Center for Industrial Progress President Alex Epstein speaks at a House Oversight and Accountability subcommittee hearing in March 2023. Photo: Francis Chung / POLITICO

“It’s called summer”: U.S. Republicans brush off record 2023 heat wave – “Thank God for air conditioning”

By Chris D’Angelo and Igor Bobic 28 July 2023 (Huffington Post) – Unless you’ve been living underground or have a vested interest in turning a blind eye to reality, you know that climate change has sent temperatures soaring to dangerous levels around the planet this summer. Two global climate organizations on Thursday confirmed that July […]

Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, shown here in Beijing in 2023, gave the directive about a decade ago to write software for vehicles that gave drivers “rosy” estimates of driving range, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Tesla employees were instructed to thwart any customers complaining about poor driving range from bringing their vehicles in for service. In summer 2022, the company quietly created a “Diversion Team” in Las Vegas to cancel as many range-related appointments as possible. Photo: Tingshu Wang / REUTERS

Tesla created secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints – “They’ve gotten really good at exploiting the rule book and maximizing certain points to work in their favor involving EPA tests”

By Steve Stecklow and Norihiko Shirouzu 27 July 2023 AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – In March 2023, Alexandre Ponsin set out on a family road trip from Colorado to California in his newly purchased Tesla, a used 2021 Model 3. He expected to get something close to the electric sport sedan’s advertised driving range: 353 miles […]

KCCI-TV chief meteorologist Chris Gloninger stands outside his home, Tuesday, 27 June 2023, in West Des Moines, Iowa. Gloninger announced that he was leaving the Des Moines station due to threats he received for his coverage of climate change on air. Photo: AP Photo / Charlie Neibergall

Iowa TV meteorologist hounded off the air over climate-change reporting – “I started just connecting the dots”

By Hannah Fingerhut, Heather Hollingsworth, and Summer Ballentine 7 July 2023 DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The harassment started to intensify as TV meteorologist Chris Gloninger did more reporting on climate change during local newscasts — outraged emails and even a threat to show up at his house. Gloninger said he had been recruited, in […]

The California State Capitol in Sacramento. Photo: Rschlie / Getty Images

Oil and gas lobbying threatens California’s game-changing climate bills – Legislation aims to shine a light on corporate climate pollution and carbon offsets – “Delay is the new denial”

By Aaron Cantú 26 June 2023 (Capital & Main) – Two transparency bills in the California Legislature would require corporations to disclose more information about their emissions and their efforts to fight the climate crisis. The oil and gas industry is spending millions to kill them. The bills would force big companies that do business in California to […]

Number of mass killings in the United States in 2023 compared with previous years. Data are current to 4 July 2023. Graphic: USA TODAY

U.S. on grim pace for gun violence, mass killings in 2023: “The bad year continues”

By Grace Hauck 15 July 2023 (USA TODAY) – An acceleration of mass shootings. More public mass killings. More than 200 people across the nation shot on the Fourth of July. The United States frequently reaches horrific new highs of the gun violence epidemic. The latest way: A deadly six months in what figures to be the […]

Blood stains the water red as the people of the Faroe Islands slaughter dolphins in Leynar on 14 June 2023. The Faroe Islands has killed more than 500 dolphins since its controversial hunt resumed in May 2023. Photo: Sea Shepherd UK / AFP / Getty Images

Cruise line apologizes after dozens of whales slaughtered in front of passengers in the Faroe Islands – Marine conservationists were among cruise ship passengers who witnessed 78 whales being slaughtered – “It’s almost as if they are flaunting the hunt and taunting the tourists”

By Ryan Hogg 15 July 2023 (Insider) – Marine conservationists were among the horrified cruise ship passengers who witnessed the slaughtering of 78 whales last week. Ambassador Cruise Line issued an apology on Twitter after its Ambition ship docked in the Faroe Islands at the same time a group carried out its regular hunting of pilot whales. […]

A car moves through a neighborhood in West Austin that lost power on 18 February 2021 during blackouts that left millions of Texans without power or heat following a devastating winter storm. Photo: Jordan Vonderhaar / The Texas Tribune

Texas power struggle: How the top wind power state in the U.S. turned against renewable energy – State lawmakers push bills to support fossil fuel-burning power plants and restrict renewable energy development – “Right now, the wind blows strongly against renewables, and that’s where we are”

By Emily Foxhall, Kai Elwood-dieu, and Zach Despart 25 May 2023 (Texas Tribune) – State Rep. Jared Patterson disagreed with his Republican colleague that Texas should keep supporting the booming renewable energy industry here. Rep. John Smithee was arguing on the House floor in early May that certain solar and wind farms should be eligible […]

Iranian-Canadian artist Simin Keramati sits in the PaykanArtCar during its unveiling at the Oslo Freedom Forum on 13 June 2023. The car is adorned with women's hair, serving as a visual representation of support for the “Women, Life, Freedom” protest movement against Iran’s Islamist regime. Photo: Fredrik Naumann / AP Images / PaykanArtCar

Activists say the human rights movement is failing – “Back in the day, human rights groups were ahead of the curve. But autocratic regimes have learned from that. They’re investing in their tactics, and they’re coordinating.”

By Nahal Toosi 18 June 2023 OSLO, Norway (POLITICO) – Gatherings of human rights activists tend to feature commitments to the cause mixed with a lot of gallows humor — after all, many such advocates have survived and persisted in their roles despite imprisonment, torture and surveillance by authoritarian regimes. But on a sunlit June […]

Plaintiffs Mica, 14; Badge 15, Lander 18, and Taleah, 19, listen to arguments during a status hearing on 12 May 2023, in Helena, Montana, for a case that they and other Montana youth filed against the state arguing Montana officials are not meeting their constitutional obligations to protect residents from climate change. The first-of-its-kind trial began Monday, 12 June 2023, before District Court Judge Kathy Seeley in Helena. Photo: Thom Bridge /Independent Record / AP

Youth environmentalists bring Montana climate case to trial after 12 years, seeking to set precedent – “We’ve seen repeatedly over the last few years what the Montana state Legislature is choosing. They are choosing fossil fuel development. They are choosing corporations over the needs of their citizens.”

By Matthew Brown and Amy Beth Hanson 10 June 2023 HELENA, Montana (AP News) – Whether a constitutional right to a healthy, livable climate is protected by state law is at the center of a lawsuit going to trial Monday in Montana, where 16 young plaintiffs and their attorneys hope to set an important legal precedent. It’s the first […]

Illustration showing that Chevron omits more than 90 percent of its emissions in its “net zero” “aspiration”. Though Chevron is quick to proffer its “net zero” commitment as proof of its commitment to address climate change, its “net zero” pledge is 1) only an “aspiration”, as carefully stated on its website; and 2) only applies to its Scope 1 emissions (that result from operating the facilities/equipment/vehicles/buildings that Chevron owns) and Scope 2 emissions (produced from the energy Chevron uses), not its Scope 3 emissions (caused by the end-use of Chevron’s products – sold oil and gas). Graphic: Corporate Accountability

“Worthless”: Chevron’s carbon offsets are mostly junk and some may harm – “It’s clear from this report and other research that net zero as a framework opens the door for claims of climate action while continuing with business as usual”

By Nina Lakhani 24 May 2023 NEW YORK (The Guardian) – A new investigation into Chevron’s climate pledge has found the fossil-fuel company relies on “junk” carbon offsets and “unviable” technologies, which do little to offset its vast greenhouse gas emissions and, in some cases, may actually be causing communities harm. Chevron, which reported $35.5bn […]

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