FIRST LOOK: 

A new report from Generation180 finds schools across the country are switching to solar power to meet their energy needs while gaining significant cost-savings, STEM learning, and climate resiliency benefits.

East Africa On Brink Of Famine As Drought Persists: The ongoing drought across East Africa is pushing regions to the brink of famine as forecasters issue dire warnings for a fifth consecutive failed rainy season, the Wall Street Journal reports. An official "famine" means one of every 5,000 people in an area is dying of starvation every day and one third of children are acutely malnourished. Officially, about 730 children have starved to death in Somalia so far this year, but most who die are never counted because they do not reach clinics or nutrition centers. “I don’t remember it ever being so bad,” 71 year-old Amina Hageya Barisa told the Wall Street Journal in Tana River County, Kenya. The crisis is proximately caused by drought and is exacerbated by global food price increases, driven in large part by the Russian war in Ukraine. (Wall Street Journal $; Climate Signals background: Drought)

Rail Cos. Refuse Worker Sick Days, Threaten Nationwide Shutdown: President Biden announced a tentative agreement early this morning to avert a nationwide railroad strike. Major railroad companies are threatening to shut down much of the nation's freight rail, setting off widespread disruption in multiple fossil fuel sectors, as well as the economy overall, in order to avoid giving their employees unpaid sick days or time off for medical appointments or unexpected events like funerals. BNSF and Union Pacific, the continent's two largest rail companies, reported record profits last year and U.S. railroads have given their shareholders nearly $200 billion in buybacks and dividends since 2010. If the companies refuse to concede to the unions' demands, forcing a strike, coal deliveries to power plants would stop, as would deliveries to refineries and petrochemical facilities on the Gulf Coast. “All we’re asking is for folks to be able to go to routine doctor’s visits without pay, but they have refused to accept our proposals,” said Dennis Pierce, president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET). “The average American would not know that we get fired for going to the doctor. This one thing has our members most enraged. We have guys who were punished for taking time off for a heart attack and Covid. It’s inhumane.” Because it relies on freight rail networks, Amtrak also canceled its long-distance routes starting today in anticipation of a strike. (Tentative deal: E&E News, Washington Post $, New York Times $, Axios; Strike causes and implications: The Guardian, E&E News, Washington Post explainer $, Houston Chronicle, New York Times $, WyoFile, Politico, S&P Global, Reuters, Bloomberg $, Grist, Politico Pro $, Politico Pro $; Amtrak: Axios)

DOI Reinstates Gulf Oil & Gas Leases: The Interior Dept. reinstated offshore oil lease sales across an area of the Gulf of Mexico bigger than Delaware on Wednesday in order to comply with a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act. The reinstated leases were offered last November in Lease Sale 257 (which offered leases across an area of the Gulf bigger than New Mexico), which was originally approved by the previous administration and which a federal judge ruled the Biden administration could not prevent. The IRA provision, a concession included to secure the support of Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), notwithstanding, the lease sale is still legally flawed because its underlying environmental analysis fails to account for the climate change impacts of the leases, Steve Mashuda, a senior attorney with Earthjustice, told E&E. "Climate is the driving factor for whether or not we ought to be issuing more and more oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico," he said. "Unless the agency does a competent and complete job of considering those impacts, then every decision is going to be flawed." (E&E $, Washington Post $, Politico Pro $, Wall Street Journal $, Reuters, AP, Washington Examiner, The Hill)

ENVIRONMENTAL (IN)JUSTICE: Without clean water, parents in Jackson, Mississippi, struggle to provide (The 19th* News), Why is access to clean, safe water such a problem in majority-Black cities? (The Grio), How Detroit’s Black-led organizations are cultivating access to nature as acts of liberation (Planet Detroit)

PAKISTAN: In Pakistan’s record floods, villages are now desperate islands (New York Times $), Pakistani premier promises compensation for flood victims (AP)

EACOP: Inside the fight to stop an oil pipeline in Africa (FT $)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: EU unveils plans to combat energy crisis and vows solidarity with Ukraine (Axios), EU expects to raise €140bn from windfall tax on energy firms (The Guardian, AP, New York Times $, Politico Pro $, Reuters, Wall Street Journal $), EU limits subsidies for burning trees under renewable energy directive (The Guardian), EU official unveils proposals to address energy crisis amid Ukraine war (The Hill), EU Parliament backs higher targets on renewables and energy savings (Reuters), Chemical giant cuts European production as gas crisis worsens (E&E $), Europe's crisis measures to tackle energy price spike (Reuters, Factbox), Inside Europe's energy crisis (WBUR), China reaps energy windfall as West shuns Russian supplies (Reuters)

COP27: Egyptian government denies COP27 hotel price gouging (Climate Home)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Green activists urge UN rights body to reject Vietnam's bid to join (Reuters)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Chevron is using Captain Planet and Batman returns to deflect blame for its climate denial (Gizmodo)

GOP vs. ESG: Twitter whistleblower testimony reclaims ESG (Axios)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: Biden climate law sparks new market for trading tax credits (Wall Street Journal $)

• SIDE DEALS: GOP expresses hostility to Manchin permitting reform campaign (The Hill), Green groups pivot after climate law to midterms, permitting fight (Washington Post $), US House Democrats in the dark about Schumer-Manchin permitting deal, Hoyer says (Reuters), Unlikely alliance resists Manchin-Schumer energy deal, putting government funding bill on shaky ground (CNN), The Democratic infighting over Joe Manchin’s “side deal,” explained (Vox)

ACTIONS, WORDS, ETC.: Billionaire no more: Patagonia founder gives away the company (New York Times $), Think twice about working for a ‘climate villain’ (The Atlantic), Patagonia founder gives away company: ‘Earth is now our only shareholder’ (Washington Post $)

PUT THE FUN BETWEEN YOUR LEGS: How Google Maps could make biking better (Protocol)

SCOTUS: Dobbs fallout = boon for climate action? (Politico)

AGENCIES: USDA triples climate-smart grant funds (E&E $, Reuters)

DOE: DOE study bolsters case for coal-to-nuclear transition (E&E $)

DOT: Safety board issues report on Kentucky pipeline explosion (AP)

WHITE HOUSE: In Detroit, Biden pledges that ‘the great American road trip is going to be fully electrified’ (Washington Post $, Reuters, E&E $), Biden announces $900 million for electric vehicle chargers at Detroit auto show (CBS, CBS), Dems toast climate law at White House as uncertainty looms (E&E $), Industry to Podesta: Release guidance on climate law (E&E $), White House backs federal worker, whistleblower bills (E&E $)

HOUSE: US House Democrats probe PR firms work for oil, gas companies (Reuters), Alaska Democrat sworn in, will get Natural Resources slot (E&E $), Dem bill would curb oil leasing to meet climate targets (E&E $), Oil industry's ad firms shun US hearing on climate disinformation (Reuters)

ELECTIONS: Michelle Obama organization teams up with climate group to mobilize young voters (The Hill), GOP picks Trump backer in N.H. race; others too close to call (E&E $)

TRIBES: Tribes say North Dakota is tampering with mineral royalties (AP)

CITIES AND STATES: Colorado program helps homeowners reduce wildfire risk (Yale Climate Connections), Pa. GOP seeks constitutional amendment to quit cap and trade (E&E $), Oil companies funded underground bid to beat Colo. referendum (E&E $)

IMPACTS: India’s tale of climate extremes (Atmos), Ghost islands of the Arctic: The world’s ‘northern-most island’ isn’t the first to be erased from the map (The Conversation), Lyme disease spike tied to climate. Where’s the vaccine? (E&E News), The Southern Ocean absorbs more heat than any other ocean on Earth, and the impacts will be felt for generations (The Conversation), UN calls for climate alert systems worldwide in 5 years (E&E $), Where thick ice sheets in Antarctica meet the ground, small changes could have big consequences (Inside Climate News), 2022’s supercharged summer of climate extremes: How global warming and La Niña fueled disasters on top of disasters (The Conversation), ‘It’s crushing’: California cleans up mudslide damage (AP)

HEAT: Hottest summer on record for Europe and China during Northern Hemisphere’s 2nd-hottest summer (Yale Climate Connections), Rising temperatures turn Middle East region into climate hot spot (Wall Street Journal $)

• PROFIT: As California sizzles, Amazon drivers feel the heat over metrics (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

DROUGHT: Northeast drought endangers Massachusetts’ cranberry harvest (Grist)

WILDFIRES: California cleans up from mudslides, as fire gains strength (AP), Smoke from California wildfires closes schools in Reno area (AP), How a pacific typhoon could help extinguish California wildfires (Washington Post $)

HURRICANES: Pandemic, labor shortage keep hurricane victims in limbo (AP), Tropical Storm Fiona to bring rain to the caribbean (New York Times $, Washington Post $), Typhoon Muifa makes landfall in China, heads for Shanghai (AP)

WATER: California water pipeline hits legal setback (E&E $), Farming, water and Wall Street on Colorado’s Western Slope (AP), Increasing pressures on Colorado River water in New Mexico (AP)

HEALTH: Oil and gas emissions raise cancer risk for millions — report (E&E $), Is your gas stove bad for your health? (The Conversation)

RENEWABLES: Can solar panels and row crops coexist on farmland across the skeptical Corn Belt? (Indianapolis Star, The Gazette, and The Lens), In Utah, thousands of homes feed the grid stored solar power (Canary Media)

BATTERIES: Battery recycling race heats up after Inflation Reduction Act (Wall Street Journal $)

OIL & GAS: African civil society speaks out against continent’s $400bn gas trap (Energy Monitor), BP to acquire retail power and gas provider EDF Energy Services as it shifts into broader energy market (Utility Dive), Shell’s chief executive, ben van beurden, to step down (New York Times $)

NUKES: Coal plant sites could host 265 GW of advanced nuclear, costing 35% less than greenfield projects: DOE (Utility Dive)

COAL: Bankrupt firm tries to avert closure of massive coal plant (E&E $), Hundreds of yoga teachers call out lululemon over coal-powered factories (The Guardian)

HYDROGEN: Green hydrogen could counter energy crisis, says British firm (The Guardian)

UTILITIES: California utilities seek ok for $10m-plus hydrogen, natural gas blending projects (Natural Gas Intel), Electricity prices take biggest leap in 41 years (E&E $), Undergrounding about 5% of coastal utility distribution systems can sharply reduce outage risks: study (Utility Dive)

EVs: Ultium workers at Ohio plant vote to push for union representation (Detroit News), Taking Charge: Enel X Way’s Chris Baker on how the EV sector is ‘crossing the chasm’ (Utility Dive interview), EV sales are booming, but can battery production keep pace? Several factors could hamper growth, say experts (Utility Dive)

CRYPTO: What happened when crypto companies entered the carbon market? (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

BUSINESSES: Employees put pressure on companies to meet climate change goals, but hurdles remain (The Hill)

THEATER: Plays of helplessness, and hope, as the planet burns (New York Times $)

INTERNATIONAL: Australia is funding just one-tenth of its fair share of global climate action, study finds (The Guardian), Kenya’s new president promises ambitious climate plan (AP), Nigerian minister says plan to commercialise gas flaring at advanced stage (Reuters)

• Can Europe save its industrial metals production sector? (Reuters, Andy Home column)
• China is writing the story of the climate future (New York Times, David Wallance Wells $)
• A nationwide abortion ban would hurt Black women the most (The Grio, Donna Brazile column)
• Biden freezes oil and gas leases (Wall Street Journal, Editorial Board $)

90% Of Americans Underestimate Super-Majority of Public Support For Climate Action

It can be difficult to measure the impact of disinformation, since it's not something that occurs in a vacuum, and you can't know if a lie is spreading because people think it's true, or don't care if it is or not, and are sharing it for ideological or financial reasons. But one of the reasons the fossil fuel industry spends millions, if not billions, of dollars a year on disinformation is that it makes the anti-regulatory position they pay politicians to espouse appear reasonable. 

A new study in Nature Communications shows the damage that's been done to the average American, who is now living in "a false social reality" in that while a supermajority of 66-80% of Americans support climate policy, "80–90% of Americans underestimate the true level of concern for climate change" and estimate that it's only backed by a 37-43% minority. 

"All partisan groups underestimate concern for climate change at both the national and state level by roughly 20–30%." 

"Thus," states the abstract, "supporters of climate policies outnumber opponents two to one, while Americans falsely perceive nearly the opposite to be true."

Depending on the specific question, about how many people are "worried about climate change" or support a carbon tax or the Green New Deal, "between 79% and 88% of our national sample underestimate public concern or each policy support." 

What's more, "when Democrats, Independents, and Republicans estimate how the nation feels on these issues, their estimates of other Americans’ support for these policies only really resemble actual Republican levels of policy support." And even that actually underestimates the level of support, as Republicans actually tend to approve of renewables at a higher rate than people expect. 

Because the conservative media machine gives their minority (disproportionately made up of white men, aka the people society thinks of as "normal") an outsized megaphone, everyone thinks that the country agrees with them. But they're not a silent majority, they're a screeching minority. 

And that screeching has an effect, as "those who consume conservative outlets are more likely to have more erroneous views." 

While the study cautions against solely blaming conservative media, as there are other psychological mechanisms at play, like liberals wanting to believe they're special and unique and not everyone shares their enlightened opinions. 

But still, people don't think Republicans are even more opposed to climate action than they actually are by accident.

It's hard to believe that the fossil fuel industry and its conservative billionaire buddies are pouring money into the conservative pseudo-media ecosystem if they weren't getting a return on their investment. 

And what more could they ask for, than to pay so many people to shout about how climate change policy is the real problem that it makes the country think everyone's opposed to climate action, so we're scared to bring it up in public or believe meaningful action is impossible? 

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