Amazon Delivery Workers Strike For Heat Protections: Amazon delivery drivers in Southern California are on indefinite strike over the massive corporation's refusal to ensure safe working conditions in extreme heat. The 84 drivers, employed by a third-party delivery contractor, joined the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on April 24 and have been on strike since June 24. “Sometimes it reaches 135 degrees in the rear of the truck and there’s no cooling system,” Raj Singh, one of the drivers, told Grist. “It feels like an oven when you step back there. You instantly start feeling woozy, and it’s gotten to the point where I’ve actually seen stars.” Mail delivery personnel are especially vulnerable to extreme heat, and Amazon's use of third-party delivery contractors it can fire with virtually no warning or explanation make unionizing and improving working conditions especially difficult. “Amazon sets these ridiculous paces. Some people even have to miss their guaranteed 15-minute breaks, because if we break the pace, they contact us to try and find out why we’re behind," Singh said. “We’re here so we can have fair pay and safe jobs … not just for us but for every delivery driver that works for Amazon.” (Grist, Climate Signals background: Extreme heat and heatwaves)

EPA Finalizes New HFCs Rule: The EPA on Tuesday finalized a rule to reduce hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) pollution by 40% in the next five years. The U.S. is one of 150 countries that have ratified the Kigali Amendment, under which HFC production and consumption must be reduced by 85% by 2036. HFCs are extremely potent heat-trapping greenhouse gasses commonly used in refrigerators and air conditioners, and implementation of the Kigali Amendment could prevent as much as half a degree celsius of global warming. (AP, E&E $, Reuters, Bloomberg Law, The Hill)

MVP Construction Temporarily Blocked By 4th Cir.: A federal appeals court issued a stay on Monday blocking construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline until it can fully rule on the impact of the proposed methane gas pipeline on soil, water, and wildlife in the Jefferson National Forest. Congress sought to clear the way for the already-delayed and over-budget pipeline when it raised the debt ceiling in late May, but environmentalists argue it overstepped its Constitutional authority when it ordered agencies to ignore federal regulations and approve the beleaguered pipeline project, which has suffered numerous defeats before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. “Congress cannot mandate that federal regulators throw caution to the wind — environmental laws are more than just mere suggestions, and must be adhered to,” Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous said in a statement. (AP, Roanoke Times, E&E $, West Virginia Public Radio, Politico Pro $, Wall Street Journal $, Construction Dive, Politico Pro $, The Hill, Reuters, Bloomberg Law, Politico, Politico Pro $)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: A racist past and hotter future are testing Western water like never before (NPR)

FLOODING: ‘Heaviest rain ever’ causes deadly floods and landslides in Japan (The Guardian, New York Times $, CNN, Reuters), Heavy floods in northern India take hydropower plants offline (Bloomberg $)

• NORTHEAST US: Five key factors that spurred the historic floods in Vermont, New York (Washington Post $), Dozens rescued in Vermont from destructive flooding as states facing multimillion-dollar clean-ups (The Independent, AP, CNN, Bloomberg $, NPR, Axios, Washington Post $, The Hill, Gizmodo), How climate change is increasing the number of '1,000-year' storms like the 1 that just hit New York and Vermont (Yahoo), As floods drench New York, Vermont and beyond, an aging dam system faces a critical test (USA Today, Reuters, CBS), Vermont floods show limits of America’s efforts to adapt to climate change (New York Times $, CBS, Washington Post $), Biden approves Vermont emergency declaration amid flooding (The Hill), The flooding in Vermont is ‘historic and catastrophic,’ governor says (Wall Street Journal $), A visual guide to the flooding in Vermont caused by 'catastrophic' rainfall (USA Today, TIME PHOTOS, Washington Post PHOTOS $)

GETTING EMISSIONS OFF BIG OIL'S BOOKS: America’s newest oil baron can thank climate activism (Wall Street Journal $)

EPOCH DECISIONS: Nuclear bomb fallout chosen to define start of Anthropocene (The Guardian, AP), Scientists unveil the key site that shows we’re in a new climate epoch (Vox), The human age has a new symbol. It’s a record of bomb tests and fossil fuels. (New York Times $), Crawford Lake shows humans started a new chapter in geologic time, scientists say (Washington Post $)

SPEAKING OF THE 1950s…: We knew about climate change in the ’50s. Why an author tracked the history of denial (LA Times $)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: ‘Tipping point’: Asbestos, opioid lawyers enter climate fray (E&E News)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: After 'sleepless nights,' governments strike deal on Green Climate Fund strategy (Climate Home), More than $2 billion committed at UK-US climate finance forum (Reuters)

• DEEP BLUE SEA: A showdown in Jamaica is deciding the fate of the deep ocean (Bloomberg $), As an obscure United Nations gathering deliberates the fate of deep-sea mining, the tuna industry calls for a halt (Inside Climate News), Deep sea mining threatens $5.5 billion tuna industry, study finds (Bloomberg $)

GOP vs. ESG: ESG debate finds a few US politicians open to frank discussions (Bloomberg $)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: Al Gore describes the cleantech ‘wart’ on Biden’s historic Inflation Reduction Act (Fortune)

SCOTUS: The Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling could hamper Biden’s environmental justice agenda (Inside Climate News), Why SCOTUS might stop Republican attacks on carbon metric (E&E News)

AGENCIES: Agriculture Dept. to invest $300 million to measure greenhouse emissions (New York Times $), FEMA disaster fund could run dry during peak hurricane season (E&E $)

EPA: EPA climate rule could make air pollution worse in some areas (E&E $), EPA says carbon capture is within reach. Utilities aren’t biting. (E&E News), Judge freezes WOTUS fight until Biden issues new rule (E&E News)

DOE: The $400 billion fund that US firms could tap for public transport (Bloomberg $), DOE rolls out $200M for grid investments; California will use $67.5M for storage, resilience (Utility Dive, E&E $), Why a $90 million push could help US buildings withstand climate disasters (Washington Post $)

WHITE HOUSE: White House announces extreme heat research centers (E&E $, The Hill), US climate envoy John Kerry set to travel to Beijing this weekend (CNN), Kerry's visit to China could open door for renewed climate cooperation (Axios)

THE HILL: Republicans take aim at climate funds in spending bills (Roll Call, Inside Climate News), Dems urge more White House leadership on offshore wind (E&E $), Lawmakers scramble to pass bipartisan nuclear bills (E&E News), Committee to vote on spending bill targeting climate envoy (E&E $), Could the bills against gas stove rules become law? (E&E $)

SENATE: Sen. Tommy Tuberville relents and says white nationalists are racist (Washington Post $)

POLITICS: How Marjorie Taylor Greene’s district became Biden’s climate poster child (Politico and E&E News), Biden is pushing contractors to cut emissions. The GOP is pushing back. (Washington Post $)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Banking Committee to vote on climate-friendly Fed nominee (E&E $)

CITIES AND STATES: Minnesota community solar projects are about to get bigger and more far-flung (Energy News Network), Georgia is making its first-ever climate change plan (WABE), DeWine veto allows Ohio to divert abandoned well funding (E&E $), Scottsdale, Arizona, OKs commercial green code to boost energy efficiency, other building attributes (Utility Dive), Third-party solar financing remains in legal limbo in some states (Yale Climate Connections), With oil production in freefall, Alaska, America’s worst state for business, chases a new carbon boom (CNBC)

• CALIFORNIA: As California bakes, Newsom launches $20-million campaign to warn of the dangers of extreme heat (LA Times $, The Hill), New law to protect Joshua trees from climate change imposes fees on desert developers (LA Times $)
• SINKING FEELING: Climate change is warping the ground our cities are built on, study says (USA Today, Washington Post $), Underground climate change is weakening buildings in slow motion (Scientific American), Why underground climate change is a ‘silent hazard’ for cities (Bloomberg $), Underground climate change could crack foundations and warp subway tracks (Bloomberg $), Heat down below is making the ground shift under Chicago (New York Times $)

FERC: FERC-backed panel readies plan to prevent gas crisis from storms (E&E $)

IMPACTS: The 'new abnormal': The rise of extreme flooding, briefly explained (Vox), A ‘perfect storm’ is unfolding this summer and it’s ‘supercharging’ the weather, scientist says (CNN), Antarctic sea ice has been at record low levels for months — here’s what that means (CNBC), Should we invest more in weather forecasting? It may save your life (NPR), When climate change hits home (New York Times $)

HEAT: Nearly 90 million people under heat alerts as 'dangerous' event worsens (Axios), Across the US Southwest, residents in desert cities like Phoenix are experiencing extreme heat wave (AP), It’s just getting hotter (LA Times $), California is in for a long, scalding hot week (Gizmodo), Dangerous heat wave set to break records in US West and test power grid (Bloomberg $), Extreme heat is pushing the US toward a grim new fossil fuel milestone (HuffPost), Extreme heat is baking the planet. Follow our coverage (Bloomberg $), Heat endures in the southwest as the monsoon season lags (New York Times $), Heat wave baking Europe disrupts energy and transport networks (Bloomberg $, Bloomberg $), Heat wave pushes demand on Texas grid to record highs (The Hill), How climate change drives hotter, more frequent heat waves (Grist, Grist), Spain sweats out sultry nights as heat wave bakes southern Europe (AP)

• EUROPE 2022: Dizzying death toll of European heat reveals adaptation shortcomings (E&E $), More than 61,000 died from heat in Europe last summer — and experts think that’s an undercount (Grist)

WILDFIRES: Canada has wildfires every year. Why won’t it create a firefighting force? (Washington Post $), In fight against Canada fires, dancing South Africa crews are a familiar and uplifting sight (AP)

HURRICANES: A hurricane wiped out their Florida beach homes. Then it made them unaffordable. (Politico Pro $)

WATER: Conservationists and farmers work together to restore the Colorado River Delta (Yale Climate Connections)

DEFORESTATION: Green Climate Fund backs scheme financing farming corporations accused of destroying forests (Climate Home)

INSURANCE: Business insurance roiled by climate, inflation (Wall Street Journal $), Farmers to end home, auto coverage in Florida, pull back in California over natural disaster costs (The Hill, CBS, AP)

RENEWABLES: Biggest offshore wind farm in the US gets the go-ahead (Canary Media), Tesla settles class action lawsuit on Solar Roof price increase (The Verge), What I learned when I tried installing a wind turbine on my house (Washington Post $)

BATTERIES: California grid sees tenfold spike in battery storage in 3 years (Bloomberg $), California ISO adds over 5,000 MW of battery storage capacity (Reuters), EV batteries can be repurposed as grid storage to reduce battery supply chain impacts: report (Utility Dive)

BUILDINGS: Replacing ACs with heat pumps: A backdoor way to decarbonize heating (Canary Media), To help cool a hot planet, the whitest of white coats (New York Times $)

OIL & GAS: EIA: Rising heat and exports to drive up natural gas prices (Politico Pro $), European gas prices fall to lowest in four weeks on tepid demand (Bloomberg $), OPEC oil export revenue was highest in almost a decade last year (Bloomberg $), Proposed new UK oil and gas fields would provide at most three weeks of energy a year (The Guardian)

MINING: Tracing mining’s threat to US waters (New York Times $)

MINERALS: Report: Critical minerals supply chain puts speed of energy transition at risk (Politico), IEA says critical minerals supply could pull close to demand by 2030 (Reuters)

HYDROGEN: Expectations about EU hydrogen goals are inflated, EDP CEO says (Reuters), Why hydrogen flight is both here and decades away (Wall Street Journal $)

NUKES: Nuclear power too expensive and slow to be part of Australia’s plans to reach net zero, study finds (The Guardian)

• BOMBS: How America’s push for the atomic bomb spawned enduring radioactive waste problems in St. Louis (AP), Takeaways from AP’s examination of nuclear waste problems in the St. Louis region (AP)

UTILITIES: Sweltering Americans have fewer protections against power shutoffs this summer (CNN), Dominion sells Maryland gas plant stake to Berkshire Hathaway unit for $3.3 billion cash (Reuters)

PFAS: ‘Forever chemicals’ are everywhere; experts worry public awareness is low (The Hill), Toxic PFAS are in our drinking water. Here’s how to limit your exposure. (Truthout)

EVs: A heat wave will cook your electric car battery, if you let it (Bloomberg $), Big automakers grab $1 billion deal for urgently needed battery metals (Wall Street Journal $), EV charger maker Tritium wins order from Hawaii under federal funding program (Reuters)

TRANSITION: The energy transition is underway. Fossil fuel workers could be left behind. (New York Times $)

CRYPTO: Can banks push Bitcoin to clean up its act? (The Verge)

ONGOING EXHIBITIONS: After a year of climate protests, the toll rises for museums and activists (New York Times $)

PARENTING: How to raise kids in the face of climate change (Vox)

AVIATION: United CEO warns of more weather delays due to climate change (Politico), United CEO: Most carbon offset programs are ‘fraud’ (Politico)

BOOKS: ‘The Heat Will Kill You First’ is a chilling book — and a warning (Grist), 'Young and Restless' by Mattie Kahn chronicles the history of girls in activism (Teen Vogue)

CARBON PRICING: Carbon-offsets verifier gold standard pauses issuance of CO2 credits from Zimbabwe (Bloomberg $)

HEROISM: Millionaire gives up private jet for the environment (CNN)

WILDLIFE: A tiny fish that fuels an Atlantic ecosystem now fuels industry debates (New York Times $), Climate change is transforming our oceans. Can fisheries management adapt? (Salon)

INTERNATIONAL: A Greenpeace activist is fined for crash-landing a parachute in stadium before Germany-France match (AP), Can new Bangladesh chief heat officer bring relief to Dhaka? (Context), China's response on joint climate action was positive, EU climate chief says (Reuters), EU faces cliffhanger vote on major bill protecting nature and fighting climate change (AP), Iraq’s $27B deal with TotalEnergies could ease its longstanding energy crisis, but challenges remain (AP), Japan accuses Australia of betrayal in fight over natural-gas exports (Wall Street Journal $), Paris to charge SUV drivers higher parking fees to tackle ‘auto-besity’ (The Guardian), Spain makes new proposal for EU power market reform as seeks deal, sources say (Reuters), Who’s who in the EU’s fight over nature restoration (Politico EU), Rescuers still searching for hundreds of missing migrants off Canary Isles (France24)

• UAE: UAE sets stricter emission target with 40% reduction by 2030 (Bloomberg $), UAE's revised energy strategy includes big hydrogen plans (Reuters)

• Putin is vulnerable—stop buying Russian fossil fuels and he’ll be powerless (Common Dreams, Svitlana Romanko)
• ‘Historic and catastrophic’ flooding in Vermont is somber reminder of climate change (Bangor Daily News, Bangor Daily News Editorial Board)
• Is it hot enough yet for politicians to take real action? (The New Yorker, Bill McKibben Commentary $)
• Disasters like the Rolling Hills landslide are foreseeable. The warnings are all around us (LA Times, Brett Sanders op-ed $)
• Get ready for bigger storms. Old solutions aren’t enough. (Chicago Sun-Times, Cameron Davis and Yumeka Brown op-ed)
• How years of mismanagement and regulatory failures broke California’s utilities (Utility Dive, Jeffrey Conklin and Andrew Heath op-ed)
• Supporting women's reproductive health is key to climate goals (Newsweek, Kathleen Mogelgaard op-ed)
• Insurers' failure on climate disasters imperils financial system (Bloomberg, Lilith Fellowes-Granda op-ed $)
• Recalibrating the culture of the climate crisis—how stories shape our future (Newsweek, Allison Begalman, Heather Fipps, Ali Weinstein op-ed)

Meet The Disinfluencers: Bernie Spofforth, The Swimsuit Inventor Turned Climate And COVID Liar

Welcome to the latest edition of Meet the Disinfluencers, the series in which we shed light on the climate disinfluencers persuading people to believe false claims on social media.

If you’ve been on Twitter in the last few years, you might have encountered unhinged assertions about COVID and climate change from someone named Bernie Spofforth. Spofforth is primarily known for being a UK-based anti-lockdown campaigner who rails against vaccine requirements and masks on Twitter. She posts new content multiple times nearly every day for her 228 thousand followers, and her tweets regularly gain tens and hundreds of thousands of views.

Spofforth has caught the attention of climate disinformation researchers for the way that she spreads both climate disinformation and COVID disinformation, often simultaneously. As a January 2023 report by the Climate Action Against Disinformation coalition puts it, “Bernie Spofforth is symbolic of the overlap between those opposing public health measures (including COVID-19 deniers and anti-vaxx communities) and the anti-climate movement online.” She was also named in a 2022 academic article on ideological polarization on climate change.

Spofforth is just as dangerous as she is prolific. In addition to the deadly public health disinformation that she disseminates, she has also spread numerous climate-related conspiracy theories, including the Agenda 2030, Great Reset, 15-minute cities, and climate lockdown narratives. The clock is ticking on climate change, and misleading claims about climate science and solutions further delay the climate action we so desperately need.

To top it all off, like many other climate disinformers, Spofforth is no stranger to hate speech. She regularly posts vile anti-trans rhetoric, fueling the flames of violent transphobia in the UK and abroad.

But who is Spofforth and why does she spread lies on the internet? Unlike other unemployed disinfluencers, she actually has a day job. According to her LinkedIn page, Bernadette Spofforth is the Managing Director at a children’s swimwear company called Splash About International, where she has worked for over ten years. She also has multiple swimwear patents registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Perhaps the reason that Spofforth is so intent on raging against COVID lockdowns is that COVID restrictions caused public pools to shut down, thereby jeopardizing her swimwear business. On Splash About’s website, Spofforth states, “We would encourage pool operators and leisure centres to listen to the Swim School industry and Swim England and increase children’s swimming class sizes to pre COVID levels, the risk of drowning is far greater than the risk of COVID spreading in a chlorinated pool.”

Interestingly, Spofforth seems to care about science when it comes to her company's bathing suits but not when it comes to climate change or COVID. Splash About’s website advertises the fact that the “Happy Nappy Duo” is “scientifically proven to kill pathogens including Cryptosporidium, E.coli and COVID19.” However, on Twitter, Spofforth has openly questioned both climate and COVID science, writing, “CLIMATE CHANGE - 2 minutes of smack down by a scientist about man made climate change. The science isn’t settled …. It’s simply paid for! Societal change is being forced on citizens through fear & lies, for profit! How very Covid.”

The irony doesn’t end there, though. In an August 2021 Business Live article, Spofforth touts her swimwear’s environmental benefits. “It is a milestone development; not only for the swimming industry but there’s also the environmental impact to consider,” she declares. “Choosing this reusable swim nappy means reducing our waste levels and lowering our environmental footprint…” Furthermore, in a November 2021 Country Squire Magazine article, Spofforth again pretends to care about the environment and laments the very real medical waste generated by the COVID pandemic. If Spofforth really cared about the environment, though, she would stop sowing doubt about climate science and fearmongering about net zero policies.

Spofforth apparently has other entrepreneurial experience as well. Long before she became “Bernie” on Twitter and even before she started “splashing about,” Spofforth allegedly started her first company at age 22. She was the co-founder and CEO of a digital radio company called Intempo Digital, an achievement that helped her secure an interview in The Guardian in 2004.

So, why would a supposedly successful entrepreneur decide to devote so much time to spreading disinformation on Twitter? Well, in addition to the fact that Spofforth’s swimsuit business would indirectly benefit from decreased COVID restrictions, her heinous Twitter feed caught the attention of major right-wing news outlets in the UK and earned her interviews on conservative networks like TalkTV and GB News. Perhaps she enjoys the limelight!

It comes down to this: Many climate disinfluencers will say anything that benefits them, even when it contradicts science or their own past statements. When Spofforth is trying to sell swimsuits, she is all for helping out the environment, but when she wants to stand in the right-wing spotlight, she’ll use the deniers’ favorite term “climate scam.” Do better, Bernie!

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