大象传媒

A million years ago, on a quiet street in Toronto. Or: Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021

Teddy (7): Why are you giggling?
Me: Because I鈥檓 really happy. Sometimes people giggle when they鈥檙e extremely happy.
Teddy: Weird.

Yes, my son called out my glee. I was full of mirth because it looked almost certain that Jon Ossoff would clinch the second Georgia Senate seat, thus further repudiating he who shall not be named, but much more importantly, giving the Dems greater latitude to save this pale blue dot. With our help, of course.

But then came the coup. 

I had the same bifurcated response as everyone else: Disbelief + Duh. My dad had predicted it months ago, to a chorus of son-in-law doubts on our family WhatsApp chat (I know, we鈥檙e going to switch to Signal). Yet still the tenuousness, the weakness of institutions, and the profoundness of the rot took my breath away. Democracy upended by a White supremacist in a Chewbacca bikini, as someone somewhere on the internet said. 

But I gave myself some grace, took some deep breaths, walked a borrowed corgi with my daughter (recommend!), and sat out this newsletter for a week (people had enough to read!). I鈥檓 happy to report that I鈥檓 ready to pop up my head like the climate whack-a-mole that I am.

Here goes. 

A year ago I heard Kara Swisher call someone a Fatuous Chucklehead and it became my favourite term of art for Trump鈥檚 enablers. Just saying it aloud was a micro stress reliever. Try it: Marco Rubio, You Fatuous Chucklehead! Ted Cruz, You Fatuous Chucklehead! But this week, fatuous chucklehead became too light, as I realized the FCs were, in actual fact, seditious f*ckheads (source: unknown). The line they danced back and forth over for four increasingly fraught years is dead clear now. They meant it (duh!). It really is seditious f*ckery.

I know what you鈥檙e thinking: How is she going to tie this back to climate? And a positive way forward?

Well, we鈥檙e in a race to save the planet. And seditious f**kery means everything is laid bare. SF is the nadir, the seventh rung, Stephen Miller鈥檚 bathroom. Last week Eric Holthaus , and is our biggest obstacle. And he鈥檚 right. 

In the coming years, we鈥檒l have to fend off militias, block further attempts at government overthrow, quash internet hate and radicalization, change the minds and hearts of millions upon millions of people, and eat our vegetables. But we also have tailwinds now鈥攖he strongest Democratic opportunity for meaningful climate action in years, the ever-decreasing costs of renewable energy, and the deepest conviction that a just and sustainable world is the only antidote to hate and violence. And while we always talk about the BAD kinds of tipping points (which are indeed very bad), , too. 

https://twitter.com/ayanaeliza/status/1347939148812922882?s=20

What we saw last Wednesday was  on full display, because Proud Boys and climate denial go together like peanut butter and jelly on white (supremacist) bread. Wait, can I take back that metaphor? It might ruin PB & J for me.

. (R-CA) on why he opposes impeachment of Trump: "You hate him for not attempting to shackle us to the religion of climate change."

It turns out the distance between climate denial and sedition is zero.

— Brad Johnson (@climatebrad)

And yet, while all this insurrectionist idiocy was happening, clean energy stocks ticked up. Even as a bunch of seditious f*ckheads cling to hate, the world pulls away. Investors, governments, reasonable humans, and pets can all see an imminent threat that is exponentially more existential than a racist in fun fur. And they鈥檙e shifting priorities accordingly. Already,  to a net-zero world.

Turns out that everyone who divested from fossil fuels for moral reasons, avoided serious financial losses too.

— Anthony Leiserowitz (@ecotone2)

But unstable democracy is the greatest threat to climate action. Which is why we are going to use our climate tailwinds to wash away these racist agitators, to Build! Back! Bettererer!

I didn鈥檛 know the phrase Good Trouble or . It was love at first read, and a love that grew deeper once I understood the phrase鈥檚 provenance. RIP John Lewis. So much has been written about the double standard between the way peaceful climate and BLM activists were treated compared to the way the supremacist terrorists were treated. Climate activism is about Good Trouble. Good Trouble, in the words of John Lewis, is about 鈥渢rying to make the world a better place.鈥�

So let鈥檚 make this the year we push further, harder, and stronger for that healthy world. Let鈥檚 be pragmatically optimistic and clearheadedly realistic and make all the Good Trouble.

I heard a great metaphor from the amazing . It jibes with how I feel about our chances for avoiding the worst of climate destruction. I鈥檓 a basketball band-wagoner who loves Fred VanVleet, so I may be irrationally susceptible to this series of words, but I鈥檒l leave you with them all the same: 

We鈥檙e fairly screwed. We have a real authentic shot. It鈥檚 not like a half-court shot. It’s like a three-pointer down鈥攊t鈥檚 a corner three, the shortest three pointer of all. It鈥檚 not a free throw. It鈥檚 not a layup, right? It鈥檚 a three-pointer. Like, you need skill. You need focus to hit it. Like鈥攂ut it鈥檚 not鈥攊t鈥檚 not gonna be luck. Like, it鈥檚 within our grasp to do it. And to me, that means we are not screwed. This is within our grasp, if we can get the right people to the right tables to have the right conversations, and get them to focus on the right thing. 

Hope you are safe, healthy, fired up, and ready to go,
Sarah

Good things to read:

 (BBC)

 (Marketplace)

 (Bloomberg) 

 (Reasons to be cheerful)

? (Our World in Data)

This week: 

What good trouble will you make this year? LMK

Last week:

Lots of great thoughts on . 

鈥� Writes Liz: 

I鈥檓 especially interested in your perspective on individual action to mitigate climate change and create system change. I鈥檝e written something very similar in the book Spend Green And Save The World鈥擳ackling Climate Change Through The Consumer-Led Movement, which has just been published. 

As the name suggests the book supports a movement that aims to bring our individual actions together to help make us successful at reducing our collective carbon footprint, creating system change, and improving our well-being (rather than decreasing it) in the process. Check out . 

鈥� I got so inspired by my friend Kristen鈥檚 wonderful, collaborative program for young climate activists, . Check it out and subscribe to her newsletter, too.

鈥� Thank you to the amazing  for sending so many new readers my way. If you don鈥檛 already subscribe to  鈥� what are you waiting for? Also, welcome Phoenicians! Please drop me a line to tell me who you are and what kind of ice cream you like.

People dancing:

John Lewis, son of Georgia, is no doubt dancing in the hereafter.

— NotATweeter16 (@NotATweeter16)

The end:

Thanks for much for reading. If you鈥檙e new here, I鈥檓 . I work on communicating climate policy and carbon pricing by day, and this newsletter and my dance moves by night. If you like MVP you can support it by telling all your friends and frogs about it. Hit the 馃挌 below to let me know when the newletter is on the right track. And make sure to drag this email into your primary folder so it doesn鈥檛 end up in landfill. Have a great weekend!

P.S. This is my newsletter for the week of Jan. 15, 2020, published in partnership with 大象传媒 Media. You can sign up to get Minimum Viable Planet newsletter emailed directly to you at .