Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Sierra Club today announced that the U.S. Beyond Coal campaign has successfully retired 60% of domestic coal-fired power plants – 318 out of 530 plants, to date.
This milestone doubles the original goal, set in 2011, which pledged to retire 30 percent of the nation’s coal fleet by 2020 and accelerate the United States’ transition to a clean energy economy.
The campaign — in which Bloomberg Philanthropies has invested more than $174 million — is on track to retire all coal plants by 2030.
Shifting from coal to renewable energy has created new job opportunities, as well. The coal industry, which has been declining, now employs just 160,000 workers, less than a quarter of the number of Americans who work in the renewable energy industry.
“When we set out to help transition the United States to a 100% clean energy economy by ending our dependence on coal, there were many naysayers – and when Donald Trump became president, they said it was impossible," Mike Bloomberg said.
“This milestone shows us how far we’ve come – but also how much farther we could go with the federal government leading the charge, which is why this upcoming election is a pivotal moment in the fight against climate change.”
AddedMary Anne Hitt, the Sierra Club’s National Director of Campaigns, "This landmark closure — 60% of U.S. coal-fired power plants — is a resounding victory that would not have been possible without our broad coalition of activists, policymakers, and climate champions.”
Mike Bloomberg: 'Some Leaders Have Their Head in the Sand' on Climate Change.
America’s Pledge — an initiative to quantify the actions of U.S. cities, states, businesses, and local groups who are committed to helping America reach its Paris Agreement climate goals — issued its fourth report on Monday, announcing that if the U.S. federal government aggressively reengages in the climate fight by 2021, America would be able to reach net zero emissions by 2050. “In an ideal world, national governments would be leading the charge in this fight. But as we’ve seen here in the U.S. these past few years – some leaders have their head in the sand when it comes to climate change," Mike Bloomberg said Monday in kicking off the five-day Bloomberg Green Festival.
"The more we galvanize cities, states, and businesses to act on climate change, the more progress we can make." More Climate Headlines:
"If you give a climate arsonist four more years in the White House, why would anyone be surprised if we have more of America ablaze?" Biden said.
Referring to the Trump campaign's messaging about the safety of suburbs, Biden said, "You know what is actually threatening our suburbs? Wildfires are burning the suburbs in the West, floods are wiping out suburban neighborhoods in the Midwest."
"Once again, he fails the most basic duty to a nation. He fails to protect us from the pandemic, from an economic freefall, from racial unrest, from the ravages of climate change. It's clear that we're not safe in Donald Trump's America. This is Donald Trump's America. He's in charge," Biden said.
The Democratic party received some good news over the weekend when Mike Bloomberg vowed to spend $100 million in Florida to help Joe Biden win there.
Plus: Presidential historian Jon Meacham weighed in on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' on Mike Bloomberg's investment in the Florida race:
"Mike Bloomberg, he is a data-driven guy. Could there be any more opposite an example of a political sensibility in the age of Trump than someone who is data-driven?" Meacham said.
Michael Caputo told a Facebook audience without evidence on Sunday that left-wing hit squads were being trained for insurrection and accused C.D.C. scientists of “sedition.”
"If you look over the last several years, the NRA has fallen from maybe perhaps the most powerful political group in America to an organization that's on the brink of dissolution," said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, the non-profit founded and funded by Mike Bloomberg.
Analysis: Biden Spends Eight Times More Than Trump on Snapchat.
My favorite new read is now available to the public. More Data is the political newsletter from Hawkfish written by James Owens. It started as an internal report but they’re dropping the paywall in the run up to Election Day. Get it now.
From today's newsletter:
Most digital spending occurs on Facebook and Google, but campaigns are increasingly turning to Snapchat to reach voters.
This is especially true for efforts to reach the roughly 24 million Gen Z voters — about half of whom use the platform. As part of that effort, Biden has spent $748,000 on the platform this year — more than eight times Trump's $59,000. Biden's larger investment has in turn generated more than seven times the impressions — 131 million to Trump's 18 million.
Biden also does significantly more audience targeting than Trump. Leveraging Snap's demographic- and interest-based targeting features, Biden directs ads at multiple audience segments. This includes targeting groups such as "green living enthusiasts," CNN and MSNBC viewers, vegans, and blue collar workers — users the Biden campaign targets at the level of individual zip codes. Trump, on the other hand, does no interest-based targeting and serves most of his ads at the state level — targeting zips for only three ads. This leaves his audience segments far less developed than those from Team Biden.
Even as Biden and Trump increase their use of Snap, the candidate who’s advertised the most on Snapchat is still Mike Bloomberg. His campaign generated 121 million impressions behind more than $1 million in spending.
Mike's ad from Feb 8th seems especially relevant now:
Investor Cathie Wood's Disruptive Innovation, embracing artificial intelligence, DNA sequencing, robotics, energy storage and blockchain technology, already is proving transformational.
Apple’s event will be notable for what won’t be unveiled: new iPhones. The pandemic disrupted final testing of new 5G models earlier this year and delayed the company’s ability to kick off mass production. Apple now plans to announce its four new iPhones in October, marking the latest iPhone announcement since 2011. Some of the phones could even ship later than the iPhone X, which went on sale Nov. 3, 2017.
On Donald Trump telling journalist Bob Woodward that he downplayed the threat of the virus despite knowing it was far more dangerous:
"The problem with Trump’s admission to Bob Woodward is not that Trump wanted to keep people calm — it’s the downplaying the virus part. Crazy as it may seem, lots of people in America actually believe the things that President Trump says." -- Trevor Noah
"President Trump called in to Fox News host Sean Hannity’s show and said he won’t read Woodward’s new book because he doesn’t have time to read it. Said the man on the phone talking to the TV show he was watching."
-- Seth Meyers
“The choices aren’t lie or panic. There’s a third option where you tell people the truth and then do something about it which would reassure everyone. But no, we elected the guy who put a piece of duct tape over the check engine light."
-- Seth Meyers
"Seriously, these tapes are really bad. Trump’s re-election prospects are sinking faster than a boat at a MAGA rally." -- Jimmy Fallon
"I’d say at this point, Trump needs to give himself some hush money." -- Jimmy Fallon
