Taproot Earth president Pichon Battle: defending the rights of the people in the era of climate change, and how to show compassion for the privileged

As the Re:WIRED GREEN event on addressing climate change drew to a close yesterday, the weather underlined the urgency in the most horrific way possible.

Pichon Battle, president of climate justice group Taproot Earth, spends her days on the front lines of the climate crisis. She lives on the Louisiana bayou, where rising waters are already washing away communities. She knows that her home will be lost to rising seas if she goes ahead with her plans. Pichon Battle wants to save the parts of the world that are still protected. Her closing speech was a generous but unsparing entreaty to the privileged, asking them not to turn away from the necessity for sweeping systemic change.

With tears in her eyes, Pichon Battle challenged the audience in San Francisco to be honest with themselves about the actions they should take to fight for a hospitable planet for all—actions that must go far beyond throwing a plastic cup into a recycling bin or buying an electric car. She said that she was in charge of bringing the truth. “Even if it’s not what you want to hear.”

Donald Trump, the Environment, and the Future: The U.S. is one of the Warmest Countries in the World, but what is the bigger problem?

Consider the consequences of two recent votes — the federal election in Australia and the Conservative Party leadership contest in Britain — and the potential consequences of two upcoming ones: a presidential runoff this month in Brazil and U.S. midterms in November.

The United States has the largest economy and the largest cumulative greenhouse gas pollution. It has warmed the planet more than any other country, despite China emitting more pollution per capita than any other nation.

The conservative coalition that had championed fossil fuels was ousted by the voters in May and made Australia one of the warmest countries in the world. The country had updated its international climate targets after a new government led by the Labor party took office.

Editor’s Note: This roundup is part of the CNN Opinion series “America’s Future Starts Now,” in which people share how they have been affected by the biggest issues facing the nation and experts offer their proposed solutions. The views expressed in these commentaries are the authors’ own. Read more opinion at CNN.

One in every three American adults say they have been personally affected by an extreme weather event in the past two years, according to Gallup. Public concern about the environment is near a two-decade high, according to a Gallup poll that found 44% of Americans worry “a great deal” about it. The polling organization states that it’s the seventh year in a row that the public is worried about the issue.

It has been happening for a long time and may feel like a new phenomenon. The 2003 heat wave in Europe was blamed on human-caused warming. Thousands of people died from the heat wave.

Nine experts were asked to come up with solutions that will help mitigate the impacts of global warming, and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

A year ago, I lambasted politicians for missing a huge opportunity for climate action. The United States could have harnessed its green economy to reduce emissions and prepare for the ravages of climate change after the H1N1 flu epidemic. Even though the Democrats were in charge of the federal government. The winter of early 2022, and then the spring of 2020 all happened during that time. But July brought a legislative miracle, as President Joe Biden announced a surprise deal on the Inflation Reduction Act, the nation’s biggest-ever investment in climate mitigation.

Climate change will require leadership from us all in the private sector, government and diverse communities around the nation. And it’s time for everyone to step up.

Project Drawdown is a science-based nonprofit led by Jonathan Foley, who is the executive director. Jamie Alexander (@jabeckx) is the director of Drawdown Labs at Project Drawdown.

Climate Impact Assessment and Recovery in the United States through Recycling and Reusable Materials: A Case Study in Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua

Transportation is the biggest contributor to US greenhouse gas emissions, and the shift from gasoline to electric cars will play a key role in the fight against climate change.

When an EV battery has reached the end of its life, materials recovered from battery recycling can be used to make new ones, reducing the need for mining. Recycling infrastructure is already growing in North America. Estimates show that, in 2050, recycled materials have the potential to meet roughly half of the demand for cobalt and nickel, and a quarter of the demand for lithium for EVs in the United States.

Jessica is a Senior analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists. She conducts research on material circularity and reducing battery impacts through repurposing and recycling.

It’s rare that the right thing and the smart thing align – but in this case they do. The US contributes the most to carbon emissions over time and addressing climate migration offers an opportunity to ensure equity, mitigate our demographic deficit, and uphold the dignity and safety of climate migrants all at once.

Recognize that some climate-impacted people qualify for refugee protection, and train immigration and refugee officers to better understand the role of climate in applications for asylum or resettlement.

Issue temporary protected status (TPS) for citizens of countries particularly affected by climate disasters, such as Guatemala and Honduras , allowing them to remain and work legally in the US.

Ama Francis is a climate displacement project strategist with the International Refugee Assistance Project and a non-resident fellow at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University Law School.

Climate action, clean energy jobs and environmental justice are some of the programs the IRA invests in. This gives the states the ability to create family-friendly jobs, improve the health of communities and mitigate the effects of climate change.

One challenge is to channel funds efficiently, equitably and transparently from federal to state and local agencies. Governors should make sure community organizations are active in the community. Governors should issue executive orders enacting the Biden-Harris administration Justice40 initiative to invest in disadvantaged communities at the state level, similar to Gov. Roy Cooper in North Carolina while remaining transparent like Governor Steve Sisolak in Nevada on infrastructure funding.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/20/opinions/climate-change-solutions-experts-roundup/index.html

The American Way: Making Clean Energy Cost Less Efficient by Using Innovation for Clean Power and Power Plants in the United States and Beyond

There is a path both parties can follow. First, make clean energy less expensive by using American innovation. utilities and industries will buy the cleaner alternative if two technologies are the same price.

Lawmakers can help build cleaner and faster. It shouldn’t take more than a few years to build a wind farm, a natural gas plant or a new transmission line. We need to cut approval periods by more than half.

Third, let’s think global and lead with America first. US emissions are trending down from 14% to 12.7% of the global total, and unless we equip other nations with clean technology, our efforts will never solve the global problem.

Rich Powell is CEO of ClearPath, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit that develops and advances policies that accelerate breakthrough innovations to reduce emissions in the energy and industrial sectors.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/20/opinions/climate-change-solutions-experts-roundup/index.html

Building Living Breakwaters: A Landscape Architecture and Urban Design Practice in Louisiana and the U.S. for Climate Science and Innovation in 2023

We cannot move toward a more just climate future if we continue to build infrastructure the way we have for the past century. We need to start embracing blue-green infrastructure and the complexity of natural systems instead of relying on single-purpose gray infrastructure. Saving areas that are still intact and reviving systems at a regional and national level is what this means. Blue-green infrastructure is less expensive to maintain and operate because it works with nature instead of against it.

There are demonstration projects going on. We are in the process of building Living Breakwaters, nature-based infrastructure that will reduce the risk of wave damage and mitigate erosion along the beach by creating a habitat for marine species. Louisiana is currently wrapping up its 2023 Coastal Master Plan, which includes some of the largest restoration projects in US history, such as sediment diversions – designed to redirect water, sediment and nutrients to starving wetlands, mimicking the natural processes that once enabled them to thrive so this critical natural infrastructure can continue to help mitigate flooding and erosion.

SCAPE is a landscape architecture and urban design firm that is based in New York, New Orleans and San Francisco. She leads design and planning teams on large-scale climate adaptation and infrastructure projects across the US.

While CHIPS merely authorized funding, Congress must now appropriate the money for these provisions, which will go toward advancing energy storage, fusion energy, artificial photosynthesis and carbon sequestration research, among other things.

Research and development can sound boring, but it is the essential ingredient for all innovation. The government has supported R&D across all sectors of the economy and taken risks the private sector won’t in the name of the public good.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/20/opinions/climate-change-solutions-experts-roundup/index.html

Climate Change in the United States: Environmental Policy and Public Policy (editor’s note). Judith DeConcini, MD, M.A.D. Anderson, CIO, Editor’s Note

Christina DeConcini is the director of government affairs. She is an attorney and advocate who is responsible for legislative work, strategy on climate change and energy issues, and engagement with the US administration and corporate partners.

The combined effect of rising sea levels and catastrophic storms will only cause more harm to these populations. It is imperative that cities and states come up with protection and adaptation interventions at built up areas that experience coastal floods and beach erosion.

The oceanographer is Ernesto L. Daz. He is the Caribbean regional manager at Tetra Tech, a consulting and engineering firm, and serves as the science leader for the Puerto Rico Climate Change Council.

Editor’s Note: John D. Sutter is a CNN contributor, climate journalist and independent filmmaker whose work has won the Livingston Award, the IRE Award and others. He was appointed the Ted Turner Professor of Environmental Media at The George Washington University. His opinions are not those of the commentary. CNN has more opinion about this.

The Paris Agreement, Climate Change, and the End of the Cold War: Why Does the U.S. Have a Heavy Carbon Footprint?

Last year’s COP26 in Scotland resulted in promises to continue discussing the issue of loss and damage, but there was no real action. It shouldn’t take long for vulnerable nations such as Vanuatu to be put on hold. The bill is almost certainly past its due time.

The small island states of the alliance of small-island states argued that the people who cause pollution should pay for it.

Many activists think that glaciers are melting more quickly than countries are able to come to an agreement on policies to limit climate change The landmark Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 was the most significant decision yet to come out of one of these conferences. Many effort are being made to take action on climate change based on that agreement. It set a limit on how much global warming countries would tolerate in order to make them more accountable for limiting the temperature increase to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

It is time for the high-polluting countries of the US to take the question seriously. It’s clear that polluters should be held accountable for these losses to territory, culture, life and property.

The head of Resources for the Future, an environmental think tank in Washington DC, says that the recent numbers don’t come as a surprise. An economy that is dependent on fossil fuels is going to emit a lot of pollution, according to Newell, who said the world still relies on fossil fuels for 80% of its energy.

The climate system has consequences for sea levels, storms, and so on if the less carbon is put into the atmosphere.

The Case against Global Fossil Fuel Profiteering: A U.S. Farmer’s Lawyer Sues over a Melting Glacier

Arguments against action have taken many forms over the decades. The most laughable, in retrospect, is that this was a problem for the future rather than the present.

Last week, a House investigation into Big Oil profiteering and greenwashing released its latest report — the result of more than a year of research, subpoenas and hearings. Among other things, the latest report makes unmistakably clear that whatever Chevron, BP, Shell, Exxon and other members of the American Petroleum Institute may say about their climate policies, their investments show that they intend to continue producing and selling oil and gas deep into the future — and well beyond the carbon budgets implied by any of the world’s climate goals.

The courts are being turned to by countries and people who don’t have an international fund for loss-and-damage cases. A Peruvian farmer, for example, is suing a German fossil fuel company over a melting glacier that threatens his home and farm. The suit, filed in 2015, according to news reports, claims the German company, RWE, should be liable for its proportion of the damages, in line with the proportion of global fossil fuel pollution it has created. (RWE is contesting the lawsuit and says it should not be held responsible for the damage.)

The Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law was formed in 2021. The aim is to explore claims.

The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, told The New York Times that litigation was the only way to be taken seriously. “We want to force them to respond in a court of law.”

Climate Change and the Conference of the Parties: How Do We Stand and Live in the Age of the Global Carbon Conundrum? Commentary of Thunberg

The countries that have joined the convention now are called the Conference of the Parties. And in 1995, they held their first COP meeting in Berlin, Germany. The 27 countries that have gathered to try to save the world have done it 27 times. At this point, the COP meetings have become a bonanza for anyone with anything to lose or gain from climate change. Indigenous peoples send their own delegates to represent their interests. The streets outside the conference are filled with activists from around the world. Corporations from the Big Tech to the fossil fuel industry are trying to sell themselves as part of the solution.

This is a raging debate, even within the conference. After announcing that she will not attend this year’s conference due to the “unmitigated harms of climate change”, a youth activist who was made famous by last year’s event, said that The COPs are not really working. “The COPs are mainly used as an opportunity for leaders and people in power to get attention, using many different kinds of greenwashing,” Thunberg said.

Global emissions are still rising far too fast to avoid dangerous levels of warming. If countries meet their climate pledges, emissions will only fall around 3 percent by 2030. They need to fall 45% to avoid climate impacts like powerful storms, heat waves, and melting ice sheets that will flood coastal cities.

At past international climate summits, like the one Biden will attend this week, developed nations agreed to help less-developed and more vulnerable nations adapt to life on a hotter planet. Developing countries have contributed less to the warming of the planet than developed nations but they are bearing the full brunt of damages from hotter, more unpredictable climate. Climate finance is a type of aid and investment.

Fransen is one of the people in the business of keeping track of all those emissions plans and whether countries are sticking to them. It is difficult to take stock. Measuring carbon nations emit is one thing. It also involves showing the effects those emissions will have on the climate 10, 20, or 100 years from now.

Unfortunately, it isn’t easy to determine how much CO2 humanity is producing—or to prove that nations are holding to their pledges. The gas is all over the atmosphere, muddying the origin of each signal. Natural processes also release carbon, like decaying vegetation and thawing permafrost, further complicating matters. Think about it as if you are trying to find a water leak in a swimming pool. It’s not always possible to see CO2 from space, because it’s not certain if it came from the nearest humans. That is what leads to the need for more sophisticated methods. For instance, Climate Trace can train algorithms to use steam billowing from power plants as a visible proxy for the emissions they’re belching. Scientists have been using weather stations to monitor local emissions.

International climate negotiations got underway today with dire warnings about climate-driven disasters, pleas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and a plan for a new global weather early warning system.

He said that they are racing toward doing their part to avert the climate hell that the UN secretary general warned about earlier this week.

He also referenced the fact that the global population is expected to officially hit 8 billion people during this climate meeting. When baby 8 billion is old enough, how will we answer if he wants to know what you did for the world and planet?

The United Nations and the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership: A United-Ministerium to Address Climate Change, Climate Risk, Wind, and Floods

According to the U.N., less than half of the world’s population have multi-hazard early warning systems.

The new plan will give $3.1 billion over the next five years to establish early-warning systems in countries that don’t already have them. Longer term, more money is required to maintain the warning systems.

The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Mia Barnes, went one step farther in her opening speech to her fellow leaders. She called out corporations that profit in our fossil-fuel intensive economy, including oil and gas companies themselves.

Those corporations should help pay for the costs associated with sea level rise, stronger hurricanes, heat waves and droughts around the world, she argued, and especially in places like her nation that are extremely vulnerable to climate change and don’t have the money to protect themselves.

“We want other organizations and communities to see where they’re potentially vulnerable to climate change and take steps to become resilient,” Charlene Lake, AT&T’s chief sustainability officer, said in a news release.

Information about temperature, precipitation, wind and drought will be provided by the Climate Risk and Resilience portal. wildfire and flooding will be included in the coming months.

More than two dozen countries say they’ll work together to stop and reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030 in order to fight climate change.

The European Union and 26 other countries comprise the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership, which is chaired by the United States.

The 26th Conference of the Parties to the UN, known asCOP 26, took place last year in Glasgow. The United Nations said on Monday that not enough money is being spent to protect forests, which capture and store carbon.

The United States is Acting to Protect the Environment and the Future of the World: After the U.S. General Assembly in September, 2015

It is something that Biden has raised repeatedly in speeches to other world leaders, including during the United Nations General Assembly in September.

The United States is acting. Mr. Biden said everyone had to act. “It’s a duty and responsibility of global leadership. Countries that are in a position to help should be supporting developing countries so they can make decisive climate decisions.”

Congress may not be able to allocate enough money to fulfill the president’s goal due to Biden’s request for more money.

Every two years the United States must submit a report to the United Nations about its progress in meeting its climate goals. The reports for that year weren’t filed by the Trump administration.

The World Resources Institute stated that the US would get a “fair share” of the big economy’s 100 billion dollar pledge to combat climate change.

The U.S. invests more in total dollars than it does in its economy, but it’s smaller than other countries.

Why is it going to be hard for biden to meet this 11 billion-climate-change-promise? The White House has no choice but to ask Congress

The pledges are still much lower than the amount needed to tackle the global climate crisis, according to a UN report.

The administration wants to get money from two sources: appropriated funding from Congress and money from federal development agencies.

The White House asked Congress for $5.3 billion in funding in its 2023 budget request in March, which would be enough, in combination with anticipated development finance money, to meet the president’s pledge. But it is a big jump from what Congress has done in the past — roughly five times what it allotted for 2022.

Administration officials hope the second half will come from sources like the Export-Import Bank and the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), government agencies that use financial instruments like loans and insurance to advance U.S. policy goals abroad.

The first — and most immediate — hurdle that Biden faces is Congress. Passing any funding bill requires 60 votes to clear the Senate. Democrats need to get Republican lawmakers to join them.

The White House’s proposal was denounced by the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, John Barrasso.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/11/08/1132980254/its-going-to-be-hard-for-biden-to-meet-this-11-billion-climate-change-promise

Climate Change: How Government Development Agency Can Support Biden’s Pledge in the era of High Interest Rates and Inflation?

Since the budget was released in the spring, the administration’s challenges have only gotten worse. Inflation has remained stubbornly high, and some economists worry that interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve could lead to a recession.

The money for Biden’s pledge comes from government development agencies. The government invests in projects abroad through agencies like the Export-Import Bank and the International Development Finance Corporation, which lend out money and look to generate a return on their investments.

The Export-Import Bank and DFC use fees and returns earned on their loans to support their work instead of receiving money from Congress.

It’s possible that these agencies could scale up their spending on climate-focused programs to help meet the president’s pledge, according to Bella Tonkonogy of the Climate Policy Initiative, a nonprofit policy research organization.

But Tonkonogy warned that it isn’t just about whether the government can find the money. The question is if these agencies can quickly identify and vet quality projects.

“That will require working differently, from developing comprehensive climate strategies to building up staff capacity to partnering with other agencies,” Tonkonogy said.

Climate Change: How we are moving forward in the era of the global clean-energy transition, and why we need the urgency to act now

Nonetheless, early signs of the clean-energy transition are emerging. In particular, the power sector is becoming cleaner in many countries, partly because of an expansion in increasingly affordable wind and solar resources, as well as a shift from coal — the dirtiest of the fossil fuels — to natural gas. The rise of emissions from coal in Europe this year is likely to be “a short-term blip”, Newell says. The transition to clean energy has been accelerated by the energy crisis.

A new phase of the fight against climate change has been marked by the report. Greenwashing was a topic for activists five years ago. One result of the world making so many more climate pledges in the wake of the Paris agreement has been that more and more people are beginning to look at how realistic those pledges are.

“It’s fundamentally about who is most responsible,” said Fatima Denton, a Gambian scholar, longtime U.N. official and member of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group. As the crisis grows, there will be a solidarity issue that becomes bigger. Support for that idea is needed now.”

For the first time, Mr. Biden announced, the U.S. government will require domestic oil and gas producers to detect and fix leaks of methane, a greenhouse gas that traps about 80 times as much heat as carbon dioxide does in the short run. The fossil fuel industry is the biggest industrial source of methane emissions in the United States; the colorless, odorless gas leaks from pipelines and is often intentionally vented by gas producers. Stopping methane from escaping into the atmosphere is critical to slowing global warming, scientists say.

Climate Change and the Predictions of the U.S. High-Year-Old Senate Majority Leader, V.P. Biden

In his speech, Vice President Biden did not announce any new policies. The administration is cracking down on the greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas facilities, as well as investing in renewable energy, and direct private money to climate projects overseas.

The president repeated the importance of measures. He said that the climate crisis was about human security, economic security, environmental security, national security and the very life of the planet.

And Republican leaders have also historically opposed payments that developing countries say they’re owed for the damage and destruction from climate change. The current summit is discussing the establishment of a global fund for such payments.

Biden also spoke as midterm election votes are still being counted in the U.S, determining which party will control Congress and, ultimately, whether and how the U.S. will fulfill its climate promises to the world.

But the industrialized world has fallen short so far of that goal. If Republicans take control, the White House won’t be able to follow through on its pledge. Congressional Republicans have repeatedly refused to fund international climate funding.

Biden urged countries to cut their emissions as quickly as possible. He said that the science is clear. “We have to make vital progress by the end of this decade.

Prop 1 of the New York State Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act: A Vote in Favor of a High-Energy Bond Measure

California’s climate vote was far more contentious. Proposition 30, the “Clean Cars and Clean Air Act,” aimed to tackle two of the biggest drivers of dirty air in the state: wildfires and car exhaust. (California has some of the worst air quality in the US: Of the 30 counties with the worst air quality nationwide in 2020, 29 were in the Golden State, a recent analysis found.) It would have increased taxes on residents making more than $2 million by 1.75 percent, with the revenue supporting the transition to zero-emission vehicles by providing subsidies for car buyers and building charging stations. It would have also funded wildfire risk reduction programs. The measure received the support of environmentalists, firefighters, and the California Democratic Party, as well as rideshare company Lyft, which gave $45 million to support it.

First up, New York: Proposal 1, the “Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act,” is a wide-ranging initiative that will supply more than $4 billion in funding for projects related to “the environment, natural resources, water infrastructure, and climate change mitigation,” paid for through New York’s sale of bonds. Wetlands protection, solar and wind installations, street trees, land preservation, and carbon sequestration are some things that it will fund. And with $500 million in funding specifically earmarked for purchasing electric school buses, it’s a notable step toward electrification; New York is one of the first states in the country to require all of its school buses to be zero-emission vehicles.

The measure also requires that at least 35 percent of the money benefits “disadvantaged communities,” as defined by an independent advisory committee. Joe Biden issued an executive order in 2020 stating that disadvantaged communities would be given at least 40% of the climate-related benefits that were enacted by his administration.

Kathy Hochul, the Democrat governor who won reelection, supported Prop 1. The New York State Conservative Party believes that New York does not need to borrow more money. With nearly 70% of votes counted, Prop 1 passed, with 69 percent of New Yorkers favoring it. Bond sales could reportedly begin as early as next year.

“New York voters deserve a shout-out for their overwhelming support of a once-in-a-generation bond measure that will protect and restore the natural resources we all depend on,” said Jessica Ottney Mahar, the Nature Conservancy’s New York policy and strategy director, in a statement. “This is a major victory for people and for the environment.”

But what can be done about that? I spoke to the chair of the subcommittee about what tools could be used to have Big Oil Accountable after the Inflation Reduction Act and the landscape for Climate Action after that.

A new study has shown that the failure to act on climate change is due to the fossil fuel Industry building a network of experts who questioned the science and policy. The industry’s efforts, which are ongoing, have included at least 4,556 individuals with ties to 164 different organizations. The investment in climate change denial—at least $9.77 billion from 2003 to 2018—bought the companies a half-century to continue the extraction of fossil fuels and delay the transition to clean energy.

The plan, approved by the California Air Resources Board, looks to move one of the largest economies in the world to renewable energy and away from fossil fuels.

The actions and policies of the Scoping Plan aim to cut fossil fuel usage to less than a tenth of current consumption by decreasing demand for liquid petroleum by more than 100 percent by 2045, mainly due to a move away from gas-powered vehicles.

“California is leading the world’s most significant economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution – we’re cutting pollution, turning the page on fossil fuels and creating millions of new jobs,” said Newsom in a press release after the plan was approved.

Board members acknowledged that the plan is a road map to cutting greenhouse gases, and not everything may come to fruition.

Understanding Climate Policy Obstructionism: How Climate Change Change Will Change the Lives of Today and Tomorrow, and What to Do About It

Beginning in 2026, all new residential buildings will be required to install electric appliances and in 2029, the requirements will begin extending to commercial buildings, according to the plan. All appliance sales will need to be electric by 2035 for existing residential buildings. Ten years later, all commercial buildings in the state will have to follow suit, the plan said.

Bhakta believes that carbon capture only serves to allow oil and gas drillers to continue their business as usual.

It is responsible for the destruction of forests, buildings and property but also emits tons of carbon dioxide, which is also targets in the plan.

In recent years, human-driven climate change has spurred massive blazes. The board pointing out that of the 20 largest wildfires in California, nine happened in 2020 and 2021.

Prescribed burns and increased forest management are some of the actions that will be taken to treat a million acres a year by the plan. Approximately 100,000 acres are treated each year.

The study of the deliberate production of ignorance or doubt—or agnotology—is on the rise. The Climate Social Science Network was launched out of Brown University in the fall of 2020 and is dedicated to studying climate policy obstructionism around the world, such as the important role of public relations firms. In 2023, universities will create research units dedicated to protecting scientific knowledge from government, religion and free enterprise.

In 2023, agnotologists will work to create a set of standards to combat the creation of ignorance, including building firewalls between industry money and university research and putting more pressure on social media to prevent “superspreaders” of disinformation. A study has shown that when society’s trust in science is high citizens are more confident about vaccination.

As knowledge remains our best hope to save the planet and ourselves, in 2023 a deeper understanding of ignorance will help us learn what the powerful do not want us to know.

Growing skepticism of over-ambitious, opaque, and even fraudulent climate pledges is turning up the heat on businesses. Already, we’re seeing customers voting with their wallets, employees choosing employers based primarily on net zero credentials, and investors making choices about what to fund based on tangible climate action. Sixty percent of Generation Y are willing to pay more for sustainable products, two-thirds of people are more likely to work for companies that care about the environment, and research by Amazon shows that 83 percent of investors want to invest in companies with good environmental policies.

For too long businesses have poured investment into emissions-avoidance offsets in order to reduce their own emissions. Emissions-avoidance offsets include clean cookstove projects, investment in renewable energy, and forestry protection.

If 2021 was a huge missed opportunity, 2022 was a huge turnaround. Project Drawdown, which advocates forclimate action, has an executive director who says he is more heartened about climate change than he has ever been. “We’re a lot less screwed than we would have been. And I’ll take that as kind of encouragement—a little more wind in the sails. Things are starting to pivot.

Energy-Efficient Heat Pumps for Home Energy Conserving Home Improvement: A Non-Fossil Furnaces-Free Approach

(If you’re not sure exactly what this entails in terms of home upgrades, updating insulation typically requires plugging leaks that let in outdoor air, then spraying either an expanding foam or pulverized newspaper into walls and attic surfaces. A heat pump extracts heat from outdoor air to warm a home, then reverses in the summer to act like an air conditioner. The appliance’s power is derived from electricity, not gas, so it can use renewable energy like rooftop solar. They are so efficient that even if you had to run them on energy generated with fossil fuels, you’d still be way better off emissions-wise than with a traditional furnace.)