FIRST LOOK:

Join the Climate Group at 10:00 am THIS MORNING for the opening ceremony of Climate Week, and on Wednesday, Sept. 22, for a panel discussion on how massive oil & gas expansion fuels the climate and extinction crises at 11:00 am ET.

Damage From Hurricane Ida Worsens As Outages Drag On: The fallout and recovery from Hurricane Ida in southeast Louisiana are far from over. Tarps still cover rooftops, and toppled electrical poles litter the roadside and nearly 40,000 were still without power as of Friday evening in the suburb of Destrehan, just half an hour west of the New Orleans city center. Every day repairs are delayed, they become more difficult as mold fueled by heat and leaky roofs continues to spread — and by the way, the trash hasn't been picked up since before the storm. Fewer than half the schools in Terrebonne Parish have power and without electricity, school officials haven't even been able to assess the damage, let alone set a timeline for reopening. Long-term power outages are becoming an increasingly frequent impact of storms like Ida. Climate change, caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, is making hurricanes more intense and increasing extreme precipitation events. “No water, no electricity, so you can’t do nothing,” Charles Verdin, chair of the Pointe-Au-Chien tribe, told the Times. Meanwhile, oil and gas bankruptcies and Ida created a "perfect storm" of potential toxic pollution from the 446 orphaned wells in the area hit by the storm, Patrick Courreges of the Louisiana DNR told E&E News. (Outages: New York Times $; Trash and anger: AP; Orphaned wells: E&E News; Climate Signals background: 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season, Extreme precipitation increase)

Lack Of Ambition, Follow-Through Hangs Over UNGA: Stark warnings abound as world leaders gather for the UN General Assembly this week. The annual meeting will likely be dominated by the coronavirus pandemic and climate change — it comes just six weeks before the UN's COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Current ambitions from the world's countries are not nearly enough to keep warming within non-cataclysmic limits, the UN warned Friday. The aggregation of climate action plans from 191 nations would heat the planet by a horrific 4.9°F (2.7°C) by 2100, the report found, with time rapidly running out to limit warming to the 2.7°F (1.5°C) goal set out in the Paris Agreement. Not only must countries increase their ambition and accelerate action, but wealthy nations must also make good on their commitments to aid developing countries. In 2009, rich countries pledged to provide $100 billion in aid annually to developing nations by 2020, but a new report from the OECD says 2019 funding (the last year for which data is available) was less than $80 billion, just 2% more than the previous year. If wealthy nations don't make good on their promises, “then the whole system is in question," Mohamed Nasr, an Egyptian diplomat who negotiates climate finance issues on behalf of the African group of nations, told Politico. "If you are asking developing countries to do more and more and more — which they are willing to do — and you are not delivering on your pledges, then there is a question mark.” (UNGA: AP, Washington Post $, New York Times $, E&E News, Wall Street Journal $, Reuters; Emissions: Washington Post $, Thomson Reuters Foundation, explainer, Axios, NPR, Reuters, The Hill, Democracy Now, Axios, New York Times $, Politico Pro $, Wall Street Journal $; Financial commitments: Politico EU, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Climate Home, Reuters, Politico Pro $, Reuters, Thomson Reuters Foundation)

Biden, EU Announce Global Methane Pledge: The U.S. and EU pledged to cut methane pollution by 30% by 2030 and sought to bring other nations on board, Friday. Methane is a far more potent heat-trapping gas than carbon dioxide. It also washes out of the atmosphere far more quickly, making methane pollution cuts one of the most effective ways to slow global warming in the near-term. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his nation would sign on to the pledge. The aptly-named Global Methane Pledge calls on signatories to take comprehensive domestic actions to cut methane pollution from the three main emitting sectors: energy, waste, and agriculture, and only includes measures specifically designed to cut methane pollution, not actions that reduce methane pollution as a secondary effect. (AP, The Conversation, Politico Pro $, E&E $, Reuters, The Hill, Wall Street Journal $, The Guardian, Washington Post $)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: ‘Come on, it’s 2021’: Advocates demand diversity in hearings (E&E News), Flint has replaced over 10,000 lead pipes. Earning back trust is proving harder. (Washington Post $)

• AXIOS FEATURE: The toll of environmental racism (Axios), Henry Herrera and the legacy of the Trinity test (Axios), communities of color bear disproportionate flood risk (Axios), climate change could hit people of color especially hard (Axios), public health mapping key to saving lives in disasters (Axios), formerly redlined areas now are often urban heat islands (Axios), Axios-Ipsos poll: People of color face more environmental threats (Axios)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Does nature have rights? A burgeoning legal movement says rivers, forests and wildlife have standing, too (InsideClimate News)

DENIAL: Facebook's new climate change misinformation effort falls short, advocates say (The Hill), how Facebook hobbled Mark Zuckerberg’s bid to get America vaccinated (Wall Street Journal $)

REASONABLE REACTIONS: 75% of the young people around the world are frightened of the future because of climate change (TIME, NPR), care workers demand federal support as first responders in climate crises (Yes Magazine)

HURRICANE IDA: He was swept down a sewer pipe: ‘I just let the water take me’ (New York Times $), New Orleans council chief calls for investigation into Entergy's Hurricane Ida response (Utility Dive), why Louisiana’s electric grid failed in Hurricane Ida (New York Times $), Energy Department lowers U.S. Gulf oil production estimates after Hurricane Ida (Houston Chronicle), after Ida, Louisiana hospitals are up and running, but fallout from storm and delta surge lingers (NOLA.com), Ida’s destruction may help Hurricane Laura victims (AP), New Orleans teens in detention center were evacuated to adult prison for Hurricane Ida (The Lens), 'they were forgotten': For people with disabilities, few good options during disaster (NOLA.com), three weeks after Ida toppled tombs in Ironton's cemetery, caskets remain scattered across town (NOLA.com)

• THE LONG ROAD BACK: A year after Laura, Lake Charles may finally receive disaster aid. Now comes the hard part (The Advocate)

KNP COMPLEX FIRE: Growing California wildfire spares group of giant sequoias (Reuters), wildfire threatens historic trees at Sequoia National Park. Fireproof blankets are the defense. (Washington Post $, Fresno Bee, CNN), KNP Complex Fire grows to over 17,800 acres in Sequoia National Park(Sacramento Bee $), Firefighters work diligently to protect grove of giant sequoias as KNP Complex Fire intensifies (KTLA), fighting fire with fire to protect sequoia trees (AP, explainer)

ENBRIDGE PIPELINES: Line 3 pipeline construction damaged a sensitive wetland, state says (Gizmodo), the climate costs of keeping Line 5 open would be very high (Grist)

CLIMATE COMMUNICATIONS: Ted Lasso is an unexpected masterclass in environmental storytelling (Gizmodo)

BOTTOM LINE: Can the economy afford NOT to fight climate change? (Yale Climate Connections)

EPA: Biden EPA ditches Trump-era water guidance (Politico Pro $), EPA science board ‘reset’ renews tensions over bias (E&E News)

DOI: Biden administration says IPCC 'does not present sufficient cause' to end offshore drilling (Daily Poster), BLM says social cost of carbon analysis not needed for Loving oil project (New Mexico Political Report), Interior signs off on major tribal water compact (E&E $), Bureau of Land Management headquarters to return to DC, reversing Trump decision (Washington Post $, Colorado Public Radio, Reuters, E&E News, CNN, Politico Pro $, The Hill, New York Times $, HuffPost)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: Janet Yellen faces climate test as environmentalists push for more aggressive financial action (Washington Post $, E&E $)

PUBLIC LANDS: Beefed-up air monitoring needed for national parks — report (E&E $)

THE HILL: Billie Eilish, Finneas, Maroon 5, Brittany Howard & more push congress to act on climate change bill (Billboard), Republicans: Dem clean energy plan hobbles carbon capture (E&E $)

HOUSE: What Congress will ask oil execs when they testify on climate disinformation (MSNBC), House sets vote on stopgap spending bill for next week (E&E $), Ocasio-Cortez, Bush push to add expanded unemployment in $3.5T spending plan (The Hill), Senior House Democrats concede likely scale-back of $3.5 trillion Biden spending bill (Reuters)

SENATE: Barrasso questions FERC permitting 'irregularities,' delays (E&E $), Sanders says Democrats are "going to come together" on reconciliation bill (CBS), Senate bill seeks to protect farm workers from smoke, heat (E&E $)

• MANCHIN: This powerful Democrat linked to fossil fuels will craft the US climate plan (New York Times $), Manchin: Delay Biden plan to '22 (Axios)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden’s entire presidential agenda rests on expansive spending bill (New York Times $), Biden’s clean energy, net-zero goals 'not feasible' — [Wood Mackenzie] report (E&E $), Biden’s shaky claims on jobs, gasoline (AP, fact check)

INFRASTRUCTURE BILL(S): E-bike buyers would get new tax credit under budget plan as lawmakers seek ways to curb climate change (Washington Post $), Clyburn, Yarmuth say Congress might miss Sept. 27 infrastructure deadline (Politico Pro $), in the Democrats’ budget package, a billion tons of carbon cuts at stake (InsideClimate News), reconciliation bill would slash emissions. But by how much? (E&E News)

POLITICS: Lobbying groups' climate statements versus their statements on Democrats’ climate bill (Gizmodo), liberals get ready to grab wheel of Democrat agenda (Politico Pro $), Rev. Dr. William Barber: WV isn’t a red state, “it’s an unorganized state (MSNBC)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Biden picks law professor [Margo Schlanger] to lead civil rights at USDA (E&E $)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Advocates fear US weighing climate vs. human rights on China (AP), Cook Islands un negotiator paid $700k by shipping industry lobby group (DeSmog), Mexican president says to speak with Biden about climate change (Reuters)

CITIES AND STATES: As Kansas City updates climate plan, stakeholders push for inclusion and accountability (Energy News Network), Alaska plots its post-oil financial future (The Hill), as climate change fears grow, a real fight over fake turf (New York Times $), city leaders should expand their purview of electric transportation beyond cars, experts urge (Utility Dive), Illinois now boasts the ‘most equitable’ climate law in America. So what will that mean? (InsideClimate News), In Florida, environmental oversight improves under DeSantis, but enforcement issues remain (InsideClimate News), Texas hones solutions to keep drivers away from flash floods (NPR), why reducing lead exposure is part of an Orange County city’s new climate pledge (Grist)

FERC: FERC to tackle Texas outages, Southeast market proposal next week (Politico Pro $)

IMPACTS: Vivid weather images of a hot, smoky and stormy summer in the Lower 48 (Washington Post $), a deadly fungal disease on the rise in the West has experts worried (Grist), ‘the climate crisis has not gone away’: extreme weather disasters kill 17,000 people since start of pandemic (The Independent), big reefs in big trouble: new research tracks a 50 percent decline in living coral since the 1950s (InsideClimate News), what's toxic algae and could it really have killed an entire California family hiking near Yosemite? (San Francisco Chronicle)

GLOBAL TEMPS: August 2021 was sixth hottest recorded August since 1880 (Yale Climate Connections)

HEAT: Extreme heat ravages Greece's mussel harvest (Reuters)

DROUGHT: Drought tests centuries-old water traditions in New Mexico (AP)

WILDFIRES: Anatomy of a wildfire: how the Dixie Fire became the largest blaze of a devastating summer (Washington Post $), firefighters battling two wildfires in Nebraska panhandle (AP), the unconventional weapon against future wildfires: goats (New York Times $)

HURRICANES: How can New York City prepare for the next Ida? here’s a to-do list. (New York Times $), Odette headed for Newfoundland; 95L, approaching Leeward Islands, likely to become Tropical Storm Peter (Yale Climate Connections, Washington Post $), Tropical Storm Peter and TD 17 form in tropical Atlantic (Yale Climate Connections, New York Times $)

DID WE REALLY NEED ANOTHER REASON?: Climate change lets mosquitoes flourish — and feast — in Los Angeles (Washington Post $)

OK, NOW IT'S REALLY A CRISIS: Climate change shrinking seafood availability (NBC)

WELL, CRAP: Major toilet paper brands are flushing our forests down the drain (National Observer)

RENEWABLES: Offshore wind farms provide promising roadmap for more clean energy (Today Show), solar project helps to reclaim site of notorious Boston-area toxic waste case (Energy News Network)

EFFICIENCY: A big source of carbon pollution is lurking in basements and attics (Yale Climate Connections), 'Whitest paint,' a climate remedy, sets Guinness record (E&E $)

OIL & GAS: Chevron CEO: ‘let them plant trees’ (Gizmodo), oil and gas production emissions could be double official estimates, satellite data suggests (Business Green)

COAL: 'No other work': Indian villagers cling to coal despite damaged farms and homes (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

UTILITIES: New York authorizes National Grid to serve retail, bid into wholesale market with upstate battery project (Utility Dive)

GRID: Alphabet’s R&D hub is marshaling its computing muscle to model fast-changing electrical grids (Canary Media)

EVs: Does driving an electric vehicle matter if the grid is fossil-fueled? (Gizmodo), drivers rush electric car incentive deal (NJ Spotlight)

PFAS: Alabama PFAS manufacturing plant creates the climate pollution of 125,000 cars (Environmental Health News)

MEDIA & DEMOCRACY: For one Capitol reporter, Jan. 6 was the final straw — but he had watched a crisis brew for years (Washington Post $)

UNELECTED MONARCHY: UK's Prince William unveils finalists for prize with goal to save planet (Reuters, The Hill)

ACTIVISM: Was Occupy Wall Street the ‘beginning of the beginning’? (New York Times $, The Real News), the German activists starving themselves to make politicians face the climate crisis (The Guardian)

CARBON REMOVAL: With Democrats and oil companies joining forces, has carbon capture's moment arrived? (Houston Chronicle), 11 major oil, energy companies back large CCS hub (E&E $)

FINANCE: Investors are pouring money into grid storage startups (Canary Media)

BITCOIN: E-waste from a single Bitcoin transaction is like throwing away two iPhone 12 minis (Gizmodo)

MUSIC: Indie musician Squirrel Flower’s new album reckons with extreme weather (Yale Climate Connections)

WILDLIFE: Trees could be a mental, physical and climate change antidote (NPR)

INTERNATIONAL: The Canadian federal election - what has happened and what is at stake (Reuters, explainer), climate top of the agenda as knife-edge race to lead Germany enters final stage (The Guardian), Environmentalists warn of close ties between oil and gas sector and UK’s North Sea regulator (The Guardian), motorway blockades and Green New Deal crusaders: the UK’s new climate activists (The Guardian, Reuters), Norway's 'climate election' showed voters want change. But are they ready to give up oil? (TIME), what's causing soaring energy prices in Europe (Washington Examiner)

• Essays on a summer of disaster (Yale Climate Connections)
• They couldn’t drink their water. And still, they stayed quiet. (New York Times, Colin Jerolmack essay $)
• Build Back Better Act must include funding to restore forests, make communities resilient and create jobs (The Hill, Collin O'Mara op-ed)
• Governor must integrate justice into state water policy (Mercury News, Caleen Sisk and Barbara Barrigan-Parilla op-ed)
• Europeans want climate action. Their governments are blocking it. (Energy Monitor, Dave Keating op-ed)
• Climate Group CEO talks about ​‘getting it done’ in the climate decade (Canary Media, Helen Clarkson interview)
• Flooding disasters are on the rise: Here's how to proactively prepare (The Hill, Cassandra Bhat, Angela Wong, and Brenda Dix op-ed)
• Sunrun's Mary Powell and Ed Fenster (Politico Pro, interview $)
• You're swamped? Join the club. (Scalawag Magazine, Ko Bragg and Virginia Walcott commentary)
• How frackers can turn methane into methane-aid (Bloomberg, Liam Denning column $)
• This oil industry group sued its environmentalist critics and landed itself in bankruptcy (LA Times, Michael Hiltzik column $)
• ‘The most important number you’ve never heard of’ (New York Times, Peter Coy op-ed $)
• What's a reasonable investor to expect? MOPR instability and state policy certainty (Utility Dive, Sarah Ladin op-ed)
• The disaster we must think about every day (New York Times, Tressie McMillan Cottom op-ed $)

Bjorn Lomborg Lies About Warming Saving Lives, Gets Factchecked, Gets Invited by Fox and The Wall Street Journal to Repeat His Lies Anyway

On Friday, we talked about how Facebook is doing everything it can to look like it’s taking disinformation seriously, short of actually doing much of anything about it, and especially not the relatively easy action of removing bad actors all together. 

But it’s not just Facebook that seems to delight in ignoring factchecks, which is why — though incredibly valuable — they can’t be relied on as the sum total of a disinformation strategy, particularly not for a company with billions of dollars to spend. 

For example, earlier this month, in response to the IPCC report, the New York Post published an op-ed by Bjorn Lomborg in which he claimed that climate change is saving 166,000 lives a year because fewer people are dying of cold than of heat. 

Well, ClimateFeedback talked to real scientists, including some who Lomborg has cited, and unsurprisingly, finds his claim incorrect and “based on a misinterpretation of a study and interpretation of data that doesn’t support” his conclusions. 

“The issue with Lomborg’s argument,” said Aaron Bernstein of Harvard, “is that he is using cherry-picked data.” A shocker, we know...

And indeed, Lomborg, who has a history of making this argument, cites studies that specifically don’t do the comparison, and ignores the ones that do. Why? Well, probably because, as one such study author, Antonio Gasparrini of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine explained, “in many countries, especially in highly populated tropical areas, the increase in heat-related deaths is much higher than the reduction in cold-related deaths, with an increase in net mortality, especially under more extreme scenarios of global warming. A separate analysis led by other research groups has confirmed these results in both the US and Europe.” 

The ClimateFeedback post also addresses something Lomborg claimed on social media, that the reason why heat deaths have appeared to go up by 54% is that there’s simply more old people, and that population change is behind the results. 

But that too is false, because it turns out that the researchers doing these studies aren’t the idiots that Lomborg takes them for, and do in fact account for those demographic changes. Or, in the words of the University of Gloucestershire’s Philip Staddon, “this is clearly incorrect as all serious academic research already takes account of population growth, demographics and ageing… It sounds like a simplistic analysis was taken… According to the WHO, climate change is causing over 150,000 additional deaths annually, so it would appear [Lomborg] has misread facts and stated more or less the exact opposite of reality.”

But stating the opposite of reality is basically exactly what the Wall Street Journal’s opinion page is for, and sure enough, the morning after ClimateFeedback debunked Lomborg’s claims, there they were in the Journal’s pages.

Lomborg repeatedly makes the exact false claims that were debunked as “unsupported” and “incorrect,” because the Wall Street Journal is happy to print such unsupported and incorrect claims, and is fine running basically the same content as its fellow Murdoch-owned outlet the New York Post (and even the same content it ran back in 2016, when Lomborg made these same claims and they were again ruled as misleading!). 

And to complete the Murdoch Media trifecta, on Friday, Lomborg appeared on Fox News to once more repeat the same exact debunked claims about lives lost to climate change. 

So, as much as we love to factcheck, and appreciate all the time other experts spend on it, when the subjects are allowed to keep repeating the same lies, in the same Murdoch media outlets, year after year, what else needs to happen to make factchecking mean something? 

Besides, you know, kicking liars off social media platforms and for respectable newspapers’  fact-checking teams to work on opinion content as rigorously as they do reported content...

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