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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: ELECTION 2013: the first climate election? Climate science denier Ken Cuccinelli defeated in VA; Local races with big environmental impacts for the country; PLUS: We’re goin’ the wrong way!!! Greenhouse gas emissions rise to record levels… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Fukushima cleanup enters dangerous phase; Western black rhino now extinct; Fossil fuels get $500B annual subsidies; China solar panel makers invest in solar farms; New investment project for North Africa solar; Whopping CO2 footprint for Australian coal mines; Debating ‘Pandora’s Promise’; PA gives fracking industry $1 billion; ExxonMobil fined $2 million for AR pipeline spill … PLUS: It’s time to adapt to unstoppable climate change, say scientists … and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- Historic Super Typhoon Hits Philippines:
- Historic Super Typhoon Haiyan Assaults Philippines (Climate Central) [emphasis added]:
For the past 24 hours, the storm has remained at a strength close to the theoretical upper limit that cyclones can reach. Unlike in the tropical North Atlantic, there is no aircraft reconnaissance of tropical storms and typhoons in the Western Pacific, so the actual wind speeds and minimum central air pressure “” two key parameters used to classify such storms “” are being estimated using satellites.
- Climate Denier Cuccinelli Defeated — But Denier Chris Christie Re-elected:
- Elections show climate contrasts as a ‘denier’ loses in Va., Christie wins in N.J. (E & E News)
- Mann 2, Cuccinelli 0: Climate Denial Becomes Wedge Issue, As Hockey Stick Beats Tea Party (Climate Progress):
The pro-science side has won the latest skirmish in the climate wars. In a tight race where climate denial became a focus, pro-science candidate Terry McAuliffe was elected governor of Virginia over anti-science candidate Ken Cuccinelli, who infamously launched a (losing) witch hunt against leading climatologist Michael Mann.
- AUDIO: Climate Scientist Michael Mann on Cuccinelli Defeat (Ian Masters, KPFK Pacifica Radio, KPFK.org)
- Shhhh…. Don’t tell the media, but 2013 marks the first climate election (Mike Stark, Daily Kos)
- Re-Elected Gov. Chris Christie, Climate Science Denier, Backed by Billionaire Koch Brothers::
- David Koch Introduces Chris Christie at Secret 2011 Koch Brothers Billionaire Summit as ‘My Kind of Guy’, ‘A True Political Hero’ (The BRAD BLOG):
Exclusive audio revealed Rightwing gathering cheered NJ Guv’s rejection of landmark greenhouse gas initiative weeks after secret one-on-one with billionaire brother, just months before state coast devastated by global warming-linked ‘Superstorm Sandy’…
- Chris Christie is no moderate on the environment (Grist)
- Is Chris Christie A Moderate? [NO.] (Climate Progress)
- Chris Christie Joins the Yahoos, Says No ‘Proof’ Climate Change Caused Sandy (Daily Beast)
- David Koch Introduces Chris Christie at Secret 2011 Koch Brothers Billionaire Summit as ‘My Kind of Guy’, ‘A True Political Hero’ (The BRAD BLOG):
- Washington State: Big Food Wins, Big Coal Loses:
- The Local Election That Could Determine The Future Of American Coal (Climate Progress)
- The Obscure County Election That Could Change the Planet (National Journal): A little-watched race in Washington state will determine how America uses its coal””and the future of the global climate.
- Colorado: Cities Vote Against Fossil Fuels:
- Colorado an energy battleground as towns ban fracking (Reuters)
- Western Voters Say No To Fossil Fuels (Climate Progress)
- Boulder, Colorado Faces Key Vote In Fight Against Carbon Pollution (Climate Progress)
- Boulder moves toward acquisition of Xcel’s system (Boulder Daily Camera)
- Boulder-Owned Utility Takes Another Step Forward (KUNC Denver)
- Boulder Municipalization Measures Face Off On Tuesday’s Ballot (KUNC Denver)
- UN: Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions at Record High:
- WMO: Greenhouse Gas Concentrations in Atmosphere Reach New Record (World Meteorological Organization):
The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a new record high in 2012, continuing an upward and accelerating trend which is driving climate change and will shape the future of our planet for hundreds and thousands of years.
The World Meteorological Organization’s annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin shows that between 1990 and 2012 there was a 32% increase in radiative forcing ““ the warming effect on our climate ““ because of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other heat-trapping long-lived gases such as methane and nitrous oxide.
- WMO: Greenhouse gas volumes reached new high in 2012 (Reuters) [emphasis added]:
Atmospheric volumes of greenhouse gases blamed for climate change hit a new record in 2012, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Wednesday.
“For all these major greenhouse gases the concentrations are reaching once again record levels,” WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud told a news conference in Geneva at which he presented the U.N. climate agency’s annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin. Jarraud said the accelerating trend was driving climate change, making it harder to keep global warming to within 2 degrees Celsius, a target agreed at a Copenhagen summit in 2009….The concentrations were the highest for more than 800,000 years, he said.
- Greenhouse gas levels at record high: WMO report (MSNBC)
- : The Emissions Gap Report 2013 (UN Environment Programme)
- United Nations Group Warns on Emissions (NY Times):
Major polluters must immediately begin to reduce greenhouse gas emissions if the rise in global temperatures is to be held in check, or else a higher price will have to be paid later, according to a report released Tuesday by the United Nations Environment Program.
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
- Fukushima nuclear cleanup enters critical phase (Guardian UK): Tokyo Electric Power to begin removing more than 1,500 fuel assemblies from spent fuel pool in unprecedented operation
- Fossil Fuels Receive $500 Billion A Year In Government Subsidies Worldwide (Climate Progress):
“If their aim is to avoid dangerous climate change, governments are shooting themselves in both feet,” the report, headed by ODI research fellow Shelagh Whitley, said. “They are subsidizing the very activities that are pushing the world towards dangerous climate change, and creating barriers to investment in low-carbon development and subsidy incentives that encourage investment in carbon-intensive energy.”
- It’s time to adapt to unstoppable global warming, scientists say (NBC News):
Even if the world’s 7 billion people magically stop burning fossil fuels and chopping down forests today, the greenhouse gases already emitted to the atmosphere will warm the planet by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century, according to scientists who are urging a focused scientific effort to help humanity adapt to the changing climate.
And reality shows no sign of such a magic reduction in emissions.
- China’s ailing solar panel makers see the light, on a farm (Reuters):
China’s loss-making solar panel makers believe they may have found a way out of their nightmare – by becoming one-stop renewable energy shops with their own solar farms.
- A New Investment Project Could Point The Way To Renewables For The Global Poor (Climate Progress):
“North Africa and the Middle East are at the beginning of an impressive energy transition based on wind and sun,” said Dii CEO Paul van Son. “A well-developed, shovel-ready project then builds the basis for the much larger amounts of private sector investment necessary for constructing a renewable energy power plant.”
- The whopping climate change footprint of two Australian coalmining projects (Guardian UK):
Two Queensland mines would emit triple the greenhouse gas emissions of the Keystone XL pipeline, or six times the UK’s annual footprint
- Western black rhino declared extinct (CNN)
- VIDEO: Debating Pandora’s Promise (Climate Crocks) [emphasis added]:
Pandora’s Promise is a new movie that producers, I guess, hoped would jumpstart the nuclear industry by convincing doubting environmentalists that nuclear is a good idea. The premise is flawed, because, nobody ever consults environmentalists about new industrial projects ““ so it doesn’t really matter what environmentalists think. It matters what investors think, and they will not invest in nuclear energy without massive government subsidies and guarantees.
- Handouts For Frackers: The Pennsylvania Plan To Give Drillers $1 Billion (Climate Progress):
[I]n Pennsylvania, taxpayers could have to pick up the tab for gas drillers to extract highly-valuable natural gas, to the tune of $1 billion over a decade.
- Arkansas: ExxonMobil Fines Proposed After Oil Spill (NY Times)
- Britain’s New Flood Protection Plan: Surrender To The Ocean (Climate Progress)
- Flying the coop: Antibiotic resistance spreads to birds & wildlife: (Environmental Health News):
Julie Ellis unfurled a long, white tarp under a stand of trees near Coes Pond where hundreds of crows roost. Her mission: to collect as much bird poop as possible. Back in the laboratory, Ellis’ colleagues combed through the feces. Testing its bacteria, they discovered something unusual — genes that make the crows resistant to antibiotics.
- 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.
FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page
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