Kerry-China Seek To Thaw Relations As Heat Breaks Records: U.S. climate envoy John Kerry met with his Chinese counterparts in an attempt to revive cooperation on climate action between the world's two largest polluters as extreme heat sears wide swaths of the Northern Hemisphere — including all-time record-breaking heat in China. The meetings are expected to focus on methane and other non-carbon greenhouse gasses. Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua announced the country was drafting a methane pollution reduction plan in a surprise announcement last year at COP27 and American officials hope China will publicly release that plan prior to COP28 in December. (Kerry trip: Reuters, New York Times $, Wall Street Journal $, Washington Post $, Reuters, AP); Methane focus: Reuters; China's hottest day ever: The Guardian; Northern Hemisphere heat: NBC, Democracy Now; Climate Signals background: Extreme heat and heatwaves)

Ice Vests Key In Fossil-Sponsored Tour de France: After 64 hours, 34 minutes, and 17 seconds of racing, the men's Tour de France is the closest in memory with just 10 seconds (0.004%) separating the top two riders as the race enters its third and final week. The real victor, however, is already clear, Bloomberg reports: The ice vest. While used by professional cyclists to improve their performance, the focus on cooling at professional cycling's premier event illustrates just how dangerous outdoor exercise can be in extreme heat — to say nothing of the intrepid souls who suit up in furry mascot suits, even for just 10 minutes a day. Professional cycling itself illustrates numerous elements of the climate crisis — extreme heat poses serious threats to riders' health while team sponsorships provide an opportunity for fossil fuel entities to sportswash their image with the eco-friendly image of cycling. At least four of the teams in the Tour have named fossil fuel sponsors — one outlet even awarded a facetious "Best Sportswashing" award (Total Energies) — and the rider currently in second place rides for UAE Team Emirates. (Ice vests: Bloomberg $; Mascots: Escape Collective $; Tour standings: Wall Street Journal $; Best sportswashing: Escape Collective $; European heat: The Guardian, Grist, AP, CBS)

FEMA Disaster Fund Almost Empty: The federal government's disaster relief fund is about to run out of money, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell warned late last week. Depleted by an onslaught of climate-fueled disasters and extreme weather — and not even accounting for the recent catastrophic flooding in the northeast — the Disaster Relief Fund will “will go into a deficit some time mid- to late August,” Criswell told the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology. This will force the agency to pull funds from long-term recovery commitments. The fund is set to be replenished October 1, assuming Congress has approved a spending plan by then. "We can no longer speak of a 'disaster season' — we now face intensified natural disasters throughout the year, often in places that are not used to experiencing them," Criswell said. (Axios, E&E $)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: A piece of fruit cost a man his life. Now, his family wants answers (The Root)

FOSSIL FUELED WAR: Russia halts landmark deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain at time of growing hunger (AP, Axios, Bloomberg $, Wall Street Journal $, CBS), What is the Black Sea grain deal and what happens when it expires? (Reuters)

ORPHANED WELLS: Texas oil wells are leaking toxic waste, and no one wants to pay to clean it (Houston Chronicle), How forsaken oil wells are causing environmental chaos across Texas (Houston Chronicle)

US HEAT: 'Relentless' heat wave spreads across southern US (Axios, The Hill), The scorching summer of 2023 reaches ‘mind-blowing’ high temperatures (Yale Climate Connections, Washington Post $), What this summer's weather reveals about climate change (Axios), In Phoenix, 18 days of extreme heat with no end in sight (New York Times $, E&E News), Death Valley approaches global heat record as US reels from extreme weather (The Guardian, CBS), Here’s how the US is dealing with extreme heat (Washington Post, PHOTOS $)

• DISASTER UPON DISASTER: For Florida’s Hurricane Ian survivors, extreme heat is a second disaster’ (Washington Post $), Floods wash away children, scorching heat envelops the West as wildfire smoke overtakes northern US (AP)

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE: Deadly flooding hit several countries at once. Scientists say this will only be more common (AP), Climate change-fueled floods and wildfires bring death and misery across the globe (Democracy Now)

CLIMATE GEOPOLITICS: An Arctic ‘great game’ as NATO allies and Russia face off in far north (Washington Post $) 

DENIAL & DISINFO: Energy industry uses whale activists to aid anti-wind farm strategy, experts say (The Guardian, E&E $), Red light on ‘greenwashing’? US regulatory agency takes fresh look at deceptive climate claims (PolitiFact)

TWITTER: Far-right Twitter influencers first on Elon Musk’s monetization scheme (Washington Post $)

GOP vs. ESG: House Republicans look ahead to another 'ESG Week' (E&E $)

WORKERS: [Friends of the Earth] celebrates union contract, 'summer Fridays' (E&E $), 340,000 UPS drivers poised to strike over extreme heat, safe working conditions (Grist)

INSURANCE: Florida insurance crisis worsening as rates skyrocket (NBC)

FLOOD PLAINS: For every flood buyout, 10 new homes were built in flood plains in North Carolina (Yale Climate Connections)

SCOTUS: Supreme Court gives Biden administration July 25 deadline to respond to Mountain Valley plea (Politico Pro $, E&E News)

EPA: EPA bolsters leadership for environmental justice office (E&E $), EPA halts air pollution enforcement shield (E&E $), EPA's carbon metric may underestimate climate damage — at least for now (E&E $)

DOE: $90M for greener building energy codes awarded by DOE (Utility Dive)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden’s overseas mineral strategy faces early test (E&E News), White House may have new 'project manager' oversee disasters (E&E $)

THE HILL: Boosting firefighter pay gains momentum in Congress (Washington Post $)

HOUSE: A group of GOP centrists threatens hardline tactics on tax bill (Politico Pro $), House Republicans propose planting a trillion trees as they move away from climate change denial (AP)

SENATE: GOP discord threatens Senate response to railway disaster (E&E $)

ELECTIONS: Senator Manchin speech stokes speculation of White House run (Reuters)

CITIES AND STATES: Maine's first offshore wind target set to shake up industry (E&E $)

FERC: Federal appeals court strikes down FERC approval of Southeastern SEEM market (Utility Dive)

IMPACTS: Heatwaves: world reels from wildfires, floods as US and China discuss climate crisis (Reuters)‘Underground climate change’ is deforming the ground beneath buildings, study finds (CNN), Climate scientists are alarmed by record water temperatures off Florida's coast (NPR), For Chilean herders, melting glaciers imperil cultural traditions (Atmos), Climate change menaces China's ancient heritage sites (Reuters)

• KOREA FLOODING: South Korea searches for missing people as death toll from downpours reaches 41 (AP, Washington Post $), South Korea flood death toll hits 40, prompting president to vow climate change prep 'overhaul' (CBS, Reuters)

HEAT: Why are heatwaves getting worse? (Context, explainer), Around the world, millions feel the heat of an unrelenting summer (AP PHOTOS), How to keep your dog safe in the heat, according to an emergency vet (Washington Post $), The heat tracker (Heatmap $)

WILDFIRES: Canada's wildfires have now burned nearly 25 million acres (Axios), Wind-fanned wildfires force thousands to flee seaside resorts outside Greek capital (AP, Reuters)

• SMOKE: As smoke hits Chicago again, experts say climate change is increasing the severity and reach of Canadian wildfires (Chicago Tribune $), ‘Smokeageddon’ was unprecedented. We can expect more of the same. (The Hill), Smoke pollution from Canadian wildfires blankets US cities, again (New York Times $, Washington Post $, Gizmodo, AP), It’s time to include smoke in weather forecasts (Heatmap $)

DROUGHT: Western drought boosts fossil fuel generation — study (E&E $)

WATER: Texas city under highest level of water emergency, banning all 'unnecessary' usage amid hard-hitting drought (CBS), Freeing up Colorado River water from California farms will take more than just money, just ask the farmers (KUNC)

THE OTHER OIL CRISIS: Olive oil industry in crisis as Europe’s heatwave threatens another harvest (The Guardian)

RENEWABLES: Why domestic solar manufacturing could turbocharge Africa’s energy transition (Energy Monitor), Can solar energy save the crumbling electric grid during heatwaves? (Wall Street Journal $), Endangered toad delays Nevada geothermal project (E&E $), Transmission development pace ‘severely’ limits renewable energy, carbon reduction potential: report (Utility Dive)

LNG: EU considers gas imports from Argentina, document shows (Reuters), Vietnam's big bet on LNG may not ease its power crisis (Reuters)

OIL & GAS: US natural gas futures rise on heat wave (Bloomberg $), The shale industry is dropping drilling rigs, fast (Wall Street Journal $)

PIPELINES: Pipeline company and opponents spar over definition of ‘liquefied’ (Columbus Dispatch)

HYDROGEN: Aboriginal owners and energy investors team up in plan for $3bn green hydrogen plant in [Western Australia] (The Guardian)

UTILITIES: Another major utility is accelerating its transition to renewables (Canary Media), How utilities’ fossil fuel investments are driving up rates for the most vulnerable (Environmental Health News)

EVs: Are EV chargers a cybersecurity risk? (Canary Media), Ford slashes price of electric F-150 as demand weakens (New York Times $, Wall Street Journal $), Tesla Q2 results to spotlight charging, deliveries boom (Axios)

BOOKS: 'The Heat Will Kill You First': Rolling Stone’s Jeff Goodell on life and death on a scorched planet (Democracy Now), The author of ‘Blight’ explains how humans supercharged fungal pathogens (Grist)

SHIPPING: A shipping rule backfires, diverting sulfur emissions from the air to the ocean (Inside Climate News)

FINANCE: Abu Dhabi's Masdar hires banks for green bonds sale -document (Reuters)

WILDLIFE: Meet the floating animals that call the Great Pacific Garbage Patch home (NPR), Restoration of Louisiana coastal islands leads to more brown pelican colonies (AP)

INTERNATIONAL: Can EVs and solar panels save China’s economy? (Wall Street Journal $), As UK housing costs soar, anxiety grips homeowners and renters: ‘I’m in meltdown’ (AP), China June coal output rebounds from six-month low as heatwave boosts demand (Reuters), Europe should cap ‘luxury’ energy use to meet emissions targets, study says (The Guardian), Leaked UK government plan to protect against climate heat ‘very weak’ (The Guardian), Spain election: Bike lanes, low-emission zones in crosshairs in rightist-run cities (Reuters), The EU-Mercosur trade deal will harm Brazil’s indigenous communities (Climate Home), UK installations of heat pumps 10 times lower than in France, report finds (The Guardian)

ARCHAEOLOGY: Archaeologists in Louisiana save artifacts 12,000 years old from natural disasters and looters (AP, AP)

• The Supreme Court must be stopped (The Root, Antjuan Seawright op-ed)
• It’s time to repeal all the remaining tainted provisions of HB 6: editorial (Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Editorial Board)
• Longer heatwaves driven by ‘turbo-charged’ climate change, say scientists (The Guardian, Helena Horton and Nina Lakhani analysis)
• Biden Deploys Pentagon to Beat Climate Change and China (Bloomberg, Liam Denning column $)
• Weather tracker: Temperatures to intensify in Europe as new heatwave hits (The Guardian, Matt Andrews analysis)
• Why we should politicize the weather (New York Times, Paul Krugman column $)

CO2 Coalition Still Pushing Climate Disinfo To Kids, Despite Expulsion From Teacher Conference

Back in March, we heard that the CO2 Coalition (a group of climate deniers open to shady oil funding but apparently not Black people based on nearly 150 headshots on their website) got expelled from a National Science Teaching conference for passing out climate disinformation aimed at teachers and students. As the Washington Post went on to report, some of those materials included a cheesy anime/manga-style comic book for students praising carbon pollution as "the miracle molecule."

Apparently undeterred by their target audience's literal rejection of their efforts, the CO2 Coalition is plowing ahead with its schoolkid-aimed disinformation. They've been at this for years — back in 2021 they were supposedly developing an app "to target a younger, nongeriatic [sic] group." According to a lackluster announcement in last week's Cooler Heads digest, two years later, the "CO2 Learning Center" is now live, and for just $4, you can own "Simon the Solar Powered Cat" and other instant classics. 

Reading not your thing? CO2 Coalition's certainly hoping so, with (10 month old) YouTube videos to go along with the "books" (to use the word generously).   

They've also provided lesson plans to go along with the content. Given the group's expulsion from a teachers conference, one might think that they would have revised the material to not be laughed out of the faculty break room. But we don't call 'em deniers for fun, so of course they simply pretended they didn't get caught spreading disinformation, and released it anyway. 

So who's the audience? Obviously actual teachers aren't going to fall for it, but rightwingers who reject public schooling are desperate for politically correct material to "teach" their children, and that "homeschooling crowd" is who the CO2 Coalition admitted in 2021 that they were targeting (because they knew it was "just not going to happen" in public schools). 

Just like right-wing riches fund a potemkin village of fake news outlets to protect conservative politicians from being held accountable by voters for the pesky realities of the harmful impacts of racism, climate pollution, and other policy choices, there's a whole decades-old ecosystem of right-wing (mis)education institutions attacking public schools and catering to racists, antivaxxers, Christians, literal neo-Nazis. 

Maybe they have a conference that would be more hospitable for the CO2 Coalition's disinfo? 

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