Free Willy Podcast, Nonprofits at COP, Methane Fee, 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:

🌊 Here’s a distraction from modern times: a new podcast, The Good Whale, about Keiko, the killer whale who ‘played’ Willy in Free Willy. The story centers around the experiment to turn a captive whale into a wild whale, and whether we, as humans, should. It’s produced by Serial Productions and The New York Times, and in listening to the trailer, it sounds like a deeply engaging story, heavy on love and questions of morality.

Your Philanthropy At Work:

🦥 Coalition for Rainforest Nations is currently at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan to uphold commitments made at last year’s climate summit to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030 and to transition global energy systems away from fossil fuels.

🌍 Al Gore, founder of The Climate Reality Project, is also present in Baku, because he is the climate G.O.A.T. Bloomberg reports that his talk was the hottest ticket in town. Some gems from Gore: “Climate talks now seem to be better at attracting fossil fuel lobbyists [as opposed to celebrities who used to attend]. Oil companies are better at capturing politicians than emissions and they’re good at capturing COPs also.”

In Enviro News:

🏭 The Biden administration finalized a rule putting a fee on methane emissions from oil and gas infrastructure, in order to lessen the human-caused release of this gas. Methane is a superpollutant that traps 80 times more heat in the atmosphere over a shorter time period. Now that the rule is finalized, it’ll be harder to repeal, though it’s expected Trump will find a way. Still, the EU and others have strict rules on methane emissions for imported gas, so if the US wants to be their exporter, methane emissions will ultimately need to drop.

✍️ But wait, there’s more. The race to protect what we can, and to dole out unused funds for climate mitigation is on during these final months in office for the Biden administration. The EPA has $5B to grant to states and tribes for emissions reductions plans. Restrictions were set on mining and drilling in the West to protect the dwindling population of the sage grouse, and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Biden placed the maximum restrictions on leases to be auctioned by the end of this year, required from the first Trump slump. Cool, but couldn’t this all have been done before the clock started on the 60 day window when all of this can easily be reversed by the next administration?!

🛫 Vermont-based electric airplane startup, Beta Technologies, successfully completed its first flight of its production-ready electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) plane. They are targeting full approval for commercial operations next year. Electric planes (for short trips) are coming!

👎 The picks for candidates to run our nation’s departments are rolling in, and they’re feeling like alcohol poured onto our collective open wound. To run the Interior Department, it’s North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, replacing the great Deb Haaland. Burgum is cozy with the fossil fuel industry and is suspected to open up federal land, water, and refuges for drilling (it hurts my heart to think of the untouched nature about to be slaughtered). But he also set a climate-neutral goal for his state and has supported some clean energy subsidies, so it could be worse? For the EPA, the logically illogical pick is Lee Zeldin, of nothing fame, to lead the charge to strip our air, land, and water of protections from pollution so that businesses can stick to Milton Friedman’s mandate of profit above, and at the expense of, all else. Lee’s announcement tweet made my blood boil. Emily Atkin has more on this, plus advice from anti-pollution activists on where we go from here.

📉 A new report from central banks used the latest in climate and economic modeling and found that on our current trajectory of 3°C of warming, the climate breakdown by 2100 will cause global GDP to drop 33%. In a world that values GDP growth above anything, perhaps this news will wake more people up?

Get Outside To Escape Negativity

🧘‍♀️ It’s hard to escape the negativity right now, but it’s important to clear the mind. So remember this: spending time in nature can help stop repetitive negative thoughts and boost your mood. For the city dwellers out there, urban parks count. According to this study, just 30 minutes in an urban park can elicit awe, which is key to breaking the cycle of negative thoughts. So wherever you are, find your nature and find your awe!