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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Students disrupt Obama’s healthcare rally to protest Keystone XL pipeline; Koch Brothers’ pipeline spills in Texas; BP’s toxic oil spill still hurting Gulf fishermen; Spain’s remarkable solar record; PLUS: Stanford University confirms: Renewable energy can provide 100% of the world’s energy needs … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
Green News Report
with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen
10/31/2013
‘Green News Report’ – October 31, 2013 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... | Scary Halloweeny Edition! · · · · · ‘Green News Report’ – October 31, 2013 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... | Scary Halloweeny Edition!
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): The 1 percent’s flood insurance scam; Big Coal’s law firm withheld evidence of black lung; Fukushima’s precarious next step; ‘Zombie Pipeline Act’ would speed up pipeline approval process; Can science explain Tea Partiers’ rage?; Netherlands town becomes first to divest from fossil fuels; CA condors poisoned by lead bullets; USDA plans to speed up poultry-processing lines; Al Gore: ‘Carbon bubble is about to burst’; California’s reservoirs drying up; US won’t finance overseas coal plants … PLUS: Naomi Klein: How science is telling us all to revolt … and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- Green Your Halloween – Enjoy the Holidays Without Trashing the Planet:
- 5 Ways to Make Your Halloween Green (EcoWatch)
- Green Halloween: Make healthier choices a holiday treat (USA Today)
- Americans will spend nearly $7 billion on Halloween (MSN Money):
What economic downturn? Americans apparently have plenty of money for candy, costumes and decorations.
…
Overall, consumer spending on “all things Halloween” has increased a whopping 54.7 percent since 2005 making it a significant source of retail revenue, especially since it comes in a month that would otherwise be slow. - Protesters Disrupt Obama Healthcare Speech Over Keystone XL:
- VIDEO: These Are The Keystone XL Protesters That Interrupted Obama During His Boston Health Care Speech (Climate Progress)
- VIDEO: Obama interrupted by anti-Keystone XL protesters (Politico)
- Looking for a Way Around Keystone XL, Canadian Oil Hits the Rails (NY Times)
- Rising Cancer Rates as Canada Cuts Environmental Assessments on Tar Sands:
- People Who Live Downwind Of Alberta’s Oil And Tar Sands Operations Are Getting Blood Cancer (Climate Progress):
A new study has found that levels of air pollution downwind of the largest tar sands, oil and gas producing region in Canada rival levels found in the world’s most polluted cities. And that pollution isn’t just dirtying the air — it also could be tied increased incidence of blood cancers in men that live in the area.
- In-Situ Environmental Assessments Will No Longer Be Done By Federal Government (Huffington Post Green):
The federal government has confirmed it is backing away from assessing the environmental impact of new oilsands projects, one day after acknowledging it won’t come close to meeting greenhouse gas reduction targets.
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The industry’s gradual shift toward in-situ production is generally blamed for a recent rise in the average amount of carbon dioxide released per barrel of oilsands crude. About 80 per cent of the resource can only be recovered using in-situ methods. - Canadian government scientists can’t speak freely because of meddling: Survey: 86% of scientists feel they could not speak out against dangerous departmental decisions without retaliation.
- Koch Pipeline Spills in Texas:
- Koch Pipeline Spills 400 Barrels Of Crude Oil In Texas (Climate Progress):
Koch Industries has also come under fire recently for dumping petroleum coke, a byproduct of tar sands refining, along riverfronts in both Detroit and Chicago.
- VIDEO: 17,000 gallons of crude oil spill near Smithville, TX (KVUE Austin):
Crews from SWS Environmental have contained the spill, which polluted a private stock pond and two overflow reservoirs. Those reservoirs are not used by the public.
- Oil spill reported near Austin, Texas (UPI)
- North Dakota Keeps Pipeline Spill Info from Public:
- Nearly 300 Oil Spills Went Unreported In North Dakota In Less Than Two Years (AP):
North Dakota, the nation’s No. 2 oil producer behind Texas, recorded nearly 300 oil pipeline spills in less than two years, state documents show. None was reported to the public, officials said.
- North Dakota Keeps its Oil Spills Nice and Quiet (The Atlantic)
- North Dakota Democrats Want To Make All Oil Spills Public (Climate Progress)
- BP Oil Spill’s Toxic Legacy Still Hurting Gulf Fishermen:
- Gulf fisherman: “There is no life out there” (Al Jazeera America):
“We’re seeing crabs with holes in their shells, other seafood deformities. The state of Louisiana oyster season opened on October 15, and we can’t find any production out there yet. There is no life out there.”
- Spain’s Remarkable Solar Record:
- Solar storage plant Gemasolar sets 36-day record for 24/7 output (Renew Economy):
Torresol said in a statement marking the anniversary that the plant has exceeded the expected results and has demonstrated the sturdiness of the design. Producing energy 24/7 for 36 consecutive days from solar energy “is something that no other plant has performed so far.”
- Spanish Researchers Debunk Wind Energy Myth Showing Renewables Capable of Replacing Fossil Fuels (EcoWatch)
- The decline of base-load: Is solar about to claim biggest victim? (Renew Economy)
- Stanford Univ Confirms: Renewable Energy Can Provide 100% of World’s Energy Needs:
- Stanford University Global Climate & Energy Project: (Stanford Univ.)
- VIDEO: Stanford Professor on Letterman: Powering Entire World on Renewable Energy No Problem (EcoWatch):
Jacobson said a good starting point would be in the U.S., where he believes the world’s largest untapped resource of offshore wind energy exists on the East Coast. Jacobson, the director of Stanford’s Atmosphere/Energy program, told the audience that he is working on “science-based plans to eliminate global warming” because 2.5 million to 4 million deaths take place each year due to air pollution.
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
- Naomi Klein: How science is telling us all to revolt (New Statesman):
Is our relentless quest for economic growth killing the planet? Climate scientists have seen the data — and they are coming to some incendiary conclusions.
- The 1 percent’s flood insurance scam (David Dayen, Salon):
It’s time for wealthy with vacation homes and valuable shoreline land to pay their own way — and not rely on us
- Fukushima’s precarious next step (Al Jazeera America):
Unprecedented operation to remove spent fuel rods at Japan’s stricken nuclear plant is wrought with danger. - Congressman Pushes For ‘Zombie Pipeline Act’ That Would Speed Up Pipeline Approval Process (Climate Progress)
- Can Science Explain Tea Partiers’ Rage? (Bill Moyers & Co.):
A growing body of research suggests that we are a nation divided not only by partisanship or how we view various issues, but also by dramatically different cognitive styles. Sociologists and psychologists are getting a better understanding about the ways that deep seated emotional responses effect our ideological viewpoints.
- USDA plan to speed up poultry-processing lines could increase risk of bird abuse (Washington Post)
- Netherlands Town Becomes First In Europe To Vow Fossil Fuel Divestment (Climate Progress):
At a Fossil Free Europe tour event in Amsterdam on Tuesday, two aldermen from Boxtel, Netherlands announced that their town would be divesting from the 200 fossil fuel companies that hold the largest coal, oil, and gas reserves. This makes Boxtel the first municipality in Europe to make a commitment to divest from fossil fuels, joining over 20 U.S. towns and cities that have vowed similar commitments.
- California Condor Lead Poisoning Worries Veterinarians (Huffington Post Green)
- World’s Largest Solar Thermal Plant With Storage Comes Online in U.S. (Clean Technica)
- Al Gore: “Carbon Bubble” Is Going to Burst — Avoid Oil Stocks (Yahoo Finance):
“We have a carbon bubble,” Gore tells me in the accompanying video. “Bubbles by definition involve a lot of asset owners and investors who don’t see what in retrospect becomes blindingly obvious. And this carbon bubble is going to burst.”
- Coal industry’s go-to law firm withheld evidence of black lung, at expense of sick miners: Part 1 of a 3-part series, ‘Breathless and Burdened: Dying from black lung, buried by law and medicine’
- Johns Hopkins medical unit rarely finds black lung, helping coal industry defeat miners’ claims (Center for Public Integrity)
- Officials Search For Plan As California Reservoirs Drop Below Half Capacity (Climate Progress)
- U.S. Says It Won’t Back New International Coal-Fired Power Plants (NY Times)
- Leaked Documents Reveal the Secret Finances of a Pro-Industry Science Group (Mother Jones):
Attacking the science behind environmental health and safety rules has long been an industry tactic. The American Council on Science and Health, a leader of the charge, has for years claimed that it is not an industry shill but an independent science organization. But it doesn’t disclose its funders. Now documents reveal most of its funding comes from industries who stand to profit from its claims.
- Why we don’t care about saving our grandchildren from climate change: (TIME’s Eco-Centric Blog) [emphasis added]:
A new study shows that human beings are too selfish to endure present pain to avert future climate change. That’s why we need win-win solutions now….The Nature Climate Change study also underscores why “win-win” climate policies – like innovation investments that can lead directly to cheap clean energy, rather than policies that make dirty energy more expensive – are likely to be the most effective ones.
- “The ocean is broken” (Newcastle Herald) [emphasis added]:
What was missing was the cries of the seabirds which, on all previous similar voyages, had surrounded the boat. The birds were missing because the fish were missing.
- What Our Idyllic, Non-Dystopian Future Would Look Like If We Fixed the World (Motherboard/VICE):
The book, The World We Made: Alex McKay’s Story from 2050, is told through the perspective of Alex, the non gender-specific protagonist living in the year 2050, reflecting on how the world came back from the brink of destruction. It’s due to come out next month.
FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page
“Fukushima’s precarious next step (Al Jazeera America): Unprecedented operation to remove spent fuel rods at Japan’s stricken nuclear plant is wrought with danger.”
Indeed.
One has to wonder, why then, have four climate scientists, including James Hansen, written a letter saying we have to use nuclear? (Why Not “Clean Coal” or “Safe Nuclear”?)