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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: At the RNC in Cleveland, Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump (and his Veep nominee Mike Pence) promise to roll back environmental standards and bring back dirty coal; PLUS: U.S. walloped by deadly heat wave, as June 2016 breaks yet another new temperature record… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen 7/26/2016

‘Green News Report’ – July 26, 2016  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...   · · · · ·   ‘Green News Report’ – July 26, 2016  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Link Between Armed Conflict And Climate Change Just Got A Bit Stronger; EPA Clears Path To Regulate Carbon Emissions From U.S. Aircraft; Obama Admin. Announces $4.5 Billion In DOE Loan Guarantees For EV Charging; Donald Trump Loses His War Against a Scottish Wind Farm; Out-of-control wildfire grows to more than 33,000 acres in Santa Clarita Valley; New Zealand Announces Plan to Wipe Out Invasive Predators; Tesla Wants To Help You Become Your Own Solar Utility. And Sell Lots Of Self-Driving Cars… PLUS: Vancouver plans to go 100% renewable. I asked the city’s manager about the challenges it faces… and much, MUCH more! …

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…

• Solar Impulse 2 concludes historic round-the-world voyage:
• Where next for solar-powered flight? (BBC)
• Solar Impulse completes historic round-the-world trip (BBC):
  The longest leg, an 8,924km (5,545-mile) flight from Nagoya in Japan to Hawaii, US, lasted nearly 118 hours and saw Mr Borschberg break the absolute world record for longest (time duration) uninterrupted solo flight. It was just one of 19 official aviation records set during the global adventure.
• VIDEO: Sun sets over epic 505-day journey by fuel-free Solar Impulse (CNN)
• Republican nominee Donald Trump promises to roll back environmental standards:
• VIDEO: Presidential Nominee Donald Trump (C-SPAN):
  Donald Trump accepted the Republican party’s nomination to be president. He spoke about problems facing the country and his intent to solve them, saying “I am with you, I will fight for you, and I will win for you.”
• VIDEO: Vice Presidential Nominee Governor Mike Pence (C-SPAN):
  Governor Mike Pence (R-IN) accepted the Republican Party’s nomination to be vice president. He spoke about his upbringing, his family, and his values, saying “I’m a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order.”
• VIDEO: Oil billionaire Harold Hamm addresses RNC (C-SPAN)
• Fact Check: U.S. is global leader in oil and gas production:
• Oil falls on oversupply, demand concerns; U.S. crude hits three-month low (Reuters)
• U.S. Ousts Russia as Top World Oil, Gas Producer in BP Data (Bloomberg 6/10/2105)
• China’s coal peak hailed as turning point in climate change battle (Guardian UK)
• Coal And Gas To Begin ‘Terminal Decline’ In Less Than A Decade, Bloomberg Says (Climate Progress):
  It’s been clear for a while that coal demand is plateauing, if it hasn’t already peaked. But BNEF explains that of the “eight massive shifts coming soon to power markets,” #1 is “There Will Be No Golden Age of Gas.”
• Extreme weather impacts across the world:
• Earth’s 5th Costliest Non-U.S. Weather Disaster on Record: China’s $22 Billion Flood (Weather Underground)
• Kuwait swelters in 54C heat ““ what could be the highest temperature ever recorded on earth (Independent UK):
  The ‘official’ record was 56.7C on 10 July 1913 at Furnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley, California, but many doubt that reading was accurate
• Deadly heat wave scorches central and eastern U.S. (CNN)
• June 2016: Hottest June on record:
• June marks 14 consecutive months of record heat for the globe (NOAA):
  Persistent heat on land and in the sea this June shattered records, yet again.
• First Half of 2016 Blows Away Temp Records (Climate Central)

‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…

• The Link Between Armed Conflict And Climate Change Just Got A Bit Stronger (Climate Progress):
  Social scientists have for several decades tried to understand what makes a country experience conflict, with poverty, income inequality, weak governance, and ethnic animosity making up the long list of compounding factors at play. As human-caused climate change brings a rise in extreme weather events, scientists have now increasingly looked into the climate as another significant driver of conflict. On Monday, a study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research reported that climate disasters increase the likelihood of armed conflict outbreaks in highly ethnically divided societies, though researchers didn’t find a direct triggering effect.
• Vancouver plans to go 100% renewable. I asked the city’s manager about the challenges it faces. (Vox):
  Thats a bigger deal than it might sound. Plenty of North American cities have committed to getting all their electricity from clean sources within a few decades. But when it comes to decarbonization, electricity is the easy part. (Okay, maybe not easy, but easier.)
• EPA Clears Path To Regulate Carbon Emissions From U.S. Aircraft (Reuters):
  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday finalized its determination that greenhouse gases from airplanes endanger public health, a decision that requires the agency to regulate emissions from U.S. aircraft.
• Admin. Announces $4.5 Billion In DOE Loan Guarantees For EV Charging (Clean Technica):
  The Obama administration has just announced that it will be making $4.5 billion in US Energy Department loan guarantees available for the support of a commercial-scale electric vehicle charging station buildout.
• Donald Trump Loses His War Against a Scottish Wind Farm (CityLab):
  Donald Trump may have been grabbing headlines in Cleveland [last] week, but over in Europe it looks like he’s just lost an ongoing, albeit more low-profile battle.
• Out-of-control wildfire grows to more than 33,000 acres in Santa Clarita Valley (LA Times):
  At least one drone was spotted over the fire near the Bear Divide area, about 2,000 feet above Lake View Terrace, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The sighting of a drone over a wildfire typically prompts officials to ground aircraft for 30 minutes.
• New Zealand Announces Plan to Wipe Out Invasive Predators (National Geographic):
  The country plans to eradicate invasive rats, stoats, and possums by 2050 to save its unique wildlife””but it won’t be easy.
• Tesla Wants To Help You Become Your Own Solar Utility. And Sell Lots Of Self-Driving Cars (Cliamte Progress):
  If Elon Musk gets his way and his electric car company succeeds in buying the solar company SolarCity, Tesla will not just mean fancy electric vehicles (EVs). It will mean energy. Home battery storage. Solar panels on your roof. A wider variety of affordable Tesla vehicles driving the streets, increasingly without drivers “” including a forthcoming Tesla Semi.
• $15 Billion Volkswagen Emissions Deal Faces Critical Test (ABC News):
  Preliminary approval would allow attorneys to notify vehicle owners of the terms, which include a buyback option. Breyer is expected to decide in October whether to grant final approval or tell the sides to keep negotiating.
• 7 Things You Should Do After Watching ‘How to Let Go of the World’ (Eco Watch):
  ‘How to Let Go of the World’ is unlike any other documentary you’ve ever seen on climate change. Traveling to 12 countries on six continents, the film acknowledges that it may be too late to stop some of the worst consequences and asks, what is it that climate change can’t destroy? What is so deep within us that no calamity can take it away?

FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page

• NASA climate change video: This is the U.S. in 2100 (NASA).