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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Monsanto’s very bad week; Mass demonstrations in Turkey were sparked by environmental protest; Friday’s Oklahoma tornado officially widest ever on the planet; Historic flooding in Central Europe; First-ever US offshore wind farm; PLUS: Major setback for Canada’s tar sands…by Canadians… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Green News Report

with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen

6/4/2013

‘Green News Report’ – June 4, 2013  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...   · · · · ·   ‘Green News Report’ – June 4, 2013  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Nevada breaks up with coal; Blame the news media for the public’s ignorance about the climate; Sobering sediments from Lake E; Climate change causing US wildfire season to last longer; Republicans decide socialism is awesome; Jellyfish surge in Mediterranean threatens environment … PLUS: Alaska’s Bristol Bay mine project: Ground zero for the next big environmental fight?… and much, MUCH more! …

STORIES DISCUSSED IN TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…

• Wall St. Journal: “Beware Big Bike!”:
• VIDEO: Wall Street Journal Warns of the ‘All-Powerful Bike Lobby’ (GreenTech Media): WSJ editorial board member calls bike sharing the work of “totalitarians.”
• Bad Week for Monsanto: Pulling Out of EU Over GMO Failure:
• Lobbying And GMO Giant Monsanto Buckles In Europe (Truth Out):
  “We won’t lobby any longer for cultivation in Europe,” Brandon Mitchener, Monsanto’s public affairs lead for Europe, told the Tageszeitung.
• Mystery deepens on how genetically modified U.S. wheat landed in field (Reuters)
• Kansas Farmer Sues Monsanto After Discovering Unapproved GM Wheat In Field (Talking Points Memo)
• US genetically modified wheat stokes fears, Japan cancels tender (CNBC)
• Hundreds Protest Against Genetically Engineered Trees (EcoWatch)
• Tests of Exported U.S. Wheat Find No Gene-Altered Strain (Bloomberg)
• El Reno Tornado Record: Widest Ever Documented on the Planet:
• Deadly El Reno, Okla. tornado was widest ever measured on Earth, had nearly 300 mph winds (Capitol Weather Gang/Washington Post): “The width of the tornado was equivalent to the entire north-south length of New York City’s Central Park.”
• Killer El Reno Tornado Was Widest Ever Recorded: NWS (Climate Central)
• El Reno, Union City tornado widest tornado on record (KFOR-TV Oklahoma City)
• El Reno tornado is ‘super rare’ national record-breaker: Meteorologist doesn’t “even want to imagine” what tornado would have done to densely populated areas (News OK)
• Severe Storms Bring More ‘Weather Whiplash’ to U.S. (Climate Central)
• Historic Flooding Across Central Europe:
• Central Europe floods portend a wet future (New Scientist)
• Czech capital on alert as floods swamp central Europe (Reuters)
• Thousands Flee As Record Floods Inundate Central Europe (Climate Progress)
• Floods bring misery to central Europe (CNN):
  Rising rivers menaced swaths of Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria Tuesday, as floodwaters inundated historic cities and forced mass evacuations of low-lying areas.
• US Extreme Weather:
• Severe Storms Bring More ‘Weather Whiplash’ to U.S. (Climate Central)
• Flood halts Mississippi River barge traffic north of St Louis (Reuters)
• Wildfires hit West, could spread to Native American sites (Reuters)
• Intense thunderstorms more likely to batter a warming world (Daily Climate)
• National Guard called to evacuate flooded Alaska town (LA Times)
• Turkey: Mass Demonstrations Began As Environmental Protest:
• VIDEO: Turkey Deputy PM apologises to Gezi Park protesters (BBC) [emphasis added]:
  Turkey’s Deputy PM Bulent Arinc has apologised to protesters injured in demonstrations opposing the demolition of an Istanbul park. …“The use of excessive force shown against the people who initially started this protest with the motive of protecting the environment was wrong. And it was unfair. So I apologise to those citizens,” Mr Arinc said at a news conference in Ankara.
• Is Turkey on the verge of a meltdown? (CNN)
• British Columbia Rejects Proposed Tar Sands Pipeline:
• VIDEO: B.C. officially opposes Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline (CBC):
  ‘Our questions were not satisfactorily answered,’ environment minister says
• British Columbia Opposes Planned Oil Sands Pipeline (NY Times)
• Anomalies – Including Dents and Welds – Found Along Newly Laid Keystone XL Pipeline in Texas (Public Citizen)
• Monsanto Modified Wheat Not Approved by USDA Found in Field (Bloomberg)
• Killer Karbon Petcoke Pile Looms Over Motown (Climate Crocks): If you think its all about Keystone, think again.
• US Gets First-Ever Offshore Wind Farm:
• A Floating Wind Tower Is Launched in Maine (NY Times)
• U.S. to Hold First Sale for Offshore Wind Energy Leases (NY Times)

‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…

• Alaska’s Bristol Bay mine project: Ground zero for the next big environmental fight? (Washington Post):
  A dispute over a proposed copper and gold mine near Alaska’s Bristol Bay may be one of the most important environmental decisions of President Obama’s second term — yet few are even aware that the fight is happening.
• Think Again: Blame The News For The Public’s Ignorance About The Climate (Climate Progress): While there is some excellent climate reporting in the mainstream media, many—if not most—members of the mainstream media have been AWOL on the issue.
• Climate Change: Sobering Sediments from Lake E (Climate Crocks) [emphasis added]:
  Results show that during the Pleistocene (2.588 million — 11.7 thousand years ago), there were a number of super-interglacials – like the present period but much wetter and several degrees warmer in the Arctic, during which the Greenland and West Antarctic ice-sheets didn’t just melt a bit. They disappeared.
• NV Energy bill wins passage, signaling state’s shift from coal (Las Vegas Sun): In a vote Monday night, the Assembly approved a landmark energy shift away from coal-fired power plants like Reid Gardner in Clark County and mandated investment in renewable energy and natural gas.
• Climate change causing US wildfire season to last longer, Congress told (Guardian UK): US forest service chief says hotter, drier conditions mean wildfire season lasts two months longer than it did 40 years ago
• Republicans Decide Socialism Is Awesome After Obama Proposes Privatizing Tennessee Valley Authority (Wonkette): “IT’S NOT SOCIALISM IF REPUBLICANS LIKE IT”
• Jellyfish surge in Mediterranean threatens environment — and tourists (Guardian UK): A project is tracking the phenomenon as global warming and overfishing boost numbers of the venomous sea creature
• Innovation: Catalyst Could Jump-Start E-Cars, Green Energy (Science Daily): Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have designed a new type of nanostructured-carbon-based catalyst that could pave the way for reliable, economical next-generation batteries and alkaline fuel cells, providing for practical use of wind- and solar-powered electricity, as well as enhanced hybrid electric vehicles.
• Anson Chi, Texas Activist, Pleads Guilty After Attempting To Destroy Atmos Energy’s Natural Gas Pipeline (AP): Prior to the explosion, Chi had expressed deep mistrust of the U.S. government….Records show Chi had been a fugitive since 2009 in California, where authorities say he violated his probation on a concealed weapon conviction. Chi has lashed out against the government in YouTube and Facebook postings.
• Imagining power utilities for the 21st century (with slow lorises!) (Grist):
  I hope you’ve been enjoying our road trip to Utility Land. (If you’re just joining us, start here.) We have arrived, at long last, at our destination. We face the big question: How can we make utilities work for us in the 21st century?
• Majority of Earth’s Population Faces Water Shortages by Mid-Century (Yale e360) [emphasis added]:
  At the meeting, “Water in the Anthropocene,” the scientists said that the of over-pumping of underground aquifers, soaring populations, pollution, the over-use of fertilizers, and climate change are seriously threatening supplies of freshwater around much of the globe. Continuing on the current path will mean that most of Earth’s population “will be living under the handicap of severe water pressure,” the scientists said, adding, “This handicap will be self-inflicted and is, we believe, entirely avoidable.”
• We Have Met the Unknown Unknowns and They are Us (Legal Planet):
  There are uncertainties about climate science such as tipping points and feedback effects. But these pale in comparison to the biggest source of uncertainties: people. Here are some of the major things we don’t know and really can’t know about future society.
• Warning: Even in the best-case scenario, climate change will kick our asses (Grist)

• COVER STORY: It’s Global Warming, Stupid (Businessweek):
  If all that doesn’t impress, forget the scientists ostensibly devoted to advancing knowledge and saving lives. Listen instead to corporate insurers committed to compiling statistics for profit.
• Ocean Acidification: Animals are already dissolving in Southern Ocean (New Scientist)

• Skeptical Science: Get the FULL DEBUNKING of ALL Climate Science Denier Arguments
• VIDEO: James Hansen: Why I must speak out about climate change (TED Talks):
  Top climate scientist James Hansen tells the story of his involvement in the science of and debate over global climate change. In doing so he outlines the overwhelming evidence that change is happening and why that makes him deeply worried about the future.
• VIDEO ANIMATION: Time history of atmospheric CO2 (NOAA Carbon Tracker YouTube channel):
• VIDEO: Animation Charts Modern Global Warming (NYT Green)
• Thinking Big: NREL Study Shows 80 Percent Renewables Possible By 2050 (Climate Progress)
• Part 1: The brutal logic of climate change (David Roberts, Grist) [emphasis added]:
  It’s simple: If there is to be any hope of avoiding civilization-threatening climate disruption, the U.S. and other nations must act immediately and aggressively on an unprecedented scale. That means moving to emergency footing. War footing. …It is unpleasant to talk like this. People don’t want to hear it.