As Europe continues to sizzle, a new threshold in the climate crisis might finally be enough to shake politicians who have been dragging their feet for decades. We hope.
 

• Europe remains in the grips of a record-obliterating heat wave that is wreaking havoc on the continent and the U.K. alike. Today, Britain experienced its highest-ever recorded temperature of 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit. According to reports, only about three percent of homes in the U.K. have air conditioning, which has created a huge nationwide health risk. Heat waves of this magnitude and duration can be deadly, and pose particular health risks to vulnerable groups like the elderly, those with pre-existing medical conditions and anyone without access to cooling. The Chief of Science and Technology at the UK’s national meteorological service said, “I wasn't expecting to see this in my career but the U.K. has just exceeded 40°C…For me, it's a real reminder that the climate has changed and it will continue to change." 
   

• Wildfires fueled by the heat wave have set half a dozen countries in Europe ablaze as well. But there’s a more protracted problem, which is that much of the continent is in the midst of a monthslong drought, the worst in 70 years, and summer isn’t even over. This will have widespread effects across the global food market, as Italy and Spain produce over half of the world’s olive oil. Low crop yield will also exacerbate the COVID-related supply chain issues and rising inflation that have made food more expensive and scarce the past couple years.
   

• Climate scientists say that Europe is at a unique disadvantage in the grand scheme of climate change. Heat waves in Europe are increasing in frequency and intensity at a faster rate than almost any other part of the planet, including the western United States. Western Europe’s particular topography, latitude, and air pressure circulation makes the region particularly vulnerable. One scientific report linked the increasingly severe, persistent annual heat waves to changes in the jet stream. Dr. Kai Kornhuber, a climate research scientist at Columbia University, said warming in the Arctic may also play a role, as it’s occurring much faster than other parts of the world. This latest heat wave in Europe is uniquely frightening. BBC meteorologist Simon King said, "For meteorologists, exceeding records by a margin of 2 or 3 degrees is a staggering thought when historically records were only broken by fractions of a degree."

These dramatic developments will require big solutions to meet the moment, but it’s unclear whether on our side of the pond, Democrats are up to the task at hand.
 

• President Biden is slated to give a major address on the climate crisis tomorrow as he travels to Somerset, MA, to visit a former coal plant that’s being converted into a wind-energy plant. But sources told the Associated Press that Biden will stop short of declaring a climate emergency, as he has been under pressure to do since human coal deposit Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced that he would not support any additional climate spending last week. 

• Declaring the climate crisis a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act would activate many previously inaccessible governing tools. It would allow the White House to redirect spending to accelerate renewable energy to expedite the national transition away from fossil fuels. It could also be used as a legal foundation to halt crude-oil exports, limit oil and gas drilling in federal waters, and direct agencies including the Federal Emergency Management Agency to boost renewable-energy sources. Biden has told Congress, in effect, to stop playing games with Manchin and pass a dramatically scaled back version of his agenda, sans any new climate-mitigation spending. That may be the right read on Manchin, but it obligates him to shoot the moon with executive action. 
   

The 117th Congress is the oldest in over 20 years. Half of the Senate is over 65, one-quarter is over 70. Joe Manchin is 74. The median age in America is 38.8, so in order for the Biden administration and the Democratic Congress to prove that the Democratic Party is worth voting for ever again, they need to stop letting climate action be held hostage by representatives who used to smoke on airplanes will not live to see its most dire consequences.

The term “Metaverse” is suddenly everywhere - But what, exactly, is it? 

This week on Offline, Jon is joined by pioneering theorist and venture capitalist Matthew Ball to discuss his new book "The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything", to break down what the Metaverse is, and how it may someday be the gateway to online experiences and underpin much of the physical world.

New episodes of Offline with Jon Favreau drop each Sunday wherever you get your podcasts.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, once again, has some explaining to do. This time it’s because her husband Paul recently bought between $1-5 million worth of stock in the California software and computer-chip company Nvidia according to publicly-available disclosures. This hefty purchase comes, conveniently, just as the Senate is expected to meet this week to discuss a bipartisan bill to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing. Pelosi has been a vocal public opponent of barring members of congress and their spouses from trading stocks, largely out of step with members of her own party, whose rank-and-file members ultimately succeeded in dragging her kicking and screaming to eventually drop her opposition in February. A survey conducted by conservative advocacy group Convention of States action found that 76 percent of voters believe that lawmakers and their spouses have an unfair advantage in the stock market, and only five percent of respondents support lawmakers being allowed to trade stocks. Pelosi’s spokesman deflected questions about her husband’s Nvidia acquisition, noting that she does not personally own any stocks, and “has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions.” This is where we all say in unison: “COME ONNNNNN.” You can’t claim to oppose stock trading for lawmakers and spouses in good faith if, months later, your spouse buys stock in a company that could be affected by a forthcoming bill worth more than most Americans will ever see in their lifetimes. If the third-highest ranking member of the U.S. government is serious about prohibiting lawmakers and their spouses from trading stocks, she should put her considerable amount of money where her mouth is.

The House passed a bill on Tuesday that would codify the right to same-sex marriage, anticipating another rogue civil-rights rollback from the hard-right Supreme Court; 47 Republicans joined every House Democrat. 

An increasing number of Americans have sought medical sterilization since the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade.

Twitter’s lawsuit to force billionaire/Dickensian villain Elon Musk to buy the company (which he, you know, promised to buy) will go to trial in October.

Former president Trump recently told his advisors that legal immunity might be motivation enough for him to run in 2024, and announce his campaign historically early.

France and the United Arab Emirates have signed an energy cooperation agreement as Europe prepares for the possibility that Russia will completely shut off fuel imports in retaliation for E.U. sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking of Russia, Russian president Vladimir Putin arrived in Tehran today for a meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi. I’m sure they talked about normal, good-guy stuff!

House January 6 Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson has contracted COVID-19 and will likely miss the panel’s Thursday hearing, though the proceedings will continue without him.

An Indiana judge has reversed a 2016 decision to block the state from enforcing a law that not only prohibits abortions of fetuses with genetic abnormalities, but allows doctors who perform the abortions to be sued for wrongful death. 

An upstate New York venue canceled its plans to host a leg of the “ReAwaken America” tour featuring Trump sycophants Roger Stone and Michael Flynn after a local petition opposing the event on the grounds that it was “likely to draw white supremacists and other members of hate groups” received more than 2,000 signatures. 

It’s difficult to convey how important this year’s midterm elections are for congressional Democrats, and maybe that’s because voters are fatigued from being told exactly that every midterm election cycle. The DCCC seems to believe that some of its best House pick-up opportunities are in California, but most Democratic congressional strategists are chiefly concerned with playing defense just to maintain the razor-thin majority Dems currently have. To that end, it doesn’t appear that the party has a cohesive strategy. Some state Dem operatives are boosting the most extreme Trump-backed Republicans in their primaries in the hope that those loons will be easier to defeat come November, an extremely risky gamble that could backfire horribly, and honestly they should stop that. Another gamble is swing-state Dem candidates embracing law enforcement in campaign messaging to “boost their credibility,” after the right wing so effectively exploited the “Defund the Police” slogan (which it should be repeatedly stressed never actually resulted in the defunding of any major police departments). Hopefully, as November draws nearer, Democrats will settle on a coherent strategy, because Republicans won’t let up their attacks.

Trees are pretty great, aren’t they? They provide shade, make oxygen, prevent erosion, suck up all that carbon, provide homes for animals - is there anything they can’t do?
 

To turn something as awesome as a tree, and more accurately, a forest of trees, into toilet paper just feels wrong. These trees spent decades growing only to get cut down and flushed down the toilet.

At Reel Paper, we feel the same way. Reel makes a sustainable toilet paper that uses 100% bamboo. Bamboo is a fast-growing grass, and some can grow up to three feet per day! And like grass on a lawn, you can harvest the same stalk over and over without disrupting the plant or soil.

Even better? Reel Paper ships FREE in plastic-free and compostable packaging. 

For a limited time, head on over to REELPAPER.com/WORLD to sign up for a subscription and get 30% off your first order.

Let's stop flushing our forests. Reel is tree-free paper for the planet.

The Chicago home where Emmett Till lived has received funding for renovations to restore it as a national historic site. It is expected to open along with the nearby Obama Presidential Library in 2025.

The Ohio Supreme Court rejected a second Republican-drawn Congressional district map because it was so heavily gerrymandered (obviously). 

President Biden will sign an executive order expanding the tools available to deter and disrupt other countries taking Americans hostage and wrongful detentions. 

Volkswagen plans to unveil a new line of sporty, fully-electric trucks.