Most recent 20 articles: Heated World
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How bad could Trump be for renewables? - Heated World (Oct 24, 2024) |
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Oct 24, 2024 · It’s often said that a Donald Trump presidency could be bad for renewable energy. But how bad could it be, exactly?
We recently came across a detailed but redacted study answering that very question, published by one of the world’s largest dedicated power market analytics companies in September. It hasn’t yet been reported on by any major or mainstream news outlet, so we reached out to the study authors at Aurora Energy Research who allowed us to view an unredacted version.
Here’s the good(-ish) news: as long as Trump doesn’t touch tax credits for wind, solar, and battery storage, the analysis says his presidency should only have a “limited” negative impact on the energy ... Read more ...
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Microplastics! They're everywhere! - Heated World (Oct 17, 2024) |
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Oct 17, 2024 · Dolphins are breathing microplastics into their lungs when they emerge from the ocean for air. That’s the topline of new peer-reviewed research published in the journal Plos One on Wednesday.
It’s also the latest entry to the running list I’ve been keeping on my phone for the last few months, titled: “Unhinged places scientists have found microplastics.” And while “dolphin breath” may seem like it must be one of the wildest entries, it’s actually pretty par for the course.
I’ve decided to share that list with you today. Keep in mind that every entry could benefit from nuance and context regarding health risks and particle concentrations. Please click the links attached ... Read more ...
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Big Oil knew monster storms were coming. We have the receipts. - Heated World (Oct 11, 2024) |
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Oct 11, 2024 · For the second time in as many weeks, Florida residents are picking up the pieces from a major hurricane supercharged by the climate crisis. While not as severe as meteorologists feared, Milton has killed at least 11 people, left 3 million without electricity, flooded coastal towns, spawned tornadoes, and caused what will likely be billions in damage.
But even as forecasters were left speechless as Milton became one of the fastest-growing hurricanes in history, there was one group of people that shouldn’t have been surprised - fossil fuel executives.
For at least 45 years, oil company scientists have been privately warning executives that burning fossil fuels would lead ... Read more ...
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How fossil fuels mutated Milton - Heated World (Oct 09, 2024) |
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Oct 09, 2024 · For scientists who study the effects of climate change, the scariest thing about Hurricane Milton is not simply its historic strength. It’s the fact that Milton grew so strong so quickly - mutating from a pipsqueak into a monster.
Milton’s rapid intensification from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane left meteorologists speechless, with one veteran NBC6 Miami scientist tearing up on air. On X, hurricane scientists described Milton’s sudden explosion as “unprecedented,” “terrifying,” and “jaw-dropping,” as the storm’s wind speeds grew from 60 mph to over 180 mph in only 36 hours - one of the fastest intensifications on record.
A similarly rapid hurricane ... Read more ...
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Milton is a monster. Elected leaders are to blame. - Heated World (Oct 09, 2024) |
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Oct 09, 2024 · Kathy Baughman McLeod is a former Florida state commissioner of energy and climate, and worked in Florida for more than 25 years. She’s currently the CEO of Climate Resilience for All.
My 83-year-old mother lives in the path of Hurricane Milton. For reasons I won’t get into, she’s chosen not to evacuate. When I called her earlier, we talked about the speed with which a storm surge could infiltrate her house, which is only about eight feet above sea level. We talked about how water could push from the Gulf of Mexico into the Caloosahatchee River, then into the canals that come into her neighborhood. We talked about how she might have time to get into the attic and take the cat ... Read more ...
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Keep yelling about climate change - Heated World (Oct 08, 2024) |
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Oct 08, 2024 · Yelling about climate change on the internet can often feel pointless, like throwing stones into a bottomless well.
Speaking for myself, a professional climate change internet yeller, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sometimes question the practice’s effectiveness - especially during hostile political administrations and seemingly unending fossil-fueled extreme weather.
So I was heartened when, late last week, I came across new peer-reviewed research confirming that climate yelling really can lead to meaningful policy action, even under right-wing leaders, and even during unnatural disasters.
I thought that research might be particularly helpful to share with you ... Read more ...
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Why Chevron is sponsoring Hurricane Helene journalism - Heated World (Oct 04, 2024) |
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Oct 04, 2024 · For a list of Hurricane Helene mutual aid resources, click here.
One day after Hurricane Helene dissipated, the Politico newsletter Power Switch ran a story detailing the terrifying nationwide implications of fossil-fueled storms. “Nowhere is safe from climate disaster,” the headline roared. “Presented by Chevron,” the next line read.
What followed was a back-and-forth between Politico’s reporters and Chevron’s marketing team. For a few paragraphs, readers were given journalism about Helene’s astronomical human and economic toll. Then, they were given a break for a paid message about Chevron’s new “Anchor” project - an ultra-deepwater drilling endeavor that the oil giant ... Read more ...
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JD Vance’s cowardly climate denial - Heated World (Oct 02, 2024) |
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Oct 02, 2024 · Sometimes, being a climate reporter feels like being in a twisted version of Groundhog Day. Every time you think the world has finally moved beyond debating whether climate change is real or fake, you wake up to find that the day has reset - and a white guy with oil money seeking power pushed the button.
Last night, JD Vance pushed the button while thousands of Americans were suffering from one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history. At the vice presidential debate on Tuesday, Donald Trump’s running mate cast doubt on the “idea” that heat-trapping pollution heats the atmosphere, calling it “weird science” that he would only accept “for the sake of argument.”
“One of ... Read more ...
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Why are Republicans so obsessed with refrigerators? - Heated World (Sep 23, 2024) |
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Sep 23, 2024 · Over the last year, Republicans have begun championing a new and novel environmental cause. It’s not the air; it’s not the water; it’s not the climate crisis.
It’s refrigerators.
Apparently they’re getting way too efficient.
That’s the idea behind the Refrigerator Freedom Act (seriously), introduced by Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) this summer. The bill seeks to repeal appliance efficiency regulations proposed by the Biden Administration last year - regulations that require refrigerator manufacturers to use less electricity and water over time as technology improves. The Department of Energy claims these regulations, along with efficiency regulations on ... Read more ...
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MAGA's scariest environmental proposal - Heated World (Sep 17, 2024) |
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Sep 17, 2024 · Diane Cotter is a proud “firewife”: the wife and mother of firefighters. On a phone call last week, she told me she’s “very much afraid” for her family and firefighting community, because of a little-known environmental proposal in Project 2025.
In the Heritage Foundation’s 900-page blueprint for Donald Trump’s second term, there’s a brief proposal to potentially deregulate a class of toxic chemicals called PFAS, found in firefighting foam and gear and linked to high rates of cancer among firefighters nationwide. Written by former members of Trump’s administration, it says the Environmental Protection Agency should “revisit the designation of PFAS chemicals as 'hazardous ... Read more ...
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Everyone's heads are in the sand - Heated World (Sep 11, 2024) |
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Sep 11, 2024 · Over the last few months, I’ve heard myriad folks argue that climate change is not a driving force in this election because it’s not a relevant issue in people’s day-to-day lives.
Respectfully, that’s total bullshit. Because if you care about the fact that food prices and inflation are skyrocketing; that water and electric bills are through the roof; that health care costs just keep getting higher; that immigration is on the rise; or that the American dream of owning a home is out of most people’s reach; then guess what - you care deeply about climate change. Rising temperatures made worse by unchecked fossil fuel expansion are driving all of these problems - and they’ll all ... Read more ...
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A high-stakes climate debate - Heated World (Sep 10, 2024) |
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Sep 10, 2024 · Tonight’s debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump has massive ecological and existential stakes.
A whopping 30 percent of Americans say tonight’s televised showdown will help them determine who to vote for in November. And their choice will help determine whether 4 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions get released into the atmosphere over the next six years - an amount equating to $900 billion in global climate damages.
That’s why, despite some pretty severe jet lag, I’ll be watching - and reacting/chatting live with subscribers starting at 8:45 p.m. Eastern time.
Chat with me during the debate
If you’ll also be watching, and if you’d like a place ... Read more ...
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The MAGA plan to stop forest fires: Remove the forest - Heated World (Sep 03, 2024) |
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Sep 03, 2024 · As the world continues to burn fossil fuels, the climate crisis has pushed wildfires into unnatural “megafires” that consume millions of acres in a single season. This year’s wildfire activity is nearly 3,000 percent higher in California than last year; and within the next three decades, one in seven homes could be at major risk. More concerning is the threat to human lives; last year, the deadliest wildfire in over a century killed 102 people in Maui; and much of the East Coast experienced its worst air quality ever because of Canadian wildfires.
But MAGA Republicans have put together a plan that they say will help ease the wildfire crisis. It’s laid out in Project 2025, a ... Read more ...
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The overlooked climate plans of Project 2025 - Heated World (Aug 26, 2024) |
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Aug 26, 2024 · It’s often said that Republicans have no plan for climate change. This is not accurate. Republicans have a massive and well-developed agenda for global heating, and it boils down to three words: “Let it rip.”
The Republican climate agenda is summarized nicely in Project 2025, the notorious 900-page policy plan developed for Donald Trump by the conservative Heritage Foundation. It proposes gutting the Environmental Protection Agency and its climate regulations; re-opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling; defunding the nationwide transition to renewable energy; and eliminating environmental justice initiatives. In addition, political appointees serving under ... Read more ...
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Why vilify the oil and gas industry? - Heated World (Aug 19, 2024) |
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Aug 19, 2024 · The richest man in the world has a new message about climate change: It’s real, but don’t knock the industry most responsible.“I don’t think we should vilify the oil and gas industry,” Elon Musk said while speaking about climate change during his two-hour conversation with former president Donald Trump last week. It was a sentiment Musk repeated four times throughout the 10-minute climate discussion. “I don’t think it’s right to sort of vilify the oil and gas industry,” he said, using the same verb - vilify - every time.
“Vilify,” interestingly, has two different meanings. It can be a synonym of “defame,” which means to speak falsely about someone. Or it can be a synonym of ... Read more ...
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A line-by-line fact check of the Musk-Trump interview - Heated World (Aug 13, 2024) |
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Aug 13, 2024 · Donald Trump told some wild lies about climate change in his two-hour live-streamed conversation with Elon Musk last night.
He falsely said that sea levels would only rise “one-eighth of an inch over the next 400 years.” In reality, sea levels are currently rising at more than a one-eighth of an inch every year.
He also falsely said that sea level rise would bring “more oceanfront property” to the country - an almost stunningly ignorant claim, as sea level rise makes land masses smaller. It’s basic geometry, as The Washington Post points out.
But even more interesting than Trump’s asinine climate claims were the climate falsehoods spewed by Musk, a man who's been ... Read more ...
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Tim Walz’s green resume has an oily stain - Heated World (Aug 08, 2024) |
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Aug 08, 2024 · Tim Walz, the vice presidential pick of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, is “one of the nation’s most forceful climate advocates.” As governor of Minnesota, he helped pass one of the most aggressive fossil fuel phase-out laws in the country. He signed legislation to speed up the permitting process for renewable energy; ushered in a sweeping, $2 billion law funding decarbonization, environmental justice initiatives, and clean water protections; and passed a $9 billion sustainable transportation law.
But if you ask Indigenous water protectors in Minnesota about Walz, they won’t primarily bring up the governor’s green achievements. They’ll bring up the fact that ... Read more ...
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Fossil fuels made the Olympics 5 degrees hotter - Heated World (Aug 01, 2024) |
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Aug 01, 2024 · I haven’t had time to analyze media coverage of the 2024 Olympic Games. So I’m not sure how many stories about Tuesday’s dangerous heat in Paris mentioned that the high temperatures were fueled by climate change.
But just in case you didn’t see, here’s an important stat: Fossil fuels, deforestation, and animal agriculture made outdoor temperatures at Tuesday’s Olympics about 5.2°F degrees hotter than they would have normally been. The reason we know this is because of incredible recent advancements in attribution science, which uses observational data and statistical methods to figure out how likely and severe an extreme weather event would be today, compared to how it would ... Read more ...
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Lefty climate groups to endorse Harris - Heated World (Jul 31, 2024) |
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Jul 31, 2024 · A coalition of lefty green groups that had not publicly endorsed Joe Biden for president in 2024 are planning to formally endorse Kamala Harris on Wednesday, HEATED has learned.
The groups - part of the more upstart, agitator wing of the national environmental movement - include the political arms of Friends of the Earth, the Center for Biological Diversity, Food and Water Watch, and Clean Water Action.
Climate Hawks Vote, a California-based PAC that aims to elect outspoken climate leaders, will also endorse the sitting vice president, marking the first presidential endorsement in the organization’s 10-year history.
Democrats, Republicans, Independents - HEATED ... Read more ...
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When Kamala Harris sued Obama over fracking - Heated World (Jul 23, 2024) |
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Jul 23, 2024 · It was 2016, and California’s coastline was about to get fracked.
President Barack Obama’s administration had just finalized plans to allow oil companies to resume offshore hydraulic fracturing and acidizing in the Santa Barbara Channel, determining the controversial practices posed “no significant impact” to the local environment or global climate.
Enter: Kamala Harris. Following the lead of state environmental groups, the then-California Attorney General sued the Obama administration in December 2016, seeking a halt to new offshore fracking permits.
The lawsuit called the decision to move forward on Pacific Coast fracking “arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of ... Read more ...
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