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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: U.S. Coast Guard planning for six feet of sea level rise by 2100; U.S. House Science Committee chairman pushes myth that climate change will be "beneficial"; Rome may go to water rationing amid serious drought; Oil companies sued over climate change; Hundreds of new panda-shaped Chinese solar farms; South Miami law mandates solar; PLUS: Environmental factors linked to serious decline in North American men's sperm counts... 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): Trump threatens to protect the environment if Alaska senators don’t back health care bill; Unusual weather phenomenon explains simultaneous eastern and western India flooding; AEP plans the largest onshore wind farm in the U.S in OK; CA's marine sanctuaries face new offshore drilling threat from Trump Admin; New massive plastic garbage patch found in Pacific Ocean; EPA to seek public comment on water rule repeal; Bundy follower gets 68 years in prison for role in armed NV standoff; New database shows myriad pollutants in U.S. water systems... PLUS: New diesel and petrol cars and vans will be banned in the UK from 2040... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• Environmental factors linked to serious decline in Western men's sperm counts
• Sperm counts of Western men plummeting, analysis finds (CNN):
  
  Sperm counts of men in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand are plunging, according to a new analysis published Tuesday...Though Levine emphasized that his analysis did not study the cause of declines, he speculated the reason may be "we are exposed to many chemicals we've never been exposed to before."...No significant declines were seen in sperm counts of men living in South America, Asia and Africa.
• VIDEO: Docs find ‘very steep’ decline in sperm count in North American men (Global News):
  
  “One possible explanation is that men residing in Western countries over the last decades were exposed to new, man-made chemicals during their life course, and there is more and more evidence that these chemicals hurt their reproductive function,” Levine explained.
• DOE confirms Sec. Perry tricked by Russian pranksters in phone call:
• AUDIO: Listen to Russian pranksters trick Rick Perry into a conversation about pig manure (Washington Post):
  
  It was a winding, wonkish and occasionally obscure conversation about foreign coal exploration, natural-gas pipelines and pig manure as a power source.
• Rep. Lamar Smith sees melting Arctic, calls it 'beneficial':
• Chair of House Science Committee thinks we need to focus on the benefits of climate change (Climate Progress):
  
  Smith saw climate change in the Arctic, and came back with a very optimistic view of the problem...Smith acknowledges that an increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is contributing to climate change; instead of focusing on the consequences of climate change, however?—?like sea level rise and the inundation of island nations and coastal cities, increased likelihood of intense drought, or expansion of diseases?—?he argues that the public needs to focus on the benefits instead.
• US Coast Guard planning for 6 feet of sea level rise by 2100:
• VIDEO: Remarks by U.S. Coast Guard Commandant, Admiral Paul Zukunft at the 7th Symposium on the Impacts of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations [starts at 1:53] (YouTube)
• The U.S. is not ready to clean up an Arctic oil spill (Scientific American):
  
  The United States is not ready to clean up an oil spill in the Arctic, the Head of the Coast Guard said yesterday.
• Rome faces water shortages amid persistent drought:
• Rome facing water rationing as Italy suffers driest spring for 60 years (Guardian UK):
  
  Rainfalls 80% below normal have affected farming across the country and could result in the capital's famous fountains being turned off.
• Italy drought: Water cuts pose Rome 'health risk' (BBC)
• Vatican turns off historic fountains amid Rome drought (Guardian UK)
• China plans to expand 'panda' solar farms:
• Paw power: China plans 100 panda-shaped solar plants on new Silk Road (Reuters):
  
  In a country where you can find everything from chopsticks to slippers designed to look like pandas, one Chinese energy company is going a step further by building 100 solar farms shaped like the bears along the route of the ambitious Belt and Road initiative...Built with darker crystalline silicon and lighter-colored thin film solar cells, the plant resembles a cartoon giant panda from the air.
• South Miami to require solar panels on all new homes:
• South Miami Approves Solar Roof Rules, Inspired by a Teenager (Inside Climate News):
  
  The climate change risks in South Florida are evident as sea level and temperatures rise. Delaney Reynolds knows her generation will have to solve it.
• South Miami is going solar, but not everyone is on board (Miami Herald)
• Coastal California municipalities sue fossil fuel companies over rising seas:
• Rising Seas Spark Tobacco-Style Lawsuits in California (Climate Central):
  
  Several flood-prone municipalities in California filed first-of-their-kind lawsuits against fossil fuel companies this week as they attempt to recoup the cost of coping with rising seas. The suits point to indisputable climate science and decades of industry efforts to mar that science. Experts likened the legal complaints to those brought against the tobacco industry in decades past, which succeeded by alleging the use of anti-science tactics to mask the dangers of their products.
• California Locales Sue Fossil Fuel Companies for Rising Seas (E&E News):
  
  The locales say that actions by oil, natural gas and coal companies intensified climate change.
• Two Bay Area counties sue 37 fossil fuel companies over sea-rise (San Jose Mercury News)

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

For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists' Daily Headlines page

• Donald Trump threatens to protect the environment if Alaska senators don’t back health care bill: Trump administration threatens retribution against Alaska over Murkowski health votes (Alaska Dispatch News):
  
  Early Wednesday, Trump took to Twitter to express displeasure with Murkowski's vote. By that afternoon, each of Alaska's two Republican senators had received a phone call from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke letting them know the vote had put Alaska's future with the administration in jeopardy.
• An unusual weather phenomenon explains why eastern and western India are flooding (Scroll In):
  
  There are two low pressure areas over the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea at the same time.
• AEP to Spend $4.5 Billion on the Largest Wind Farm in the U.S. (Bloomberg):
  
  U.S. utility giant American Electric Power Co. is looking to invest $4.5 billion in a massive wind farm spread across Oklahoma’s panhandle and a new transmission line that will carry the power to customers.
• EPA: Transition Aide Blasts Pruitt, 'Red Team, Blue Team' Scheme (E&E News):
  
  David Schnare, who resigned from U.S. EPA earlier this year under a cloud of controversy, is faulting Administrator Scott Pruitt over his leadership of the agency.
• California’s Marine Sanctuaries May Face New Drilling Threat (SF Chronicle):
  
  The same communities that fought for decades to protect California’s coast from offshore oil drilling have renewed their battle calls as the Trump administration considers opening 3,500 square miles of state waters to energy development.
• Plastic Garbage Patch Bigger Than Mexico Found in Pacific (National Geographic):
  
  Yet another floating mass of microscopic plastic has been discovered in the ocean, and it is mind-blowingly vast.
• EPA To Seek Comments On Obama Water Rule Repeal (The Hill):
  
  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is allowing the public to weigh in on its proposal to repeal the Obama administration’s controversial water pollution rule.
• New Diesel And Petrol Vehicles To Be Banned From 2040 in UK (BBC):
  
  New diesel and petrol cars and vans will be banned in the UK from 2040 in a bid to tackle air pollution, the government has announced.
• Bundy Follower Gets 68 Years For Role In Armed Nevada Standoff (Reuters):
  
  One of two men convicted in the first of several trials stemming from a 2014 standoff led by renegade rancher Cliven Bundy against federal authorities in Nevada was sentenced on Wednesday to 68 years in prison for his role in the armed confrontation.
• New Database Shows Pollutants In Most Public Water Systems (NPR):
  
  A new national database released Wednesday by the Environmental Working Group shines a light on water quality across the U.S.
• Pittsburgh May Have 'Deflected' Attention From Lead-Contaminated Water (Guardian UK):
  
  Residents in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, were given 'misleading' statements by health officials who 'deflected' attention from lead-contaminated water, according to the audit.
• Like Exxon, Utilities Knew about Climate Change Risks Decades Ago (Inside Climate News):
  
  A new report shows through documents and testimony how utilities researched climate change and determined in the 1970s that it could force a shift away from coal.
• Today's Extreme Heat May Become Norm Within a Decade (Climate Central):
  
  When 2015 blew the record for hottest year out of the water, it made headlines around the world. But a heat record that was so remarkable only two years ago will be just another year by 2040 at the latest, and possibly as early as 2020, regardless of whether the greenhouse gas emissions warming the planet are curtailed.
• The Uninhabitable Earth: When will climate change make earth too hot for humans? (New York Magazine):
  
  Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak - sooner than you think.
• A beginner's guide to the debate over 100% renewable energy (Vox):
  
  Clean-energy enthusiasts frequently claim that we can go bigger, that it's possible for the whole world to run on renewables - we merely lack the "political will." So, is it true? Do we know how get to an all-renewables system? Not yet. Not really.
• 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).

                 

Article Categories: Florida, California, Alaska, National Security, Environment, San Diego, Lamar Smith, Green News, Rick Perry, Natural gas, Oil, Solar energy, Climate change, Extreme weather, China, Oceans/Sea Level Rise, Water, Africa, Arctic, Italy, Dept. of Energy