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Greenland Ice Already Doomed To Melt Will Raise Global Sea Levels At Least 10 Inches: More than 120 trillion tons of Greenland's ice is doomed to melt because of climate change and will raise global average sea levels by at least 10 inches, new research published in Nature Climate Change concludes. The study is based on observational data from 2000 to 2019 and its sea level rise projections do not account for ice lost in other locations, including Antarctica. That so-called zombie ice is " just going to melt and disappear from the ice sheet,” William Colgan, one of the study's co-authors, told the AP. “This ice has been consigned to the ocean, regardless of what climate (emissions) scenario we take now.” The study warned global average sea levels could rise as much as 30 inches and though the scientists did not establish a clear timeline for when that ice would melt, the fact that even the best-case scenario of 10 inches is double the upper range of last year's IPCC projection of 2 to 5 inches is alarming. Centuries of industrial fossil fuel extraction and combustion, exacerbated by public disinformation campaigns by the industries profiting from it, have sufficiently raised global temperatures altered the equilibrium of Greenland's ice that the ice has as much chance of survival as an ice cube dropped in a hot cup of tea in a warm room — as Penn State glaciologist Richard Alley, who was not involved in the study, described it. The scientists worry severe melting events, like the melting seen in 2012, could push eventual sea level rise closer to 30 inches. It is "entirely likely," David Behr, another of the study's co-authors, told USA Today. "That’s a very bad case scenario. We're talking about large portions of places like New York, Miami and Bangladesh disappearing." But, “That’s how climate change works,” Colgan told the AP. “Today’s outliers become tomorrow’s averages.” (AP, USA Today, Atmos, Washington Post $, The Guardian, New York Times $, Axios, Al Jazeera, ABC, Barron's; Newsletter subject line: h/t Daily Beast syndicating The Conversation; Climate Signals background: Sea level rise, Arctic amplification, Sea ice decline)

Pakistan's Catastrophic Flooding Bears Hallmarks Of Climate Change: A third of Pakistan — a land mass about the size of Colorado and home to about 220 million people — is underwater, the country's climate change minister, Sherry Rehman said Monday. Months of heavy rains and the resulting flooding have killed more than 1,100 people and could end up costing Pakistan, which is responsible for a negligible amount of historic climate pollution, more than $10 billion. The "catastrophe of unprecedented proportions," as described by Rehman, bears the hallmarks of extreme weather disasters supercharged by climate change. Hotter air holds more moisture leading to heavier rainfall, while increased glacier melt pumps even more water into already-swollen rivers. Research in coming weeks will determine exactly how much, if at all, climate change is to blame for the catastrophic flooding, but the “recent flood in Pakistan is actually an outcome of the climate catastrophe ... that was looming very large,” Anjal Prakash, a research director at India’s Bharti Institute of Public Policy, told the AP. “The kind of incessant rainfall that has happened ... has been unprecedented” [ellipses AP's]. (Washington Post $, AP, explainer, Gizmodo, NPR, Wall Street Journal $; Recovery and aid: Reuters, Democracy Now, Washington Post $, Reuters, Thomson Reuters Foundation, The Guardian, AP; Climate Signals background: Extreme precipitation increase)

Isle de Jean Charles, And Its People, Struggle To Survive: The small-and-shrinking Isle de Jean Charles and the plight of its people, is a striking illustration of crosscutting injustices exacerbated by climate change, as the Nola.com's impressive, brutal, and beautiful reporting shows. In the early 19th Century, Theresa "Betty" Billiot's Choctaw ancestors fled U.S. government-sponsored ethinc cleansing and forced relocation at the end of the Trail of Tears and took refuge with Biloxi, Houma and Chitimacha Indians on a ridge surrounded by marsh and coastal prairie about 45 miles southwest of New Orleans. In 1957, when Billiot was born, what is now known as Isle de Jean Charles was an island covering 35 square miles. Today, the dozen remaining inhabitants, mostly French-speaking members of the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation, live on less than one square mile of land. Sea level rise, hurricanes, and land loss exacerbated by canals and dredging for oil and gas operations have all contributed to the island's disappearance into the sea. In 2016 a federally-funded grant promised help to relocate Isle de Jean Charles residents, but because the Isle de Jean Charles tribe lacks federal recognition, however, they partnered with the state of Louisiana, which has abandoned the tribe's vision for resettlement in numerous ways reminiscent of centuries of broken treaties and stolen land, and plans for a new community further inland have yet to fully materialize. (NOLA.com; Climate Signals background: Sea level rise, 

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Richmond: in the shadow of industry (San Francisco Chronicle, Photo Essay), When an oil well is your neighbor (Inside Climate News)

JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI, FLOODING: Mississippi state capital has no "reliable running water" after flood (Axios), Jackson, Mississippi facing water crisis (NBC), Floodwaters drain in Mississippi as pearl river crests just below major flood stage (USA Today, AP), Homes threatened as Mississippi's Pearl River crests (Weather Channel photos), Statewide flooding continues this week. What can residents in south Mississippi expect? (Clarion Ledger)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: Collateral damage: The environmental cost of the Ukraine war (Yale Environment 360), As gas heating prices rise, a rush for plug-in heaters could cause Blackouts in germany (Energy Monitor), Europe's soaring energy costs push leaders to consider major steps (Axios), Russia confounds the West by recapturing its oil riches (Wall Street Journal $)

• THE COMPANY YOU KEEP: Taliban officials nearing contract for purchase of gasoline from Russia (Reuters)

CHINA WHIPLASH: China’s drought-hit areas get rain, bringing flood risks (AP)

POPULAR OPINION: Americans are convinced climate action is unpopular. They’re very, very wrong. (Grist)

FOSSIL SUBSIDIES: Soaring fossil fuel subsidies are holding back clean energy (Quartz), Government funding for fossil fuels projected to spike in 2022 after nearly doubling last year, analysis finds (Politico Pro $, Bloomberg Law)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Meet [Simon Stiell] the U.N.’s new climate chief (E&E News)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: After deadly fires and disastrous floods, a Canadian city moves to sue big oil (New York Times $)

SCIENCE!: Scientists call on colleagues to protest climate crisis with civil disobedience (The Guardian), Publishers protest Biden’s free research plan (E&E News)

CARBON CAPTURE: Oil majors sign 'milestone' carbon capture agreement (E&E $), How industry is depending on carbon capture technology for climate goals (Reuters explainer), China's Sinopec starts first carbon capture, storage facility, plans another two by 2025 (Reuters)

SCOTUS: Upcoming SCOTUS cases could alter the racial makeup of college classrooms (Prism Reports)

DOE: DOE begins accepting applications for $425M in major boost to state clean energy funding (Utility Dive)

DOI: BOEM asks public to weigh in on Rhode Island offshore wind project (Politico Pro $)

SENATE: Landrieu lobbies for pipeline giant in permitting talks (E&E $)

POLITICS: Democrats' energy permitting gambit 'fractures' alliance with environmentalists (Politico Pro $)

ELECTIONS: Native skateboarders are getting out the vote with ride to the polls campaign (Teen Vogue), The midterms’ big issues — abortion and the economy — are supercharged in Nevada’s Senate race (The 19th* News)

CITIES AND STATES: Businesses, power plant owners and labor team up to weigh in on [New York] state's climate plan (Politico Pro $), Ga. mine advances as fabled swamp loses federal protections (E&E News), N.C. weatherization funds set to nearly double, posing challenge and opportunity (Energy News Network), Philadelphia school adds air conditioning after community push (Yale Climate Connections)

• CALIFORNIA: Clashes brew over Diablo Canyon extension plan as 40% of expected renewables fail to come online (Utility Dive)

FERC: FERC endorses nation’s largest dam removal project (E&E News), FERC approves ISO-NE plan to bypass the grid operator and rely on state reviews for DER interconnections (Utility Dive)

IMPACTS: The century of climate migration: why we need to plan for the great upheaval – podcast (The Guardian, audio long read), The world's climate catastrophes are all interrelated (Esquire)

VALLEY FEVER: ‘It took everything’: the disease that can be contracted by breathing California’s air (The Guardian)

HEAT: California sizzles as US west faces record high temperatures (Bloomberg $)

DROUGHT: A drought in Canada is making it impossible to find mustard in France (NPR), Drought, high costs bring US berry giants to Canada's maple syrup land (Reuters), Is this the death of Lake Powell? (Casper Star-Tribune)

HURRICANES: Atlantic heating up, with tropical storm formation expected this week (Washington Post $)

WATER: Debate grows over parched California's thirsty crops (CBS)

DEFORESTATION: Death and deforestation: Cocaine trade adds to Amazon's woes (Thomson Reuters Foundation), Destruction with impunity: how Brazil is failing to protect the Amazon (Washington Post $), How deforestation is pushing the Amazon toward a tipping point (Washington Post $)

BOOZE: Record heat forces early harvest in France's wine country, and it may put the bang in your Bordeaux. (CBS)

RENEWABLES: US homes add rooftop solar at a record clip to cut power bills (Bloomberg $), IKEA stores owner buys 49% stake in Swedish wind power projects (Reuters), Dutch wind farm blows away opposition as 'new millers' get a stake (Reuters), US to see renewable energy boom in wake of historic climate bill (The Guardian)

BATTERIES: LG, Honda to set up US joint venture to make EV batteries (AP, FT $, Wall Street Journal $), Secret data, tiny islands and a quest for treasure on the ocean floor (New York Times $)

EFFICIENCY: Finally, a heat-pump water heater that plugs into a standard outlet (Canary Media)

MINING: Manchin permitting deal offers mixed bag for mining (E&E News), This remote mine could foretell the future of America’s electric car industry (New York Times $)

OIL & GAS: Elon Musk says world needs more oil and gas (Wall Street Journal $), OPEC chatter, EU energy crisis to tug at oil prices (Houston Chronicle), Sinopec expects lower overall 2022 refining runs, plans first share buyback (Reuters), With prices soaring, natural gas faces uncertain future (E&E News)

HYDROGEN: Northeast states plan renewable hydrogen hub (E&E News), Amazon expands hydrogen supplier deal with Plug Power as it strives for carbon neutrality (Utility Dive)

UTILITIES: Court places Tampa Electric on probation, orders $500K fine for fatal 2017 coal furnace accident (Utility Dive)

GRID: Tesla quietly built a virtual power plant in Japan (The Verge)

AGRICULTURE: Irish farmers say they will be forced to cull cows to meet climate targets (The Guardian)

FINANCE: UN Women terminates partnership with investment firm BlackRock after public outcry (The 19th* News)

GRETA: Artist with synaesthesia puts Greta Thunberg’s Davos speech on canvas (The Guardian)

INTERNATIONAL: Obscure energy treaty threatens huge state losses over climate action (Thomson Reuters Foundation, explainer), Germany secures link to planned Baltic Sea renewable energy island (Reuters), Green Tories back Johnson’s call for successor to invest in renewables (The Guardian), India's Reliance unveils $9.4 bln plan to boost oil to chemicals (Reuters), Many Sri Lankans have switched to cycling due to fuel shortages (NPR), France uses AI to spot (and tax) undeclared swimming pools (Washington Post $)

• ‘Monster monsoon’: why the floods in Pakistan are so devastating (The Guardian, Damian Carrington analysis)
• The Guardian view on climate chaos in Pakistan: adapt to survive (The Guardian, Editorial Board)
• Elon Musk: go nukes and more oil, please (Wall Street Journal, James Freeman op-ed $)

Koch Funding New Effort To Figure Out Why America's So Darned Polarized. Maybe It's The Billions Koch Spends On Polarizing Propaganda?

According to a recent press release, "researchers from Dartmouth, the University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University have teamed up to launch the Polarization Research Lab," which will try and figure out why "Americans hold more negative views toward the political opposition than at any point in the last 50 years." 

It seems "polarization spilling over into completely apolitical aspects of day-to-day life," as though the personal isn't political when your identity is a target of discrimination, "yet, we don’t know what is causing these changes in American society."

Who that "we" is supposed to be is unclear, but we certainly have a pretty good idea about what's causing these changes: rich white ideologues are dropping literally billions of dollars on dark money political groups exploiting social media algorithms fine-tuned to spread hate. 

Earlier this month, the Koch network tally came in at over $1 billion spent manipulating the public during the 2020 election cycle, helping elect conservatives on platforms of anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry and anti-"critical race theory" racism. And last week we learned that just ONE donor gave his $1.6 billion company to a conservative dark money operator who's installed Supreme Court justices who are already overturning the right to an abortion — something lots of people used to agree was settled law. Why would anyone be mad, just because Republicans want to force them to carry their rapists' fetus to term? Or nullify their marriage? Or prosecute them for caring for their child? What a mystery! 

Unfortunately, odds are slim that this new Polarization Research Lab is going to come to the conclusion that billionaires funding a network of front groups to spread propaganda is driving the polarization problem, because the Polarization Research Lab is funded by 

… wait for it …

none other than the Charles Koch Institute! Even better: two of the three lead researchers, Shanto Iyengar and Sean Westood have affiliated with the Koch/Exxon/Scaife/Olin/basically every conservative billionaire-funded Hoover Institute. 

So we're not holding our breath that researchers happy to affiliate with a dark money conservative propaganda and disinformation distribution group are going to find dark money conservative propaganda and disinformation groups are responsible for polarizing the country. 

Not that anyone should be surprised about this. Just as the Tobacco Institute sought to find and prove all the ways non-smokers still got cancer, and the fossil fuel industry funds dorks try and draw attention to all the non-carbon dioxide drivers of climate change, Koch-funded polarization experts are going to do lots of surveys and interviews to figure out all the ways people are polarized that aren't directly attributable to the billions of Koch bucks spent on polarizing Republicans against people who might vote for politicians who would regulate the harm caused by Koch products.  

There's plenty of existing research on, for example, the "corporate funding and ideological polarization about climate change" and the theories Charles Koch embraced that "goes back to the 1950s" to "take apart the liberal state." 

If the Charles Koch Foundation really had any interest in reducing polarization, it wouldn't fund a new pseudo-scholarly lab to supposedly research a problem it knows it's causing. 

Koch would open up its own records to public scrutiny, disclose who and what groups it's funded, be transparent about what those groups did with that money, and then shutter itself, and all Kochs' supposed philanthropy. 

That alone would reduce the amount of polarization plaguing this country by literally billions of dollars, which sounds like a pretty good return on investment!

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