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Welcome to the 13th 2022 edition of The Nett Report. Our goal is to provide clients and friends with new perspectives and insights in hopes of stimulating creative thinking throughout the year. Feel free to share with friends! Links to all three years of The Nett Report can be found here.

 


 
 

The Political Divide

Party switchers trending strongly Republican

In a June 27, 2022, story, CBS News reported that people who are switching parties tend to be moving into the ranks of Republicans, particularly in the suburbs. “More than 1 million voters across 43 states have switched to the Republican Party over the last year, according to voter registration data analyzed by The Associated Press.” Some say it is more of a rejection of the left rather than an embracing of the right. Issues cited include “mandatory COVID-19 vaccines, the party's inability to quell violent crime, and its frequent focus on racial justice.”

 
 

 
 

Climate Change

Colorado River woes nearing a decision point

According to a June 23, 2022, story in Marketplace, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) “has told the seven states that rely on the Colorado River that they have 60 days to make emergency cuts to their water use or the agency will “step in and impose cuts.” Fifteen-million-acre feet are allocated from the Colorado each year and USBR wants as much as a quarter of that allocation to be cut.

According to Fox7 Austin in a June 21, 2022, story, the latest projections show Lake Mead will drop to 1014.86 feet above sea level by September 2023. If it drops below 895 feet, no water would be able to be sent downriver to California, Arizona, and Mexico.

According to a June 17, 2022, story on KUNC, Bureau of Reclamation commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton appeared before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on June 14. She told the committee that "between 2 and 4 million acre-feet of additional conservation is needed just to protect critical levels in 2023.”


John Oliver’s take on water shortages in the West

On the June 26, 2022, episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, he provided a hilarious but pretty accurate look at the very serious subject of the 22-year western drought.


Lightyear - not Buzz - producing the first solar-powered car

Lightyear, a Dutch company, will be producing the first production-ready solar car as early as November, according to a story in the Guardian on June 25, 2022. Costing €250,000 ($260.000), the Lightyear is a sedan “draped in 5 square meters of curved solar panels that top up the electric battery while the car is driving or parked outdoors.” According to the company, "in optimal conditions, the solar panels can add up to 44 miles a day to the 388-mile range the car gets between charges."


Maldives floating city to overcome sea level rise

If you live in the Maldives island chain, the threat of sea-level rise is now. According to National Geographic, “most of the islands—including the capital Malé—stand about 3.5 feet above sea level; climate scientists forecast they will be inundated by the century's end.” To prepare, the country is building a floating city to house 20,000 residents designed in the shape of a brain coral. It will have 5,000 units, walkways, and canals within a 200-hectare lagoon. A ring of islands will protect the project from waves, according to a story by Yanko Design on June 24, 2020

 
 
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Future of Work / The Economy

Remember when Elon Musk ordered all Tesla workers to get back to the office? They tried! But it turns out there aren’t enough desks or parking spaces, so managers told some employees to go back to working from home some days.” Fortune, June 28, 2022


Making sense of the political theater over gas prices

A June 27, 2022, story in Vox attempts to dispel six myths about gas prices.

  1. Federal and state gas tax holidays are the answer. Even when there’s a short-term gain for consumers, it won’t make a difference in the longer term. And when a gas tax holiday fails, it’s the wrong people who stand to benefit with higher profit margins.
  2. Oil companies are price-gouging American consumers. There is a disconnect between the price of crude oil and the price of gasoline at the pump, but not because of price gouging. During the pandemic, the U.S. lost 1 million barrels a day worth of refining capacity. A similar trend happened globally. There’s less refining capacity than before the crisis, but demand is back up to where it was before.
  3. Biden killed oil production. Biden has done nothing to halt oil leasing. In fact, the Biden administration has outpaced Trump in issuing drilling permits on public lands and water in its first year, according to federal data analyzed by the Center for Biological Diversity.
  4. The oil and gas industry can quickly ramp up production to make a dent in prices. Oil companies have made it clear in earnings calls with shareholders that they don’t plan to produce much more. Now that companies are making handsome profits, they’re using that extra cash to reward investors and pay down debts, not invest in new production.
  5. LNG exports will fix Europe’s problems and help U.S. gas prices. The reason we’re experiencing higher natural gas prices right now is we’re exporting more. It’s not that we’re consuming more. It’s not that we’re producing less. It’s that we’re exporting.
  6. The economy is doomed because of high gas prices. Energy Information Administration data on the percentage households are spending on gas put that ratio at around 3 percent, not much higher than where it was pre-pandemic. Climate policies can pull double duty to both tackle fossil fuel pollution and help people become more self-sufficient from oil during its booms and busts.

Russia could cut off Europe from gas this winter

The International Energy Agency says “Europe should be ready in case Russian gas is completely cut off during the coming winter and warned that such a development could force gas rationing,” according to a story in Fortune on June 2, 2022. “Owing to the Russian threat, Europe is scrambling both to diversify its gas sourcing and to keep other energy options alive, even if they were being phased out for good reason. For Germany, Italy, Austria, and the Netherlands, that means hanging on to coal-fired power for longer.”

 
 

 
 

Covid-19

Israeli study found fourth dose of Pfizer was effective

A June 26, 2022, story in The Jerusalem Post reported on a study of 24,088 elderly people living in long-term care geriatric facilities who were recipients of the fourth dose of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine. They found that the vaccine saved many lives and reduced the need for hospitalization. These were compared with a group of 19,687 recipients who only received the third dose.


Long Covid is affecting 20% of those infected, reasons still unclear

A June 16, 2022, story in Science reports on the dilemma of Long Covid. “In May, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that a review of the medical records of nearly 2 million people suggested at least one in five of those diagnosed with COVID-19 had developed conditions characteristic of Long Covid. Other studies have found roughly similar rates. Some recent research suggests the risk for vaccinated people is somewhat lower, but vaccination’s power to head off the syndrome remains uncertain.” Researchers have at least three theories:

  • That the cells and tissues that control blood flow are damaged,
  • That the coronavirus keeps hurting people by stubbornly enduring in the body, even after acute infection passes, or
  • That that immune cell galvanized to fight off infection did not recover.

Another story in Science, this one on June 23, 2022, reported that people were less than half as likely to develop Long Covid after being infected with Omicron than the earlier Delta variant.


Covid-19 increases the risk of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and stroke

NewAtlas on June 26, 2022, reported that research presented at the European Academy of Neurology Congress in Vienna found the risk of Alzheimer's, Parkinson’s, and stroke all increased in Covid positive subjects compared to those uninfected. The researchers studied health records from almost half of Denmark’s total population and found those who tested positive for COVID-19 were:

  • 3.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease,
  • 2.6 times more likely to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s,
  • 4.8 times more likely to experience bleeding in the brain, and
  • 2.7 times more likely to develop ischemic stroke.
 
 

 
 

The Nett Light-Side

Hummingbird pool party

Okay – it's July 4th weekend. Summer is here. And these 30 hummingbirds know it's time for a group pool party. Don’t miss this YouTube video!

 
 

 
 

Nettleton Strategies — Helping People to Think

Carl Nettleton is an award-winning writer, acclaimed speaker, facilitator, and subject-matter expert regarding water, climate, sustainability, the ocean, and binational U.S. Mexico border affairs. Founded in 2007, Nettleton Strategies is a trusted source of analysis and advice on issues at the forefront of public policy, business and the environment.

 
 

 
 
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Nettleton Strategies

P.O. Box 22971
San Diego, Ca 92192-2971
U.S.A.
+1 858-353-5489
info@nettstrategies.com
www.nettstrategies.com

 
 

 
 

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