While much of the corporate sector is out there making claims about social responsibility through greenwashing and pinkwashing and bluewashing, Yvon Choinard has put his money where his heart is. In giving away his entire company, Choinard has truly broken new ground. Most philanthropic millionaires and billionaires put their money into a foundation, legally required…
A couple of weeks ago, the news circulated that a massive part of the Greenland ice sheet is going to melt regardless of what climate action the world takes. This could trigger up to a foot of sea level rise in the coming decades, which would have catastrophic consequences. As a recent study says: “About…
Yesterday, September 8th, Leah Douglas published an in-depth research article on ethanol in Reuters. It’s a careful, deeply researched piece that reminds us of what good journalism can be and an important and timely reminder that corn ethanol is NOT a climate solution. A couple of key findings from the article: Corn ethanol production emits…
In a statement on Monday, Martin Griffiths, head of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that “famine was at the door” and was likely to occur in south-central Somalia between October and December this year. But the alarm is not just for Somalia. Many countries are suffering from extremely harsh climate conditions driven…
Yesterday Nature published a new analysis estimating the social cost of carbon in the United States at $185/ton, more than triple the current estimate used by the federal government in calculating the monetary impact of greenhouse gas emissions (and therefore of policies that would reduce or increase those emissions). The U.S. fair share of international…
After UN Women announced a partnership with BlackRock to promote gender lens investing, the outcry was predictably deafening. Hundreds of feminist organizations signed a letter demanding the repudiation of the partnership. Why? Because BlackRock, with nearly $10 trillion in assets under management, has a penchant for prioritizing profit over human rights and environmental integrity. Despite…
With devastating floods in Pakistan (where more than a thousand are dead) and Jackson, Mississippi (which will be without safe drinking water indefinitely) and the heatwaves that rocked Europe and the U.S. this summer, climate disasters have continued to be relentless this year. And don’t forget, hurricane season is only just starting. That’s why we…
Some of the climate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are very specifically aimed at boosting the U.S. economy while fighting climate change. The clearest example of this is the electric vehicle tax credit, which only applies to vehicles that are assembled in North America with battery components coming primarily from North America. This…
Proponents of the Inflation Reduction Act claim it will reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030. This is a long way from our global fair share that would be the equivalent of 195% reductions by 2030. It is also heavily premised on expanded usage of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies that are,…
Unless you’ve completely shut out the news, which seems doubtful if you’re here reading this, you are probably aware of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which President Biden signed into law earlier this week. Touted by its champions as a historic piece of legislation addressing climate, health, and tax policy, this 700-page bill emerged out…
