Hear the episode here: https://www.spreaker.com/user/14101666/episode-07-ms-barton-from-beyond-extreme
Broken Planet Headlines 7
1. Beginning with recent science, a study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters finds that the share of premature deaths in the U.S. caused by soot and other local pollution is now coming predominantly from gas-fired power plants, wood stoves and industrial wood-pellet burners rather than from coal. The study covered the decade from 2008 through 2017 and found that by 2017 early deaths from gas-fired emissions alone were higher than those from coal in at least 19 states. Industrial boilers and commercial buildings saw decreases in coal and oil impacts but these were essentially replaced by increases in biomass pollution. Soot, also known as fine particulate matter, is tied to higher risk of strokes, lung cancer and other health conditions. Gas-power plants and infrastructure is most likely to be located in low-income communities and communities of colour. According to figures from the Environmental Protection Agency that the study is based on, by 2017 fuel-consuming stationary sources were responsible for over half a trillion dollars in health costs and almost 50,000 premature deaths. Another new report from medical groups and the Natural Resources Defense Council finds that fine particulate matter from all fossil fuels prematurely kills 107,000 people nationally each year.
In related news, Drax Group has announced it will soon be building three new wood pellet plants in Arkansas, to supply fuel for its power station in Yorkshire, England, the world's largest wood burning station. The plant was the UK's largest coal burner until it was converted in recent years. The company stated that the $40 million investment would create 30 direct jobs in the state. Drax either owns or has interests in 17 other pellet plants and projects across North America and recently acquired Pinnacle, Canada's largest wood pellet manufacturer. Last year Drax Group received over 2 million pounds in government subsidies every day, exceeding the company's gross profits and leading many to argue that wood biomass generation is neither financially nor ecologically sustainable.
Meanwhile, another study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that there are almost 16,000 deaths per year in the U.S. due to local pollution from food production, 80% of which are related to livestock farming. This means that local animal farming pollution is also causing more human deaths than those from the slowly declining coal industry.
2. A study published in Nature Communications is the first to compare economic degrowth scenarios with traditional proposed pathways to net-zero. Whereas most climate modelling assumes there will be continued economic growth in the coming decades even in wealthy societies, degrowth proposes an equitable, managed decline of Gross Domestic Product and the interlinked use of energy and resources down to sustainable levels. The study found that a degrowth scenario in the Global North that results in global GDP going down by 0.5% per year could be compatible with the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement, and would require significantly less reliance on technological advances than mainstream climate models. Growth of 0% - which is to say, a steady state global economy that stays at approximately the same size - could also cap warming at 2 degrees with less reliance on future technologies. Pathways such as those proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change overwhelmingly rely on concepts such as carbon capture and storage that have not been proven to work at scale to remove hundreds of billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide, prompting the authors of the study to suggest that degrowth provides a much safer likelihood of meeting targets. The structural social changes needed to make wellbeing independent from economic growth in a degrowth society might include factors such as a shorter working week, universal basic income for necessities and limits on maximum income.
In a recent BBC interview the U.S. climate envoy or "climate czar" John Kerry stated that "50% of the reductions we have to make to get to net zero by 2050 or 2045 . . . are going to come from technology that we don’t yet have."
3. The African island nation of Madagascar is facing an acute food shortage amplified by climate change, according to aid agencies. 1.1 million people in the south of the nation are said to be facing the risk of starvation while 14,000 have already been declared to be at a level of catastrophic need, the highest level on the food insecurity scale. Children are being particularly affected by the food shortage and many residents have been reduced to eating insects and wild roots with little nutritional value. Five of the last six years have seen below average rainfall in the south of Madagascar, with the current drought - the worst seen since 1981 - expected to lead to a crop harvest in the autumn that is less than half of the five year average, according to the World Food Program. Some of the country's farmers have also had to deal with a locust invasion that has been plaguing parts of East Africa over the past few years. Experts say that a prolonged period of wet weather is the primary driver of the invasion, related to climatic changes in the Indian Ocean.
UN agencies have been distributing food but are appealing to the international community to give $74 million dollars in the coming months to avoid an increased disaster. The world's rich nations have been facing mounting criticism for the lack of climate financing that they have pledged to help the Global South navigate through the climate emergency, a situation that poor nations say must improve if international negotiations at this year's Conference of Parties summit in Scotland is to be considered a success.
In other agriculture news from East Africa a report from the UK charity Christian Aid finds that optimal and even medium quality areas for growing tea in Kenya are likely to shrink by 40% by 2050, by which time average annual temperatures in the country are expected to rise by 2.5 degrees Celsius above that of the year 2000. Tea farming in Kenya employs around 3 million people and a survey suggests that many farmers are already observing the impacts of climate breakdown on their work. Africa makes up around 17% of the global population but is responsible for only around 4% of greenhouse gas emissions. A new study published in the journal One Earth finds that one third of world food production, mostly in Africa and Asia, will be pushed outside the "safe climatic space” by the end of the century if emissions continue on their current path.
In other food news a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science finds that industrial diets supplied by synthetic nitrogen fertilizers are literally changing human chemistry, with people in societies mostly supplied by supermarkets, factory farming and monocultures showing more of a similarity to one another at the chemical level than to their pre-industrial ancestors.
4. Large numbers of gas stations in the U.S. Southeast are still facing shortages following the May 7th ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline. Immediately prior to this broadcast the highest number of empty gas stations were concentrated in Washington DC, the Carolinas and Georgia, where the Colonial Pipeline company is based. The line usually provides almost half of all the fuel used on the East Coast. The temporary shutdown and panic buying led to the highest national gasoline prices in the U.S. in 6 years. Last Wednesday the company admitted to paying a $4.4 million dollar ransom because tens of millions of Americans rely on the pipeline. However a statement released by the company on May 8th suggested that Colonial took the system offline because the billing network had been targeted by the hackers, rather than the actual operational network of the line itself, although there was a potential risk of the infection spreading to the operational network. In the aftermath of the hack the EPA waived certain environmental standards in a dozen states, such as requirements to provide cleaner summer-grade gasoline in some urban areas. Critics have pointed out the irony that governments in the U.S. are increasingly criminalising physical pipeline protest - with over a dozen states passing laws in recent years targeting anti-pipeline activists - while cybersecurity guidelines for pipeline companies are largely voluntary.
In contrast to the mainstream coverage of the ransomware attack is the minimal coverage of the spill that the very same pipeline suffered from last August, in a nature preserve in North Carolina. It may turn out to be the largest pipeline spill in U.S. history, but the full scale has still not been determined. Colonial has admitted that its current estimate of 1.2 million gallons of gasoline - which has already been revised upwards multiple times - is too low. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality ordered Colonial to give them another revised answer by May 28th but on May 12th the company wrote to the department to request an indefinite delay in making their final estimate. In March the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration released a report designating the entire pipeline as a public and environmental safety risk with the potential for undetectable leaks present along its 5,500 mile length. The Colonial Pipeline is also responsible for 32 of the 38 spills that have taken place in North Carolina since the year 2000 and 10% of all the spills nationwide in that time. The story has still not been widely reported.
In April an analysis by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, or FAIR, found that flagship Sunday shows on cable news barely discussed climate breakdown at all during 2020. Between them the shows asked just 26 questions on climate during the year, many of them superficial, and none of them towards climate scientists or advocates.
5. A recent study in the journal Environmental Science & Technology found that major grid outages in the United States have increased by 60% in the past 5 years. When coupled with heatwaves that contribute to stress on electrical grids at least two thirds of residents in major urban centres are at an elevated risk of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. The study also found that cooling centres in the cities that it studied only had capacity for 1 or 2% of residents, none of which were required to have backup power. Another study from last year estimated that high temperatures result in the premature death of 12,000 people a year in the U.S., disproportionately people on low incomes. Other research suggests that many climate models are underestimating the threat of increased heat across the world and that extreme heat dramatically increases the chances of premature births. In Late April the city of Miami created a new position of Chief Heat Officer to deal with health concerns stemming from rising temperatures. A recent survey of 800 cities globally found that about 43% of them had no plans to adapt to climate breakdown, with many citing budgetary constraints.
A recent leak of a gas industry presentation featured a slide that suggested companies should attempt to "take advantage of power outage fear[s]" to promote their product. In mid-May it was reported that Texas gas companies are lobbying to exempt parts of the gas system from new legislation intended to prevent another blackout of the kind that occurred earlier this year that knocked out power for millions of people in Texas and Mexico and killed approximately 200. Finally the non-profit that oversees California's electrical grid has warned that despite increased power capacity the grid will still be susceptible to stress during extreme heatwaves this summer. In the summer of 2020 the state implemented rotating outages to avoid a complete grid collapse.
6. The International Energy Agency has increased its growth forecast for global wind and solar by 25% compared to estimates that it made just last November. The 280GW of renewable capacity added globally last year was almost 50% higher than the amount installed in 2019, the largest annual increase since the turn of the century. Renewables represented 90% of new power sector capacity last year and are expected to meet the same proportion in 2021 and 2022. Wind and solar are now on track to match global gas capacity by next year. It's not the first time that the IEA has raised its expectations for renewables growth, leading to critiques that it is underplaying the speed at which the world could change its energy systems. It noted that the major reason for its more optimistic new forecast was the amount of renewable power coming online in China without the assistance of government subsidies.
A new paper published in Environmental Research Letters reviewed over 200 journal papers studying the cost of the low carbon transition and found that it may be cheaper and quicker than most models predict. Many models imply that there are benefits to delaying investment in renewables but researchers concluded that targeted policies to induce innovation brought costs down faster. Meanwhile a newly published report from the IEA last week, "Net-Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector," suggests that renewable capacity must overtake that of coal within the next 5 years and oil and gas by 2030 to provide a 50% chance of staying under 1.5 degrees Celsius. The roadmap further suggests there should be no extraction of or investment in new fossil fuels beyond this year, worldwide. The U.S. Energy Information Administration recently estimated a summer increase in renewable electricity generation of 21% and a fall of 12% for natural gas compared to last summer, along with an 18% increase in coal use. Finally the Biden administration has given final approval for what will be the nation's first major offshore wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts, with a capacity of 800MW.
7. In late April the state of Hawaii became the first in the U.S. to declare a state of climate emergency. It joins 137 local governments across the country and close to 2000 governments around the world. Hawaii is uniquely vulnerable to the threats of rising sea levels and storm surges, and currently pays the nations highest electricity costs as coal and oil must be imported across the Pacific Ocean. A poll conducted in late April found that 52% of Americans agree that we are in a climate emergency, with the agreement more pronounced among people of colour: Asian respondents polled at 68%, Black respondents at 65%, and Hispanics at 63%. Meanwhile, Hawaii island, the largest island in the State, is reportedly on track to meet 100% of its electricity needs from renewables by 2023, using a combination of wind, solar and geothermal.
In contrast many other U.S. states are attempting to push back against what they perceive as unreasonable action on the climate. Last month Governor Mark Gordon of Wyoming, the largest coal producing state in the U.S., signed into law the creation of a $1.2 million defense fund to be used for suing other states that make moves away from coal reliance. In Louisiana House representative Danny McCormick recently introduced a bill to "establish Louisiana as a fossil fuel sanctuary state." The bill has been suspended indefinitely for fears that the language it contains could allow the federal Environmental Protection Agency to revoke the state's authority to enforce federal rules. The Governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, recently called on President Biden to end the moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources. This is despite the fact that the Democratic governor has also been vocal about making the state carbon-neutral, signing an executive order last year that commits Louisiana to such a goal by 2050. During his testimony Edwards claimed that oil and gas funds were needed to pay for climate change measures.
Last week Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a bill preventing the pre-emptive banning of natural gas hookups in newly constructed buildings by local municipalities, a move that has become popular in California in particular in recent years. Similar bills backed by fossil fuel front groups have either been passed into law or introduced in at least 15 other states. This is despite the fact that earlier this month the UN Environment Program's Global Methane Assessment suggested that in scenarios not heavily dependent on theoretical carbon-removal technology, global production of natural gas must decline by around 3% per year this decade to be consistent with a 1.5° pathway.
8. And finally, on May 19th the Biden administration announced it would be dropping some of the sanctions against actors involved in the building of Nord Stream 2, a large, nearly completed gas pipeline running between Germany and Russia. The sanctions were removed from the company behind the pipeline, Nord Stream 2 AG, and its CEO, supposedly to maintain cordial relations with Germany. They were put in place by President Trump and a bipartisan Congress in an attempt to frustrate Russian influence in Europe. Gazprom, the Russian state-owned company that owns Nord Stream 2 AG has stated that the timing of the completion of the last 90 miles will now depend on various factors such as weather. The German Green Party opposes the pipeline on environmental grounds, but also opposes the proposed increase in shipments of liquid natural gas from the U.S. fracking boom into Europe. The Greens are currently expected to do well in Germany's September election. The German government recently approved a proposal to increase its greenhouse gas cut to 65% by 2030 and moved its net-zero target forward to 2045. Following the sanctions waiver a U.S. corporate lobbyist was revealed to have been paid over $7 million by Gazprom, and to have donated over half a million dollars to Democratic Party institutions and candidates since 2017.
Meanwhile the Biden administration is considering placing sanctions against the Chinese solar industry over allegations of forced labour in the province of Xinjiang. The allegations are being loudly denied by the Chinese government and industry. The wider claim that the forced labour is part of a campaign of genocide against the Uighur people in China is receiving pushback from some independent journalists, who accuse mainstream media of relying entirely on Western state-funded and unreliable sources, not to mention Western hypocrisy when it comes to the issues of abusive labour practices and Islamophobia.
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