Hot Off the Wire — 11/13/2020

We’re Never Going Back to Normal

The question is how we’ll remake the world.

Gregg Gonsalves | The Nation

Visualizing the Occupations with the Highest COVID-19 Risk

As we head into the winter months, it’s important to remember that the coronavirus remains highly contagious, regardless of what temperatures are outside.

‘We can’t give up.’
U.S. can still control the spread of COVID-19, experts say

U.S. public health leaders have warned in recent days that the coronavirus is spreading unchecked throughout the U.S. — and likely to become significantly worse.

Week 51: Check the sustainability attributes of items you buy regularly.
Take part: Nov. 15–21, 2020

Send a comment today to tell the Utility and Transportation Commission that you want the final rules to drive climate progress in an equitable way
— Washington Environmental Council

Enter the dynamic duo of the SAFE Cities movement and the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty (FFNPT)

Add your name to the global movement taking on fossil fuels — Stand.earth

Can you step up to help FLIP both seats in Georgia
and secure a green majority in the Senate?

With Bill McKibben, Senator Van Hollen, and Andres Jimenez

Sign the petition: There is no place for fossil fuel fans like Heidi Heitkamp and Ernest Moniz in a Joe Biden Administration

Ask his administration to demand a stop to
Line 3 Pipeline

Take a moment to answer our quick survey now!
— Greenpeace

Send a note to welcome President-elect Biden and urge him to take swift action to protect wild Alaska.
— Alaska Wilderness League

Nov. 17th – Washington Budget and Policy Center is hosting a discussion on the WA state Budget and how we ensure an equitable recovery

Nov. 17th – Transportation Choices Coalition is hosting a transit chat W/ partners; Duwamish Clean Up Coalition, Puget Sound Sage to discuss  How can road pricing advance equity?

Join advocates, community leaders, policymakers, students, and other civic-minded Washingtonians on November 17 for Budget Matters 2020 Virtual Summit

In this Transit Chat series, we will explore how transit funding is the foundation for transit equity. How are transportation projects currently funded on federal, state, and local levels?

This bipartisan group might prove key to Congressional action on climate in the next two years.

Visualizing the Biggest Threats to Earth’s Biodiversity

Biden won the election. Now can he save the planet? — Grist

“A Biden win is a first step to a better future,” said Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution, via email. “But we have a long road ahead of us.”

McDonald’s is debuting a new line of plant-based options,
The McPlant?
— Reuters

Companies say they are going net-zero. Can we trust them? — Grist

“They’ve given us a mandate for action on covid, the economy, on climate change, on systemic racism.”
— President-Elect Joe Biden

Climate Change Will Make Parts of the U.S. Uninhabitable.
Americans Are Still Moving There.

Instead of moving away from areas in climate crisis, Americans are flocking to them. As land in places like Phoenix, Houston and Miami becomes less habitable, the country’s migration patterns will be forced to change.

by Lucas Waldron and Abrahm Lustgarten | Nov. 10, 2020
The Great Climate Migration — ProPublica

Sizing up Trump’s legacy

“Because global emissions in 2020 are so much higher than they were 10 or 20 or 30 years ago, that means that a year wasted in the Trump administration on not acting on climate has much bigger consequences than a year wasted in Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush or Bill Clinton’s administration,” said Michael Wara. — New York Times

‘We want real action’: young activists aim to fill void on climate with Mock Cop26

Frustrated by the one year postponement of UN talks, young people have organised their own virtual conference.
— The Guardian

China signals shift from gas-powered cars by 2035

Benjamin Storrow, E&E News reporter Published: Friday, November 6, 2020

Half of Chinese auto sales will need to come from electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids or fuel cells by 2035, according to a new report from the country’s organization of automobile experts. The remaining fossil fuel vehicles will need to be hybrids.
— ClimateWire

Vox’s Ezra Klein has written on Twitter:

Climate change “is the issue that throws the Georgia runoffs into sharpest relief. If Democrats win 50 seats in the Senate, large-scale climate legislation is possible, even likely. If they don’t, it’s simply not going to happen.”