How Your Climate Vote Makes a Difference

Hello again, my climate people! Are you ready to ~dive~ into this week’s hydropower startup? We’re talking about new technology that keeps aquatic ecosystems thriving, but that’s not all. Read on to learn about big oil’s slippery slope on hiring and a piece on voting for climate action in the upcoming midterms by the New York Times’ featured writer, Shafaq Zia.

— Written by Shayna Berglas

Natel Energy

We know that fossil fuels are on their way out.

Fossil fuels trap heat in the atmosphere and produce emissions that harm human health. Renewable energy, on the other hand, typically emits less CO2 than fossil fuels. Solar and wind produce little to no CO2. Other sources like hydropower can generate power to the grid immediately and provide essential backup power during major electricity outages or disruptions.

But renewable energy isn’t perfect. Solar requires significant land use. Some types of wind turbines harm bird and bat populations. Hydropower can trap fish upstream, harming wildlife as well as the people that depend on them.

What if there was a way to reap the benefits of renewable energy without adversely impacting the ecosystems and communities where we build the infrastructure?

Natel Energy is a hydropower startup that generates clean energy through practices that are safe for aquatic wildlife. With their novel turbine technology, they’re restoring rivers and helping build a more sustainable future.

Check out the full film covering their efforts here.

What Your Vote in the Midterms Means for Our Future

The stakes for climate policy are high in the 2022 midterm elections. Though we’ve started making progress in mobilizing climate action, our fight isn’t over yet. The upcoming elections could open up the door for greater efforts, but only if we choose our leaders wisely. Every election cycle, we elect over 500,000 officials from the federal and state to the local level, and the results of these elections decide how we, as a nation, tackle the fundamental issue of climate change moving forward.

Recent studies have shown that a majority of Americans are worried about climate change, so lawmakers have weighed in on how they plan to handle this issue. But sometimes the number of offices you have to vote for is simply overwhelming, Climate Cabinet’s founder and executive director, Caroline Spears, tells Pique Action. This means, if you don’t spend your Friday evenings reading City Council meeting minutes, you might end up voting for local leaders who are calling the wrong shots.

And we all know that politicians are known for saying one thing and doing another, but then how can the public make an informed decision on who to elect? A politician’s climate scorecard might be of help here. “We actually go into record databases and we track actual votes that they took on major climate legislation, and that's what we score politicians on,” says Spears.

Tackling climate change is not just a scientific question anymore, it's a political one as well. While the American people want climate action, many of our leaders are simply failing us. But now, with tools like climate scorecards, we can track the promises a candidate has made to us and hold them accountable for it.

To see how your local leaders will call the shots on climate policy, look up their scorecard here before November 8. Remember, every facet of our lives is somehow impacted by climate change, so a win for the environment will be a win for all of us.

Good Climate News!

I mean, really, who wants to work for companies that aren’t rooting for a better future?

Let’s start with an important disclaimer: if you work for big oil, if you still rely on oil for heat, and if you are like the rest of the world and consume products made with crude oil, you are not the villain. We all need to make a living, we all need warmth and security, and, let’s face it, squeaky-clean consumerism isn’t exactly commonplace just yet.

But as we focus our attention on a more sustainable future, it’s hard to ignore the fact that oil and gas have little place there. And that seems to be a major reason why the industry is hard-pressed to find workers.

It’s a part of a larger social movement that threatens to make business harder for oil companies. Public awareness is growing on the industry’s history of greenwashing. I don’t know about you, but I grew up in what I would consider a fairly environmentally conscious household. As in, reusable shopping bags, littering is bad, Tupperware over Ziploc, but still buying mixed greens in big plastic bins, kind of medium-level. Point being, I was raised with the idea of my personal carbon footprint in mind. And color me surprised when I found out that the term “carbon footprint” was coined by BP as a marketing scheme to promote the slant that climate change is not the fault of an oil giant, but rather that of individuals. You got me good, BP. Big time prank.

We now know that my dad buying salad greens isn’t the sole reason the sea level is rising. The IPCC found that in 2018, 89% of global CO2 emissions came from fossil fuels and industry. Oil alone accounts for approximately ⅓ of the world’s total carbon emissions.

With floods, fires, and other climate-related natural disasters increasing in strength and frequency, young folk have plenty of reasons to avoid signing on big oil. In a 2020 survey conducted by PWC, well over half of millennials in the U.S. said they would avoid working in an industry with a negative image - and oil and gas were at the top of that list.

And who can blame them? Especially when those working in energy have the opportunity to join the booming renewables industry, which in 2021 employed roughly 3.2 million Americans - 3.5 times more than the number of people working in fossil fuels.

Cities, states, and utilities around the country are setting ambitious clean energy goals and increasing portfolio standards, and with the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act, the number of climate-related jobs is expected to explode. So, even if you don’t work in oil or gas, I’ll leave you to consider a thought that our very own Tyler Steinhardt once went semi-viral for tweeting: quit your job, work in climate.

What We’re Watching, Reading, and Listening to

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