goals, the report said.
Click here for the article.
Deep-sea mining vital to climate action, (potentially) deadly to oceans
It has been said that we know more about the moon’s surface than that of the deep sea. I’m not sure that this is still true but the deepest darkest parts of the ocean do constitute a real frontier that exists still on our planet. This frontier is full of opportunity, and potential peril.
As we discussed briefly above, one of the biggest challenges to the electrification and digitization of the economy is our reliance on minerals like lithium, cobalt, and magnesium. The oceans it is believed are full of these minerals however, and the first deep sea mining operations focused on the gathering of these minerals could begin as early as July of this year.
But the technology is quite challenging from an environmental perspective. Imagine a giant vacuum cleaner scouring the bottom of the sea for softball sized manganese nodules. That’s essentially what these deep sea mining operations will be. The vacuums suck up highly important minerals, minerals vital to a renewable energy economy, but they also suck up whatever else is on the ocean’s floor killing marine life and profoundly disrupting ecosystems.
So what to do?
The answer is not clear cut. The world needs these minerals. But it is a shame to disturb one of the last wild places on the planet. The problem for deep sea wildlife is that what happens deep under the sea is out of sight and out of mind, even for some of the most environmentally conscious among us.
(From DW)
"The nodules' composition happens to be remarkably well-aligned with the needs of electric vehicle makers," said Gerard Barron, CEO of The Metals Company. "Carmakers will need a great deal more of these metals in order to make battery cathodes and electrical connectors for an electric vehicle fleet of around a billion cars and trucks by mid-century."
The Canada-based company specializes in the medium and long-term exploitation of mineral resources in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.
Although manganese nodules are not yet being mined anywhere in the world, that could soon change as they practically lie directly on the seabed and can be easily extracted without breaking up rock layers or eroding the seabed.
Click here for the article.
AllSides: Media coverage of Trump's arrest, arraignment, and indictment was riddled with bias. Here's how.
It was a circus. We knew it would be. And surprise, surprise coverage of Trump’s legal issues in New York this week were covered in widely different ways. Though we must admit we did hear some more nuanced analysis from what some could call the center which was good to see.
Regardless, the proceedings in Manhattan were a spectacle designed to polarize. The media was more than happy to take the bait.
Thankfully we now have organizations like AllSides.com which is doing really excellent work covering both/all sides of the biggest news stories. We encourage our readers to check them out regularly.
(From AllSides.com)
Donald Trump flew from his home in Florida to Manhattan to face arraignment, which occurred on Tuesday, April 4, in which he was formally charged with 34 counts of business fraud related to hush money payments to adult film actors which allegedly had affairs with Trump.
The right covered Trump’s response to the indictment and arraignment significantly more than the left, and seemingly with a more positive light on the former president. While HuffPost (Left bias) indicated with spin in its coverage that “Trump spent Tuesday morning posting complaints about the case in all-capital letters to his Twitter-like platform,” most outlets analyzed on the right focused heavily on Trump’s statements and Tuesday evening speech at his Mar-a-Lago residence.
In fact, the analysis found that outlets on the right highlighted Trump’s speech at Mar-a-Lago as their top story significantly more than the left. Here is a taste of the top headline on a few media websites, all pulled at 10:00pm ET on Tuesday, April 4th:
Click here for the stories and additional analysis from AllSides.
Married to Fox News: How a Democratic wife learned to live with her Republican husband
It’s a funny headline for the piece as learning to live with anyone is a two way street. But attached is an interesting window into the dynamics of a Democrat/Republican marital relationship.
Though the couple remains together one senses in the writer some exasperation with her Fox News watching partner. But in the end she figures he’s probably more good than bad. He likes animals and she likes animals so there’s that.
But it does feel like an uneasy detente. But detente has its place.
(From KatieCouric.com)
My husband expected Hillary Clinton to win, as we all did. He wasn’t even watching the returns. I stayed up as the election unfolded, and I was just sick over it. The next morning, Marcus said, “So: Hillary?” He was floored that Trump had actually won. But he told me I’d had my eight years with Obama and I should let him have his time with his candidate. I said OK — and thought I could tolerate that.
At first, I wouldn’t comment about Trump. I left it alone. But my husband would be watching Fox all the time, and I simply couldn’t bear it. Trump talked and talked, and he became more and more outlandish, and Marcus would just sit there and listen. Hearing him parrot the things he heard on Fox, I started to feel crazy, and I wondered if he was unable to think for himself. I began to push the envelope: “How can you support this man?” I’d ask. “He’s a lunatic.” That’s when we started really fighting, and he’d turn things right back around, accusing me of watching lies on CNN.
Click here for the article.
Rand Paul: “Starbucks is an American success story”
There are some who see Starbucks as a target. The coffee chain is a high profile, much beloved brand, that some people think should be fully unionized despite the very generous benefits the company provides for its employees.
Your editor is related to someone who worked at Starbucks. There she learned the intricacies of chai lattes, and frappuccinos. She learned important lessons in customer service. These lessons helped her in her next job. People get mad when you screw up their coffee. But they can become incandescent when they get bumped from a flight. Starbucks taught her how to handle people gracefully.
Starbucks also paid her quite well, over $15 an hour (in a moderately expensive city), to make coffee. She could also have gotten health insurance, tuition reimbursement, and a 401k with company contribution. From my perspective I was pretty impressed and I am one who likes his coffee almost black, with a splash of cream. Which is to say cheap, and not Starbucks.
Should Starbucks be above criticism? Certainly not. But on the grand corporate karma scale there are many companies that deserve this kind of senatorial attention much more than Starbucks. But those companies won’t grab the headlines that Starbucks does.
Senator Sanders has a much more critical view of Starbucks however.
Christine Todd Whitman: Democrats and Republicans want the status quo, but we need to move Forward
JOIN US IN DALLAS! The EARTHX LEADERSHIP CIRCLE SUMMIT
With Van Jones
April 21-22, 2023
EarthX at Fair Park
Dallas, Texas
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.