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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Eleven candidates, one question on climate change in the latest GOP Presidential debate; Australia dumps its climate change-denying prime minister; PLUS: August 2015 was the hottest August on record… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
Green News Report
with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen
9/17/2015
‘Green News Report’ – September 17, 2015 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... · · · · · ‘Green News Report’ – September 17, 2015 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): VIDEO: They Knew: Inside Climate/Frontline Investigation Reveals Exxon Studied Climate Change in the 70s; Third Death Reported in California Wildfires; Pope Francis Faces Challenge Persuading US Catholic Leaders on Climate; France Bolsters Ban on Genetically Modified Crops; EPA Chief: Agency Did Not Shirk Responsibility in Mine Spill; Forest Service Has To Divert Another $250 Million To Fight Wildfires… PLUS: Faced With Spate Of Tremors, Oklahoma Looks To Shake Up Oil Regulations… and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- Officials: Dozens Killed in Sudan Fuel Tanker Explosion (NY Times):
A fuel truck exploded in South Sudan, killing dozens of people who had converged around the vehicle to siphon fuel, officials said Thursday.
- 2nd GOP Debate: Climate Change Gets a Question!:
- Republicans Resist Climate Change Action at Debate (Guardian UK):
Rubio says economy must come first as candidates address issue on CNN, as Christie rejects ‘wild leftwing idea’ that we can fix the climate alone’
- Republicans Got One Question About Climate Change At The Debate, And Totally Screwed It Up (Climate Progress):
Republicans have loved this argument lately, seemingly because it’s moderate — it falls between denying climate change is happening, and admitting that anything should be done about the problem. The idea is that regulations to limit carbon emissions won’t help solve climate change on their own, but they will cost coal jobs and raise Americans’ electricity bills. So why do it?- “America Is Not a Planet”: The Only Thing Marco Rubio Got Right on Climate Change (Slate)
- ‘America is not a planet’: Republicans resist climate change action at debate (Guardian UK):
Rubio says economy must come first as candidates address issue on CNN, as Christie rejects ‘wild leftwing idea’ that we can fix the climate alone.- Carly Fiorina did a 4-minute riff on climate change. Everything she said was wrong. (Vox):
California’s climate regulations are indeed the most ambitious in the nation…It is the top state in the nation for venture capital investments in cleantech, cleantech patents, and advanced-energy jobs….and California created more jobs than any other state in the nation last year, with the fifth-highest GDP growth rate. And its budget is balanced.- US and Chinese cities reveal stronger pledges to cut emissions (Guardian UK):
New, more ambitious goals from dozens of major cities boosts earlier historic deal between the world’s two biggest carbon polluting countries.- Australia dumps climate-change denying Prime Minister Abbott:
- Green Dreams Stymied as Turnbull Backs Abbott Climate Policy (Bloomberg)
- Why Malcolm Turnbull will end up disappointing many voters (Aus News.com) [emphasis added]:
If there is one thing our new Prime Minister has made clear over the last two days is that he plans to lead a more consultative government, a “traditional Cabinet government”. This means his own personal views on climate change, same-sex marriage, immigration and republicanism will have to take a back seat. He has a whole party to appease.
- Abbott’s climate change policy is bullshit (Sydney Morning Herald, 12/7/2009)
- Progressives, don’t be fooled. Turnbull will rule from and for the big end of town (Guardian UK)
- August 2015: More global climate change records fall:
- Global Summary Information – August 2015 (NOAA)
- There’s a 97% chance this year will be Earth’s warmest on record (Mashable) [emphasis added]:
New data released from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows that August was the warmest such month on record, the summer months of June through August were the warmest on record for the planet, and the year-to-date also set a record for the hottest such period both on land and in the sea….In other words, not only was the record broken, but it was broken by such a significant margin that the margin itself also set a record.
- Hot August Confirms That Long-Awaited Global Temperature Speed Up Is Here (Climate Progress):
NASA reports that this was the hottest start to any year on record by far. This was the hottest August by far in the dataset of the Japan Meteorological Agency, and close to tied with 2014 for hottest August in the NASA dataset.
- Feds: Arctic sea ice levels shrink to 4th lowest level (Chicago Tribune)
- COMIC: Does Australia’s Coup Mean Climate Denial is on the Wane? (Climate Crocks)
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
- VIDEO: They Knew: Inside Climate/Frontline Investigation Reveals Exxon Studied Climate Change in the 70s (Climate Crocks):
The tobacco industry, we now know, knew about the toxic effects of their products decades before they were finally forced by courts to begin making reparations for their actions, in promoting a toxic, addictive product. Likewise, a new investigation documents how Exxon, the fossil fuel giant, actually conducted research on the climate effects of burning fossil fuels in the 1970s, and was clear on the science, and the potential effects of continued CO2 release at least that far back.
- Third Death Reported in California Wildfires as Rain Gives Crews Break (Reuters):
A third person was confirmed dead on Wednesday in the massive California wildfires that have destroyed more than 800 homes and forced the evacuation of 20,000 people, but crews appeared to turn a corner against the blazes as rain fell over the region.
- Pope Francis Faces Challenge Persuading US Catholic Leaders on Climate (Guradian UK):
Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, leader of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, does not seem to be on board with Pope Francis’ teachings on climate change and environmental conservation.
- France Bolsters Ban on Genetically Modified Crops (Reuters):
France is to use a new European opt-out scheme to ensure a ban on the cultivation of genetically modified crops in the country remains in place, it said on Thursday.
- Faced With Spate Of Tremors, Oklahoma Looks To Shake Up Oil Regulations (NPR):
In the five years since earthquakes first began blitzing Oklahoma, state officials have been hesitant to agree with scientists who blamed the oil and gas industry. The shaking doesn’t appear to be slowing, but the regulatory response is ramping up as more state officials acknowledge the link between increased seismic activity and waste fluid pumped into the disposal wells of oil fields.
- EPA Chief: Agency Did Not Shirk Responsibility in Mine Spill (AP):
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency dismissed complaints Wednesday by Republican lawmakers that her agency downplayed the seriousness of a toxic mine spill that fouled rivers in three Western states.
- Forest Service Has To Divert Another $250 Million To Fight Wildfires (Washington Post):
Top administration officials wrote Congress on Tuesday to urge it — once again — to change the way it budgets for firefighting in light of the disastrous wildfire season in the western United States.
- VIDEO: If We Burn it all, We Melt it All (Climate Crocks):
In a major surprise to the scientists, they found that half the melting could occur in as little as a thousand years, causing the ocean to rise by something on the order of a foot per decade, roughly 10 times the rate at which it is rising now.
- Ex Machina: No Techno-Fix For Irreversible Ocean Collapse From Carbon Pollution (Climate Progress):
The Nature Climate Change study examined what would happen if we continue current CO2 emissions trends through 2050 and then try to remove huge volumes of CO2 from the air after the fact with some techno-fix. The result, as co-author John Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, put it, is “we will not be able to preserve ocean life as we know it.”
- Gov. Jerry Brown Sent Ben Carson A Flash Drive To Cure His Climate Denial (Climate Progress):
“Please use your considerable intelligence to review this material,” a letter accompanying the flash drive read. “Climate change is much bigger than partisan politics.”
- Thousands Forced To Flee Their Homes After Japan Experiences ‘Unprecedented’ Rainfall (Climate Progress):
Eastern Japan was hit by widespread, dangerous flooding and more than 60 landslides this week.
- Navy To Limit Use of Sonar To Protect Whales, Dolphins Off California (AP):
The Navy agreed to limit its use of sonar and other training that inadvertently harms whales, dolphins and other marine mammals off Hawaii and California in a settlement with environmental groups approved Monday.
- Every country is now pledging to tackle CO2 emissions. It’s still not enough. (Vox.com):
In other words, if the world wants to stay below 2°C of global warming – which has long been considered the danger zone for climate change – these pledges are only a first step. Countries will have to do a whole lot more than they’re currently promising. And the IEA has a few ideas for what “do a whole lot more” might entail.
…
1. Increase energy efficiency in the industry, buildings, and transport sectors.
2. Progressively reduce the use of the least efficient coal-fired power plants and banning their construction.
3. Increase investment in renewable energy technologies in the power sector from $270 billion in 2014 to $400 billion in 2030.
4. Gradually phase out fossil fuel subsidies to end-users by 2030.
5. Reduce methane emissions in oil and gas production. - Now’s Your Chance to Help Save the Imperiled Monarch Butterfly-and Get Paid to Do So (Take Part) [emphasis added]:
Another threat, according to Grant, has been well-intentioned individuals who have planted a tropical form of milkweed, which competes with native varieties and is not beneficial to monarchs or other pollinators.
FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page
- Skeptical Science: Database with FULL DEBUNKING of ALL Climate Science Denier Myths
- 4 Scenarios Show What Climate Change Will Do To The Earth, From Pretty Bad To Disaster (Fast CoExist):
But exactly how bad is still an open question, and a lot depends not only on how we react, but how quickly. The rate at which humans cut down on greenhouse gas emissions–if we do choose to cut them–will have a large bearing on how the world turns out by 2100, the forecasts reveal.- 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.- Warning: Even in the best-case scenario, climate change will kick our asses (Grist)
- NASA Video: Warming over the last 130 years, and into the next 100 years:
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- Republicans Got One Question About Climate Change At The Debate, And Totally Screwed It Up (Climate Progress):
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