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Welcome to the 15th 2021 edition of The Nett Report. We began publishing this report in 2020 to provide our clients and friends with new perspectives and insights in hopes of stimulating creative thinking. Please feel free to forward to a friend! Links to the 2020 reports can be found here and the 2021 reports here.

 
 

 
 

The weight of the world's challenges

The weight of the world’s challenges seemed to be bearing down on us recently. A Nett Report reader asked to meet for coffee to talk about climate change last week. “I don’t really see a pathway to solve the problem,” he said.

Previously, another reader had emailed asking if he should move from San Diego because of the pending water shortages in the west. He didn’t want to leave, but thought it might be wise.

Around the world, the impacts of climate change seemed everywhere with heat waves, flooding, and wildfires. Covid cases are rising globally, and the injection of massive amounts of dollars into the economy seems to have fueled inflation as evidenced by surging housing prices, higher gasoline costs, and even exorbitant rates for rental cars. And there seems to be no efficient pathway to solve our challenges because of the widening political divide.

Perhaps we would be better off if we all took heed of the words on the plaque Ronald Reagan kept on his desk: “There is no limit to what you can do or where you can go if you don’t mind who gets the credit.”  (paraphrased for gender neutrality)


Climate Change

“It’s late in the day, but it’s not dark yet.”
Jack Dangermond, Esri founder, at the 2021 Esri User Conference, regarding climate change.


Extreme weather unleashes natural disasters on multiple continents

On July 22, 2021, Science Alert reported that extreme weather has been sweeping the world as “natural disasters unleashed on multiple continents.” The article cited devastating flooding in China and Western Europe, and huge fires in Oregon, British Columbia and Siberia. An unrelenting heat wave has enveloped the western U.S.


Climate change might not affect you, but it affects them

The recent reports of the heat bubble over the western U.S., which is expected to return next week, did not affect us here in San Diego, where coastal temperatures have been in the 70s for weeks. This is a simple example of how where you live drives how climate change will affect you. An article in Phys.org on July 14, 2021, reports that “when we burn fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas locally, we mix them in the experimental chamber pot of our planet's atmosphere. The result is that their warming impacts are often exported to far away locations.” The story reports on a Monterey Bay Aquarium study which determined “the regions generating the most emissions are different from those expected to suffer the most severe warming.” The story provides a map of the disparities, showing which areas will be affected the most.


Is climate change to blame for recent weather disasters?

A story by Scott Denning, Professor of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University, clearly outlines how to understand what planetary changes can be attributed to climate change and why. Published in the online publication The Conversation, on July 23, 2021, Denning says there are two key factors to understand about climate change: “First, humans have pumped so much carbon dioxide and other planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that what’s “normal” has shifted.  Second, not every extreme weather event is connected to global warming.”


Study dispels myth that electric cars pollute as much as gas powered ones

A study reported by the electric car publication Elektrek on July 21, 2021, concluded that electric cars pollute less than gasoline cars.The study dispels the myth that had claimed the opposite was true because some electric cars are charged using energy created by fossil fuels. For example, the study showed life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions created by electric cars in the U.S. are 60 to 68% less than similar gas-powered vehicles.


G20 fossil fuel subsidies have topped $3 trillion since 2015

Despite global pledges to address the climate crisis, G20 countries have provided $3 trillion in subsidies to fossil fuel companies since the Paris accord in 2015, according to a July 20, 2021, story in the Guardian.  The Paris climate agreement was the milestone where climate pledges were made. “The report, by BloombergNEF and Bloomberg Philanthropies, focuses on three areas where immediate action is needed to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C: ending fossil fuel subsidies, putting a price on carbon emissions, and making companies disclose the risks posed by climate change to their businesses.”


Funding for clean energy globally falling short of needs

According to Fortune, in a July 20, 2021, story, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted that “global CO2 emissions are on track to reach fresh records by 2023—and to keep rising—as governments’ financial commitments to clean energy fall far short of what’s needed.”


China to launch the largest carbon emissions trading program

According to a story in the Wall Street Journal on July 14, 2021, China was scheduled to launch the world’s largest carbon emissions trading program last Friday, on July 16, 2021. According to the article, “the carbon market will help the country lower greenhouse-gas emissions and achieve its goal of reaching peak emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality, or net zero emissions, by 2060 … The program will initially involve 2,225 companies in the power sector. Those companies are responsible for a seventh of global carbon emissions from fossil-fuel combustion, according to calculations by the International Energy Agency.”


The Ministry for the Future - a novel providing hope

One of the Nett Report’s readers suggested reading The Ministry for the Future, a novel that Amazon describes as “a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, post apocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us—and in which we might just overcome the extraordinary challenges we face.” I came away hopeful and even more aware of what we might have to do to address the challenges.


2017 award-winning, four-minute video provides perspective on human existence

A four-minute video titled “Three Seconds” provides perspective on human existence on the planet, and what we have done to it in our short time here. The video says that if the planet had been in existence for 24 hours, our tenure here would total three seconds. It’s eye-opening, short, and worth watching. The video won first prize in the Short Film category at the Film4Climate competition in 2017.

 
 
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The Future of Work / The Economy

OPEC and Russia to boost oil production

OPEC, Russia, and Russia’s allies have agreed to boost oil production by 400,000 barrels daily, according to a July 18, 2021, story in the Wall Street Journal. The move will “restore capacity they cut at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.” The story says “the move also demonstrates the world’s push-pull over its reliance on fossils fuels. Europe and the U.S. have pushed ambitious plans to wean themselves from carbon-emitting fuels like oil. But the world is still largely dependent on plentiful supplies of such fuels, including oil.” The irony is that we all get irritated when gasoline prices rise, even when we know that higher prices will reduce demand and reduce carbon emissions. Unfortunately, the reduction of demand often comes from those with the least resources who can’t afford the price increases.


60% of nonprofit jobs lost from Covid have returned

The Center for Civil Society Studies reported on July 13, 2021, that 60% of nonprofit jobs lost to Covid have been restored. At the beginning of the pandemic, the nonprofit sector accounted for at least 12.5 million total jobs. “During the first three months of the pandemic (i.e., March, April, and May 2020), nonprofits had lost a conservatively estimated 1.64 million of those jobs, reducing the nonprofit workforce by 13.2% as of May 2020.” Despite recovering 60% of the lost jobs, unfortunately, 40% still remain unrecovered. 


MIT 1972 study predicted societal collapse in this century; we’re still on track

A 1972 MIT study predicting that society would collapse in this century was analyzed by Gaya Herrington, a Sustainability and Dynamic System Analysis Lead at KPMG, to learn what four decades of data could tell us about the prediction. Her paper says we are right on schedule. As reported in Motherboard, on July 14, 2021, “the best available data suggests that what we decide over the next 10 years will determine the long-term fate of human civilization. Although the odds are on a knife-edge, Herrington pointed to a “rapid rise” in environmental, social and good governance priorities as a basis for optimism, signaling the change in thinking taking place in both governments and businesses. She told me (the reporter) that perhaps the most important implication of her research is that it’s not too late to create a truly sustainable civilization that works for all.”

 
 

 
 

Covid-19

Several studies point to erectile dysfunction from Covid

According to a story in the Washington Post’s July 23, 2021, Coronavirus Updates newsletter, several studies point to a possible link between erectile dysfunction resulting from Covid-19. An Italian study found that in a sample of 100 men, 25 had Covid and 75 did not. 28% of those with Covid had ED as compared with 9% of those who did not contract Covid. The sample size was too small to be conclusive but opens another area of research.


Why are vaccinated people still testing positive for Covid-19?

From the Olympics to cities around the world, people who have received a full dose of vaccines are still testing positive for Covid-19. Known as breakthrough cases, a July 22, 2021, article in Fortune explains the apparent dilemma.

 
 

 
 

The Political Divide

U.S.women's Olympic soccer team lost because they supported Black Lives Matter

The hate surrounding the political divide is reaching new levels of absurdity. One Facebook post this week intimated that the U.S. Olympic women’s soccer team had lost to Sweden because the U.S. players kneeled down in support of the Black Lives Matter movement before the game started. Really? That’s your definition of karma?


Understanding budget reconciliation and the filibuster

The battles over legislation brought on by the political divide have resulted in some arcane rules coming into the forefront of reporting. We thought it might be helpful to readers if two of those, budget reconciliation and the filibuster, were simply explained. The information below has been edited from Wikipedia.

  • Budget reconciliation is a special parliamentary procedure of the United States Congress created by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, first used in 1980, to expedite the passage of certain budgetary legislation in the United States Senate. The procedure overrides the filibuster rules in the Senate, which may otherwise require a 60-vote supermajority for the passage by the Senate. Bills described as reconciliation bills can pass the Senate by a simple majority of 51 votes or 50 votes plus the Vice President as the tie-breaker. Budget reconciliation bills can deal with spending, revenue, and the federal debt limit, and the Senate can pass one bill per year affecting each subject.
     
  • The Filibuster is a tactic employed by opponents of a proposed law to prevent the measure’s final passage. The Senate rules permit senators to speak for as long as they wish, and on any topic they choose, until “three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn” (currently 60 out of 100) vote to close debate by invoking cloture under Senate Rule XXII. The most common form of filibuster occurs when one or more senators attempt to delay or block a vote on a bill by extending debate on the measure. The use of filibusters has also been threatened to disrupt the functioning of the Senate and the Congress.
 
 

 
 

The Nett Light-Side

Winners of the Great Shark Race announced

To help raise awareness about shark biology, Nova Southeastern University and its Guy Harvey Research Institute created The Great Shark Race 2021. The race allowed viewers to track satellite-tagged sharks online. Three mako sharks and five whale sharks competed. As reported by Seven Seas Media, the winners were announced on July 14 at the end of Shark Week. The winning mako shark was Cuddles, who traveled 3,207 miles between January and July. AGT-Milo2 took whale shark honors, traveling 4,177 miles.


Time-lapse of a blue tit building a nest

Okay. We do like birds here at Nettleton Strategies. Don’t miss this eight-minute time-lapse video provided by the website Colossal on July 21, 2021, of a blue tit building her nest in a nesting box.  

 
 

 
 

Nettleton Strategies - Helping You Navigate the Big Reset

This is a challenging time for all of us, in a way we have never experienced before. If you would like help navigating your way forward, contact us to learn how we can help!


Carl Nettleton is an award-winning writeracclaimed speaker, facilitator, and a 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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