Category: Climate News Roundup

Beyond the damage to our planet, climate change threatens to undermine our social fabric and the foundations of democracy. —Jonathan Foley

Our Climate Crisis

This year was the hottest February on record. Global ocean temperatures in February were also at an all-time high for any time of year. Taken together, the past 12 months have been the hottest 12 consecutive months on record. Researchers say that our weirdly warm winter has the fingerprints of climate change all over it.

Methane emissions from the fossil-fuel industry rose to near-record levels last year, despite technology available to curb this pollution at virtually no cost. Separately, a new study based on aerial surveys of methane leaks shows that US oil-and-gas infrastructure emits three times as much methane into the atmosphere as government estimates suggest.

Sinking cities along the American coastline are pushing sea level rise into overdrive. It will leave them increasingly exposed to destructive flooding by the middle of the century. Coastal subsidence is created by cities and industries pumping water from underground aquifers faster than they can be replenished, a situation exacerbated by climate change-fueled drought.

In its first risk assessment, the European Environment Agency reports that Europe is not prepared for the rapidly growing climate risks it faces. The most pressing risks are heat stress, flash floods and river floods, and the health of coastal and marine ecosystems. These urgent risks are growing faster than societal preparedness, including the need for funds to recover from disasters.

Local Climate News and Events

Approximately eight churches in Harrisonburg are coming together for a special Ecumenical Earth Day worship service downtown at Turner Pavilion (the site of the farmers market). The service will be on Sunday, June 21 at 9:45 am. All are invited.

Join the Shenandoah Sierra Club and Climate Action Alliance of the Valley for a panel discussion with city and community leaders at Court Square Theatre on Sunday, April 21 at 2:30 pm. Our city and community has made great strides and set high aspirations for meeting the challenge of the climate crisis. Come learn about those goals and what is being done to achieve them.

Senator Mark Warner met with transportation stakeholders in Staunton, Virginia to celebrate the planned expansion of Amtrak services in the city from three to seven days a week. This is good news from a climate perspective as it provides a less carbon intensive transportation option.

The Virginia Breeze bus lines could offer east-to-west service across Virginia, from Harrisonburg to Virginia Beach, starting next summer. Last December, the Breeze’s monthly ridership reached 6,126, which was 214% higher than original estimates and 13% higher than in 2022. The Breeze also contributed to a reduction of 270 metric tons of carbon emissions last December.

Volunteers with the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley (CAAV) are using a $35,000 grant from Clean Virginia to help connect low-income people with no-cost energy efficiency upgrades to their housing offered by Community Housing Partners. To do this they are partnering with four local nonprofits already serving these people. It’s a matter of listening, building trust and assisting in the application process.

A small group of local environmental activists protested outside the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) offices in Harrisonburg this week. They were part of a statewide action by Third Act Virginia urging the DEQ to be more forceful against the Mountain Valley Pipeline in response to its environmental violations.

The city of Harrisonburg draws all its electricity from Dominion Energy according to Harrisonburg Electric Commission general manager Brian O’Dell. It’s generating sources are therefore the same as Dominion, including 10% generated by burning coal, 41% by burning natural gas, 42% percent from nuclear power, and approximately 5% from renewable energy sources primarily solar panels.

Politics and Policy

Oil and gas executives at the CERAWeek by S&P Global energy conference in Houston blasted the Biden administration’s pause on new liquified natural gas (LNG) export infrastructure.   Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm sought to reassure them that it will be short-lived and not alter the U.S LNG industry’s meteoric growth to become the world’s largest exporter.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is drawing up ambitious regulations that would require all new and existing fossil fuel plants to sharply cut or capture their emissions in the next decade, or else face shutdown. But now, the agency has decided to exempt the nation’s 2,000 or so existing gas plants. Officials worried the rule could be overturned in court, and that it wouldn’t help get skeptical voters on President Biden’s side before the election.

For every dollar the federal government has contributed to advancing the transition to clean energy through the Inflation Reduction Act, the private sector has kicked in $5.47, according to analysists at the Rhodium Group and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This has led to nearly a quarter-trillion dollars flowing into the clean economy in just one year.

Fossil fuels subsidies are the zombies of the US tax code that seem impossible to kill. The oil and gas industry enjoys nearly a dozen tax breaks, including incentives for domestic production and write-offs tied to foreign production. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development calculated the total subsidies to be about $14 billion in 2022.

A revitalized push for nuclear energy is gaining bipartisan support in Washington as billions of dollars are being funneled into advancing nuclear technology and domestic uranium production. Regulatory changes also aim to streamline the licensing process for advanced reactors, promising to expedite the development of cleaner, more efficient nuclear energy.

The League of Conservation Voters, a leading climate organization, pledged $120 million to President Biden’s election campaign. Pete Maysmith, the league’s senior vice president for campaigns, said, “It’s hard to imagine higher stakes in these elections. We will be communicating with voters in the battleground states and in the key races about the stakes.”

House Republican leaders announced plans to take up six energy-related bills and resolutions for what they are calling “energy week” attacking attack President Joe Biden’s “radical, anti-energy agenda.” The goal is to protect what they call American energy dominance by repealing the greenhouse gas reduction fund, make it easier to build energy projects in wetlands, curb legal challenges from environmental groups, and oppose any potential tax on carbon emissions.

In a recent campaign speech, former President Donald Trump used vivid and violent language to criticize electric vehicles. He associated EVs with significant job losses in the U.S. auto industry, using terms like “assassination” of jobs. He proposed a 100% tariff on electric cars manufactured in Mexico, predicting a “blood bath” for the country if he’s not re-elected.

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $6 billion to demonstration projects that aim to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions from heavy industrial sectors. The goal is to make industrial essentials like steel, aluminum, cement, chemicals—and even household staples like ice cream and mac and cheese—a whole lot cleaner.

Solar advocates in West Virginia were dismayed when Governor Jim Justice vetoed a bipartisan bill which would enhance solar energy capacity for utility companies. Justice claimed he vetoed the bill because he didn’t want this bill to limit coal-based energy production in the Mountain State.

Energy

Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories proliferate. The numbers are staggering—the projected new energy demand in the next decade has doubled. This is leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the power grid. Virginia’s 2024 legislative session wrapped up last month without any action to avert the looming energy crisis created by rapidly growing data centers in Northern Virginia.

Solar provided most of our nation’s new electricity capacity last year. Texas and California led a solar surge driven mostly by utility-scale installations, which jumped 77% year-over-year. It was the best year for renewables since the heyday of hydroelectric during the Second World War.

The natural gas company Williams plans to add over 26 miles of pipeline in the county adjacent to its existing Transco corridor in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. It’s part of a larger project to allow its system to carry more natural gas. The Southern Environmental Law Center said the project “would commit the South to methane gas for the next 30, 40, or 50 years when there are cleaner, more reliable, and more affordable energy alternatives available.”

The U.S. clean energy transition has more money behind it than ever. Last year the investment in clean energy reached a total of $239 billion, a record-breaking figure that’s 38% higher than the 2022 total. Much of that growth is due to the boom in domestic clean energy manufacturing. Investment in U.S. clean energy manufacturing in 2022 was around $19 billion. It totaled $49 billion in 2023.

Climate Justice

Native Americans are fighting back against power lines, copper mines, and other clean energy infrastructure on tribal lands. While the Biden administration has worked to repair relationships with Indigenous peoples, that effort is conflicting with another priority of expediting projects essential for the energy transition.

The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to distribute $20 billion for green projects in underserved communities, focusing on community-driven and affordable housing projects.   Over 1,200 Community Development Financial Institutions will play a crucial role in this initiative. Targeting underserved communities with green finance will potentially transform the landscape of community lending.

Climate Action

You may be considering switching to a heat pump to heat and cool your home but wonder if they really lower carbon emissions if they run on dirty grid power. Most electric utilities still get about 60% of their power from burning fossil fuels.  Even so, the answer is an emphatic yes. Depending on their level of efficiency, heat pumps still lower household annual energy emissions on average by 36% to 64% compared to other heating systems.

The Mountain Empire Community College in Southwest Virginia will be the first community college in the state to enter into a power purchase agreement with a solar developer. The agreement with Secure Futures of Staunton, Virginia, for a 1,600 panel installation on their classroom roofs is expected to cut energy costs but the larger benefit will come from the boost to the college’s workforce training program for energy technology.

Muslim environmental scholars drew up a Covenant for the Earth presenting an Islamic outlook of the environment in a bid to strengthen actions that combat climate change and other threats to the planet. It is an endeavor to engage Islamic scholars and Muslim institutions in the effort.

The switch from diesel to electric school buses is accelerating. Thomas Built Buses, the legacy school bus company founded in 1916, has delivered its 1,000th electric school bus to a school system in Georgia.

Circ, a startup circular fashion company in Danville, Virginia, recycles textile waste into new fibers. It is an effort to reduce the fashion industry’s impact on the planet—the world’s third-largest polluting industry.

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee

“We just need more visionary thinkers who can bring together those in the ecological movement with the anti-racist realities that we’re dealing with.”— Cornel West

Our Climate Crisis

New research finds that the oceans are hotter than they’ve ever been in modern times—having smashed previous heat records for at least seven years in a row. Higher-than-normal sea temperatures cause sea level rise, stress coral reef systems, accelerate the melting of polar sea ice, redistribute fish populations, and deplete oxygen levels. Hotter oceans also create conditions for extreme weather events.

The Quinault Indian Nation, a native American coastal tribe in Washington state, has spent a decade trying to move its villages out of reach of a rising Pacific Ocean and its increasingly severe high tides. Oceanographers say this gives us a sneak peek of the future for many communities as an ever-hotter climate swells the world’s oceans.

Local restaurants are especially feeling the impact as climate change is taking a massive bite out of the global food supply chain according to recent research. José Andrés, a chef, humanitarian and founder of the Global Food Institute, responds, “This research is more than just a collection of data and insights; it’s a rallying cry for chefs, restaurateurs, food producers, policymakers, and all actors across the supply chain.”

Scientists have long been puzzled by parts of the US south-east where temperatures have flatlined, or even cooled, despite the broader warming trend in the US. This is now attributed to an aggressive US government tree-planting program involving 37million acres of reforested area in the south-east in the early 20^th century. Such reforestation, however, is no substitute for the need to drastically cut planet-heating emissions, which hit a new global high last year.

Politics and Policy

The explosion of AI technology is increasing carbon emissions and millions of gallons of fresh water consumption. New legislative efforts in the U.S. and EU aim to assess and regulate AI’s environmental footprint, focusing on energy consumption and resource use.

If states support walking, cycling, public transit, and other clean options, instead of expensive, status quo projects like highway expansion, they can reduce harms and give people of all backgrounds better access to reliable, affordable, and convenient transportation. By investing in these climate-friendly choices, billions of dollars can be avoided in energy, healthcare, and vehicle costs, save lives, and prevent huge amounts of pollution.

Some rural counties in Virginia are pushing back against allowing more solar development. In response, legislation is being introduced in the Virginia General Assembly that would give state regulators the power to approve large solar, wind or battery projects when local officials balk.   Supporters see this as a necessary move because clean energy generation is a statewide issue.

A judge ruled that the lawsuit that seeks to reverse Gov. Youngkin’s administration’s  withdrawal of Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas initiative (RGGI) is allowed to move forward. The Virginia General Assembly voted to join RGGI in 2020 and the Youngkin administration made an executive decision to withdraw at the end of 2023. The lawsuit claims that is illegal because it circumvents current law and the will of the General Assembly.

At least 15% of county governments in the US have effectively halted new utility-scale wind, solar, or both. Even so, a gigantic effort to build green energy is underway. Wind and solar are expected to surpass the amount of electricity made from coal this year. But green energy must increase rapidly to meet U.S. clean energy goals and local governments are making it more difficult.

The US home builder lobby is mobilizing against new state and local building codes that save energy and ease the transition to cleaner technologies by claiming that it adds substantially to the cost of new homes. A recent federal study found that they add at most about $6,500 to the price of a newly built home, not the $20,400 that the lobby claims. These code changes would actually pay for themselves in several years through lower energy costs.

Over the years, utility companies have come under fire for lobbying to stall climate policies and keep fossil fuel plants running. Our monthly energy bills may actually be paying for such efforts. While federal law prohibits utilities from recovering lobbying expenses from customers, those rules lack teeth and aren’t sufficiently enforced. Now, eight states are taking the lead to ban the practice.

Republican House leaders only want to attack Democrats on climate—not develop their own policies. And Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee for president, has shown no signs of moving away from his denial of climate change science and his rejection of major action to reduce emissions. Even so, the Republican Conservative Climate Caucus is trying to show that they care about actively solving the climate crisis.

Energy

The U.S. is slated to build 55% more electric power capacity in 2024 than it did in 2023. Renewables, batteries, and nuclear will add up to 96% of all new power capacity constructed this year. Even so, about 60% of US electricity is still generated by fossil fuels.

U.S. electric vehicles sales are poised to rise a lot this year. Despite some challenges, EV sales were strong in 2023—up 46% from the prior year. U.S. automotive projections show increases in EV sales ranging from about 20% to more than 30% compared to 2023.

U.S. gas producers are racing to sell liquified natural gas (LNG) to Asia and those plans run through Mexico. The recent fracking boom has transformed the U.S. into the world’s largest gas producer and exporter. Piping the gas to shipping terminals on Mexico’s Pacific Coast will cut travel times to Asian nations roughly in half by bypassing the traffic and drought-choked Panama Canal.

Dominion Energy received the final two federal approvals needed to move forward with the construction and operation of its $9.8 billion, 176-turbine offshore wind farm off the coast of Virginia Beach. Construction is expected to begin in May. Once fully constructed in late 2026, the installation will produce 2.6 gigawatts of energy, which would power about 660,000 homes.

Can power plants burn clean hydrogen to make electricity? Utilities say the fuel can potentially help them achieve a carbon-free grid. Some environmentalists worry that it opens up a morass of waste and greenwashing that may impede better solutions. One impediment is the availability of affordable green hydrogen. Another is that specialized turbines that can burn 100% hydrogen are still in the developmental stage.

Americans bought 21% more heat pumps in 2023 than gas furnaces.  Even though sales were down for both heat pumps and gas furnaces, heat pumps continued to widen a lead that first emerged in 2022, when they surged ahead of gas furnaces by 12% and topped 4 million units sold for the first time.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the selection of three projects that will receive up to $60 million to demonstrate the efficacy and scalability of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). The pilot projects will use innovative technology and a variety of development techniques to capture the earth’s abundant heat resources. They also support the DOE’s goal of cutting the cost of EGS 90% by 2035.

Startup Koloma is searching for underground reservoirs of naturally occurring hydrogen that have been largely ignored or lain undetected until now. They just raised an eye-popping $245 million in venture funding to develop tools and technologies to locate and eventually extract the now-coveted gas from the earth. Hydrogen is the gas of the moment because it could replace fossil fuels in certain applications, particularly in energy-intensive industrial processes.

Climate Justice

Newly unearthed documents reveal that the fossil fuel industry funded some of the world’s most foundational climate science as early as 1954. This includes the early research of Charles Keeling—famous for the so-called “Keeling curve” that has charted the upward march of the Earth’s carbon dioxide levels. This makes a mockery of their public denial of climate science for decades and their funding of ongoing efforts to delay action on the climate crisis.

Vermont, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New York are launching a multi-state effort to hold Big Oil accountable for the expensive damage wrought by climate change. Bills on the docket in all four states demand that oil companies pay for a climate Superfund to fund climate actions such as energy efficiency retrofits, water utility improvements, solar microgrids, and stormwater drainage.

Stolen Indigenous land is the foundation of the U.S. land-grant university system. Climate change is its legacy. In 2022 alone, these trust lands generated more than $2.2 billion for these schools. Most of that money comes from fossil fuel extraction and mining.

Climate Action

You’re probably underestimating the willingness of people to take action on our climate crisis. This erroneous perception could hamper climate action.According to a new survey of people in 125 countries, nearly 70% would give up 1% of their household income to stop climate change.

Climate activists are preparing for a long battle over liquified natural gas (LNG) exports even as they celebrate the White House’s recent announcement that it will pause the approval of new export facilities while they study their environmental impact. Export terminals that have already been approved will have the capacity to double those exports.

With Earth at its hottest point in recorded history, a growing number of scientists are proposing various geoengineering fixes. The latest is creating a huge sunshade and sending it to a faraway point between the Earth and the sun to block a small but crucial amount of solar radiation, enough to counter global warming.

Cheap Level 1 EV chargers may be the fastest way to get people into EVs. They’re slow (filling batteries at a rate of about 5 miles an hour) but use a standard 120-volt electrical outlet. That’s doable because most drivers leave their cars parked for at least 12 hours a day and don’t drive more than about 40 miles daily. Installing electrical outlets for Level 1 chargers at apartment complexes, condos, and workplaces is affordable and makes sense.

Parking reform is helping to transform cities. Bad parking policy, such as required parking spaces, inhibits affordable housing, neighborhood walkability, and the prospect of having a greener, cleaner city. By focusing more on housing, and less on the place to park, the barriers to a better urban environment are beginning to fall away.

Local Climate News

Harrisonburg City Public Schools recently received its first two electric school buses. Gerald Gatobu, director of the Harrisonburg Department of Transportation, said that purchasing the buses was made possible by a grant from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and was a part of the city’s recent push for sustainability.

The Harrisonburg City Council approved plans to install a 50-kilowatt solar system on the Turner Pavilion rooftop where the farmers market is located. The project will offset all energy usage for the pavilion, in addition to generating surplus energy that would be returned to the electrical grid as “community solar.”

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee

Our Climate Crisis

Last year, more than 40% of the Earth’s surface was at least 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer beyond the pre-industrial era. This warming has not been evenly distributed around the globe. Roughly one-fifth has already warmed by more than 2 degrees Celsius and around 5% of the planet has warmed more than 3 degrees Celsius. A fast-warming area around the Arctic, stretching into Canada and the American Midwest, is testing the limits of human infrastructure and the ability of the natural world to cope.

After the surprising rise in global temperatures in 2023, some scientists are already speculating: 2024 could be even hotter. That’s because the planet-warming El Niño climate pattern in 2023 is nearing its peak and may continue for the first half of this year. Correspondingly, vast swaths of Earth’s oceans were record-warm for most of 2023, and it would take just as many months for them to release that heat.

Based on the USDA’s 2023 plant hardiness zone map data, Rockingham County shifted from zone 6b to zone 7a—with an average temperature rise of four degrees. The map developers cautioned against attributing the hardiness zone update alone as an accurate indicator of climate change, which is based on trends in overall average temperatures recorded over long time periods.

Extreme draught has dramatically lowered the water levels in the lakes that provide water for the operation of the Panama Canal. This has reduced daily traffic through the canal by nearly 40% compared with last year. This is causing ships to divert to longer ocean routes, which increases both costs and carbon emissions.

Politics and Policy

In a big win for climate activists, the Department of Energy announced that it will pause approvals for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals for several months while it studies the potential climate impacts. Over the past decade, the United States has become the world’s largest exporter LNG and the industry is poised for massive growth.

The Biden administration laid out strict rules for tax credits to produce ​“green” hydrogen, a fuel that could help decarbonize essential industries like steelmaking and shipping. The production must use zero-carbon power delivered from where it’s generated to where it’s consumed and comes from newly built resources rather than existing ones. This will favor states like Texas that have lots of new solar and wind projects in the pipeline.

The state of Washington’s cap on carbon, signed into law in 2021, establishes a statewide limit on greenhouse gas emissions and has already raised $2.2 billion for climate action. It funds initiatives such as better public transit, home weatherization and electrification, and reductions in emissions from industry. Now a wealthy hedge fund manager is funding a petition drive to repeal the law over its minimal effect on higher gas prices.

Kenya launched a national “e-mobility” program last year. The goal is to incentivize the common ‘boda-boda’ motorbike taxis and three-wheeled ‘tuk-tuks’, or auto rickshaws, to go electric. These vehicles, which run on diesel and gasoline, are notorious for causing air pollution in Nairobi and other cities. This program is the centerpiece of a move to make transport green and reduce air pollution.

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing steep new fees on wasteful methane emissions from large US oil and gas facilities. This is part of a global push to curb methane emissions, a climate super-pollutant and it comes as the US is seeing record gas and oil production.

A tug-of-war is going on in the state legislature over whether Virginia stays the course of the energy transition laid out 2020-2021 or rolls it back hard. Republicans are introducing bills to roll back those laws, which are being defeated by the Democratic majority. Democratic proposals to strengthen them also face a veto by Gov. Youngkin that they will not be able to override. That will be the likely outcome of the proposed Democratic budget language forcing the governor to keep Virginia in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative carbon market.

Energy

Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions hit a 70-year low last year as it reduced its reliance on coal. Emissions from industry also fell significantly, largely due to a decline in production by energy-intensive companies. Electricity generation from renewable sources was more than 50% of the total for the first time, while coal’s share dropped to 26%. This puts the country in line with its target to produce 80% of its electricity from wind and solar by 2030.

The Chinese automaker BYD topped Tesla in 2023 to become the world’s largest EV manufacturer. The company, which is also a top battery manufacturer, recently broke ground on its first sodium-ion battery plant. Sodium offers a cheaper alternative to lithium but has a lower energy density. Sodium-ion batteries will be most useful in low-cost small cars or two-wheelers that don’t need the higher energy density.

US battery storage capacity for the electrical grid is poised for a record year in 2024 and now makes up 21% of new additions to the grid. Texas and California will continue to lead in new additions, after installations reached a new record last quarter.

The world may have a real chance of tripling renewable energy by 2030, the goal set at the COP28 climate change conference. Success in meeting that goal will, however, depend on scaling up financing for emerging and developing economies. The largest growth in renewables is taking place in China, which commissioned as much solar in 2023 as the entire world did in 2022, while their wind power additions rose by 66% year-over-year.

A huge underground hydrogen battery is being built in Utah. Two caverns, each as deep as the Empire State Building is tall, are being created from a geological salt formation on the site of a former coal power plant. The electricity used to create the green hydrogen will come from solar and wind power with no planet-warming emissions. The power plant it supplies will initially run a mix of natural gas and up to 30% hydrogen. Getting to 100% hydrogen in 20 years will require a major rebuild of the plant.

Natural hydrogen, a potential clean energy source, may be more plentiful than realized and a green replacement for fossil fuels. Well-funded efforts to drill for the gas are now underway around the globe. Skeptics say its large-scale use may not be practical or cost-effective and that unleashing it into the atmosphere could have unintended consequences.

Climate Justice

Aside from the destruction, death, and human misery created, a preliminary study shows the extent of the planet-warming emissions generated during the first two months of the war in Gaza. Those emissions were greater than the annual carbon footprint of more than 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations. This is an instance of the exceptionalism that allows militaries to pollute with impunity.

In a third round of funding for clean school buses, the Environmental Protection Agency awarded nearly $1 billion in grants to 280 school districts to help them go electric. This is a big win for the environment and for school children that are harmed by diesel pollution from buses, especially children of color and those in low-income areas.

With the Mountain Valley Pipeline approaching the final stretch, it might seem hardly worth continuing to fight against it. Yet, as one young woman says, “We cannot let them destroy our land and water.” Furthermore, the pipeline is six years behind schedule, about half a billion dollars over budget, and delayed once again. A goal of those continuing the fight is to make building pipelines so time-consuming and expensive that companies and politicians will think twice about building any more.

Climate Action

Virginia ranks fourth nationwide in the number of electric school buses either on the road or on order despite any specific state funding. It is happening through the resourcefulness of school districts and advocates by plugging into federal dollars, forming public-private ventures, and buying buses directly.

Amid concerns about climate change, demand for rail service in Europe is strong, and both governments and private investors are trying to keep up. Cities could see a flurry of new rail connections in the next few years, as governments and private investors strive to keep up with strong demand.

To slash carbon emissions, a growing number of colleges and universities are installing geoexchange systems (also known as ground source geothermal district heating and cooling) that work like a heat storage bank. In summer, heat is drawn out of warm buildings through air-conditioning and transferred to water, which is sent into pipes in a closed loop network deep underground. This warmed water is then used for heating during the winter months.

Rooftop solar and a heat pump system is being installed on the Pentagon, one of the world’s largest buildings. It will power over 95% of space heating and hot water heating, currently powered by natural gas and oil, with an estimated annual total energy cost reduction of $1.36 million.

If you think you need another car you might consider an e-bike instead. E-bike sales in the United States surged 269% between 2019 and 2022 and part of their appeal is their functionality. Think of it as a cheap second car rather than an expensive bike. It’s good for the environment and you may help change your community’s car-centric ways.

There are several good reasons to install a bidet on your toilet. It helps to save our environment, it’s less expensive, and it’s better than toilet paper in cleaning your tush. You’ll never want to go back to trying to clean yourself with messy toilet paper. We Americans flush the equivalent of millions of trees down the toilet each year and much of this comes from clear-cutting Canada’s boreal forests.

Local Climate News

The City of Harrisonburg received the SolSmart Silver award getting national attention for its work to remove administrative and permit barriers. Keith Thomas, the sustainability and environmental manager for the city, said they started installing solar on city buildings and are doing general community outreach to get more awareness out about solar.

The Rockingham County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 against bringing a demand-response transportation pilot project to the county in 2024. Valley Interfaith Action, a large local community organization, had been advocating for the service because a lack of transportation is a primary expressed need of area residents. The Supervisors did agree to study the matter to be in a better position to pursue a transit program in 2025.

A bioretention basin was installed at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg to capture and filter stormwater runoff from their building and parking lot. The Harrisonburg Conservation Assistance Program funded about 75% of the cost. An educational sign next to the basin explains how it works and its environmental benefits.

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee

If negative news about climate change is immediately followed with information explaining how individuals, communities, businesses, or governments can reduce the threat, then this information can empower rather than discourage us.  —Katherine Hayhoe

Our Climate Crisis

Leading scientists warn that it’s “becoming inevitable” that countries will miss the ambitious target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius that they set eight years ago at the Paris Climate Agreement. That target is slipping out of reach and recent studies suggest that the 1.5 degree threshold will arrive in about six years if we keep burning carbon at current rates.

Hurricanes and flooding, made more severe by climate change, have sent Texas homeowner insurance rates skyrocketing. Rates have increased 22% on average in 2023, twice the national rate. More billion-dollar disasters have occurred in Texas in 2023 than in any other year on record.

The COP28 UN Climate Change Conference

After intense negotiations more than 190 nations at the COP28 UN Climate Change Conference accepted a text that calls on the world to “transition away” from fossil fuels. This was a significant historic first step as past climate conferences had not even mentioned fossil fuels. The big question is if it will spell the eventual end of gas, oil and coal in a time frame that halts the worst effects of global warming.

The conference began with various significant pledges to address our climate crisis but countries have been notorious for not following up on their commitments at past climate conferences. The commitments made at COP28 include:

• The U.S. pledged $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund, the United Nations’ flagship climate fund, but this is contingent on congressional approval.
• Some of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies pledged to reduce methane emissions to near-zero by 2030.
• The U.S. joined dozens of other nations in committing to phase out most coal-fired electric power plants.
• Nearly two dozen countries pledged to triple their use of nuclear energy.
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced new standards to limit methane emissions at oil and gas wells.
• The United Arab Emirates set up a $30 billion fund to invest in clean energy and other climate projects worldwide.
• Government, corporate and philanthropic interests coalesced on a call for a binding global agreement to curb methane emissions.
• The U.S. and Canada created a Rail Decarbonization Task Force to develop a U.S.-Canada rail sector net-zero climate model by 2025.
• The International Monetary Fund said that carbon pricing through regulatory compliance, rather than taxes, would raise trillions needed to tackle climate crisis.

Oil firms and lobby groups were out in force at the conference. The oil cartel OPEC even had its own pavilion. Their language of  “lower carbon energy” typically means continuing to produce and use oil and gas—but with somewhat cleaner extraction and processing methods.

The conference provided a roadmap for reducing climate pollution from food and agriculture, a source of about a third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. It, however, falls short by prioritizing incremental change over wholesale shifts in agriculture, such as moving away from industrialized farming and toward an approach that promotes biodiversity and carbon storage by integrating crops with surrounding ecosystems.

Politics and Policy

The Biden administration proposes giving subsidies to support the development of “sustainable aviation fuels,” capable of powering jet engines from biofuels engineered out of soybeans, animal fat, and conventional types of corn ethanol. They say the program would make the airline industry cleaner while bringing prosperity to rural America. But environmentalists and some scientists express reservations because studies have found that corn-based ethanol gasoline additives actually exacerbate greenhouse gas emissions.

Two new Virginia delegates from Prince William County have joined forces to sound the alarm over the rapid growth of the data center industry. The industry’s growth is pressuring electric utilities to procure new sources of electricity and build lines to transmit a power load growing by 5% a year. Environmental and community groups say residential utility ratepayers should not have to pay the cost of those new generating and transmission facilities and that it is thwarting the state’s renewable energy goals by their continued reliance on fossil fuels.

The Prince William County Board of Supervisors approved a project, which would bring as many as 37 data centers built on about 2,000 acres. The project drew significant community opposition from residents concerned about the environmental impact of the project, including noise and the need for electricity and high-voltage transmission lines. The data centers are projected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually in tax revenue for the county.

The CEO of The Clermont Foundation, a Virginia research farm, opposes changing a Clark County ordinance to prohibit solar development because it would block agrivoltaics, which allow power production alongside farming operations.

Energy

The growth in renewables is soaring and the transition to electric vehicles is well underway, but it’s still not enough.  Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels were expected to rise by 1.1% in 2023. Those increased emissions come largely from India and China, which continue to burn even larger amounts of coal to generate more electricity, as well as increased emissions from increases in flying and international shipping.

Harrisonburg’s 2022 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report is now available. Total emissions were a 4.6% decrease from the 2016 baseline level. The commercial and transportation sectors respectively accounted for 31% and 28% of these emissions, followed by the residential sector and natural gas leakage both at 12.7%. The dominant fuel source for the community emissions was electricity at 38%.

Oil companies offered $382 million for drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico in the last of several offshore oil and gas lease sales mandated under the 2022 climate law. The lease sale was required under a compromise with Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia who cast the deciding vote in favor of the landmark climate law. Manchin insisted that the government must offer at least 60 million acres of offshore oil and gas leases in any one-year period before it can offer offshore wind leases that are part of its strategy to fight climate change.

The United States produced more oil and gas than ever before in 2023. Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows that the U.S. produced an average of 12.8 million barrels of crude oil per day through the first three quarters of 2023, more than double the 2010 average of 5.5 million. And even more crude oil production is forecast for this year—an average of 13.1 million barrels a day, driven by export demand.

The U.S. offshore wind industry is eying a brighter 2024 after progress slowed in 2023 when offshore developers canceled several contracts due to soaring inflation, interest rate hikes and supply chain problems, which increased project costs. The  industry is expected to play a major role in helping several states and U.S. meet goals to decarbonize the power grid.

Climate Justice

An international team of researchers has found that air pollution from fossil fuel use is killing about 5 million people worldwide every year, a death toll much higher than previously estimated. Phasing out fossil fuel use could reduce air pollution mortality by about 61%.

Severe droughts and more frequent and intense cyclones, induced by rising temperatures, are threatening staple foods for hundreds of millions of people in Africa. In response, scientists, government officials and farmers are reviving neglected crops and other measures to boost agricultural productivity. But only a trickle of global climate mitigation funds and almost no private capital are directed to the small farmers who produce the vast majority of the continent’s food.

Frequent natural disasters and rising sea levels have made Bangladesh one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. It is estimated that by 2050, one in every seven Bangladeshis will be displaced due to climate change—that’s 13.3 million people. The long-awaited fund to pay for loss and damage caused by climate change that countries agreed to launch at COP28 is a hopeful step in addressing this looming crisis.

Communities of color in the U.S. are most affected by climate impacts. A recent poll correspondingly shows that Black voters are more concerned about climate change than the national average, less polarized, and more likely to take action to support climate policy.

Americans who switch to more climate-friendly heating systems, solar panels, cars or stoves are now able to claim thousands of dollars from the U.S. government. Some of that money has been in the form of tax credits but that will change in 2024 as more rebates will be taken off at the point of sale. This will be a boon to lower income households whose income is not enough to take advantage of the tax credits.

Climate Action

A new study from the University of Oxford finds that pathways to bring greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero that are heavily dependent on carbon capture and storage will cost at least $1 trillion more per year than scenarios involving renewable energy. The researchers advised that carbon capture and storage should only be used in very select industries in which abating climate pollutants is especially hard.  

A U.S. Department of Energy study shows that, deployed at mass scale, geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) could decarbonize heating and cooling and save energy in U.S. buildings while reducing the need for new grid transmission. Coupled with building envelope improvements, retrofitting around 70% of U.S. buildings with GHPs could reduce electricity demand by as much as 13% by 2050.

Members of Valley Interfaith Action (VIA) are lobbying the Rockingham County Board of Supervisors to approve on-demand public transit in Rockingham County. A state ‘demonstration grant’ would cover 80% of the $1 million program costs for the first year. VIA is  also engaging with area corporations and businesses to help raise $200,000 as a local match.

Rising sea levels caused by climate change are exacerbating severe flooding in Miami. Xavier Cortada, a Miami-based artist and climate advocate, wants every resident to know how high above sea level their homes sit. He therefore recruited hundreds of students, homeowners and shopkeepers to display their elevations in their front yards and store windows to spark conversations about potential flood damage and skyrocketing insurance rates.

Food manufacturers, restaurants, and supermarkets are racing to cater to people demanding lower-carbon eating choices and eschewing plastic packaging, ingredients flown in from afar, and foods that are environmentally damaging to produce. While climate-based eating might be in its infancy, it is expected to grow as younger consumers increase their concern for the planet.

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee

By bonding over the values we truly share, and by connecting them to climate, we can inspire one another to act together to fix this problem. But it all begins with understanding who we already are, and what we already care about—because chances are, whatever that is, it’s already being affected by climate change, whether we know it or not. –Katharine Hayhoe

Our Climate Crisis

Kate Marvel, a climate scientist at Project Drawdown, was a lead author on the Fifth National Climate Assessment. She was reluctant to do it one more time because their past dire warnings about our climate crisis have felt like screaming into the void. Although the outlook is still alarming, they were able to report genuine progress this time. She says, “Renewables now make up 80 percent of new electricity generation capacity. Our country’s greenhouse gas emissions are falling, even as our G.D.P. and population grow.”

This year is “virtually certain” to be the warmest in 125,000 years, according to European Union scientists. Last month smashed through the previous October temperature record, from 2019, by a massive margin of 0.4 degrees Celsius. The month of September also breached the previous temperature record by a large margin.

A new study by legendary climate scientist James Hansen and his colleagues has found that global warming is accelerating faster than anticipated and will likely breach the 1.5 degrees C benchmark set by the Paris Climate Agreement by the end of the decade. Other climate scientists, including Michael Mann, dispute how rapidly global warming is accelerating and how much is locked in even after we stop emitting carbon dioxide.  They all agree that it’s an existential crisis.

Politics and Policy

A showdown is brewing over money, oil and carbon at the COP28 climate summit that is opening in Dubai. There will be immense pressure to deliver as global temperatures and greenhouse gas emissions continue to break records. We can expect a fierce fight between high-income and low-income countries over who will pay for climate mitigation. Furthermore, Sultan Al-Jaber, who the UAE chose to lead COP28 discussions, is a controversial choice given that he is the head of their state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.

The United States and China will back a new global renewable energy target and work together on methane and plastic pollution. They made a joint statement on this after a meeting  in California to find common ground ahead of COP28 talks in Dubai later this month. Differences between them remain on issues like phasing out fossil fuels.

Virginia voters all but ended Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s push to roll back climate policies as Democrats maintained their majority in the state Senate and seized control of the House of Delegates. This assures that climate legislation, such as the  Virginia Clean Economy Act, will stay in place. It also assures that he has no legislative path in his efforts to remove Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas initiative. Any new climate legislation will, however, need his support as the Democratic legislative majorities are not big enough to override his veto.

The Inflation Reduction Act helped create 210 major clean-energy projects in its first 12 months. These projects will spur a total of 303,500 jobs each year over a typical five-year construction phase, and a total of another 99,600 jobs each year after that in their long-term operations. It is estimated that this will lead to 9 million new jobs over a decade.

New House Speaker Mike Johnson has a League of Conservation Voters score of 2% which is almost as low as it gets. It’s even generous to call him a climate skeptic. He’s said outrageous things about climate change, what’s causing it, and whether he believes it’s even happening, and has consistently backed Big Oil.

Michigan passed legislation to reach 100% clean electricity by a target year of 2040. This makes it the third state in the Midwest and twelfth in the country to require a shift to clean electricity. Of all those states, Michigan is one of the most ambitious because of the extent of the change it is making. In 2022 it got only 38% of its electricity from carbon-free sources.

Energy

Energy efficiency is the invisible superpower of the energy transition. According to data from the International Energy Agency, gains in energy efficiency since 2010 have saved about ten times as much primary energy as solar and wind added. Even so, renewables get nearly all the headlines. That may be because solar panels and wind turbines are highly visible whereas unused energy is invisible and almost unimaginable.

Electric vehicle sales are up nearly 50% this year despite some inevitable growing pains and gloomy headlines. The EV market is actually well past the tipping point for mass adoption. If buyers continue to snap them up at the current clip, this year they’ll easily surpass 1 million in annual sales for the first time ever.

Solar is now producing 6% of electricity in the US—up from 2% five years ago. Even with that impressive growth, much more is needed to reach the Biden administration’s goal of completely decarbonizing the power grid by 2035. That will require solar to make up as much as 40% of electricity generation.

According to a UN report, the world’s fossil fuel producers such as Saudia Arabia, the US and UAE are planning production expansions that would blow the planet’s carbon budget twice over. The planned expansions will far exceed the amount of fossil fuel that is possible to burn if global temperature rise is to be kept to the internationally agreed 1.5C. They will even produce 69% more fossil fuels than is compatible with the riskier 2C target.

Dominion Energy says their offshore wind project in Virginia—the nation’s largest—remains on budget and on schedule to be completed in 2026. This gives the industry a boost at a time when it has been plagued by financial challenges, including the recent cancellation of two major projects planned in the waters off of New Jersey.

The Youngkin administration announced a public-private initiative that aims to test out emerging energy technologies in Wise County in Southwest Virginia. The public-private partnership will form an Energy DELTA Lab that tests new wind, solar, nuclear, battery and pumped storage, hydrogen and other emerging energy technologies.

The most promising small modular reactor in the U.S., being developed by startup nuclear company NuScale, has been terminated because it couldn’t secure enough subscriptions from utilities to make the project work financially. It was supposed to build the first next-gen reactor and usher in a new era for nuclear energy. Estimated project costs had risen from $58 per megawatt-hour to $89 per megawatt-hour due to cost overruns and higher interest rates.

The USDA has been funding renewable energy projects for farmers including a recent grant enabling a Rockingham County organic chicken farm to install solar panels to offset energy used by its poultry houses. New grant awards of $2.3 million in Virginia will support eight photovoltaic systems and five grain dryers in the city of Williamsburg and the counties of Accomack, Augusta, Culpeper, Gloucester, Powhatan, Rockingham, Southampton and Tazewell.

Climate Justice

United Nations climate experts said that the world must spend hundreds of billions more a year to help vulnerable people adapt to mounting devastation from severe droughts, catastrophic wildfires and ruinous floods fueled by rising global temperatures. At the next U.N. Climate Change Conference, hosted this year in Dubai, wealthy countries are expected to resist calls to compensate poor nations for such deadly disasters.

Pope Francis implored policymakers and those who deny the existence of climate change to stop dismissing human causes or ridiculing science when Earth may be nearing the breaking point. There is still time to stop global warming, he said, “Our future is at stake, the future of our children and our grandchildren.” He had planned to speak at the COP28 Climate Change Conference in Dubai but had to cancel for health reasons.

Climate Action

Pulaski County in Southwest Virginia is promoting solar energy and green manufacturing with the goal of becoming our nation’s greenest county government. It recently received a “gold” designation from the U.S. Department of Energy-funded Solsmart program and is working toward a platinum status by 2024. That will include installing solar panels on public facilities and land and providing instant approval for residential panel installation.

Trailblazing architects and engineers—and their early-adopter clients—are in a race to erect ever-taller timber towers. The vision is wooden skylines erected with glued lumber laminates that rival steel and concrete in strength and reliability. Trees soak up carbon in their trunks, leaves and roots. Constructing buildings with wood then locks that carbon into the built environment.

You will want to consider a heat pump dryer when you replace your present clothes dryer. While relatively unknown in the U.S., they are popular in Europe and Japan. Though more expensive up front, they can reduce your carbon emissions and save you up to several hundred dollars a year. Drying some of your clothes on an old-fashioned clothes line is even more efficient.

Biochar, a charcoal made from heating discarded organic materials such as crop residues, offers a path to lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Twelve countries have the technical ability to sequester over 20% of their current total emissions by converting crop residues to biochar. Bhutan leads the way with the potential to sequester 68% of its emissions in the form of biochar, followed by India, at 53%.

You can reduce your energy consumption this winter by reducing the amount of air that leaks in and out of your home. Weatherstripping and caulking are two of the most effective and simple air-sealing techniques that can save up to 20% on your energy bills. Also check with your energy provider about having them arrange for an energy audit on your home—a service that is often provided free of charge.

Here’s a simple climate action opportunity. Gather acorns and contribute them to the Virginia Department of Forestry nursery in Crimora. The nursery uses contributions from a donation program that has run for about a decade. This year volunteers sent them 12 tons of acorns. No matter how many seedlings the program produces, there’s always room for more because Virginia has about 16 million acres of forestland.

Action Alerts

Join Valley Interfaith Action for a TAKE THE NEXT STEP! assembly on Thursday, December 7, 6:30 to 8:00 pm at Bridgewater Church of the Brethren. Hundreds of VIA members will ask elected and corporate leaders to join us in taking the next step to establish door-to-door demand response transit and create 250 new pre-k spots that pay a living wage. Please register here. To join other faith based climate activists at the event you can register as a member of “Shenandoah Valley Faith and Climate.”

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality will host a community meeting at the Massanutten Regional Library in Harrisonburg on Dec. 7 from 6-8 pm. This is part of a series of meeting throughout the state to solicit ideas for measures that could rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Virginia. Click here for more information.

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee

Women are at the forefront of collaborative efforts to support each other in the face of our changing climate. In many countries, women’s intimate knowledge of the land means they are quicker to spot environmental changes, to learn from them, and out of necessity, find ways to adapt. —Christiana Figueres

Our Climate Crisis

Recent research indicates that accelerated ice melt in west Antarctica is inevitable for the rest of the century. Even drastic emissions cuts in the coming decades will not slow the melting. If completely lost, the ice sheet would push up ocean levels by about 16 feet. The implications are “dire” and some coastal cities may have to be abandoned.

The world has sweltered through the hottest spell in human history this summer. A conservative tally estimates that extreme weather disasters took more than 18,000 lives, drove at least 150,000 people from their homes, affected hundreds of millions of others and caused billions of dollars of damage.

After our summer of record-breaking heat, things got even worse in September as global temperatures rose far above normal. The average temperature was 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit above the 1991-2020 average for September. That’s the warmest margin above average for a month in 83 years of record keeping.

The unexpected heavy rainfall and flash flooding in New York City at the end of September is an example of how small storm systems can become severe because of global warming. This followed similar downpours in July that created catastrophic flooding that struck parts of Vermont and the Hudson Valley.

Politics and Policy

Clean energy, data centers, and utility influence in Virginia is up for a vote in the off-year election this fall. If he can achieve a Republican majority in both houses of the General Assembly, Governor Youngkin aims to repeal previous clean energy legislation. Particularly in his crosshairs are the Virginia Clean Energy Act, participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and the Clean Cars law.

At their first Climate Action Conference on Sept. 30, Fairfax County officials said that residents are underutilizing publicly-funded incentives to make their homes more green. Greeting a crowd of community members County Supervisor James Walkinshaw said the focus of the conference was to give residents “all the actionable information and the tools you need to reduce your emissions and save money.”

The European Union has launched a huge climate experiment by imposing a Europe-wide tax on carbon in imported goods. It could have global ripple effects across the entire globe by pushing high-emitting industries to clean up their production. It could also incentivize other countries to launch their own carbon taxes on imported goods. In these respects it could end up being one of the most important climate policies.

As big businesses like Amazon, Microsoft, Walmart, and Apple ramp up efforts to reduce their carbon footprint, they’re putting pressure on their suppliers to do the same. Consumers, investors, regulators, and governments are pushing firms for more progress and transparency.

The US Department of Energy announced the largest-ever investment in America’s electrical grid. The $3.5 billion in grants will expand capacity for wind and solar power, harden power lines against extreme weather, integrate batteries and electric vehicles, and build out microgrids. This will represent more than $8 billion in investment when matched by funds from state and local governments and utility and industry partners.

The Biden administration has green-lighted a record low number of new offshore oil wells. Experts say this decline reflects economics and production strategy as much as shifts in federal oil policy. Many climate activists fault the White House for holding any oil sales, while drillers and GOP allies of the industry say that so few opportunities to buy new drilling rights is undermining national production.

Beliefs on the severity of climate change have not shifted significantly among religious groups in the United States. In fact, among white evangelicals the view that the Earth is in a climate crisis actually dropped from 13% in 2014 to 8% today.

Energy

The International Energy Agency predicts that global demand for oil, natural gas and coal will peak by 2030. Their executive director Fatih Birol says, “The transition to clean energy is happening worldwide and it’s unstoppable.” Even so, a peak in fossil fuel use won’t be enough to stop global warming.

New clean energy grid battery installations are growing exponentially in the U.S., especially in Texas and California. The energy they supply is still just a drop in the bucket of overall consumption but they can deliver quick bursts of power at key moments during times of high demand. Battles with grid electric supply are won or lost on the margins and the megawatts that batteries instantly contribute during moments of crisis can avert power outages.

Electricity production is the biggest source of carbon emissions in the world. Data from a clean-energy think-tank report shows that in the first half of this year, global power-sector emissions rose by just 0.2%, thanks largely to the embrace of wind and solar power. This indicates that the world is approaching a peak in electricity carbon emissions.

The Interior Department approved a plan to install up to 176 giant wind turbines off the coast of Virginia. This clears the way for what will be the nation’s largest offshore wind farm yet. The project to be built by Dominion Energy will produce enough clean electricity to power more than 900,000 homes.

After more than a year of evaluating competing proposals, the US Department of Energy has picked seven “clean hydrogen hubs” where it hopes to turn $7 billion dollars of federal investment into the seeds of a clean hydrogen economy. The industries expected to use the clean hydrogen range from chemicals, steel and fertilizer production to shipping, trucking and power generation.

Through its Rural Energy for America Program, the  U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded $266 million in funding to eight renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects in Virginia. Included was $115,880 awarded to Regeneration Cycle, LLC in Rockingham County for two solar systems for four organic poultry houses. The owner, Corwin Heatwole, said he always wanted to go solar and this project made it possible.

Climate Justice

In a new climate letter, Pope Francis takes direct aim at climate change deniers and castigates Western nations, particularly the United States, for irresponsible lifestyles causing irreparable harm to the planet. He criticizes oil and gas companies for greenwashing new fossil fuel projects and calls for more ambitious efforts in the West to tackle the climate crisis. He says that “avoiding an increase of a tenth of a degree in the global temperature would already suffice to alleviate some suffering for many people.”

The Mountain Valley Pipeline is now on a mad dash to the finish because of West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin’s insistence that Congress approve it to get his vote to raise the national debt ceiling. It stretches just over 300 miles from the northern border of West Virginia to southern Virginia. It traverses ecologically fragile terrain including hundreds of bodies of water and steep mountain slopes and has upended the lives of people who live in its path.

Electric bikes promise to make a significant contribution to driving down greenhouse gas emissions in transportation. The upfront cost, however, puts them out of reach for many people. That’s why cities and states across the United States are rolling out programs to make e-bikes more accessible to lower-income residents. E-bikes also offer other benefits including more mobility than public transit and at a much lower cost than a car.

Climate Action

The Harrisonburg City Council voted to add a set of community engagement goals to the city’s Environmental Action Plan. People who live and work in Harrisonburg will be enlisted to help reduce carbon emissions through efforts like reducing car travel and planting trees. Keith Thomas, the sustainability and environmental manager for the city’s Public Works Department, said, “Total emissions are what matter at the end of the day, so that’s what we’re focusing on.”

Agrivoltaics—on-farm solar arrays combined with grazing or other forms of agriculture—is still rare in California. They could, however, be a game-changer in a state with lots of sunshine where many farmers are struggling to plan for a future with limited groundwater. It could be vital to preserving food production as many farmers face pressure to retire parts of their land to comply with water conservation regulations.

Virginia Tech has been awarded an $80 million grant from the US Department of Agriculture to participate in a climate-smart farming program. The pilot program will pay farmers to voluntarily implement climate-smart practices that help reduce greenhouse gases. The university says that if the program can be scaled up nationally, it could help reduce agricultural emissions by 55% — and reduce total emissions in the U.S. by 8%, after 10 years.

A startup business in Northern Virgina called “LambMowers” is a fun and ecologically innovative approach to how we care for our lawns. The owner, Cory Suter, who grew up here in the Valley, began his flock of sheep as part of his 5 acre permaculture farm in Fairfax. He then came up with the idea of making his sheep available to mow his neighbors’ lawns. Turf grass, including residential and commercial lawns, golf courses and similar landscapes, is by far the largest cultivated crop in the United States, three times bigger than corn.

An often overlooked climate solution is a compact 15 minute city where we can access key things in our lives—work, food, schools and recreation—within a short walk, bike, or transit ride of our home. This concept is catching on in urban planning even though it is running up against existing zoning restrictions and even recently hatched conspiracy theories.

Scientists from the University of Virginia, doing research on the Eastern Shore, have discovered that seagrass beds can permanently lock in carbon. They capture and retain carbon for centuries even in situations where the seagrass dies off. This means that seagrass conservation and restoration can be a significant climate change solution.

Rachel Brown, a retired quilt store owner, recently had a solar array installed on her Augusta County home free of charge through the Income and Age Qualifying Solar program of Dominion Energy. When she first heard about the program, she thought it was too good to be true but her trusted nephew Everett Brubaker, who works for Community Housing Partners, convinced her it was legitimate. Her house was first given a free energy efficiency makeover—as her nephew explained—solar “dessert” follows weatherization “vegetables.”

Fallen leaves are a really important wildlife habitat. So why not be lazy this fall. You will want to remove most of the leaves from your grass but you can place some of them in certain places and put others in your compost bin. Allow a little chaos in parts of your garden. That’s really beneficial for the soil, the animals, and the insects that need to share these landscapes with us.

Action Alert

You are invited to participate in a tree planting event at Harrisonburg Mennonite Church on November 11. We will start with coffee and pastries at 8:00 a.m. in the church fellowship hall. We need to have a count of those who plan to attend beforehand so we can estimate the amount of food and coffee required. If you are interested, please email Steve Pardini: pardini.steve [at] hotmail.com

This is the second phase of a four-phase project to plant 250 trees. The goals of this project are: 1.) To beautify the HMC campus, 2.) Create a spiritual and natural place for meditation, fellowship, and recreation, 3.) Steward the land, sequester carbon, mitigate water runoff, and reduce summer heat.

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee

In the face of climate change, we all have to be optimistic, not because success is guaranteed but because failure is unthinkable. —Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac

Our Climate Crisis

A UN climate report card on progress since the 2015 Paris Agreement says countries are trying, but urgently need to improve their efforts. Many of the worst-case climate change scenarios now look far less likely yet efforts made thus far still aren’t enough to avoid calamity. The report is meant to serve as the foundation for the next round of climate negotiations, known as COP28, that will start in late November in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.

Increased global warming will cause 500 million people around the world, particularly in places such as South Asia and the Middle East, to be exposed to life threatening extreme heat for at least a month by 2030—even if they can get out of the sun. This will create a new global wave of disease and death linked to climate change, according to an analysis of climate data and leading scientific studies. Pakistan will be the epicenter of places that bear the brunt of Earth’s heating.

Climate-fueled weather disasters have exponentially increased the cost of the Federal Crop Insurance Program from just under $3 billion in 2002 to just over $19 billion last year. Annual payouts in 2022 were 546% more than they were in 2001. Farmers pay about 40% of the premiums and taxpayers subsidize about 60%. Roughly 80% of crop insurance payments go to the largest 20% of farms that primarily grow one or two carbon intensive crops.

Politics and Policy

Research shows that the World Bank spent billions of dollars backing fossil fuels in 2022 despite repeated promises to refocus on shifting to a low-carbon economy. The money went through a special form of funding known as trade finance, which lacks transparency on funds used for oil and gas development.  Until that is changed, the World Bank cannot claim to be aligned with the Paris climate agreement.

Virginia utility regulators ruled against Dominion Energy’s attempt to saddle rooftop installations with astronomical grid interconnection fees that were stifling the industry’s gains across Virginia. At stake were medium sized 25 Kw to 1 Mw solar installations that use power purchase agreements. These kinds of solar installations have appealed to universities, public schools, hospitals, churches, municipalities and small commercial ventures.

California is suing five oil companies and their trade group, the American Petroleum Institute, over what the state says is a long-standing pattern of deceiving the public over the risks associated with fossil fuel. According to the complaint, this is causing billions of dollars in damage to communities and the environment. The lawsuit claims the oil companies have created a public nuisance, damaged natural resources and state property and have violated California law with false advertising and misleading environmental marketing.

Energy

The great news is that Virginia is meeting short-term carbon-free targets laid out in the sweeping Clean Economy Act of 2020. A big challenge is that new clean energy projects are gummed-up in their regional grid operator’s transmission interconnection queue, potentially stalling this progress. Off-shore wind is projected to make up a big proportion of new clean energy installations in the coming decades.

Building the world’s first large-scale green steel plant just moved closer to becoming a reality. H2 Green Steel, the company behind the groundbreaking project in Sweden, recently announced that it has raised the necessary funding to build the plant and begin production in 2025. Clean hydrogen will replace fossil fuels in the steelmaking process. The steelmaking industry is responsible for between 7 and 9% of global carbon emissions.

Dominion Energy is seeking an air quality permit from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to build a new natural gas plant that will be a major new source of greenhouse gas emissions. Dominion claims the plant is needed to provide future projected demand for power from data centers and EVs. Environmental groups are sharply criticizing the proposed plant on the grounds that it goes against the goal of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which requires Dominion to decarbonize its grid by midcentury.

Offshore wind has had a rough summer due to rising interest rates and delays in getting key components. This has led developers to ask for new terms in existing deals. It’s a messy situation that threatens to undermine the future of offshore wind as a major and affordable source of clean electricity. More positively, rather than backing out of projects, companies are saying they need to renegotiate agreements. While this may mean delays and an increase in costs for consumers, it’s far from a catastrophe.

The European Union is on track to reach the renewable energy goal it set for 2030 three years early according to the 2023 annual report of Solar Power Europe. Solar is on a fast track around the world. In 2022, 45% more solar power capacity was installed than the year before. The positive market developments in the first months of 2023 promise another solar boom year, with expected growth of 43%.

Electric vehicles have heavy batteries that are filled with minerals extracted from around the world. You may have heard that this makes fossil fuel vehicles look good. Global fossil fuel extraction, however, dwarfs mineral mining for clean energy. Fifteen billion tons of coal, oil, and gas were extracted in 2019 compared to seven million tons of minerals that were extracted in 2020 for the entire clean energy economy. Furthermore, unlike fossil fuels, minerals can be reused and recycled.

Climate Justice

Faith leaders joined the demand for climate justice at the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi hosted by the African Union and the government of Kenya. Activist groups had hoped that the summit would develop a radical vision for Africa, but the final declaration was disappointingly similar to previous climate summits that produced inadequate results. The climate activists then produced their own statement which said the final declaration imposed failed climate policies on the continent and reflected old colonial attitudes.

Kolkata, a city of more than 4.5 million in eastern India, is a microcosm of how global warming unequally affects the urban poor. Since 1950, the city’s average temperature has risen more than any megacity— by 4.7 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat is expected to keep soaring, along with more intense cyclones, monsoon rainfalls and rampant flooding. Living in densely built neighborhoods with narrow streets and alleys, little or no tree cover, and a paucity of basic services like electricity, the urban poor bear the brunt of these climate changes.

Developing countries are often on the frontlines of the climate crisis yet lack the resources to develop clean energy and to enact climate action plans. At the same time, large banks have been pouring some $3.2 trillion into the fossil fuel industry to expand operations in the global south. They have also loaned and underwritten at least $370 billion in developing countries for the expansion of industrial agriculture, which is a major a contributor to global warming.

Bhutan, a small Buddhist kingdom nestled in the Himalayas between India and China, has 70% forest cover and is carbon neutral. It has environmental commitments to maintain at least 60% forest cover and to remain carbon neutral. Despite its exemplary climate stewardship it faces risks from rising temperatures and melting glaciers. Agriculture employs 43% of the labor force with women making up 53.3% of that total. Given agriculture’s vulnerability to climate change, the country is focusing on training girls in climate literacy.  

Looming over the United Auto Workers strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis is concern that many EV battery and assembly plants are being built in the South—a region long characterized by low wages and hostility to labor unions. Union leaders are concerned that this shift will lower wages and cut out unions from the auto industry’s future.

Climate Action

Over 75,000 climate activists marched in New York City at the start of Climate Week at the UN General Assembly. They demanded that President Joe Biden stop approving new oil and gas projects, phase out current ones and declare a climate emergency. Speaking to a cheering crowd, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez exclaimed, “We have to send a message that some of us are going to be living on, on this planet 30, 40, 50 years from now. And we will not take no for an answer.”

One day after the March to End Fossil Fuels, climate activists blockaded multiple entrances into the Federal Reserve bank in an act of civil disobedience and more than 100 were arrested. They were calling attention to the fact that globally, government subsidies for coal, oil and gas are equivalent to 7% of global GDP and almost double what the world spends on education.

Electric cars are smashing sales records in the U.S. and now exceed 7% of new cars sold—a critical tipping point for mass adoption. It took 10 years to sell the first million fully electric vehicles in our country, two years to reach the second million, and just over a year to reach the third. We should be well on our way to a fourth million by the time the latest quarter’s figures for 2023 are tallied up.

The Harrisonburg City Council unanimously approved supporting the Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy program that helps businesses in the city adopt renewable energy. Vice mayor Laura Dent was especially enthusiastic because it addresses the missing business sector in the city’s energy efficiency goals for the community.

Action Alerts

NPR is dedicating an entire week to stories and conversations about the search for climate solutions. Reporting teams across the NPR Network have been scouring the world for solutions to climate change. They’re sharing what they found this week. This isn’t just about “covering” the climate — it’s meant to remind everyone that you can always do something. See highlights of specific stories at this link.

Climate Activist Social on Tuesday, October 24, 5pm – until, at Pale Fire Brewing Co., 217 S Liberty St #105, Harrisonburg, VA. Calling all Rocktown climate advocates, seasoned or interested! Come have a drink (or not) with us. Let’s have a meeting without an agenda. This social event is hosted by the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley. There will be a table for things to sign or pick up, but really, this is a social time. Come, invite your friends and RSVP here!

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee

If we open our hearts, the seeds of transformative action will flourish. We can take a Giant Leap from the interconnected crisis we face now into a future with a stable climate, clean air, clean water, and food security for all. But to do so, we need to change our way of thinking, and we need to start telling new stories about what is important and what is possible.—Elizabeth Wathuti

Our Climate Crisis

Global warming likely contributed to the severity of the devastating wildfires in Maui in several ways but could not have driven the fires by itself. It was a compound disaster, where many different agents acted together to make the fires so horrific. Other forms of ecological degradation contributed to the conflagration. The landscape had been transformed by large plantations that were once regularly watered and maintained.  As agricultural activity declined, invasive grasses that are highly combustible spread across the abandoned fields.

The Gulf of Mexico, in the second week of August, was the hottest it has been at any point in any year on record by a wide margin. Water temperatures averaged over the entire Gulf of Mexico topped 88 degrees—that’s 2.6 degrees above average and more than a degree above the previous record. Those extra-hot waters are of particular concern with the approach of the peak weeks of hurricane season.

Scientists have been mapping the spread of saltwater intrusion on farmland in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia on the Delmarva peninsula. They found that land area covered by visible salt patches almost doubled from 2011 to 2017, turning over 19,000 acres into marshland. Kate Tully, one of the scientists from the University of Maryland, explains, “Saltwater intrusion often happens in advance of sea level rise, which is why we call it the invisible flood.”

The Indo-Gangetic Plain, stretching across northern India, is one of the most fertile agricultural regions in the world. It is home to 40% of India’s 1.2 billion people. Now the toll of climate change and pollution is changing weather patterns and putting more than 800 million people at risk.

Politics and Policy

One year since it was passed by Congress, the Inflation Reduction Act has kicked off a stunning boom in clean energy. Since then, plans for more than 100 new clean energy manufacturing facilities have been announced in the U.S. Companies from around the world are investing billions of dollars into U.S.-based solar, wind, battery and electric vehicle ventures. Others are crafting plans to scale up early-stage technologies like green hydrogen.

The conservative Heritage Foundation think tank released a plan dubbed Project 2025 that is a “battle plan” for the first 180 days of a future Republican president. It calls for shredding regulations to curb greenhouse gas emissions, dismantling almost every clean energy program in the federal government and boosting the production of fossil fuels. Some Republican climate groups are pushing back, saying that Project 2025 is wrongheaded and not acceptable to the younger generation.

Rejection of climate science took center stage at the first Republican presidential debate. None seized on climate policy or support for renewable energy manufacturing and jobs as a way to stand out. Seeking to dominate the extreme Trumpian edge, technology entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy called climate change a hoax and said, “This isn’t that complicated guys, unlock American energy, drill, frack, burn coal, embrace nuclear.”

The Biden administration announced the first winners in a $3.5B carbon removal program—two direct air capture (DAC) facilities along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Each facility is expected to be capable of removing up to 1 million metric tons of CO2 per year, which is roughly equal to the annual emissions from 2.5 gas-fired power plants. DAC technology is still in its infancy and current systems are extremely energy-intensive and highly expensive to operate. Furthermore, it may  be a fig leaf to big oil, allowing them to keep polluting under the guise of climate action.

Ignoring its climate commitments, Indonesia is building many new coal-fired electric power plants for industry. This will keep the country addicted to fossil fuels for the foreseeable future. Ironically, among the uses of this coal-fired power are aluminum smelters and nickel and cobalt processing facilities that the government is promoting to turn the country into a global hub for the electric vehicle and battery supply chains.

In rural Virginia, overzealous regulation of solar energy hinders progress according to Skyler Zunk, the cofounder of Energy Right, a conservative nonprofit that advocates for renewable energy in Virginia. Many counties are prohibitively restricting landowners and developers from proposing clean energy investments, largely rooted in fearmongering and disinformation. Done correctly, renewable energy investments are good for rural Virginia and move us closer to energy independence as a commonwealth.

A group of U.S. House members from Virginia and North Carolina wrote a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission urging it to deny Mountain Valley Pipeline’s requested extension of the pipeline into North Carolina known as the Southgate project. The letter from Virginia Democrats Jennifer McClellan and Bobby Scott and North Carolina Democrats Valerie Foushee and Kathy Manning was signed onto by two dozen other House Democrats.

Energy

Dulles Airport in northern Virginia is going to host the US’s largest clean energy project at an airport. The $200 million project includes a solar farm that will sit on 835 acres of the airport’s grounds between runways. The power from the 100-megawatt solar farm will go to the grid and provide 37,500 households with power. The project also includes battery storage, EV buses, and EV charging stations at the airport.

The transition to electric vehicles promises to be two-fold, “a win-win” situation for the US, according to Elaine Buckberg, a Stanford University Fellow.  It will reduce our economy’s vulnerability to oil-related geopolitical risk and oil price shocks. Historically, there has been a symbiotic relationship between soaring oil prices and economic recessions. Furthermore, EVs will be powered by increasingly clean and renewable energy sources over time as the grid becomes greener.

Office space in HQ2, Amazon’s new 2.1 million square foot headquarters in Arlington, VA, is designed to operate with zero operational carbon emissions. Furthermore, it is keeping its embodied carbon (the carbon emissions used in construction) to 37% below the industry baseline by making efficient decisions and buying locally. Amazon is seeking the most stringent platinum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for the  first phase of HG2 called Metropolitan Park.

General Motors announced that some of its electric vehicles will have bidirectional vehicle-to-home (V2H) charging capabilities by model year 2024 and all of them will have it by model year 2026. Bidirectional charging will enable using the EV battery as a backup electric source for your house or even the grid. PG&E, the largest electric utility in California, envisions a future where EVs feed excess power back into the grid during hours of peak demand.

First Solar, the largest solar energy manufacturer in the Western Hemisphere, announced plans to build a $1.1 billion facility to build solar panels in Louisiana. The facility will use 100% U.S.-made components and expects to create more than 700 new jobs with a total annual payroll of at least $40 million.

Climate Justice

A recent study has found those in the top 10% income bracket of American households are responsible for 40% of our nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. The top 1% of households account for 15 to 17%, and “super-emitters” with extremely high overall greenhouse gas emissions, correspond to about the top 0.1% of households. About 15 days of emissions from a super-emitter is equal to a lifetime of emissions for someone in the poorest 10%. The highest emissions linked to income come from White, non-Hispanic homes, and the lowest come from Black households.

The United States has become the world’s largest exporter of liquified natural gas (LNG) as Europe weans itself off gas imported from Russia following that country’s invasion of Ukraine.  To capture this growing global market, companies like Venture Global LNG are building massive infrastructure along the Gulf Coast. What is a boon to gas companies has become an environmental and health nightmare for low-income communities in the area.

Young environmental activists who filed a lawsuit against the state of Montana scored a remarkable legal victory when the judge ruled in their favor. She ruled that state agencies were violating the youths’ constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment by refusing to evaluate the effects of greenhouse gas emissions when granting fossil fuel permits. The case will serve as a guidepost for attorneys bringing similar suits in other states.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously dismissed environmental groups’ legal challenges against the Mountain Valley Pipeline, saying Congress has eliminated its jurisdiction over the cases. Two of the judges, however, raised questions about the environmental and democratic precedent that has been set by congressional intervention in the cases.

The Southern Environmental Law Center filed a suit in Fairfax Circuit Court claiming that Virginia Gov. Youngkin and his administration does not have the legal authority to withdraw Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The petition was filed on behalf of several different climate action groups including the Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions.

Climate Action

Talking about climate change causes greater acceptance of climate science, inspires action, and that, in turn, decreases climate anxiety. A growing movement of Americans are seeking out support and power in numbers in climate conversation groups. These groups include the All We Can Save Circles; the Good Grief Network, a peer support network modeled on 12-step addiction programs; and Climate Awakening, founded by climate psychologist Margaret Klein Salamon.

The Roanoke, VA, city council voted to fold their latest Climate Change Action Plan into the city’s master plan. The climate plan calls on the community to slash greenhouse gas emissions by half over the next decade. It is, however, nearly four years behind schedule because of the pandemic and staff turnover.

In a national referendum, the people of Ecuador voted against drilling for oil in Yasuni National Park, a protected area of the Amazon. This vote will require the state oil company to end its operations in a region that’s home to isolated tribes and is a hotspot of biodiversity. The government has however challenged the legitimacy of the referendum and said it would continue drilling.

Berlin could be a realistic role model for major American cities that seek to boost pedestrian and bicycle traffic while decreasing car traffic in a car-loving country. One recent initiative in Berlin was revamping a major street by putting in bicycle lanes, thereby decreasing automobile traffic by 11% and increasing bicycle traffic by 40%. The transition created a palpable sensory experience with less traffic noise and cleaner air.

Action Alert

Here is a great opportunity to contribute to a local project that will reduce energy costs and help drive down greenhouse gas emissions. Mercy House, in partnership with GiveSolar, have launched a crowdfunding campaign to install a 14.58 kilowatt solar system on Mercy House’s family shelter, located on North High St. in Harrisonburg.  Please consider supporting this effort.  To learn more about this project and to donate, go to GiveSolar’s crowdfunding webpage.

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee

The physical condition of the planet – as this summer’s unprecedented extreme heat and flooding and Canada’s and Greece’s colossal fires demonstrate – has continued to get worse; the solutions have continued to get better; the public is far more engaged; the climate movement has grown, though of course it needs to grow far more. – Rebecca Solnit

Our Climate Crisis

Climate scientists say that recent events indicate Earth’s climate has entered uncharted territory. As worrisome as recent record breaking heat is, it’s just one way the planet is telling us something is gravely wrong. Other indicators that climate change has entered uncharted territory include warming oceans and shrinking Antarctic sea ice. Even so, we can help avert the worst of warming by cutting back on coal, oil, and gas, ramping up development of renewables, and helping farmers store carbon in agricultural soils.

The recent destructive flooding in New York and Vermont hit the news cycle. Most of us are, however, unaware of similar flooding in India, China, Japan and Turkey. While these might seem like unrelated distant events, atmospheric scientists say they have this in common: Storms are forming in a warmer atmosphere, making extreme rainfall a more frequent reality now. Any predicted additional global warming will only make it worse.

Florida is in the midst of a home insurance crisis. Hurricane Ian slammed into the city of Fort Myers as a Category 4 storm last year and caused at least $60 billion in insured losses. Even with premiums about four times the national average, most insurers still can’t turn a profit. Eight carriers went bankrupt in the past two years and two large national carriers announced that they are pulling back their coverage in risky areas. Even if the market recovers from these recent catastrophes climate change will likely keep prices high.

A new analysis of 150 years of temperature data shows that the Atlantic Ocean’s sensitive water circulation system has become slower and less resilient. Scientists are becoming increasingly concerned that this crucial element of the climate system could collapse within the next few decades. Increasing Arctic ice melting could create a “tipping point” around the middle of this century. That would cause an abrupt and irreversible change, like turning off a light switch, and it could lead to dramatic changes in weather on either side of the Atlantic.

Politics and Policy

The Southern Environmental Law Center filed a legal challenge against Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed regulation to withdraw Virginia from the regional carbon market known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The notice of appeal was filed on behalf of Appalachian Voices, the Association of Energy Conservation Professionals, Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions, and Virginia Interfaith Power and Light.

One year in, the Inflation Reduction Act is working to reduce global warming but not fast enough to meet the U.S. Paris Climate Agreement goals. An independent study shows that it is helping to slash U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and is a meaningful improvement over previous years. While the goals are still within reach, getting there won’t be easy. It will require additional national, state, and local policies and legislative initiatives.

Billions of new federal dollars in grants and tax credits are available for churches and nonprofits to go green. The funding for these initiatives is facilitated by the Office of State and Community Energy Programs in the Department of Energy, which partners with state, local and tribal governments and community organizations.

John Kerry, President Biden’s climate envoy, says the U.S. and China must set aside their political differences to jointly tackle climate change. He said the rest of the world is looking to the two economic powers and major polluters to urgently reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are dangerously warming the planet.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay of construction on the Mountain Valley Pipeline while it considers arguments that Congress violated the separation of powers doctrine when it passed a law expediting completion of the controversial project. The Mountain Valley Pipeline, in turn, appealed the stay to the U.S. Supreme Court, which promptly lifted the stay blocking construction. Opponents of the pipeline, nevertheless vow to continue the fight.

Dominion Energy and Clean Virginia were the biggest spenders in donations to candidates in the Virginia state legislative primaries this year. Dominion Energy poured in $7 million and the anti-Dominion Clean Virginia Fund came second with $5.2 million. This has led to new calls for campaign finance reforms in the Commonwealth.

House Republicans are proposing planting a trillion trees as they move away from climate change denial. While they are no longer denying that global warming exists, this is their response to sweltering heat, other weather disasters and rising sea levels. They still refuse to abandon their support for American-produced energy from burning oil, coal and gas.

Energy

A huge challenge in our transition to clean energy is upgrading our electrical grid which was built piecemeal over the last one hundred years. Our transmission lines were built for an era of connecting big coal, gas and nuclear power plants to cities and towns. Today, those power plants are more expensive for bill payers than wind, solar and battery storage. They are also proving unreliable in the face of ever more extreme weather.

Our obsession with EV range is all wrong according to some analysts. Only 5 percent of trips in the U.S. are longer than 30 miles and smaller batteries can satisfy well over 90 percent of our driving needs. The trend toward large EVs with massive battery packs is unnecessary and wasteful. Those big batteries will rarely be used, especially if the owner has a place to plug in their car every day.

Regional gas stations are facing a monumental shift in business and customer experience with the rise of electric vehicles. Many are at an inflection point as they face increased electric vehicle sales and declining gasoline demand. While some are trying to electrify, the process is hard and full of red tape—and some still have a foot in the past as they continue to advocate for fossil fuel usage.

DTE Energy, one of Michigan’s largest utilities, announced a 20-year plan to spend $11 billion on clean energy construction. This strategy will also shutter their last large coal plant in 2032, three years ahead of schedule. That move will bring an end to their use of coal power, which supplied 77% of its electricity as of 2005.

Natural gas can be just as bad for the climate as coal because it’s largely made up of methane—a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon emitted from coal. Methane is especially prone to leaking. A new peer-reviewed study shows that about .66% of natural gas leaks during the production process. It can have as big of an emissions impact as coal even if its leakage rate is as low as .2%.  This refutes the claim that it’s the readily available, climate-friendly, bridge fossil fuel we should be relying on.

Dominion Energy is partnering with RWE, a renewable energy company, to build utility-scale solar projects throughout Virginia. It includes a 15 MW project located in Rockingham County, which is in development. Together, these projects will create enough electricity to power 70,000 homes.

Climate Justice

Climate Action Alliance of the Valley (CAAV) received a $35,000 grant from Clean Virginia  to promote weatherization and energy efficiency programs for low-income households. This grant will allow CAAV to continue an innovative partnership with Community Housing Partners (CHP) and other local partner organizations. CHP connects qualified homeowners and renters to free weatherization and home energy programs funded by federal and state governments, as well as from area utilities.  

Billions of snow crabs have disappeared from the Bering Sea. The crab population crash is linked to record-warm ocean temperatures and less ice formation, both associated with climate change. The Indigenous people of St. Paul Island, west of Anchorage, Alaska, depend on them for survival. Their culture and language, which has existed for 10,000 years, is now struggling to survive.

Even before the global average temperature set a new record high in July, extreme heat was already killing more Americans annually than any other natural disaster. The homeless are especially vulnerable in Phoenix, America’s hottest large city. The daily struggle to survive is particularly real in “the Zone,” a large encampment of between 600 and 1,000 unsheltered people on a long stretch of mostly shadeless streets and parking lots west of downtown.

Rising heat deaths are about more than high temperatures. The poor and vulnerable among us suffer the most. As a society—the government, businesses, the church, and individuals alike — have failed to ensure that those most at risk are kept safe. Anglican priest Tish Harrison Warren writes, “So, as heat deaths rise, when we speak of those who die, don’t just say they died of heat. Say they died of poverty, of neglect, of a world that values the wealthy more than those who are not, of a society that looks away from the preventable suffering of the vulnerable.”

Climate Action

The US Department of Transportation awarded the City of Harrisonburg $14,368,180 to convert one driving lane of Liberty Street to a two-way separated bicycle and pedestrian facility. This will support the city’s environmental sustainability, mobility, community connectivity, and economic development goals.

U.S. truck makers have reached a deal to accept a California plan to ban sales of new diesel big rigs by 2036. It’s a major step toward reducing planet warming greenhouse gas emissions. It’s also a big plus for eliminating the pollution affecting people living near ports, warehouses and other facilities involved in the shipment of goods.

Using better farming techniques to store 1% more carbon in about half of the world’s agricultural soils would be enough to absorb the amount of carbon that must be cut by 2030 to stay within 1.5C of global warming. Farmers using regenerative farming techniques could face short-term increased costs while they changed their methods, away from the overuse of artificial fertilizer. After a transition period of two to three years their yields would improve and their soils would be much healthier.

China, the world’s top carbon emitter and greatest user of coal, is rolling out wind and solar renewables at breakneck speed. This year alone, it could add more solar power than the cumulative total in place in the United States. Coal remains the elephant in the room. China’s coal consumption is still increasing and it keeps adding new coal electrical power plants.

An Oxford University study has shown that having big meat-eaters in the U.K cut some of it out of their diet would be like taking 8 million cars off the road. A big meat-eater’s diet produces an average of 23 pounds of planet-warming greenhouse gases each day. A low meat-eater or vegetarian diet produces almost half that per day. And for vegan diets, it’s halved again.

Customers love free returns on online purchases but they’re killing the planet. Returned merchandise cost retailers more than $800 billion in lost sales last year. It also increased greenhouse gas emissions and waste in landfills, where many returned products end up. Changing customer behavior such as taking returns to a local store can make a difference. Such items are more likely to be restocked compared to those that are mailed back.

Action Alert

A Wetlands Watch expert will speak on “Climate Change and Resiliency” at the Harrisonburg Planning Commission Meeting September 19, 6pm, in Council Chambers, 409 South Main Street. There will be an opportunity for Q & A with the public. Please put this on your calendar; plan to participate.

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee

We are a civilization obsessed with expansion that has suddenly discovered, as it were, that it inhabits an island. Will we cling to our reckless old ideologies, or will we seek to learn a new, more intelligent way of being? –Jason Hickel, in Less is More.

Our Climate Crisis

This July 4^th was the hottest day on record since climate scientists began using our present modeling system to estimate global daily average temperatures starting in 1979. Furthermore, evidence left in tree rings and ice cores indicates that it hasn’t been this warm since at least 125,000 years ago during the previous interglacial age.

Temperatures around the world in June were at their highest levels in decades for this time of year. The heat spike reflects two factors that could create a multiyear period of exceptional warmth for the planet: humans’ continued emissions of heat-trapping gases and the return of the natural climate pattern known as El Niño. This is setting the stage for more-severe hot spells, droughts, wildfires, and hurricanes.

Experts say that the oppressive heat wave roasting Texas and Mexico is an effect of rapid warming in the Arctic. Temperatures there are rising four times faster than the global average. This alters the jet stream, a fast-flowing air current that wraps around the Northern Hemisphere, causing it to dip and meander up and down as it zooms around the globe. A wavier jet stream can cause heat waves, storms and other weather systems to get stuck in place, dragging out for days or weeks on end.

The smoke that Canadian wildfires sent swirling over swaths of the East Coast blanketed cities including New York, Philadelphia and Toronto, shocked many Easterners, broke air quality records and threatened people’s health. Some climate experts say this has created an important opportunity for helping the public make the connection between these kinds of events and climate change. More recently this dangerous smoke pollution has been enveloping cities in the Midwest and may intermittently continue throughout the summer.

The climate crisis is fueling an insurance crisis in disaster-prone areas, leaving homeowners struggling to find affordable coverage. In California, State Farm and Allstate recently stopped selling new home insurance policies after years of catastrophic wildfires. In Louisiana, at least seven insurance companies have failed since Hurricane Ida. And in Florida, most big insurance companies have already pulled out of the storm-battered state.

Politics and Policy

The White House released a report last week on solar geoengineering as a way to slow rising global temperatures. The Biden administration indicated that it is open to studying the possibility that altering sunlight might quickly cool the planet. It, however, added a degree of skepticism by noting that Congress has ordered the review and said that it isn’t changing its climate policy.

About two-thirds of Americans support transformative climate policies like a carbon tax or Green New Deal. Most, however, do not realize that their views are so widely shared. This misperception matters, because when people feel alone in their views, they are less likely to take action.

Agrivoltaics—the double-duty climate solution that pairs solar panels (photovoltaics) with agriculture—enables farmland to host solar and stay in production. This has caught the attention of U.S. senators on both sides of the aisle who recently proposed two bills to boost agrivoltaics that benefit both farmers and ecosystems.

The debt ceiling bill agreed to by GOP house leader Kevin McCarthy and the White House approves all the remaining permits to complete the stalled Mountain Valley Pipeline. This delivered a big win for West Virginia Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito who have received campaign contributions totaling over $70,000 from political action committees for developers of the Mountain Valley Pipeline since the start of 2018.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued an order that the Mountain Valley Pipeline is “authorized to proceed with all remaining construction associated with the project.” The company building the pipeline said that, with this approval, the pipeline could carry natural gas as soon as this winter. It asked to have the two federal legal cases against it dismissed. The Southern Environmental Law Center filed a brief opposing motions to dismiss the cases.

Virginia’s Air Pollution Control Board voted 4-3 to remove the commonwealth from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multi-state cohort aimed at reducing carbon emissions. Ultimately the board, with a majority of Gov. Glenn Youngkin appointees, voted to align with the administration’s wishes. This has looming consequences because the initiative generates hundreds of millions of dollars for energy efficiency for low income households as well as climate mitigation in flood prone areas of the state.

Energy

As India’s overburdened electrical grid strains, rural hospitals and health clinics are finding reliable power in rooftop solar. This enables them to provide constant electricity that keeps the lights on, patients and staff comfortable, and vaccines and medicines safely refrigerated. It also allows them to get rid of toxic, carbon-spewing diesel generators that provide emergency backup electricity.

It took 22 years for global solar power capacity to grow from one gigawatt to one terawatt. New projections indicate the second and the third terawatts will arrive within five years. Another bit of news on the rapid deployment of renewable energy is that 50.9% of installed electricity capacity in China is now renewables and nuclear, meeting a 2025 target two years early.

Nearly everything we do contributes to our carbon footprint. But a two-wheeled solution is zipping through the world at 20 miles an hour. U.S. sales of e-bikes nearly doubled in just one year as commuters looked for accessible and affordable modes of transportation. In 2021, more than 880,000 e-bikes were sold in the U.S., compared with 608,000 electric cars and trucks. That’s up from 450,000 e-bike sales in 2020.

Climate Justice

War, poverty and climate change have created a perfect storm for children around the world, according to a recent United Nations report. This has driven the number of children currently displaced from their homes to an unprecedented 42 million, and it has left those young people vulnerable to criminal violence and exploitation.

The US is racing to produce more biofuels, which use much more land than solar and wind while displacing much less fossil fuel. It’s fairly well-known that biofuels accelerate food inflation and global hunger, but they’re also a disaster for the climate and the environment. It takes about 100 acres worth of biofuels to generate as much energy as a single acre of solar panels.

Coastal land loss has upended life in South Louisiana for the half-dozen Indigenous tribes that rely on the abundance of its wetlands. Some 11,000 Native Americans live in the four most vulnerable coastal parishes (counties). They have been fighting to get the attention of the federal government as they push for coastal restoration efforts that would at least slow the degradation enough for them to plan an orderly retreat.

A pastor in Java, Indonesia recounts how ocean floodwaters exasperated by global warming breached an embankment and flooded their community last year. His church joined others in providing food and relief supplies across religious and ethnic boundaries. He reflects, “As I contemplate the natural disaster, I can see that the ministry of love invites us to bring about justice toward others. But I also know that the breach of the embankment shows that nature and our environment are not doing well.” 

With no public transit available, an innovative E.V. ride-sharing program is bringing low-cost, clean transportation to an agricultural town in California’s Central Valley. The service shuttles low-income residents, many of them elderly, to medical appointments for free. Similar programs are following suit in other parts of California, New York, and Washington, DC.

Climate Action

Dominion Energy is seeking households for its Income and Age Qualifying Solar Program which is no-cost for its customers in Virginia. A two person household qualifies at a yearly income of $46,544 or $93,088 if someone 60 or older lives in the home. You can find out more and see if you qualify by contacting Dominion Energy here . You can also contact Community Housing Partners here to find out more about this program in relation to other no-cost home weatherization and energy efficiency programs.

Pope Francis, in a fresh plea over climate change, called on people to repent for their “ecological sins.” The world must rapidly ditch fossil fuels and end “the senseless war against creation.” Francis has made the protection of the environment a cornerstone of his pontificate. He said that the upcoming U.N. climate summit meeting in Dubai “must listen to science and institute a rapid and equitable transition to end the era of fossil fuel.”

Americans generate more than 12% of the planet’s trash, though we represent only 4% of the global population. Our throw-away culture started about a hundred years ago with the rise of mass manufacturing. Now, aided by on-line how-to videos, consumers are showing an increased interest in prolonging the life of the things they own, rather than getting rid of them.  Additionally, so-called “Right to Repair” legislation seeks to make manufacturers provide consumers and independent repair companies access to their parts, tools and service information.

Richmond is joining other cities in scrapping decades-old mandatory parking space requirements. It’s expected to curb emissions of heat-trapping gases in an evolving capital city that prizes walking, bicycling and ready access to public transit. It could also reduce sprawl and free up space for affordable and additional housing.

Outside of catastrophic wildfire events, the leading sources of unhealthy air in the United States are fossil-fuel-powered transportation and electricity generation. A recent report from the American Lung Association indicates how much the most common pollutants would be reduced if the country were to speed up the transition to EVs and a clean energy grid.

The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated billions of dollars for EV buses but the program can’t keep up with demand. The Department of Energy recently allocated $1.7B in clean-bus grants but saw $8.7B in applications.

You should consider an electric grill when you replace your current gas or charcoal grill. They exist and, according to some advocates, they’re just as good at producing delicious food. They’re less expensive to use and give you one more option to unhook from fossil fuels.

Earl Zimmerman
CAAV Steering Committee