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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Massive Colonial Pipeline explosion in Alabama injures at least seven workers; Unarmed Dakota Access Pipeline protesters maced and arrested, while armed occupiers in Oregon go free; 300 million kids breathe dangerously polluted air, according to UNICEF; PLUS: It’s official: largest earthquake on record in Kansas was caused by fracking industry injection well… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen 11/1/2016

‘Green News Report’ – November 1, 2016  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...   · · · · ·   ‘Green News Report’ – November 1, 2016  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Exxon Concedes It May Need to Declare Lower Value for Oil in Ground; In rare move, China criticizes Trump plan to exit climate change pact; Coal doesn’t help the poor; it makes them poorer; Climate Change Is Already Forcing Americans to Move; Rio’s famous beaches take battering as scientists issue climate change warning… PLUS: Elon Musk Unveiled a Solar Roof and Didn’t Address Any Pressing Questions… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• UPDATED: Alabama pipeline explosion leaves 1 dead, at least 5 severely injured:
• Alabama gasoline pipeline explosion: What we know today (AL.com):
  At least one fire is still burning and emergency response crews are still on scene after working overnight in Shelby County, Alabama Tuesday morning after a gasoline pipeline explosion Monday that killed one pipeline worker and severely burned at least five others.
• Largest US oil pipeline shut off after deadly blast (AFP)
• Colonial gasoline line may be shut at least a week after explosion (Reuters)
• North Dakota escalates police response to Dakota Access protesters:
• Tribal chairman criticizes law enforcement response, calls for pipeline reroute (Bismarck Tribune):
  Archambault also said he tried to avert the forcible removal of protesters during a phone conversation with Gov. Jack Dalrymple on Wednesday. He said the governor told him to ask the protesters to leave the land. In response, Archambault said he asked the governor to stop construction near the Missouri River, where the federal government has also asked the pipeline company to pause work pending an easement under the river.”Why are you allowing this company to continue to construct when people’s safety is at risk?” he recalled asking Dalrymple.
• The View From Two Sides of the Standing Rock Front Lines (NY Times):
  “What I said to the police officers when I was sitting down in a prayer circle, I asked them, ‘Don’t you drink water, too?'” he says. “Don’t your children drink water? We’re here to protect the water. This isn’t just a native issue. We’re here protecting the water, not only for our families and our children, but for your families and your children. For every ranch and every farm along the Missouri River.”
• Why Facebook users are ‘checking in’ at Standing Rock (Washington Post)
• Tribe vows to fight North Dakota pipeline through winter (Reuters)
• All-white jurty acquits all-white Bundy Bunch of armed takeover of federal wildlife refuge:
• White armed occupiers were acquitted. Native American activists were tear gassed. (Climate Progress)
• Jury acquits Ammon Bundy, six others for standoff at Oregon wildlife refuge (Washington Post)
• What’s the difference between an armed occupier and a peaceful protester? (Washington Post)
• Bundy Verdict Puts a Target on the Backs of Federal Workers (NY Times)
• The Bundy brothers’ acquittal shows how white privilege perverts justice in the US (Quartz):
  What do we think would happen if a vocal anti-government armed militia made up of black Americans took over federal property for nearly six weeks? What would “justice” look like?…The verdict was so insanely gobsmacking, in fact, that even the judge had to ask upon reading the jury’s decision, “Did I read the verdict correctly?”
• Kansas: largest earthquake in state history caused by fracking injection well:
• Geologists: Here’s what caused Kansas’ biggest earthquake (Wichita Eagle)
• It’s Official: Injection of Fracking Wastewater Caused Kansas’ Biggest Earthquake (EcoWatch)
• Largest Earthquake In Kansas Caused By Fracking (w/Video) (PlanetSave)
• Was 5.8 earthquake in OK just a foreshock? Kansas geologist asks (Wichita Eagle)
• 300 million kids breathe dangerously polluted air
• Pollution: 300 million children breathing toxic air – report (UNICEF):
  Almost one in seven of the world’s children, 300 million, live in areas with the most toxic levels of outdoor air pollution – six or more times higher than international guidelines – reveals a new UNICEF report.
• 300 Million Children Breathe Highly Toxic Air, Unicef Reports (NY Times):
  Unicef also argued that the effects of toxic air go well beyond early mortality, in particular for children, on whom the lifelong effects are only now being understood.
• 300 million children live in areas with extreme air pollution, data reveals (Guardian *UK)
• Air pollution more deadly in Africa than malnutrition or dirty water, study warns (Guardian UK):
  Annual human and economic cost of tainted air runs to 712,000 lost lives and £364bn, finds Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/
• Nations agree to create world’s largest marine sanctuary in Antarctica:
• CCAMLR to create world’s largest Marine Protected Area (Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources)
• Antarctica’s Ross Sea is now the world’s largest marine protected area (Wired):
  Ross Sea is an important area for marine life: it is home to 38 percent of the world’s population Adelie penguins, 30 percent of the world’s Antarctic petrels and six percent of the world’s Antarctic minke whales. It is also home to huge numbers of krill, the staple food for whales and seals and whose oil is critical for salmon farming. However, there are concerns overfishing and climate change are having significant impacts on their numbers.
• On the New Marine Protected Area in Antarctica’s Ross Sea (U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry)
• Why is the new Antarctic marine sanctuary such a big deal? (Deutsche-Welle) [emphasis added]:
  Today’s decision is historic, it’s the first time countries have come together to create a protected marine area outside of any country’s jurisdiction….The sea is within the Southern Ocean, which is a largely intact marine ecosystem. It hasn’t suffered the same degradation from humans as the rest of the ocean. It’s quite possibly the healthiest ecosystem on the planet. And the influence of the Southern Ocean acts as a heart for the ocean globally, it pumps nutrients and fuels currents which sustain the rest of the ocean.
• Whaling Nations Block South Atlantic Sanctuary Plans (Guardian UK):
  Conservation groups dismayed as Japan and other pro-whaling nations vote against plans for a protected area for whales, dolphins and porpoises/

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

• Exxon Concedes It May Need to Declare Lower Value for Oil in Ground (NY Times):
  Exxon Mobil, in a concession to market and regulatory pressures, said Friday that it might be forced to write down the value of some of its oil and gas assets in Canada and elsewhere if energy prices remain low through the end of the year.
• In rare move, China criticizes Trump plan to exit climate change pact (Reuters):
  China on Tuesday rejected a plan by U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to back out of a global climate change pact, saying a wise political leader should make policy in line with global trends, a rare comment on a foreign election…”I believe a wise political leader should take policy stances that conform with global trends,” China’s veteran climate chief said.

• Coal doesn’t help the poor; it makes them poorer (Guardian UK):
  A dozen international poverty and development organizations published a report last week on the impact of building new coal power plants in countries where a large percentage of the population lacks access to electricity. The report’s conclusions are strikingly counter-intuitive: on the whole, building coal power plants does little to help the poor, and often it can actually make them poorer.
• Climate Change Is Already Forcing Americans to Move (Bloomberg):
  Storms and flooding are damaging or destroying a growing share of the nation’s 1.1 million public housing units. Those homes are getting replaced slowly or not at all, forcing the people who lived in them to leave their neighborhoods and often their cities.
• Fossil fuel interests spend big to defeat Washington carbon tax (Climate Porgress):
  Washington state’s carbon tax is doing better in the polls – and fossil fuel interests have taken notice.
• Rio’s famous beaches take battering as scientists issue climate change warning (Guardian UK):
  Scientists in Rio de Janeiro have warned that the city’s sea defences may not be able to cope with the effects of climate change after a record weekend storm surge swamped beaches, dumping hundreds of tonnes of sand across nearby roads and buildings.
• On One Thing The Candidates Agree: Infrastructure Needs Work (NPR):
  Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both have proposals to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure. Meanwhile, ballots in some 400 local communities feature public transit and infrastructure projects.
• All Dutch electric trains to run on renewable energy (Rail Journal):
  The move affects both passenger and freight operators as the entire Dutch railway sector purchases traction energy collectively. Based on a 10 year contract, the sector is purchasing 1.4 terawatts per year, of which 1.2 terawatts is used for traction.
• Elon Musk Unveiled a Solar Roof and Didn’t Address Any Pressing Questions (GreenTech Media):
  Yes, the solar shingles look pretty. They come dressed up as French slate and Tuscan clay tiles, and through clever manufacturing they don’t even look like solar cells when viewed from a low angle. And yes, Musk released the most elementary details about the new Powerwall 2.0. But he failed to address any of the serious, foundational challenges facing a car-company-turned-battery-and-solar-installer that wants to get a roof product to market.
• No country on Earth is taking the 2 degree climate target seriously (Vox):
  If we mean what we say, no more new fossil fuels, anywhere.

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).