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Fridays For Future Is Back: At more than 1,500 demonstrations worldwide, youth protesters are hitting the streets, again, in the first large-scale, Fridays for Future protests since the start of the pandemic. The protests coincided with the UN General Assembly in New York, and also come as activists and global leaders prepare for the COP26 climate summit in November. Greta Thunberg joined one of the biggest protests on Friday in Berlin, which also came days before Germany's national elections, where youth exasperated by the lack of action led hunger strikes that drove some into wheelchairs. Olaf Scholz and the Social Democratic Party won a plurality in Sunday's elections. Scholz said the victory gave a mandate to "modernize our industrial sector and to halt the man-made climate change.” (Fridays for Future: Washington Post $, Thomson Reuters Foundation, AP, InsideClimate News, Reuters, CNN; Germany: Reuters, Washington Post $, AP; Election results: New York Times $)

Todays' Children Will Suffer Older Generations' Climate Pollution, Inaction: Today's children will experience roughly triple the number of climate disasters as their grandparents, a new study in Science finds. The average 6-year-old will see twice as many wildfires, 2.5 times more crop failures, and 3.4 times more river floods as someone born in 1960, while a sub-Saharan child will endure 50 to 54 times as many heatwaves as someone born before the Industrial Revolution. The "intergenerational inequality" of climate change, as the study's lead author Wim Thiery describes it, is not abstract. The majority of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere were emitted in the last 31 years — generally speaking, during their parents lifetimes. Adults “don’t listen, and they keep doing it and keep making the Earth hotter,” Adriana Bottino-Poage, 6, of Woodbridger, VA, told the Washington Post. “Everything will keep getting worse and worse until I grow up. Somebody has to do something.” (Washington Post $, The Guardian, Japan Times; Climate Signals background: Wildfires, Drought, Extreme precipitation increase; Extreme heat and heatwaves)

Climate Change Is Making Mosquitos Worse: It's not just you, mosquitos really are worse this year, and climate change is at least partially to blame, Grist reports. Along with this summer's record heat in the contiguous U.S., this season's myriad storms and above average rainfall are the main drivers of increased mosquito populations. Hurricanes, tropical storms, and the remnants thereof, have soaked the East Coast, while parts of Arizona saw the wettest July on record. Mosquito populations vary along with rainfall, and climate change, caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, makes extreme precipitation events more likely. The record heat, also fueled by climate change, adds another layer of danger, as the West Nile virus, carried by mosquitoes, reproduces more quickly in higher temperatures. “We’ve got to be thinking much more cogently about planet change and what we’re going to do to stop it,” Andrew Dobson, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University, told Grist. “Otherwise we’re going to have more floods, more diseases.” (Grist; Climate Signals background: 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season, Extreme precipitation increase; Extreme heat and heatwaves)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Biden and Harris harshly condemn treatment of Haitian migrants by border patrol agents (Ebony)

COP26: Women must be heard on climate, say rights groups (The Guardian), 'death sentence': low-lying nations implore faster action on climate at U.N. (Reuters), the secret negotiator: COP26 must leave the old diplomacy behind (The Guardian), top climate summit official on reconciliation bill: It's important to 'show progress' (The Hill), why success at COP26 is vital for business (Energy Monitor), you think addressing climate change is hard, try pitching an anthem about it (Wall Street Journal $)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Vanuatu will seek International Court of Justice opinion on climate protection (CNN, Reuters)

HURRICANE IDA: After Ida, Louisiana struggles to tally the environmental cost. activists say officials must do better (InsideClimate News), see the dozens of offshore oil spills caused by Hurricane Ida (New York Times $), battered Grand Isle closes to all but locals, camp owners (AP), Hurricane Ida power grid failure forces a reckoning over Entergy's monopoly in the South (NBC), Mississippi gets ready to repair highway collapse from Ida (AP)

DEMOCRACY UNDER ATTACK: What if 2020 was just a rehearsal? (Politico), House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6 subpoenas Trump loyalists Meadows, Bannon, Patel, Scavino (MarketWatch, AP, NPR, MSNBC, Wall Street Journal $, Black Wall Street Times, CNN, ProPublica, Rolling Stone, New York Times $), Biden likely won't shield Trump records from Jan. 6 investigators, White House says (NBC, Washington Post $)

PEOPLE, NOT POLAR BEARS: New fund aims to bring more people into the climate conversation (Yale Climate Connections)

REASONABLE DEMANDS: After decades without basic infrastructure, Navajo community asks for access to running water, electricity – again (Casper Star-Tribune)

AGENCIES: New York Fed researchers develop climate stress test for banks (Reuters), SEC asks companies for details on impact of climate change (Utility Dive), FEMA flood insurance changes, first of many shifts in South FlorIda (NBC Miami)

DOI: Haaland: ‘Every confidence’ Biden will restore Utah monuments (E&E News), Haaland calls for attention for slain Indigenous women amid Petito case (The Hill)

THE HILL: For Schumer and Pelosi, the challenge of a career with no margin for error (New York Times $)

• HOUSE: House Budget Democrats approve unfinished $3.5T social spending plan (Politico Pro $)
• SENATE: As Dems race forward, Manchin pumps brakes: ‘There is no timeline’ (Politico), Manchin, Barrasso announce bill to revegetate forests after devastating fires (The Hill), Senate Energy Committee sets hearing on FERC jurisdiction (Politico Pro $)

WHITE HOUSE: White House steps up work on what to do about thawing Arctic (AP)

INFRASTRUCTURE BILL(S): Democrats consider adding carbon tax to budget bill (New York Times $, Bloomberg $), Pelosi sets Thursday vote on infrastructure, eyes smaller social spending bill (Reuters, New York Times $, Politico, E&E News, CNN), House signals progress, but climate provisions remain ‘TBD’ (E&E News), how Democrats could shrink their $3.5 trillion budget bill (New York Times $), Wisconsin pastor fasting until Congress passes climate bill (AP)

POLITICS: Democrats urge Biden to go all in with agenda in limbo (The Hill), Joe Biden, welcome to the thunderdome (Politico), Pelosi goes all in with domestic agenda on the line (Politico)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: The state of international climate talks (New York Times $), EU climate chief: US and Europe need to tackle climate change together (TIME)

CITIES AND STATES: Minneapolis battery pilot will test vision for sharing solar power with neighbors (Energy News Network), Minneapolis marches in remembrance of  boarding school victims (Indian Country Today), N.Y. hydrogen, CCS proposals could set national precedent (E&E News), Portland, Maine, to bulk-purchase clean energy equipment in electrification push (Utility Dive)

• TEXAS: Preventing the next Texas power crisis (Axios), climate, local authority, divestment: The enduring clout of oil and gas (Texas Climate News), natural gas, wind, coal contributed to Texas outages, report finds (The Hill)
• CALIFORNIA: California governor signs $15 bln package to tackle climate change (Reuters)

FERC: FERC Chair Glick wants mandatory winterization standards for power plants following Texas grid failure (Utility Dive, Politico Pro $), FERC vows action with release of major Texas blackout report (E&E $)

IMPACTS: Dying crops, spiking energy bills, showers once a week. In South America, the climate future has arrived. (Washington Post $), climate change is intensifying the US border crisis. It will only get worse (CNN), for rent: California houses endangered by rising seas (E&E News), housing in Alaska can’t survive climate change. This group is trying a new model. (Washington Post $), how bigger Arctic waves are changing clouds (Gizmodo), Northeast U.S. coast warming faster than rest of continent (E&E News), the cost of insuring expensive waterfront homes is about to skyrocket (New York Times $)

DROUGHT: Fall moisture brings a ‘glimmer of hope’ to ranchers (New Mexico Political Report), feds issue warning about drought threat to electricity supplies (E&E $), La Niña is about to take the Southwest drought from bad to worse (CNN)

WILDFIRES: Millions in fire-ravaged California risk losing home insurance (Bloomberg $, AP), as fires threaten the Ancient Ones, sequoia lovers wonder what else will no longer endure (LA Times $), fires are lasting longer into the night, and researchers may have found out why (Washington Post $), wildfire control projects are burning up before they can even start (Grist), the fires that raged on this greek island are out. now northern Evia faces a long road to recovery (InsideClimate News), we can’t just run away from wildfires (Vox)

HURRICANES: Sam intensifies into Category 4 hurricane but may avoid land in the long run (Washington Post $, Yale Climate Connections, AP), subtropical storm teresa becomes the 19th named storm of the season (New York Times $)

RENEWABLES: Dems’ clean electricity plan spurs renewable fight (E&E News), solar companies warn tariffs on imported panels would be devastating (The Hill), Scotland’s oil industry is fading as wind energy beckons (New York Times $)

EFFICIENCY: Why heaters are the future of cooling (Vox)

LNG: The contested swamps of Robeson County (The Assembly)

METHANE: Energy Transfer confirms gas release near site of methane plume (Bloomberg $)

PLASTICS: Babies’ poop has way higher levels of microplastic than adults’ (The Verge), plastics industry lashes out at 'regressive' Democratic tax plan (The Hill)

PIPELINES: Carbon dioxide pipelines may be opposed in Nebraska, Iowa (AP)

COAL: 7 countries call to end coal power plant construction this year (Politico Pro $), Sri Lanka to cease building coal-fired plants, aims to be net-zero emitter by 2050 (Reuters)

UTILITIES: PG&E charged in California wildfire last year that killed 4 (AP, Politico Pro $, The Hill)

EVs: Summer saw record EV sales (E&E $), battery guru says automakers should butt out of making cells (Bloomberg $), five myths about electric vehicles (Washington Post $), rural America’s roads might resemble Cuba in 20 years (New York Times $)

ACTIVISM: ‘Low-hanging fruit’: Insulate Britain’s message makes sense, say experts (The Guardian), injunction granted to stop Insulate Britain activists blocking port of Dover (The Guardian), British police arrest 39 climate activists blocking Port of Dover (Reuters)

CLIMATE COMMUNICATIONS: Creating consensus to tackle the climate crisis (CNN), climate psychologist says neither gloom-and-doom nor extreme solution-obsessed optimism is the best way to discuss climate change productively (CNBC)

CONVERSION STORIES: ‘The world is burning’: how Australia’s longest-serving fire chief became a climate champion (The Guardian)

POP CULTURE: Hollywood’s climate-change crusade has a whole new wave of energy — and hurdles (Washington Post $), Global Citizen Live: Lizzo lets us know pop and protest still go together (The Guardian)

AVIATION: Airbus gears up for hydrogen jet as fuel of future edges closer to reality (FT $)

ARCHITECTURE: Building homes for a heating planet (FT $)

BUSINESS: The maddening lack of corporate climate advocacy (Greenbiz)

CARBON REMOVAL: Do we need millions of machines sucking CO2 from the air? (The Guardian)

FINANCE: Finance regulators becoming involved in climate change (Axios), world’s no. 1 stock owner gets nod to crack down on polluters (Bloomberg $)

BITCOIN: China just made crypto transactions fully illegal (Gizmodo)

GRETA: Greta Thunberg: ‘I really see the value of friendship. Apart from the climate, almost nothing else matters’ (The Guardian)

INTERNATIONAL: Australia, a climate laggard, leans toward 2050 net-zero target as election looms (Washington Post $), Australian PM refuses to commit to phasing out fossil fuels (Reuters), China tells energy firms to raise output to keep homes warm in winter (Reuters), empty shelves, gasoline shortages and sky-high energy prices? Britain is facing a ‘difficult winter’ (CNBC), nearly one-third of BP stations in UK almost out of fuel (The Hill), Indonesia says won't approve new palm oil permits after moratorium lapses (Reuters), Philippines’ youth call for systemic change at climate protest (The Guardian), three African countries need $280 billion for climate change (Bloomberg $), Zimbabwe bolsters emissions targets ahead of climate summit (Reuters), China’s factories, households grapple with power cuts (AP), Icelanders vote with climate change on everyone’s mind (AP, Reuters)

• Manchin is choosing a problematic past over his state's future (CNN, John D. Rockefeller V, Justin Rockefeller, and Valerie Rockefeller)
• Why I refuse to collude with polluters in the carbon offsetting lie (Climate Home, Yeb Saño op-ed)
• Congress needs to gird the country for climate crisis (The Hill, Curtis Tongue op-ed)
• Democrats: Political suicide is not a strategy (Washington Post, E.J. Dionne column $)
• Democrats are on the verge of failure. But there is a path through. (Washington Post, Editorial Board $)
• Evergrande leaves China’s economy at a turning point (FT, Editorial Board $)
• The smarter way to avoid energy crises: use less (Reuters, George Hay op-ed)
• Looking to the past to secure America's clean energy future (The Hill, Heather Reams op-ed)
• Why are moderate Democrats okay with killing Biden’s legislative agenda? (Washington Post, James Downie op-ed $)
• Taxing the rich is super popular. Democrats should talk more about it. (Washington Post, Jennifer Rubin column $)
• Merkel’s legacy: a robust diplomat who surrendered to coal and cars back home (Climate Home, Joe Lo analysis)
• US is still grasping for a solution on how to insure against floods (FT, John Dizard column $)
• Worldwide energy shortage shows up in surging coal, gas and oil prices (Reuters, John Kemp column)
• New infrastructure bill can help break the cycle of grid failure (The Hill, Mark Dyson and Justin Locke op-ed)
• The meltdown among Democrats shows our budget debates are insane (Washington Post, Paul Waldman column $)
• Congress must act on climate change (The Hill, Rep. David McKinley and Rep. Kurt Schrader op-ed)
• Our constitutional crisis is already here (Washington Post, Robert Kagan column $)
• With huge grid infrastructure investment looming, NextEra, PG&E offer lessons on the key role of ESG (Utility Dive, Ryan P. Martin and Jan Maceczek op-ed)
• The climate crisis has made the idea of a better future impossible to imagine (The Guardian, Ian Jack column)
• Democrats face a reckoning with themselves (New York Times, Michelle Cottle column $)

John Stossel Suing Facebook For Fact Checking his Reheated Koch-Funded Climate Disinformation

Facebook is barely doing anything about climate disinformation, but even that is too much for deniers. The social media giant recently announced that it was throwing some chump change at fact checkers and pointing more people to an expanded climate information center that would debunk climate myths and give users a dose of reality. But it’s attempted PR score was punctured by a report that found that even when a lie is fact checked (specifically the frozen windmills during the Texas blackout, based on a picture from 2014 in Sweden) less than 1% of the content featuring the disinformation was flagged as such by Facebook. 

Suffice to say, critics weren’t exactly impressed by the announcement, particularly when followed by an AP/Frontline report that Neo-Nazis are (still) using Facebook to fundraise, and even moderate outlets like USA Today have started writing explainers for deleting your Facebook account. But it turns out that for deniers, even the less-than-the-bare-minimum that Facebook is doing to keep its users from sharing disinformation is entirely too much. 

For example, in response to a new announcement from Facebook offering a sense of transparency around its new Content Distribution Guidelines, conservative media like the Daily Stormer/Caller/Signal described it as “shedding more light on how the tech giant decides what content it suppresses.”  

The most revealing of responses came from Ben Shapiro, who essentially admitted that his Daily Wire website is likely not up to Facebook’s very loose standards for quality content. Shapiro complained that by downgrading websites that mostly repost other outlet’s stories, publish a lot of fact-checked falsehoods, game the sharing system to boost virality, get most of their traffic from said gaming of said system, are untrusted, unoriginal, in violation of community standards, and are openly bigoted, Facebook is bending to liberal demands and censoring the Daily Wire. He doesn’t deny that his website does all those things, but instead defends it as being a move by Big News Goliaths to censor little Davids like himself.  

In his ever-so-clever reveal as little more than the figurehead of a disinformation machine, Shapiro wrote that “it would not be a surprise to see content suppressed if it goes so far as to refer to Caitlyn Jenner as a male, which he most certainly is.” (Yes, Ben did use her correct name while also maliciously misgendering her.)

Poor, poor Ben Shapiro, unable to further game Facebook with shady schemes and hate on behalf of his billionaire fracking brothers benefactors! If you’re playing the world’s smallest violin for him, though, you may want to get out your microscope to find a smaller one. 

Because John Stossel is going beyond just posting his complaints about being fact checked, and has actually filed a lawsuit for defamation against Facebook and the fact checkers who have found his claims were misleading. 

Stossel’s re-litigating of the two Climate Feedback fact checks against his videos is a snooze-fest predicated on the absurd notion that he’s not actually arguing what he’s arguing and because part of the fact check was originally for someone else’s disinformation and not his, it doesn’t count. But what’s interesting is that he claims in the complaint that views for his video about wildfires and climate evaporated after the fact check (good!) and that after his video on climate alarmism got fact checked, “there was a dramatic drop in both views of that video and all Stossel’s other videos, and of the associated advertising revenue, which reduced by nearly half, from approximately $10,000 a month to approximately $5,500 a month.” 

Perhaps the system works after all, as apparently Stossel is not considered celebrity-enough to be on Facebook’s whitelist that exempts “PR fire” accounts from fact-checking! 

Interestingly, though, Stossel doesn’t mention in the lawsuit something that may actually make his claim to damages stronger. Because at the end of 2016 Stossel became part of the Koch’s “educational” program and starting at least in 2017, John Stossel’s been one of the Charles Koch Institute’s top contractors, netting $1.5 million in those three years. If Facebook’s measures to limit false content means he can’t make good on his Koch contract, assuming it continued into 2020 and 2021, he might just have a case! 

But apparently we’ll have to wait for the Koch 990s to come out to see, because for some reason, Stossel doesn’t seem eager to admit the connection, and make anyone wonder if his videos being challenged by fact checkers are in fact deliverables for a grant to the godfather of climate disinformation. 

Which just makes us wonder who’s paying Stossel’s legal fees for this publicity stunt of a lawsuit, since apparently he can’t make (as much) money off of his Facebook posts? 

And his hired help can’t be cheap, given that the suit is filed by Krista Baughman, a Republican lawyer from Harmeet Dhillon’s firm. Baughman’s page, for example, brags about her successful efforts to make the case that revenge porn is fine if it’s attacking a Congresswoman like Katie Hill, or the one against Berkeley for cancelling a speech by noted white supremacist Ann Coulter. 

At least Stossel’s in good company…

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