Most recent 20 articles: Heated World
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A guide to electric car misinformation (part 1) - Heated World  (Mar 27) |
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Mar 27 · The closer we get to the 2024 presidential election, the more sketchy information you’re going to hear about electric cars. Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have decided to make electric cars central to their campaigns. Biden is doing this by promoting his administration’s efforts to expand EV production and ownership, and Trump is doing this by attacking those efforts. GOP polling has shown that attacking electric vehicle policy has been “amazing” for Republicans, former Trump energy advisor Michael McKenna recently told the New York Times. And Biden’s EV policies have drawn praise from both green groups and the United Auto Workers union - two important political ... Read more ... |
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Boeing's big green disaster - Heated World  (Mar 21) |
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Mar 21 · If you’ve ever used Google Flights to buy plane tickets, you might have noticed a green symbol telling you which flights have less greenhouse gas emissions. These flights are the result of a Google algorithm that predicts per-passenger carbon emissions. And there are two planes that pop up over and over again in the results: One is the European Airbus A320neo, and the other is the Boeing 737 Max 9. The 737 Max 9 is now infamous for an incident in January, when the door blew off an Alaska Airlines flight, exposing passengers to the outside air at 16,000 feet. The culprit was several bolts that hadn’t been attached, according to the preliminary findings of several ongoing ... Read more ... |
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“Meat and dairy should be suing oil and gas” - Heated World  (Mar 12) |
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Mar 12 · Big Meat is looking more like Big Oil every day. A new study published in the journal Climatic Change finds that, much like fossil fuel industry, the animal agriculture industry has been creating and funding academic research institutions that claim the world doesn’t need to consume less of their products; that it’s not necessary to preserve a safe and livable climate. That is, to be clear, not what non-industry funded research says. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - whose findings are compiled by hundreds of climate scientists and signed off on by 195 countries - has warned that the industry-preferred strategy of “technical fixes only” is not moving fast enough ... Read more ... |
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How corporate America won the fight to keep its pollution secret - Heated World  (Mar 8) |
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Mar 8 · One of the biggest challenges in holding corporations responsible for the climate crisis is that we have no idea how much they’re polluting. And corporate America is fighting tooth and nail to keep it that way. Sure, there are corporations that try to earn green points by voluntarily disclosing their greenhouse gas emissions - ExxonMobil is one, Walmart is another. But currently, under federal law, there is no rule requiring companies to accurately calculate or divulge their full impact on the planet. Nor is there a rule saying that companies have to report how the climate crisis is impacting their business, and hurting their bottom line. All that was set to change when ... Read more ... |
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Big Meat is lying about sustainability. These media outlets are helping. - Heated World  (Mar 6) |
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Mar 6 · First, Letitia James took on Donald Trump. Now, she’s taking on the meat industry. In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit filed last week, the New York Attorney General accused JBS USA - the American arm of the world’s largest meatpacking company - of “fraudulent and illegal environmental marketing practices” surrounding its claims of sustainability. Specifically, the lawsuit claims JBS USA’s advertisements promising to reach “net zero emissions by 2040” are fabrications, designed to trick environmentally conscious consumers into purchasing an environmentally harmful product. It’s not the first time Brazil-based JBS has been accused of misleading the public with climate ads. In June ... Read more ... |
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Plastic recycling is a scam - Heated World  (Mar 1) |
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Mar 1 · The plastic pollution crisis is so severe some experts say that it is now on par with the climate crisis. It shows no sign of slowing down, with plastic pollution expected to double by 2030. Over the next two decades, the amount of plastic in the ocean could reach 600 million tons, the same weight of 3 million blue whales. But the plastics industry wants to assure the public that it has a solution. Last month, the industry group America’s Plastic Makers released a national TV commercial claiming recycling programs are addressing pollution. Recycling plastic is “making the planet cleaner and healthier,” the ad said, alongside images of windmills and solar panels. It said ... Read more ... |
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There's no such thing as a “climate-friendly” Super Bowl - Heated World  (Feb 13) |
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Feb 13 · It’s time to have a conversation about the word “climate-friendly.” Like a football in the Super Bowl, it gets thrown around a lot. In recent months, journalists have used the word “climate-friendly” to describe reusable Stanley cups, carbon-neutral Apple Watches, and aviation powered by biofuels. It’s been used to describe investments in companies that have pledged to go net zero. And it’s been used to describe ice cream made with milk from cows fed special burp-reducing feed. If you watched the Super Bowl this year, apparently, that was “climate-friendly” too - or at least, the most “climate-friendly” the Super Bowl ever been. That’s because, for the first time, the ... Read more ... |
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“The Daily” runs a greenwashing BP ad - Heated World  (Feb 6) |
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Feb 6 · In 2021, in response to growing concerns about the fossil fuel industry’s role in climate delay, The New York Times pledged to ban oil and gas companies from sponsoring “its climate newsletter, its climate summit or its podcast 'The Daily.’” But it appears there are limits to that pledge. Because last week, The Daily aired an ad from BP touting the petroleum giant’s climate credentials. Here’s what some of The Daily’s millions of listeners heard at the beginning of Wednesday’s episode: BP added more than $70 billion to the US economy last year by making investments from coast to coast. Investments like acquiring America's largest biogas producer, Archaea Energy, ... Read more ... |
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Understanding Biden's LNG decision - Heated World  (Feb 1) |
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Feb 1 · There’s a lot of misinformation floating around about the Biden Administration’s decision on Friday to temporarily pause Department of Energy permit approvals for new liquified natural gas, or LNG, export terminals. Most of this misinformation is coming from Republicans and the fossil fuel industry, but some Democrats and environmental groups are stretching the truth too. Republicans are fear-mongering about how awful Biden’s decision is for the economy and energy security, and Democrats are exaggerating how great it is for the climate. The reason each group is overstating the importance of this move is because they want to fire up their respective voter bases. Democrats ... Read more ... |
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“These streets should be paved with gold” - Heated World  (Jan 30) |
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Jan 30 · On Friday, the Biden Administration announced a temporary pause on Department of Energy permit approvals for new liquified methane gas, or LNG, export terminals. I’ve been reporting a lot on that decision this week - specifically, trying to untangle some of the most prominent misinformation being spread about it from both Democrats and Republicans, to help you better understand what it really means for the climate, the economy, and energy security. I’ll have a newsletter laying all that out for you on Thursday. But in the meantime, I wanted to share with you an interview I did with James Hiatt, a third-generation former oil worker from Louisiana who has been campaigning ... | By James Hiatt, as told to Emily Atkin Read more ... |
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The propane industry is trying to dupe you - Heated World  (Jan 25) |
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Jan 25 · Members of a propane industry lobbying group strategized to downplay the full climate impacts of propane and market it as renewable or “clean energy,” recordings by HEATED and the Guardian reveal. The Propane Education & Research Council (PERC), a U.S. lobbying group, has spent nearly $30 million over the last two years on advertisements for the fossil fuel, according to data compiled by Drilled, a multimedia reporting project focused on climate accountability. The ads often promote propane, the vast majority of which is a byproduct of natural gas or crude oil refining, as a form of clean and renewable energy. But in a public November 2022 meeting recorded by the Energy ... Read more ... |
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The fossil fuel executive inside the White House - Heated World  (Jan 23) |
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Jan 23 · In the coming weeks, U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to make one of the most consequential climate change decisions of his term. Bloomberg News reports that the White House will soon decide whether to pause the permit approval process for more than a half dozen new liquified methane gas (LNG) export terminals, which would ship domestically produced fracked gas to countries overseas. (Note: LNG stands for liquified “natural” gas, but HEATED’s editorial policy is to call the product “methane” gas. Read more about why here.) These proposed terminals are massive fossil fuel projects that, if given the green light by the Department of Energy, could add up to 317 ... Read more ... |
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Here’s how much Democrats get paid to shill for fossil fuels - Heated World  (Jan 18) |
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Jan 18 · In January 2022, only a few years after leaving the elected seat she held for six years, former Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota got a new job: convincing climate-concerned liberals to love the fossil fuel industry. “It’s clear we have an existential threat to the planet,” said Heitkamp, in a December 2022 commercial for the methane gas lobbying group Natural Allies For a Clean Energy Future. “We should be doing everything that we can to help other countries do what we did, which is dramatically reduce our CO2 emissions by using natural gas.”The ad - titled “Real Talk with Heidi Heitkamp” - was one of a handful of public relations jobs Heitkamp did that year ... Read more ... |
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Yes, climate activism can win - Heated World  (Jan 11) |
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Jan 11 · This week, the scientific agencies of the world announced that 2023 was, by far, the hottest year in human history–and that 2024 may be even worse. For Emily and I, the news served as a bleak reminder that climate accountability journalism has never been more important or necessary. But one thing we’ve been thinking about lately is that there’s more to accountability journalism than exposing the bosses, brokers, and beneficiaries of climate delay. To truly arm readers with the information they need to fight the climate crisis, they also need to hear stories about how powerful interests can be defeated. That’s why, for my first newsletter of the year, I’d like to ... Read more ... |
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A chemical disaster occurred almost every day in 2023 - Heated World  (Jan 5) |
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Jan 5 · Climate policy obstructionists love to evangelize about the benefits of petrochemicals. Last year, in commercials and Congressional hearings alike, the fossil fuel industry and its political allies upped their messaging around the chemical byproducts of oil and gas, calling petrochemicals “essential to life,” and warning it would be dangerous to phase them out or transition to greener alternatives. What proponents consistently did not mention, however, was that petrochemicals were leaking, exploding, and catching fire all over the country last year, causing disastrous consequences multiple times per week. HEATED’s climate journalism is 100 percent reader-funded. ... Read more ... |
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On climate deals, beware the word "historic" - Heated World  (Dec 14) |
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Dec 14 · It is important for leaders of high-polluting nations to put a positive spin on the outcomes of global climate talks. An easy way to achieve said spin in to market the outcome as “historic.” This is what leaders like U.S. President Joe Biden and COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber are doing in the wake of COP28. Following the final deal, each called the outcome “historic” - a word that’s since graced the headlines of numerous major news outlets’ stories about the deal, alongside words like “unprecedented” and “landmark.” These quotes and headlines are not inaccurate. The final deal at COP28 is technically historic, in that it is the first deal that specifically calls on all ... Read more ... |
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The 12-year-old who halted COP28 - Heated World  (Dec 12) |
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Dec 12 · The United Arab Emirates has severely restricted protest activity at this year’s U.N. climate summit, placing harsh limits on what activists are allowed to say, as well as where and when demonstrations can occur. But on Monday, one activist managed to slip past the COP28 host country’s gaze, and pull off a truly unsanctioned and uncensored disruption: 12-year-old Licypriya Kangujam, or Licy for short. HEATED is climate journalism supported entirely by readers - no billionaires, foundations, or advertisers. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Video of the protest posted on X shows Licy quietly walking past ... Read more ... |
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Top climatologists slam Sultan Al Jaber's "no science" claim on fossil fuel phaseout - Heated World  (Dec 7) |
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Dec 7 · Will world leaders agree to phase out fossil fuels at COP28, this year’s U.N. climate summit in Dubai? It depends, in part, on whether they believe it is wise, prudent, and scientifically necessary to do so. This is why the fossil fuel industry needs to convince the public that phasing out fossil fuels is not wise, not prudent, and not scientifically necessary. And it’s why Sultan Al Jaber, the president of COP28 and CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, recently said this: “There is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phaseout of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5C.” In his remarks revealed earlier this week by The ... Read more ... |
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It’s official: COP28 has more fossil fuel lobbyists than ever - Heated World  (Dec 5) |
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Dec 5 · The number of fossil fuel lobbyists at this year’s U.N. climate summit is nearly four times higher than it’s ever been, revealing an extraordinary amount of influence from the biggest climate polluters on Earth. Specifically, there are 2,456 fossil fuel representatives at this year’s United Nations Climate Change conference in the United Arab Emirates, according to an analysis of summit attendees published today by the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition. There were only 636 fossil fuel lobbyists at last year’s COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, making the fossil fuel presence at this year’s summit “unprecedented,” the coalition said. “The sheer number of fossil fuel ... Read more ... |
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Fossil fuel lobbyists pour into COP28 - Heated World  (Dec 1) |
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Dec 1 · It’s day two of the 28th Conference of the Parties, known as COP28, the world’s most important climate conference - and organizers have released a massive excel spreadsheet containing all the names and workplaces of in-person attendees. HEATED spent yesterday going through that spreadsheet, and found hundreds of fossil fuel industry representatives who are actively working to delay climate policy at home. More like Conference of the Worst Party Ever! HEATED is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Alongside highly publicized attendees like King Charles III and Bill Gates, here are ... Read more ... |
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