The Planet Today

The Planet Today

by Matt Norden and Nick Gennusa

Greenwashing at COP27 (already), limiting our food waste with better labeling, & more!

Matt and Nick talk about November’s COP27, presented by… Coca-Cola (Cop27 climate summit’s sponsorship by Coca-Cola condemned as ‘greenwash’ | Cop27 | The Guardian), UK Prime Minister Liz Truss opposing agrivoltaics (Liz Truss opposes placing solar panels on farmland, Downing Street says (aol.com)), A utility scale solar, wind, and battery power plant in the US (First clean energy plant using solar, wind & battery storage opens (electrek.co)), Farms using more water than Arizona and Nevada while the Colorado River is experiencing a water shortage (These farms use more Colorado River water than 2 states combined : NPR), And “best by”, “sell by”, and other food labels contributing to food waste (Keep it or toss it? 'Best Before' labels cause confusion | AP News)!

Big Oil’s climate denial started 63 years ago and cost the world $220 billion!

Matt and Nick cover one story today: Adetokunbo Abiola’s substack publication about how big oil companies could have changed the course of the climate crisis 63 years ago! The article gets into a few other topics that the guys talk about, including what it will take to break up big oil, what big oil can do next, and how shareholder activism will likely increase with the reality of ongoing climate change. Adetokunbo is a Nigerian journalist who writes about the global dimensions of climate change and how climate change impacts people. Source material for today’s episode: Big Oil companies could have helped stop climate change not 30 but 63 years ago (substack.com) The future of oil and gas is now: How companies can decarbonize | McKinsey ‘Abolish these companies, get rid of them’: what would it take to break up big oil? | Environment | The Guardian Want To Stop Climate Change? Buy Big Oil Stock (forbes.com)

Hurricane Ian, Boston’s turf bans for parks, & more!

Matt and Nick talk about Hurricane Ian and one community that fared very well throughout the storm (This 100% solar community endured Hurricane Ian with no loss of power and minimal damage | CNN), New York following California’s footsteps in banning gas-powered cars by 2035 (New York to Ban New Gas-Powered Vehicles, Following California's Lead (gizmodo.com)), Los Angeles county cracking down on water flow to celebrity mansions due to drought (LA restricts water flow to wasteful celebrity mansions: ‘No matter how rich, we’ll treat you the same’ | California | The Guardian), Boston banning artificial turf in parks (Boston bans artificial turf in parks due to toxic ‘forever chemicals’ | PFAS | The Guardian), And the Presidential election in Brazil is headed to a runoff. Why does this matter so much for global climate change mitigation? (Brazil Presidential Election Goes to High-Stakes Runoff Live Updates - The New York Times (nytimes.com))!

Monday Minisode: The Ozone layer is improving and Offshore Wind tax savings!

Matt and Nick discuss some good news for the Earth’s ozone layer (Scientists predict the hole in the ozone layer will close in the next 50 years | Euronews) And the tax benefits of offshore wind energy (Compared to oil and gas, offshore wind is 125 times better for taxpayers | Grist)!

Hurricane Fiona, The Kigali Amendment, & more!

Matt and Nick talk about The Kigali Amendment (U.S. Senate votes to amend global treaty to curb climate-warming gas | Reuters), Hurricane Fiona and how solar fared during the storm (The eco-friendly homes that didn’t lose power after Hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico – The Hill), The controversy over The World Bank’s David Malpass (Al Gore Calls the World Bank Chief a ‘Climate Denier’ - The New York Times (nytimes.com)), The impact of Yoga Pants on the environment (Your Yoga Pants Are Spewing Microplastics Into the Environment – Mother Jones), And Barbados commits to protecting up to 30% of its marine ecosystems (Barbados Commits to Ambitious Ocean Conservation (nature.org))!

Patagonia vs. Climate Change!

Matt and Nick talk about Patagonia’s owner, Yvon Chouinard, announcing that all of the company’s profits will go into two funds dedicated to fighting climate change. You can read Yvon Chouinard’s full letter on Patagonia’s website. Additional sources for today’s episode: Patagonia’s billionaire owner gives away company to fight climate crisis | US news | The Guardian Patagonia Owner Gives Away Company To Save Planet (yahoo.com) Patagonia Founder Avoids $700 Million Tax Hit By Donating Company - Bloomberg Wondery's Business Wars - Season 32: The North Face vs. Patagonia

Sea level rise in New Zealand, Gray Wolves in Oregon, & more!

Matt and Nick talk about sea level rise in New Zealand (Rate of sea level rise around New Zealand doubles in past 60 years | New Zealand | The Guardian), The EU continuing to classify biomass from wood as a renewable energy (EU votes to keep woody biomass as renewable energy, ignores climate risk (mongabay.com)), Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake and how it impacts energy usage (Explainer: Ethereum's energy-saving Merge upgrade | Reuters), Climate Change’s impact on human health (Climate change is driving a new public health crisis (axios.com)), And a gray wolf family spotted in Oregon (Sighting of new gray wolf family raises hopes of resurgence in Oregon | Oregon | The Guardian)!

Guest Interview: Hal Harvey (Energy Innovation) and Justin Gillis (New York Times)

Matt interviews Hal Harvey and Justin Gillis to discuss their new book, The Big Fix: 7 Practical Steps to Save Our Planet, and more! Hal is an acclaimed energy policy advisor and the CEO for Energy Innovation, a company that provides high-quality research and analysis to policymakers around the world and across a range of jurisdictions to help inform their energy policy decisions. Hal has served on energy panels appointed by Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Justin spent a decade as an award-winning reporter for The New York Times covering environmental science, with a special focus on climate change, and is now a contributing opinion writer for the newspaper. Matt, Hal, and Justin discuss how listeners get involved in key political decisions to ensure that their voices are heard when it comes to climate change. You can order their book The Big Fix by clicking here. Check out Hal’s website here: https://energyinnovation.org/ Follow Justin on Twitter at @justinhgilles

Jackson’s water crisis, the Colorado River’s drought, & more!

Matt and Nick talk about the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi (Running water returns in Mississippi capital – but it’s still undrinkable | Mississippi | The Guardian), Potential to save the Colorado River (A Washington river could provide an example of how to save the Colorado River and help Lake Powell and Lake Mead (sltrib.com)), Oil-giant Chevron peddling misinformation (‘Wildfire of disinformation’: how Chevron exploits a news desert | US press and publishing | The Guardian), Antarctica’s “Doomsday Glacier” not looking great ('Doomsday Glacier' is teetering even closer to disaster than scientists thought, new seafloor map shows (msn.com)), And wind energy potentially coming back to ocean shipping (Climate change may bring back wind as the power source for ocean ships (cnbc.com))!

Guest Interview: Leif Cocks (International Tiger Project)

Matt interviews Leif Cocks, the founder of the International Tiger Project, an organization that aims to ensure the survival of Sumatran tigers in their natural habitat by undertaking genuine, measurable and effective tiger conservation. They discuss the challenges facing the 400 Sumatran tigers existing in the wild, a number that continues to shrink. Additionally, the Sumatran tiger’s rainforest is disappearing at a rapid rate. Leif explains the harm that palm oil plantations, snare traps and more are causing to the tigers, why saving the rainforest is the single most cost-effective way to save the planet and tigers, and why immediate action is needed to protect this species. You can follow the International Tiger Project on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook by clicking any of these links.

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