FIRST LOOK: 

Climate Nexus will host an on-the-record briefing on exporting more US methane gas in the context of the IPCC’s report on the mitigation of climate change on TODAY at 11:00 am ET. Panelists include: Rachel Cleetus (UCS), Roishetta Sibley Ozane (Healthy Gulf), Clark Williams-Derry (IEEFA), and Robert Rozansky (Global Energy Monitor). 

Dozens Dead In South Africa Amid Severe Rainfall, Flooding: Heavy rainfall and flooding have killed dozens of people in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province. A government statement late Tuesday evening local time said at least 59 people had been killed; many people are still missing. Mudslides collapsed buildings and roads and flooding inundated and isolated multiple power stations. More than 900 cell phone towers are down and operations at the country's main port in Durban were suspended. Extreme precipitation is one of clearest signals of climate change; warmer air holds, and can thus dump, more moisture. A recent analysis by World Weather Attribution also found climate change worsened three cyclones that hit the region earlier this year. "We know it's climate change getting worse," Mary Galvin, a professor at the University of Johannesburg, told AFP. "It's moved from 2017 with extreme storms to supposedly having record floods in 2019, and now 2022 clearly exceeding that." (CNN, AFP, AP, Reuters, BBC, New York Times $, Weather Channel; Port operations: Bloomberg $; Climate Signals background: Extreme precipitation increase)

Climate Change Made 2020 Hurricane Season Wetter From The Standpoint Of Water: Climate change made the deadly, record-breaking 2020 Atlantic hurricane season dump more rain than it would have otherwise, a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications found. Across the season's vocabulary-depleting 30 named storms, three-day rainfall accumulations were 5% higher and three-hour rainfall rates were 10% higher than they would have been without climate change. Those increases were even greater in the 14 storms that reached hurricane strength — 11% and 8%, respectively. “It doesn’t sound like a lot, but if you’re near a threshold, a little bit can push you over the top,” Lawrence Berkeley National Lab climate scientist Michael Wehner, a co-author of the paper, told the AP. Previous studies have predicted such impacts, and others have found that individual storms were in fact wetter because of climate change. This is the first study to avoid the potential confirmation bias caused by only assessing major storms and surveying the entire season instead. “It isn’t this end-of-the-century problem that we have to figure out if we can mitigate or adapt to,” Kevin A. Reed, a professor at Stony Brook University and lead author of the study, told the New York Times. “[Climate change] is impacting our weather and our extreme weather now.” (AP, New York Times $, Washington Post $, CNN; Climate Signals background: 2020 Atlantic hurricane season)

Energy Use Only Improves Well-Being To A Point – Study: Wealthy nations could dramatically cut energy use without compromising their well-being, a new study from Stanford University published Tuesday in Ecosphere finds. Researchers measured energy consumption and well-being benchmarks across 140 countries and found 75 gigajoules (GJ) is the ‘magic number’ above which quality of life generally stops improving. “That suggests to me that we could nudge energy use downwards in a bunch of hyper-consuming countries and not just make a more equitable world, but perhaps make ourselves healthier and happier," lead author Rob Jackson told NPR. Energy consumption is wildly unequal worldwide — people in the U.S. use 284 GJ per year, more than 23 times the average person in Senegal. (NPR, Axios, Bloomberg $)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Asian Americans and Hispanics less likely to receive rental assistance, report says (The Hill)

EACOP: East African oil pipeline hits the headwinds (AP)

FOSSIL FUELED WAR: Europe’s rush for energy security through LNG risks fossil fuel lock-in (Energy Monitor), Could a full oil embargo stop the war in Ukraine? (OilPrice), Germany has enough gas through summer without Russian supply (OilPrice), Ukraine war pushes Germans to change. They are wavering. (New York Times $), What the 1970s teaches about today’s energy crisis (E&E News), Giant undersea cables set to give the UK and Germany their first direct energy link (CNBC), Greece speeds up gas exploration to help reduce Russia reliance (Reuters), A ‘silent victim’: how nature becomes a casualty of war (New York Times $), Surging renewable power prices in Europe are still a bargain (Bloomberg $)

CORONAVIRUS: Covid-19 boost in green spending still not enough, IEA says (E&E News), pandemic recovery is slightly greener (Axios), US power use to rise in 2022 as economy continues to grow - EIA (Reuters)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Fossil fuels v. our future: young Montanans wage historic climate fight (The Guardian)

HIGH COST OF LOW PRICES: Testing finds toxic chemicals in 50% of dollar store goods (E&E $)

AGENCIES: NASA mission will monitor air pollution (Yale Climate Connections)

EPA: EPA kicks off 3-day hearing on truck emissions rule (E&E $), EPA to investigate racial discrimination in louisiana’s ‘cancer alley’ (Grist), GOP-led states take aim at California's Clean Air Act waiver (E&E $), EPA proposes to list Denver area air quality as “severe” (AP)

DOE: Top DOE renewables official exits (E&E $)

DOI: Biden administration announces $46M in climate funding for Indigenous communities (Axios, NowThis, The Guardian)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: Military experts urge climate-focused foreign aid (E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: Gas prices force Biden into an unlikely embrace of fossil fuels (New York Times $), Biden admin rolls out wildfire prevention efforts (E&E $), White House eyes water security strategy (Axios)

• JUSTICE40: Environmental justice leaders fault White House's race-neutral approach (Washington Post $, AP)
• (CORNY) DINO JUICE:  Your gas will likely be cheaper and dirtier this summer (Gizmodo), Greens fret over Biden's latest moves to ease gasoline supply (Politico Pro $), How Biden is trying to lower fuel prices — with corn (Washington Post $, AP, explainer, NBC), why gas prices are so high and what Biden can do about it (Axios)

SENATE: Manchin calls for 'all-of-the-above' energy after inflation spike (E&E $)

ELECTIONS: Sunrise Movement endorses Kina Collins in Illinois (The Hill)

CITIES AND STATES: Maryland just passed one of the most aggressive climate laws in the US (Canary Media),  [Kansas] Gov. Kelly vetoes local bans on plastic bags, straws (AP), 

• CALIFORNIA: California could shrink water use in cities by 30% or more, study finds (LA Times $), Judge: California city must overturn 3,000-home project (AP, San Diego Union-Tribune)
• NEW YORK: New York shows the challenges of phasing out fossil fuels, EVen in blue states (Washington Post $), NY Gas Stations to Pay $250K for environmental violations: settlement (City Limits y en español)

FERC: FERC pipeline policy compromise could kill climate-based veto authority (Politico Pro $)

INSURANCE: State insurance regulators revamp climate disclosure rules (E&E $)

IMPACTS: Bleaching of marine sponges observed in warming Tasmanian waters for the first time (The Guardian), Tornadoes touch down in iowa and Texas; blizzard is underway in plains (Washington Post $, Axios), rare, record-breaking snow falls in Portland, Oregon (CNN), thawing permafrost is roiling the Arctic landscape, driven by a hidden world of changes beneath the surface as the climate warms (The Conversation), Uganda fights crop-devouring armyworm, blaming climate change (Reuters)

• SOUTHEAST AFRICAN CYCLONES: Climate change made deadly African cyclones more severe (Bloomberg $, Inside Climate News)
• ADAPTATION: Are cities 'spongy' enough to handle floods? New climate resilience report points to nature for solutions (CNN, CNN)

DROUGHT: Sierra snowpack worsens, falls to lowest level in 7 years (Grist)

HEALTH: ‘I was enjoying a life that was ruining the world’: can therapy treat climate anxiety? (The Guardian)

RENEWABLES: German firm builds floating solar plant on quarry lake (Reuters), Company proposes largest offshore wind farm on West Coast (E&E News), French renewable power repayments seen boosting state coffers (Bloomberg $), The clean-power megaproject held hostage by a ranch and a bird (Bloomberg $)

LNG: China slashes LNG purchases on high prices, virus slowdown (Bloomberg $), global LNG body urges governments to support fuel buyers amid Ukraine crisis (Reuters), UAE’s Adnoc buys gas tankers from China as part of LNG push (Bloomberg $)

OIL & GAS: Climate’s ‘messy moment’ as countries hunt for oil and gas to replace Russian imports (Politico Pro $), the oil giants drilling among the giraffes in Uganda (FT $)

COAL: India to face more power cuts due to coal shortage, soaring demand (Reuters)

HYDROGEN: Japan's Osaka Gas backs $11 billion green hydrogen project in Australia (Reuters)

UTILITIES: New Hampshire regulators approve new EV charging rates for Unitil, Liberty and cut demand charges in half (Utility Dive), Virginia SCC staff questions Dominion Energy's offshore wind cost assumptions (Utility Dive)

• ARIZONA: We are human beings': Randolph residents bus in to Phoenix to protest SRP expansion plans (Arizona Republic), huge SRP gas plant expansion rejected by Arizona regulators due to effects on nearby residents (Arizona Republic)

EVs: 26 million EVs on roads by year-end — report (E&E $)

ACTIVISM: The new wave of climate activists and the laws designed to stop them (The Guardian)

• UK PROTESTS: Extinction Rebellion protesters force Lloyd’s of London to close HQ (The Guardian, Reuters, FT $), Just Stop Oil protesters vow to continue until ‘all are jailed’ (The Guardian)

AGRICULTURE: Raising cows for the climate (Yes Magazine)

BUSINESS: Amid soaring demand for warehouses, an effort to make them greener (New York Times $)

CARBON REMOVAL: Carbon removal offers redemption for “almost inevitable” 1.5°c overshoot – IPCC (Energy Monitor), Stripe, alphabet and others to spend nearly $1 billion on carbon removal (Bloomberg $), The wild, uncertain future of carbon dioxide removal (Gizmodo)

FINANCE: New York State pension fund urges bank shareholders to back climate resolutions (FT $), Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway faces climate reporting demands (E&E $)

WILDLIFE: Where the ice is still abundant, these penguins are, too (New York Times $)

• Nuclear energy should not be part of the global solution to climate change (Utility Dive, Amory Lovins op-ed)
• Culture-building as climate work (Atmos, Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. interview)
• Forget Manchin — go around him to pass a climate bill (The Hill, Andreas Karelas op-ed)
• Putin’s war shows autocracies and fossil fuels go hand in hand. Here’s how to tackle both (The Guardian, Bill McKibben op-ed)
• Ginger Zee, on how she's bringing attention to climate change (ABC, interview)
• In the valley, 'heat islands' of asphalt and fake lawn reach 170 degrees. What you can do (Desert Sun, Janet Hartin column)
• Biden’s quest for energy independence is taking America in the wrong direction (New Republic, Kate Aronoff column)
• Now is not the time to give in to climate fatalism (TIME, Susan Joy Hassol and Michael E. Mann op-ed)
• No reusable cup? In Australia, it’s at your own risk. (New York Times, Damien Cave personal account $)
• Solar power is winning from the energy crisis. Wind is losing (Bloomberg, David Fickling column $)
• The lawsuit against DeRay Mckesson would have a chilling effect on the right to protest (The Grio, David Love op-ed)
• Is civil disobedience OK if it’s the only way to prevent climate catastrophe? (The Guardian, Elizabeth Cripps op-ed)
• Universities must wean themselves off fossil fuel funding (FT, Huw Price op-ed $)
• What climate change has in common with COVID (Wall Street Journal, Tomas Philipson op-ed $)

“Human Sacrifice” is the “Logical Conclusion” of A 62-Retweet Call To Deflate SUV Tires, Per Fox’s Jesse Watters 

You know when rightwing disinfo news outlets all cover a climate protest in unison that it must have been something pretty big to get their attention! 

That, or it’s incredibly convenient for them to rail against, which is of course the case this week. Because while Fox did cover the blockade on Sen Manchin’s coal power plant, it was something else that captured the hearts and minds and fears of the right this week. 

Back on April 6th, Adbusters tweeted the “SUV Flat Tire challenge,” a “gentle escalation of methods to drive the urgency of this climate crisis home and engender a systemic aversion to SUVs” by deflating their tires. 

It only got 62 retweets as of a week later, and no one in the climate community seemed to notice or care all that much, but boy did rightwing media act like they did; leading to over 1,000 quote tweets rife with threats of violence, because that’s an appropriate response to a flat tire, apparently.  

Fox News kicked it off with plenty of quotes to tweets criticizing the challenge, but no actual evidence that anyone, anywhere had actually accepted the challenge. The Washington Times, Breitbart, and the Daily Wire all followed suit, quoting tweets that were very mad at the idea that someone would dare assault their precious SUV, and all suspiciously bereft of any interviews from deflated survivors of these heinous (imagined) attacks. (And before this clip makes the rounds as “the next Greta”, it's from last September, and not inspired by Adbusters.)  

The Guardian did report, back in March, that a group in the UK calling themselves the Tyre Extinguishers claims to have deflated tires on a thousand SUV’s, but reporters on the right have still failed to find a single one!

Instead of reporting, they’re keening and wailing and clutching pearls. The most hyperbolic take came from Fox’s Jesse Watters, who teamed up with fellow racist Alex Epstein to talk about it. Watters ended with the take-away that “if you take it to the logical conclusion” then “we are pretty close to human sacrifice.” (Hat tip to Media Matters) 

While the suggestion that human sacrifices are the logical conclusion of deflating tires to protest SUV’s role in the climate crisis may sound far-fetched to you, bear in mind that Fox News has spent two years broadcasting disinformation that’s polarizing its own audience against Covid vaccines and public health protection measures, so perhaps Watters invocation of human sacrifice was actually supposed to be a positive endorsement!

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