IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: '60 Minutes' becomes a dirty word - Inside their new hit piece on America's clean energy industry; Don't tell the Fox 'News'-ified CBS News, but clean tech is booming; PLUS: Record drought in California, with no end in sight ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Nature Bombshell: Observations point to 10°F warming by 2100; Global warming warning stickers at gas pumps?; Food industry’s secret plan for a GMO (non)-labeling law; Radio Disney's pro-fracking elementary school tour sparks outrage; Mass Extinction: Let's not.; Big Oil moves to overturn oil export ban in U.S.; The endgame of GMO controversy; Record heat wave kills 100k bats in Australia; Senegal siezes Russian factory trawler; Not enough bees for Europe's crops; Hungarian town goes green after massive toxic sludge spill; Rising sea levels threaten L.A. ... PLUS: Stephen Colbert calls out Fox News on climate change: "Well Done. All The Best News Reports End With 'I Don't Know Where We Got This'" ... and much, MUCH more! ...
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...
- Inside the CBS News/60 Minutes Hit Piece on Clean Energy:
- The Fox 'News'-ification of CBS News and '60 Minutes': 'The Cleantech Crash' (The BRAD BLOG)
- Anatomy Of A Hit Job: Expert Featured On 60 Minutes Exposes How Show Knowingly Ignored Facts On Clean Energy (Climate Progress)
- 60 Minutes Hit Job On Clean Energy Ignores The Facts (Climate Progress):
As documented in the recent Department of Energy (DOE) report, “Revolution Now: The Future Arrives for Four Clean Energy Technologies,” the only thing in cleantech that is crashing is the cost of key components. - What's The Matter With 60 Minutes?: Cleantech Edition (Media Matters)
- 60 Minutes’ ‘Cleantech Crash’ segment misses the point, critics charge (Grist)
- ’60 Minutes’ does about-face on cleantech (San Jose Mercury News) [emphasis added]:
I’m not sure what the “Cleantech Crash” refers to, exactly: In the past four years, the United States has more than doubled electricity generation from wind and solar, even as we’ve experienced a boom in domestic oil and natural gas production. ... Jonathan Silver, who used to oversee the loan program for the DOE, tweeted Monday that he spoke to the producer for over an hour but “facts did not seem to affect his analysis.” - 60 Minutes in Toilet Again. Is Fox in the Henhouse? (Climate Crocks)
- Clean Energy Entrepreneurs Call On 60 Minutes For A Correction: And Thousands Asking CBS To Appoint Public Editor (Media Matters)
- How the “60 Minutes” Clean-Tech Takedown Missed the Bigger Picture (Re/Code)
- Don't Tell CBS: 'Clean Tech' Is Booming:
- Official: Wind emerges as Spain's dominant power source as emissions plummet (Business Green)
- Renewables Now Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels in Australia (Without Subsidies) (Environmental News Network)
- Solar Power Craze on Wall St. Propels Start-Up (NY Times):
In all, an estimated $13 billion was invested in solar projects in 2013, a tenfold increase since 2007, according to GTM Research, which tracks the industry. - California added more rooftop solar capacity in 2013 than in the past 30 years combined (Treehugger)
- NY Governor Announces $1 Billion For Solar Energy (Climate Progress)
- Spain Achieves Renewable Milestone. Italian Town Grows With Renewables. (Climate Crocks)
- China on world's 'biggest push' for wind power (BBC)
- Renewable energy use at record high in Scotland (BBC)
- The Clean Energy Economy in Three Charts (WhiteHouse.gov)
- It's Official: 2013 California's Driest Year on Record:
- Check Out This Shocking Map of California's Drought (Mother Jones)
- No Relief Forecast After One Of California's Driest Years Ever (NPR)
- Record-setting drought threatens salmon survival (Greenwire): California's intensifying drought is forcing water managers to make tough choices that pit fish species against one another for survival.
- After California's driest year on record, water experts push conservation (MyDesert.com)
- Sacramento officials push for mandatory water reductions by residents (Sacramento Bee)
- Lawmakers call on Gov. Jerry Brown to halt fracking in California (LA Times)
'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...
- Nature Bombshell: Observations Point To 10°F Warming by 2100 (Climate Progress):
A major new study in Nature finds “our climate is more sensitive to carbon dioxide than most previous estimates.” ... [O]n our current emissions path we are headed toward a “most-likely warming of roughly 5°C [9°F] above modern [i.e. current] temperatures or 6°C [11°F] above preindustrial” temperatures this century. - VIDEO: Colbert Calls Out Fox's Hollow Climate Change Attack: (Media Matters): Colbert: "Well Done. All The Best News Reports End With 'I Don't Know Where We Got This'"
- Radio Disney's pro-fracking elementary school tour sparks outrage (Al Jazeera America)
- VIDEO: Mass Extinction: Let’s Not (Climate Crocks)
- U.S. oil exports have been banned for 40 years. Is it time for that to change? (Washington Post)
- Thousands of railcars need updating after crude crashes: Greenbriar CEO (Reuters)
- Food industry’s secret plan for a GMO (non)-labeling law (Grist) [emphasis added]:
The captains of the food industry have decided it’s time for a federal GMO-labeling law. Specifically, they’re aiming for a labeling law that doesn’t actually require labeling at all — but does pre-empt all of the more stringent labeling laws now making their way through state legislatures. In other words, they want a voluntary-labeling law that stops states from enacting anything else. (Yes, food makers can already voluntarily label their products as non-GM.) - What I learned from six months of GMO research: None of it matters (Grist)
- Global warming warning stickers at gas pumps? (SF Gate):
A group of Bay Area environmentalists wants to slap warning stickers on gasoline pumps, telling drivers that the fuel they're buying is cooking the planet. The stickers would constantly remind consumers of the link between driving and climate change. - About 100,000 bats dead after heatwave in southern Queensland (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
- Industrial Fishing: Russia accuses Greenpeace of encouraging Senegal to seize trawler (Guardian UK): Russian official renews hostilities with Greenpeace over the seizure and detention of factory trawler
- Bee shortage threatens crops (BBC): Europe's honeybees are struggling to keep crops pollinated because of a growing demand for biofuel.
- How the Hungarian town flooded by red toxic sludge went green (Guardian UK): Devecser, an environmental disaster zone in 2010, reinvents itself as a hub for sustainable energy
- This looks like a fluorescent tube, but it's actually a 41% more efficient LED lamp (Treehugger)
- Projected Sea-Level Rise Could Land Coastal Los Angeles Underwater (Red Orbit)
- How to repair your broken goods - from an iPhone to a washing machine (Guardian UK): Cracked cupboards, socks, washing machines and iPhones can all be repaired at home – giving new life to items that may otherwise be thrown away.
- Antarctic penguins forced up 100-foot ice walls, study shows (Guardian UK)
- Global warming is being caused by humans, not the sun, and is highly sensitive to carbon, new research shows (Guardian UK)
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).