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Sea Level Rise Threatens Cal. Toxic Waste Sites, Especially In Communities Of Color: Hundreds of toxic waste sites, predominantly in Black and Brown communities, will be at risk of inundation by sea level rise across California in the coming decades, a statewide mapping project led by UCLA and UC-Berkeley professors reveals. By 2050, Black and Brown communities will be five times more likely to live within half a mile of a flood-risk toxic site than the general population. By 2100, more than 400 hazardous facilities across the state will be vulnerable to flooding from sea level rise driven by climate change. “The coast of California is marked by massive inequality. People don’t realize that because they go to Malibu, they go to Santa Barbara. Those are the beaches that people see and are familiar with,” Lucas Zucker, a longtime environmental justice advocate, told the LA Times. “They don’t think of places like Wilmington, West Long Beach, Barrio Logan, West Oakland, Richmond, Bayview-Hunters Point. You can name all these communities, and it’s the same story.” (LA Times $; Climate Signals background: Sea level rise)

Sumas Lake Exists, Again, In Flooded British Columbia: The third atmospheric river to hit British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest has refilled a lake drained a century ago and put much of Vancouver's milk and egg supply out of commission in the process. Now the Sumas Prairie, Sumas Lake was drained in 1924 to create farmland, but the unprecedented rainfall over the past weeks and days has made it a lake again, submerging the farmland that produces more than half of Vancouver's dairy and eggs. The extreme rain  melted the snowpack in areas that rarely see liquid precipitation, some of which lack erosion protection due to massive wildfires this past summer. This exacerbated flooding at lower elevations, completely cutting off numerous towns. "Merritt is a town of 7,000 people and is totally flooded," Johnson Zhong, a meteorologist for Environment Canada, told CNN. "That town is in an area that doesn't get a lot of rain. But with the combination of rain and snowmelt, the entire town flooded. The water and sewage system went down, and the entire town had to be evacuated." The rain and flooding have also forced British Columbia to extend emergency fuel rationing into mid-December. (CNN)(Washington Post $; Rain totals: Earther; Fuel rationing: Bloomberg $; Climate signals background: Flooding, Extreme precipitation increase, Wildfires)

Texas Farmers Embrace Renewables: Among the things that are bigger in Texas is the number of reasons why farmers and ranchers there are embracing renewable energy, the Financial Times reports. The largest renewable energy producer in the country (and if the secessionist movement had its way, would be the fifth-largest wind energy producing country in the world) is also home to an enormous agriculture industry and the two sectors are becoming increasingly symbiotic. “As is usually the case in farming, there are a range of reasons [for adopting renewable energy] and, usually, people have a few on any given farm," Cathy Day, climate policy co-ordinator at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, told the FT. "They’re incorporating solar as either a way to reduce their costs or as a way to sell a little bit of power and make some money back from the same land." Interest in small-scale systems has also increased following the failure of the grid and gas system last winter that plunged the state into deadly blackouts. (FT $; Russian-backed secessionist movement: The Bulwark)

Texas Grid Still Vulnerable, PUC Threatens Renewables: Experts warn the Texas grid is still vulnerable, in part because of loopholes in new weatherization requirements. “If we see a recurrence of the storm we saw last year, people should probably be worried,” Public Citizen's Adrian Shelley told the Texas Tribune. The Texas Public Utility Commission is considering changes that would undermine renewable generation and prop up gas plants that, according to the state's grid operator, had greater generation losses than any other power source during the storm. (Grid vulnerability: Texas Tribune and NBC, AP; PUC: E&E News)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Civil rights panel probes hurricane response for first time (E&E News), covid omicron variant linked to vaccine inequality, experts say (NBC), African leaders condemn travel restrictions as omicron variant spreads globally (NPR), report: Florida's prison system is filled with white supremacist guards (The Root)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Countries finally agreed to create an international carbon market. Here's why it’s controversial. (Grist)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Judges to hit key climate question: State or federal court? (E&E News)

DENIAL: How big oil relies on some PR firms to block climate action (Washington Post $)

SOLIDARITY: For Muslim eco-activists, protesting the Line 3 Minnesota pipeline is a religious responsibility (Prism Reports)

GIVING TUESDAY: People are giving money to the wrong climate charities (Earther, Mic), want to fight climate change effectively? Here’s where to donate your money. (Vox, Earther)

BOTTOM LINE: Global economy can grow if world warms less than 1.5°C, study says (Bloomberg $)

RULE OF LAW: Court hears Steven Donziger's criminal appeal in Chevron saga (Reuters), 9 Democrats urge DOJ to free lawyer who won lawsuit against Chevron (Axios, The Hill, Al Jazeera)

SCOTUS: Supreme Court conservatives target Chevron deference (E&E News), abortion access in Texas hangs in the balance as Supreme Court considers overturning Roe v. Wade (Texas Tribune), abortions could require 200-mile trips if Roe is overturned (Axios), what you need to know about the Supreme Court case that could overturn Roe v. Wade (The 19th* News)

AGENCIES: Biden admin presses pause on enforcing feds’ vaccine mandate (E&E News)

EPA: EPA funds research key to environmental justice mapping tool (E&E News), inside the push to revive industry Superfund fees (E&E News)

DOE: Biden seeks willing hosts for nuclear waste storage sites (Reuters, The Hill), US energy chief hints California may grant reprieve to its last nuclear plant (Reuters), US energy chief says oil reserve is a tool to meet short-term supply crunch (Reuters)

DOI: BLM to address wildfire risks near Calif. urban areas (E&E $), Interior oil and gas review met with mixed reactions (New Mexico Political Report, The Hill)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: NEPA reviews must consider past traumas, greens say (E&E News)

THE HILL: Democrats push tax credits to bolster clean energy (The Hill)

HOUSE: ‘When we speak, people listen’: delegates support bills on climate change, Wilderness Act (Navajo Times), Rep Cori Bush calls out racism and violence in Congress: 'these members fuel violence' (Black Wall Street Times), Democrat [Bobby Rush] pushes for pipeline reliability standards (The Hill), House panel sets vote on climate planning bill (E&E $)

SENATE: Manchin working on 'adjustments' to energy policies in Biden spending plan (The Hill), high gasoline prices give Grassley hope on anti-OPEC bill (E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: 'Jobs of future' in focus as Biden visits Minnesota technical college (Reuters)

CITIES AND STATES: Aging fuel tanks near Pearl Harbor are leaking. Locals want the US Navy to shut them down (Grist), North Carolina budget lacks promised boost for low-income ratepayers (Energy News Network)

IMPACTS: Nobody mentioned scorpions: global warming’s secondary effects sting (Bloomberg $), rain fell at Greenland's summit this year for the first time. It's going to happen more often, study says (CNN, The Guardian, Washington Post $), the rising cost of the climate crisis in flooded South Sudan – in pictures (The Guardian)

HEAT: Drought-stressed Ore. trees were scorched in heat wave (E&E $)

DROUGHT: Iranian water protests a ‘wake-up call’ for regime (FT $)

WILDFIRES: How the Schultz Fire reveals long-term costs of big wildfires, from floods to habitat loss (Arizona Republic), wildfire continues to burn at a North Carolina state park (AP)

HURRICANES: ‘Hunker down’ is not enough: 2021 hurricane season showed US isn’t prepared as climate-related disasters push people deeper into poverty (The Conversation), the sixth straight busier-than-normal Atlantic hurricane season is over (Washington Post $), top-10 weirdest things about the bonkers 2021 Atlantic hurricane season (Yale Climate Connections)

FUNGUS: Scientists to map fungal networks, determine climate role (AP, Reuters, The Guardian)

RENEWABLES: How to turn trash into treasure: put solar panels over landfills (Canary Media), rural communities push back against solar projects in Nevada (AP), the ‘godfather of wind’ is building a floating energy revolution (Bloomberg $)

BATTERIES: Battery price decline comes with a warning (Axios)

OIL & GAS: Oil firms face workforce crunch as renewables beckon -survey (Reuters), Exxon to offer spending outlook as investors seek clues to low-carbon returns (Reuters), putting gasoline prices in perspective (Axios), Shell eyes return to Libya with oil, gas, solar investments (Reuters), Shell won’t abandon green transition in face of higher oil prices, says CEO (Bloomberg $), power from natural gas expected to rise in coming years (Houston Chronicle)

PIPELINES: The Line 3 replacement has been completed and operating for months. So why are activists still camped out by the construction sites? (MinnPost), Michigan drops oil pipeline suit, refocuses on separate case (AP), oil pipeline planned even as California moves away from gas (AP)

COAL: Activist investor Bluebell urges Glencore to separate its thermal coal unit (Reuters), Onyx coal-fired power plant to shut with Dutch government support (Reuters)

HYDROGEN: Lobbying blitz scores big wins for hydrogen (E&E News), Canada's Come-by-Chance refinery to be renamed Braya Renewable Fuels (Reuters, Bloomberg $)

UTILITIES: A long way to go': How ConEd, Xcel and 4 other utilities are helping cities meet big EV goals (Utility Dive), customers would get refunds under settlement of [Arizona] utility case (AP, Pinal Central)

GRID: Environmental groups seek suspension of power line project’s federal permits (Portland Press Herald, AP)

EVs: 1,100 auto execs: Here's where EVs are headed (E&E $), Biden to put down payment on 500,000 EV chargers (E&E $), Commerce Secretary: chip shortage threatens Biden EV plans (E&E News), DB Schenker pre-orders nearly 1,500 EVs from Volta Trucks (Axios)

AGRICULTURE: In photos: land-based aquaculture promises more sustainable seafood (FT $)

BOOKS: New book tells 1,001 firsthand stories of climate change from around the world (Yale Climate Connections), what 'Moby-Dick' teaches us about climate resilience (E&E $)

CARBON REMOVAL: Exxon-backed scientists unveil advance for CO2 storage (E&E $)

FINANCE: Bill Gates-backed venture fund targets decarbonizing aluminum (Axios), EU weighs giving some gas and nuclear projects green investment label (Bloomberg $)

SHIPPING: What’s the green fuel of the future for shipping? (Bloomberg $)

UNELECTED MONARCHY: Barbados ends allegiance to British crown and becomes republic, symbolizing the end of colonization (Atlanta Black Star), as Queen Elizabeth's sovereignty over Barbados ends, Prince Charles denies resurfaced Oprah interview claims (The Root)

WILDLIFE: Soft corals are dying around Jeju Island, a biosphere reserve that’s home to a South Korean navy base (InsideClimate News)

INTERNATIONAL: France 'not doing enough' to meet its energy and climate targets: IEA (S&P Global), Germany has to decide on gas-to-power plants quickly - grid operator, NGO (Reuters), Germany's incoming finance minister rings alarm bell on inflation (Reuters), Greece to curb coal use by 2028 as part of climate law (FT $), Russia central bank to ease requirements for banks backing green projects (Reuters)

• Less than 2 percent of philanthropy goes toward our biggest threat — climate change (The Hill, Andreas Karelas op-ed)
• Don’t ignore half of the clean energy equation: Reducing demand (Canary Media, Andy Frank op-ed)
• Are hedge fund ‘bubble’ bets naughty or nice? (Bloomberg, Chris Bryant op-ed $)
• PM orders UK energy companies to speed up repairs after Storm Arwen (FT, Jim Pickard op-ed $)
• Irreconcilable conflict? Lessons from the Central Maine Power transmission corridor debacle (Utility Dive, Rebecca Schultz op-ed)
• Tester is putting the money where his mouth is (Indian Country Today, Shelly Fyant op-ed)
• A powerful and underappreciated ally in the climate crisis? Fungi (The Guardian, Toby Kiers and Merlin Sheldrake op-ed)
• Lawmakers who value votes of sportsmen and women need to address climate crisis (The Hill, Todd Tanner op-ed)
• Biden ‘fights’ climate crisis with kid gloves on (The Real News, Marc Steiner commentary)

Steve Koonin’s PragerU Clip Fact-checked Again, But Who Cares When A ‘Severe Wobble’ Will Soon Reveal Hidden Planet Nibiru (The True Cause Of Climate Change) 

Last month, conservative propaganda shop PragerU published a video featuring Steve Koonin, and just like basically everything else he’s ever said about climate, it was swiftly fact-checked and one of his key claims about Greeland’s ice melt was found “mostly false” by Politifact. 

But of course Facebook’s Instagram didn’t actually do anything but put a tiny note at the bottom of the post, and a million views later, ClimateFeedback has another fact-check as devastating as it is comprehensive. They cover the Greenland ice melt claim, as well as Koonin’s misleading arguments on heat waves, hurricanes, floods, attribution, etc. 

We were going to get into it, but then we got distracted by something just as scientifically reliable as anything Steve Koonin has to say about climate science or policy, but about a million times more fun and fascinating. 

You may remember back at the start of 2021, when Twitter and Facebook took the belated steps of purging the sorts of dangerous Q-anon content, and the rightwing Gab platform welcomed them with open arms. We were doubtful at the time that Gab would take off, and so far that seems to be the case. 

We’ve been taking the occasional peek at Gab’s biggest “climate skeptic” group, where a scant 300-ish members are treated to regular posts from a handful of users with mostly unremarkable climate denial links and such. But a recent one stood out: “Soon There Will Be A Severe Wobble in the Earth’s Motions.” 

What’s this now? A wobble? Yes, “the Council of Worlds has decided to allow a Severe Wobble on Earth to force the global establishment to acknowledge the reality of Nibiru.” Now, we know what you’re thinking, as does the author who addresses the obvious in an aside: “[This is NOT the Severe Wobble that will begin 50 days before the 2026 catastrophe that occurs every 3650 years.]” 

Whew! Glad that’s out of the way! 

Anyway, “this temporary Severe Wobble will have to displace the current Daily Earth Wobble,” and this is where another bracketed aside makes things really interesting, “[the true cause of Climate change that has been obscured by the elite].” Ah-hah! 

The climate isn’t changing because burning fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases. Nope! It’s just part of the current Daily Earth Wobble that’s apparently controlled by “the benign aliens arranging to fulfill the Council’s edict.” And when they make the hidden planet Nibiru’s “North Pole to drop and point at the Earth, a mega/Severe wobble of Earth” will trigger “major changes to sunrise, transit and sunset” which “will be noticed by everyone on Earth, and the establishment will scramble to explain it.” 

Exciting! 

What’s weird, though, (besides, y’know, everything) is that the user is actually quite concerned about sea level rise, posting that the aforementioned 2026 Severe Wobble, sea levels will “rapidly rise by 650 [feet]”, putting the East and Gulf Coasts and most of the Mississippi Delta under water. 

We did some digging around to figure out what it’s all about, and found that the Nibiru cataclysm was a doomsday scenario put forward by someone named Nancy Lieder in 1995. (Unclear if Gab poster “ROGTruth1” is Lieder or just a fan.) Lieder claims to talk to aliens from the Zeta Reticuli star system, and has a long running website called ZetaTalk that is, frankly, incredibly entertaining. 

For example, did you know that the Council of Worlds that’s directing the Wobble is apparently also in charge of space tourism to and from Earth? With two and a half decades of creative world-building about an impending pole shift that will collapse governments and usher in the Aftertime, Lieder’s supposed communications with the Zetans is as rich and endlessly fascinating as any of the best science fiction works around.

Best of all, the Zetans are also apparently in the business of myth-busting, so maybe they’ll join all the Earthbound fact-checkers and give Steve Koonin an intergalactic debunking!

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