Green Lights April 21: Top stories this week
Green Lights April 21: Top stories this week
Don't miss a single story: The best from Callaway Climate Insights this week
. . . . Welcome to Green Lights, our weekly roundup of the best of Callaway Climate Insights. This week: It’s about the power plays, from Sen. Joe Manchin’s buyer’s remorse over the skyrocketing price tag of the Inflation Reduction Act, to Elon Musk’s moves to scale his businesses as his EV market shrinks. And speaking of EVs, check out the future on display at the Shanghai Auto Show. Here are the highlights in a simple and convenient format that makes it easy for our readers. It’s also easy to subscribe.
. . . . Watching Elon Musk and Tesla circle the electric wagons around their shrinking market share in EVs will be one of the wildest case studies in monopolies of this young century. David Callaway writes that scale, as Musk knows, is the name of the game here. Price cuts are a stalling tactic. What’s next? Flying cars?
. . . . Some of Latin America’s largest mining companies are taking parts of their profits from last year’s commodities boom and putting them into low-carbon technologies, writes Michael Molinski. The move is an example of how traditional fossil fuel players are starting to adapt to investor pressure on their methods.
. . . . Germany shut down its last three nuclear reactors for good. They were due to be closed last year, but the energy crunch caused by the Ukraine war led to the deadline being extended. Matthew Diebel says he’s reminded of a searing juxtaposition he experienced in childhood.
. . . . Sen. Joe Manchin may be having buyer’s remorse over the skyrocketing price tag of the Inflation Reduction Act, writes Bill Sternberg. And the more the climate law succeeds in spurring clean-energy investment, the more political danger it will face.
. . . . The future of EVs is on display in China at the Shanghai Auto Show, and there aren’t a lot of Tesla, Ford or GM electric vehicles to be seen there. The competition will be welcome in a growing market starved for choices.
. . . . A rare “superbloom” has begun carpeting California with brilliant wildflowers. Superblooms occur in a wet year that comes after several dry years, because wildflower seeds are waiting around in the ground for the right conditions to bloom. This is the year.
More greenery . . . .
From NPR: Beyond The Poles: The Far-Reaching Dangers Of Melting Ice
From Utah, Georgia and Tennessee: Citing neo-Nazis, states pass laws meant to thwart climate grid protesters
From the Independent: One in three people on the planet hit by ‘monster Asian heatwave’
From the X Files: Crop seeds return from space in IAEA/FAO project to help feed a warming world
From the good environment news file at Euronews: World’s oldest two-headed tortoise celebrates 25th birthday.
And from your home planet: Saturday is Earth Day. Read more about a healthier planet and a healthier global economy.