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How might we keep the lights on, water flowing, and natural world vaguely intact? It starts with grabbing innovative ideas/examples to help kick down our limits and inspire a more sustainable world. We implement with rigorous science backed by hard data.
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Newsom orders California regulators to end sales of new gas powered passenger cars and trucks by 2035

From ktla.com - September 23, 2020 10:17 PM
California will outlaw sales of new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks by 2035, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday, a move he says will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 35% in the nation’s most populous state. 

 His plan would not ban people from owning gas-powered cars or selling them on the used car market. But it would end the sales of all new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks in the state of nearly 40 million people. 

“Pull away from the gas pumps,” Newsom said in announcing his executive order to state regulators to draw up guidelines. “Let us no longer be victims of geopolitical dictators that manipulate global supply chains and global markets.”
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Fossil fuel subsidies are a staggering $5 tn per year

Fossil fuel subsidies are a staggering $5 tn per year | Sustainability Science | Scoop.it
From www.theguardian.com - January 29, 2019 7:52 AM
John Abraham: A new study finds 6.5% of global GDP goes to subsidizing dirty fossil fuels
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England built an empire out of coal. Now it’s giving it up. Why can’t the US?

England built an empire out of coal. Now it’s giving it up. Why can’t the US? | Sustainability Science | Scoop.it
From www.pri.org - June 18, 2018 7:06 PM
The UK will stop burning coal for electricity by 2025. The US, meanwhile, is trying to end the “war on coal.”
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California Fuel Taxes Rise Wednesday

California Fuel Taxes Rise Wednesday | Sustainability Science | Scoop.it
From www.capradio.org - November 1, 2017 9:08 AM
California gas and diesel taxes are higher Wednesday, under a law approved this past spring by the state Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown. The tax hikes will raise several billion dollars a year for road repairs, public transit and other projects.
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Fossil fuel ties will take center stage in Scott Pruitt's confirmation as EPA chief

Fossil fuel ties will take center stage in Scott Pruitt's confirmation as EPA chief | Sustainability Science | Scoop.it
From insideclimatenews.org - January 19, 2017 9:19 AM
At his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Pruitt will be grilled on his cozy relationship to fossil fuel companies and his war on EPA regulations as Oklahoma attorney general.
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California's climate change law clears a big hurdle after lobbyists crank up pressure

California's climate change law clears a big hurdle after lobbyists crank up pressure | Sustainability Science | Scoop.it
From www.latimes.com - August 24, 2016 4:04 AM
Assembly members voted on climate legislation on Tuesday, a key step in extending the state's environmental programs.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Once again, California is leading the way at the institutional level of state government to push down carbon emissions.  We need to do much more, but this is significant progress!
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Watch as four giant oil companies try to interfere with a California election

Watch as four giant oil companies try to interfere with a California election | Sustainability Science | Scoop.it
From www.latimes.com - July 28, 2016 1:45 PM
Four giant oil companies are pouring millions into a California Assembly election, and you should ask why
PIRatE Lab's insight:
This should be read as one small case study in the politics of our times.  The ability of powerful donors/industries to hide behind third party groups and Political Action Committees is truly problematic.  As this is California and not federal law, we (eventually) can see (most) of these donors.  It is therefore instructive to see how much money is spent on individual races/initiatives.

To be sure California's somewhat unique ballot initiative process and our state's tradition of beginning policies that work their way around the rest of the country is a major driver of such spending activity and interest.  But still, it is hard to see these most recent ads as something other than a "pay to play" if not an outright quid pro quo for opposition to last fall's law that would have mandated halving our gasoline use by 2030 (a proposed policy that my students' polling showed was supported by more than half of the public and only 25% were unsupportive or undecided on).

Of course our oil and gas industry friends should be able to argue their positions and advocate for particular policies, but doing so through shadow groups or front organizations with likely non-altruistic intent is disappointing and concerning.  We seem to have too much money and its import has risen to gilded age levels I fear.
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Google Chairman: Climate Change Deniers Are 'Literally Lying'

Google Chairman: Climate Change Deniers Are 'Literally Lying' | Sustainability Science | Scoop.it
From www.huffingtonpost.com - September 27, 2014 5:47 PM

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt said on Monday that his company's support for the American Legislative Exchange Council was a "mistake," adding that it should avoid aligning with groups that deny climate change.

PIRatE Lab's insight:

Hmmm...did they really not understand whose bed they were crawling into when they joined ALEC?  In any event, this is another very small, but welcomed piece of news.

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Southern State Energy Officials Celebrate Fossil Fuels as World Raises Climate Alarm

Southern State Energy Officials Celebrate Fossil Fuels as World Raises Climate Alarm | Sustainability Science | Scoop.it
From insideclimatenews.org - September 28, 2019 12:49 PM
The message from the industry-supported meeting: Push as much deregulation as possible while Trump is in power and never apologize for promoting oil, gas and coal.
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Greenhouse Gas Emissions Far Higher than Projected

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Far Higher than Projected | Sustainability Science | Scoop.it
From www.independent.com - December 15, 2018 4:19 PM
The County Misses Its Target By A Whopping 29 Percentage Points.
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Trump administration moves on two fronts to challenge California environmental protections

Trump administration moves on two fronts to challenge California environmental protections | Sustainability Science | Scoop.it
From www.latimes.com - April 3, 2018 4:38 PM
In one of its most aggressive moves yet against Obama-era climate action, the Trump administration announced it is tearing up landmark fuel economy rules pushing automakers to manufacture cleaner burning cars and SUVs. The move invites a major battle with California and a dozen other states.
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Dakota Access Pipeline to win US Army permit for completion - BBC News

Dakota Access Pipeline to win US Army permit for completion - BBC News | Sustainability Science | Scoop.it
From www.bbc.com - February 7, 2017 7:38 PM
But Standing Rock Sioux lawyers pledge to fight approval of the $3.8bn, four-state project.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
More oil, more pipelines.
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Wyoming bill would all but outlaw clean energy, by forbidding utilities from using it

Wyoming bill would all but outlaw clean energy, by forbidding utilities from using it | Sustainability Science | Scoop.it
From insideclimatenews.org - January 19, 2017 9:16 AM
Aiming to keep Wyoming electric utilities dependent on coal, the legislature proposes a bill preventing them from using the state's abundant wind power to in-state customers.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
This is just insane.  First Pruitt's comments about California's permission to manage it's own airspeed and now this.
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World's largest carbon producers face landmark human rights case

World's largest carbon producers face landmark human rights case | Sustainability Science | Scoop.it
From www.theguardian.com - July 28, 2016 8:43 PM
Filipino government body gives 47 ‘carbon majors’ 45 days to respond to allegations of human rights violations resulting from climate change
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Wow!  This an amazing development.  We have heard of small island nations doing so, but for a major country like the Philippines to take this step is huge.

I suspect this first round will not go very far, but the writing seems to be on the wall for large scale carbon emitters who seem to be resisting reducing emissions.
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Stung by Keystone reversal, Canadian province doubles down on renewable energy

Stung by Keystone reversal, Canadian province doubles down on renewable energy | Sustainability Science | Scoop.it
From www.latimes.com - November 23, 2015 8:55 AM
After getting a “major wake-up call” from the U.S. government in its rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline project, the leader of the Canadian province of Alberta announced an aggressive climate-change plan Sunday that sets emission limits for the oil sands and begins the transition from coal to renewable electricity sources.
PIRatE Lab's insight:

Wow.  To be sure a press conference is not a policy and words are much cheaper than action.  But for the first time in a decade, the central government ministries and provincial offices in Canada (save for Quebec, which has been pushing this for a while) seem to actually be taking climate change seriously.

 

Let's congratulate our Canadian friends for taking this action.

 

Fingers crossed that this isn't just a collection of empty promises. 

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Kentucky seeks to preserve role for coal in state's energy future | Reclaiming mountains | Kentucky.com

Kentucky seeks to preserve role for coal in state's energy future | Reclaiming mountains | Kentucky.com | Sustainability Science | Scoop.it
From www.kentucky.com - December 1, 2013 2:48 AM
Weatherizing homes and using more renewable energy could be part of Kentucky's program to lower carbon-dioxide pollution, but the model the state favors also would preserve a role for coal in electricity production.
PIRatE Lab's insight:

This is simply crazy.

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