With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
By Desi Doyen on 8/11/2015, 11:28am PT  


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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Toxic mine spill contaminates waterways across three Southwest states; Only one mention of climate change in both Fox 'News' debates last week; Ohio Gov. John Kasich backtracks on global warming; PLUS: Shell Oil breaks up with ALEC... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): US Carbon Pollution From Power Plants Hits 27-Year Low; Scotland To Ban Growing of Genetically Modified Crops; Hot Enough for You? This Is Just the Beginning; Inside Shell’s Extreme Plan to Drill for Oil in the Arctic; Toxic Algae Blooming in Pacific from California to Alaska Is Affecting Your Seafood; Japan Restarts Reactor After Break Due To Fukushima... PLUS: Australia unveils emissions reduction target ahead of Paris talks, is immediately criticized... and much, MUCH more! ...

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...

  • VIDEO: Jon Stewart Last's Daily Show - 'Beware the Bullshitters':
  • Uncensored: 3 Different Kinds Of Bullsh*t (The Daily Show):

  • 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

    • US Carbon Pollution From Power Plants Hits 27-Year Low (AP):
      A big factor was the long-term shift from coal to cleaner and cheaper natural gas, said Energy Department economist Allen McFarland. Outside experts also credit more renewable fuel use and energy efficiency.
    • Scotland To Ban Growing of Genetically Modified Crops (Reuters):
      Scotland's devolved government said on Sunday it intended to ban the growing of genetically modified (GM) crops on its territory to protect its "clean and green brand" and because there was little evidence that Scottish consumers wanted GM products.
    • Hot Enough for You? This Is Just the Beginning (E&E News):
      Millions of people around the world are experiencing a scorching summer, as records are broken and thermostats climb this week in parts of Europe. Temperatures in Paris and Brussels exceeded 90 degrees Fahrenheit at a time of year when 70-degree weather is the norm, according to Accuweather.com. In Bandar-e Mahshahr, Iran, temperatures climbed to 115 F last week. The temperature, together with high humidity, felt like 163 F to hapless people directly exposed to the weather, according to Accuweather. That is the second-highest known "heat index" value ever recorded, said Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist and weather aficionado who maintains one of the world's most comprehensive datasets of extreme temperatures. The highest heat-index value ever recorded was 174 F in 2003 in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, he said.
    • Inside Shell’s Extreme Plan to Drill for Oil in the Arctic (Bloomberg):
      A global oil glut has tanked prices and cut profits—so why won’t Shell give up on the north?
    • The King of Coal Reveals $1 Million Bet on Jeb Bush (Bloomberg):
      Chris Cline, the billionaire coal baron, revealed himself today as the donor behind a $1 million contribution to a super-PAC supporting Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign.
    • Toxic Algae Blooming in Pacific from California to Alaska Is Affecting Your Seafood (AP):
      A vast bloom of toxic algae off the West Coast is denser, more widespread and deeper than scientists feared even weeks ago, according to surveyors aboard a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel.
    • Japan Restarts Reactor After Break Due To Fukushima (Miami Herald):
      A power plant operator in southern Japan restarted a nuclear reactor on Tuesday, the first to begin operating under new safety requirements following the Fukushima disaster.
    • Australia unveils emissions reduction target ahead of Paris talks (Reuters Sustainability):
      Conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Tuesday announced cuts to Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions that were immediately criticized by environmental groups and opposition politicians for lagging behind other advanced economies.
    • In California, an unsatisfying settlement on pesticide-spraying (Center for Public Integrity):
      The EPA touted its only preliminary finding of discrimination in a civil-rights case, but the complainants were less than thrilled with the outcome
    • Every country is now pledging to tackle CO2 emissions. It's still not enough. (Vox.com):
      In other words, if the world wants to stay below 2°C of global warming - which has long been considered the danger zone for climate change - these pledges are only a first step. Countries will have to do a whole lot more than they're currently promising. And the IEA has a few ideas for what "do a whole lot more" might entail.
      ...
      1. Increase energy efficiency in the industry, buildings, and transport sectors.
      2. Progressively reduce the use of the least efficient coal-fired power plants and banning their construction.
      3. Increase investment in renewable energy technologies in the power sector from $270 billion in 2014 to $400 billion in 2030.
      4. Gradually phase out fossil fuel subsidies to end-users by 2030.
      5. Reduce methane emissions in oil and gas production.
    • 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

  • Skeptical Science: Database with FULL DEBUNKING of ALL Climate Science Denier Myths
  • 4 Scenarios Show What Climate Change Will Do To The Earth, From Pretty Bad To Disaster (Fast CoExist):
    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.
  • How to Solve Global Warming: It's the Energy Supply (Scientific American):
    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.
  • Warning: Even in the best-case scenario, climate change will kick our asses (Grist)
  • NASA Video: Warming over the last 130 years, and into the next 100 years:
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