FIRST LOOK:

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) will hold a briefing on opportunities for cutting cut greenhouse gas pollution from building materials on Wednesday, December 8, at 1:00 pm EST. 

Climate Change Not Driving Madagascar Famine, Scientists Say: An international team of climate scientists said Wednesday that they did not find climate change to be the driving cause of the calamitous drought and famine currently gripping Madagascar. The researchers, organized by World Weather Attribution, did not identify a clear climate signal in the "precipitation deficits" in the Grand Sud region where the crisis is worst. They also acknowledged “anomalously high temperatures in the area” may have helped to dry out the landscape — a dynamic witnessed in major droughts elsewhere. Climate change is increasing food insecurity globally, and widespread food insecurity and famine across Madagascar is an undeniable humanitarian crisis, but one with numerous contributing factors. The scientists found that, while climate change is making droughts more frequent and severe in many regions globally, current levels of warming did not have a statistically significant impact on the current "rainfall deficits" in Madagascar. The severe famine, driven in large part by the drought, shows “what a very narrow range of possible weather we are actually adapted to” study co-author Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at the University of Oxford and co-leader of WWA, told Reuters. If anything, the current crisis illustrates the costs and danger of failing to halt further climate change. “What it shows is that the current climate variability is already resulting in severe humanitarian suffering,” Maarten van Aalst, director of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center and one of the scientists involved in the Madagascar analysis, told the New York Times. “In these sorts of places, anything that climate change would make worse would become a really big additional problem really quickly.” (Reuters, New York Times $, Washington Post $, AP, Thomson Reuters Foundation, CNN, The Guardian; Global food insecurity increase: Thomson Reuters Foundation, explainer; Climate Signals background: Drought)

Climate Change Threatens Christmas Cheer: Climate change is opening a new front in the War On Christmas. The massive heatwave that baked the Pacific Northwest this summer — which scientists said would have been "virtually impossible" without human-caused climate change — combined with the drought in the region severely damaged Christmas tree crops, Earther reports. Climate change, caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, is making droughts and heatwaves more frequent and severe. As much as 10% of mature trees in the PNW were damaged, and the ghost of the heatwave will haunt not just this holiday season, but Christmases future as well — 70% of seedlings planted this year were essentially cooked to death. (Earther; Climate Signals background: June 2021 PNW heatwave)

Jordan Cove Cancelled, Would Have Been First West Coast LNG Export Terminal: Developers of what would have been the first LNG export terminal on the West Coast officially abandoned the project on Wednesday. The project developers told FERC they are not pursuing construction of the Pacific Connector pipeline nor the Jordan Cove export terminal in Coos Bay, Oregon, because they were unable to obtain necessary state permits. The move is a win for landowners, Tribes, and conservation groups across Southern Oregon who fought the proposed pipeline and export facility for 17 years. The three-foot-wide, 229-mile-long pipeline would have carried methane-based gas from Canada to the Oregon facility where it would have been shipped to international markets. The at-least $8 billion cancellation is the latest of several LNG projects cancelled or delayed in the past year. (E&E News, The Oregonian, AP, S&P Global, OPB, Politico Pro $, LAW360 $; LNG cancellations: Reuters)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: How environmental justice work takes a toll on People of Color (Environmental Health News), a freeway ripped the heart out of Black life in Detroit. Now Michigan wants to tear it down. (Bridge Detroit and Grist), food insecurity on Native reservations is part of a history of discrimination (Teen Vogue)

COP26: Pacific island leaders bemoan weak Glasgow climate pact (Reuters)

DENIAL: The PR firms doing Big Oil’s dirty work (Earther), for big miners, US workers are most reluctant to get vaccinated (Wall Street Journal $), if you fund the research, you can shape the world (The Nation)

IEA RENEWABLES REPORT: IEA report: a stronger renewables forecast still falls short (Axios, The Guardian, The Verge), rising costs may erase years of renewables’ progress — report (E&E News), US to add 200 GW of renewable capacity by 2026, but IEA warns 30 GW offshore target 'challenging' (Utility Dive)

HUMAN RIGHTS AND BODILY AUTONOMY: The Supreme Court’s conservative goon squad seems poised to destroy Roe v. Wade (Vanity Fair, The 19th* News, Reuters, AP, ABC, NBC, CBS), Amy Coney Barrett suggests forced pregnancy is fine because of adoption (Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, Slate, Business Insider), senior citizens rally for abortion rights outside Frederick County Courthouse (Frederick News Post), dozens rally for women’s rights in Schenley Park as Supreme Court hears abortion case (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette $), in Concord and Washington, they rallied for abortion rights (Concord Monitor)

SHIPPING & SHOPPING: Online shopping is turning the high seas into a super-polluting highway (Earther, The Verge)

MEDIA: Peter Prengaman to lead AP’s expanding climate coverage (AP)

PIPELINES: The Line 3 replacement has been completed and operating for months. So why are activists still camped out by the construction sites? (MinnPost), Get off our territory: Wet’suwet’en land defenders condemn Canadian police raid on pipeline protest (Democracy Now), will Biden shut down [Enbridge Line 5]? 4 issues to watch (E&E News)

UMMM YEAH: Young Americans are raising alarms about the state of US democracy in a new poll (NPR)

IT'S DECEMBER: Every firefighter called to one of most destructive fires in Great Falls history (Great Falls Tribune, AP, Montana Public Radio, NBC Montana, KRTV)

AGENCIES: Biden moves against oil sector on federal leasing program (Houston Chronicle)

HOUSE: House Transportation Chair Peter DeFazio to retire (E&E News, AP, Politico, New York Times $, Reuters), Rep. Ilhan Omar plays disturbing voicemail death threat during conference (The Root)

SENATE: Coons says White House could impose border fee for carbon-intensive products (The Hill), GOP proposes blocking strategic petroleum reserve releases without plan to boost production (Washington Examiner)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden adds climate objective to National Space Council (E&E News), Bill Nye promotes infrastructure, social spending bills with Biden (The Hill), Climate bill rekindles debate over biodiesel tax breaks (E&E News)

(CLIMATE) DIPLOMACY: US climate envoy Kerry says China, India, Russia must do more to tackle warming (Reuters), White House official outlines strategy to avoid carbon tariff trade war with EU (Politico Pro $), citing COVID-19, climate and wars, UN asks donors for big jump in funding (New York Times $)

INFRASTRUCTURE BILL(S): [Third Way] claims Democrats' spending package would save families thousands (NPR), Democrats wrangle to keep climate priorities in spending bill (The Hill), Democrats' 'book' tax proposal sets off scramble for exemptions (Politico Pro $), Democrats' subsidy for union-made electric vehicles faces a bumpy road in the Senate (Washington Post $), Dems' paid leave push faces last stand (Politico)

• FOSSILS: Industry targets 'harmful' oil and gas leasing reforms in Democrats' spending bill (Politico Pro $), Manchin seeks more energy, climate tweaks to reconciliation (E&E News), industry slams oil and gas reforms in bid to sway Manchin (E&E News), fossil fuel companies stand to make billions from tax break in Democrats’ build back better bill (InsideClimate News)

POLITICS: Anger sets in among Dems as voting rights push stalls (Politico), the two uneasy alliances that will redefine climate policy (The Atlantic)

ELECTIONS: ‘Time to get the job done’: Stacey Abrams launches 2022 campaign for Georgia governor (NewsOne, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, FOX5 Atlanta, The Root, The 19th* News, Black Wall Street Times, Washington Post $, Axios, Politico, NBC, ABC, NY Mag, CBS, NPR, Variety, Forbes, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Daily Beast, People, Yahoo, USA Today, The Hill, New York Times $, Wall Street Journal $, Business Insider), Andre Dickens is the next Mayor of Atlanta (The Root, Atlanta Black Star)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Senate Environment committee narrowly advances EPA nominees (Politico Pro $)

CITIES AND STATES: New York utilities polarize over push to ban natural gas (New York Focus), why the luster on once-vaunted ‘smart cities’ is fading (Yale Environment 360), 6 hurt as midnight explosion rocks Brooklyn block (New York Times $)

CALIFORNIA: First state set to phase out gas-powered lawn equipment so will others follow? (WKRC)

IMPACTS: 2021 Atlantic hurricane season was the third most active on record — and the most costly (CBS), Arctic snow is shifting to rain. That’s a global problem (E&E News, TIME), city trees are turning green early, prompting warnings about food and pollination (NPR), Hundreds of toxic sites in California threatened by sea level rise due to climate change (The Hill), prepare for more extreme weather, Britons warned in wake of Storm Arwen (The Guardian), what if you could hear climate change? Listen to music based on a century of rainfall data (USA Today)

BC FLOODING: Climate change is blamed for dramatic flooding in British Columbia (NPR)

FORCED LIVING PLACE CHANGES: 'Mobility divide' looms as poor stuck in fragile states, UN body says (Reuters), land disputes, climate change pressure Turkish nomads to settle (Thomson Reuters Foundation), what does it mean to save a neighborhood? (New York Times $)

WILDFIRES: How people are working to protect California’s giant sequoias from wildfires (Yale Climate Connections)

HURRICANES: Record-breaking 2021 Atlantic hurricane season ends (Axios, NPR)

DEFORESTATION: Major fashion brands linked to deforestation in the Amazon, report finds (Grist)

CARBON ACCOUNTING: Europe met a climate target. But is it burning less carbon? (New York Times $)

GEOENGINEERING: Amazon is helping researchers study how to dim the sun (Earther)

RENEWABLES: Helping Native communities attain ​‘energy sovereignty’ with solar (Canary Media), high gas and coal prices keep renewable-energy rollout on track (Wall Street Journal $), solar and crop production research shows ‘multi-solving’ climate benefits (Yale Climate Connections)

"RENEWABLES": TotalEnergies to produce transportation fuel in Texas using cow poop (Houston Chronicle)

BATTERIES: China ramping up ambitious goals for industrial battery storage (Energy Monitor)

METHANE: McDonald’s struggles to fix its massive methane problem (Bloomberg $)

OIL & GAS: Exxon sets new emissions goals for 2030 (Axios)

PLASTICS: Science report: US should make less plastic to save oceans (AP, Washington Post $, InsideClimate News, The Hill)

COAL: America’s power plants are low on coal (Wall Street Journal $)

UTILITIES: Duke net metering agreement with renewables advocates expected to increase North Carolina solar adoption (Utility Dive)

(ALLEGED) UTILITY CORRUPTION: FirstEnergy says Ohio law at center of corruption probe protects it from ratepayer lawsuits (Eye On Ohio)

EVs: Electric car prices could go up before they come down (Axios), EV industry must work closer with lithium suppliers, executives say (Reuters)

AGRICULTURE: Investor group warns livestock industry needs to do more on methane (Reuters)

FINANCE: Norway wealth fund calls on companies to act on climate (Reuters)

INTERNATIONAL: As Delhi chokes, India’s supreme court is grappling with the air pollution crisis (Climate Home), [European Commission] weighs minimum energy standards for nearly all buildings by 2030 (Politico Pro $), England green homes scheme was ‘slam dunk fail’, says public accounts committee (The Guardian), EU unveils 300 billion euro answer to China's Belt and Road (Reuters), German oil lobby seeks net zero CO2 emissions by 2045 (Reuters), Britain turns to bankers to blaze a green trail (New York Times $)

• Climate Justice Doesn’t Start With Politicians. It Starts in the Streets. (Truthout, C.J. Polychroniou op-ed)
• 60 Seconds on Earth with Quannah Chasinghorse (Atmos, interview)
• Hunger strikes: how do they work and are they effective? (CHECK OUTLET, Jane Chung op-ed)
• Keep your moral panic out of my womb: abortion is a right worth fighting for (Sacramento Bee, Robin Epley op-ed $)
• The Supreme Court’s mind is made up: the abortion debate was a kangaroo court (LA Daily News, Sherry Colb op-ed)
• Stop telling kids they’ll die from climate change (Wired, Hannah Ritchie op-ed)

John Stossel Attacks Fact Checkers Because Now He Can’t Supplement Koch Funding With As Much Facebook Ad Revenue

When a referee calls a personal foul, do you respect it and clean up your act, or do you double down and attack the ref? Obviously there are bad calls made occasionally, but if every time a call is made against you, you take the refs from the basketball court to a courtroom crying defamation, you’re clearly not confident in your on-court ability. And then, after you've lost both in and on the court, your next move is to get together a bunch of other frequently-flagged losers to complain about officials being mean, it’s obvious you’re just trying to work the refs. 

Excuse the long-winded metaphor, but it’s a perfect way to think about a new YouTube video from John Stossel attacking fact checkers as “fact blockers.” A couple months ago, Stossel announced that he’s suing Facebook for defamation, on the basis of multiple fact checks against his content that may or may not be produced thanks to the million-plus dollars he’s received from the Koch fortune. (He’s hiring a new full-time video producer, by the way, so that Facebook ad revenue dip he’s suing over clearly hasn’t slowed him down that much!)  

This latest video-turned-column builds on that grievance, by bringing in other obvious bad faith actors, with little scientific training who have been repeatedly debunked by legitimate and credible scientists, to smear the fact checkers. 

As one of the Koch’s highest-paid contractors in recent years, it’s perhaps no surprise that Stossel’s complaints appeared at professional and/or Koch-funded climate denial hubs like Heartland, and the Daily Signal, TownHall and elsewhere, despite being a difficult-to-read semi-transcript of his video.  

If Stossel were looking to shore up the credibility of his fellow fact-checked martyrs, he likely couldn’t have chosen worse examples than the three he did: Michael Shellenberger, Bjorn Lomborg, and John Tierney. 

First up is John Tierney, who wrote something about masks and children that Science Feedback fact checked and found wanting. Tierney is a former New York Times columnist who Joe Romm described as “the country’s worst science writer” due to his deliberate contrarianism. In more recent years, Tierney has only grown dumber, for example describing disgraced Trump EPA administrator Scott Pruitt as a “warrior for science”, despite his very deliberate “war on air pollution science.” 

Just to give you an idea of how small and stale this talent pool really is: Teirney also believed then-president-elect Trump would handle science issues better than Obama, and while he didn’t speculate on how a Trump administration might handle a global pandemic, he did compare Trump’s perspective to that of Bjorn Lomborg’s “Copenhagen Consensus, a group of prominent economists who have concluded that other problems are far more pressing than climate change.” (Of course, Lomborg’s project was hardly as prominent as he claimed, given that the “seven Nobel laureates” he once claimed were part of his consensus in 2015 included someone who had died years before.) And this was not Teirney’s first brush with Bjorn, as he had cited Lomborg back in 2007, and got (accurate) criticism for it. 

Next up was Michael Shellenberger, introduced with an old Colbert Show clip Stossel used to suggest Shellenberger is somehow credible or particularly relevant. Supposedly he was fact checked for contesting that we’re in a sixth major extinction event, but the actual content was much more detailed than that. Surprise surprise: people who are dishonest are also dishonest about work proving their dishonesty! 

Stossel then goes to Bjorn Lomborg, whose false claims about warming saving lives are still unsupported by the study Lomborg cites, according to the actual study’s co-author. 

As Teirney’s old citation of Lomborg and Shellenberger on Colbert illustrate, these guys have been doing this same exact shtick for quite a while now. They’ve had plenty of time to make their argument to the public. They’ve largely failed, and now, finally, they’re facing actual noticeable repercussions to their career of disinformation in the form of (mildly) reduced virality on Facebook. 

Unfortunately, that limited effect is rendered pointless when they can just go to Twitter to share their misleading YouTube video about how fact checkers have silenced their Facebook page, (that still gets thousands of interactions on posts), and then take to one of the Rupert Murdoch-owned media outlets to further spread their disinformation to millions more. 

It’s understandable, though, that Stossel et al. would pour so much time and energy into attacking the fact checkers. Afterall, their careers are built on spreading disinformation to cover for polluters and prevent meaningful climate action that reduces fossil fuel use.

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