#30: Is That All You Got?

Keeping the headline image the same this week, because I said so. If you don't know, now you know.


1. Do you like clean air? How about clean water? Trump has nominated a man to head the EPA who has fought against regulations on both air and water. Donate here to help fight his nomination. - Sierra Club

"The Sierra Club is now the nation's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization -- with more than two million members and supporters. Our successes range from protecting millions of acres of wilderness to helping pass the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act. More recently, we've made history by leading the charge to move away from the dirty fossil fuels that cause climate disruption and toward a clean energy economy."

+ MY NOTES: Let's fight.



2. A bunch of kids sue US government over climate change - Washington Post

"The case, brought by 21 youths aged 9 to 20, claims that the federal government isn’t doing enough to address the problem of climate change to protect their planet’s future — and that, they charge, is a violation of their constitutional rights on the most basic level. The case has already received widespread attention, even garnering the support of well-known climate scientist James Hansen, who has also joined as a plaintiff on behalf of his granddaughter and as a guardian for “future generations.”"

+ MY NOTES: This is some inspiring shit.



3. Cities and states say "fuck it", take on climate change themselves - New York Times

"As President-elect Donald J. Trump considers whether to break the United States commitment to the Paris climate accord, the rise of clean energy across the heartland is already too well entrenched to be reversed.

By 2020, thanks to MidAmerican Energy’s planned $3.6 billion addition to its enormous wind turbine operations, 85 percent of its Iowa customers will be electrified by clean energy. Meanwhile, Moxie Solar, named the fastest-growing local business by The Corridor Business Journal of Iowa, is installing solar panels on my house, and is part of a solar industry that now employs 200,000 nationwide."

+ MY NOTES: For all of the Obama administration's climate successes, many of them are executive actions and can be more or less immediately reversed by Trump. So, like other social justice issues over the past decade, major cities and states are taking the lead, hoping to make it the local default. 

And guess what? It's not a job killer.

"Following this regenerative approach, the Australian city of Adelaide reduced its carbon emissions by 20 percent from 2007 to 2013, even as the population grew by 27 percent and the economy increased by 28 percent. The city experienced a boom in green jobs, the development of walkable neighborhoods powered by solar energy, the conversion of urban waste to compost and a revamped local food industry. The city also planted three million trees to absorb carbon dioxide."



4. New York is on it.  - ThinkProgress

"In 2015, Governor Cuomo approved the Shared Renewables Initiative to expand access to clean energy. The initiative enables renters, homeowners and businesses to set up shared solar projects.

Community solar projects can take several forms: One variety is community group purchasing, where a group of homeowners or businesses jointly hire a solar firm to install panels on their roofs. Buying in bulk cuts everyone’s costs. Another option is offsite shared solar. These arrays usually take the form of a solar “farm” or “garden.” Any ratepayer can subscribe to panels in the array and get credited on their electric bill as if the panels were on their own roof. Onsite shared solar is another form of community solar. Residents of an apartment building or tenants in a large office building can put panels on the roof to supply electricity for everyone. And finally, there are community-driven financial models, which involve private investors and donors funding solar installations in low-income communities. Residents in turn reap the cost savings."

+ MY NOTES: Major key -- solar is finally available for low-income residents.



5. So let's revive that spirit and MAKE it a fucking movement, yeah? - The Atlantic

"A more confrontational environmentalism will find new allies, like the Native American activists of Standing Rock and the military veterans who showed up there just before the Army Corps of Engineers announced it would not approve the controversial pipeline route. It may also strain some of the relationships with wealthy funders and corporate partners that have become central to mainstream environmentalism. Activists will have to decide whether to cultivate alliances with other movements that have sprung up in recent years: the Movement for Black Lives, which has called for divestment from fossil fuels and pointed out that incinerators, waste facilities, and other pollution sources are often concentrated in poor and heavily non-white neighborhoods, or whatever comes after Bernie Sanders’s campaign, which blamed the fossil-fuel industry for blocking climate progress and promised to “keep it in the ground” in a rapid transition to renewable energy."

+ MY NOTES: Fired up and ready to go



SHIT I RAN OUT OF ROOM FOR BUT YOU SHOULD READ BECAUSE OMG

Things you can tell people to sound smart at holiday parties: “Wind technician” is the fastest growing job category in America, and the solar industry has hired more veterans than any other sector.

Doctors can now sift bacteria from your blood like chocolate chips from flour, with magnets

Bacteria resistant to "last ditch drug" pops up on US pig farm, cue end days

New approach could boost immunotherapy for breast cancer

History of Greenland's ice sheet could determine whether this place becomes Waterworld real fast

Hawking: We can’t go on ignoring inequality, because we have the means to destroy our world but not to escape it