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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Hours after Amtrak crash, Republicans vote to cut Amtrak’s budget; FBI violated its own rules to spy on Keystone XL pipeline protesters; Hawaii votes to be first in the nation to reach 100% renewable energy; PLUS: It’s our 600th episode! … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
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Green News Report
with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen
5/14/2015
‘Green News Report’ – May 14, 2015 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... | OUR 600th EPISODE!!! · · · · · ‘Green News Report’ – May 14, 2015 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... | OUR 600th EPISODE!!!
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): The arguments that convinced a libertarian to support aggressive action on climate; US taxpayers subsidizing world’s biggest fossil fuel companies; Vampire power costs Americans $19 billion in electricity every year; French nuclear model falters; Depleted uranium in Utah Desert? What could possibly go wrong? … PLUS: Could climate change help you go gluten free?… and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- It’s Our 600th ‘Green News Report’!
- Our very first episode: ‘Green News Report’ – February 17, 2009 (The BRAD BLOG)
- Check out ALL of our episodes at GreenNews.BradBlog.com (The BRAD BLOG)
- Hours after crash, GOP House votes to cut Amtrak’s budget:
- Amtrak ‘Positive Train Control’ Safety System Was Not Yet Installed at Crash Site (NBC Philadelphia) [emphasis added]:
National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt: “Based on what we know right now, we feel that had such a system been installed in this section of track, this accident would not have occurred.”
- House GOP approves cuts to Amtrak budget despite crash (AP):
Obama’s proposed boost is mostly dedicated to capital investment in track, tunnels and bridges and includes $400 million in grants for capital construction along Amtrak’s Northeast corridor.
- VIDEO: House panel votes to cut Amtrak budget hours after deadly crash (Politico) [emphasis added]:
“Starving rail of funding will not enable safer train travel,” Rep. Nita Lowey said.
- Amtrak crash throws spotlight on funding disputes; Republicans back cuts (Reuters):
Rail advocates say rising passenger numbers underline the need for greater federal and state funding to bring U.S. railways in line with Europe and Japan, while giving Amtrak more robust infrastructure and the muscle to compete with commercial airlines.
- The Amtrak Crash Hasn’t Stopped Republicans From Trying to Cut Its Funding (Mother Jones) [emphasis added]:
According to a Brookings Institution study, Amtrak use grew 55 percent nationwide from 1997 to 2012.
- Why Can’t America Have Great Trains? A Washington mystery. (National Journal)
- Why is funding Amtrak such a struggle? Because Republican districts don’t use it. (Washington Post)
- FBI violated its own rules to spy on Keystone XL pipeline protesters
- Revealed: FBI violated its own rules while spying on Keystone XL opponents (Guardian UK) [emphasis added]:
Internal agency documents show for the first time how FBI agents have been closely monitoring anti-Keystone activists, in violation of guidelines designed to prevent the agency from becoming unduly involved in sensitive political issues….One FBI memo, which set out the rationale for investigating campaigners in the Houston area, touted the economic advantages of the pipeline while labelling its opponents “environmental extremists”.
- VIDEO: As Internal Docs Show Major Overreach, Why Is FBI Spying on Opponents of Keystone XL Pipeline? (Democracy Now!):
We are joined by Adam Federman, contributing editor to Earth Island Journal and co-author of the new investigation published by The Guardian, “Revealed: FBI violated its own rules while spying on Keystone XL opponents.”…[T]he FBI has recently pursued environmental activists in Texas, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Washington and Idaho for “little more than taking photographs of oil and gas industry installations.”
- Hawaii votes to go 100% renewable energy by 2045:
- Hawaii Aims for 100 Percent Renewable Power by 2045 (Scientific American) [emphasis added]:
Hawaii has more than climate change in mind in completely converting to renewables. The state’s goal, according to the bill, is to stop importing fuel. The state imports about 93 percent of all its energy, making its residential electric power rates among the most expensive in the nation—about 175 percent of the U.S. average. Already, the state gets about 22 percent of its electricity from renewables, mostly from wind and solar.
- Hawaii Will Soon Get All Of Its Electricity From Renewable Sources (Climate Progress)
- VIDEO: A look into Hawaii’s changing energy landscape (KITV Honolulu)
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
- The arguments that convinced a libertarian to support aggressive action on climate (Vox.com)
- US taxpayers subsidising world’s biggest fossil fuel companies (Guardian UK):
Shell, ExxonMobil and Marathon Petroleum got subsidises granted by politicians who received significant campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry, Guardian investigation reveals.
- Could Climate Change Help you Go Gluten Free? (Climate Crocks):
“Wheat is one of the main staple crops in the world and provides 20% of daily protein and calories,” notes the Wheat Initiative, a project launched by G20 agricultural ministers. “With a world population of 9 billion in 2050, wheat demand is expected to increase by 60%. To meet the demand, annual wheat yield increases must grow from the current level of below 1% to at least 1.6%.”
- Vampire power costs Americans $19 billion in electricity every year (Treehugger):
The typical American home is full of vampires. Vampire electronics that is. These always-on devices suck up electricity even when we’re not using them and the more wired and connected we make our lives, the greater the amount of vampires we end up with.
- French Nuclear Model Falters (NY Times):
[I]n the last few years, the French dynamo has started to stall. New plants that were meant to showcase the industry’s most advanced technology are years behind schedule and billions of euros over budget. Worse, recently discovered problems at one site have raised new doubts about when, or even if, they will be completed.
- Plan Would Bury 75 Football Fields of Depleted Uranium in Utah Desert (Talking Points Memo) [emphasis added]:
In a barren landscape of scrub just off a major Utah highway, a 10-foot-deep pit the size of about 75 football fields could soon house a kind of nuclear waste that grows more radioactive for 2 million years.“It’s responsibly managing the material in a location where it will never be an issue for anyone again,” said Walker, the company spokesman. Modern record-keeping and plans for the federal government to take over the site after 100 years will ensure it is properly managed, Walker said.
- Global carbon dioxide levels break 400ppm milestone (Guardian UK):
But even if manmade emissions were dramatically cut much deeper than most countries are planning, the concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere would only stabilise, not fall, scientists said.
- Rate Of Climate Change To Soar By 2020s, With Arctic Warming 1°F Per Decade (Climate Progress):
New research from a major national lab projects that the rate of climate change, which has risen sharply in recent decades, will soar by the 2020s. This worrisome projection – which has implications for extreme weather, sea level rise, and permafrost melt – is consistent with several recent studies.
- Now’s Your Chance to Help Save the Imperiled Monarch Butterfly-and Get Paid to Do So (Take Part) [emphasis added]:
Another threat, according to Grant, has been well-intentioned individuals who have planted a tropical form of milkweed, which competes with native varieties and is not beneficial to monarchs or other pollinators.
FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page
But exactly how bad is still an open question, and a lot depends not only on how we react, but how quickly. The rate at which humans cut down on greenhouse gas emissions–if we do choose to cut them–will have a large bearing on how the world turns out by 2100, the forecasts reveal.
Restraining global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius will require changing how the world produces and uses energy to power its cities and factories, heats and cools buildings, as well as moves people and goods in airplanes, trains, cars, ships and trucks, according to the IPCC. Changes are required not just in technology, but also in people’s behavior.
March?
Oops! Error now fixed, TWL. I blame haste and auto-fill. But mostly auto-fill. Thanks for the alert!
Looking forward to the next 600 Brad and Desi!
Thanks, Dredd!