IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Baby it's record cold outside (but only in the U.S.); PLUS: It's that time of year again --- deniers pretend snow and cold means no more global warming ... All that and more in our first Green News Report of the year!...
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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): 4 states confirm water pollution from natural gas drilling; Driest year ever in California sparks drought, fire fears; Colorado River drought means painful choices ahead; Toyota introduces hydrogen fuel-cell car; West Coast sardine crash radiates through ecosystem; Exxon faces criminal charges over illegally dumping fracking wastewater; 20 questions on GMOs; US sailors sue TEPCO over Fukushima; Fact vs. fiction on spread of Fukushima radiation ... PLUS: China admits millions of acres too polluted for farming ... and much, MUCH more! ...
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...
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- On Ice in the Antarctic: Net Loss of Ice At Both Poles:
- Antarctica & Arctic: Net Loss of Ice at Both Poles: (Skeptical Science):
While the interior of East Antarctica is gaining land ice, overall Antarctica has been losing land ice at an accelerating rate. Antarctic sea ice is growing despite a strongly warming Southern Ocean. - This was no Antarctic pleasure cruise (Nature Magazine): After his polar vessel became trapped in shifting sea ice, Chris Turney defends the scientific basis of the expedition.
- Rescue Efforts for Trapped Antarctic Voyage Disrupt Serious Science (NYT's Dot Earth)
- DEBUNKED! Conservatives Claim Stuck Antarctic Ice Ship Proves ‘Global Warming Hoax’ (AATTP) [emphasis added]:
Far from disproving Turney and all other global warming scientists, the fact that his ship got stuck in an ice pack, in the middle of the Antarctic summer, actually proves them RIGHT. - Five basic Antarctic facts for climate change sceptics (Guardian UK)
- Polar Vortex & Climate Change:
- VIDEO: Climate, Jetstream, Polar Vortex (Climate Crocks)
- Everything You Wanted To Know About The ‘Polar Vortex’ (Climate Progress)
- Polar Vortex in U.S. May be Example of Global Warming (Climate Central):
Arctic warming is altering the heat balance between the North Pole and the equator, which is what drives the strong current of upper level winds in the northern hemisphere commonly known as the jet stream... if that balance is altered then some types of extreme weather events become more likely to occur. - Warm Arctic, Cold Continents: A Common Pattern Related to Arctic Sea Ice Melt, Snow Advance, and Extreme Winter Weather (Oceanography Magazine)
- Warm Arctic, Cold Continents: Changes in the Arctic Are Hitting Closer to Home (NOAA.gov)
- Rivers in Wintry Cities Remain Salty Year-Round (Environmental Health News)
- Climate Change: Warmest November Worldwide Since 1880 (AP)
- Wacky Weather Whiplash Around the World:
- VIDEO: A Teachable Moment: Jet Stream and Weather Whiplash (Look out the Window..) (Climate Crocks)
- Australia’s hottest year was no freak event: humans caused it (The Conversation)
- Heatwave: temperatures climb towards 50C in parts of Australia: Weatherzone says intense air mass is centred over northern NSW and western Queensland, but it's cooler in the capital cities (Guardian UK)
- No-Show at Lake Tahoe: Sunny Sierra raises chilling drought fears (SF Gate)
- While Most of U.S. Froze, Parts of Alaska Set Record Highs (Climate Central)
- The New Year Brings More Extreme Weather And Flooding For Storm-Weary U.K. (Climate Progress)
- Monster Waves Slam Into UK After US Storm (AP)
- 2013's Most Terrifying Weather Disasters (Mother Jones)
- "It's Called Winter": Climate Science Denial Industry's Annual Disinfo Dummy Campaign:
- VIDEO: Another Cold Blast of 'Global Warming is a Hoax!' Nonsense to Grip Parts of the Gullible U.S. (The BRAD BLOG)
- Winter Does Not Disprove Global Warming: One more reason not to listen to Donald Trump. (Slate)
- VIDEO: Cold Winter Weather? Bring On The Snow-Trolls (Media Matters) [emphasis added]:
Stephen Colbert accurately summarized how conservatives often perform "simple observational research" to deny climate change: "Whatever just happened is the only thing that is happening." ... On average, the planet has been warming at a rate of 0.17°C, or 32.3 degrees Fahrenheit, per decade since 1971. The most recent decade was the planet's warmest on record --- even including a few cold winters. - Broken Record: Fox Still Falsely Claiming That Snow Disproves Global Warming (Media Matters)
'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...
- 4 states confirm water pollution from natural gas drilling (AP):
In at least four states that have nurtured the nation's energy boom, hundreds of complaints have been made about well-water contamination from oil or gas drilling, and pollution was confirmed in a number of them, according to a review that casts doubt on industry suggestions that such problems rarely happen. - Driest year ever in Calif. sparks fire, water fears (USA Today)
- Colorado River Drought Forces a Painful Reckoning for States (NY Times) [emphasis added]:
The sinuous Colorado River and its slew of man-made reservoirs from the Rockies to southern Arizona are being sapped by 14 years of drought nearly unrivaled in 1,250 years. - Toyota Unveils Zero-Emissions Hydrogen Fuel-Cell ‘Car Of The Future’ For Sale Next Year (Climate Progress)
- West Coast sardine crash could radiate throughout ecosystem (LA Times):
If sardine populations don't recover soon, experts warn, the West Coast's marine mammals, seabirds and fishermen could suffer for years. - Judge Rules Exxon Must Face Criminal Charges Over 50,000 Gallon Fracking Waste Spill (Climate Progress)
- China Says Over 3 Million Hectares of Land Too Polluted to Farm (Reuters):
About 3.33 million hectares (8 million acres) of China's farmland is too polluted to grow crops, a government official said on Monday, highlighting the risk facing agriculture after three decades of rapid industrial growth. - 20 GMO questions: Animal, vegetable, controversy? (Grist)
- No, Fukushima is not killing off massive quantities of sea life near California (Boing Boing)
- The players in the Koch-backed $400 million political donor network (Washington Post)
- Enbridge Used Anonymous Companies to Propose Hydroelectric Dams in Salmon-Bearing Waters (DeSmog Blog)
- Sea Shepherd Drives Japanese Whalers From Antarctic Sanctuary (Environmental News Service)
- U.S. Sailors Sue Japanese Nuclear Plant Owner TEPCO: (Environment News Service):
Seventy-one U.S. Navy sailors from the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan are filing suit against the Japanese utility Tokyo Electric Power Company, TEPCO, after they were allegedly exposed to radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant when they arrived in Japan with aid. - Church in Italy's 'Triangle of Death' Demands Mafia Cleanup Toxic Waste: (Reuters):
The Camorra mafia has been dumping and burning toxic waste for decades in the area between Naples and the province of Caserta. - In the Deep South, dirty energy and disenfranchisement go hand in hand (Grist):
The southeastern U.S. is pre-1990s South Africa, and the brand of apartheid practiced here is of the energy variety. This is how environmental justice scholar Robert Bullard called it two years ago, and a report released yesterday from the NAACP pretty much confirms it. - VIDEO: Pres. Dwight Eisenhower's Farewell Address - Military/Industrial Complex - Part 2 (Youtube):
As we peer into society's future, we --- you and I, and our government --- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow. - Meat the press: What Rolling Stone's scary farm exposé gets right - and wrong (Grist)
FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page
- Video Proof That Global Warming is a 'Hoax'!: NASA Temperature Data 1888-2011 (The BRAD BLOG):
- NASA climate change video: This is the U.S. in 2100 (NASA).