Green Lights June 2: Top stories this week
Don't miss a single story: The best from Callaway Climate Insights
. . . . Welcome to Green Lights, our weekly roundup of the best of Callaway Climate Insights. This week, David Callaway points out that proposed legislation to stop California’s huge pension funds from investing in fossil fuel companies is as reckless as laws going to the other extreme in Texas and Florida. Restricting the ability of fund managers to get the best returns for their customers is a losing bet every time. Plus, we go beyond oil — because it won’t be the big revenue stream forever, and analyze the likelihood of a lithium cartel in South America. Don’t miss Jack Hamilton’s review of “Guardians of the Valley: John Muir and the Friendship that Saved Yosemite.” Here are the highlights in a simple and convenient format that makes it easy for our readers. It’s also easy to subscribe.
. . . . The search is always on for the next major revenue stream, David Callaway writes this week. Despite the failure of shareholder climate resolutions designed to reduce pollution from the oil giants in the U.S. and Europe in the past two weeks — which has left climate activists depressed and slowed any momentum on Wall Street — it’s not going to be oil much longer. The nascent carbon capture industry will shift to the oil companies, just as the electric vehicle business is beginning to shift to the major automakers.
. . . . In the book Guardians of the Valley: John Muir and the Friendship that Saved Yosemite, Dean King talks about how early environmentalist John Muir and his editor friend Robert Underwood Johnson worked to protect Yosemite Valley. Our reviewer Jack Hamilton argues that even in the battles they didn’t win, the two provide a boost of hope for those leading the climate fight today. . . .
. . . . Hoping to ride the wave of its massive lithium deposits as the mineral is sought after for use in electric vehicle batteries, Chile announced plans last month to nationalize its lithium mines, and even floated the idea of a lithium cartel with neighboring Bolivia and Argentina. But our Latin America correspondent Mike Molinski doubts that lithium can become the successful product that drove oil producers to create OPEC.
. . . . As many as 17 people have died this year attempting to climb Mount Everest, Matthew Diebel writes, and Nepal’s head of tourism says variable weather and climate change are a big part of the reason this will be one of the deadliest years on record.
. . . . California’s beleaguered utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, PCG 0.00%↑ will pay about $200 million in the latest round of settlements with local and state officials stemming from deadly wildfires that were blamed on the company’s equipment. But a judge this week did dismiss criminal charges the company was facing. Instead, shareholders will shell out millions to pay for new wildfire mitigation projects.
. . . . Dave Callaway says, forget the anti-ESG backlash in Florida and Texas. A proposed law to ban California’s massive pension funds from new investments in fossil fuel companies and require eventual divestment of oil and gas holdings is simply the same intolerance at the opposite extreme of the climate battle.
More greenery . . . .
Reuters investigates: Rich countries say they’re fighting climate change. Does financing coal plants and chocolate shops count?
From Yale Climate Connections: By fighting the ozone hole, we accidentally saved ourselves
From the Eternal City: Rome’s Trevi Fountain turns black in climate protest against fossil fuels
From Time: Climate Change Is Threatening Ketchup. AI Could Help Save It
What’s in your city’s air?: Ranked: The 20 Most Air-Polluted Cities on Earth
Follow us . . . .