Month: October 2022
Storytelling As if Climate Mattered
When climate change can be written in to fiction as a subtext, rather than as a “message” that you are supposed to “get”, there may be hope that readers or viewers can integrate the reality.
One of the interesting subtexts of Marvel’s Black Panther, for instance, was the existence of a super-technological society (the fictional Wakanda) that is diverse, advanced, and yet harmonious with natural surroundings. In my mind one of the movie’s most important messages, right behind the obvious racial ones.
Non-profit storytelling consultancy Good Energy believes it can. It is among a small but growing number of organisations calling for far more TV and film scripts to feature climate-related storylines, characters and reference points.
In April 2022, it released its Good Energy Playbook, a set of guidelines for embedding climate change into any on-screen story. It joins other initiatives in drawing attention to the need for film and TV to reflect the myriad ways climate change leaves its mark on our everyday lives, including Planet Placement, a set of tips for the TV and film industry from Bafta’s Albert, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NDRC)’s Rewrite the Future.
The Good Energy Playbook’s suggestions are appropriately wide-ranging: characters with climate anxiety and those fighting against injustice; utopian narratives that explore climate solutions; storylines that quietly weave climate references into their characters’ worlds. Examples span from showing solar panels on houses in the background of a shot to main characters taking on the fossil fuel industry.
Good Energy argues that the stories on our screens should hold a mirror up to our real, climate-changed lives. This includes imagining what could go wrong, as many dystopian blockbusters already have, but also what could go right. It also emphasises the importance of thorough research and avoiding tired environmental tropes; of recognising intersectionality and including marginalised voices.
The playbook was created by Good Energy founder Anna Jane Joyner, whose background in climate communications led her to question why climate was barely appearing in fictional TV and film worlds. “It started very much as a personal campaign, where I just got on the phone with as many screenwriters as I could,” she says.
She quickly learned that writers increasingly wanted to talk about climate, she says, and were more and more worried about it in their personal lives, but “didn’t really have the support and toolset to be able to do it”.
Storytellers might be ready to bring climate into the writers’ room, but is it the job of fictional TV shows and films to deliver climate realities to our sofas and cinema seats? More to the point, what good will it do?
When Needed Most, France’s Nuclear Plants Can’t Deliver
Continue reading “When Needed Most, France’s Nuclear Plants Can’t Deliver”France is falling behind in its plans to return the country’s fleet of nuclear reactors to full power this winter after a rash of outages, raising fears that one of Europe’s key sources of electricity won’t be ramped up to counter Russia’s squeeze on the continent’s energy supplies.
The nuclear fleet was designed to act as the front line of France’s energy security. Since Moscow cut the flow of natural gas to Europe—plunging the continent into its biggest energy crisis since the 1970s oil shock—France’s vaunted nuclear fleet has been about as effective as the Maginot Line, the French fortifications that did little to stop the German invasion during World War II.
Twenty-six of France’s 56 nuclear reactors are offline for maintenance or because of corrosion on piping that cools the reactor cores. Fixing the corrosion is taking longer than expected at several reactors, delaying their restart by as much as six weeks, according to regulatory filings and a French nuclear executive familiar with the matter.
Labor unrest is another obstacle. Strikes at 18 reactors owned by EDF SA, France’s state-controlled power giant, have delayed their restart by several weeks, threatening the government’s plans to have all of them back online by the end of the winter. EDF and union leaders said they reached an agreement Friday on salary increases, ending the strikes.
“It’s important that this work restarts as soon as possible,” said Emmanuelle Wargon, head of France’s energy regulator. “If not, the risk of not having electricity rises.”
EDF, the world’s largest owner of nuclear plants, is one of Western Europe’s most important power companies. Its fleet of reactors normally exports large quantities of low-cost nuclear power to neighboring countries, helping stabilize prices across the region.
The situation changed drastically this year, when France swung from being one of Europe’s largest exporters of electricity to a net importer because of the outages at its reactors. The rash of outages has officials worried that France and the broader region might run short of electricity in the winter, when power demand in Europe peaks.
Soaring energy prices have fueled labor unrest that is compounding France’s energy problems. A strike by French refinery workers led by the CGT, France’s far-left union, has created gasoline and diesel shortages across the country. The workers are demanding a 10% pay increase to cope with inflation. CGT workers have also led the strike at EDF, demanding a minimum pay increase of €200 a month, or roughly $200.
Virginie Neumayer, a CGT leader at EDF, said their strike has targeted the reactors that were either undergoing maintenance or taken offline for refueling. It hasn’t slowed repairs at around 12 of the reactors that were taken offline because of suspicions of corrosion, Ms. Neumayer said.
Heating Will Be More Expensive This Winter
This winter is set to be one of the most expensive in recent history to heat a home.
For the roughly half of U.S. households that rely on gas furnaces, heating costs are estimated to rise 28% to an average of $931 this winter, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Energy costs have been climbing across the board. Natural-gas prices have more than doubled in three years. And for the 12% of Americans who use propane, kerosene or firewood to heat their homes, heating costs are up 43% over the past three years, according to the consumer-price index.
Heat pumps are a potential solution. President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act recently thrust the devices into the spotlight as part of a string of clean-energy investments, promising rebates and tax breaks to help offset the cost of installation. One portion of the bill offers as much as $8,000 to low-income homeowners for swapping their furnaces for qualifying heat pumps. (States will need time to roll out these incentive programs.)
Heat pumps are available at a range of prices.
The least expensive cost roughly as much as installing a central-air-conditioning system plus a furnace, says Ben Schoenbauer, assistant director of research at the Center for Energy and Environment, an energy-efficiency nonprofit. Think about $10,000 for an average-size house, he says, for a heat pump likely to last about 15 years.
Higher-end models capable of operating in extreme cold can run as much as $20,000, with a more typical cost around $15,000, Mr. Schoenbauer says. One option, known as a geothermal heat pump, costs in the $20,000-to-$30,000 range to install, but promises to slash electric bills down the line. These models rely on a tube that runs deep into the ground, rather than drawing on the variable outside air. The Inflation Reduction Act provides a tax break of as much as 30% of the cost to install this type of heat pump.
Also bear in mind:
Continue reading “Heating Will Be More Expensive This Winter”Tesla is still looking to make its own smart and efficient HVAC system for homes and it’s on the “product list,” says CEO Elon Musk.
Beyond Meat Introduces Steak Analog
Beyond Meat has had challenges with stock price and general image – “..former chief operating officer, who was arrested in Arkansas in late September for allegedly biting a man’s nose ..”
Get that man some protein, for gosh sakes.
Beyond Meat Inc., the plant-based company struggling with a sales decline, is launching a steak substitute.
The steak product will be available at Walmart Inc. WMT 1.94%▲ and Kroger Co.KR -0.17%▼ grocery stores as well as Albertsons Cos. ACI -0.64%▼ and other retailers.
Beyond Meat sells meatless products, such as burgers and meatballs, in grocery stores and to restaurants.
Beyond Meat cut its revenue outlook for the year and announced layoffs of about 20% of its workforce in October, citing lower demand for its products and the effects of competition on its sales.
It also recently parted ways with top executives including Doug Ramsey, its former chief operating officer, who was arrested in Arkansas in late September for allegedly biting a man’s nose and threatening to kill him.
Its stock price has dropped by more than 80% in the past year.
Trailer: The Peripheral
With Carbon Nano Materials, Flywheels Could Be Game Changer in Energy Storage
New Findings on Ancient Methane Release: Less Than Meets the Eye (so far)
There are new findings from the last interglacial period, about 120,000 years ago, commonly called the “Eemian”. (I’ve been told by Andrea Dutton that’s not exactly appropriate, but never mind)
TLDR – interesting data, still needs more confirmation – but not much has changed in the big picture. We know that the Eemian was warm, but not much warmer than today – and that even so, sea levels may have been 20 feet higher due to melting ice sheets that have since refrozen during the long glacial period that ended 10,000 years ago.
The Post interviewed Carolyn Ruppel of the US Geological Survey, who I spoke to at length in 2018, among others, for some context.
The research published Monday suggests a major destabilization of seafloor methane off the coast of Africa around 125,000 years ago, after a global shift in currents warmed the middle depths of the ocean there by 6.8 degrees Celsius, or 12.2 degrees Fahrenheit — a massive rise.
Several scientists who reviewed the study said they weren’t ready to raise major alarms about the planet’s ample stores of subsea methane in the form of what are called hydrates. While most experts agree that this methane could cause tremendous warming if it somehow hits the atmosphere, many say that the gas would be unleashed only slowly as the planet warms, and that the ocean itself would protect us by absorbing most methane before it can escape to the air.
Continue reading “New Findings on Ancient Methane Release: Less Than Meets the Eye (so far)”Still, the new findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, underscore how little we still know about how the planet will respond to our uncontrolled greenhouse gas emissions — and how unpredictable that response may be.
The new sample of sediment unearthed from the seafloor paints a picture of tumultuous events during a period of Earth’s history around 125,000 years ago, called the Eemian. The era has often stirred scientists’ fears about the future, for while the Earth was not much warmer than it is today, seas were 20 feet or more higher. Some suspect the West Antarctic ice sheet may have collapsed at that time — and a few have even postulated superstorms powerful enough to lift boulders atop cliffs in the Bahamas.
The new research suggests another Eemian climate cascade. It would have begun with large pulses of meltwater from the Greenland ice sheet, which slowed down the circulation of the North Atlantic Ocean — a change that would have reverberated around the globe. As the ocean’s so-called conveyor belt slowed and less cold water made its way into its middle depths, the paper’s authors contend, the continental shelf of the Gulf of Guinea along the coast of Africa was bathed in sudden, strong warmth. This, in turn, destabilized methane that had previously been suspended beneath the seafloor.
Get Popcorn, and Maybe a Generator – Wonky Jet to Bring Violent Storms to Heartland
You Tube weather vlogger Ryan Hall is worth a watch from time to time, although he generally fails to mention climate context in his reports, he nonetheless does a good job describing the effects as they play out.
If you’ve been wondering what’s up with the dive from record cold to record warm temps this week, this is more detail.
Below, for review, TV Mets Jeff Berardelli and Chris Gloninger outline the current whack jet stream configuration as it evolved last week.
Liz Truss Disaster a Hilarious Rebuke to Climate Denial and Trickle-Down Reaganomics
You may have been hearing about the embarrassing and catastrophic collapse of the newly formed Conservative government in the UK, following the resignation of new Prime Minister Liz Truss.
If it shows anything, it is that global markets and smart money reacted to the regime’s program of climate denial, fossil fuel worship, and trickle down economics with a refreshing and almost instantaneous stampede away from the Pound.
Wall Street Journal account below gives some detail.
Daily Show has a hilarious supercut of Fox News personalities gushing about the early days of the doomed regime.