FIRST LOOK:

Join multiple groups for "Environmental Justice: From the Grassroots to the White House," a 90 minute virtual celebration of the 30th anniversary of the first National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit. TODAY at 7:00pm ET.

Oil Industry Leaders Look To Big Tobacco For Clues To Avoid Perjury Before Congress: Big Oil CEOs will testify before Congress today on their firms' and trade associations' decades of public deception on the science of climate change, but they're nothing if not prepared. The heads of ExxonMobil, BP America, Chevron, Shell Oil, the American Petroleum Institute, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have prepped for their sworn testimony by studying how tobacco industry leaders landed themselves under federal investigation for perjury, E&E News reports. The oil industry has known for decades that the combustion of its product was causing climate change and its deception has repeatedly stymied U.S. climate policy. “The evidence is so incontrovertible that they’re going to really have a strong choice,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) chair of the Oversight subcommittee holding the hearing, told E&E News?. “Do they risk coming close to the line, to committing perjury, and go the way of the tobacco executives? Or do they do a full mea culpa and admit all of the wrongdoing and commit to change?” (Perjury prep: E&E News; Decades of deception: NPR, The Conversation; Hearing generally: Earther, Reuters, New York Times $, Axios, Reuters, AP)

Big Oil Blankets Morning Newsletters Ahead Of Deception Hearing: Oil firms' advertising has become ubiquitous in the Beltway's morning newsletters targeted to and read by those with a professional interest in the House Oversight subcommittee hearing on Big Oil's climate denial and deception, a joint investigation by Earther and Heated reveals. During the first three weeks of this month, oil firms have essentially carpet bombed the influential morning newsletters read by Beltway and industry insiders. While oil companies often sponsor news outlets' reporting and newsletters on energy issues, that sponsorship ramped up dramatically before today's hearing. From Oct.1 to Oct 22 fossil fuel interests sponsored: 63% of Punchbowl newsletters (compared to 14% in the past 6 months); 100% of Politico's Morning Energy (compared to 68%); and 62% of Axios Generate (compared to 46%). Chevron, the most prolific ad-buyer, has used "lower carbon" in fully half of its Punchbowl ads since May, as did Exxon in half of its ads from the same outlet. The firms also emphasized phrases like "carbon emissions intensity," which they use to project the impression of lowering climate pollution, while actually increasing their overall carbon footprint. (Earther and Heated)

Climate Investments In Pared Down Build Back Better Act Near Original $600 Billion: Amid the rollercoaster-in-a-whirlwind that are the negotiations over the Build Back Better Act climate and social infrastructure package, the level of reported investment for addressing the climate crisis is climbing. Reports Tuesday pegged climate investments at $500-$555 billion in the scaled down and "mostly settled" plan. However, E&E News reports, "that number 'is closer to $600 billion'" including environmental justice and water infrastructure measures. The original $3.5 trillion proposal included $600 billion in climate investments, and its staying power has come despite substantial lobbying, from corporations that claim to support addressing climate change, and the key role that coal firm beneficiary, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin has played in the negotiations. "This will be, just as a matter of fact, the biggest climate bill in human history," Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz told Axios Tuesday. "That's a pretty good story to tell at [COP26]." (E&E News; Earlier reports: Axios, Politico)

Climate Hunger Strikers Outside White House Confront Manchin: Five young activists have fasted for more than a week outside the White House, demanding President Biden keep his promises to take action on climate change. The hunger strikers have sat in wheelchairs outside the White House since Oct. 20, getting health checks five times a day (one was hospitalized Saturday but has returned to the strike). “Millions of people are going to die if they don’t do this — people our age, in our lifetimes, in climate disasters, in floods, fires and hurricanes, of starvation,” Abby Leedy, 20, told HuffPost Wednesday. "The climate crisis impacts communities of color way worse," Ema Govea, 18, told Business Insider India. "When disaster strikes we've seen that communities of color are left behind and left to fend for themselves." Leedy also confronted Sen. Joe Manchin as he left the White House Tuesday over his opposition to the Clean Electricity Performance Program, who said it was "not fair" for activists to criticize the U.S. for not doing more to combat the climate crisis because "90 percent of all pollution comes from one continent- Asia." The youth have inspired solidarity across the country. Kalamazoo physics teacher, Josh Gottlieb, 46, is fasting from Monday through Sunday, sitting outside his high school, in the rain, on unpaid leave, holding a sign calling for action on the climate emergency. (HuffPost, Business Insider India, People, National Catholic Reporter; Manchin: CNN, Democracy Now; Physics teacher: WBCK)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: ‘Ignored for 70 years’: human rights group to investigate uranium contamination on Navajo Nation (The Guardian), homelands in peril (Indian Country Today), if you can’t see the Braves’ tomahawk chop is racist, chances are you’re drowning in white privilege (NewsOne), connecting communities of color with the outdoors (Environmental Health News), plastic's toxic reach in Louisiana (Environmental Health News)

HISTORIC RECKONING: A DC area environmental group is dropping the name of John Audubon, naturalist who was an enslaver and Indian grave robber (Washington Post $, HuffPost)

COP26: Voices from around the world on what’s at stake at COP26 (Washington Post $), Uganda activist fears climate talks aren't doing enough for the global south (NPR), Indigenous leaders to push for land tenure rights as climate solution at COP26 (Mongabay), ‘COP26 own goal’: despair over budget backing for flights and roads (The Guardian), 3 issues to watch at climate summit (The Hill), President Joe Biden will “make or break” the UN climate conference (Mother Jones), rail strikes during COP26 are called off after deal is struck with RMT union (The National)

• BRAZIL: Brazil seeks to burnish its climate credentials as COP26 nears (Thomson Reuters Foundation)
• INDIA: Net zero goals aren’t the solution, says India before COP26 (AP), India rejects net zero carbon emissions target, says pathway more important (Reuters)
• UNELECTED MONARCHY: UK's Prince Charles to deliver opening address at COP26 (Reuters)
• CURTAIN RAISERS: What is COP26 and why is it important? (Gizmodo), what is COP26 in Glasgow and why does the climate change summit matter? (Wall Street Journal $), what is COP26? How the pivotal UN conference could avert global climate 'catastrophe' (CNN), what to expect from the COP26 climate change conference (WBUR), COP26 head warns Glasgow summit will be "harder than Paris" (Axios), It’s time for COP26. Here's where we stand. (New York Times $)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Poorer countries spend five times more on debt than climate crisis – report (The Guardian), Frankie the dinosaur tells world not to ‘choose extinction’ in UN video urging climate action (Washington Post $), climate set to dominate G20 summit ahead of U.N. conference (Reuters), report finds G20 countries and richest economies will be hit by climate impacts (Indian Express), "Build Back Better" goes global (Axios)

DENIAL, DISINFORMATION, AND PROFIT: The climate denial is coming from inside Facebook's house (Gizmodo), how decades of disinformation about fossil fuels halted U.S. climate policy (NPR), America 'on fire': Facebook watched as Trump ignited hate (AP)

FOSSIL VOLATILITY: Gas price surge pushes Europe's ceramics industry to breaking point (Reuters)

RULE OF LAW, OR SOMETHING: Lawyer Steven Donziger, who sued Chevron over “Amazon Chernobyl,” ordered to prison after house arrest (Democracy Now), lawyer who won $9.5 billion settlement against Chevron reports to prison (New York Times $)

AGENCIES: Biden to unveil lead strategy that triggered Trump turmoil (E&E News)

EPA: Plastics ban advocate [Jennie Romer] lands key EPA job (E&E $), what to look for in Biden's methane rules (E&E $)

DOI: Indigenous activists seek high-level help for gray wolf push (E&E News), Stone-Manning sworn in as BLM director (E&E $)

THE HILL: Congressional panel holds hearing on historic wildfire bill (NBC), [House Approps. Chair Rosa] DeLauro invites top appropriators to launch government funding talks (Politico Pro $), Democrats push for boost in wildland firefighter pay, increased mental health benefits (The Hill), 

HOUSE: ‘We need more people like me’: Cori Bush on EJ, coal, Manchin (E&E News), [Joaquin] Castro moves to put cap on gas prices during natural disasters (Houston Chronicle), House panel mulls pipeline, rail cybersecurity mandates (E&E $), Panels hear pleas for Indigenous leadership in conservation (E&E $)

SENATE: Joe Manchin pushes for climate cuts even as West Virginia battered by crisis (The Guardian), Merkley, Warren and Markey sound alarm over 'dirty' hydrogen provision in climate deal (The Hill), this panel plans for life after fossil fuels. Manchin's on it (E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: White House prepares to roll out climate actions to help meet Biden's goals, with or without Congress (CNN, E&E News), John Kerry faces long odds to cement legacy at climate summit (Politico), what awaits Biden at 2 major summits as he's struggled for climate change credibility (NPR), 

INFRASTRUCTURE BILL(S): Pelosi tees up Rules committee hearing on still-unfinished reconciliation package (Politico Pro $), Biden’s Plan B for the climate crisis, explained (Vox), Biden closes in on deal with Manchin, Sinema as liberals wince (Politico Pro $), progressives scramble to save top priorities from chopping block (The Hill)

• METHANE: Democrats scramble to salvage U.S. methane fee proposal - sources (Reuters)
• WHAT WE PAY FOR A CIVILIZED SOCIETY: Senate Democrats unveil a plan for a new tax on billionaires (NPR), Manchin denounces the Democrats’ plan to tax billionaires as divisive. (New York Times $, Wall Street Journal $, The Hill, Reuters), how the billionaires income tax would work (Wall Street Journal $), Sinema backs corporate minimum tax proposal (The Hill), Rep. Omar, a progressive member of congress, approves of a new tax plan (NPR)
• TIMING: Ahead of a UN climate summit, Democrats push to secure policies Biden can promote. (New York Times $, WBUR, NBC, CBS), Biden could head to Europe without a climate deal, White House concedes (Reuters), White House still thinks spending deal could be made before Europe trip (The Hill)

POLITIC$: Business groups, sensing victory, keep up pressure over tax hikes (The Hill)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Biden's pick to lead commodities regulator flags climate as priority (Reuters)

CITIES AND STATES: New York state denies permits for two proposed natural gas-fired power plants (Reuters), how New York took a big step away from fossil fuels (New York Times $), [Penn. AG] Shapiro breaks with [Gov.] Wolf over strategy on climate change (AP), Louisiana’s plans to reduce carbon emissions 'huge improvement' but fall short of net-zero goal (NOLA.com), New Jersey solar EJ plan: National model or warning? (E&E News), North Carolina energy law adds urgency on housing, weatherization funding (Energy News Network), states press Biden to ratchet down truck emissions (E&E $)

CALIFORNIA: Calif. does a U-turn on fracking, climate rules (E&E $), California is banking on forests to reduce emissions. What happens when they go up in smoke? (Grist)

IMPACTS: Report: climate change threatens to devastate the world's leading economic powers — including the US (Yahoo), climate change magnified Calif. storms — experts (E&E $), Benny watched his house drift away. now, his community wants better storm protection (NPR), climate change is muting fall colors, but it’s just the latest way that humans have altered US forests (The Conversation), severe weather from coast to coast (NBC), Yosemite falls surges after west coast storms bring needed rainfall (New York Times $)

IMPACTS' IMPACTS: How climate change and gang violence intersect in Honduras (The Nation), climate change to displace tens of millions of East Africans by 2050 -World Bank (Reuters), what’s the aid sector’s carbon footprint? (The New Humanitarian)

NEW ENGLAND: Nor’easter cuts power to over half-million homes, businesses (AP, Washington Post $), almost 500K without power in Massachusetts as nor'easter batters East Coast (The Hill), Nor'easter slams East Coast with flooding rain and powerful winds (Axios)

HURRICANES: Southern Italy braced for rare Mediterranean hurricane (The Guardian)

RENEWABLES: 'We didn't worry': Renewable energy may be solution for those vulnerable to power outages (NBC), solar and wind are the public’s most favored energy sources (Morning Consult), Colombia awards contracts for 11 solar projects (Reuters), could the US lead the world in floating offshore wind? (Canary Media), gigawatts of solar could be built in the open land around U.S. interstate highways (Canary Media), Texas leads country in existing and new clean energy projects (Houston Chronicle), what will it take to build the US offshore wind industry? (Energy Monitor)

METHANE: Methane emissions are in the spotlight. Here's why. (Washington Post $)

OIL & GAS: Investors on board as U.S. oil majors dismiss wind and solar projects (Reuters), Asia snaps up American shale gas to keep boilers, furnaces lit (Bloomberg $), Big Oil is about to post highest cash flow in more than 13 years (Bloomberg $), Third Point has big Shell stake, urges energy giant to break up (Wall Street Journal $), Shell should be broken up, says US investor Daniel Loeb (The Times)

COAL: China hurries to burn more coal, putting climate goals at risk (New York Times $). India's engineering colleges equip students for future beyond coal (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

UTILITIES: Entergy power failure illuminates obstacle to Biden's carbon-free vision (Politico Pro $)

GRID: Sophisticated hackers could crash the US power grid, but money, not sabotage, is their focus (Utility Dive), old power gear is slowing use of clean energy and electric cars (New York Times $)

EVs: GM's plan to end EV charging deserts (Axios), battery swapping: the killer app for electrifying India’s millions of tuk-tuks? (Canary Media), Britain to spend a million on electric race in Outer Hebrides (Reuters), Rosberg says motorsport can help tackle climate change (Reuters), a big EV push for Uber drivers (Axios), Manchin signals opposition to EV charging station spending (E&E News)

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?: UAW striker killed on John Deere picket line (Jalopnik, AP, Quad City Times, Des Moines Register, ABC, CNN), eneath Striketober fanfare, the lower frequencies of class struggle need to be heard (The Real News)

AGRICULTURE: Meat and dairy giants feed climate crisis by dragging their heels on methane (The Guardian)

BUSINESS: Apple adds suppliers to clean-energy pledge, including more chip firms (Reuters), Goldman joins net-zero alliance days before climate talks (E&E $), Microsoft ramps up plans to make its data centers less thirsty (The Verge)

DIVESTMENT: University of Toronto to divest all fossil fuel investments (Reuters, Bloomberg $)

FINANCE: Al Gore's new net-zero emissions investment push has big-name backers (Axios), Swiss National Bank rules out green criteria for investments (Reuters), the green venture capital surge (Axios)

BITCOIN: US takes bitcoin mining crown after China crackdown (Wall Street Journal $)

SHIPPING: For the shipping industry, moves to cut carbon emissions remain a struggle (Wall Street Journal $), can farm waste help clean up the world’s dirty cargo ships? (Grist)

WILDLIFE: Climate factor in woolly mammoths’ extinction does not exonerate humans from current crisis (Reuters Fact Check)

INTERNATIONAL: Britain pledges up to 1.7 billion pounds towards a new nuclear plant (Reuters), China’s ambitious climate goals collide with reality, hampering global efforts (Wall Street Journal $), Erdogan says Turkey signed $3.2 bln green climate fund deal (Reuters), London recruits residents in push for clean air, green homes (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

• There’s no cheap way to deal with the climate crisis (ProPublica and New York Times, Abrahm Lustgarten commentary $) 
• As politicians battle, we need scientific credibility and objectivity to reach net zero emissions (Utility Dive, Arshad Mansoor)
• Insulate Britain won’t be stopped by people who think you can grow concrete (The Guardian, Cameron Ford op-ed)
• Birth of modern renewable energy on Vermont mountain offers a lesson for fighting climate change (The Hill, Dan Reicher op-ed)
• Some world leaders may not be coming to COP26 – but it’s not all doom and gloom (The Independent, David Callaway op-ed)
• Why Protecting Tribal Rights Is Key to Fighting Climate Change (Yale Environment 360, Fawn Sharp interview)
• What’s Kyrsten Sinema up to? It's pretty obvious. (Politico, Hank Stephenson analysis)
• What the world can learn from Rachel Carson as we fight for our planet (The Guardian, Kim Heacox op-ed)
• Democrats might give up on a methane tax, and maybe that’s okay (The Atlantic, Robinson Meyer analysis)
• Dan Loeb is oversimplifying Shell's long game (Reuters, Lauren Silva Laughlin and George Hay op-ed)
• Climate activists blow smoke on wildfire fears (Wall Street Journal, Bjorn Lomborg op-ed $)
• Why McKinsey & Co. does business with greenhouse-gas emitters (Wall Street Journal, Bob Sternfels op-ed $)
• Puerto Rican electrical workers union fights privatization of island’s grid (Labor Notes, Ángel Figueroa Jaramillo op-ed)

Climate Change Is Turning Science Fiction’s Fears Into Reality, and Business School Boomers Are Confused

Ever since goth archetype Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley invented Science Fiction when writing Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus  two centuries ago, the genre has dealt with how humans use technology, sometimes for the better (at least at first) and more often for the worst. It serves as both a promise and a warning of our potential to change the world. 

But apparently 200 years is not enough time for conservative pundit and NYU Stern School of Business adjunct finance professor Paul Tice to understand that very simple literary fact, as evidenced by his latest New York Post op-ed. 

Apparently talking about the ecological effects of fossil fuels “is an assault on our kids right out of science fiction.” Tice writes, “Many of the increasingly dire claims now being made about the impending climate crisis are actual plot lines taken directly from some of the best (and worst) science-fiction movies of the 1960s and 1970s.” 

Is that it, Paul? Or is it that the science fiction movies of the 60s and 70s reflected the scientific concerns of the era about pollution and resource scarcity, and we have so completely failed to address them that we're now living through the disasters described in those once-fictional stories? 

Despite the abundance of potential “technology gone wrong” stories Tice could have pulled from (Twilight Zone? Black Mirror? Futurama!?) to at least make an accurate, if backwards, argument that activists are using old sci-fi to scare kids. Tice can’t help but throw in some extra dishonesty for good measure. He writes, “Swedish scientist Magnus Soderlund opined publicly in 2019 about the possibility of eating human flesh as a means to the end of food sustainability” which of course is just like “Soylent Green,” the movie that “takes place in an imaginary 2022 when food is scarce due to the greenhouse effect and people need to eat each other to survive.” 

But did Soderland actually “opine” about it? Or did he bring it up as a deliberately ghoulish example of what sort of things are totally out of the question and too taboo to even talk about, in the context of what sorts of things people would be willing to eat in dire circumstances? Oh if only there were some way for someone to know for sure, like if Snopes talked to the guy or something… 

Tice brings up other "examples" — each little more than a dollop of boomer nostalgia punctuated by fits of “get off my lawn!” — in reference to climate activists and scientists pointing out that those scary post-apocalyptic dystopias that boomers grew up fearing are increasingly similar to the world they’ve created. 

“It is not surprising,” Tice writes, “that life is imitating cinematic art in the search for a compelling argument around climate change.” But is life imitating art, Paul? Or was the art designed as a reflection of life in the first place? 

Are the world’s scientists actually just lifting plotlines from old films to scare kids, like Tice says? Or is science fiction just fiction that’s based on science? 

Impossible to say, really. 

But what we do know for certain: This proves the importance of literature education, even for MBA goons. 

Also, Mary Shelly didn’t get married on her mother's grave, the same site where she lost her virginity to the man whose deceased heart she would later keep in a sack in her office, to be disrespected like this, Mr. Tice.

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