Thinking Clearly About Politics, Physics, Age, Feinstein, and Biden

Realism may be the best defense against ageism

The over-90 division of the hundred-meter dash at the National Senior Games in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

I’ve just come back from a weeklong recruiting tour through the retirement communities of Connecticut, signing people up for the new state chapter of Third Act. Which means I am absolutely full of confidence about the ability of older Americans to make a massive progressive difference in the fight to save both our climate and our democracy in the years ahead. You can’t believe the collective intelligence, skill, good humor that’s out there. Older people bring time and a commitment to something larger than themselves—but they also bring skills acquired over a lifetime, and the kind of minds able to knit together information into a broad and coherent picture. Don’t believe me? Check out this from the Harvard Medical School:

Studies have shown that older people have better judgment, are better at making rational decisions, and are better able to screen out negativity than their juniors are. How is it possible for older people to function better even as their brains slow? "The brain begins to compensate by using more of itself," explains Dr. Bruce Yankner, professor of genetics and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Laboratories for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging at Harvard Medical School. He notes that MRIs taken of a teenager working through a problem show a lot of activity on one side of the prefrontal cortex, the region we use for conscious reasoning. In middle age, the other side of the brain begins to pitch in a little. In seniors, both sides of the brain share the task equally.

And older people know more stories about how change has happened in the past: understanding that the last time we faced an environmental crisis we marched in the first Earth Day and then passed the Clean Air Act may provide the motivation to be engaged this time around. For whatever reason, people have been signing up by the tens of thousands at Third Act. I think it’s going to be the most exciting political trend of the next few years.

And I also think it’s incumbent on those of us of a certain age to be as realistic as is humanly possible—in fact, I think our capacity for that realism is a distinguishing mark. When you’re sitting closer to the exit than the entrance, you tend to develop a certain straightforward clarity, which includes a sense of both one’s abilities and one’s limits.

At the moment, that realism should mean joining in the growing call for Senator Dianne Feinstein of California to retire from her seat, letting the state’s governor appoint someone who can serve more vigorously. Feinstein has been away from the Capitol for months now, missing at least 60 votes. It’s starting to have a huge real world impact: she’s on the Judiciary Committee, meaning that the work of approving new federal judges has ground to a halt. Last week she missed a vote on a bill that would override new truck emissions regulations—and with Senator Joe Manchin (D-Fossil Fuel Industry) voting with the GOP it passed. Which is bad news, since the Biden

rule would have greatly eased pollution from heavy-duty trucks, especially nitrous oxides, which contribute to acid rain. It also would have reduced carbon emissions, necessary to avoid the worst effects of global warming. As well, asthma from air pollution caused by cars and trucks is a serious public health problem, especially in poor and working-class communities, which are much more likely to be exposed to heavy traffic. Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency estimated that the rule would have, by 2045, saved 2,900 people from early death and prevented eighteen thousand children from developing asthma.

It won’t be a disaster—Biden can still veto the Senate resolution. But it’s a reminder that thanks to Manchin and Krysten Sinema (I-Who Knows?) there isn’t a vote to spare in the Congress.

Feinstein has been suffering from shingles, which—first-person testimony here—is a terrible thing. (I got the second phase of my shingles vaccine this morning, and it is well worth the “mild flulike symptoms” I’m currently experiencing). But if that were all, one would wait for her return, as we waited for John Fetterman (D-Hoodie) to get back from apparently successful treatment for depression. In Feinstein’s case, it isn’t: it’s been pretty clear to outside observers for a while that she’s not very close to the top of her game. In 2019 a group of young people visited her office to ask—politely—that she back climate change legislation. As CNN described the painful video of the visit,

In the video, Feinstein asks a girl how old she is as the girl says politicians should listen to the people they represent. The girl replies that she is 16.

“Well, you didn’t vote for me,” the senator says.

This is not the way people, much less politicians, should be reacting to young kids trying to engage with the political process. It felt—brittle. A year later, following the unedifying confirmation hearings for Supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, Feinstein not only praised the choleric Lindsay Graham (R-Shamelessness) for his conduct of the hearings but gave him a big hug. Earlier this year her office announced that she would retire at the end of this term, in 2024; the next day, asked by reporters if she had any further thoughts to share with her colleagues and constituents about her retirement, she said

“Well, I haven’t made that decision. I haven’t released anything,” she said. 

“Senator, we put out your statement,” a staff member for Feinstein quickly cut in. 

“You put out the statement?” Feinstein responded. “I should have known they put it out.” 

Both the climate crisis and the impending debt default crisis enforce a certain brutal realism on us all, one that should override sentiment. All of us have a role to play in the world as citizens, and Feinstein has played hers well. But that role can change. She may still have lots to give as a citizen activist; we’d love for her to join us at Third Act. But her time as a Senator should come to an end.

I reached out to my Third Act colleague Rebecca Solnit, aka the best essayist currently at work in our language, who is like Feinstein a San Franciscan of long-standing, and who recounted some of her real triumphs—the Desert Protection Act, for instance. But, “she’s no longer actively participating as the senator representing almost forty million Californians, and reportedly no longer fully capable of doing so. We can be grateful for her many accomplishments, wish her well, and still think it’s time for her to go.”

It’s much harder with people of a certain age who are still going strong. Joe Biden has been a successful president—maybe a surprisingly successful president. He’s shown some of the best facets of age: he doesn’t rattle easily, and long experience has prepared him for challenges like the Ukraine conflict that draw on history of the last century. For me, his presidency doesn’t feel like an extension of the Biden or Obama administrations; with the passage of the various infrastructure and energy bills it feels like an effort to go back to the days of LBJ (who would have been the first president he voted for) when we still tried to use the federal government to solve big intractable problems. I understand his desire to take down Trump once more, and in the process draw much of the poison out of our politics

And at the same time I understand why many wish he’d take a pass on re-election. Actuarial tables are not as irrefutable as the carbon curve—there’s a chance that Biden finishes a second term just fine. But we all know—especially those of us who’ve reached a certain age—that aging is a real thing. And so it would have been a powerful moment if he’d come back from his Ireland trip last month and said: “JFK told us to pass the torch to a new generation, and that’s what I’m doing.” He didn’t, and so people of good conscience will of course back him and back him hard, and hope.

Ageism is very real. (I highly recommend reading Ashton Applewhite’s good work). Physics is very real; it doesn’t bargain or meet us halfway or make any compromises or concessions to our collective or individual frailty. Honesty is the best way to deal with both. We can’t pretend that opening new oil fields is okay, and we can’t pretend that it’s okay to keep hanging on when we can’t do our jobs as well as they can be done. And we don’t need to: letting younger people take on those jobs at the right moment is joyful, and so is the work we get to keep doing in their support. We need to develop ways to celebrate these passages, and with the celebration make them more regular and less fraught.

In other climate and energy news:

+Some good numbers: clean power growth is now so robust around the world that it looks as if 2022 may have been the highwater mark for burning stuff to produce electricity.

Wind and solar power reached a record 12% of global electricity generation last year, according to Ember’s global electricity review 2023. This drove up the overall share of low-carbon electricity to almost 40% of total generation.

With even faster growth set to continue this year, Ember says 2022 is likely to mark a “turning point” when global fossil fuel electricity generation peaked and began to fall.

The thinktank forecasts that, by the end of 2023, more than 100% of the  growth in electricity demand will be covered by low-carbon sources. 

+Take a look at this new ad from Gen Z for Change, going after the President for approving the Willow Project.

It’s hard-hitting, and the political data behind it is pretty stark.

The ad highlights the challenges President Biden may face with young voters if his administration continues to approve major fossil fuel projects. Recent polling from Data for Progress and Fossil Free Media showed that since October there has been a 13-point drop in approval for Biden’s handling of climate and the environment among voters aged 18 to 29. When told about Biden’s approval of the Willow Project, overall Democratic approval of his climate and environmental record drops 33 points. 

Gen Z for Change helped lead the viral online push against the Willow Project, which generated over 600 million views on TikTok and other platforms, driving more than 5 million petition signatures and public comments against the project. This month, a follow up push drove 70,804 emails and 7,268 calls to Congress urging members to sign onto a letter to the Department of Interior opposing the project: 33 members signed on.

Meanwhile, Climate Defiance protests outside the annual White House correspondents association dinner got a big boost when Justin Jones and Justin Pearson—two of the Tennessee Three, and both briefly expelled from the state legislature—stopped by on their way in to the festivities.

+Pennsylvania’s Whole Home Repair program is up and running, and supporters are pushing hard to make the funding permanent. Aimed at low and moderate income households,

The Whole-Home Repairs Act was passed in July 2022 with an initial appropriation of $125 million to be used by homeowners and renters to modernize and repair their homes and reduce safety and health risks. Supporters are now calling on state lawmakers to allocate $300 million for the program this year and to fund it permanently.

The program establishes a one-stop shop in each county for home repairs and weatherization, Saval said, while also building the state’s workforce and adding family-sustaining jobs in construction fields.

Meanwhile, a remarkable little report on a project for rural mobility across the border in Quebec, where for $4.75 you can get transit to anywhere within the region

With the new system, passengers use the mobile app to book their rides at least two hours ahead. The app suggests the nearest pick-up and drop-off locations and combines trips with similar itineraries.

After surveys showed 89% user satisfaction with the pilot, the Transcollines Board voted April 18 to make the temporary offering permanent. The system is expected to shift over to electric vehicles in the near future, and Transcollines also plans to shift some of its bus fleet to on-demand rides in the course of this year.

+It’s not just Tucker. The Murdoch media empire took another hit in Australia last month as regulators ruled it had been misleading viewers about climate change, and the tireless Blair Palese has a fine account

All this matters in the global climate fight. No media empire has done more to cast doubt on the science, question the intentions of those pushing for a transition from fossil fuels and personally attacked the reputations of climate campaigners than the global media outlets owned by Murdoch.

+Warmer air holds more water vapor, which means—when it’s cold enough—more snowfall. Then that snow melts… Right now the floods are in California’s valleys, and along the Mississippi

+In Vermont in the spring we have a statewide effort—Green Up Day—where people by the thousands pick up trash along the roadside. It’s fun, and it turns out that there are lots of people around the world who think so too. Check out the Clean Something for Nothing app, uniting litter-pickers around the globe.

+Highly useful new climate science newsletter from Zeke Hausfather and Andrew Dessler—if you’re interested in, say, how much extra warming we’re likely to see as shipping companies phase out dirty bunker fuel, they’ve got you covered!

In addition to El Nino, there has been a lot of recent attention around the effects of phasing in low-sulfur fuel for maritime shipping. Human SO2 emissions have a strong global and regional cooling effect, and probably dampen the amount of global warming the world has experienced by around 0.5C compared to what we’d expect from greenhouse gas emissions alone. While scientists are still figuring out the magnitude of the effect of the low-sulfur fuel transition on global surface temperatures, lets make a rough estimate that it reduces global SO2 emissions by approximately 10%, resulting in a warming effect of +0.05C.

+Scientists have now definitively linked increased drought severity in the Horn of Africa to human-caused climate change. Examining five straight failed rainy seasons, the study finds:

that in today’s climate, which has been warmed about 1.2°C by human-induced greenhouse gas emissions,  the below-average rainfall in the March-May season is a 1 in 10 year event, a 1 in 5 year event in the short rains. For the entire 24-month period there is a 5% chance in every year for such an event to develop.

+Activists are urging that officials stop using the term ‘natural gas,’ since it…destroys nature.

The phrase “natural gas” was adopted in the 1820s to distinguish the product from manufactured gas produced by burning coal and oil. It is a naturally occurring substance, often formed underground from decomposed plants, animals and other organic material. 

But environmentalists asking the FTC to discourage use of the term argue “natural” is now used strategically to obscure the climate consequences of gas while promoting it as a healthy option, often alongside images of green leaves and blue drops. 

“The idea that this is just naturally occurring doesn’t really relate to the reality of how it’s marketed or how people perceive it,” said Duncan Meisel, executive director of Clean Creatives, a campaign prodding the advertising industry to cut ties with fossil fuel clients. Instead, he said, “The word ‘natural’ plays a very vital role in the perception of the product.” 

Meanwhile, a timely reminder that “certified” natural gas isn’t likely to be much cleaner.

+Say what you will about religious hierarchies, Catholic nuns are at the forefront of climate action. These are truly inspiring stories.

+El Paso voters will decide May 6 on amendment K to the city charter, which would, among other things, dramatically increase solar usage in the Sun City. The local Sunrise chapter and Ground Game Texas are partnering to drive the vote; leaders Crystal Moran and Mike Siegel describe the campaign in an enlightening interview.

El Pasoans want the “Sun City” to generate energy using solar energy. We are the tenth sunniest city in the world, yet our electric utility utilizes less than 5% of solar energy.

Our water resources are sacred and scarce, and we need to protect them and especially prevent our water from being sold to fossil fuel activities outside of our city. Fracking in the Permian Basin is projected to double by 2030 and uses up to 16 million gallons of water to frack one well. We need and want our water for our community plain and simple. El Pasoans also want to see climate jobs being created and align with creating prosperity in El Paso.

+The NYTimes reports on a new study of the places on earth most at risk of lots of people dying in extreme heatwaves, mostly because they’ve rarely experience such heat.

They found that regions covering 31 percent of Earth’s land surface experienced heat so extraordinary that, statistically, it shouldn’t have happened. These places, the study argues, are now prepared to some degree for future severe hot spells.

But there are still many areas that, simply by chance, haven’t yet experienced such extreme heat. So they might not be as prepared.

According to the study, these include economically developed places like Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, plus the region of China around Beijing. But they also include developing countries like Afghanistan, Guatemala, Honduras and Papua New Guinea, that are more likely to lack resources to keep people safe.

Other areas at particular risk include far eastern Russia, northwestern Argentina and part of northeastern Australia.

+Want a pick-me-up? Here’s some of the music we’ve been using at our Third Act meetings recently.