The Rick Smith Show!
IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Startlingly blunt U.N. climate report warns window of opportunity to act on climate change is closing; The Billionaire Koch Brothers are environmental freedom fighters --- according to the Koch Brothers; Texas breaks wind --- wind records, that is; PLUS: Exxon Mobil agrees 'the risk of climate change is clear' but says 'F#@K you, World! We're Exxon Mobil!'... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.
IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): 'Killer smog' in the UK; Supreme Court's campaign finance ruling is bad for Greens, good for Kochs; EPA failed to warn of cancer risk in research studies; 1/4 of Europe's bumblebees face extinction; Plowing under native US grasslands has consequences; Citigroup says 'age of renewables' has begun ... PLUS: All the positive and helpful things in the IPCC report no one will talk about ... and much, MUCH more! ...
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...
- UN IPCC: Climate Change Will Affect 'Nearly Every Aspect of Human Life':
- IPCC Fifth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2013 (AR5) (U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)
- Conservative Climate Panel Warns World Faces 'Breakdown Of Food Systems' And More Violent Conflict (Climate Progress)
- Warming World Threatens Us All, Warns U.N. Report (TIME Magazine): A new U.N. report illustrates the impact that rising temperatures will have on crop yields, water supplies and sea levels.
- VIDEO: IPCC Working Group 2 Press Conference (IPCC Geneva)
- Global warming has not stopped, will go on for centuries: WMO (Reuters)
- Big Climate Danger Could Arrive as Soon as 2036 (Scientific American)
- Hurricanes, Risks, and Bears in the Woods (Climate Crocks) [emphasis added]:
Let me illustrate this with a simple example. Suppose observations showed conclusively that the bear population in a particular forest had recently doubled. What would we think of someone who, knowing this, would nevertheless take no extra precautions in walking in the woods unless and until he saw a significant upward trend in the rate at which his neighbors were being mauled by bears? - What Climate Change Means in Dollars and Cents (Bloomberg)
- Corporate Media Mostly Ignores Blunt Warnings of UN IPCC Report:
- VIDEO: NBC on IPCC (Climate Crocks):
- Cable News Winds Up Mostly Ignoring Terrifying Climate Change Report For A Full Day (Huffington Post Green)
- STUDY: CNN Largely Ignores Major Climate Report's Warnings: Even Fox News Covered Climate Report More Than CNN --- But To Dismiss It (Media Matters)
- VIDEO: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse Lambasts Media's Poor Climate Change Coverage (Media Matters)
- Exxon Mobil Accepts Climate Science, Says 'F*ck You, World!':
- Exxon Has 25 Billion Barrels of Fossil Fuel and Plans To Extract it All (Mother Jones)
- Exxon Is Behind The Landmark Climate Report You Didn’t Hear About (Climate Progress) [emphasis added]:
A report released by Exxon Mobil the same day about how greenhouse gas emissions and climate change factor into its business model found that climate change, and specifically global climate policies, are “highly unlikely” to stop it from selling fossil fuels for decades to come. - Despite Climate Warnings, Exxon Plans to Burn Through Oil and Gas Reserves (Mashable)
- What’s Good for Exxon is Not So Good for America (Washington Monthly) [emphasis added]:
When Lee Raymond, CEO of Texas-based ExxonMobil from 1993 to 2005 [said], “I’m not a U.S. company and I don’t make decisions based on what’s good for the U.S.” - U.N. Climate Report Will (Colbert Report)
- The Koch Brothers Are Environmentalists Fighting For Freedom - Just Ask 'Em:
- Another Orwellian Op-Ed From Charles Koch (Climate Progress):
Let’s us have a moment of silence for the plight of misunderstood businessmen. Time’s up.Koch’s agenda is to concentrate wealth in the hands of the few, especially himself, with no regard to the health and well-being of the many who will suffer along the way — and he will stop at nothing to achieve this.
- Charles Koch: I'm Fighting to Restore a Free Society (Op-ed, Wall St. Journal)
- Massive Wind Spill In Texas Breaks Wind Energy Records:
- Wind Reaches Its Highest Generation Level Ever In Texas, Heralding A Challenge To Natural Gas (Climate Progress)
- Texas Wind Power Breaks Another Record (NPR State Impact)
'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...
- Supreme Court's Campaign Finance Ruling: Bad for Greens, Good For Kochs (Grist)
- EPA failed to warn of cancer risk for people in research studies: (BusinessWeek): The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency failed to disclose cancer risks to volunteers used in research studies on harmful pollutants, a government watchdog says.
- 1/4 of Europe's bumblebees, vital to crops, face extinction: (Reuters): Almost a quarter of Europe's bumblebees are at risk of extinction due to loss of habitats and climate change, threatening pollination of crops worth billions of dollars, a study showed on Wednesday.
- PLOWED UNDER: Loss of America's Native Grasslands (American Prospect): Across the northern plains, native grassland is being turned into farmland at a rate not seen since the 1920s. The environmental consequences could be disastrous.
- All the Positive and Helpful Things in the IPCC Report No One Will Talk About (DeSmog Blog)
- 'Keep kids out of killer smog': Warning as polluted Sahara dust cloud reaches UK (UK Daily Mirror)
- Citigroup Says the ‘Age of Renewables’ Has Begun (Green Tech Media):
Citi says the big decision-makers within the U.S. power industry are focused on securing low-cost power, fuel diversity and stable cash flows, and this is drawing them to the increasingly attractive economics of solar and wind. - Can We Turn Climate Consequences Into Opportunity? (PBS Newshour)
- UN climate chief urges radical clean-up of oil, gas industry (Reuters)
- Why the fossil fuel industry wants us to ignore risk (Renew Economy):
[Renewable energy] technology is having a massive impact on incumbent industries, perhaps more than any climate policy might have done in such a short period. The fossil fuel industry understands this – which is why they are so desperate to take such technologies out of the market... - Koch Brothers Quietly Seek To Ban New Mass Transit In Tennessee (Climate Progress)
- “Inhaling Ozone Is Like Getting a Sunburn On Your Lungs,” and Other Reasons For Strong Smog Pollution Standards (Grist)
- MN: Soil Contamination Leaking Toxic Gases Into Homes: (Minneapolis Star Tribune):
Discovery that contamination in soil can vaporize and seep into homes has prompted a statewide review of polluted sites. - Toxic coal ash poses persistent threat to US waters: (Christian Science Monitor):
A recent spill of coal ash in North Carolina underscores the challenge of disposing hazardous substances captured from power plant stacks. Are we diverting air pollutants into our waterways? - Chemical Valley: Coal industry, politicians, and the Big Spill: (The New Yorker): Politically, coal and chemicals are sacred cows in West Virginia.
- Horseshow crabs are now in danger: (AP)
- Ocean garbage thwarts Flight 370 search: (Al Jazeera America):
Anticipation has repeatedly turned into frustration in the search for signs of Flight 370 as objects spotted from planes in a new search area west of Australia have turned out to be garbage. It's a time-wasting distraction for air and sea crews searching for debris from the Malaysia Airlines flight that vanished March 8. It also points to wider problems in the world's oceans. - White House unveils plans to cut methane emissions: (NY Times):
The Obama administration on Friday announced a strategy to start slashing emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas released by landfills, cattle, and leaks from oil and natural gas production. - Transparent Panels Signal the Future of the Solar Industry (Triple Pundit)
- Officials Not Keeping Track of Oil Trains (Cincinnati Enquirer)
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).