AJR, A Mostly Climate-Free DNC, Green Cement, and More!

Hey climate heroes! Welcome to The Climate Roundup, where we round up the change, er the news about climate and the environment. As part of the Gen E community, we thank you for making climate action part of everyday life. (Reading this newsletter counts!)

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In Pop Culture:

🎤 Pop band AJR has been successfully encouraging local climate action at stops along its recent tour. In each concert city, the band partners with local environmental nonprofits to pinpoint pressing issues. Then, they urge their audience to send letters and emails to local government officials to take specific climate action or to pass climate-friendly bills. Lawmakers do actually pay attention to the direct outreach they receive, and if hundreds of their newly engaged constituents are making the effort to voice their opinions, well, it just might help. Keep it up, AJR and fans.

Getting Down To Climate Business:

📺 Climate advocacy groups have joined forces to spend $55M on political ads in swing states, supporting Kamala Harris. The ads focus on the economic benefits of the growing clean energy industry and the domestic manufacturing jobs supporting it. The messaging highlights Harris’s vision of helping working families lower their bills, in contrast to Trump wanting to help wealthy corporations increase revenue (and pollution).

🤐 Meanwhile, it appears that mentions of climate change and the major climate legislation wins passed by the Biden administration (that happen to be benefiting red states most) will likely be absent from the campaign trail for the Harris-Walz ticket. It was barely mentioned at the DNC, but it’s something us climate folk will have to live with. We know Kamala is the climate candidate and we have to trust that she and her team know what they’re doing for the win. I try to avoid being political here, but it’s impossible when the climate crisis is politicized. And we 100% need legislation to right this ship when it comes to climate and environmental issues, so here we are. It’s very frustrating to watch as the biggest issue facing humanity is either omitted from the conversation or outright denied. But that’s why it continues to be important to keep climate top of mind in our own lives, so we can influence those around us. Climate is not a top issue for most Americans. It needs to be in order to solve this existential mess.

🏞 Allotment reductions were announced for states that rely on the strained Colorado River for fresh water supply as levels remain low due to decades of drought, rising temperatures, and overuse. Allocations will remain the same next year as this year with Arizona’s share reduced by 18%, Mexico by 5%, and Nevada by 7%. Federal cutbacks began in 2022, and are supplemented by voluntary cuts (for pay) by Arizona, California, and Nevada. Negotiations are now underway for a new allocation and usage agreement for 2026 and beyond, among the 7 states, Tribes, and farmers representing the 40M people who rely on the River for water.

🏫 Cement is responsible for 7-8% of global emissions, and despite challenges to decarbonize the industry, many startups are working on it, all trying to get their technology to scale. The Inflation Reduction Act has been doling out grants to help. Promising startup, Fortera, announced an $85M funding round to scale their low emission cement tech, which captures the CO2 emitted in the first phase of cement making and injects it into the product, which also doubles the production and drives down the cost of their greener cement product. It will be a big deal if we can eliminate emissions from this sector, as cement is one of most-used materials in the world.

End of Summer Vibes