Bill McKibben On Climate Crisis, Climate Grief, Climate Action, & US Climate Policy — CleanTechnica Interview
In this episode of CleanTech Talk, renowned climate author and social movement leader Bill McKibben and I talk about the climate change crisis we’re quickly rolling into, climate grief and how to deal with it, US climate policy, rampant conspiracy theories, the great energy transition, and more. Listen to this first part of a two-part interview via the embedded SoundCloud player below or on your favorite podcast platform (links below).
| You can subscribe and listen to CleanTech Talk on: Anchor, Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket, Podbean, Radio Public, SoundCloud, Spotify, or Stitcher. |
We quickly jumped into the core issue society is facing in the 21st century: even though we are quickly deploying and adopting cleantech solutions (solar energy, wind energy, electric cars, electric buses, etc.), we consistently remain a little behind what’s needed in order to stop our growing climate crisis. In fact, at times, it seems like we’re falling further and further behind in our challenge rather than catching up. Unfortunately, one thing we’ve discovered in recent years is that as scary and “alarmist” as climate scientists’ messages were a decade ago, those scientists were largely underestimating the risk and destruction. The situation looks worse today than it did then. The following tweet thread from climate scientist Peter Gleick was not covered in our discussion, as Gleick just published it last night and McKibben and I had recorded the podcast long before that, but it captures the point well:
A short, late-night thread about climate change.
Scientists have been warning about the threat of climate change for years.
But you know what we’ve gotten wrong? We were too conservative.
We underestimated how fast Arctic ice would disappear…— Peter Gleick 🇺🇸 (@PeterGleick) September 23, 2021
McKibben, who wrote the first book about climate change for a general audience back in 1989, noted in his introduction of himself that he now spends much of his time “volunteering at the task of failing to save the world.” In response, I said, “Yeah … we’re making so much progress, but it always feels like we’re a sizable distance behind what we need to do to solve the climate challenge.” McKibben’s framing in response was superb: “That’s exactly right, and the reason it’s right and the thing that’s the hardest to get across always to people is this one’s a timed test. And we’re just not used to timed tests in our public life.”
My first question for McKibben came from one of our top writers, Steve Hanley (who McKibben seemed to be a fan of). Steve’s question was about climate grief. He wanted to know McKibben’s take on climate grief, and on how climate grief could be leveraged to create political change. With his characteristic straight honesty, McKibben noted that he’s been feeling more climate grief lately due to all that has been going on this year — extreme flooding in some regions (like Europe and China), extreme wildfires in others (most notably Greece and the US West, which created so much smoke that it actually blew over in large volume to the East Coast). I think many of us have felt the same this year — even, as he noted, with decades of understanding that this was coming.
“In my experience, the only way to deal with that emotional toll — and it’s not a perfect solution, but it’s a partial one — is to be as active — as activist — as possible,” he said. “And I think that there are times when the only antidote in my life for that sadness that works is anger, and anger particularly at the forces in our society — the fossil fuel industry above all — that have systematically lied about this for decades and put us in the position where we are.” A Zen master might have said something else, but I think many people can relate to this, especially many CleanTechnica readers and listeners. McKibben did then add, “I’m not sure that that anger is any emotionally healthier than the grief, but it’s probably more productive in terms of getting stuff done, because we’re still at a place where breaking the political power of the fossil fuel industry is crucial to working at the pace where we now need to go.”
Continuing on the topic of climate politics, I brought up Senator Joe Manchin and the fact that he is a huge blockade to climate progress in Congress. Democrats have a slim majority in both the House and Senate and a rare chance to initiate strong climate legislation, but Manchin and Senator Kyrsten Sinema have been blocking progress on this for months. The former, Manchin, has received more campaign funding from fossil fuel industries than any other US senator (Republican or Democrat), and the latter has completely swerved from being a member of the Arizona Green Party to being the opposite of a Green.
“I gotta say, it feels to me like the Biden administration is doing what they can right now […] — not everything, and there’s plenty that I wish they were doing that they could, like stopping big fossil fuel projects and things — but on this front of getting legislation passed, you know, it now looks like we’ve got this bipartisan infrastructure bill, which isn’t particularly good on climate — it includes a lot of stupid giveaways to the fossil fuel industry — but it’s something, and it was the price for getting this other reconciliation $3½ trillion thing that we’re going to be fighting over for the next couple of months, and that really seems to represent the one big chance that America will take a big cut at the climate crisis in this decade. So, I think it’s incumbent on all of us to think how we can help make that happen. It is incredibly frustrating that Prime Minister Manchin gets to sign off on everything that happens, but that’s where we are! It’s a reminder that it would be good to win a few more senate seats next time around, so we weren’t in quite the same hamstrung position.
“But, look, our political machine is clearly geared to prevent change, not to accelerate it. It’s an antiquated system in every way, from the filibuster and the Electoral College on down. Right now, in an era when we need incredibly urgent action, that’s particularly frustrating. But, that said — what a difference a year has made! At least the country is no longer run, for the moment, by absolute jackasses. The fact that we came into 2020 with a president of the United States who believed that climate change was a hoax invented by the Chinese — I mean, if you were sitting on a bus next to someone who was muttering that, you’d get up and change seats, but this was the guy who was running our country.”
I took the opportunity to point out that the first article I wrote about Donald Trump running for president was “Could The US Really Elect A Conspiracy Theorist?” Unfortunately, the country’s propensity for dangerous, idiotic conspiracy theories was even much greater than I anticipated.
I also asked McKibben if he thought the extreme weather events we’ve been seeing lately have been bringing more people into the climate action cause and could make the difference we need. To hear McKibben answer this question and talk more about the positive trends of the past few years, listen to the whole podcast chat. Of course, we also talked more about the urgency of the matter and the challenges we’re facing. Part two will be coming soon too, so stay tuned to CleanTechnica. I will preview that it covers significantly more complicated and nuanced matters within the US and global climate solutions community.
Appreciate CleanTechnica’s originality? Consider becoming a CleanTechnica Member, Supporter, Technician, or Ambassador — or a patron on Patreon.
Subaru is the latest Japanese automaker to announce it will “re-evaluate” its EV plans. The company is rethinking its strategy with slowing sales and a potential multi-billion-dollar hit from Trump’s auto tariffs. The tariffs might not even be Subaru’s biggest threat.
Subaru and other Japanese automakers adjust EV plans
Within the past week, Japanese automakers, including Nissan, Honda, Toyota, and now Subaru, have announced major adjustments to their EV plans.
After releasing fiscal year financial results on Wednesday, Subaru’s CEO, Atsushi Osaki, said, “We are re-evaluating our plans, including the timing of investments.” Osaki added that the move is due to “today’s rapidly changing environment” and other external factors.
Like most of the industry, Subaru is bracing for a shift under the Trump administration, which could cost it billions. With around half of its vehicles sold, the US is key for the Japanese automaker.
Subaru said Trump’s new auto tariffs could cost the company up to $2.5 billion this year. The automaker is looking at ways to boost US production, but it won’t be easy.
Tomoaki Emori, Subaru’s senior managing executive director, said (via Automotive News), “Under the current circumstances, there is probably no way not to expand in the US. We must think about how to go about that.”
Emori added that the company still has the production capacity, “so we would like to mitigate the impact of tariffs while making use of it.”
Subaru joins a growing list of automakers in pulling its earnings forecast, citing “developments in US tariff policy” make it hard to forecast.
The company’s global sales fell 4.1% to 936,000 units over the past year. In North America, deliveries also fell 4.1% to 732,000 vehicles. Subaru anticipates global sales will continue dropping to around 900,000 this year, or another 4% drop. A part of the forecast is due to downtime at its Yajima plant as Subaru prepares to produce EV batteries.
Osaki said Subaru is “making various preparations for a BEV-dedicated plant,” but added it may add a mix of gas-powered vehicles.
Subaru unveiled its second EV for the US at last month’s NY Auto Show, the 2026 Trailseeker. The Outback-sized electric SUV will go on sale in 2026, joining the smaller Solterra in Subaru’s EV lineup in the US.
Since “It is becoming more difficult to decide how to incorporate electrification into our production mix,” Emori said, Subaru is “thinking about how to incorporate hybrids and plug-in hybrids.”
Electrek’s Take
Subaru and other Japanese automakers are quickly falling behind Chinese EV leaders like BYD in some of their most important sales regions, like Southeast Asia.
Delaying new EV models and other projects will only set them further behind in the long run. Nissan is in crisis mode after scrapping plans to build a new battery plant in Japan. The facility was expected to produce lower-cost LFP batteries, which could have helped Nissan compete on costs with BYD and others.
Last week, Toyota’s President, Koji Sato, said the company will be “reviewing” its goal of selling 1.5 million electric vehicles by 2026. And just yesterday, Honda announced plans to pause around $15 billion in planned EV investments in Canada.
BYD and other EV leaders are expanding overseas to drive growth after squeezing foreign brands, especially Japanese automakers, out of China.
Next year, BYD is launching its first kei car, or mini EV, that’s expected to be a big threat to Japanese automakers. A Suzuki dealer (via Nikkei) warned, “Young people do not have a negative view of BYD. It would be a huge threat if the company launches cheap models in Japan.”
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Porsche Cars North America has integrated over 97,000 more charging stations into its app, streamlining its Porsche Charging Service.
That brings the total number of EV charging stations available to Porsche Charging Service customers in the US to 102,000, with more scheduled to be added in 2025. That means Porsche drivers can now use the My Porsche app as a one-stop shop to easily find, use, and pay at most J1772 and CCS charging stations.
“This is a significant milestone for Porsche and the electric vehicle journey,” said Timo Resch, president and CEO of Porsche Cars North America. “We know flexibility and choice are important.”
Customers in the Porsche Charging Service inclusive period – that’s the year after you buy your EV – or who sign up for Porsche Charging Service Premium can now access the ChargePoint, EV Connect, EVgo, Flo, EvGateway, and Ionna networks, in addition to chargers in the Electrify America network.
Customers in the Porsche Charging Service Base plan will receive access later this summer.
Read more: ChargePoint unveils ‘revolutionary’ V2X EV charger tech that can double Level 2 speeds
If you live in an area that has frequent natural disaster events, and are interested in making your home more resilient to power outages, consider going solar and adding a battery storage system. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisers to help you every step of the way. Get started here. –trusted affiliate link*
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Tesla’s (TSLA) board is reportedly exploring a new CEO pay deal for Elon Musk, who might not get back his $55 billion 2018 compensation package.
According to a new Financial Times report, Tesla’s board created a new “special committee” to explore a new CEO pay package for Musk.
The report points to the committee looking at new stock options and “alternative ways” to compensate Musk if Tesla fails to reinstate his 2018 compensation package, which was rescinded by a judge who found that Musk negotiated the deal with a board under his control and then misrepresented it to shareholders.
Musk is Tesla’s largest shareholder and therefore, he stands to benefit the most when the company does well. However, he doesn’t take a salary for his role as CEO.
Historically, He has received stock compensation packages, with the one secured in 2018 being the controversial one currently under contention.
Since then, no new CEO compensation package has been approved, and Tesla has not suggested another one as it tried to appeal the judge’s decision on the 2018 package.
The company is currently attacking the decision on two fronts with an appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court and a new legislation in Delaware to try to circumvent the decision altogether.
FT reporting that the board is working on a new compensation package with backpay could point to Tesla anticipating not being able to reinstate the original compensation package.
Robyn Denholm and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson are the board members reportedly on the new committee.
Denholm took over from Musk as Tesla’s chair, and she has recently made headlines for selling her Tesla stock options for more than $530 million over the last few years.
Electrek’s Take
It increasingly looks like Tesla won’t be able to distance itself from Musk and separate its fate from his.
Musk has masterfully convinced Tesla shareholders that the destruction of its core business, selling electric vehicles, doesn’t matter because the company is on the verge of solving self-driving – something he has claimed every year for the last 6 years and has been wrong every time.
Now that they don’t care about EVs, there’s no point in blaming Musk for killing demand and delivering a single new vehicle in 5 years, the Cybertruck, a commercial flop.
Therefore, the only thing that will make Tesla shareholders stop wanting Musk as CEO is if they stop believing his self-driving and humanoid robot claims.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway