Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Climate

AM Briefing: Bird Files for Bankruptcy

On the struggling e-scooter company, protecting old forests, and drinking wastewater

AM Briefing: Bird Files for Bankruptcy
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: Southern California is bracing for heavy rain • China's bitter cold is complicating earthquake rescue efforts • Iceland's capital of Reykjavik could be hit by pollution from a volcanic eruption.

THE TOP FIVE

1. E-scooter company Bird files for bankruptcy

E-scooter company Bird, which “put electric scooters onto the sidewalks of major cities,” is filing for bankruptcy in the U.S. Just five years ago the company reached “unicorn” status with a $1 billion valuation faster than any startup ever before. But “Bird grew too quickly — it launched in too many cities before it had a viable model,” one former employee told the Financial Times. “It was losing money on every ride, so the more cities and more rides it was doing the more money it lost.” The company went public in 2021 but its stock plummeted quickly and never really recovered. Other micromobility startups are facing similar financial challenges, and some cities are cracking down on e-scooters.

Bird

2. Biden moves to protect ‘old growth’ forests

President Biden issued a proposal yesterday to protect some of the oldest trees in America’s national forests from commercial logging. The move has climate ramifications because older trees are natural carbon sinks, so keeping them alive prevents that carbon from being released into the atmosphere and contributing to global warming. “Older forests provide the most above-ground carbon storage potential on Earth, with mature forests and larger trees driving most accumulation of forest carbon in the critical next few decades,” a group of scientists wrote in a letter to Biden last year. “Left vulnerable to logging, though, they cannot fulfill these vital functions.” The proposal doesn’t protect “mature” trees, which aren’t quite as ancient as “old growth” trees. This concession is “a middle ground between environmentalists and the timber industry,” says Lauren Aratani at The Guardian. The ban is set to come into place in 2025 and comes as part of an executive order, so whether it goes ahead could depend on the outcome of the 2024 election.

3. California will start turning wastewater into drinking water

California officials yesterday approved regulations allowing wastewater from toilets and showers to be recycled into drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people. “As we look to make our communities more resilient to drought, to climate change, this is really going to be an important part of that solution,” Heather Cooley, director of research at water think tank Pacific Institute, tells the Los Angeles Times. Colorado has similar rules in place already, and Arizona and Florida could soon follow suit. The wastewater recycling process has undergone extensive review by scientists and engineers who insist it is clean and safe. The water is filtered, decontaminated, disinfected, and monitored, making it “purer than many drinking water sources we now rely on,” says E. Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the state’s water resources board.

Get Heatmap AM in your inbox every morning:

* indicates required
  • 4. British Museum gets £50 million in funding from BP

    The British Museum, one of the most popular museums in the world, came under fire this week for accepting £50 million (about $63 million) in new funding from oil giant BP. The deal will last for 10 years and the money is expected to help pay for museum upgrades and refurbishments. The sponsorship isn’t new: BP has partnered with the museum since 1996. But it comes at a time when cultural institutions in Britain and elsewhere are under pressure from climate activists to cut ties with fossil fuel companies. One activist group has threatened legal action in response to the move, and Greenpeace called it “brazen greenwashing.” But, as the Times of London points out, most of Britain’s museums charge nothing for entrance and rely heavily on philanthropy and sponsorship. “Money needs to come from somewhere,” the paper says.

    5. VW will use Tesla’s EV charging plug

    Tesla’s EV plug, the North American Charging Standard (NACS), is one step closer to dominating the industry entirely with the announcement that Volkswagen Group has committed to using the connector starting in 2025. VW says customers will now have access to 15,000 Supercharger locations across North America. The last remaining NACS holdout is Stellantis, but it’s probably only a matter of time before the automaker “bends the knee.

    THE KICKER

    Five gray wolves were released in Colorado this week as part of a wild wolf restoration project.

    Yellow

    You’re out of free articles.

    Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
    To continue reading
    Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
    or
    Please enter an email address
    By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
    Politics

    AM Briefing: Climate Grants Terminated

    On Lee Zeldin’s announcement, coal’s decline, and Trump’s Tesla promo

    The EPA’s $20 Billion Climate Grants Have Been Terminated
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    Current conditions: Alaska just had its third-warmest winter on record • Spain’s four-year drought is nearing an end • Another atmospheric river is bearing down on the West Coast, triggering evacuation warnings around Los Angeles’ burn scars.

    THE TOP FIVE

    1. Zeldin terminates $20 billion in climate grants

    EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said yesterday he had terminated $20 billion in congressionally-approved climate change and clean energy grants “following a comprehensive review and consistent with multiple ongoing independent federal investigations into programmatic fraud, waste, abuse and conflicts of interest.”

    Keep reading...Show less
    Yellow
    Climate

    What the NOAA Layoffs Are Doing to Climate Science

    And how ordinary Americans will pay the price.

    A hand in the NOAA logo.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    No one seems to know exactly how many employees have been laid off from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — or, for that matter, what offices those employees worked at, what jobs they held, or what regions of the country will be impacted by their absence. We do know that it was a lot of people; about 10% of the roughly 13,000 people who worked at the agency have left since Donald Trump took office, either because they were among the 800 or so probationary employees to be fired late last month or because they resigned.

    “I don’t have the specifics as to which offices, or how many people from specific geographic areas, but I will reiterate that every one of the six [NOAA] line offices and 11 of the staff offices — think of the General Counsel’s Office or the Legislative Affairs Office — all 11 of those staff offices have suffered terminations,” Rick Spinrad, who served as the NOAA administrator under President Joe Biden, told reporters in a late February press call. (At least a few of the NOAA employees who were laid off have since been brought back.)

    Keep reading...Show less
    Blue
    Podcast

    How Trump Has All But Halted Offshore Wind

    Rob and Jesse talk with Heatmap senior reporter Jael Holzman.

    Offshore wind turbines.
    Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

    Donald Trump’s second term has now entered its second month. His administration is doing much to slow down renewables, and everything it can to slow down offshore wind. Jael Holzman is a senior reporter at Heatmap and the author of our newsletter, “The Fight,” about local battles over renewable permitting around the country.

    On this week’s episode of Shift Key, Rob and Jesse talk to Jael about the bleak outlook for offshore wind, the use of presidential authority to impede energy development, and why solar has been spared — so far. Shift Key is hosted by Jesse Jenkins, a professor of energy systems engineering at Princeton University, and Robinson Meyer, Heatmap’s executive editor.

    Keep reading...Show less
    Blue