Boom! Bezos drops $1B, "Regeneration" & Newsom inks $15B for Cali-climate
The newsletter for independent thinkers on carbon and climate.
(source: New York Times)
Issue No. 91
Welcome to the latest issue of Carbon Creed - a curated newsletter for independent thinkers on carbon and climate.
Jeff Bezos drops $1B to protect biodiversity and forest CO2 sequestration with indigenous communities.
Jeff Bezos is donating $1 billion to protect biodiversity and carbon-saving forests in the Andes, the Congo Basin, and the tropical Pacific Ocean. After nearly three decades leading Amazon, which has a vast and growing carbon footprint, Bezos is intent on forging a new identity as an environmentalist and perhaps the world’s most generous financier in the fight against climate change.
The announcement was the latest step in his largest philanthropic effort, the Bezos Earth Fund, to which he pledged $10 billion last year. The money will be used “to create, expand, manage and monitor protected and conserved areas,” according to a news release from the fund, which also introduced a website on Monday.
The initiative is intended to support an international push to safeguard at least 30 percent of Earth’s lands and waters by 2030, known as 30x30. The plan, led by Britain, Costa Rica and France, is intended to help tackle a global biodiversity crisis that puts a million species of plants and animals at risk of extinction. While climate change is part of the problem, activities like farming and fishing have been even bigger drivers of biodiversity loss. The 30x30 plan would try to slow that by protecting intact natural areas like old-growth forests and wetlands, which not only nurture biodiversity but also store carbon and filter water.
The grants announced on Monday will put a priority on regions and countries where “local communities and Indigenous peoples are placed at the heart of conservation programs,” the fund said. Whether the 30x30 effort offers Indigenous communities a large enough role in conservation efforts is a question that community leaders and scholars have raised.
“I’d heard that seeing the Earth from space changes one’s point of view of the world,” Bezos said at the event on Monday, “but I was not prepared for just how much that was true.”
We applaud this latest effort by Jeff Bezos to spread his wealth to long underserved indigenous people and their communities. We’ll be watching closely to see if the actual $1B spend lives up to the lofty goals in the announcement.
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QUOTES
Climate quotes and sayings that will inspire you
(source: Britannica)
“We must now agree on a binding review mechanism under international law, so that this century can credibly be called a century of decarbonization.” - Angela Merkel (Chancellor of Germany)
“We are all living together on a single planet, which is threatened by our own actions. And if you don’t have some kind of global cooperation, nationalism is just not on the right level to tackle the problems, whether it’s climate change or whether it’s technological disruption.” Yuval Noah Harari (Author, Scholar)
“If we use our fuel to get our power, we are living on our capital and exhausting it rapidly. This method is barbarous and wantonly wasteful, and will have to be stopped in the interest of coming generations. The heat of the sun's rays represents an immense amount of energy vastly in excess of waterpower...The sun's energy controlled to create lakes and rivers for motive purposes and transformation of arid deserts into fertile land... - Nikola Tesla (Inventor)
BOOKS
Regeneration
By Paul Hawken
There’s one clear antidote for climate anxiety: If you can take strategic steps to address climate change, it begins to feel like it actually might be solvable. The challenge is that few of us know where to begin. Society has to transform at an unprecedented scale and speed to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement, and countries still aren’t planning to move fast enough. We’re already seeing climate impacts play out in real time, from heat waves and wildfires to floods and drought. But it is possible to avoid the worst-case scenarios—and even if entire systems need to change, individuals can help make that happen.
In a new book, Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation, and a website called Regeneration, Paul Hawken lays out solutions. The book is a sequel to Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, which looked at how existing technologies and approaches could be used to achieve “drawdown,” the point at which greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbingand begin to come down. In the new book, Hawken talks through key solutions, from better ways to farm to new urban mobility. The website goes a step further, explaining exactly what anyone can do to support the changes that are needed. “It’s about possibility, because people are drowning in information about the probabilities—what’s going to go wrong, when and how fast,” he says.
“Regeneration is not only about bringing the world back to life; it is about bringing each of us back to life,” writes Hawken in this comprehensive guide to combating the climate crisis. The author divides his guidance into several broad categories—“Oceans” introduces “seaforestation,” or growing marine forests “where they would not normally occur,” and makes a plea for “marine protected areas.” “Forest” looks at the versatility and sustainability of bamboo, and explains such concepts as proforestation (allowing and encouraging trees to recover and grow) and afforestation (“planting trees where none grew before”). The “Industry” section is the most engaging, and in it Hawken tackles the environmental impact of processed food, health care, fashion, war, and plastics. An “Action and Connection” chapter is filled with reasonable real-world steps: there’s a 12-point climate checklist that readers can apply to their lives, and a list of things to do to make one’s lifestyle greener. Urgent but never tipping into doom and gloom, this will be a boon to readers worried about a warming world.
Creed Comments: Hawken is no stranger to the climate writer’s club. This is his 8th book, and it looks to be an interesting read. A trend is emerging in the climate genre - hopeful themes that give the reader a path to action. Hawken finds this groove when he explains the title’s message, “Regeneration has two meanings. It refers to regenerating life on earth. And it refers to a new generation of humanity coming together to reverse global warming.” I did like Drawdown, so I don’t see why the sequel wouldn’t be well done. Regeneration was released on September 21, 2021.
INSIGHTS
(source: Inside Climate News)
California governor signs $15 bln package to tackle climate change
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a $15 billion package that will fund programs to tackle drought and climate change in the state after a devastating wildfire season.
Newsom signed 24 bills focused on climate and clean energy efforts, droughts, and wildfire preparedness, his office said in a statement on Thursday, describing the funding as the largest climate package in California's history.
The package's largest portion, $5.2 billion, will go towards funding for emergency drought relief projects and expanding California's water supplies. The package includes $3.7 billion to address climate change risks, investing in projects that will mitigate extreme heat and tackle the threat of rising sea levels.
About $1.5 billion will go toward preventing wildfire risk in forests, according to the statement from Newsom's office.
This month, President Joe Biden renewed his push for significant investments to combat climate change as he visited California and took an aerial tour of areas hit by one of the country's worst fire seasons.
California typically experiences its peak fire season in late summer and fall. The state is on pace to see more of its landscape go up in flames this year than last, which was the worst year on record for the state.
Human-caused climate change has intensified the withering drought gripping the Southwestern United States, the region's most severe on record, with precipitation at the lowest 20-month level documented since 1895, a U.S. government report said on Tuesday. read more
Over the same period, from January 2020 through August 2021, the region also experienced the third-highest daily average temperatures measured since record-keeping began near the end of the 19th century, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[This post was adapted from the original written by Kanishka Singh for Reuters]
Creed Comments: Governor Gavin Newsom is on a roll. With the failed recount behind him, he’s blazing a bold, new trail. And what does he lead with - not Covid, but Climate. Now it’s time for congressional Democrats and moderate Republicans to step up their game, and ink key climate provisions in the reconciliation bills.
RESOURCES
The Keeling Curve a daily record of global atmospheric CO2 concentration.
Congressional Policy Tracker a summary of current federal energy legislation.
Click Clean your favorite apps and tech company clean power rankings.
Advancing Inclusion Through Clean Energy Jobs a report by the Brookings Institute.
Understanding ESG a series of ESG-focused thought leadership webinars for business and investors, presented by Baker McKenzie.
Matter of Fact, a weekly newsmagazine that focuses on socioeconomic and climate issues in America, hosted by veteran journalist Soledad O'Brien.
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