An Animated Short, A Hydrogen Rush In Kansas, Rivian’s Outdoorsy CEO, 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:

😂 Adam McKay, writer and director of Don’t Look Up, The Big Short, etc created a new animated short. It mocks ‘elites’ and their dismissal of warnings about the climate crisis, featuring the voices of Billy Eichner, Ana Gasteyer, Thomas Lennon, Tim Meadows, and Eugene Cordero. Enjoy!

Your Philanthropy At Work:

🛰 MethaneSAT, the Environmental Defense Fund’s methane-tracking satellite arm, released a project update. Heatmaps show how many tons of methane are released per hour at oil and gas sites across the Permian Basin, Appalachia, and more. The images are proving that methane leaks are 5-10 times higher than reported.

🦫 Northeast Wilderness Trust has a new conservation project: they aim to create what will be called the Bold Coast Wilderness Preserve in Maine, where over 2,000 acres of forested land will be protected. The land will expand on existing coastal protected land, creating a larger area for wildlife to roam in this ecologically diverse area.

In Enviro News:

🗺 There’s a ‘gold rush’ happening right now in Kansas on top of the Midcontinent Rift, according to Bloomberg, where purveyors and startups are searching for naturally occurring reservoirs of pure hydrogen gas beneath the Earth’s surface. We mostly hear about manufactured hydrogen, made from burning fossil fuels or from electrolysis, which is the energy-intensive process of splitting hydrogen from oxygen in water. So to be able to find it already in its pure, usable form would be, well, gold, because hydrogen energy is emissions-free.

🌊 A new facility off the coast of Oregon will act as a testing site for researchers and companies to determine how best to harness energy from waves. The site is connected to the grid, so it will be able to power homes in the process. Wave energy is an untapped resource in the US, but someday it could be a significant contributor to our renewable energy mix.

🏙 ‘Powerhouses’ are buildings that generate more (clean) energy than they consume over their entire lifetime, from construction to demolition. So far all are in Norway, and they’re part of a growing trend in buildings, where designers and architects are aiming to not just be ‘climate-neutral’, but they want their buildings to be ‘climate-positive’, where they’re doing more good than bad. The jury’s out on whether that’s currently possible, but we love the effort. A US-based example in this article is Populus, a new hotel in Denver, CO that used lower-emission concrete and reclaimed wood, they compost all food waste, and they opted for no parking lot to encourage walking, not driving.

🙏 The auto industry wants Trump to keep the tailpipe regulations in place that force them to sell an increasing number of EVs over time. The industry has already invested heavily in factories for batteries and electric vehicles, plus they want to compete globally in a market that is inevitably going to be all EV at some point. Sounds like enough to self-regulate to me! Also interesting – did you know that Tesla earned $2.1 billion-with-a-B this year, 43% of its net profit, by selling emissions credits to other car companies selling gas-powered vehicles?

👩‍💻 College-aged climate activists seem to be reinvigorated to act as a strong voice and force on climate action, in response to the election. They are organizing and expanding with the goal to block legislation that will fuel the climate crisis and increase pollution.

Modern Environmentalist

🚵‍♂️ Off-road EV company, Rivian, has a founder and CEO who walks the walk of his company’s brand. In this Men’s Health article, he takes us through his fitness routine, which includes a lot of outdoor activity to clear his head.