The “Inflation Reduction Act” isn’t ideal, but at least it gets the US climate action train going.
** News of the world environment
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NEWSLETTER | JULY 29, 2022
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** Something to Build On
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As an environmental journalist, I spend a lot of my time reading about, writing about, and sharing what can only be described as bad news. Yes, sometimes I am able to delve into truly inspiring stories about frontline activists pushing for change, but the big headlines are typically about rising temperatures, environmental injustices, climate inaction, and so on.
Which is why, like so many people, I was caught a little off guard by Senator Joe Manchin’s Wednesday about-face on federal climate legislation. After blocking action for months, the West Virginia senator’s new-found willingness to support a $369 billion federal climate bill means we may finally set our country on a path towards meaningful emissions reductions. It’s taken a while for this good news to sink in.
Of course, the bill isn’t perfect — no big surprise given its backing by the conservative Manchin. It contains what the Center for Biological Diversity refers to as “poison pills,” ([link removed]) most notably requirements that the federal government reinstate a controversial 2021 oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, and provisions tying renewable energy development to fossil fuel extraction on public lands. It also includes incentives for questionable climate solutions like biofuels and carbon capture.
Still, I can’t help but feel cautiously optimistic. If passed, the legislation would, among other things ([link removed]) , provide major incentives for clean energy development, fines for methane leakage at oil and gas sites, and $60 billion for environmental justice communities to address poor air quality, invest in climate resiliency, and more. And while it won’t get us to President Biden’s stated goal of reducing emissions by 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, experts say it will get us to 40 percent, a significant improvement over our current trajectory.
To me, that feels like a win worth celebrating. And something to build on.
Zoe Loftus-Farren
Managing Editor, Earth Island Journal
P.S. I’ll on family leave from mid-August through the rest of the year, so this is the last you’ll be hearing from me for a while.
Photo by: Ian Dick ([link removed])
TOP STORIES ()
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** Oil Threat to Okavango ([link removed])
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The amazingly biodiverse Okavango Delta is among the world’s few large inland delta systems that do not connect to the sea. Now this relatively untouched UNESCO World Heritage Site faces the threat of oil and gas exploration.
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** Beastly Problem ([link removed])
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Two summers ago, poor salmon runs sent a record number of bears foraging for food in a small Alaskan town and resulted in a “Bearpocalypse.” Now Haines is trying to figure out how it can better coexist with bruins.
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** Broken Rules ([link removed])
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The US Forest Service’s misguided forest thinning plans, which exploit a loophole in the federal Roadless Area Conservation Rule, are threatening New England's wildest and oldest forests.
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ICYMI ()
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** Harness Rage & Anxiety ([link removed])
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Two powerful activist-writers and fierce defenders of Earth are calling on us all to join the movement to “change the course of our destiny on fire.” Let’s do it!
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Photo by: per egevad / Flickr ([link removed])
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** Foreign Feline ([link removed])
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Poland’s Institute of Nature Conversation has placed domestic cats on a list of alien invasive species. Lovers of these fluffy, but deadly-to-small-wildlife, felines in the country and beyond aren’t amused.
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Photo by: Michael Taggart ([link removed])
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