FIRST LOOK

Public Perceptions of "_____ Gas" Vary: The phrase "natural gas" gives the impression of it being clean, healthy, or environmentally friendly, but people's perception of the fossil fuel sours when they learn it is mostly methane. More than three-quarters (77%) of registered voters had a favorable view of "natural gas," according to a Climate Nexus poll. That number was far higher than voters' favorable views of methane, and less than one-third knew that "natural gas" is primarily methane, and a majority believed incorrectly that methane pollution is falling or staying about the same. A peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Environmental Psychology reached concurring conclusions–people responded less positively when the energy source was described for what it actually is– “natural methane gas,” “methane gas,” “fossil gas,” and “fracked gas”  as opposed to the industry’s preferred term “natural gas.” While the latter term is not new (it was described as "nature's gas" in the early 19th century) the gas industry has worked for decades to craft public perceptions of the fossil fuel as a clean alternative to coal, in part by emphasizing the word 'natural' to the point of even eliminating 'gas' from industry front group names. The gas industry also contends that continuing to extract and burn gas is part of a net-zero future despite the fact that leaks throughout the drilling and pipeline system emit huge amounts of methane and the gas creates CO2 pollution when burned. (Vox; Industry net-zero claims: Grist, Utility Dive)

White House Announces New Cash For EV Charging Network Along Highways: The Biden administration will distribute $5 billion to states to build out a nationwide EV charging network on the interstate system, it announced Thursday, and is seeking to ensure 40% of the benefits are felt by historically excluded communities. The funds come from the $7.5 billion allocated for EV charging in the bipartisan infrastructure law passed last November. The overall goal is to ensure consistent, readily-available charging that alleviates range anxiety and other consumer worries about switching from gasoline- and diesel-powered cars to EVs. States will need to develop plans that meet DOE benchmarks for speed of charging, the chargers' quantity and proximity to major roadways, and (with a few exceptions) no more than 50 miles between charging stations. The availability of charging stations is widely seen as a key part of increasing EV sales and meeting the administration's goal of EVs accounting for 50% of new car sales by 2030. (Washington Post $, E&E News, Axios, Utility Dive, The Hill, Democracy Now, Politico Pro $, Protocol, Reuters)

Fires Burn In Hot, Dry Southern California, In February: California "no longer [has] a fire season — it's a fire year," Brian Fennessy, chief of the Orange County Fire Authority told reporters Thursday. An exceptionally wet autumn did little to alleviate drought's tight hold on the state, and January brought above-average temperatures and barely one-tenth of an inch of rain in what is typically one of the rainiest months of the year there. With National Weather Service heat warnings in effect for the Super Bowl in Los Angeles, the Sycamore Fire erupted in the tinder-dry hills of a Los Angeles suburb and burned two homes yesterday. The Emerald Fire ignited earlier Thursday in a wilderness area near Emerald Bay and forced temporary evacuations . “This is supposed to be the middle of winter, and we’re anticipating 80- to 90-degree weather. Even though the hillsides are green, it doesn’t take but low humidity and wind to cause fires to occur.” Fennessy said. “If this is any sign of what’s to come throughout the rest of the winter and spring, we’re in for a long year.” (Fires: LA Times $, Washington Post $, AP, Mercury News); Emerald Fire: CNN, The Independent, ABC; Sycamore Fire: LA Times $; Climate Signals background: Drought, Wildfires)

DIVESTMENT: A $23 billion fund [AkademikerPension] is dumping oil bonds (Bloomberg $), Dumping oil stocks risks a polluter ‘rebellion,’ Calstrs says (Bloomberg $)

EMISSIONS MONITORING: Venture capital is flowing to climate software and hardware (Bloomberg $), Big names join hunt to find missing carbon emissions (Axios)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Unpacking the uproar over the first Black woman Supreme Court nominee (Yes Magazine)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Virginia youth sue state over climate change (E&E $, Democracy Now)

🐄  💩 : How dairy farmers are cashing in on California's push for cleaner fuel (NPR)

OLYMPICS: Artificial snow is nothing like the real stuff (Vox), Why Beijing lacks snow, and how climate change has the Winter Olympics on a slippery slope (Washington Post $), Where do the Olympic Games stand in terms of gender equality? (The 19th* News)

THE BIG GAME: ‘Austin powers’ villains fight climate change to promote GM’s new EVs in Super Bowl ad (CNBC)

NET ZERO: Are major companies living up to their net-zero pledges to combat climate change? (NBC)

NYC HOUSING: New York City looks to lower greenhouse gas emissions by improving public housing (ABC)

SCIENCE: Volunteers translate climate research into more than 100 languages (Yale Climate Connections)

AGENCIES: DOE outlines plans to ease CCS permitting crunch (E&E $), Georgia park site will double in size to save Indigenous mounds (E&E News), Interior’s former top cop hired to review BIA detention problems (E&E News)

THE HILL: Bipartisan bill would boost Army Corps authority on climate (E&E $), Bipartisan group of lawmakers introduce coastal resilience legislation (The Hill), Democrats' social spending dreams stuck in winter purgatory (Politico Pro $), Lawmakers prod Biden team on lands bill implementation (E&E $)

HOUSE: Rep. Ro Khanna wants Big Oil to confront record of climate denialism, meet emissions reduction vows (Democracy Now), Climate experts detail misinformation by fossil fuel companies as oil CEOs refuse to testify to congress (Democracy Now)

SENATE: SEC climate-rule delay ‘unacceptable,’ Senator Warren says (Bloomberg $, Reuters, Bloomberg Tax), Republican US senator presses Energy Department on seabed mining (Reuters), Republicans urge states to ignore infrastructure guidance (E&E News), Senate Ag Committee pushes for more CFTC oversight of crypto (Politico Pro $)

TRIBES: Tribal official calls on Congress to fund ‘critical’ water infrastructure (PBS NewsHour)

WHITE HOUSE: White House regs shop delayed air pollution reg for months (E&E News), Gina McCarthy pledges to run 'faster and faster' to address climate change (Politico)

• UTILITIES MEETING: What one utility CEO said after Biden left the room (Washington Post $), Biden utility meeting: Coal, Congress and a ‘bad’ wind joke (E&E News), PNM, AEP executives, other utility leaders meet with Biden to push clean energy tax measures (Utility Dive), Utilities vow to work with Biden on ‘Build Back Better’ (E&E News), Utilities go to bat for 'Build Back Better' bill (E&E $)

CITIES AND STATES: Nobody is ready:' many US cities lack resources to chase $1 trillion infrastructure windfall (Reuters), Flint votes to challenge state permit for new asphalt plant (AP), New Mexico could be the fourth state to add a green amendment to its constitution, but time is short (Inside Climate News)

IMPACTS: How climate change will hit younger generations (Scientific American)

HEAT: Heat waves hit the poorest people hardest – a new study calculates the future impact on those least able to adapt (The Conversation), Deadly NW heat wave prompts effort to boost air conditioning (Bloomberg $)

TORNADOES: Kentucky faces long road to recovery after deadly tornadoes: "By the time this gets back to where it was … I'm probably not going to be around" (CBS)

RENEWABLES: HBCUs at the forefront of emerging industry of renewable energy (The Grio), Energy market volatility to shake up European PPA market -report (Reuters), Equinor to adjust Norway offshore wind plans after policy change -executive (Reuters), Recycling solar panels is a big challenge, but here’s some recent progress (Inside Climate News), TotalEnergies expands US solar footprint (Axios), Wind giant Vestas slumps on dividend cut as earnings slide (Bloomberg $)

• SOLAR IMPORTS: Solar group warns tariff petition could derail US industry (E&E $), Solar panel assembler files petition seeking antidumping review of Southeast Asia imports (Utility Dive)

BATTERIES: This iron and water battery could power a more renewable grid (Grist), Form Energy announces partnership with Georgia Power to test 100-hour iron-air battery (Utility Dive, Canary Media)

STEEL: A tale of two steel mills, and yet they’re the same one (Yale Climate Connections)

NUKES: Largest US public power company [TVA] launches new nuclear program (AP, Axios)

METHANE: Methane emissions speed up as tracking improves (Axios)

OIL & GAS: BP has ambitious plans to move beyond fossil fuels – but are they enough? (The Guardian), Fracking firm Cuadrilla to permanently abandon UK shale gas sites (The Guardian), Oil major TotalEnergies swings to profit thanks to surging commodity prices (CNBC)

ARE YOU SLEEPING TOO WELL?: Counterfeit parts found in US nuclear plants -inspector general (Reuters)

COAL: Chinese coal prices fall on state planner's cooling measures (Reuters), Coal titan turns round as demand strengthens for dirtiest fossil fuel (FT $), Here are the last coal plants clinging to life in the American West (LA Times $)

UTILITIES: Utility capital spending remains strong, but inflation, federal policy uncertainty complicate outlook: EEI (Utility Dive)

GRID: The US has a plan to fix Puerto Rico’s dangerously busted energy grid (Gizmodo)

EVs: This California startup wants to be the Pony Express of electric trucking (Canary Media), Wisconsin bill reveals fight over control, profit from shift to electric vehicles (Energy News Network)

BOOKS: Sheila Heti’s Pure Colour is a new creation myth (Atmos)

FASHION: Ecoalf: the company trawling for climate-change solutions (FT $)

BUSINESS: Taking ownership of supply chain emissions (Energy Monitor)

PHILANTHROPY: Chan Zuckerberg Initiative announces tens of millions in funding for climate tech (The Verge)

WILDLIFE: Federal judge restores protections for gray wolves in much of US, reversing Trump policy (Washington Post $, USA Today, AP, New York Times $)

INTERNATIONAL: UN advisers urge Sweden to stop mine in home of indigenous Sami (Reuters, AP), Chile’s green dream to reinvent itself is spooking investors (Bloomberg $), Climate change bills in Northern Ireland edge closer to completion (The Guardian), Lead lawmaker eyes EU carbon market rules to respond to price spikes (Reuters), Quad ministers convene to address Indo-Pacific 'coercion', climate, COVID (Reuters), UK’s reliance on gas imports to increase to 70% by 2030 (FT $)

• FRANCE: France announces a major buildup of its nuclear power program. (New York Times $)(AP)(The Guardian)(Politico Pro $)(Reuters, France to boost solar energy capacity beyond 100 GW by 2050, says Macron (Reuters)
• GERMANY: Germany ‘very skeptical’ over easing EU debt rules for green spending (Politico Pro $), Germany opens farmland to solar power to quadruple capacity (Bloomberg $)

• We have faith. Now we need clean air. (Austin Chronicle, Bee Moorhead op-ed)
• Forget new dams. A healthy aquifer is better for family farms and the environment (Modesto Bee, Doug Maner op-ed)
• The Guardian view on windfall taxes: an idea whose time has come again (The Guardian, Editorial Board)
• Climate will define Biden's legacy (The Hill, Jamal Raad op-ed)
• Congress actually seems to be working again (Bloomberg, Jonathan Bernstein op-ed $)
• Stakeholder capitalism depends on full disclosure from corporate America (FT, Tariq Fancy op-ed $)
• Misinformation about misinformation (Bloomberg, Tyler Cowen op-ed $)
• Wisconsin can maximize the economic impact of renewable energy development if local workers build the projects (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Robb Kahl op-ed)

Misinformation Hacks Your Brain. New Paper Shows How You Can Hack It Back

Hey Jon Stewart, are you wondering what the responsible way to fight misinformation is? Turns out there’s an answer, and it doesn’t involve listening to comedians! (Imagine that!) Seriously though, we hear Stewart’s latest podcast gives Harvard’s Dr. Joan Donovan a great platform to discuss information and the internet. 

For those who would prefer a written guide, however, there’s a peer-reviewed literature review of the psychology of misinformation, and how to combat it, from the team behind the Debunking Handbook, which we have long found to be a useful guide in understanding kooky conspiracy theories about climate. 

This is important for climate action, because the fossil fuel industry spends millions of dollars on exploiting the public’s proclivity to be misled in order to protect its profits from regulation. 

“Research shows that misinformation can cancel out accurate information,” co-author John Cook told us via email. “That has big consequences for anyone in the business of communicating information to the public - it means all our efforts can potentially be undone if we don’t take into account the damage caused by misinformation.” 

And, co-author Stephan Lewandowsky added, “there is growing evidence that exposure to misinformation can cause people to change their behaviors. Misinformation can reduce people’s willingness to get vaccinated, and hateful messages on social media have been shown to contribute to hate crimes.”

The paper, published in Nature Reviews Psychology, covers why our brains are vulnerable to misinformation, why it’s so hard to get people to update their understanding after buying into a myth, and what you can do to debunk and inoculate people against misinformation. Lastly, it also offers some thoughts on the implications of the rise of misinformation for journalists, educators, and policymakers. 

So how do people come to believe things that are wrong? Mostly the same way they learn any new information, the study says: “When deciding what is true, people are often biased to believe in the validity of information, and ‘go with their gut’ and intuitions instead of deliberating.” 

Because people use cues like have I heard this before? Or is it coming from someone I know and trust? and does it make sense given what I already know and believe to be true about the world? If the answers are yes, they’re apt to believe it, and if not, we might actually think about something for a minute before liking and sharing it on social media, thus cementing it as a core part of our identity. (Basically.)    

Once someone has formed a false belief, it can be hard to get it out of their head, even with some simple corrections. It’s kind of like putting toothpaste back into the tube — once the false belief has become part of their mental landscape, it’s hard to remove it. To do so requires sustained corrections, ideally replacing the false myth with something equally “sticky” in the brain — evocative, sensible, and memorable. 

That’s why it’s generally found to be most effective to “prebunk” or inoculate people against believing misinformation. That’s done by warning them about bad information, offering a simplified version of the disinfo, explaining why it’s wrong, and then explaining the full real picture. This exposes some of the logical fallacies or deceptive maneuvers used to create false narratives, and makes people wiser and less likely to fall for the next one they see, no matter what it is. 

A debunking, after exposure, operates much in the same way, though without the necessary exposure to the weakened version of the myth. Dismantling a misleading claim’s factual or logical failures, and then replacing that with an even more compelling true story of what’s actually happening, has shown some solid results for correcting false beliefs. You can’t just tell someone something is wrong, it’s much more effective to explain why it’s wrong, and what the real deal is (otherwise you just sound contrarian).

Zooming out, the authors also offer strategies for countering misinformation, and reassuringly, it looks a whole lot like what we’re doing here. First you identify likely sources of misinformation (like traditional and social media, paid ads, and politicians), prepare for likely disinformation, monitor until it’s widespread enough to warrant addressing, and then deploy prebunkings for susceptible audiences and debunkings for those exposed. 

Of course, “all of us should do our best to resist misinformation and counter it when we can,” said Lewandowsky. “However, the social media platforms must also step up to their responsibility and stop facilitating the spread of misinformation through their algorithms that are known to lure people towards low-quality content and hate speech.” 

There’s no silver bullet that will eliminate misinformation. Instead, it requires both bottom-up participation from the general public, coupled with policy changes at key institutions to address a harmful byproduct of industrial activity. 

…wait, why does that sound familiar?

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