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The science has been clear for years: The world needs to phase out fossil fuels pronto in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. In a groundbreaking step forward, countries at COP26 seem poised to formally agree that this should totally happen to some extent, at some point.
- The climate summit in Glasgow was scheduled to conclude on Friday, but will instead continue into the weekend as negotiators struggle to reach an agreement on their final statement. The conference’s prospects for actually putting countries on track to meet the 1.5-degree threshold have not been looking too hot; U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that that primary goal was “on life support,” but that “until the last moment, hope should be maintained.”
- One reason to keep hope alive: Draft statements released this week included the words “coal” and “fossil fuels,” for the first time in U.N. climate summit history. A pretty big deal! But as of Friday, not big enough. The latest draft called on countries to accelerate “the phaseout of unabated coal power and of inefficient subsidies for fossil fuels.” That didn’t (yet?) include a specific timeline. It was also weaker language than in an earlier draft, with the added qualifiers of “unabated” and “inefficient,” indicating that some countries are intent on creating some big ol’ loopholes to exploit.
- Negotiators are also still hung up on the question of financial aid to help poorer countries mitigate and adapt to climate change. Wealthier countries, which historically have been doing all the harmful emitting, had promised to deliver a fund of $100 billion annually to the developing world by 2020. That didn’t happen (whoopsy-daisy), and negotiators are rushing to finalize a proposal that would help rich countries deliver on that target next year, as well as set aside more cash to help poorer countries adapt to extreme climate events.
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The summit brought no shortage of vaguely hopeful developments, if not enough ironclad carbon-cutting promises (thus far).
- The U.S. and China, the planet’s two biggest emitters, issued a surprise joint pledge on Wednesday to work together on slowing global warming through the decade. Leaders agreed to take “enhanced climate actions” to meet the central targets of the Paris agreement, without offering much in the way of hard deadlines or specific commitments. President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet virtually on Monday, though that meeting isn’t expected to yield any major new agreements.
- Barring a last-minute come-to-climate-Jesus moment in this weekend’s negotiations, many climate activists are likely to chalk up COP26 as a greenwashed failure. In a Thursday speech, Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate called out the large presence of the fossil-fuel industry at the summit, and remarked that she and her peers couldn’t help but be skeptical of the climate pledges: “I’m actually here to beg you to prove us wrong. God help us all if you fail to prove us wrong.”
Leaders at the climate summit had one job, and while they’ve made some significant new promises and finally acknowledged the core task at hand, it appears they’ll fall short of the unequivocal action the world needs. If Guterres has his way, world leaders will reconvene next year and finish the job; in the meantime, try not to look at this dying COP26 tree as a metaphor.
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This week on Pod Save the World, Ben calls in from the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow where he’s traveling with President Obama. Then, Ben speaks to climate activists Hannah Martin and Luisa Neubauer, and former Secretary of State John Kerry about the intense climate negotiations in Glasgow.
New episodes of Pod Save the World drop every Wednesday. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
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A federal grand jury has indicted Steve Bannon on two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the January 6 committee, and Attorney General Merrick Garland is a very wise and very handsome man, as we have been saying all along. Each count carries a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of one year in jail. Bannon is expected to turn himself in to authorities on Monday, according to a Justice Department spokesman. This will all be of great interest to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who failed to appear for his deposition before the committee on Friday, potentially exposing himself to contempt charges of his own. House investigators have now issued subpoenas to at least 20 former Trump aides, all of whom have just received a compelling new reason to cooperate.
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- Donald Trump defended the “hang Mike Pence” chants on January 6 on tape in an interview for Jonathan Karl’s book Betrayal, saying, “well, the people were very angry,” and “it’s common sense.” Come for the quotes, stay for the trenchant Axios analysis.
- A record 4.4 million Americans quit their jobs in September, in many cases for better pay elsewhere. That’s up from 4.3 million who left their jobs in August.
- Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) announced she’ll run for reelection in 2022, setting up a race against a Trump-backed primary challenger.
- Republican Jack Ciattarelli has formally conceded in the New Jersey governor’s race, which is a newsworthy development because we live in hell.
- A ninth person has died from her injuries at the Astroworld festival.
- Squalid conditions at a DC jail went ignored until a bunch of white January 6 rioters showed up, in the latest triumph of America’s Perfect Justice System.
- The competition for Worst Guy in the GOP Ohio Senate race continues to tighten, after Mark Pukita (terrible) responded to charges of antisemitism by insisting that voters need to know his opponent Josh Mandel (horrible) is Jewish. Meanwhile, J.D. Vance.
- California's bipartisan redistricting committee was not kind to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA). Redistricting: It’s Not All Bad!™
- Some anti-vaxxers have begun bathing in borax in a doomed effort to reverse their COVID vaccinations, which is just the darkest possible way of saying that vaccine mandates work!
- Don’t look now, but the Mayor Pete documentary is a comedy masterpiece?
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When it comes to the causes of current inflation, there’s high consumer demand, there’s the supply chain, and then there’s the journalist-murderer in Saudi Arabia who’s out for economic revenge. President Biden suggested at a CNN town hall last month that gas prices are high because Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, pissed that Biden won’t meet with him due to his role in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, has driven up energy prices in retaliation. Saudi Arabia and OPEC agreed to increase output to lower prices when Donald Trump put in a request ahead of the 2018 midterms; when Biden made the same request in August, MBS refused. Ali Shihabi, considered a mouthpiece for MBS in Washington, tweeted in October, “Biden has the phone number of who he will have to call if he wants any favours.” When it comes to providing powerful incentives to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels once and for all….MBS, welcome to the resistance.
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Tell the Biden Administration to Cancel Student Debt
The cost of higher education has grown exponentially in our country, placing it out of reach for most students and families unless they agree to take on huge amounts of debt. Over 44 million Americans carry more than $1.7 trillion of student debt. This crushing burden is preventing millions from buying homes, starting businesses, saving for retirement, or even starting families: And that reality falls heaviest on communities of color – particularly Black people and especially Black women – as a direct result of systemic racism.
That's why we’re urging the Biden Administration to cancel up to $50,000 in student debt per borrower by the end of 2021 – and we need as many people with us as possible. Add your name to our petition to join us in action today.
Centuries of structural inequities and racism have created large barriers in access to education for Black communities. For instance, Black families have far less generational wealth to draw on to pay for college than white families – and as a result, are more likely to take on student loans and struggle with repayment, which is exacerbated by job discrimination and pay disparities. Two decades after taking out student loans, the median Black borrower still owes 95 percent of debt, whereas the median white borrower has paid off 94 percent of debt.
But canceling student debt can help close the racial wealth gap by over 20 percent – securing financial stability and economic mobility for Black, Latinx, and other people of color who are disproportionately burdened by loans, while addressing the debt crisis for millions.
It’s a common-sense solution and there is no reason to wait: Sign our petition telling the Biden administration to cancel $50,000 of student loan debt per eligible borrower now.
Thanks for taking action,
The ACLU Team
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Britney is free!
Chemists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have identified a new way to harness energy from ammonia.
A species of ray last seen in 1986 has been rediscovered off the coast of Iran.
A 6-year-old girl was reunited with a teddy bear she lost in Glacier National Park last year. That’s all! What more do you need!
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