Dear friends,
Sometimes it’s hard to see what’s going right, and you have to squint a little bit to bring the good news into focus. In the blur of the relentless news cycles, it’s difficult to see our progress.
Two years ago, I don’t think I knew what a heat pump was. Bill McKibben’s Heat Pumps for Peace and Freedom was probably my initial introduction.
As an apartment-dweller in Brooklyn, I realize that I am still not completely sure, so I found a clear explanation of why a heat pump is wonderfully efficient.
It extracts heat from a source, such as the surrounding air, geothermal energy stored in the ground, or nearby sources of water or waste heat from a factory. It then amplifies and transfers the heat to where it is needed. Because most of the heat is transferred rather than generated, heat pumps are far more efficient than conventional heating technologies such as boilers or electric heaters and can be cheaper to run.
Even though I didn’t know about heat pumps until last year, they were already part of the energy transition. The state of Maine had already begun working toward the goal of getting 100,000 heat pumps installed by 2025.
Last month, Governor Mills announced that Maine had surpassed their goal way ahead of schedule; the state’s new goal is to install 175,000 more heat pumps by 2027.
“We are setting an example for the nation,” said Mills at the announcement event. “Our transition to heat pumps is creating good-paying jobs, curbing our reliance on fossil fuels, and cutting costs for Maine families, all while making them more comfortable in their homes — a hat trick for our state.”
A few weeks ago, the US Department of Energy (DOE) proposed new energy efficiency standards for residential water heaters. This quiet administrative effort to revamp Congressionally-mandated appliance standards would
require the most common-sized electric water heaters to achieve efficiency gains with heat pump technology and gas-fired instantaneous water heaters to achieve efficiency gains through condensing technology.
If the new rule takes effect in 2029, it would save nearly $200 billion in household costs and sharply reduce carbon emissions.
The Harlem-based group WE ACT for Environmental Justice conducted an important study and reported on the impact of gas stoves on indoor air quality. In response to their findings, NYCHA — the folks who run the city’s housing projects — have partnered with the state Power Authority and the Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA) to challenge manufacturers to
“design and produce energy-efficient, electric cooking systems to replace existing fossil fuel stoves while avoiding costly electrical upgrades in NYCHA buildings.”
This is another good initiative.
Today, the president designated almost a million acres, including the headwaters of the Colorado River, as a national monument. The designation of Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni preserves Indigenous lands near the Grand Canyon, protecting them in perpetuity from uranium mining.
Naming the new national monument is part of the current administration’s commitment to protect and conserve at least 30% of US land and waters by 2030.
A summit of South American leaders is underway to discuss the future of the Amazon. Brazilian president Lula da Silva came with a bold plan.
Excitement over Lula’s Amazon blueprint is accompanied with anxiety that Brazil’s conservative-dominated congress might prevent the president from enacting his ambitious environmental agenda, which has already achieved a 42.5% drop in deforestation.
There’s a familiar problem. International support will make a difference, and we should be vocal in support of US funding for the protection of the Amazon.
Tell President Biden that he must call for greater support of the Amazon Fund! I rolled in a nice thank-you for his efforts and another call for declaring a climate emergency.
Some good news is detectable from the audible sighs of relief; the Supreme Court, which is hardly a reliable ally, has temporarily reinstated a 2022 rule that regulates the kits that are used to create ghost guns. regulation of “ghost guns” — untraceable firearms.
[The rule] requires manufacturers and sellers to obtain licenses, mark their products with serial numbers and conduct background checks.
As with other decisions from the ‘shadow docket’, this ruling does not include a written rationale or dissenting views. It does, however, leave the rule in place until the justices render a decision on a relevant case before the Court next year.
In Ohio, a group calling itself Parents Defending Education (PDE) filed a legal complaint in an attempt to reverse a school district’s anti-bullying policies, which protect transgender students — among others — from targeted harassment.
A federal judge, Algenon Marbley, made short work of the dubious complaint, which claimed a violation of free speech rights. Marbley explained why pronoun errors are distinct from deliberate misgendering:
“Using pronouns contrary to an individual’s preferences intentionally poses a different issue. It evinces disrespect for the individual. Intentional misgendering has the effect of creating a hostile environment for transgender students.”
Quote Judge Marbley next time someone seems not to understand the problem with deliberately using incorrect pronouns.
who provide abortions using “good faith judgement” that a pregnancy is unsafe for the pregnant person, or that a fetus is unlikely to survive.
[F]or now, people in the state with dangerous or doomed pregnancies should be able to get care.
The fifteen women who testified were forced to relive traumatic birth experiences and, in the case of Amanda Zurawski, her own near-death from sepsis after being denied care.
The work of advocates seldom gets enough acknowledgment. The Center for Reproductive Rights was behind the Texas case. There will surely be an appeal.
Donate to support the legal advocacy of the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Ohioans are voting on
Issue 1, an amendment that would make it significantly more difficult to alter the state’s constitution and bring citizen-initiated ballot measures to voters in the first place.
If Issue 1 passes, future ballot measures will require a supermajority of 60 percent to pass. This is all about maintaining minority control, so that popular measures like abortion rights will be harder to secure.
“Yes, it has huge implications for reproductive rights,” said Liz Walters, chair of the Ohio Democratic Party, which is advocating against Issue 1. “But if you believe in the right to join a union, if you care about voting rights, if you care about having fair maps, this issue transcends any single issue.”
I will be listening for an audible sigh of relief once the results are in.
with love,
L