[GWSG] Chevron's messes; car report; fast batteries; Keystone's fate; Trump's legacy of activists; shifting rain belt

[Tilley, Al]

1.  A 12-minute video of a Vice news report sketches Chevron’s depredations in Ecuador. They pump whatever wealth they can out of an area and desert the ruined sites in a cloud of subterfuge. Dozens of areas have been so treated. We may expect to see the same here unless we band with other victims to hold the corporation accountable to clean up its messes. https://climatecrocks.com/2021/01/16/vice-news-the-worlds-worst-oil-related-disaster-youve-never-heard-of/

2. MIT has produced an interactive presentation of the cost to own and emissions of most autos. Even with the currently higher purchase price, electric cars have easily the lowest cost and lowest emissions over time. Some hybrids and plugin hybrids are cheaper and have lower emissions than some of the electrics. Check out how your wheels compete.  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/15/climate/electric-car-cost.html?smid=em-share

3. One impediment to adoption of electric cars is the prospect of getting stuck at a charging station for a couple of hours on longer trips. Quick-charging batteries are in development, and one which charges in five minutes with special charging equipment or in ten minutes with the current hardware is already in production. BP is one source of its financing. Perhaps it sees a new use for its chain of gas stations.  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/19/electric-car-batteries-race-ahead-with-five-minute-charging-times?utm_campaign=Carbon%20Brief%20Daily%20Briefing&utm_content=20210119&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue%20Daily

4. Soon to be President Biden has said that he intends to cancel the permit for the Keystone Pipeline on his first day in office (tomorrow!). Its developer’s response is to promise to go union and to use only renewable energy to construct the pipeline, to be dedicated to carrying the dirtiest form of oil for processing and export. https://climatecrocks.com/2021/01/18/keystone-on-the-ropes-suggests-pipeline-to-run-on-solar-wind/

5. One legacy of the Trump years is an energetic, experienced, and increasingly sophisticated climate action movement. https://grist.org/climate/trumps-unintended-legacy-a-fiery-climate-resistance/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily

6. The tropical rain belt, a narrow band of increased precipitation near the equator, is expected to shift with global heating, with dire effects on water supply and food production for billions of people. https://phys.org/news/2021-01-climate-position-earth-tropical-belt.html

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