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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Plastic within the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is 'increasing exponentially'; Cutting greenhouse gas emissions could save 150 million lives around the world; Americans have grown increasingly polarized in their views on global warming; PLUS: Pipeline protesters found not guilty in landmark new ruling... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): 'Boot Pruitt': There’s Now a National Campaign to Oust EPA Head Scott Pruitt; High-tide flooding could happen 'every other day' by late this century; Ice cores show Greenland’s melting is unprecedented in at least 400 years; ‘Extreme’ Fossil-Fuel Lending Fell in 2017 --- Except in Canada; EPA plan to bar studies without public data could disrupt clean air regulations; Efficiency, DERs saving California $2.6B in avoided transmission costs; After 3 Decades, Washington State Bans Atlantic Salmon Farms; Half of All U.S. Coal Plants Would Lose Money Without Regulation... PLUS: Empty half the Earth of its humans. It's the only way to save the planet... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• Americans have grown increasingly polarized in their views on global warming
• Global Warming Concern Steady Despite Some Partisan Shifts (Gallup):
  
  Partisan gaps across global-warming measures slightly wider than in 2017...69% of Republicans, 4% Democrats say global warming is exaggerated.
• Independents Are Shifting To Climate Denial, According To The Latest Gallup Poll (Huffington Post)
• Partisan split on climate grows, even as U.S. fears are on the rise, poll finds (Washington Post):
  
  Independents also became less convinced about climate change and its impacts. The portion of independents who believe global warming is caused by human behavior fell to 62 percent from 70 percent.
• Republican voters are more entrenched in climate denial than ever. Here's why. (Climate Progress):
  
  [T]hat shift appears to be at least partly driven by a drop in the percentage of people self-identifying as Republican. As Trump chases moderates out of the party, those left are more conservative, more extreme in their views.
• Plastic pollution within the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is 'increasing exponentially'
• Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly accumulating plastic (Nature)
• Plastic patch in Pacific Ocean growing rapidly, study shows (BBC):
  
  A collection of plastic afloat in the Pacific Ocean is growing rapidly, according to a new scientific estimate...This figure is up to sixteen times higher than previously reported, say international researchers. One trawl in the centre of the patch had the highest concentration of plastic ever recorded.
• VIDEO: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch - Explainer (Ocean Cleanup Foundation)
• VIDEO: Boyan Slat - The New Picture of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (2018) (Ocean Cleanup Foundation)
• The 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch' Is Ballooning, 87,000 Tons of Plastic and Counting (NY Times):
  
  Some sea turtles caught near the patch were eating so much plastic that it made up around three-quarters of their diet, according to the foundation.
• Meeting 1.5C temperature target could save 150 million lives around the world
• Quantified, localized health benefits of accelerated carbon dioxide emissions reductions (Nature Climate Change):
  
  2°C trajectories not relying on negative emissions or 1.5°C trajectories require elimination of most fossil-fuel-related emissions... The decreased air pollution leads to 153±43 million fewer premature deaths worldwide, with ~40% occurring during the next 40 years, and minimal climate disbenefits.
• Tougher climate policies could save a stunning 150 million lives, researchers find (Washington Post):
  
  The researchers ran computer simulations of future carbon dioxide emissions as well as other pollutants - such as ozone and particulate matter - that make it harder for millions of people around the world to breathe, to arrive at different scenarios for its potentially grave effects.
• Quicker action on climate change could prevent 153 million deaths: Study (UPI):
  
  That's how many lives could be saved in 154 of the world's largest cities through immediate action to reduce emissions and limit the global temperature increase to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, instead of delaying the largest reductions, as some countries propose, the researchers said.
• New Jersey legislature bans drilling off its coast:
• Bill to ban oil, gas drilling in state waters passes Senate (Press of Atlantic City):
  
  "We control the first 3 miles at the state level, so we will use that authority to try to hinder or block drilling along the Jersey coast, which is vital for the fishing industry."
• New Jersey votes to ban offshore oil and gas drilling (Climate Progress):
  
  Prohibiting infrastructure needed for drilling in federal waters means that companies couldn't build things like pipelines or docking facilities in state waters, which would complicate efforts to extract oil and gas from federal waters offshore. Without being able to rely on infrastructure in state waters, oil and gas companies would have to utilize massive floating storage stations and transfer the oil directly onto ships for market - equipment and steps that are expensive, especially at a time when the price of oil is relatively low.
• Pipeline protesters found not guilty using 'necessity defense':
• VIDEO: Climate change protesters claim judge agreed with 'necessity defence' (Independent UK):
  
  On Tuesday, Judge Mary Ann Driscoll of West Roxbury District Court, found all 13 defendants not responsible, the equivalent of not guilty in a criminal case. She did so after each of the defendants addressed the judge and explained why they were driven to try and halt the pipeline's construction.
• Judge sets aside charges in pipeline protest (Boston Herald):
  
  "It may well be the first of its kind in a case involving climate change, in that it's a judicial recognition of the measures that we need to take to address climate change," said Andrew Fischer, an attorney for some of the defendants. "In that sense, it is a revolutionary step."
• The Climate Made Me Do It: The necessity defense is the holy grail of climate action (Sierra Club),/li>
• "Environmental Extremism" or Necessary Response to Climate Emergency? Pipeline Shutdown Trials Pit Activists Against the Oil Industry (The Intercept)

'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

• The EPA's "approved talking points" for climate change are scientifically incorrect. (The New Republic)
• 'Boot Pruitt': There’s Now a National Campaign to Oust EPA Head Scott Pruitt (Earther)
• Federal report: High-tide flooding could happen 'every other day' by late this century (Washington Post)
• Ice cores show Greenland’s melting is unprecedented in at least four centuries (Washington Post)
• ‘Extreme’ Fossil-Fuel Lending Fell in 2017 --- Except in Canada (Bloomberg)
• The E.P.A. Says It Wants Research Transparency. Scientists See an Attack on Science. (NY Times)
• EPA plan to bar studies without public data could disrupt clean air regulations (Utility Dive)
• Efficiency, DERs saving California $2.6B in avoided transmission costs, CAISO says (Utility Dive)
• After 3 Decades, Washington State Bans Atlantic Salmon Farms (NPR)
• UK proposes deposit-return program to tackle plastic pollution (CNN)
• Aging Wind Farms Repower with Longer Blades, More Efficient Turbines (Inside Climate News)
• China says US complaints on hazardous waste are 'unjustifiable, illegitimate' (Waste Dive)
• Duke issues climate report, charts path to reduce coal use by 2030 (Utility Dive)
• Gulf of Mexico 'dead zone' will persist for decades (USA Today)
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions Rose Last Year. Here Are the Top 5 Reasons. (NY Times)
• Ohio Utility Plans To Close Three Nuclear Power Plants (Washington Examiner)
• Half of All U.S. Coal Plants Would Lose Money Without Regulation (Bloomberg)
• Last Three Years Hottest On Record, Severe Weather Hits 2018: U.N. (Reuters)
• Empty half the Earth of its humans. It's the only way to save the planet (Kim Stanley Robinson op-ed, Guardian UK)
• AUDIO: An Inconvenient 'BradCast' with Al Gore (The BRAD BLOG):
  
  Guest Host Angie Coiro's exclusive interview with the former Vice President on elections, pollution, persuasion, activism, and hope...
• The Climate Risks We Face (NY Times):
  
  To stabilize global temperature, net carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced to zero. The window of time is rapidly closing to reduce emissions and limit warming to no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the goal set in the Paris climate accord. The further we push the climate system beyond historical conditions, the greater the risks of potentially unforeseen and even catastrophic changes to the climate - so every reduction in emissions helps.
• 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: Fox 'News', New Jersey, Massachusetts, Environment, Green News, Natural gas, Oil, Climate change, Oceans/Sea Level Rise, Civil disobedience, Paris Agreement, Scott Pruitt