FIRST LOOK:

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UN COP27 Subjects LGBTQIA+ Climate Activists To Egyptian Human Rights Abuses:  The annual UN Conference of Parties to negotiate international climate policy is supposed to be held in different countries and continents in order to make it easier for activists from otherwise overlooked regions (the global south) to attend. This year's COP27 is in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, and while the African placement, Yessenia Funes at Atmos writes was "meant to represent a win for climate justice as it should make attendance more accessible to activists and advocates from the region," the reality is that "the Egyptian government’s history of violating human rights, as well as its disregard for other African countries, complicates any sense of victory climate justice might’ve felt." Two gay climate activists have announced their refusal to attend unless it's moved, calling it a betrayal of the community and "inherent discrimination." Elijah Mckenzie-Jackson and Jerome Foster II realized when planning to attend that Egyptian law enforcement has detained, assaulted and tortured LGBTQIA+ people. "I just had the courage to come out to my parents this year," Foster told Atmos, "and it’s terrifying for me to have to go through that experience again of trying to hide myself to conform to society.” While he and Mckenzie-Jackson are calling on the UNFCCC to move the conference, others are calling for the "government to release its political prisoners and create a safe environment for advocates long after COP27 ends," hoping that COP27 will be "a rare opportunity to find solutions to the country’s human rights crisis" and that the international attention can be leveraged "so that no person in Egypt has to live in fear any longer." Foster and Mckenzie-Jackson share that aim in their effort to "raise concerns about the lived reality queer people, women, and activists experience every day inside of Egypt." Yasmin Omar, UN manager for the Committee for Justice, is calling for Egypt to release political prisoners, but hopes are fading fast as she "had hoped to see more people released from prisons" and are now "believing that this chance will not really give us the exposure we needed." (Atmos)

UNDP Sells Out To Oil Companies: The United Nations Development Program, despite the global consensus on climate change, "at times serves as a cheerleader for the oil and gas industry," according to reporting from Sarah Hurtes and Julie Turkewitz at the New York Times. For example, the indigenous Siona people living on the outskirts of the Amazon rainforest in Colombia, were presented with an offer from the UNDP: $1.9 million in regional aid for the village with no running water or reliable electricity. The catch? The aid was part of UNDP's partnership with GeoPark, a multinational oil company with contracts to drill near the Siona reservation, "including one with the government that would expand operations onto what the Siona consider their ancestral land." It's just one example of many such projects that "internal documents and dozens of interviews with current and former officials show" is part of the industry's strategy to exploit the UNDP, as "the agency has also tamped down local opposition to drilling, conducted business analyses for the industry and worked to make it easier for companies to keep operating in sensitive areas." Among other issues, the UNDP's Colombia office "worked with the government and the oil industry to compile dossiers on drilling opponents." The dossier keyed in on local town counselors, farmers with "aggressive discourse" about the industry, including a church whose "priest gave 'speeches against the industry' at the end of mass". While the reporting claims "there is no evidence that those dossiers were used to target anyone," it also points out that "Environmental activists are killed in Colombia at a rate of more than one a week, according to Global Witness." Ultimately, the Siona rejected the UNDP's oil money, and it has "canceled the GeoPark partnership and is now investigating why it ever got involved with the company when the Siona’s grievances were already so well known." (New York Times $)

Mamma Mia! The Show Won't Go On: As the poorest, most discriminated against communities in the world face the harshest impacts of climate change, that doesn't mean the wealthy and white will be without inconvenience. As the New York Times theater reporter Michael Paulson covers today, outdoor theater venues are also struggling to cope with the rising temperatures, wildfire smoke and other summertime maladies made worse by climate change. From canceled Shakespeare Festivals in Oregon to a flooded "Legally Blonde" on an outdoor stage in St. Louis to the wildfire-ravaged vocal cords of living legend Eddie Vedder, open-air productions are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of fossil fuel pollution. Some, like the Allen Elizabethan Theater in Oregon, have installed air quality monitors to help producers keep players safe. Alys Holden, the theater's director of production, has adopted a new slogan, replacing "the show must go on" with "if it's too unsafe to play, you don't play," after she found out that her refusal to cancel a recent performance resulted in a technician throwing up mid-show due to the air pollution. "Actors are breathing in huge amounts of air to project out for hours," she said, "it’s not a trivial event to breathe this stuff in, and their voices are blown the next day if we blow the call." Another outdoor theater producer, Charles Fee, said “Once it’s 110 degrees at 6 o’clock at night, and we have these occasionally already, people are sick. You can’t do the big Shakespeare fight, you can’t do the dances in ‘Mamma Mia.’ And you can’t do that to an audience.” (New York Times $)

ENVIRONMENTAL (IN)JUSTICE: HHS debuts environmental justice index to measure public health (BloombergLaw $, ValdostaToday), Black youth and young professionals join the climate fight (Washington Informer), Does the climate bill throw environmental justice under the bus? [Pretty much] (The Nation)

IRA: The fight to stop the inflation reduction act’s fossil fuel giveaway (Atmos), 'We're back, baby': New bill boosts US climate credibility (AP), Enactment timeline for Dems health, climate and tax package (Axios), IRA invests $369 billion to fight climate change (NBC News video), Fighting inflation with climate action (New York Times $), The long road to the climate bill (Axios), How the IRA will fight climate change (CNET), U.S. renewables investors see Senate bill sparking gold rush (Reuters), Wind needs more than the IRA (WSJ $), Investors like the climate deal (Axios), How the IRA affects food and agriculture (MotherJones), Green-ifying your home is about to get lots cheaper (Axios), Vestas hails US clean energy subsidies as breakthrough (Financial Times $)

• NEPA GUTTING: Bill to speed energy infrastructure faces resistance (WSJ $)

CHIPS: Congress just passed a big climate bill. No, not that one. (The Atlantic)

THE HILL:  HHS launches community-level environmental justice hazard calculator (The Hill) 

ESG: ESG's 'social license' will endure even if the letters don't (Bloomberg), 'Post-ESG' ETF backed by Thiel debuts to encourage more drilling (Blomberg), Florida governor's bid for conservative pension bloc faces hurdles (Reuters)

CITIES AND STATES: What are New Mexico's Democrat[ic] US Senators pushing in Congress' climate change bill? (Carlsbad Current Argus), Chicago’s city-owned buildings will shift to 100 percent renewable energy by 2025 (Architect's Newspaper), "He has total veto power": Greg Abbott takes control over who will lead Texas' troubled power grid, sources say (Texas Tribune), Ohio high court upholds project to build Lake Erie wind farm (AP), Composting in NYC is hard. Cyclists and a pug named Rocky are helping. (Washington Post $) 

• CALIFORNIA: Newsom to legislature: act fast to enact new climate change targets (CalMatters), California energy agency approves plan for huge expansion of wind power in state (PoliticoPRO $, The Hill, Bloomberg $), This energy source doesn't exist in California [offshore wind]. But it could account for 25% of the state's electric power in the future (SF Chronicle), Amid fight with oil industry, Newsom makes last-minute pitch to harden California's climate goals (LA Times) 

ACTIVISM: These groups want disruptive climate protests. Oil heirs are funding them. (New York Times $), Foundation eyes decaying mansion as climate change retreat (Examiner News), A new generation of activists tackle inequality, democracy and climate change (Al Jazeera video), ‘It’s a human rights issue’: young adults take Portugal climate crisis to court (Guardian)

PSYCH: The psychology of inspiring everyday climate action (WIRED), How ecotherapy can soothe climate change anxiety (Psychology Today)

GRID:  MISO benefit-cost analysis of $10.3B transmission plan offers framework for national model: ACORE report (Utility Dive), Analysis of MISO’s grid study shows undercounting of transmission benefits (Power Grid)

IMPACTS: Antarctica's 'sleeping giant' risks melting, threatens spike in sea levels (Washington Post $ Guardian, The Hill), America’s summer of floods: climate crisis fueling barrage, scientists say (Guardian), Climate change-related weather hazards linked to nearly 60% of human diseases (USA Today, ABC), 'Extreme' weather warning in force in Britain as new heatwave hits (Reuters), Officials: high tide flooding more common as sea levels rise (AP), Record Death Valley flooding ‘a once-in-1,000-year event’ (Guardian) 

HEAT: Hotter nights could lead to a 60 percent rise in global mortality: study (The Hill), The search for an AC that doesn't destroy the planet (Vox), Climate change is making heat waves more likely and more frequent. See how (LX news video) 

RUN, FORESTS, RUN: Boreal forest on the move (Nature), Global heating has caused 'shocking' changes in forests across the Americas, studies find (Guardian), Climate change may push North America's forests to a 'tipping point' (Inverse), Study: warming climate to create 'impoverished version' of northern forests (Duluth News Tribune), Range expansion: How climate change impacts West Coast oak savannas (BingUNews), In reversal, Brazil court reopens case of rainforest park (AP)

DROUGHT: Ensenada, last in line for Colorado River water, is facing the worst of the West's drought (Voice of San Diego), DRIED UP: Lakes Mead and Powell are at the epicenter of the biggest Western drought in history (The Hill), Climate change will intensify UK droughts so we must take action now (New Scientist), Rhine River could fall below critical mark, risking industry (AP) , 'Hitting rock bottom' - drought, heat drain Spanish reservoirs (Reuters), Drought threatens 60% of EU and UK as Europe faces a "critical situation" (Axios) How climate change spurs megadroughts (Grist)

WILDFIRES: Wildfire in southwestern France: 8,000 people evacuated (AP), Firefighters combat major wildfire in southwestern France (AP)

ARCTIC STORMS: Climate scientists chase Arctic storms (BBC)

WATER: Rainwater is no longer safe to drink anywhere on Earth, scientists say (Euronews)

RENEWABLES: Mass. voters of color show greater support for shift toward clean energy (WGBH),  Programs making solar available to low-income communities (Renewable Energy Magazine), Growing consensus on 100% renewables (PV Magazine), DTE Energy, Ford ink historic renewable energy purchase deal (Daily Energy Insider),  Rare earth minerals essential to renewable energy not as rare as advertised (The Gazette), Stockton Chick-fil-A to produce its own renewable energy under new pilot program (ABC10), Norfolk Southern bets on renewable energy, recycling for green ambitions (Railway-Technology)  

METHANE: Satellite data finds landfills are methane ‘super emitters’ (AP, Reuters, The Hill), Would the climate bill slash methane? It depends (E&ENews), Methane ‘loophole’ shows risk of gaming new us climate bill (Bloomberg $)

OIL & GAS: A pipeline giant pleads 'no contest' to environmental crimes in Pennsylvania after homeowners complained of tainted water (Inside Climate News), Public health notice after oil spill in a Louisiana bay (AP), Freeport LNG retracts force majeure, widening losses for gas buyers - sources (Reuters), Should big oil companies pay for climate change costs? 69% of British Columbians say yes (Coast Mountain News), Australia should abandon goal to limit global heating to 1.5C, says gas company eyeing Beetaloo Basin (Guardian)

EVs: Buy now or wait? What the new electric vehicle credits mean for you. (Washington Post $), Projecting electric car sales is getting trickier (Axios) 

FINANCE: Trillions of dollars at risk because central banks’ climate models not up to scratch (Guardian) 

SOLUTIONS: Billions pour into bioplastics as markets being ramping up (AP), Congestion pricing moves forward with release of long-awaited environmental review (PoliticoPRO $)

INTERNATIONAL: Lawmakers in India pass energy conservation bill (AP), Australian electricity companies not reducing emissions in line with Paris agreement goals, study finds (Guardian), UK fire and subsidence claims will rise due to extreme heat, says insurer (Guardian), Britain looks into funding biomass carbon capture and storage (Reuters), Switzerland’s melting glaciers reveal human remains and plane wreckage (Guardian), Fearing a major climate setback, US urges care of Congo River basin (Washington Post $, New York Times $) After deluge, climate change fears make S. Korea prioritize Seoul flood defenses (WKZO), African wildlife parks face climate, infrastructure threats (AP), How New Zealand's climate fight is threatening its iconic farmland (New York Times $), Colombia green groups try again to ban fracking, hope fourth time's the charm (Reuters)

• Slavery fueled our climate crisis. Here's how reparations can slow it down (HuffPost, Sage Howard op-ed)
• W. Kamau Bell on how climate and racial justice are connected (Gizmodo, W. Kamau Bell interview) 
• The federal government alone won't save us from climate change (Undark, Rachel Lyle op-ed)
• The summer of flooding never seems to end. Here’s how some places fight back. (Washington Post, Michelin Maynard column $)
• Abandoning net zero targets will hurt economy and people, says climate scientist (CNN, Friederike Otto interview)
• Would there still have been climate change under socialism? [Yes] (New Statesman, Leigh Phillips column)
• Inflation Reduction Act attacks climate change and creates jobs (NJ Star-Ledger, Barbara Brummer and Rob Wilson op-ed)
• VT benefits from forward-thinking energy policies (Williston Observer, Jonathan Dowds op-ed)
• Florida has a new plan for moving toward cleaner energy, thanks to some 200 young people who pushed state leaders — especially Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried — to take action. (WUSF, Nikkie Fried interview)
• Europe's energy crisis may get a lot worse (New York Times, David Wallace Wells column $)
• While Biden is tackling inflation and shaping a green economy for the US, Britain is being left behind (Guardian, Carys Roberts op-ed)
• Using climate change as a weapon will backfire on China (Bloomberg, Hal Brands op-ed $)
• Facts must rise above the gas if Australia is to deal with the climate crisis (Guardian, Adam Morton column)
• Australia's renewable energy ambitions dwarfed by coal, LNG juggernaut (Reuters, Clyde Russell column)
• Labor must amend trade agreements that allow foreign companies to sue the government over energy and climate policies (Guardian, Patricia Ranald op-ed)
• Diablo Canyon is safe, reliable and can help fight climate change (Mercury News, Steven Chu and Jacopo Buongiorno op-ed)
• Capito vs. Manchin on coal in the Inflation Reduction Act (WSJ editorial $)

Not Just Tobacco and Big Oil, Big Beef the Latest To Use 'The Playbook' To Deny Science

If you haven't yet found a suitable beach read for the dog days of summer, there's a new one you should hear more about, called The Playbook:  How to Deny Science, Sell Lies, and Make a Killing in the Corporate World. 

The latest entry in the growing field of disinformation studies, NYU associate professor Jennifer Jacquet provides what Guardian book reviewer Matthew Reisz called "a machiavellian secret guide for executives worried about what the latest science might mean for their business." The steps won't be particularly new to regulars here, from denying the problem, to claiming it's a real problem but not their fault, to attacking those that raise the issue to shoot the messenger. 

In a recent interview with Bridget Huber at the Food and Environment Reporting Network, Jacquet explains that "the central claim to the book is that scientific denial — challenging scientific knowledge — is just part of business operations." 

"It starts in the early 20th century with worker safety issues —  you see the asbestos, radium, and lead industries all begin to challenge the science about the link between their products and worker health problems. And then there is a second wave of denial that happens when we start to see linkages between the consumption of certain products and harms to human health; the tobacco industry was the most visible, but it was also happening with pharmaceuticals and food. And then there is the more recent wave of environmental issues and, of course, the denial of climate change by fossil fuel companies." 

At FERN, the focus is on Big Ag, because: 

"conflicts of interest are very common in nutrition research — companies are so thoroughly involved in nutrition science that it’s almost an arm of industry. And one area that I have more expertise in is the role that large meat and dairy companies play in the denial of climate change. Initially, these industries didn’t focus as much on denying the existence of climate change as the fossil fuel industry did. But they challenged the extent to which their products cause it. And that’s a big part of the playbook: if you can’t challenge the problem itself, challenge its causes. So they say, “You know, it really isn’t meat and dairy. The transportation sector is really much more important.” More recently, though, the meat and dairy industry has actually begun challenging whether or not climate change is human-caused. This, to me, suggests that they’re really going whole hog into this issue. If you’re at that level of denial, that typically means you have a lot of resources behind you, because at this point the science is very well established — it’s a bold stance." 

The meat industry is, by Jacquet's estimate, "100 percent behind this narrative" that you can just give cows Kelp to reduce methane emissions, or do "regenerative ranching" to ameliorate the climate impact of beef production: 

And it’s only going to get more intense because there is more and more scientific attention on the issue of meat and dairy and climate change. They are responding with really big investments at the university level and are helping pump out research that argues that the meat and dairy industries don’t have to change all that much to be a sustainable part of the solution. The industry has also put an enormous amount of money into Facebook ads, and Twitter, in order to control the conversation and to make people think, well, it must not be too bad.

Now that we know the playbook, and the industry has denying science down to a science all its own, can we maybe start figuring out solutions? 

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