A groundbreaking global climate promise…with some strings attached

NOVEMBER 12, 2021

THE BIG STORY

Preventing catastrophic climate change or keep burning coal? You can't have both.

An aerial view at an opencast coal mine in Wales in November 2021 Matthew Horwood / Getty Images

Countries can either keep using coal at current levels or limit future global warming to the 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) target of the Paris climate agreement. It's impossible to do both.

This scientific reality has been an elephant in the room of high-level international climate negotiations for years — until this week. In a draft statement released Wednesday, diplomats at the 26th United Nations Conference on Climate Change confirmed in writing the need to accelerate phasing out coal to meet collective climate goals.

Though this may feel like an obvious statement, it signals a first-of-its-kind promise to phase out an energy source that's responsible for about 40% of carbon emissions tied to global fossil fuel use.

Still, this new declaration isn't final, has no timeline or other details, and comes along with some murky country-specific pledges. It's an incongruity that captures the central tension playing out at COP26: the glaring gaps between what countries must do to halt the worsening climate crisis, what countries say they will do in the future, and what they're actually doing now.

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

A man was arrested for threatening a Republican who voted for Democrats' infrastructure plan

A recent vote for President Biden's bipartisan's infrastructure bill has developed into a controversial, life-threatening exercise for Rep. Andrew Garbarino, a New York Republican who broke with his party to support the legislation.

The Congress member is one of 13 House Republicans whose office phone numbers were publicized by their Republican colleague, Marjorie Taylor Greene after they helped pass the $1.2 trillion bill. Since the vote, those members and their staff have faced an increasing amount of harassment, and on Thursday, a Long Island man was arrested for making death threats against Garbarino.

"It's amazing people want to kill me over paving roads and clean water," Garbarino told BuzzFeed News. "The misinformation out there about this bill is so bad that I'm getting death threats."

SNAPSHOTS

On Friday, a judge in Los Angeles will weigh in on whether Britney Spears' conservatorship should end. Fans have been rallying for this moment for years.

A 22-year-old woman is the ninth person to die from their injuries at Astroworld Festival. Astroworld was the first music festival Bharti Shahani and her sister had ever attended. "I constantly wish that maybe it was all just a dream, maybe it was just a big nightmare," her sister said.

The credibility of Meghan Markle has been called into question, as a court weighs whether a ruling in her favor against the Mail on Sunday for privacy and copyright violation should be overturned. New evidence pressured Meghan into formally apologizing for unintentionally misleading the court about her past coordination with the media.

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER ATTEMPT BY TRUMP TO HIDE JAN. 6 RECORDS FROM CONGRESS

A court temporarily paused Trump's records from going to the Jan. 6 committee

Former president Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds Scott Olson / Getty Images

Donald Trump will get a few extra weeks to try to convince the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to stop Congress from getting his White House documents.

A federal appeals court on Thursday agreed to temporarily stop the congressional committee investigating Jan. 6 from accessing the former president's records. This comes after Trump lost his first legal attempt to prevent the records from being released earlier this week.

Any delay is a win for Trump, but it's a win that could be short-lived. The latest order from a three-judge DC Circuit panel is not a final decision in Trump's favor. Instead, the court granted an "administrative" injunction that preserves the status quo while all sides have a chance to fully brief the case. The judges signaled that they intend to move fast, scheduling a hearing for Nov. 30.

WINGS ARE MADE TO FLY

How one of the greatest girl bands to ever do it is, well, still doing it

Courtesy of Little Mix / RCA

"Little Mix are so extra. We don't do anything half-arsed."

After becoming the first band to win The X Factor UK back in 2011, Little Mix has moved on to a type of world domination most artists only dream of. Their upcoming greatest hits album, Between Us, boasts four No. 1 hits, 10 top 5 singles, and 16 songs that landed in the top 10. Combined, the tracklist has been streamed more than 3.5 billion times on Spotify.

As band members Jade Thirlwall, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, and Perrie Edwards prepare to release Between Us, out Nov. 12, the trio opened up to BuzzFeed News about their decadelong relationship and career.

"When you're in this industry, every year you do a cycle, you get through it, blah, blah, blah," said Jade. "But when you actually have to sit down and look at all the tracks and listen to them all for the first time in a while, I was like, 'Oh, wow, we've really done it. We've really done the damn thing.'"

BOOKMARK THESE FOR A CHILL SUNDAY MORNING

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Eternals is a mess, but there are a few bright spots
While Eternals has been pretty much panned, I can't bring myself to condemn it, writes Michael Blackmon. It hits on important themes, including the climate crisis, mental health, and sexuality, in a way that feels novel for the Marvel cinematic universe. But in trying to cover so much ground, including introducing viewers to new lore, the project fumbles its point of view and overall message.

The Chris Pratt backlash was always coming
Just a few short years ago, Chris Pratt was arguably the number one Chris in this group. People loved him on Parks and Recreation, and when he made the jump into big blockbusters they really cheered him on. Now, he's reviled — and inexplicably cast as both Mario and Garfield. What happened?

Allow the compassionate part of you to take the wheel today,

Alexa

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