• Climate Change

India Is Charting A Low Carbon Future — Building Better From the Start

• #climatecrisis
• climate change
• conservation
• electric vehicles
• India
• Paris Agreement

The Washington Post took a closer look at India’s chances for pulling itself out of poverty without a concomitant increase in its greenhouse gas emissions, noting that while China was unable to do so, India just might have a chance — it is on track to meet its two major pledges under the Paris agreement on climate change ahead of schedule before 2030.

Why This Matters:  Countries like India that are just now building up their middle class have the opportunity, if the cost is low enough, to leapfrog more developed countries and go directly to low-carbon, energy-efficient technologies.

• Climate Change

Global Ocean, Climate and Biodiversity Leaders Stress Their Work Continues Despite COVID

• #30x30
• #CHOW2020
• biodiversity
• climate change
• ocean
• UNIPCCC
• United Nations

Elizabeth Cousins, President and CEO of the UN Foundation said yesterday that the next decade will be a decisive one for oceans, climate, and biodiversity, and a rare joint appearance by global scientists and diplomats made it clear that the United Nations is at the center of that work.

Why This Matters:  The most important leaders of United Nations efforts on the ocean, climate, and biodiversity appeared jointly in order to emphasize the point that their work continues as fervently as ever, despite the pandemic’s challenges.

• Climate Change

Climate and Environmental Injustice Persist Even In Cities With “Strong” Climate Plans

• climate action
• climate change
• conservation
• environment
• heat islands
• pollution
• racial justice

Minneapolis has been at the center of the nationwide discussion on racism and police brutality against minorities, but it is also a place where the city’s heralded climate plan, first enacted in 2013, does not adequately address climate justice issues, according to a report by E&E News. 

Why This Matters:  Minority neighborhoods and residents deserve environmental and climate justice in Minneapolis and other cities.

• Climate Change

EU COVID Recovery Plans Make Investments In Climate Change; China Remains in Neutral

• China
• climate change
• COVID-19
• European Union
• recovery
• stimulus

The European Union announced its $825 billion recovery package for the coronavirus pandemic late last week and it includes big plans to address climate change as intrinsic to its economic recovery.

Why This Matters:  Only when we shut down the economies of the developed world due to the life or death threat of the pandemic did we see global greenhouse gas emissions reductions necessary for the foreseeable future.

• Climate Change

Climate Change-Driven Locust Swarms Arrive in India

• India
• Indian Ocean
• locusts

We wrote earlier this year that climate change was fueling an outbreak of swarming locusts in East Africa, and now the insects have made it to India’s heartland where they have devastated crops and livelihoods in a region already struggling with coronavirus, a heatwave in the capital, a recent cyclone, and 100 million people out […]

• Climate Change

Despite COVID Worries, Climate Still A Top Concern For 66% of Americans

• climate change
• Drought
• heat
• public opinion
• water

A new, nationwide public opinion survey conducted by Yale from April 7–17 found that a record-tying 73% of Americans think global warming is happening and only 10% deny it, but most believe it is happening to others and not to them. 

Why This Matters:  The pollsters expected they would find that because the public is so concerned about the pandemic that they would not have the ability to maintain their concern about climate change — a theory that social scientists call the “finite pool of worry.”  But that was not the case.

• Climate Change

University Divestment Movement Grows – Cornell and UC System Are Latest Wins

• #HarvardForward
• #YaleForward
• climate change
• Cornell University
• divestment
• fossil fuels
• University of California

Cornell University’s Board of Trustees announced on Friday that the University will make no new investments in fossil fuels, and it is believed that they have been divesting of their previous investments for several years, though the details of their endowment are not public. 

Why This Matters:  The climate movement has been led by young people and one easy focus of their activism is the universities they attend.

• Climate Change

Will Post-COVID Budget Cuts Nix Funding for Climate Action?

• climate action
• Gavin Newsom
• Jay Inslee
• renewable energy

When the coronavirus crisis first began, climate activists were hopeful that political leaders could manage the outbreak while simultaneously keeping their commitments to climate action. But the cost of the COVID-19 response on state budgets has been profound and there’s a fear that environmental programs will be cut as governors grapple with staggering budget shortfalls. […]

• Climate Change

Why Prioritizing Climate Action Is A Winning Strategy in 2020 for Democrats 

• AOC
• democrats
• Green New Deal
• Jay Inslee
• Joe Biden

by Miro Korenha Shortly after he was elected president in 2008, Barack Obama sternly explained to a gathering of governors that reducing greenhouse gas emissions would be a priority for his administration. Throughout the 2008 presidential campaign, then-Senator Obama talked about the need to transition to a clean energy economy but climate change, in and […]

• Climate Change

Climate Power 2020 Seeks to Change the Politics of Climate Change

• 2020 Election
• climate change
• Climate Power 2020
• Joe Biden

Today, the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the League of Conservation Voters, and the Sierra Club announced the launch of Climate Power 2020 — an independently run campaign dedicated to changing the politics of climate in 2020. One of the group’s stated goals is to dispel misinformation put out by the Trump campaign on […]

• Climate Change

New Studies Point to More Extreme Heat and Storms in the U.S.

• #ClimateActionNow
• #climatecrisis
• #environmentalist
• climate change
• conservation
• heat
• humidity

A study by The Earth Institute at Columbia University published last Friday in the Journal Science Advances found that the combined effect of extreme heat and humidity (known as the “wet bulb index”) is already exceeding in some locations for short durations of time the level that scientists thought would be the threshold of human survivability.

Why This Matters:  High heat and humidity combined is happening more frequently around the globe and has already resulted in massive death tolls due to climate change.

• Climate Change

JPMorgan Announces It Will Remove Former Exxon CEO As the Bank’s Lead Director

• #climatecrisis
• 350.org
• conservation
• environment
• ExxonMobil
• JPMorgan Chase
• oil and gas

In its most recent public corporate filings, JPMorgan Chase stated that it would be appointing a new lead independent director by the end of the summer of 2020, removing the former CEO of Exxon Mobil, Lee Raymond, after progressives and climate advocates publicly campaigned for his removal. 

Why This Matters:  Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org wrote a high profile op/ed in the New York Times ten days ago arguing that the company was stuck in the past on climate change, and urging JP Morgan shareholders to vote Raymond out, as did New York City’s pension fund.