FIRST LOOK:

A coalition of Water Protectors are calling for a national day of action, TODAY, against the Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline at select offices of the Corps around the country. Dozens of actions and letter deliveries are planned nationwide. 

Scientists Warn Antarctica's 'Doomsday Glacier' Being Held Back By A Cracked Windshield, Basically: A key Antarctic ice shelf is in perilous danger of "shatter[ing] like a car windscreen" and thus accelerating the flow of the massive Thwaites Glacier into the Southern Ocean, scientists warned Monday. U.S. and U.K. researchers presenting at the American Geophysical Union warned warming waters are thinning and weakening the ice shelf, the collapse of which would allow the glacier, which is the size of Florida, to triple its speed into the sea. In a "doomsday" scenario, the complete melting of the Thwaites Glacier alone would raise global sea levels by more than two feet (65cm). Warmer temperatures are also melting the glacier from below, unmooring it from bedrock and accelerating its flow into the sea. “There’s going to be a dramatic change to the front of the glacier within less than a decade,” Ted Scambos, a senior research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science, told reporters. “When that happens, the fast-flow part of Thwaites is likely to widen because bracing on [the] east side may be gone. It may still take a few decades before some of the other processes … [but] it will effectively widen the dangerous part of the glacier.” (Gizmodo, Washington Post $, BBC; Interactive feature on Antarctic climate impacts: New York Times $)

Tornado Deaths Highlight Workers' Vulnerability: Eight workers were killed at a scented candle factory in Kentucky, and another six at an Amazon warehouse in Illinois, by the multistate tornado system over the weekend. The deaths highlight workers' vulnerability to extreme weather in the face of corporate pressure to extract maximum profit from their labor. Workers at the Mayfield Consumer Products factory in Mayfield, Ky., which makes candles for Bath & Body Works, were told, “‘If you leave, you’re more than likely to be fired.’" McKayla Emery told NBC from her hospital bed. “I heard that with my own ears.” Elijah Johnson told NBC he "asked to leave and they told me I’d be fired,” adding managers took a roll call to find out who had left. Three hours after the initial warnings came, the tornado demolished the factory. In Illinois, a tornado killed six Amazon employees in a warehouse, and state officials are investigating safety violations at Amazon facilities. Multiple outlets reported workers said the company's ban on carrying personal phones made them less safe because the bans prevented them from receiving safety information, and NBC reported Amazon employees said they were forced to keep working during previous nighttime tornado warnings. A disproportionate number of tornado fatalities occur at night. "This never would have happened if they cared about lives over productivity," the sister of one of the victims commented on social media. Amazon's head of retail tweeted his "thoughts and prayers." There is increasing evidence linking climate change to the severe weather that gives rise to tornadoes, and emerging research suggests there may be a link between warming and large tornado outbreaks, particularly in the southeast U.S. in the winter months. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday that 74 people were confirmed dead in the state and President Biden will visit the area on Wednesday. Thousands are also without electricity, heat, and running water. (General: Washington Post  $, CBS, MSNBC, ABC, Axios, E&E News, NBC; Contributing factors: Washington Post $; Power outages: AP, Politico Pro $; Candle factory: NBC, NBC, The Guardian, Bloomberg $; Candle factory death toll: WPSD-6; Amazon deaths: Business Insider, BBC, NBC, New York Times $; Safety investigation: Axios, New York Times $, CNBC, CNN, New York Times $; Climate connection: AP, Gizmodo, Axios, MSNBC, CBS, Washington Post $, NBC, Democracy Now, MSNBC, NPR; Biden: Politico, Axios, The Hill; Photos: Axios; Climate Signals background: Tornado risk increase)

Philippine Women Use Solar, Organizing To Build Resilience: Women in the Philippines are working together to build resilience to weather disasters like typhoons and organize around other issues including sustainable agriculture and violence against women, Thomson Reuters reports. After Typhoon Haiyan hammered the central Philippines in 2013, Lorna dela Pena began organizing in Marabut to train women on how to operate solar-powered generators to use during evacuations, including one instance when, “We were able to use this TekPak to power a nebuliser when someone had an asthma attack,” Azucena Bagunas, another of the "solar scholars" said. The community is moving beyond using solar solely in emergencies and is using the generators to power their homes as well. “If we use (solar) as our main source of power in our homes, then we don’t even have to pay for electricity,” Bagunas said. “As long as you have a panel, you’ll have affordable and reliable power.” Hopefully, the emergency generators will not be needed as Tropical Storm Rai strengthens and could his the country with typhoon strength later this week. (Thomson Reuters Foundation; Rai: CNN; Climate Signals background: Cyclonic storms)

(CLIMATE) INJUSTICE: The danger of the rich (Atmos), Georgia GOP purging Black people from election boards (The Root), the Louisiana Indigenous community fighting for hurricane justice (Al Jazeera), World Inequality Report 2022: 3 big takeaways (Teen Vogue)

AWKWARD: DOJ court filing debunks Biden administration claim about mandatory oil and gas leases (Gizmodo), revealed: Biden administration was not legally bound to auction gulf drilling rights (The Guardian)

MOUNTAIN VALLEY PIPELINE: A pipeline runs through it: stream crossings by the Mountain Valley Pipeline (The Roanoke Times), pipeline opponents hold ‘violation vigil’ in Richmond (WDBJ), hundreds rally in Va. in opposition to natural gas pipeline (AP), Rev. William Barber joins activists in Richmond challenging Mountain Valley Pipeline (Richmond Times-Dispatch), Mountain Valley Pipeline Violation Vigil (Richmond Times-Dispatch photos)

AGENCIES: Civil rights panel scrutinizes FEMA housing aid (E&E $), support builds for reversing Trump’s limits on ESG investing (E&E News)

EPA: Landfills belch climate-warming methane. Even the EPA doesn’t know how much. (Truthout)

DOE: DOE efficiency plan gets pushback on multiple fronts (E&E $), US grants first release from oil reserves to Exxon (E&E $)

DOI: Utah, Interior prep land exchange in shadow of legal battle (E&E News)

BUILD BACK BETTER ACT: Updated reconciliation text includes electric vehicle tax credit opposed by Manchin (The Hill), many people with disabilities are paid just pennies. Build Back Better could help end that (The 19th* News), Senate Democrats release updated reconciliation tax plan (E&E News)

• MANCHIN:  'Anything is possible,' Manchin says after talks with Biden on $1.75 trln bill (Reuters), Manchin keeps Democrats guessing on their megabill (Politico Pro $), Manchin hits Dems’ $2T bill as too costly, talks to Biden (AP)

THE HILL: Congress to raise debt limit, approve NDAA this week (E&E News), Democrats face time crunch as they race to finalize Biden plan (The Hill), [Rep. Ro Khanna] introduces bill to eliminate carbon credits for oil recovery (Reuters), [Senate] panels take up disaster aid, Smithsonian climate risks (E&E $) 

WHITE HOUSE: Harris rolls out plan for electric vehicle charging network (The Hill), White House rolls out $7.5B electric vehicle charging plan (E&E News)

POLITICS: Climate activists and environmental justice advocates join the gerrymandering fight in ohio and North Carolina (InsideClimate News)

CITIES AND STATES: Coal ash mitigation plans face new public scrutiny under Illinois law (Energy News Network), Inslee unveils climate proposals ahead of budget plan (AP), Nevada moves to bring rooftop solar benefits to underserved customers in a step toward equity, advocates say (Utility Dive), study: business lobbying a major barrier to clean energy legislation in Connecticut (Energy News Network), Texas school district removes 400 books from shelves, citing student discomfort (Black Wall Street Times), US energy firms push states for carbon markets to spur renewable fuel growth (Reuters)

PENNSYLVANIA: Governor’s carbon-pricing plan encounters new legal hurdle (AP), Pennsylvania shakes up methane debate with final oil and gas plan (E&E $) 

CALIFORNIA: The bay is rising. Newark residents wonder why the city plans to develop its shoreline (KQED), California regulators propose raising fees on owners of rooftop solar systems. (New York Times $, Reuters) 

FERC: FERC to consider critical transmission questions in Phillips' first meeting (Politico Pro $), FERC urged to reject Southern California Edison plan to profit on power line expenses (Utility Dive)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: John Kerry lauds Europe's progress on climate change, and reassures EU leaders the US is committed (CBS), Russia vetoes UN resolution linking climate change, security (AP, New York Times $)

IMPACTS: A church retreat came to the aid of Canada's latest disaster survivors (NPR), the lobster trap (Boston Globe $), from killer heatwaves to floods, climate change worsened weather extremes in 2021 (Reuters), how rising groundwater caused by climate change could devastate coastal communities (MIT Technology Review), fires, landslides, lack of snow: the ski industry girds for battle (New York Times $)

ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS: Storm blasting California with massive mountain snow and flooding rain (Washington Post $, AP), rock and mud slides feared as rain and snow hammer Northern California (MarketWatch), storm wallops Northern California and is headed to the Southland (LA Times photos $)

FLOODING: Climate change is here, and Detroit is flooding (Yale Climate Connections), climate change threatens Michigan’s Fishtown and its historic shanties (PBS NewsHour), as floods slam more U.S. firms, $50-billion economic drag expected in 2022 (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

WATER: Amid drought, one tribe seeks to offer water for lease, another moves to conserve more (Arizona Republic), working within Colorado River’s 1922 water compact for 21st century focus of annual meeting (Aspen Journalism)

DISPLACEMENT: Authoritarians are using migrants as weapons. The White House frets it's on the rise (NPR)

RENEWABLES: Britain launches £285 million a year renewables auction round (Reuters)

OIL & GAS: Activist group targets Exxon with shareholder climate resolution (Reuters), how Biden’s agencies order hits natural gas (E&E News), Motiva restarts crude unit at Port Arthur, Texas, refinery -sources (Reuters)

GRID: 'Things are getting worse.' FERC’s Glick warns of grid troubles (E&E $), grid operators: leading or stalling the energy transition? (E&E News), ISO New England can meet winter power demand 'if the weather is mild,' grid operator warns (Utility Dive)

EVs: Lucid Motors CEO sees $25,000 electric cars in 4 years (Axios)

E-POTATO E-POTATO E-POTATO: Harley to take EV unit public via SPAC deal as valuations soar (Reuters)

ACTIVISM: Instagram activism can be an entry point to real-world engagement (Teen Vogue)

WORKERS: How companies like Kellogg’s are weaponizing the courts to break strikes (The Real News)

BOOKS: 12 books on climate and the planet for the holidays (Yale Climate Connections)

FINANCE: This was the year investors and businesses put big bets on climate (Wall Street Journal $)

VANESSA: “A bigger picture”: Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate on bringing new voices to the climate fight (Democracy Now)

IN MEMORIAM: Civil rights leader and anti-police brutality advocate Rev. C. Herbert Oliver dies at 96 (Atlanta Black Star, AP, New York Times $, California News Times, BNC)

INTERNATIONAL: China state planner says [it] will strengthen energy system (Reuters), EU to propose joint gas buying in response to high energy prices -document (Reuters), can joint gas buying tackle Europe's high prices? (Reuters, explainer), chip giant Taiwan's energy security on the line with LNG referendum (Reuters), Taiwan's referendums and what's up for a vote (Reuters, Factbox), French, German ministers say nuclear power a difficult subject (Reuters), Saudi Arabia plans $100 billion renewables investment, says minister (Reuters)

• Mountain Valley Pipeline harms the environment and the economy (The Roanoke Times, Cynthia Munley op-ed)
• 7 people in Virginia play an outsized role in progress on global climate goals (DeSmog, Jacob Hileman and Bill McKibben op-ed)
• How to fix the Texas power grid in 5 difficult steps (Houston Chronicle, Chris Tomlinson column)
• The tornado - climate change debate is distracting (Forbes, Marshall Shepherd analysis)
• Women lost decades of progress after COVID — Roe's repeal would erase more (The Hill, Michelle Williams op-ed)
• Treaty People Must Stop Line 3 and Protect the Gulf. And Guess What? We are all treaty people. (Medium, Nancy Beaulieu op-ed)
• A squabble at the FDIC is actually a fight over Biden’s entire economic agenda (New York Times, Mehrsa Baradaran and Jeremy Kress $)
• The bogus bashing of Build Back Better (New York Times, Paul Krugman $)    

We’re Wobbling! Tornado Takes from Murdoch Media, Anti-Vaxxers, Climate Conspiracists, a College Student, and Pielke Jr.

A massive outbreak of tornadoes left scores dead across eight states this weekend, and given that this weather arose in a warmer, changed climate, President Biden, his FEMA Administrator, numerous news outlets, climate scientists and meteorologists discussed how such an extreme event could be influenced by climate change.

Despite all that qualified nuance, the right (predictably) went nuts. Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post and Fox News were very mad but didn’t exactly have anyone on hand who knew the science well enough to offer any science to the contrary

For their attempted refutation, Breitbart cited Steven Koonin, who in turn cited now-quite-outdated reports and their wishy-washy trend observations (which aren’t the point!). Town Hall cited Steve Milloy, as did the Daily Caller, because apparently defending Big Tobacco gives you climate expertise to answer questions actual scientists are still working out. 

In an email to supporters, Climate Depot’s headline claimed a “Meteorologist calls Biden’s tornado climate link ‘utter bullsh*t,’” quoting and linking to Chris Martz, who is in fact not only not a meteorologist, but not even a college graduate, having just completed his first semester at Millersville University. (Though Chris did note that geophysics PhD and American Meteorological Fellow Michael Mann “oversimplifies the issue” and “isn’t a trained meteorologist.”) 

Marc Morano’s email also cites an old post by climate satellite mistake-maker Roy Spencer, followed by a reference to Roger Pielke Jr., who is making good use of his cramped office by tweeting quotes from the IPCC as though the consensus view of tornado trends has a bearing on this specific event’s conditions. (Generous of Jr. to stop publicly airing his weird daddy issues long enough to give his opinion on tornadogenesis!) 

After Pielke is our favorite climate-, covid-, Sandy Hook- and Obama birther-conspiracy theorist: Tony Heller. He excerpted a bunch of old newspaper clippings to prove that, since tornadoes happened in the past before climate change, that means climate change must not be changing the climate in which they form now. (Makes sense, right?) 

But Pielke Jr.’s appearance in Morano’s email alongside his apparent peers Chris Martz (class of ‘25) and Tony Heller (no class at all) is just the warm-up, the paltering of what past trends may or may not mean for a current situation. 

And others in conspiracy-land are offering their opinions and asking some “legitimate” questions, and it’s pretty entertaining, in the dark and depressing way this sort of thing is amusing. 

As Media Matters reported, Alex Jones, fresh off his court losses regarding aforementioned Sandy Hook school shooting conspiracy theories, told his InfoWars audience that the Biden administration “officially” ordered Texas to turn off the power last February. Which means “the question is did [President Biden] use weather weapons to cause the tornadoes? That’s a legitimate question to ask.” 

It’s not like this is the first time an InfoWarrior has offered some creative explanations for extreme weather. Remember back in 2018 when Jones’s co-conspiracy-theory-conspirator suggested that John Kerry saved Hawaii from a hurricane with an energy beam fired from Antartica? (Or is that not a legitimate question to ask? We’re unsure of the meaning of the phrase at this point.) 

Even that’s not the craziest take though! Remember the Wobble prediction that aliens are controlling the Earth’s movement — the real cause of climate change — and are soon going to wobble us so hard it reveals the mystery planet Nibiru? 

Well, since Tony Heller’s banned from Twitter he’s taken to Gab, and his fellow poster there ROGTruth1 has an update for us on The Wobble we discussed last week: It’s what actually caused the tornadoes, and a bunch of other events! 

“The temporary wobble in the earth’s axis has been superseded by a severe wobble. So, the regular disturbances which have been a true cause of climate change are now manifesting as more significant events.” From an earthquake in Peru on November 28th, to cold in Europe, earthquakes in Japan, windstorm in Turkey and tornadoes in the US, the wobble’s just getting started. 

Apparently “soon” in December, a “Massive New Madrid Adjustment (unzipping) will occur over a period of 3 weeks” leading to the “entire region west of the Mississippi” to “sink” and “shift Southwest,” causing “major disruption through the Ohio valley and up through the St. Lawrence Seaway.” After that 3 week cataclysm but also still in “December soon” will be a 150 foot tsunami that “will hit the UK and Western Europe,” while “backwash of up to 50’ will hit the Eastern seaboard of the USA.” 

If you’re as concerned as we are, rest assured that while there will be “no warnings from the elite that are fully briefed and aware,” the good news is that “half of humanity has been subliminally contacted.” 

Those of you who have been contacted already, you know the plan. Those that haven’t? Sorry, we can’t say anything further, but you should consider listening to the “experts” cited here if you’re worried, they seem to have things pretty well figured out.

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