Montana Youth Climate Trial Begins Today: A groundbreaking climate lawsuit brought by 16 children in Montana more than three years ago goes to trial this morning. The plaintiffs, now 5 to 22 years old, argue Montana's fossil fuel-friendly policies violate the state's 1972 constitution's guaranteed right to "a clean and healthful environment." The state has opposed the lawsuit so far on procedural grounds. The judge in the case has already stated she will not issue prescriptive policies the state must enact, if the plaintiffs were to win, but would instead issue an order declaring it had violated its own constitution. Such a ruling, however, could be a major boon to similar lawsuits across the country. “It will change the future of the planet if courts will start declaring the conduct of government unconstitutional,” Julia Olson, founder of Our Children's Trust, the nonprofit that filed the lawsuit on the plaintiffs' behalf, told the AP. The fact that the case is going to trial at all, is itself significant, Rebecca Bratspies, director of the CUNY School of Law’s Center for Urban and Environmental Reform, told the Wall Street Journal. “I don’t think there was a sense until somewhat recently that litigation in courts, under state constitutions, might be a path forward." Co-plaintiff Claire Vlases told Grist that “I’ve done as much as I think I can do as a person. And now I believe it’s time for my government to take action.” (AP, Wall Street Journal $, E&E News, Reuters, Grist, Truthout, TIME)

Wildfire Smoke Clears While Disinfo Clouds Conservative Media: The wildfire smoke that blanketed the northeastern US last week has lifted, bringing air pollution levels down, and offering reprieve, particularly for those acutely affected by the smoke, including children, the elderly, sick, and otherwise vulnerable communities already facing a heavy pollution burden. “These are the same health issues we see from burning fossil fuels, such as natural gas, but many overlook or downplay this threat because you cannot see or smell this pollution as easily as you can with wildfire smoke," Annie Carforo of WE ACT for Environmental Justice told CNN. While mainstream media was replete with coverage of the health impacts, rightwing news consumers were hearing something dramatically different- disinformation. Because tobacco smoke, wildfire smoke, and smoke from combusting fossil fuels all release a similar kind of particulate matter pollution, or soot, known formally PM2.5, former tobacco lawyer, turned coal and fossil-funded climate denier Steve Milloy was invited on to Fox News to deny the health impacts of breathing in smoke. Scientific research shows PM2.5 from fossil fuels is responsible for 1 in 5 deaths worldwide, but as NPR health correspondent Maria Godoy explained, wildfire smoke is "estimated to be 10 times as toxic as air pollution from burning fossil fuels." (Smoke and Health: CNN, NPR, Axios, The Guardian, New York Times $; Disinfo: Media Matters, CNN, New Republic, HuffPost, Rolling Stone, TruthOut, Newsweek, Mediaite, Independent, Common Dreams, Messenger, RawStory)

GM Joins Ford, In Adopting Tesla EV Chargers: General Motors is joining Ford in adopting Tesla's charging system, CEO Mary Barra announced with Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk on the social media platform late last week. There are about 54,000 public charging stations across the U.S. and while Tesla only has about 17,000 "Supercharger" stations across the U.S., its systems charge faster. GM and Ford EV owners will need to use an adaptor to connect to Tesla chargers, but both will adopt Tesla's charging standards beginning in 2025. Tesla stands to rake in significant revenue from allowing other automakers access to its charging network — though it is withholding access to about 5,000 charging stations exclusively for Tesla owners. (GM: AP, NPR, Fortune, NBC, E&E $; Tesla: Wall Street Journal $, The Verge, Bloomberg $, Tech Crunch)

ENVIRONMENTAL (IN)JUSTICE: How climate justice could look different — and the same — in the Gulf Coast and Appalachia (Grist)

COP28: UN considering reforms to limit influence of fossil fuel industry at global climate talks (Inside Climate News)

FIRE AND SMOKE: ‘The fire equivalent of an ice age’: Humanity enters a new era of fire (Washington Post $), Wildfire smoke is getting worse for everyone, especially disadvantaged groups (The Verge), Wildfire smoke broke US records. Could it strike again this summer? (Washington Post $), Wildfire smoke is also a carbon emissions problem (Axios), Wildfires spur record-setting traffic to EPA websites (E&E $), Canada's wildfires expose the climate change 'spiral of silence' (Bloomberg $), What East Coast cities can learn about wildfire policies from the West (Bloomberg $), Wildfire smoke reminded people about climate change. How soon will they forget? (Vox), How Canada’s wildfires reflect a ‘fire-dependent civilization’ (The Hill), Exhausted crews battle Canadian wildfires as experts issue climate warning (The Guardian), What to know about Canada’s exceptional wildfire season (New York Times $), Will wildfires like these become the new normal? (New York Times $), Air quality over the US and Canada is slowly getting better. But the threat of more wildfires sending smoke across the border looms (CNN), How the Canadian wildfire smoke could shift Americans’ views on climate (Washington Post $), Smoke from Canadian wildfires hits Norway and flows to southern Europe (The Guardian), Smoky air returning to NYC, US northeast after a brief reprieve (Bloomberg $), The DC region just saw its worst smoke pollution on record (Washington Post $), They left California to escape wildfires. Then New York turned orange. (Washington Post $)

• STAY SAFE: Tips to cope with wildfires, from a former wildland firefighter (NPR), Wildfire smoke is blanketing much of the US. Here's how to protect yourself (NPR), Millions still under air quality warnings in US as weather eases Canada wildfires (The Guardian), NYC, east coast air quality to remain hazy until rains arrive (Bloomberg $), Orange skies are the future. Prepare yourself. (National Geographic), Your guide to understanding the East Coast smokepocalypse (Inside Climate News), Wildfires show need for climate change-related federal protections for workers, advocacy group says (HR Dive)
• TOXIC POLLUTION: Here’s what health experts want you to know about this week’s wildfire smoke (Gizmodo), How poor air quality and wildfire smoke impact pregnant people (The 19th* News), The US and Canada saw dangerous smoke this week. It's a routine peril for many developing countries (AP), Washington quiets as Canadian smoke blankets U.S. capital (Reuters), When the smoke clears will we still be talking about air quality? Why we should. (NJ.com)
• CANADIAN FIRES: Orange and smoky skies over a province that rolled back climate measures (New York Times $), Canada’s wildfire season is off to an ‘unprecedented’ start. Here’s what it could mean for the US (CNN), International help rolls in to fight persistent Canadian wildfires (Reuters), Rain may soon help put out flames in Canada's worst recorded wildfire season (NPR), Haze from Canadian wildfires eases as reinforcements from abroad arrive (AP), Canadians fighting wildfires see hope in improving weather conditions (AP), New Englanders complained about the smoke. In Canada, residents battle wildfires at their door (Boston Globe $), Wildfires spread in British Columbia, Quebec sees signs of progress (Reuters)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: £19.3bn of fossil fuels imported by UK from authoritarian states in year since Ukraine war (The Guardian), Russian invasion increases challenges, risks for Ukraine coal mines (Reuters)

HISTORY LESSONS: Climate change warning signs started in the 1800s. Here's what humanity knew and when. (USA Today)

(CLIMATE) DIPLOMACY: Rich nations pledge climate action but invest in fossil fuels (E&E $), The climate confidence gap (Axios), US bans imports from China-based Ninestar over Uyghurs (Reuters)

ACTIVISM: Facing down the fossils (PBS NewsHour), This Brazilian activist stared down mining giants to protect the rainforest she loves (NPR)

• GRETA: Climate activist Greta Thunberg won’t be school striking after graduation but vows to still protest (AP), Greta Thunberg holds last school climate strike after 251 straight weeks (Wall Street Journal $, New York Times $, Washington Post $, CBS, The Guardian, CNBC, BBC, Mashable), Greta Thunberg's rise from youth activist to global climate leader (Context)

PLAY STUPID GAMES, WIN STUPIDER PRIZES: Think the debt fight was bad? It could be worse with climate change. (E&E $)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: An IRA renewables boom amid economic uncertainty will require reimagining financing, say bankers (Utility Dive), Energy tax credits, meant to help US suppliers, may be hard to get (New York Times $)

AGENCIES: What the debt ceiling deal means for agencies (E&E News), Department of Agriculture conservation programs are giving millions to farms that worsen climate change (Inside Climate News)

EPA: GOP to EPA: Extend comment period for power plant rule (E&E $), Texas sues EPA over federal smog control plan (Texas Tribune)

DOE: Energy Department begins refilling oil reserve with 3 million barrel buy after record drawdown (Washington Examiner), Granholm contradicts testimony, reveals she did own stocks (E&E News, Washington Examiner)

DOI: Protest derails planned celebration of 20-year ban on oil drilling near Chaco national park (AP)

WHITE HOUSE: Pipeline protesters rip Biden as political gap widens (E&E $), White House welcomes Tesla to take advantage of federal dollars for chargers (Reuters)

THE HILL: Appropriators to restart spending markups after debt deal (E&E $), Electricity transmission plan likely to get new look in Washington (Wall Street Journal $)

HOUSE: Lucas rolls out bill to make NOAA independent (E&E $)

SENATE: GOP bill takes aim at EPA smog control plan (E&E $), In Boyle Heights, Sen. Alex Padilla urges Superfund status for Exide cleanup (LA Times $), Senators pin blame for wildfires on forest managers, permitting delays (E&E $), Manchin details concerns about climate law implementation (E&E News)

POLITICS: How gas stoves became a weapon in the culture wars (Bloomberg $), Meet the deep-pocketed climate nonprofit pushing gas stove ban with direct line to Biden admin, China links (Fox News), Why House Republicans should be cooking with gas (Fox News)

CITIES AND STATES: Can Phoenix grow without groundwater? Only if the price is right. (Grist), Illinois advances access to chargers to meet EV goals (Inside Climate News), Pa. coal plants keep closing. Does the state need carbon trading? (E&E News), This Georgia program is training a huge cleantech manufacturing workforce (Canary Media)

• CALIFORNIA: California’s 2020 smoke storm was horrific. What did the state learn? (Washington Post $)

FERC: FERC pipeline battle erupts over social cost of carbon (E&E $)

IMPACTS: How Arctic ice melt raises the risk of far-away wildfires (Bloomberg $), Climate crisis is on track to push one-third of humanity out of its most livable environment (ProPublica), How climate change is raising the cost of food (CBS), How wildfires and climate change impact headache and migraine symptoms (WHYY), If you can’t breathe well, neither can your pet (Vox), Migrate to survive: Water woes clear out villages in hilly Nepal (Context), Three die, farmland and trees damaged as storms sweep across China (Reuters), Winters in the Northeast could see a 109% increase in extreme precipitation, new report finds (Boston Globe $)

HEAT: Puerto Rico will continue to experience extreme heat through Sunday (Yale Climate Connections), Risk of hot summer in UK is more than twice normal figure, forecasters warn (The Guardian), Troops feel the heat, and several faint, as Prince William reviews military parade (AP)

• AIR CONDITIONING: How air conditioners will have to change in the future (Washington Post $), This country’s love affair with air conditioning shows a Catch 22 of climate change (CNN)

WILDFIRES: How climate change is making wildfires worse (PolitiFact), 3 lessons from the western US for dealing with wildfire smoke (NPR), New York City had plans to deal with climate change — but they didn't involve wildfire smoke (NBC), Canadian wildfires stir debate about hands-off forestry (E&E $)

PLANTING SEQUOIAS: In burned-out groves of giant sequoias, crews plant seeds of hope. Will they survive? (LA Times $)

HURRICANES: How are hurricanes connected to climate change? (Inside Climate News)

WATER: A puzzle in Arizona’s boom towns: How to keep growing with less water (New York Times $), Arizona, low on water, weighs taking it from the sea. In Mexico. (New York Times $)

EL NIÑO: NOAA makes it official: El Niño is here (Yale Climate Connections)

RENEWABLES: N.Y. offshore wind: Rising costs should spur higher payments (E&E $), US burns more natural gas as wind power drops, Canadian wildfires cloud solar (Reuters), Wildfire smoke ‘significantly’ reduced solar power production in New England this week (WBUR)

BATTERIES: Battery maker wins $850M DOE loan to build first US factory (Canary Media)

LNG: Worst-case forecast for LNG plays out differently (Bloomberg $)

METHANE: Methane reduction holds key to averting climate catastrophe (The Guardian)

OIL & GAS: America is going through an oil boom — and this time it's different (NPR), Bay Area refinery fallout does not pose significant health risk, authorities say (LA Times $), Montana gas power plant can resume construction, judge rules (AP), Shell pivots back to oil to win over investors (Reuters), Shell CEO's new strategy sees a long-term future for natural gas (Bloomberg $)

ORPHANED WELLS: Pennsylvania expects $400 million in infrastructure funds to begin plugging thousands of abandoned oil wells (Inside Climate News)

COAL: Glencore approaches teck over its coal business (Wall Street Journal $)

NUKES: A Ukrainian nuclear plant is facing a water shortage (NPR)

UTILITIES: Calif. utilities work to prevent extreme wildfires (E&E $), States test an unusual idea: Tying electric utilities’ profit to performance (Inside Climate News), Utility regulators with environmental experience more than double; industry experience also jumps: study (Utility Dive), Washington regulators conditionally approve Puget Sound Energy’s 63% clean electricity by 2025 target (Utility Dive)

GRID: Natural gas, renewables set to surge this summer, feds say (E&E $), Needed: Car experts to fend off grid disaster (E&E News), Why the US electric grid isn’t ready for the energy transition (New York Times $)

EVs: In the race to electrification, the humble bus is in the lead (Bloomberg $)

ART: Climate activists protest the Museum of Modern Art’s fossil fuel donors outside its biggest fundraising gala (Inside Climate News), New Charlotte exhibit highlights climate equality in a changing world (WFAE)

MEDIA: Here's how NPR reporters around the world are dealing with air pollution (NPR)

ALL ABOARD!: A night train through Europe’s heart has a lot riding on it (Bloomberg $)

POP CULTURE: Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello's relationship timeline (Teen Vogue)

MAYBE DON'T MAKE IT FASHION?: How fast, cheap fashion is polluting the planet (Bloomberg $)

BUSINESSES: US companies face less pressure for climate and social reforms (Reuters), More companies setting ‘net-zero’ climate targets, but few have credible plans, report says (AP)

CARBON CAPTURE: EU plans strategy to scale up investment in capturing CO2 emissions (Reuters)

FOOD: Lab-grown meat maker Uncommon raises $30 million from OpenAI's Sam Altman and others (Reuters)

SURF'S UP: A landlocked German boardmaker is trying to make surfing greener (Bloomberg $)

FINANCE: Boring no more. Goldman says buy these utility stocks that are enabling a clean energy future (CNBC), Natural evolution: Record Galapagos deal sparks clamour for eco-friendly debt swaps (Reuters), Regulators are changing the game just as ESG investing gets its bearings: ACORE panel (Utility Dive), World Bank must drive private investment in climate transition, new chief says (Reuters)

IN MEMORIAM: Remembering Jessie Maple, the trailblazing Black filmmaker of cinema (Black Girl Nerds)

WILDLIFE: ‘Things not going well’: plan to return cheetahs to India under fire after six die within months (The Guardian), Tens of thousands of dead fish wash ashore on Gulf Coast in Texas (New York Times $), Wildfires forced this animal sanctuary out of California. But smoke found them in their new home too (LA Times $)

INTERNATIONAL: Cash-strapped Pakistani government proposes budget, complete with funds to fight climate change (AP), EU to try again for renewable energy deal after nuclear row (Reuters), European leaders offer more aid to Tunisia amid efforts to curb migration (AP), From North Sea revival to renewables, Aberdeen sees corporate interests triumph (The Guardian), North Sea oil and gas industry offered ‘get-out’ clause on windfall tax (The Guardian), Sunak visit highlights climate split with Biden (E&E $), UN agency says Myanmar has suspended international aid deliveries to cyclone-hit areas (AP)

• How I talk to my kids about climate change (CNN, Laura Schifter op-ed)
• New York’s big smoke should give stovetop warriors pause (Bloomberg, Liam Denning column $)
• Giving red America a reason to love electric vehicles (New York Times, Binyamin Appelbaum op-ed $)
• Smoky orange haze amplifies focus on ventilation (Bloomberg, Brooke Sutherland op-ed $)
• Is an answer to global overfishing and its subsidies on the horizon? (The Hill, Christine McDaniel op-ed)
• A 36-year-old treaty is slowing the Arctic meltdown (Bloomberg, David Fickling op-ed $)
• Gavin Newsom, please don’t cut public transit funds. That’s short-term thinking. (New York Times, Farhad Manjoo column $)
• Working-class women bear the burden of climate change (NJ.com, Isabella Tyszka op-ed)
• Labour doesn’t need to sabotage its green prosperity plan – just to cost it clearly (The Guardian, John McDonnell op-ed)
• What we don’t know about wildfires might kill us (Bloomberg, Mark Gongloff op-ed $)
• That’s smoke, not climate change (Wall Street Journal, Mary Anastasia O’Grady op-ed $)
• America’s prairies are under attack — we need them in the fight against climate change (The Hill, Melissa D. Ho op-ed)
• Republicans’ anti-ESG attack may be silencing insurers, but it isn’t changing their pro-climate business decisions (Climate Home, Rachel Kyte op-ed)
• Labour’s green pledge offers everything voters want: to delay it would be foolish (The Guardian, Rebecca Newsom op-ed)
• OPEC just gave Biden an opening to start a new US energy boom (The Hill, Robert Henneke op-ed)
• Europe’s risky plan to avert an energy crisis: Stash gas in Ukraine (Bloomberg $)
• When chopping down trees is a gift to the environment (New York Times, Robert Langellier and Terra Fondriest op-ed $)
• When it comes to wildfires, we’re all Westerners now (The Hill, Robert Wilson op-ed)
• Students lay the foundation for a new generation of sustainable cooling in India (Energy Monitor, Sneha Sachar and Prasad Vaidya op-ed)
• The tragic intersection of the war on Ukraine and the battle against climate change (The Hill, Tara D. Sonenshine op-ed)

Transphobes And Climate Deniers Use Same Rhetorical Techniques To Distort Reality

Last Friday, we discussed the fact that Republicans are using transphobia to obstruct climate action. Today, we’ll explain how transphobic rhetoric often relies on the same set of science denialist rhetorical techniques as climate change denial.

At the core, conspiracy theories are a defining feature of how both climate denial and transphobia require intentionally misleading presentations to disguise their fundamental lack of evidence, as both are expressions of a motivated rejection of reality and therefore require a mechanism to write off experts.

While conspiratorial thinking creates excuses, it's often too obviously ridiculous to pass in polite society. For that, there's paltering, another technique used in science denial, where true statements are presented in a misleading way. While conspiracies remain under the bridge, so to speak, with the trolls, paltering is usually professional, and is often seen in oil industry advertisements.

Or, take an April Fox News article, entitled “Transgender female runner who beat 14,000 women at London Marathon offers to give medal back.” This is a clear example of transphobic paltering, since it uses a technically true statement to spread disinformation about trans women in sports and imply that the athlete in question won the race. But the reality is that while the athlete did beat many other runners (with a 4:11:26 time Paul Ryan would have claimed he ran in 3:02:17), she actually came in 6,160th place overall among 20,000 total marathoners. 

Transphobes don’t have any solid evidence to back up their positions ("trans athlete comes in 6,160th place" wouldn't make a good headline) so they twist real events to mislead readers.

Unfortunately, that lack of evidence doesn't always stop the media from giving a megaphone to science deniers by adhering to an uncritical “both sides” approach. False equivalence is the practice of “making it appear that both sides of an argument have equal merit when one side relies on factual evidence and the other does not,” and this harmful convention is still disturbingly present in journalism about trans rights, though largely overcome in mainstream media when it comes to the climate crisis. 

The Atlantic’s recent profile of CNN’s (now-ousted) CEO Chris Licht revealed that on the subject of gender affirming care for trans kids, Licht stated, “There is a truth in there, and it may not serve one side or the other.” These types of comments completely ignore the fact that one “side” builds its policies on actual scientific facts and the other side only has conspiracy theories. But they do serve as a more palatable version of overtly hateful viewpoints. 

Toxic (or reactionary) centrism is another tactic utilized by both transphobes and obstructors of climate action. Science deniers love to frame scientifically correct ideas as extreme and false claims as reasonable or moderate. The reality is that “centrism” often favors the unjust status quo, and halfway between justice and injustice is still injustice. Praising yourself for being slightly less unjust than other people is not at all reasonable.

Unfortunately, this is where the problem extends beyond the right-wing sphere. How many trans women working in the climate space do you know? What about trans women of color? Climate organizations, especially moderate ones, run the risk of being complicit in the systemic oppression of trans people by maintaining inequitable hiring practices that marginalize trans people and trans women specifically, ignoring the clear connection between climate denial and transphobia, and, worst of all, intentionally caving to or even fueling right-wing fearmongering about trans people.

For example, Duke University is positioning itself as a leader in climate change research, but it is also playing a huge role in spreading transphobia nationwide. The university runs an anti-transgender advocacy office at its law school that distributes anti-trans legislative arguments that have informed 22 states’ anti-trans sports laws. Furthermore, Doriane Coleman, a Duke law professor, cofounded a transphobic group that endorses “sex segregation,” and she is referenced four times in North Carolina’s 2021 anti-trans athlete bill.

Confronting this wall of hatred can often seem overwhelming, but hardworking trans leaders are providing a beacon of hope. For example, trans actress, TikTok star, and activist Dylan Mulvaney has fearlessly advocated for trans rights despite being targeted by the anti-ESG movement. Additionally, Chase Strangio is an accomplished trans civil rights attorney and the Deputy Director for Transgender Justice at the ACLU who works tirelessly to combat anti-trans legislation.

“We need to be serious about the magnitude of what's going on without overly catastrophizing it,” Strangio told Them magazine. “The history of queer activism is one of disruption, one of stunting, of fabulousness. We can't lose sight of that.”

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