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Tropical Storm Alex Forms After Killing 9 in Mexico, 3 In Cuba, And Flooding Miami: In late May, Hurricane Agatha became the first named storm of the Pacific hurricane season, and killed nine people in southern Mexico. Its remnants then reformed, strengthening into the first named storm of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season — Tropical Storm Alex — on Sunday after killing three people in Cuba and dumping heavy rain on South Florida. The storm poured as much as 15 inches of rain on parts of Miami at a rate of up to 2 to 3 inches per hour, causing flooding downtown as cars floated down streets turned into rivers. It is expected to bring Tropical Storm conditions to Bermuda today. (Tropical storm formation: Washington Post $, AP, Yale Climate Connections, Weather Channel; Cuba/Florida: AP, Yale Climate Connections, Washington Post $; Both: New York Times $, Miami Herald; Bermuda: AP; Climate Signals background: Hurricanes)

Biden Puts Solar Tariff Threat On Hold For 2 Years, Boosts Domestic Production: The White House is announcing today that President Biden will pause new tariffs on solar panel imports for two years and ramp up support for U.S.-made panels. The decision to exempt solar panels from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam from tariffs will allow the U.S. solar installation and energy industry to move ahead with the energy transition without holding billions in reserve to pay potential retroactive tariffs of 250%, pending the conclusion of an ongoing Commerce Department investigation. Biden will also invoke the Defense Production Act to boost manufacturing of solar panels in the U.S. While tariffs could be imposed on panels from those countries after the 24-month period, the pause gives importers a "safe harbor timeout on the ... collection of duties," a source told Reuters. (Reuters, Wall Street Journal $, Bloomberg $, PV Magazine, Canary Media, Barron's)

Fossil Fuel Pollution Pushes Atmospheric CO2 To Highest Levels Since Hominids Began Walking Upright: At its likely peak for 2022, atmospheric CO2 hit levels in May not seen since the Pliocene era, 4.1 to 4.5 million years ago, NOAA reported Friday. At 421 parts per million, measured at the Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory in Hawaii, carbon pollution is now more than 50% higher than preindustrial levels, after record-breaking levels in 2020 and 2021. The last time atmospheric CO2 levels were this high on the only known habitable planet, Earth was essentially a flooded greenhouse with forests in the Arctic and sea levels 78 feet higher, submerging South Florida and coastal areas around the world. Humans, never mind human civilization, have never known such conditions. Four million years ago our Australopithecus ancestors were still working out how to walk on two legs. “Watching these incremental but persistent increases in CO2 year-to-year is much like watching a train barrel down the track towards you in slow motion. It’s terrifying,” UW-Madison climate scientist Andrea Dutton told the AP. “If we stay on the track with a plan to jump out of the way at the last minute, we may die of heat stroke out on the tracks before it even gets to us.”  (AP, New York Times $, Gizmodo, Axios, Al Jazeera)

ENVIRONMENTAL (IN)JUSTICE: Red states still pose a major threat to Biden’s justice40 initiative, activists warn (Inside Climate News), Settlement reached over private border wall, but experts say it won’t stop the environmental damage (Texas Tribune)

FOSSIL FUELED WAR: EU officially adopts Russian oil embargo (The Hill), France is talking to UAE about replacing Russian oil, diesel (Bloomberg $), EU, Egypt near gas supply deal in shift away from Russia (Bloomberg $), Macron, Bloomberg seek better monitoring of business climate action (Reuters), The end of energy free trade (Wall Street Journal $)

COP26: Are nations on track to meet their climate goals? (BBC)

(CLIMATE) DIPLOMACY: US Treasury takes aim at World Bank over climate change inaction (FT $), Water security is now a key US foreign policy priority (Grist), Biden to travel to Saudi Arabia, ending its ‘pariah’ status (New York Times $), The US-Saudi thaw won't chill the crude market (Axios)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: 14 Hawai'ian teens sue state, transit department over pollution (Teen Vogue), Climate graphic of the week: US’s climate legal cases boom, but not its laws (FT $), State AGs rebuked for ‘soliciting billionaires’ in climate cases (E&E News)

PUT THE FUN BETWEEN YOUR LEGS: Cycling is ten times more important than electric cars for reaching net-zero cities (The Conversation)

BUCKLE UP FOR SOME SUPER BAD FEELINGS: Elon Musk wants to cut 10% of Tesla jobs (Reuters, NPR, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal $, Tech Crunch, Axios, New York Times $), Tesla shares drop after report that Musk is targeting 10% job cut amid ‘super bad feeling’ about global economy (MarketWatch), Elon Musk tells Tesla staff only salaried jobs to be cut: report (Bloomberg $), Elon Musk backtracks on job cuts, says Tesla salaried staff to be 'fairly flat' (Reuters), After emailing employees about job cuts at Tesla, Elon Musk says the total headcount at the company will increase (Business Insider), Elon Musk targets white-collar Tesla staff, a test case of Twitter plans (Washington Post $), Here’s the email Elon Musk sent all Tesla employees about 10% head count reduction (CNBC), Musk turns to his earlier playbook as Tesla girds for job cuts (Bloomberg $)

• YIKES: Tesla hired PR firm to monitor employees on social media amid union push (CNBC), Tesla owners love their cars. Elon Musk? Not as much. (Washington Post $)

NEW YORK CRYPTO: A moratorium on crypto mining in New York could lead to environmental wins nationwide (TIME), Landmark bill to limit cryptomining passes NY Legislature (AP, CBS, The Independent, Forbes, Bloomberg $, CNBC, Axios, The Verge), Lawmaker who wrote New York crypto mining bill explains: ‘it’s not a ban’ (CNBC)

GOP "CLIMATE" PLAN: A new GOP climate plan is long on fossil fuels, short on specifics (Inside Climate News, CNBC, Truthout)

THE SCIENCE GUY: Bill Nye answers the most-googled climate change questions: When did it start? How can we stop it? (USA Today)

THE KIDS ARE ATTEMPTING TO ACT RATIONALLY: Gen Z can't decide which crisis to worry about more as they weigh job options: Money to deal with sky-high living costs or a mission to fight climate change (Business Insider)

HOUSING: Twilight of the NIMBY (New York Times $)

SCOTUS: LCV endorses Supreme Court expansion (E&E $)

EPA: EPA alleges Detroit factory gamed pollution limits (E&E $)

• ETHANOL: Biden's EPA finalizes ethanol, biodiesel blending requirements, requiring largest amount on record (Des Moines Register, The Hill, AP, Wall Street Journal $, Reuters, Bloomberg $), Corn lobby wins big as EPA finalizes record ethanol blending requirement (Washington Examiner), Environmental group [Evergreen Action] urges Biden to wean nation's biofuel program off liquid fuels (Reuters)

DOI: BLM slows solar permitting near Death Valley National Park (E&E $)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: Army Corps blocks strip mine near Okefenokee wetlands after opposition (Washington Post $, AP) 

WHITE HOUSE: ‘Slow-walked or watered down’: Friendly fire strafes Biden’s climate office (Politico), Biden has ‘only bad options’ for bringing down oil prices (New York Times $), Biden to visit New Mexico as state battles record wildfire (AP), How the White House lost Joe Manchin, and its plan to transform America (Washington Post $)

THE HILL: Democrats float bill to overhaul weatherization program (E&E $)

SENATE: Senators push for more funding for wildfire smoke monitoring (New Mexico Political Report)

POLITICS: After years of tension, oil, clean energy find common ground in Washington (Houston Chronicle), Global plastic waste expected to nearly triple by 2060 (Axios)

TRIBES: Volcanic cones near peak sacred to tribes gain protection (AP)

CITIES AND STATES: New York announces 22 solar, storage projects, pushing projected 2030 energy mix to 66% green (Utility Dive), Thousands of people in New Hampshire may still be drinking polluted water, years after the largest contamination in state history (Boston Globe $)

• CALIFORNIA: California lawmakers mull buying out farmers to save water (AP), Climate controversy: California’s plan for handling crisis is flawed, advisors say (CAL Matters), State officials draw fire after approving new oil wells in L.A. neighborhood (LA Times $)

FERC: FERC expands environmental justice, equity considerations in agency decision-making, EJ counsel says (Utility Dive)

IMPACTS: The local impact of climate change (Axios), Boston area faces major climate impacts (E&E $), Climate change creates ghost forests along East Coast (CNBC), Climate change and overuse is threatening Pakistan's main waterway (NPR), Next Africa: a continent paying the price for climate change (Bloomberg $), Siberia’s tundra could soon disappear, scientists warn (Washington Post $), Winter ticks are increasing in the warming climate, and they're killing moose calves (NPR)

OBJECTIVELY NOT AS FUN AS SNOW DAYS: Climate change is forcing schools to close early for ‘heat days’ (Washington Post $)

TENNESSEE FLOODING: A high school senior reflects on her community's resilience after a devastating flood (NPR)

HEAT: Too hot to handle: Crumbling US infrastructure melts under excessive heat (Salon)

• NEW ABNORMAL: We predict this summer won’t be historically hot in D.C. (Washington Post $)

DROUGHT: Drought-stricken US warned of looming 'dead pool' (BBC), Three-quarters of Mass. at ‘abnormally dry’ or moderate drought levels (Boston Globe $)

GRID INSTABILITY: California’s drought is so bad, it’s going to slash hydropower (Gizmodo), US  Midwest in danger of rotating power blackouts this summer (Reuters)

WILDFIRES: Climate change is making prescribed burning trickier in the West (Marketplace), Greek firefighters battle blaze near Athens for second day (AP)

HURRICANES: Court revives Hurricane Harvey flood liability fight (E&E News)

WATER: As California's big cities fail to rein in their water use, rural communities are already tapped out (CNN), Will water restrictions bring more destructive SoCal brush fires? Some demand more water (LA Times $)

DEFORESTATION: Immersed in crisis, Peru neglects Amazon’s destruction (AP)

OCEANS: 'Oceans Give, Oceans Take': Their role in climate change (CBS)

EMISSIONS: US has eight years to cut its emissions by half. Scientists say there’s a way (The Hill)

RENEWABLES: DOE: Here's the wind farm of the future (E&E $), Tower of power: new office building to be fully clad in solar panels in Australian first (The Guardian)

BUILDINGS: Ditching gas boilers for heat pumps will take EU 'well beyond next winter' (Energy Monitor), Here’s how a heat pump can cool your house in the summer (Bloomberg $)

STORAGE: Forget batteries, this breakthrough stores power in silos (E&E $)

LNG: German energy regulator to slash LNG feed-in rates (Reuters), Gas traders rush to secure LNG tankers (FT $), Of all of Louisiana’s LNG players, this company is poised to be the biggest (The Advocate)

OIL & GAS: Judge greenlights more NEPA reviews on Western oil leases (E&E News)

PIPELINES: Green group [EDF] defends pipeline rules in court (E&E $)

EVs: Ford polishes Rust Belt base with both EVs and gas cars (E&E News)

CULTURE: Climate-friendly diets can make a huge difference – even if you don’t go all-out vegan (The Guardian), How to make vegan pub sliders that satisfy (Washington Post $), Sustainability platform Blank uses art and food to encourage carbon literacy (Ebony), The Italian designers fighting climate change and over-consumption (FT $)

AGRICULTURE: In silvopasture, cows and sheep coexist with trees (Yale Climate Connections), The regenerative farm working to improve soil without fertilisers (The Guardian)

TREES: Indian traditions entwine with trees in green drive to revive land (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

BUSINESS: Gas or renewables? With the world in an unprecedented energy crisis, top CEOs are searching for solutions (CNBC)

CARBON REMOVAL: Is carbon removal a realistic climate solution? (Yahoo)

SHIPPING: Ship pollution is rising as the US waits for world leaders to act (Washington Post $)

FINANCE: What a stock-price divergence reveals about climate policy and risk (Bloomberg $)

SOIL: Why the global soil shortage threatens food, medicine and the climate (CNBC)

WILDLIFE: China blocks moves to step up protection of emperor penguins (AP), Habitat protections for Florida’s threatened manatees get an overdue update (WMFE), Meerkats are getting climate sick (Scientific American)

INTERNATIONAL: Greece hopes to play important role in solving Europe's energy conundrum - PM (Reuters), Pakistan’s tourism industry rocked by climate change (Al Jazeera), Tata Power bets on microgrids for rural power supply in India (FT $)

• The Supreme Court is pursuing a very dangerous strategy for the environment (New York Times, Sambhav Sankar op-ed $)
• Let Indigenous people speak for ourselves on climate change (LA Times, Violet Sage Walker Letter To The Editor $)
• Want lower gas prices and a weaker Russia? The US should sue OPEC. (New York Times, Harry First and Darren Bush op-ed $)
• Initiatives to curb climate change must include equity and population stabilization (The Hill, David Shearman op-ed)
• Let’s not pretend planting trees is a permanent climate solution (New York Times, Zeke Hausfather op-ed $)
• Take it from Enrique, high gas prices don’t have to ruin your life (The Colorado Sun, Diane Carman column)
• California needs to slash carbon pollution. Its pie-in-the-sky plan falls short (LA Times, Editorial Board $)
• Your kids are not doomed (New York Times, Ezra Klein op-ed $)
• Could nature be our best protection from the climate crisis? (The Independent, Jagan Chapagain and Marco Lambertini op-ed)
• Fossil-fuel shares lead the stock market. How awkward. (New York Times, Jeff Sommer column $)
• How science could aid the US quest for environmental justice (Nature, Jeff Tollefson commentary)
• We can prevent heat waves from killing thousands every year (LA Times, Kristie L. Ebi op-ed $)
• Paying lip service to Indigenous knowledge won’t fix climate change (Outside, Len Necefer op-ed)
• Four ways California can keep the power on amid climate change. More natural gas isn’t one of them (San Francisco Chronicle, Mike O’Boyle op-ed)
• Marking 50 years of World Environment Day – climate change is a race that we have no option but to win (The Independent, Oladosu Adenike op-ed)
• As contentious net metering debates persist across the US, Connecticut and Hawaii show a way forward (Utility Dive, Patrick Murphy op-ed)
• Gun and climate change delusions (Environmental Health News, Peter Dykstra Column)
• The Navy needs to keep a weather eye in its climate action plan (The Hill, Rear Admiral (ret.) Tim Gallaudet op-ed)
• Give drivers a gas tax holiday. Tax windfall profits from oil companies instead (LA Times, Rep. Adam Schiff op-ed $)
• Conservatives must wake up and address climate change — or face the voters’ wrath (The Hill, Sam Brownback op-ed)
• The price of paper (The Hill, Tara D. Sonenshine op-ed)
• Musk's warning could be auto industry's 'canary in the coal mine' moment (Reuters, Ben Klayman and Joseph White analysis)
• I rented an electric car for a four-day road trip. I spent more time charging it than I did sleeping. (Wall Street Journal, Rachel Wolfe op-ed $)
• Post-Ukraine climate realism (Wall Street Journal, Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. op-ed $)

There's A New Map For Navigating Electric Vehicle Disinformation, But CFACT's Tin-Foil-Hat Conspiracies Go Off-Road 

We've covered a lot of ways the fossil fuel industry's disinformation-spreaders try and mislead people about electric vehicles over the years, from their performance in a snow storm (better than gas cars!) to their being charged by a coal-powered grid (still better than gas cars!) to woke-washing and made-up phrases like "energy transition materials" to describe minerals needed for everything from, yes, EV batteries, to any computer or cell phone electronics.  

Now Climate Nexus has a new roadmap to responding to electric vehicle disinformation with the facts that are so often challenged. There are resources for responses to false claims about those minerals, charging and grid anxieties, emissions, equity issues, taxes and, yes, the cold weather concerns! Those are of course unfounded given that "Electric vehicles are popular in cold climates, including in Norway, where electric vehicles make up more than 90 percent of sales. Studies in Norway, Alaska, and Iowa show that electric vehicles perform comparably or better than conventional gas cars in cold weather conditions." 

The report does a great job of providing neutral and fact-based responses to disinformation most often found in mainstream and conservative media. 

But in the fringe world, of tin-foil-hat-type conspiracy theories, there's another narrative that, given the social media mainstreaming of once-radically hateful and harmful content, is increasingly getting picked up by the Koch'd up professional disinformation agents once hesitant to look quite so kook-y. 

The most succinct example is a tweet from holocaust denier turned climate denier fave Peter Sweden, imagining "the year is 2031. Your electric vehicle has been remotely shut off because you exceeded your monthly driving limit" or that "the year is 2035" and "the Ministry of Truth has deemed a social media post as containing 'misinformation'" and therefore "electricity to charge your electric vehicle has been cut off for 7 days in order to get your social credit score back." 

But CFACT can't afford anyone quite as eloquent as the holocaust denier who tweeted, "Remember how they keep telling you to stop driving cars because of climate change?  The same elite just flew to Davos on private jets to mingle at the World Economic Forum…" 

Instead they had to settle for a thousand-word version of it by Duggan Flanakin, who in addition to the World Economic Forum point and "electricity rationing" point that Peter makes all the time, also considers EVs "a death machine" because sometimes they catch fire (something gasoline never does, apparently) and "the era of mandatory electric vehicle[s] marks the end of human freedom on the American highway, truly the end of human freedom – PERIOD." 

Oh and it's "not just the EV, but the EV culture" which is apparently "part of the 'virtual' revolution in which people can act out roles online that do not translate easily to the physical world." 

Yes, apparently video games are to blame for people preferring a car that's less harmful tothe climate, and won't kill their family if they accidentally leave it running in the garage. 

And the worst part of it is that Flanakin isn't even up to date on his video game scaremongering, invoking the very mid-aughts Grand Theft Auto era by writing that "most 'driving' done by pre-teens through twenty-somethings is done via video gaming. These virtual unreality games often focus on killing, almost never on, say, gardening, ranching, farming, forest management, electrical line work, water and sewer system construction, or other physical world jobs." 

Apparently the next round of rebuttals to EV disinfo need to include an update on how popular farming and simulator games are- or at least were, in that there were write-ups about the Truck Simulate and Train Simulator craze in 2016. And of course Animal Crossing is all about gardening, Farmville was a huge craze on Facebook, and The Sims (in which users construct cities) is one of the most popular video game franchises in history with nearly 200 million copies sold!

Facts, though, even about things like video games, are not something you'll generally see at CFACT. 

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