Five Climate Myths Pushed by the Beef Industry, Biden Proposes New Energy Efficiency Codes, The Climate Daily Crowdfunded Reforestation Campaign!

FIVE CLIMATE MYTHS PUSHED BY THE BEEF INDUSTRY     

The Guardian newspaper of the UK is a great resource for high quality news, and a bit of irreverence, too. In researching the EPA proposal story, we at The Climate Daily came across a great piece called, “Hot Air: Five Climate Myths Published by the US Beef Industry. Now I’m only going to list the five here. To get the full flavor of the five myths, I strongly encourage you to visit theguardian.com and search for “five beef industry myths busted,” by Joe Fassler. Or click on the link in the deeper dive section of this story at theclimate.org/episodes. So, here are the myths, in reverse order, starting with everybody’s favorite myth:

Myth 5: future tech will save us

Myth 4: cattle are raised on lands where nothing else can grow anyway

Myth 3: eating beef isn’t a problem in the US

 Myth 2: methane is different – and it isn’t the problem

 Myth 1: fossil fuels are the only real problem to fix

Why does knowing which top five myths the US beef industry is pushing out there matter to us? First off, it’s proof every large multinational industry has a stake (see what I did there?) in the climate misinformation game. Second it reminds us of the importance of researching facts for ourselves. And third, it’s fun and educational to read a great article—based in science—by The Guardian’s Joe Fassler.

DEEPER DIVE: The Guardian, Expose

PRESIDENT BIDEN PROPOSES NEW ENERGY EFFICIENCY CODES FOR NEW US HOME CONSTRUCTION

The Biden administration plans to require new homes to be constructed to the nation’s greenest, most energy-efficient building codes to qualify for the federal loans that finance more than one-sixth of new houses sold in the United States. The rule proposed Thursday would affect at least 168,000 new homes per year, 151,000 of which would be new single-family or low-rise multifamily units. Today, those units must be built to 2009 energy codes to be eligible for loans from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Federal Housing Administration or from the Department of Agriculture. The proposal would set the most recently written code, which came out in 2021, as the new baseline. 

The U.S. has no nationwide building code. The model codes used in all 50 states are written and updated every three years by the International Code Council, a private consortium of local governments and industry groups. Lowell Ungar, the federal policy director at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, or ACEEE, an advocacy group said, “This step is way overdue, and now we want to see them act with urgency to finalize it. The longer it takes, the more homes are built that will need to be retrofitted later at higher cost.”

Federal researchers estimate that the 2021 energy codes would save 35% more energy than the currently required 2009 standard and nearly 9% more than the last version of the codes released in 2018. Why does this new proposal matter to us? Adopting the 2021 code will save homeowners and renters between $972 million and $1.5 billion over time, and save ratepayers approximately $74 million per year, according to HUD’s calculations.

DEEPER DIVE: Huffpost, WhiteHouse.gov

THE CLIMATE DAILY 50/100, CROWDFUNDING, REFORESTATION CAMPAIGN CONTINUES!

We’re making progress with our Climate Champions 50/100 reforestation campaign, so we’re keeping it going!

(Yeessss…)

Thank you to the listeners of The Climate Daily who donated to The Climate Champions 50/100 campaign! There’s still work to do to get us to 10,000 trees. That’s why we’re extending the campaign through May to give more of you the chance to become climate champions. What’s a climate champion, you ask? A climate champion proves that a small group of people can make a massive impact on the planet in a short amount of time.  

How? Our company, The Climate, is partnering with over 30 international tree-planting organizations–ALONG WITH our climate champions– to re-plant, and regrow forests all over the world, by planting ten thousand trees at a time. Why? Because science says the best way to combat climate change is to restore nature. And the fastest way to restore nature is to plant and grow a trillion trees by 2030, and the fastest way to do that is to plant ten thousand trees at a time. So, we’re looking for folks to donate $50 or $100 one time, to help us plant 10,000 trees at a time, in one of seven regions around the planet.

(Which our tree planting partners will do. They’re the tree-planting professionals.) 

Please visit www.TheClimate.org, and at the top of the page, click on the words, “Climate Champions.” Then click on the donate button and join our team of climate champions today. Again, visit TheClimate.org, and at the top of the page, click on the words, “Climate Champions.” Click on the donate button and join our team of climate champions today. And if you want to start your own team of climate champions, reach out to us at info@34.203.12.8. We’ll help you put together your own small group of climate champions to make a massive impact on the planet in a short amount of time. 

(Planting 10 thousand trees–a 20-acre forest!) 

Wouldn’t it be great to be the change you want to see in the world? Become part of something special. Become a climate champion.  Thank you!!

DEEPER DIVE: 50/100 Campaign, Trillion Tree Project