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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Pope Francis calls on Christians to protect Creation --- or else!; Evangelical environmentalists organizing to address climate change; CNN's chief says climate change too boring to cover; PLUS: Meet your newest national monument: Organ Pipes Desert Peaks, in NM... 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): Pat Sajak, newest climate denial scientist; Innovation: A new way to harness waste heat; China’s global search for energy; Japan court rules against nuclear restart in rare ruling; USDA: Honeybee death rate too high for long-term survival; Heatwave in Australia breaks new records; Oil spills up 18% in US over last year alone; NC GOP pushes bill to punish fracking disclosures as a felony; Germany: clean energy success story or cautionary tale? ... PLUS: I Don’t Want to Be Right: Why people persist in believing things that just aren't true ... and much, MUCH more! ...

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...

• Pope Francis: 'If We Destroy Creation, Creation Will Destroy Us":
• VIDEO: Pope Francis Blasts the Koch/GOP Ideology: Polluting ‘Is Sin’ (Occupy Democrats, video via Rome Reports)
• Pope Francis Makes Biblical Case For Addressing Climate Change: ‘If We Destroy Creation, Creation Will Destroy Us’ (Climate Progress)




• Evangelical Environmentalist Christians Organize for 'Creation Care':
• VIDEO: UPDATE: Faith Community Stirs in Climate Debate (Climate Crocks)
• Evangelical Group: Climate Change Is A ‘Pro-Life’ Issue (Climate Progress):
  
  A group of Evangelical Christians are calling on Florida Gov. Rick Scott to create a plan to mitigate and adapt to climate change, hoping that their message will resonate with Scott’s staunch Christian values.
• Why Creation Care Matters (Evangelical Environmental Network)
• Creationists now losing their minds because Neil deGrasse Tyson explained electricity: We wish we were joking . (Salon)
• CNN's Jeff Zucker Thinks Climate is Too Boring To Cover:
• Jeff Zucker talks CNN’s post-plane plans (Capital New York) [emphasis added]:
  
  "Climate change is one of those stories that deserves more attention, that we all talk about," Zucker said, "but we haven't figured out how to engage the audience in that story in a meaningful way. When we do do those stories, there does tend to be a tremendous amount of lack of interest on the audience's part."
• The Real Reason Why No One Cares About CNN’s Climate Stories (Climate Progress):
  
  [A]s CNN continues to paint climate change as an issue that’s still up for debate, it’s not exactly surprising when Americans across the country continue to express low levels of concern about the issue. What is surprising is the network’s inability to figure out why.
• AUDIO: Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Miles O’Brien slam CNN as the ‘Wal-Mart of journalism’ (Raw Story)
• Obama Designates New National Monument: Organ Pipes & Desert Peaks in NM:
• Obama designates Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument: Jubilation greets president's proclamation (Las Cruces Sun-News)
• President Obama Is Set To Create His Largest National Monument So Far (Climate Progress)
• VIDEO: Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument Designation (C-SPAN):
  
  President Obama made remarks on his executive order that designates the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks in southern New Mexico as a national monument.
• Transcript: President Obama's Remarks Designating The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Monument (AP)
• Obama creates national monument in New Mexico, sparking border concerns (Reuters)
• Surprise! California Is Not A 'Black Gold Mine' Of Oil:
• U.S. officials cut estimate of recoverable Monterey Shale oil by 96% (LA Times) [emphasis added]
  
  Federal energy authorities have slashed by 96% the estimated amount of recoverable oil buried in California's vast Monterey Shale deposits, deflating its potential as a national "black gold mine" of petroleum.
• This Rocks: California Oil Shale No Bonanza (Clima Crocks)

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

• I Don’t Want to Be Right: Why people persist in believing things that just aren't true: (The New Yorker)
  
  Facts and evidence, for one, may not be the answer everyone thinks they are: they simply aren’t that effective, given how selectively they are processed and interpreted. Instead, why not focus on presenting issues in a way keeps broader notions out of it—messages that are not political, not ideological, not in any way a reflection of who you are?
• VIDEO: Pat Sajak Newest Climate Denial Scientist (Climate Crocks):
  
  Readers have probably heard by now that game show host Pat Sajak is the newest authority to weigh in for climate denial. (hey, when you’re on the denial side, you go with what you got)
  This fits well with the denialist meme of the “thousands of scientists” (see classic crock video above) who supposedly deny the mainstream science.
• Innovation: A new way to harness waste heat (Stanford Univ.) [emphasis added]:
  
  Vast amounts of excess heat are generated by industrial processes and by electric power plants. Researchers around the world have spent decades seeking ways to harness some of this wasted energy. Most such efforts have focused on thermoelectric devices, solid-state materials that can produce electricity from a temperature gradient, but the efficiency of such devices is limited by the availability of materials. Now researchers at Stanford University and MIT have found a new alternative for low-temperature waste-heat conversion into electricity — that is, in cases where temperature differences are less than 100 degrees Celsius.
• China’s Global Search for Energy (NY Times):
  
  Whether by diplomacy, investment or in extreme cases, force, China is going to great lengths to satisfy its growing hunger for energy to fuel its expanding car fleet and electrify its swelling cities.
• China and Russia Reach 30-Year Gas Deal (NY Times):
  
  “Politically, it is important for Putin to show that the ‘Greater Russia’ is back on the international scene and that it has other, non-Western options to restore its rightful place.”
• Japan court rules against nuclear restart in rare ruling (Reuters)
• U.S. Honeybee Death Rate Too High for Long-term Survival, Study Says (Yale e360):
  
  Honeybees in the United States are dying at a rate too high to ensure their long-term survival, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
• Southeast Australia Endures Fall Heat Wave After Another Record-Breaking Summer (Climate Progress):
  
  Earlier this month in Adelaide, the 81°F high was the hottest ever recorded for this time of year. If the city has four more days above 68°F, it’ll break the 15-day May record set in 2002. Sydney has spent 13 days in a row above 71°F, which beats its last nine-day record set in 2007. Forecasts have the heat sticking around the city for another seven days.
• The new generation of gaming consoles uses about as much energy in standby mode as playing games (Treehugger)
• Dust Bowl Days: Will We Cut Carbon Pollution Fast Enough To Prevent Permanent Droughts? (Climate Progress)
• Oil spills up 17 percent in U.S. in 2013 (E & E News)
• Santa Cruz becomes first California county to ban fracking (Reuters)
• North Carolina GOP Pushes Unprecedented Bill to Jail Anyone Who Discloses Fracking Chemicals (Mother Jones)
• The Big Melt: Antarctica, Greenland Melting Faster Than Thought: (NY Times):
  
  [T]hese glaciers are just the latest signs that the thawing of earth’s icy regions is accelerating. While some glaciers are holding steady or even growing slightly, most are shrinking, and scientists believe they will continue to melt until greenhouse gas emissions are reined in.
• AUDIO: Germany - A Clean Energy Success Story or Cautionary Tale? (GreenTech Media)
• Court declines BP's request to review settlement deal for Gulf oil spill: (NY Times):
  
  A federal appeals court has refused to reconsider a major decision in the long-running battle over the 2010 gulf oil spill, leaving in place an earlier ruling that forces the British oil company BP to pay some businesses for economic damages without the businesses having to prove the losses were directly caused by the spill.
• Saudi Arabia in Policy Shift Seeking Solar Through Aramco (Bloomberg News):
  
  Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company is planning to add more solar power, a move to limit domestic fossil-fuel consumption in the world’s biggest exporter of crude.
• VIDEO: Colbert Embraces Conservative Solution to Climate Change: 'F*ck It' (The Colbert Report)
• End fossil fuel burning, save $71 trillion - and preserve civilization as we know it (Grist) [emphasis added]:
  
  It would cost the world $44 trillion to end our fossil fuel addiction by 2050 and switch to clean energy. Worse, this figure is $8 trillion higher than the IEA's last estimate, published two years ago.... And now the good news: We can save $115 trillion in fuel costs by 2050 if we move away from dirty energy, making for net savings of $71 trillion.
• How to Solve Global Warming: It's the Energy Supply (Scientific American):
  
  Restraining global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius will require changing how the world produces and uses energy to power its cities and factories, heats and cools buildings, as well as moves people and goods in airplanes, trains, cars, ships and trucks, according to the IPCC. Changes are required not just in technology, but also in people's behavior.

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).

                 

Article Categories: CNN, California, Mainstream Media Failure, Environment, Barack Obama, Green News, BP Oil Disaster, Natural gas, Russia, Oil, Climate change, Extreme weather, China