FIRST LOOK:

Climate Central launched Picturing Our Future this morning, featuring 1000+ downloadable, science-based, photorealistic images that show the sea-level consequences of 1.1°C through 4°C of warming  for 200+ locations.  

Indigenous Groups Call For Change: On the anniversary of the day murderous tyrant Christopher Columbus accidentally washed up on Guanahani, indigenous peoples in the Amazon rainforest called on global leaders to respect their lands and human rights as a start to address the climate crisis and protect biodiversity. "People who exploit and take out resources don't live [in the Amazon] - but we do. The forest is our home," Nemonte Nenquimo, a native leader of Ecuador's Waorani people, told Thomson Reuters. On Piscataway and Nacotchtank (Anacostan) land in what is now Washington, D.C., Indigenous activists demonstrated in front of the White House to call on President Biden to stop approving fossil fuel projects and declare a national emergency over the climate crisis — the first of several days of protests organized by the Build Back Fossil Free coalition. Tribes across what is now the U.S. also called on Congress to pass the Build Back Better Act, which includes funding for the Indian Health Service, provisions to address the lack of drinking water and broadband access on tribal lands, and other measures to address some of the historic injustices perpetrated on Native Americans. (Amazon: Thomson Reuters Foundation; Protests: The Guardian, Washington Post $, ABC; BBBA: NPR)

Domestic Legislating Carries COP26 Implications For Biden: The outcome of the global climate negotiations in Glasgow this month hinges in part on the Biden administration’s efforts to pass domestic legislation and to spur other nations' commitments. “The whole world is watching,” Rachel Kyte, a climate advisor to the UN Secretary General and dean at the Fletcher School of Tufts University, told the New York Times. The 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) begins Oct. 31, while congressional negotiations continue over the reconciliation bill, with a landmark investment in climate, the caring economy, health care and education, and the narrower bipartisan infrastructure bill. If the legislation is not yet completed by the COP, Axios reports, Biden could resort to a “plan B,” that relies on regulatory action already taken or proposed on methane, vehicles, HFCs among others; accelerating support for offshore wind and energy loans; and engagement with the private sector to deliver a credible path to Biden’s promised target of a 50-52% emissions cut below 2005 levels by 2030. Biden’s climate envoy, fmr. Sec. of State John Kerry, offered optimism that other nations’ extant and forthcoming commitments to reduce emissions would create momentum that would make the Paris goals viable, but acknowledged more action is needed to get there. “Will it be that every country has signed on and locked in? The answer is no, that will not happen. But,” Kerry told the Guardian, “it is possible to reach that if [COP26 creates] enough momentum.” That target means carbon emissions —currently still rising — must fall by 45% this decade, many times greater than the 6.4% drop in 2020 due to the pandemic. (COP offering: Axios; Legislation: New York Times $, The Hill; Kerry: The Guardian)

Methane Joins The Fray As 30+ Countries Join Pact: Momentum to cut methane pollution is growing as more than 30 countries have signed onto a global pledge to curb methane pollution just a few weeks before COP26. As the second most prevalent greenhouse house, methane’s heat-trapping potency and short lifespan in the atmosphere makes it a clear target for reduction, as well as a necessary step to avoid further global warming. In addition to the U.S., eight other of the top 20 heaviest polluters have joined the pledge: the EU, Canada, Indonesia, Pakistan, Mexico, Nigeria, Argentina and Iraq. Together with this pledge, a coalition of philanthropic donors offered $220 million for methane reduction, the largest private contribution yet. (Pledge: Axios, Bloomberg $, The Hill, New York Times $, Politico Pro $, Reuters, Washington Post $; Philanthropy: AP; Methane: Grist)

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' DAY: More ships are crossing the Arctic, worrying many local Indigenous people (Yale Climate Connections), a drop in Yukon River salmon has hurt Alaska communities' food supply (NPR), rightful lands, rightful hands (Atmos), Tribe: Interior snafu spurred mining claims in protected area (E&E $)

GLOBAL SOUTH: Scientists looked at more than 100,000 studies and found the world has a giant climate-crisis blind spot (CNN), at least 85% of the world’s population has been affected by human-induced climate change, new study shows (Washington Post $)

SEEMS BAD: 25% of all critical infrastructure in the US is at risk of failure due to flooding, new report finds (CNN, Axios, USA Today, The Hill)

COP26: Future of megacities 'hang in the balance' as diplomats prepare for COP26 (Axios), give us action on climate not just words, say developing nations ahead of COP26 (The Guardian), sparkle dims for climate finance initiative ahead of COP (E&E $), what is COP26 and why does it matter? The complete guide (The Guardian), world leaders urged to consider health benefits of climate action (The Guardian), COP26 chief Alok Sharma calls on the G20's climate laggards to 'step up' (CNN, Reuters), Pope Francis bows out of climate summit (Axios)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Dispute grips Green Climate Fund over net zero condition for accessing finance (Climate Home), more vaccines, climate help needed for poorer nations, say UN, Non-Aligned Movement (Reuters)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: UN declares access to a clean environment a human right (Reuters, AP), United Nations tells kids to screw off (Earther, Reuters)

DENIAL: ‘This is a story that needs to be told’: BBC film tackles Climategate scandal (The Guardian)

WILDFIRES: Inside the massive and costly fight against the Dixie fire (New York Times $, New York Times $), California fires may have killed hundreds of giant sequoias (AP), surging California winds spark new wildfires, power outages (AP)

ENERGY CRUNCH: As Europe faces a cold winter, Putin seizes on the leverage from Russia’s gas output (New York Times $), an energy crisis is gripping the world, with potentially grave consequences (Washington Post $), Biden administration to work with EU to prevent energy supply crisis (Axios), China rust-belt province warns of more shortages in energy crisis (Reuters), EU to study joint natural gas buying to protect against price surges -draft (Reuters)

WEIRD WAY TO SPELL RACISM: Racial bias skewed small-business relief lending, study says (New York Times $)

SOCAL OIL SPILL: California justice department to investigate enormous oil spill (The Guardian), California spill not the environmental disaster first feared (AP), damage that triggered California oil spill likely happened months ago: coast guard (HuffPost), tar balls, oiled birds, and months of cleanup on California’s beaches (The Verge), wetland area that was damage by California oil spill could take years to recover (NPR), California attorney general to investigate oil spill as Huntington Beach reopens (Washington Post $, Axios)

THE CRISIS GOES UP TO 11: There’s a new climate rock anthem for pissed-off teens (Earther)

AGENCIES: Cost, data, trust: Agencies see a struggle in climate prep (E&E $)

EPA: Biden EPA to tighten soot standards Trump left unchanged (E&E News, The Hill, Politico Pro $), EPA agrees to further phase down superpollutant [HFCs] (E&E News), EPA grants raft of HFC rulemaking petitions (Politico Pro $)

DOE: Energy Department calls for steep jump in community solar (Politico Pro $)

DOI: Stone-Manning: 'I am ready to roll up my sleeves' at BLM (E&E $), Deb Haaland, Interior Secretary, on Indian Schools, MMIW, and Climate Change (Teen Vogue, interview)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: The Fed's emerging climate oversight (Axios)

THE HILL: Internal battles heat up over Biden agenda (The Hill)

HOUSE: Dems push to codify Biden order on agency climate plans (E&E $), 

SENATE: Bernie Sanders expresses frustration with centrists in spending talks (Wall Street Journal $), Senate Democrats seek to ban 'bargain bin' oil sales (E&E $), Senate Dems push Pacific drilling ban in reconciliation (E&E $), Sinema's office denies report that she wants to cut $100B in climate spending (The Hill)

WHITE HOUSE: Restoring Utah national monument boundaries highlights a new tactic in the Biden administration’s climate strategy (InsideClimate News), Biden: monuments shouldn't be 'partisan issue' (E&E $)

INFRASTRUCTURE BILL(S): Democrats’ red line for Manchin: No climate cuts (E&E News), carbon tax push reappears amid Democrats' budget negotiations (Houston Chronicle), ‘Biden agenda overwhelmingly helps working class White people’ Dem strategist says (MSNBC), ‘we suffer while you debate’: many fear being left behind as Democrats trim spending bill (New York Times $)

POLITICS: Democrats debate President Biden’s agenda (Today Show), CBS News poll: Most Americans don't know what's in Biden's "Build Back Better" plan (CBS)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Senate approves agriculture, consumer safety nominees (E&E $)

CALIFORNIA: California is banning gas-powered leaf blowers and lawnmowers (Earther), California’s biggest all-electric utility has a plan to meet the state’s tough 2030 carbon targets (Canary Media), nut shells fuel cement kilns as Calif. imposes climate law (E&E News)

DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS, PLEASE: Texas Railroad Commission asks natural gas operators to 'take all necessary action' ahead of winter (Houston Chronicle)

FERC: Senate Energy sets Oct. 19 hearing date for FERC nominee Phillips (Politico Pro $)

IMPACTS: Already, 18 weather disasters costing at least $1 billion each have hit the U.S. this year (Washington Post $), big western storm brings fire danger to California and heavy snow to Rockies (Washington Post $), hospitals overhaul climate prep after a relentless year of damages (Axios), over 400 glaciers cover more than 10% of Iceland's landmass and almost every one is shrinking (CBS), with a warming climate, coastal fog around the world is declining (InsideClimate News)

HEALTH: WHO warns climate change's health impacts will affect the most vulnerable first (The Hill, Reuters), global ozone treaty could prevent 440M cancer cases — study (E&E $)

DROUGHT: Madagascar prays for rain as U.N. warns of 'climate change famine' (Reuters), hydropower decline adds strain to power grids in drought (AP), Severe drought adds to Afghanistan’s woes, endangering millions as economy collapses (Wall Street Journal $)

HURRICANES: Tropical Storm Pamela, forecast to become Category 3 hurricane with 120 mph winds, threatens Mexico (USA Today, Yale Climate Connections, AP)

DEFORESTATION: Deforestation is a crime, a new bipartisan bill would treat it that way. (The Atlantic), Facebook will no longer let you monsters sell protected Amazon land on Marketplace (Earther, The Verge, CNN)

BOOZE: Drought conditions force California wineries to change how they grow grapes (NPR), solar panels help French winemaker keep climate change at bay (Reuters), threatened by climate change, a California winemaker switches to carbon farming and hopes more vineyards join (Washington Post $)

RENEWABLES: Biden administration announces goal of 5 million homes powered by community solar (The Hill, Axios), Minnesota solar installer bankruptcies leave unfinished projects, calls for better oversight (Energy News Network), scientists urge speedy switch to renewables in Middle East (AP)

STORAGE: Global energy storage set to nearly triple in 2021: Wood Mackenzie forecast (Utility Dive)

LNG: China's ENN agrees to buy LNG from U.S. Cheniere in long-term deal (Reuters)

NUKES: Extending Dominion's Millstone nuclear plant a 'critical' part of path to zero carbon, Connecticut finds (Utility Dive)

OIL & GAS: Activists decry new oilfield plan in anti-UK govt protest (AP), as Louisianans flee hurricanes, natural gas dollars and jobs flood in (Bloomberg $), fossil fuel firms investing in Africa face risk of regulatory action, US climate envoy says (Reuters), natural gas prices spike as gun-shy shale producers hold back (Washington Examiner), oil and gas producers are still holding back (Axios), oil trades above $80 a barrel, hitting a 7 year high (The Hill), the ship that became a bomb (The New Yorker $)

WOULDN'T IT BE NICE: Chevron sets goal of cutting carbon emissions in operations, but not for products (Wall Street Journal $, Reuters), Chevron announces "aspiration" to be carbon neutral by 2050 (Axios)

ORPHANED WELLS: An empire of dying wells (Bloomberg $)

COAL: Climate activist Nakate visits huge German coal mine (AP), when Wall Street came to coal country: how a big-money gamble scarred Appalachia (The Guardian podcast), in a world fighting climate change, fossil fuels take revenge (Bloomberg $)

• CHINA: China eyes coal output boost, higher power prices to ease shortages (Reuters), mass floods hit China’s coal hub, threatening power supplies (Washington Post $)

GRID: Puerto Rico’s power grid in critical condition as frustration grows (NBC), grid operators: ‘safety valve’ needed for Dems’ clean energy plan (E&E News)

HEAVY INDUSTRY: Can the world’s most polluting heavy industries decarbonize? (InsideClimate News)

TRAINS: Virginia advocates hope new commuter train marks start of transportation shift (Energy News Network)

BIKES: $810 million deal creates one of world's largest bike makers (Axios)

EVs: Applicants sought for electric vehicle charging equipment (AP), Mercedes-Benz touts sustainability with electric vehicle experiences (Utility Dive)

HUGE TRUCKS: The hard road to electrifying a mighty truck (E&E News)

DIRECT ACTION: Climate activists block intersection near Dutch parliament (AP)

AVIATION: Aviation emissions: ‘we can’t wait for hydrogen or electric’ (Energy Monitor), ban UK domestic flights and subsidise rail travel, urges transport charity (The Guardian), corporate business travel 'carbon budgets' loom for airlines (Reuters)

AGRICULTURE: As drought worsens, California farmers are being paid not to grow crops (LA Times $), higher estimated pesticide exposures linked to ALS risk (Environmental Health News), Sicilian coffee dream a step closer as climate crisis upends farming (The Guardian)

GEOENGINEERING: What is geoengineering? … and why it’s a ‘break glass’ plan (Yale Climate Connections)

BOOKS: Paradise was lost. She’s telling its stories. (New York Times $)

BUSINESS: With climate clock ticking, companies scramble to set green targets (Reuters)

CARBON PRICING: Australian carbon offset prices hit record high in polluters' spree (Reuters)

FINANCE: Big banks resist most direct road map to net zero emissions (FT $), the thorny truth about socially responsible investing (Vox), Top fossil fuel lender JPMorgan joins UN climate action finance plan (Reuters)

BITCOIN: New York and Texas are winning the war to attract bitcoin miners (CNBC), will industrial-scale bitcoin mining impact the environment? (CBS)

ROYALTY: Rewild your lands ma'am, Britain's Queen Elizabeth urged before COP26 (Reuters), Charles urges leaders to do more than ‘just talk’ on climate (AP, Reuters, The Guardian), Prince Charles reveals his car runs on cheese and wine byproducts (The Guardian)

HOLY SEE: Pelosi and Pope Francis meet amid push for action on climate change (The Hill), Pope to lawmakers: climate change requires quick consensus (AP)(Axios)

WILDLIFE: A high-tech, low-cost push to track sharks, rhinos and other species amid climate change (Washington Post $), Climate scientists should pay more attention to fish poop. Really. (Vox), efforts are underway to save North American moose amid climate change (Today Show), German companies urge next government to step up on climate (AP)

INTERNATIONAL: They were promised a new home. Then they tried to escape it. (New York Times $), thousands march in Brussels to demand tougher climate action (AP), UAE launches plan to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 (Reuters), UK nature needs almost 100 billion pounds investment over next decade - report (Reuters), why are power outages paralyzing Lebanon? (Thomson Reuters Foundation), China pledges $230 million for biodiversity fund at UN meet (AP), Climate activists call for investigation of Bolsonaro (AP)

EXTREMELY COOL: Capsule of 1765 air reveals ancient histories hidden under Antarctic ice (The Guardian)

NSFW?: It might be time to rethink our relationship with ‘Mother Earth’ (Grist)

TALK ABOUT A WEIGHT OFF YOUR SHOULDERS: Colorado elk seen with a tire around its neck for two years (Washington Post $)

• WCan crypto go green? (New York Times, Alex de Vries interview $)
• China singling out Australian coal is a sign of their influence on global energy markets (The Guardian, Alex Turnbull column)
• Climate change is already shocking our food chain (Bloomberg, Amanda Little column $)
• 'Some really disastrous macroeconomic policy advice' (Politico, Claudia Sahm interview)
• Investing in electric vehicle charging infrastructure is a win for our climate, US workers (The Hill, Dan Zotos op-ed)
• Gretchen hitmer’s border war (Wall Street Journal, Editorial Board $)
• Redistricting: Who will draw the lines? (NewsOne, Helen Butler op-ed)
• Biodiversity guru Thomas Lovejoy warns of peril to Amazon forest's 'living library' (Thomson Reuters Foundation, interview)
• Building back better by investing in workers and communities (The Hill, Jason Walsh op-ed)
• Disaster fatigue is getting worse with more billion-dollar extreme weather events (The Hill, Jen Brady op-ed)
• To build back better, put a fee on corporate carbon pollution (The Hill, Jeremy Symons op-ed)
• It's beyond time to get serious about carbon cuts: Here's where to start (The Hill, Mahesh Ramanujam op-ed)
• How to prevent the worst case extinction scenario (New York Times, Margaret Renkl column $)
• Joe the bummer (Environmental Health News, Peter Dykstra column)
• With rooftop solar, it's not just about the carbon reduction (The Hill, Prabir Barooah op-ed)
• The only way to eliminate the risk of catastrophic oil spills is to stop drilling (The Hill, Shelley Luce op-ed)
• Train or plane? The climate crisis is forcing us to rethink all long-distance travel (The Guardian, Simon Jenkins op-ed)
• Media coverage of wildfires omits one key element: Humanity's role (The Hill, Stephen Groff op-ed)
• The energy crisis is driving prices up. Don’t let that stop transitions toward cleaner fuels. (Washington Post, Catherine Rampell column $)

Google and YouTube Take A Small Step Towards Protecting Users From Climate Disinformation, Which May Reduce Anti-Semitism Too

Last week, Google announced that they would no longer allow climate denial ads, and that YouTube would demonetize climate denial content. This is a small but serious win, particularly for the advertisers who don’t want their ads running next to toxic climate denial content. 

Deniers, of course, freaked out about it. For example, Matt Vespa at TownHall wrote climate denial is not “something that truly goes against acts and reality, like Holocaust denialism.”  

Which is funny, because literal Holocaust denier Peter “Sweden” Imanuelsen, who is increasingly dabbling in climate denial, tweeted that this “climate change censorship” is the “first step,” after which comes “climate change lockdowns” and “finally climate change passports.” 

Yes, because not being able to make money lying to people is just one small slippery slope away from “climate change passports,” which … aren’t a thing. 

Meanwhile, Anthony Wattsposted on Friday that he’s holding an essay contest with $1,000 prizes for winners. The catch? Well, because “over the past two years Google has slowly squeezed out most of our ad revenue,” first he has “to raise the funds so we can offer meaningful cash prizes. That means folks like you need to help. Please go to our donation page and contribute as much as you can.” 

What a great deal! First, give as much of your money to Watts as you can. Then, write a 1,500 word essay with “the best arguments against the theory of man-made catastrophic global warming that would convince your neighbors that there is no climate crisis,” and get a shot at winning your money back! 

Watts may want to have a chat with his fellow deniers though, because over at JunkScience dot com, the website that bears the name of Steve Milloy’s early pro-tobacco lobbying, Milloy actually wrote it off as no big deal, and he may be somewhat right. He says that “if what we were saying was wrong, we would have been laughed off the Internet long ago,” which is sort of true, as one conservative pundit attempted to “gotcha” outlets like PBS, CBS and the Boston Globe for interviewing deniers nine, 11, and 11 years ago. Why nothing more recent? Probably because deniers have been laughed out of mainstream media, for obvious reasons. 

More seriously, Milloy wrote that “Google’s move will have no effect on climate realist web sites for the simple reason that the ad revenue is pretty trivial. We don’t know of any climate realist who blogs for the Google ad revenue.” Again, probably pretty true, because deniers like Milloy are paid by the industry directly, not ad revenue, and while Watts long (claimed) he wasn’t funded by Big Oil, he’s employed by the Heartland Institute these days, so while his site might be hurting for ad revenue, we probably don’t need to pass the collection plate around for him quite yet!

Milloy then decided to conclude his post with the claim that deniers like himself are “winning… with or without a few shekels from Google,” because either Milloy thinks ad revenue is payed in the currency of Isreal and he was using the term literally, or he deployed a classic anti-semitic dog whistle because he’s exactly the sort of person the world would be better off never hearing from again. 

So Vespa may be right, in that climate denial isn’t quite as ghoulish as Holocaust denial. But the Venn diagram of Holocaust deniers and climate deniers may be close enough to a circle to make any distinction meaningless.

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