You might have noticed it’s been kind of quiet on the Gaian Reflections front. That’s not because there isn’t much going on in the world of environmental change and humanity’s accelerated march toward collapse (or sustainability, though that scenario is growing increasingly improbable).
Indeed, there are news eruptions nearly every day, on both sides of the potentiality-scale, with a particular burst of activity this past week. The U.S. continues to dismantle its ability to lead in sustainability—doubling down on fossil fuels (and securing its position as a dominant petro-state, now producing as much as Saudi Arabia and Russia combined); rapidly moving away from renewables; and last week, even dismantling the basic capacity of the EPA (cutting four thousand employees (25%) and its research arm).1
In glimmers of positivity, the European Union and China are starting to fill the climate void the U.S. is creating. For example, they issued this joint statement last week, in which they committed to accelerating renewable energy adoption, increasing support for adaptation (as dramatic climate changes are baked in already and will disrupt many countries in the years to come), and most importantly submitting new Nationally Determined Contributions by COP30 (the upcoming climate talks).
Now that last one may seem ‘meh,’ as those commitments are easily breakable, but suddenly that’s not true. The biggest news of last week is that the International Court of Justice ruled that treaties obligate countries to protect the climate system and environment from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. And that’s not just the Paris agreement that the U.S. once again withdrew from, but the Law of the Sea, international human rights law, and the Montreal Protocol (which the U.S. did sign). While a non-binding agreement, legal experts think that it “carries legal and political weight and future climate cases would be unable to ignore it,” as Reuters notes.
Of course, lawsuits take years to weave their way through court systems, so we can’t wait for this to put humanity on the right path, but in combination with other efforts, it is a breath of cool dry air on a day that everyone is sweltering due to the corn sweats.
Oh, and while wonky, the Science Based Target initiative launched its new Financial Institutions New-Zero Standard last week, which requires financial institutions that sign the standard to phase out of funding or insuring new fossil fuel projects by 2030. What I wrote might sound like word salad, but it is a big deal. The problem is five years is a long time for the landscape to change enough that financial institutions could pull out before having actually pulled back from any investments. But if leading financial institutions truly commit to not funding new fossil fuels developments by 2030, capital will be more limited, making it harder to fund new oil and gas developments.2 Not impossible—as many banks and investors won’t be part of SBTI’s standard—but combined with growing climate change lawsuits, and renewable energy sources that are cheaper and increasingly as reliable as fossil fuels,3 perhaps there’s an outside chance of stabilizing the climate.
Ok, not really, because let’s be honest, we’re forgetting the fact that humans and their dependent populations (livestock and pets) are still growing rapidly and companies and advertisers are stimulating our consumption to ever greater heights, while we still haven’t even addressed simple problems like the megatons of plastic that is simply burned in open pits or enters the ocean each year rather than being recycled (or ideally never produced in the first place).
So, getting back to reality, we’re still very much in trouble, but humans are fascinating in how much we can pursue small-s solutions while ignoring the systems large-s Solutions: economic and population degrowth and a culture that celebrates sharing, simplicity, and a deep respect and reverence for the living Earth that we are part of and utterly dependent on. Because ultimately, if we continue to live disconnected lives, consuming mindlessly even as Earth’s systems visibly break down around us, making tweaks to our energy system obviously won’t be enough.
Cycles of Gaia Curriculum
Speaking of Earth-connection, a big reason Gaian Reflections has been intermittent lately is because we’re two weeks away from releasing the final three curriculum packets for the Cycles of Gaia ecological poster (Grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12). We’ve been working with several teachers who are crafting these and the results are exciting! (For those not familiar with Cycles of Gaia, it is an ecological calendar that tracks 20 species native to New England to help connect viewers, particularly students, with the ecosystems they live within and are dependent on.)
While I want to spill the beans on the specific interesting elements of the new curricula, instead I invite you to join us for a webinar on August 13th at 7pm ET providing an overview on the curricula, in which all four curriculum designers will present the highlights from their curricula. If you want to join, you can register at cyclesofgaia.com/webinar. All are welcome, and if you have teachers in your life you think would be interested, we encourage you to invite them (even if they live beyond New England). Hope to see you then!
Endnotes
1) That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Trump’s ability to derail years of sustainability efforts in the U.S. has been ‘tremendous’ and tragic, particularly as it is triggering a reduction of sustainability commitments in companies and other countries.
2) Then again, last week, a story also broke that SBTi’s Oil and Gas industry standard imploded because they asked oil and gas companies to commit to no new oil & gas development by 2027 at the latest. While a wonderful idea, that’s a naïve ask even for a Gaian!
3) I typically don’t get too excited by the latest tech solution, but last week, Google partnered with a company, Energy Dome, to scale up production of their “CO2 Battery.” Essentially, these ‘batteries’ compress CO2, using renewable energy, so when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining, the company can decompress the CO2 and use the gas to spin a turbine and generate electricity (the CO2 is contained). It’s an elegant system and certainly less toxic, mining-intensive, or combustible than the lithium-ion storage batteries currently being rolled out. (Again, this is only a truly effective solution in the context of a global energy system that is intentionally scaling back and prioritizing the most valuable uses of energy and highly regulating, taxing, and otherwise limiting less valuable uses.) And special bonus since you read all the way to the end, including the endnotes: you get to see a picture of the CO2 Battery facility.
V. Amarnath
Recalling the Phase Diagram of carbon dioxide from my P. Chem. the compressed gas will be in the liquid state taking up much less volume and exerting, again much less pressure than compressed air.