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3 reasons why this summer is too damn hot

3 reasons why this summer is too damn hot

also: Netroots Nation in Chicago, John Kerry and Deanne Criswell on the Hill

Brad Johnson
July 13, 2023

PRESENTED BY SNACKY SCHNÄPPI

Here’s three: ExxonMobil, JPMorgan Chase, Rupert Murdoch.¹

It’s deadly hot across the entire American South. In Texas, a law signed by Gov. Greg Abbott will soon go into effect, preventing localities from setting rules to protect workers from the killer heat. The nearly 100-degree seas around Florida, from which Farmers Insurance has now bailed, are expected to kill off almost all the coral reefs there. The heat is similarly brutal in Spain, which among other things is sending olive oil prices skyrocketing. Climate disasters are making tomatoes scarce in India. And more than 40,000 people in China’s Sichuan province have been evacuated because of floods after a foot of rain fell in 14 hours.

The International Energy Agency has released its latest report tracking global clean energy progress. Out of fifty sectors, only three are on track (solar panels, lighting, and electric vehicles), so maybe try harder?

Trying harder, the European Parliament narrowly passed a broad nature restoration law on Wednesday with the goal of “restoring 30 percent of damaged ecosystems in the EU region,” as part of the EU Green New Deal initiatve.

The 18th annual Netroots Nation conference begins today in Chicago, with sessions including climate justice activists Betamia Coronel, Nicole Ektnitphong, Maria Harmon, and Dana Schultz on climate organizing in BIPOC communities this morning and a great climate-politics session on the fossil-fueled pushback to clean pensions this afternoon with Frances Sawyer, Sharon Hendricks, SEIU’s Renaye Manley, and Climate Cabinet founder Caroline Spears. The climate justice caucus is Friday afternoon.

On Saturday, DNC climate council chair Michelle Deatrick moderates a Run on Climate panel with Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), and Greenpeace executive director Ebony Twilley Martin; Climate Hawks Vote’s RL Miller will moderate a live-streamed panel on the Inflation Reduction Act with Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), Daniel Blackman, and Juan Jhong-Chung; and the Center for Biological Diversity’s Jean Su will moderate a live-streamed panel on environmental-justice campaigns targeting electric utilities with Felicia Allen of the Green Workers Alliance, Al Cleveland, and Dieynabou Diallo.

Administration officials are headed to the Hill this morning.

Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry faces the House Foreign Affairs oversight subcommittee to discuss the State Department’s climate agenda. The subcommittee chair Brian Mast (R-Fla.) is a member of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus (sic) but also a firm supporter of Donald Trump. Ranking member Jason Crow (D-Colo.) is one of the House’s more vigorous climate hawks.

Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Deanne Criswell testifies before the House Homeland Security emergency management subcommittee, chaired by Long Island’s Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.), with ranking member Troy Carter (D-La.).