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Wildfire Smoke Rising Nationwide, Causing Major Health Problems: Across the country, people are breathing in more harmful smoke than before due to climate change-driven wildfires, threatening their health, an InsideClimateNews investigation based on an analysis of federal satellite imagery found. Looking at more than ten years of data analyzed down to the zip code level by NPR’s California Newsroom and Stanford University’s Environmental Change and Human Outcomes Lab, the analysis found that the number of days people are exposed to wildfire smoke has increased significantly, particularly since 2016. In parts of California, people are exposed to wildfire smoke for an average of three months a year, and the state has seen a major increase in health problems related to that smoke. Looking at 2018, a particularly bad year for fires, records show there were an additional 30,000 hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiac conditions and a major spike in prescriptions for the asthma medication albuterol. But the impacts are not limited to California; the analysis found a significant increase in Denver, Salt Lake City, rural Kentucky, West Virginia, Philadelphia and Washington. Climate change is driving this trend by increasing the size, frequency, and intensity of fires. This smoke is threatening gains made to reduce air pollution in the western region, particularly in regard to the dangerous pollutant PM2.5, which is small enough to be inhaled deep into the lungs. From 2000 - 2010, PM2.5 level in California, Nevada, and the Pacific Northwest had dropped significantly, but by 2020, those levels were the same or worse than they were in 2000. As with most environmental impacts, the effects are not felt equally. Older adults and especially those from low-income communities of color are disproportionately impacted due to other underlying health issues and housing that does little to protect residents from the smoke. “Literally no amount of exposure is safe,” said Stanford University professor Marshall Burke. “The lesson is that any amount is bad. And the more you get the worse it is.” (Story: InsideClimateNews; Data: InsideClimateNews; Midwest: KCUR; Climate Signals background: Wildfires) 

Ford’s Big Electric Vehicle Investment: Ford Motor Company announced plans on Monday to invest $11.4 billion to accelerate their electric vehicle manufacturing, the single largest investment in the company’s history. In a joint venture with its main battery cell supplier, South Korean company SK Innovation, the companies plan to build three electric vehicle battery plants along with a plant to produce electric pickup trucks. The factories in Tennessee and Kentucky are expected to start production in 2025. The Tennessee manufacturing campus is designed to be carbon neutral and  send no waste to landfills. The company also plans to invest $525 million  to train technicians on how to service electric vehicles. According to Ford, the move will create 11,000 jobs and enable the company to produce more than a million electric vehicles per year. Employees at the new plants will have the option to vote on whether they want to be represented by the United Auto Workers union. Transportation is the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., at 30 percent. Speaking about the trend of auto companies investing in electric vehicle production, Gartner analyst Mike Ramsey told the New York Times, “All these companies are building battery plants because you have to have your own production if you’re going to make E.V.s in high volume. The fact they are spending billions of dollars means they’re saying: ‘There’s no turning back. We’re really going to do this.” (CNN, New York Times $, Tennessean, The Verge, Politico Pro $, NBC) 

“You can't put a price tag on human suffering”: Southern California Gas and its parent company, Sempra Energy, will pay up to $1.8 billion to 35,000 plaintiffs in a settlement related to the country's largest-ever methane gas leak. In October of 2015, a blowout at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility caused a gas leak that released nearly 100,000 tons of methane and other substances in the air. The leak, which took nearly four months to control, sickened thousands of nearby residents and forced many to leave their homes. In a statement Monday, Sempra and SoCalGas denied any wrongdoing, but previously, state regulators found that the company did not investigate previous well failures or properly assess aging wells. The California Public Utilities Commission is still considering whether to fine the company for actions leading up to the leak. Despite the settlement, many in the community are unhappy that the plant is still operating, and some felt the ruling did not go far enough. Matt Pakucko, a plaintiff and the founder of Save Porter Ranch, a group dedicated to shutting down the facility, said in a statement, "You can't put a price tag on human suffering. SoCalGas' devastating blowout will never be behind us until the Aliso Canyon storage facility is shut down and the danger it poses to the community is permanently eliminated. We are nowhere near a resolution." (Los Angeles Times $, Associated Press, San Diego Tribune, Times of San Diego, New York Times $)

UNEQUAL IMPACTS: We're always last': Camps along Bayou Segnette remain without power, debris removal (NOLA.com), Cancer, danger, harassment: Female and nonbinary firefighters detail risks they face (USA Today), EPA launches lead exposure effort to help vulnerable communities (Bloomberg Law)

PENNEAST: PennEast becomes the latest to scuttle a natural gas pipeline project (Reuters $, Allentown Morning Call, Bloomberg $, Easton Express-Times)

WATER INFRASTRUCTURE: Almost half a million US households lack indoor plumbing: ‘The conditions are inhumane’ (The Guardian)

CIVILIAN CLIMATE CORPS: Democrats say a Civilian Climate Corps will create jobs. Here's how it could work. (CNN)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: With weeks to go before the global climate summit, pressure is on Biden administration for a legislative win (CBS)

INFRASTRUCTURE BILL(S): Video vote on $1 trillion infrastructure pushed to Thursday (ABC), Exclusive: Obama says US 'desperately needs' Biden agenda, supports taxing the rich (ABC), Meet the Senate enforcer who could sink Biden’s climate plan (E&E News)

DENIAL: Former TV host sues Facebook over climate fact checks (E&E News)

IDA: NYC to hire forecaster, beef up warnings after Ida flooding (AP), Safeguarding the city against extreme weather (New York Times $), Hurricane Ida power grid failure forces reckoning over Entergy’s monopoly (NBC)

ENERGY: Europe’s energy crisis is coming for the rest of the world, too (Bloomberg $)

HISTORY: What a 1921 Texas flood tells US about the Latino climate struggle today (HuffPost)

HFCS: EPA targets potent greenhouse gases, bringing US into compliance with the Kigali Amendment (InsideClimate News)

PENTAGON: The secret war over Pentagon aid in fighting wildfires (New York Times $)

AGRICULTURE: There’s a major gap in the new methane pledge: Agriculture (Grist)

BITCOIN: Bitcoin mining company buys entire coal power plant (Futurism), Why environmentalists are alarmed this Pa. power plant is powering Bitcoin miners (NBC)

EXXON: Exxon splits with lobbyist who divulged climate strategy (E&E News)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Climate change may finally get its day at the Hague (Gizmodo), Biden to restore legal case for mercury limits Trump discredited (Bloomberg Law)

CONGRESS: Senior Democrats’ push for powerful climate tool collides with political realities (Washington Post $), U.S. Democratic lawmakers urge Biden not to reduce biofuel mandates (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

CITIES AND STATES: Encinitas bans natural gas for new construction (PBS NewsHour), Hawaii Attorney General backs up county suits against fossil fuel companies for costs of climate change (Honolulu Star Advertiser), Illinois becomes 1st midwestern state to pass a law to phase out fossil fuels (Yahoo), Owners of Maine’s carbon-sponge forests asked to do more to blunt climate change (Portland Press Herald), City of LA to to spend $30 million on solar generation and storage (LA Daily News)

GRANT: Grant to help preserve Wupatki Pueblo from the effects of climate change (KNAU)

IMPACTS: So much ice has melted, that the earth’s crust is shifting in weird, new ways (Gizmodo), Study: climate change disasters will be 3 times more frequent for today's children than their grandparents (Yahoo), Monsoon rain may worsen floods in Thailand, Bangkok prepares (Washington Post $), Triple jeopardy: Children face dark future of climate disasters (NBC), The country that makes breakfast for the world is plagued by fire, frost and drought (Bloomberg $), Greenland's rapid ice melt could mean more flooding, climate experts say (ABC)

HEAT: Record-highs forecast for North Central states as summerlike heat hangs on (AccuWeather)

DROUGHT: Unprecedented drought, heat mark start of fire season for Southern California (The San Bernardino Sun ), Drought forces West to turn to fuels that helped cause it (Bloomberg Law), Paraguay on the brink as historic drought depletes river, its life-giving artery (The Guardian)

WILDFIRES: How climate change helped fires cross the Sierra Nevada for the first time (Scientific American), ‘Burn scars’ of wildfires threaten drinking water in much of California and the West (LA Times $), Oregon has a new plan to protect homes from wildfire. Homebuilders are pushing back (NPR), How aluminum wrap protects sequoias from wildfire (PBS NewsHour), Sequoia forest Windy fire evacuations, acreage (Sacramento Bee $), Scientists are racing to save sequoias (NPR)

SMOKE: California passes law protecting farmworkers from fire smoke (Sacramento Bee $), Colorado’s skies really are that much smokier as western wildfires worsen (Colorado Public Radio), Heavy wildfire smoke prompts air advisory in Southern California (LA Times $)

DIXIE FIRE: The Dixie fire threatened to pass 1 million acres, then was stopped in its tracks. (LA Times $), Firefighters expect to contain Dixie Fire by Sept. 30 (Mercury News)

HURRICANE SAM: Hurricane Sam is latest monster in active storm season (Scientific American), Hurricane Sam’s long journey through the Atlantic continues (Yale Climate Connections)

STORMS: Rapid climate action could save 1.8 billion people from facing tropical storms by end of century, study says (The Independent), Increasing global warming might push about 25% more people at risk of tropical cyclones by mid-century: study (Weather Channel), Inside a record-setting summer of severe storms in the Northeast (Washington Post $)

GAS PRICES: Natural gas soars most since last winter on U.S. scarcity fears (Bloomberg $), The global natural gas crunch may switch off lights in Pakistan (Bloomberg $), European energy prices surge to records as supply crisis spreads (Bloomberg $)

OIL PRICES: Oil hits three-year high as natural-gas crunch spills into crude market (Wall Street Journal $), Oil prices head above $80 per barrel as fuel crisis beds in (Yahoo, CNBC)

METHANE: Oil states brace for Biden methane rule (E&E News)

OUTAGES: Over 100,000 clients without electricity service (The Weekly Journal)

ORPHANED WELLS: Denver’s airport makes plans to plug all oil and gas wells as it focuses on sustainability (Denver Post)

COAL: Coal prices are booming but U.S. miners struggle to boost output (Bloomberg $)

HYDROGEN: Why the ‘Swiss Army knife’ of climate solutions is so controversial (Grist)

WATER: Rural New Mexicans meet drought with culture of water sharing (Christian Science Monitor), Could LA water recycling be a miracle for parched West? (E&E News), Michael Bennet, Mitt Romney see the effects of climate change during bipartisan float down Colorado River (The Colorado Sun)

FEMA: Why FEMA won't rebuild your home after a disaster (LAist)

EVs: UK electric car inquiries soar during fuel supply crisis (The Guardian)

RIDE SHARES: Uber and Lyft are hurting, not helping, the climate and society (Canary Media)

PLASTICS: Climate Change: Don't sideline plastic problem, nations urged (BBC), New approach to recycling plastic could change the way we reuse waste (Yahoo)

ACTIVISM: Protesters stop workers at site of TC Energy’s B.C. gas pipeline (Bloomberg $), Climate protesters block London's M25 in defiance of court order (Reuters)

COP26: How German coalition wrangling could affect Cop26 mood (The Guardian), Scott Morrison may snub the COP26 climate talks as Australia becomes more isolated (CNN)

FINANCE: SEC looks to streamline sustainability rules (Fortune), Green investing: How your savings can fight climate change (BBC),

PHILANTHROPY: Laurene Powell Jobs to invest $3.5 billion to help avert climate crisis (Bloomberg $), 

CARBON OFFSETS: Trading carbon credits alone will not solve the climate crisis, Standard Chartered CEO says (CNBC)

GRETA: ‘Blah, blah, blah’: Greta Thunberg lambasts leaders over climate crisis (The Guardian)

TRAVEL: Are you an eco-friendly traveler? Google is now marking hotels as green certified (Arizona Republic)

TECH: Climate change is the new dot-com bubble (Wired), How billionaire Chris Sacca’s $800 million fund plans to tackle climate change (Fortune)

OCEANS: What’s holding back America’s blue economy? (Fortune)

WOOLY MAMMOTHS: Don’t count on woolly mammoths to save the planet (WBUR)

DISEASE: Climate change threatens to reverse progress in fight against malaria (FT $)

NASA: NASA launches powerful Landsat 9 satellite to monitor climate change, forest cover and more (Space.com) 

MILK: Can this milk really ‘fight climate change’? It’s complicated. (Grist)

PODCASTS: What should be prioritised in the race to avoid climate disaster? (Economist)

CELEBRITIES: Global Citizen concerts push for action on climate change and COVID vaccines (Reuters)

ART: Stop, look and listen: artists’ startling responses to the climate crisis (The Guardian), Bristol art group reveal climate change-inspired mural (BBC)

WILDLIFE: How animals and plants are responding to climate change; the new greenhouse gas climate rule (WHYY), Antarctic seal numbers rose and fell with climate over 50,000 years (New Scientist)

INTERNATIONAL: Small islands caught between tourism economy, climate change (AP), South Africa pledges more ambitious climate targets (AP), What China’s coal phaseout means for the world (E&E News), Why the world started fighting about climate change every year (Bloomberg $), Italy's 'Smart Bay' seeks to tackle Mediterranean climate change (Reuters), Pollution cost surges to record 65 Euros as Europe burns coal (Bloomberg $), Climate change: New planning policy in Wales a UK first (BBC), Climate-change goals meet resistance in U.K.’s former coal country (Wall Street Journal $)

AUSTRALIA: Sydney facing water shortage within 20 years if current growth continues, government predicts (The Guardian)

GERMANY: Vowing to modernize industry and ‘halt man-made climate change,’ Olaf Scholz claims a mandate. (New York Times $), Flood-scarred town illustrates Germany’s infrastructure, climate change questions (Marketplace), Post-election, infrastructure question looms over Germany’s flood-damaged regions (Marketplace)

• Climate crisis demands a redistribution of wealth to fix it (The Independent, Ahmed Twaij analysis)
• Column: ‘Renewable natural gas’ is the latest sham from the oil & gas industry (LA Times, Michael Hiltzik column $)
• We're in a race to save Earth from climate change (USA Today, Prince William and Mike Bloomberg op-ed)
• Gas infrastructure investments: too costly for consumers and environment (Baltimore Sun, David S. Lapp op-ed)
• Climate change is increasing poverty. Marrying off girls isn’t the solution (Thomson Reuters Foundation, Aisha Saleh op-ed)
• Let water go where it wants to go (New York Times, By Eric W. Sanderson op-ed $)
• Landmark infrastructure spending must address climate change crisis to prevent further damage (Utility Dive, Tim Lieuwen, Adam Cohen and Rich Simmons op-ed)
• Mainers want action on climate change. The Build Back Better Act will deliver it. (Bangor Daily News, Rep. Genevieve McDonald op-ed)
• Battle of the giants: Why saving giant sequoia isn't just about climate change (The Hill, Alexis Bernal op-ed)
• Congress should put a price on carbon (The Hill, Rep. Salud Carbajal op-ed)
• Build Back Better Act will help national labs jump-start technologies of tomorrow (The Hill, Rep. Ed Perlmutter op-ed)
• China should now outline how it will reduce domestic carbon emissions (Nikkei Asian Review, Kevin Rudd and Thom Woodroofe op-ed)
• Britain’s leaky homes make the energy crisis worse. Why have governments not fixed them? (The Guardian, Max Wakefield op-ed)

Deniers Accidentally Confirm That Capitalism Stands In The Way Of Climate Solutions

A key plank of climate denial has been and continues to be that climate change is just a pretense for communism, and that climate policies are an assault on capitalism. 

But two posts on Sunday show that, however unintentional, deniers agree that unchecked capitalism is getting in the way of successful climate action. 

A NoTricksZone post by P Gosselin that was  reposted to WUWT describes a new documentary called Headwind“21 that exposes how renewable energy projects also have environmental impacts, and that the business behind them are, in the words of a former London banker, “all about money.” 

We’re not going to watch the entire feature-length 92 minute documentary available on YouTube, because even if it were totally 100% accurate in revealing how, as Gosselin describes, it’s all “about corporations making tonnes of money,” it wouldn’t change the fact that we need renewables to replace fossil fuels. The question is obviously how that happens, and as this doc might just show, when capitalism gets its dirty (invisible) hands on something, it doesn’t stay ethically clean for long. 

Any evidence of what a former banker called “systemic corruption” is an indictment of the capitalist system that’s corrupting the rollout of renewables, not the technologies themselves. 

Speaking of corrupt capitalists, Robert Bryce published a Forbes column Sunday that also accidentally showed how capitalism is botching renewable deployment, with his list of “317 wind energy rejections the Sierra Club doesn’t want you to see.” 

As something like the evil twin of Sierra Club’s coal-plant-closing Beyond Coal strategy, the fossil fuel industry has been seeding local fights across the country to oppose wind projects, and Bryce wants you to think that these are organic grassroots uprisings that demonstrate that renewables are unpopular. 

But of course they’re not: on average 86% of Americans support funding research into renewables and 77% support expanding wind farms.  Instead, the arguments from the column come straight from the fossil fuel industry. For example, the concept of wind turbine sickness, that people experience health ailments as a result of wind turbines causing shadows or air pressure changes or noise issues, has been shown to be spread not by the turbines, but by people warning about how the turbines cause health ailments. It turns out that wind turbine sickness is, per Simon Chapman’s book “a communicated disease” that people mainly catch after hearing fearmongering about from anti-wind activists like Bryce. 

And what cures it? Apparently “those paid to host turbines rarely complain” so Chapman suggests that “the drug ‘money’ may be a powerful preventive.”

Snark aside, the fact is that when impacted communities are brought into an energy project from the start and communities and experts are consulted from the planning stage through the life of the project, and are literally bought into the plan through socialized profits, it’s a lot less likely that any opposition will be successful in stopping it, because it will have already met their (environmental, etc) standards and provided a tangible financial benefit to the community. 

As the energy transition requires a renewable buildout of incredible scale, putting it solely in the hands of the capitalists whose profits-over-public-good approach is what caused climate change in the first place would mean cheap products, hastily installed, and locally opposed for legitimate reasons. 

It’s a recipe for disaster. 

Plus, irony levels would be off the charts if after having opposed climate action because of socialism,  the only criticism about renewables deniers get right is because they’re actually criticising capitalism, and the so-called climate alarmists supposedly pushing for global communism actually end up facilitating a massive capitalist (clean) power generation power grab. 

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