The Georgia activist on why she is leaving campaign politics behind to focus on weaning Americans off fossil fuels
Stacey Abrams has been hailed as a masterly community organizer, after she helped turn out the voters that secured two Senate seats for Democrats in once solidly red Georgia. She has also run twice – unsuccessfully – for state governor. For her next move, she’s not focusing on electoral power so much as power itself.
Recently she left the world of campaign politics and took a job as senior counsel for the non-profit Rewiring America. Her role will focus on helping thousands of people across America wean their homes and businesses off fossil fuels and on to electricity, at a moment when scientists have given a “final warning” about the need to curb greenhouse gas emissions and prevent global catastrophe.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
03/25/2023 - 03:00
Tom Massey promotes natural ‘forest gardens’ with biodiverse planting to create wildlife havens
Your garden should have many layers, like a rainforest, to perform for biodiversity and climate, a leading garden designer has said.
Tom Massey, an award-winning horticulturist, said most gardens only have a couple of layers, with a mown lawn, some bushes and perhaps a tree. But adding multiple layers, with intermingled planting, helps to mimic what one may find in a biodiverse forest, with each layer giving benefits for wildlife.
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03/24/2023 - 18:00
Australia Museum says 20-year-old collection will help understand and conserve threatened animals, which are sensitive to climate change
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As floods devastated Lismore, a group of ecologists waited anxiously for a break in the weather so they could move an important scientific collection of “spectacular” spiny crayfish to a new home at the Australian Museum.
The samples of the crayfish were collected more than 20 years ago from deep within the rainforests of north-eastern NSW and southern Queensland by Dr Jason Coughran, a freshwater ecologist.
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03/24/2023 - 11:13
Adult fall-run Chinook salmon returned to California’s rivers in near record low numbers in 2022
As drought dried up rivers that carry California’s newly hatched Chinook salmon to the ocean, state officials in recent years have resorted to loading up the fish by the millions on to trucks and barges to take them to the Pacific.
The surreal and desperate scramble boosted the survival rate of the hatchery-raised fish, but still it was not enough to reverse the declining stocks in the face of added challenges.
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03/24/2023 - 11:00
Exclusive: Labour decries ‘climate vandalism’ as launch plans signal intention to boost fossil fuel industry
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The government is planning to launch its revamped net zero strategy from the UK’s oil and gas capital, Aberdeen, in a clear signal of its intention to boost the fossil fuel industry while cutting key green measures, the Guardian has learned.
Next week’s launch was originally called “green day” in Whitehall, but has been rebranded as “energy security day” and will focus on infrastructure. Campaigners have called the move a travesty.
Ministers will refuse to force oil and gas companies to stop flaring by 2025, as recommended in the review of net zero by Chris Skidmore earlier this year.
Ofgem will not gain important powers to include the net zero target in its regulation of the energy sector, effectively defanging the regulator.
No overarching new office for net zero, as recommended in the Skidmore review.
No compulsion on housebuilders to fit rooftop solar to new housing.
No comprehensive nationwide programme for insulation of the UK’s draughty housing stock, as green groups have been calling for. Instead, the strongest insulation measure is likely to be a consultation on the private rented sector.
The Treasury, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and the Department for Business and Trade are at war over whether to introduce carbon border taxes.
Major roles for carbon capture and storage technology and hydrogen, which could boost the oil and gas industry with questionable gains for the environment.
The potential licensing of a massive new oilfield, Rosebank, under cover of investing in carbon capture and storage technology, which campaigners warn is “greenwash”.
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03/24/2023 - 09:59
Crown estate leases seabed rights to new projects as oil firms look to replace gas and diesel generators
The Scottish government will earn more than £260m after agreeing to lease areas of its seabed to floating offshore wind projects that can power oil and gas rigs.
In a world first, Crown Estate Scotland gave the green light for companies to help trim the North Sea’s carbon emissions by developing floating windfarms that can directly supply oil and gas platforms with renewable electricity.
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03/24/2023 - 09:00
The owner of Paloma salon in Paddington has organised seminars for hairdressers across Sydney to instruct them on how to talk to their clients about climate action. Owner Paloma Rose Garcia started the A Brush with Climate workshops – navigating how to discuss science and solutions with clients – after she 'really understood that there is a unique opportunity that hairdressers have to hold meaningful conversation and assist the community with understanding more about climate and what they can do in their everyday life'
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03/24/2023 - 08:59
Residents in several low-lying communities told to evacuate after flooding caused by rainfall and snowmelt
At least three people were found dead this week after their vehicles were swept away by floodwaters in Arizona, authorities said.
Gila county sheriff’s officials said the bodies of a couple missing after their vehicle was stuck in floodwaters in the Payson area were located on Thursday. They were identified as Phon Sutton, 85, and Dara Sutton, 72, both of Payson, Arizona.
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03/24/2023 - 06:14
Six KCs among more than 120 mostly English lawyers to sign pledge not to act for fossil fuel interests
Leading barristers have defied bar rules by signing a declaration saying they will not prosecute peaceful climate protesters or act for companies pursuing fossil fuel projects.
They are among more than 120 mostly English lawyers who have signed a declaration vowing to “withhold [their] services in respect of supporting new fossil fuel projects and action against climate protesters exercising their right of peaceful protest”.
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03/24/2023 - 05:00
Test relies on visual inspection of ash to then check soil for toxins, which is ‘unlikely to give a complete picture’ of contamination
A plan to test for toxic dioxins near the site of a February train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, is flawed and unlikely to find the dangerous substances, independent chemical pollution researchers in the US who reviewed the testing protocol told the Guardian.
Initial soil testing already revealed dioxin levels hundreds of times above the threshold that Environmental Protection Agency scientists have found poses a cancer risk, but that sampling was limited in scope.
Arcadis will largely rely on visual inspections of the ground to find evidence of dioxins, instead of systematically testing soil samples that may contain the compounds, which is standard protocol.
The plan does not say how low the levels of dioxin the company will check for will be.
Testing will only be conducted up to two miles from the accident site when ash has been found up to 20 miles away.
The testing is limited to soil and does not include food or water.
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