How Ossoff and Warnock’s Georgia Senate Wins Will Impact the Climate

Democrats have won control of the Senate and with it, a fighting shot at passing meaningful climate legislation.
The Associated Press called the two Georgia runoff Senate races for Democrat Reverend Raphael Warnock at 2:05 a.m. EST Wednesday morning and for Democrat Jon Ossoff at 4:16 p.m. EST Wednesday afternoon. Their win means the Senate is now split 50-50 with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris acting as a tie-breaker, giving the Democrats a majority in the chamber for the first time since 2015, The Guardian reported.
"The Decade of the Green New Deal has just begun," youth-led climate group Sunrise Movement tweeted once a Democratic victory appeared likely.
But what does this victory actually mean in practical terms? First, it means that President-elect Joe Biden will have an easier time confirming his cabinet nominees, Grist explained.
The Biden administration has announced a slate of climate-focused nominees, including the historic choice of environmental justice advocate and Representative Deb Haaland (D-NM) to serve as the first Indigenous Secretary of the Interior, and the first Indigenous cabinet secretary.
Second, control of the Senate will enable the Democrats to more easily reverse some of President Donald Trump's last-minute environmental deregulations, The New York Times reported. The Congressional Review Act gives Congress the power to reverse rules recently made by federal agencies with a simple majority vote. Congress can now use that power to undo the "Secret Science" rule finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week, which restricts the kinds of studies the EPA can use when crafting policy. Congress can also reverse the recent rollback of a law protecting migratory birds.
Finally, Congress now has a shot at passing some of Biden's $2 trillion climate plan as part of an economic stimulus or infrastructure bill. However, the Democrats' razor-thin majority in the Senate means they will still have to compromise with moderates and Republicans to pass any major legislative packages, both Grist and The New York Times reported.
Robert Stavins, Harvard Kennedy School director of environmental economics, told The New York Times that a Democratic double-victory in Georgia was "important across the board, but it doesn't bring them the ultimate freedom they would have if they had a supermajority."
Still, that slim majority was important enough that progressive climate groups worked to get out the vote in Georgia, despite the fact that Ossoff does not back the Green New Deal, as Kate Aronoff noted for The Republic. (However, he does support a green infrastructure plan similar to Biden's, and Warnock has also spoken in favor of environmental action, Grist reported. Both candidates want to rejoin the Paris agreement and reverse Trump's deregulations.)
The Sunrise Movement persuaded more than 3,000 people to text three friends reminding them to vote on election day. In the weeks leading up to the election, the Sunrise Movement called more than 1.2 million people, sent one million texts and registered more than 3,000 young voters, the group tweeted.
Young Georgia voters were an important part of the coalition that helped Biden win Georgia in November and helped Ossoff and Warnock win in Tuesday's runoff, along with voters who were Black, suburban, women, low-income and new arrivals to the state, The Guardian reported.
"I think it's the most important vote in our generation for young people," Sunrise Movement Electoral Politics Director Shante Wolfe told CNN.- The Biggest Environmental Wins and Losses of the 2020 Election ... ›
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Wisdom the mōlī, or Laysan albatross, is the oldest wild bird known to science at the age of at least 70. She is also, as of February 1, a new mother.
<div id="dadb2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="aa2ad8cb566c9b4b6d2df2693669f6f9"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1357796504740761602" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🚨Cute baby alert! Wisdom's chick has hatched!!! 🐣😍 Wisdom, a mōlī (Laysan albatross) and world’s oldest known, ban… https://t.co/Nco050ztBA</div> — USFWS Pacific Region (@USFWS Pacific Region)<a href="https://twitter.com/USFWSPacific/statuses/1357796504740761602">1612558888.0</a></blockquote></div>
The Science Behind Frozen Wind Turbines – and How to Keep Them Spinning Through the Winter
By Hui Hu
Winter is supposed to be the best season for wind power – the winds are stronger, and since air density increases as the temperature drops, more force is pushing on the blades. But winter also comes with a problem: freezing weather.
Comparing rime ice and glaze ice shows how each changes the texture of the blade. Gao, Liu and Hu, 2021, CC BY-ND
Ice buildup changes air flow around the turbine blade, which can slow it down. The top photos show ice forming after 10 minutes at different temperatures in the Wind Research Tunnel. The lower measurements show airflow separation as ice accumulates. Icing Research Tunnel of Iowa State University, CC BY-ND
How ice builds up on the tips of turbine blades. Gao, Liu and Hu, 2021, CC BY-ND
While traditional investment in the ocean technology sector has been tentative, growth in Israeli maritime innovations has been exponential in the last few years, and environmental concern has come to the forefront.
theDOCK aims to innovate the Israeli maritime sector. Pexels
<p>The UN hopes that new investments in ocean science and technology will help turn the tide for the oceans. As such, this year kicked off the <a href="https://www.oceandecade.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030)</a> to galvanize massive support for the blue economy.</p><p>According to the World Bank, the blue economy is the "sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystem," <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019338255#b0245" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Science Direct</a> reported. It represents this new sector for investments and innovations that work in tandem with the oceans rather than in exploitation of them.</p><p>As recently as Aug. 2020, <a href="https://www.reutersevents.com/sustainability/esg-investors-slow-make-waves-25tn-ocean-economy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reuters</a> noted that ESG Investors, those looking to invest in opportunities that have a positive impact in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, have been interested in "blue finance" but slow to invest.</p><p>"It is a hugely under-invested economic opportunity that is crucial to the way we have to address living on one planet," Simon Dent, director of blue investments at Mirova Natural Capital, told Reuters.</p><p>Even with slow investment, the blue economy is still expected to expand at twice the rate of the mainstream economy by 2030, Reuters reported. It already contributes $2.5tn a year in economic output, the report noted.</p><p>Current, upward <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/-innovation-blue-economy-2646147405.html" target="_self">shifts in blue economy investments are being driven by innovation</a>, a trend the UN hopes will continue globally for the benefit of all oceans and people.</p><p>In Israel, this push has successfully translated into investment in and innovation of global ports, shipping, logistics and offshore sectors. The "Startup Nation," as Israel is often called, has seen its maritime tech ecosystem grow "significantly" in recent years and expects that growth to "accelerate dramatically," <a href="https://itrade.gov.il/belgium-english/how-israel-is-becoming-a-port-of-call-for-maritime-innovation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">iTrade</a> reported.</p><p>Driving this wave of momentum has been rising Israeli venture capital hub <a href="https://www.thedockinnovation.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">theDOCK</a>. Founded by Israeli Navy veterans in 2017, theDOCK works with early-stage companies in the maritime space to bring their solutions to market. The hub's pioneering efforts ignited Israel's maritime technology sector, and now, with their new fund, theDOCK is motivating these high-tech solutions to also address ESG criteria.</p><p>"While ESG has always been on theDOCK's agenda, this theme has become even more of a priority," Nir Gartzman, theDOCK's managing partner, told EcoWatch. "80 percent of the startups in our portfolio (for theDOCK's Navigator II fund) will have a primary or secondary contribution to environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria."</p><p>In a company presentation, theDOCK called contribution to the ESG agenda a "hot discussion topic" for traditional players in the space and their boards, many of whom are looking to adopt new technologies with a positive impact on the planet. The focus is on reducing carbon emissions and protecting the environment, the presentation outlines. As such, theDOCK also explicitly screens candidate investments by ESG criteria as well.</p><p>Within the maritime space, environmental innovations could include measures like increased fuel and energy efficiency, better monitoring of potential pollution sources, improved waste and air emissions management and processing of marine debris/trash into reusable materials, theDOCK's presentation noted.</p>theDOCK team includes (left to right) Michal Hendel-Sufa, Head of Alliances, Noa Schuman, CMO, Nir Gartzman, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, and Hannan Carmeli, Co-Founder & Managing Partner. Dudu Koren
<p>theDOCK's own portfolio includes companies like Orca AI, which uses an intelligent collision avoidance system to reduce the probability of oil or fuel spills, AiDock, which eliminates the use of paper by automating the customs clearance process, and DockTech, which uses depth "crowdsourcing" data to map riverbeds in real-time and optimize cargo loading, thereby reducing trips and fuel usage while also avoiding groundings.</p><p>"Oceans are a big opportunity primarily because they are just that – big!" theDOCK's Chief Marketing Officer Noa Schuman summarized. "As such, the magnitude of their criticality to the global ecosystem, the magnitude of pollution risk and the steps needed to overcome those challenges – are all huge."</p><p>There is hope that this wave of interest and investment in environmentally-positive maritime technologies will accelerate the blue economy and ESG investing even further, in Israel and beyond.</p>- 14 Countries Commit to Ocean Sustainability Initiative - EcoWatch ›
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