ARE YOU FUNNY? 

1.4% Of U.S. Adults Displaced By Extreme Weather Last Year: About 3.4 million adults in the U.S. (1.4% of the adult population) were displaced from their homes by extreme weather disasters in 2022, a new survey from the U.S. Census Bureau reveals. Those findings, based on the 68,500 responses to the Bureau's Jan. 4–16 Household Pulse Survey, are far higher than figures from the International Displacement Monitoring Centre, which estimates an average of 800,000 U.S. residents were displaced annually from 2008 through 2021, including the 1.7 million people the Centre estimates were displaced in 2017 when Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria all rocked the country. About half of those displaced in 2022 were forced to leave their homes due to hurricanes. While about 40% of those displaced return home within a week, about 12% are displaced for more than six months, and roughly 16% never return home, the portion of people with disabilities who are permanently displaced by disasters is far higher. The Census survey also found low-income households (under $25,000 per year) were forced to evacuate at twice the rate as the general population, and 4% of LGBT people were forced to evacuate, compared to 1.2% of cisgender, straight people. (E&E News; Climate Signals background: 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, 2022 Western wildfire season, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria)

Colorado River Dams Unlikely To Be Refilled: Drained by decades of overuse and climate-fueled drought, Lakes Mead and Powell, the massive lakes held back by the Hoover and Glen Canyon Dams, respectively, will likely never be refilled, experts warn. "The only reason they filled the first time is because there wasn’t demand for the water," Bill Hasencamp, manager of Colorado River resources for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, told the LA Times. The past 23 years of climate-fueled megadrought across the West "are the best lessons we have right now, and they should scare the pants off of people," Colorado State water and climate scientist Brad Udall said. To replenish the reservoirs, “you would need wet year after wet year, after wet year after wet year, after wet year. Even then, because the demand is so high, it still wouldn’t fill,” Hasencamp said. “We might even get a wet decade," Udall added. "But, boy, the long-term warming and drying trend seems super clear to me…  And a bet on anything other than that seems like water management malpractice, that we have got to plan for something that looks like a worst-case future.” (LA Times $; Climate Signals background: Western megadrought) 

Neo-Nazi Plot To Target Baltimore Grid Foiled: A neo-Nazi leader and his Maryland accomplice were arrested for planning a series of sniper attacks on electrical substations in Baltimore, designed to wreak havoc and destruction in Baltimore. Sarah Beth Clendaniel hoped to "completely destroy this whole city"—which is majority Black and surrounded by white suburbs—and discussed carrying out the attack on five substations around the city during cold weather when it would cause the most disruption. Clendaniel was collaborating with Brandon Russell, the founder of a Florida neo-Nazi organization. The arrests and charges, announced by federal officials Monday, come amid a recent increase in attacks on grid infrastructure and increased interest among white supremacists in targeting the grid. This focus on the grid by white supremacists should, according to Brian Harrell, who oversaw infrastructure protection for DHS during the previous administration, be considered "domestic terrorism, pure and simple." (Washington Post $, AP, Baltimore Banner, E&E $, BBC, Tampa Bay Times, CBS, The Independent, CNBC, Daily Beast, Vice, Bloomberg $, Politico Pro $, ABC)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Historic systemic racism plagues East Buffalo’s growth (NBC)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: Russian fuel oil flows to Asia as EU ban takes effect (OilPrice), Russia’s oil revenues plunge as EU’s oil war enters round 2 (Politico Pro $), India's oil minister says oil market is not altruism (Bloomberg $), Rise in UK wood-burners likely to be creating ‘pollution hotspots’ in affluent areas (The Guardian)

CARBON REMOVAL: The danger of desperation (Atmos)

DENIAL: Climate denial campaign goes retro with new textbook (Grist)

GOP vs. ESG: Red state AGs target ESG money in their own organization (E&E $)

THE MORE YOU KNOW: Have climate questions? Get answers here. (New York Times $)

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS: For 2023, UN chief amplifies warnings on Ukraine, climate (Reuters), IMF using policy to combat climate change (CBS)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: 100,000 green jobs announced since US adopted climate law, study finds (Bloomberg $), The congressional China-EV showdown (Axios)

AGENCIES: Biden energy agenda exposes regulatory gap (E&E News), Biden must count on agencies for environmental agenda (Roll Call)

EPA: She grew up under water boil advisories in Jackson. Now she’s bringing environmental justice to the EPA. (The 19th* News)

TREASURY: US Treasury secretary to visit GM JV battery plant in Tennessee (Reuters)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: NSF director faces gender discrimination lawsuit (E&E $), Potential easing of climate-disclosure rules: Former SEC chair breaks down top issues (CNBC), SEC under fire for proposed climate rule (E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: Harris announces funding to address root causes of migration crisis (New York Times $), What to expect during Biden’s State of the Union address (E&E News), White House science official [Alondra Nelson] to step down (E&E $), Biden to lay down economic challenge to House Republicans (New York Times $)

HOUSE: Natural Resources sets hearings on drilling, mining (E&E $, E&E $), House schedules vote on energy cybersecurity bill (E&E $)

ELECTIONS: Ex-Cabinet bosses, energy magnates aren't donating to Trump (E&E $)

TRIBES: Close to Home: A tribe’s vision of community sustainability (The Press Democrat)

CITIES AND STATES: Connecticut drafts a performance-based regulation system following utilities’ storm response (Utility Dive), North Carolina poised to take huge step forward in building efficiency (Energy News Network), What’s your neighborhood’s climate impact? (New York Times $)

SCIENCE: Battling lava and snowstorms to keep a climate project alive (New York Times $)

IMPACTS: China warns of more extreme weather in 2023 (Reuters), Atmospheric rivers aren’t just a problem for California. They’re changing the Arctic, too (CNN, The Conversation)

HEAT: A very American death: how Caleb Blair lost his life in the Phoenix heat (The Guardian), India's sugarcane workers suffer debt bondage as climate change bites (Context), Air conditioner curbs add to heat deaths - but renewables can help (Context)

WILDFIRES: How wildfire evacuation plans can help communities avoid logistical nightmares (Yale Climate Connections)

WATER: A water crisis is looming over western United States (OilPrice)

DEFORESTATION: Study documents a halt to deforestation in Brazil’s Atlantic forest after Indigenous communities gain title to their territories (Inside Climate News)

BOOZE: Struggling Bordeaux wine producers offered aid to clear stocks (Reuters)

RENEWABLES: Can bighorns, a bullet train and a huge solar farm coexist in the Mojave Desert? (LA Times $, E&E News), Solar to dominate new US electric-generating capacity in 2023, EIA says (Reuters), Electricity day and night: Solar power is changing isolated Amazon communities (Mongabay), Judge blames 'corporate behemoths' for turbine patent fight (E&E $), New French law will blanket parking lots with solar panels (Washington Post $), Ørsted moving forward with US projects, but trouble lurks (E&E $), Texas: Geothermal capital? (E&E $)

BATTERIES: US car makers’ EV plans hinge on made-in-America batteries (Wall Street Journal $)

OIL & GAS: Oil giants slow down their energy transition talk (Axios), Chevron explores Algerian gas plans amid Russian sanctions (Wall Street Journal $, OilPrice), Saudi Arabia surprises markets by increasing oil prices to Asia (OilPrice)

PETROCHEMICALS: Derailed train carrying hazardous chemicals in Ohio could explode, officials fear (Gizmodo), Crews release toxic chemicals from derailed tankers in Ohio (AP)

PLASTICS: Plastic-eating bacteria offer new hope for recycling (The Hill)

PFAS: Destroying ‘forever chemicals’ is a technological race that could become a multibillion-dollar industry (Inside Climate News), States target 'forever chemicals,' plastics (E&E $)

COAL: Chances of coal being phased out? Just 1 in 20 by 2050 (The Hill)

HYDROGEN: Safety improved on world's first liquid hydrogen carrier after malfunction (Reuters)

UTILITIES: New York ISO warns NextEra, others against lobbying over transmission (Utility Dive), PG&E will pay Sunrun battery owners for power to avoid blackouts (Bloomberg $), Tennessee Valley Authority didn't violate NEPA — court (E&E $), Texas wind energy freeze-out shows need for better resource adequacy, says NRG VP (Utility Dive)

(ALLEGED) UTILITY CORRUPTION: Why attention to detail matters in the government’s HB 6 corruption trial (Energy News Network)

EVs: Zero-emission trucks face fleets’ hesitance for change (Bloomberg $), The house and car will merge — and change how we power our lives (Washington Post $)

AVIATION: The no-jet set: They’ve given up flying to save the planet (New York Times $)

AGRICULTURE: Why farmers in Zimbabwe are shifting to bees (Yes Magazine)

THE STORY BEHIND TOBY ZIEGLER'S 'DROP IN': The case of the eco-terrorists and the book deal (New York Times $)

IN MEMORIAM: Bob Born, who brought marshmallow peeps to the masses, dies at 98 (New York Times $)

WILDLIFE: Huge chunk of plants, animals in US at risk of extinction (Reuters, Grist, Gizmodo, The Hill)

INTERNATIONAL: Australian startup Recharge wins bid for collapsed UK battery company Britishvolt (The Guardian), India can add oil and gas while it chases green goal, Modi says (Bloomberg $, OilPrice), Insulate Britain protester faces prison over contempt of court conviction (The Guardian), Poland eyes boost for nuclear energy in EU power market reform (Reuters), Renewables groups sound alarm over UK grid connection delays (FT $)

• Turn this old house into your clean-energy dream home (Canary Media, interactive)
• A conversation with Robert Bullard, ‘father of environmental justice’ (Yale Climate Connections, interview)
• Is it time to rethink police traffic stops? (NewsOne, Derek Epp, and Megan Dias op-ed)
• Pakistan is on the brink (FT, Editorial Board $)
• Green subsidy race may be what the world needs (Reuters, Hugo Dixon column)
• Q&A: California drilling setback law suspended by oil industry ballot maneuver. The law’s author won’t back down (Inside Climate News, Lena Gonzalez interview)
• Can New York City become the world’s greenest city without becoming more unaffordable? (New York Times, Paul Greenberg and Gernot Wagner op-ed $)
• China’s ‘climate’ balloon risks Arctic peace (Bloomberg, Liam Denning column $)
• Musk gets away with mischief (Bloomberg, Matt Levine column $)
• Circuses have evolved and so must UN climate summits (Climate Home, Michael Jacobs op-ed)
• US outpaces EU in the race to build EV batteries (Energy Monitor, Nick Ferris)
• Agroecology is the future for Africa’s farming youth (Context, Simon Bukenya op-ed)

Right-Wing Media Uses the 'Hysterical Woman' Trope to Try and Delegitimize Biden Climate Advisor

Last week, within three days of each other, right-wing media outlets ran three remarkably similar hit pieces attacking Dr. Kim Cobb, a climate scientist who was appointed to the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.

In reality, no one is better suited than Dr. Cobb to advise President Biden on climate risks. She is an award-winning scientist, a Yale graduate, the author of nearly one hundred scientific publications, and a professor and director at Brown University. By every metric, she's a great choice for, as more honest coverage puts it, "evaluating America's spy programs."

According to the disinformation machine, however, Dr. Cobb is unfit for her new position because she experiences human emotions and was rightly worried that Donald Trump's presidency would be bad for the climate.

In 2019, Dr. Cobb told Mother Jones that the 2016 election of the climate change-denying, racist, fascist, sexist, and transphobic nightmare Donald Trump caused her to experience a weeks-long bout of depression. “My most resounding thought was, how could my country do this?" Dr. Cobb recounted, “I had to face the fact that there was a veritable tidal wave of people who don’t care about climate change and who put personal interest above the body of scientific information that I had contributed to.”

Dr. Cobb was one of many climate scientists who spoke up about the huge mental health toll of being a scientist in Trump’s anti-science America, and like many others, she didn’t let the devastating election stop her from defending climate science. Just one “month after being crushed by post-election depression in 2016,” Dr. Cobb was on her feet, “speaking at a Stand Up for Science rally, which protested Trump’s dismissal of climate change as a global threat.” As it turns out, Dr. Cobb certainly wasn’t wrong to be worried about what a Trump presidency would mean for the climate!

Right-wing outlets are now trying to hold Dr. Cobb’s Mother Jones interview against her, playing into the misogynistic “hysterical woman” trope to argue that Dr. Cobb is unfit for her new role.

Collin Anderson at The Washington Free Beacon was the first out of the gate on February 1, with a piece condescendingly claiming that “it's unclear whether Cobb will be able to stomach… sensitive and unsettling information” merely because she was distressed about Trump's election. Anderson also desperately tried to discredit Dr. Cobb by insinuating that she has problematic ties to Russia and China.

Over at Townhall, Sarah Arnold followed suit the very next day, botching Anderson’s insults: “It’s unclear whether Cobb will have the strength to deal with such sensitive topics while serving on Biden’s board, which [where?] she will most likely have to probe high-profile national security threats and intelligence failures.” Arnold also waved the anti-woke flag, warning her readers that Dr. Cobb uses her voice to support POC and LGBTQIA+ scientists.

To complete the trifecta, on February 3 the Washington Examiner’s Matt Lamb also weaponized Dr. Cobb’s experience with depression, using an unbelievably snide tone of false concern. “Mental health troubles are a real problem and should not be laughed off,” Lamb wrote, before immediately attacking Dr. Cobb’s mental health with full force in his piece headlined, "Trump’s election caused Biden's intelligence pick to have a “mental health crisis."

Why are these outlets repeatedly attacking Dr. Cobb? Well, it’s probably because the morally bankrupt authors of these hit pieces are mere droplets in the “veritable tidal wave” of fossil-fueled climate change countermovement actors. Townhall is a former project of the fossil fuel-funded Heritage Foundation​​; The Washington Examiner is a frequent spreader of climate change disinformation; and, last but not least, The Washington Free Beacon is financially backed by fossil fuel investor Paul Singer.

This is not the first attack like this on scientists—it's not even the first attack of the year! And as much as we hope otherwise, it's also not going to be the last. Harassing scientists is a key tactic in the disinformation playbook, and the better the scientist, the more frequent and ferocious the attacks.

We have full confidence that Dr. Cobb's climate expertise will be of tremendous value to the Biden administration, and we suspect that the level of emotional honesty and maturity expressed in her 2019 interview actually makes her an even more valuable advisor, especially compared to whatever hypothetical, emotionless, climate-denying expert that these right-wing outlets would support.

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