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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Greenland ice melt is reaching a 'tipping point', new study warns; Was 2018 a record hot year? We don't know because of Trump's government shutdown; Overwhelming majority of Americans are now concerned about climate change; PLUS: Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg shakes up World Economic Forum in Davos... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Climate Change Making Us Sicker And Shortening Our Lives, Doctors Say; How Brands Think They Can Make a Buck off Climate Change; Google, Facebook, and Microsoft Sponsored a Conference That Promoted Climate Change Denial; New Bud Super Bowl Ad features Wind Turbines; Bees Face Yet Another Lethal Threat In Dicamba; Illinois joins states committed to carbon-emission reduction; U.S. Oil Production Is Set to Rise as Experts Say Fossil Fuels Need to Be Phased Out... PLUS: 3 Newborn Endangered Right Whales Inspire Hope for Species... and much, MUCH more! ...
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...
- Was 2018 fourth hottest on record? We don't know because of Trump's shutdown:
- The U.S. Government Was Supposed to Tell Us How Hot 2018 Was Today, But, the Shutdown (Earther):
Deepti Singh, a climate scientist at Washington State University—Vancouver, said that the impact of the shutdown on scientific data collection like this, particularly for projects with time constraints, “is likely going to be more damaging immediately and in the long-run, and a waste of tax-payer dollars that went into supporting those activites.” - 2018 was the fourth warmest year on record --- and more evidence of a ‘new normal,’ scientist group reports (Washington Post):
The year 2018 is likely to have been the fourth warmest year on record, a scientific group pronounced Thursday --- and joins a quartet of extra-hot years since 2015 that suggest a leap upward in warmth that the Earth may never return from in our lifetimes. - Here’s How the Shutdown Is Delaying Climate Data and Undercutting Scientists (NY Times):
For example, Britain’s national weather and climate monitoring service, the Met Office, publishes its own global temperature estimates that incorporate NOAA data but use a slightly different analytical method. That’s important because when many different analyses show the same trend — in this case, rising global temperatures — it helps give researchers confidence that their work is sound. But, the NOAA data that the Met Office needs is currently offline. - Key Data For NASA's Ice-Monitoring Satellite in Trouble Thanks to Shutdown (Earther)
- FBI report warns government shutdown is increasing national security risks:
- The government shutdown is impeding FBI's efforts to protect oil and gas pipelines, says bomb technician quoted in new FBI Agents Association report (Chris Knight, Argus Media/Twitter)
- Voices from the Field: FBI agent accounts of the real consequences of the government shutdown (FBI Agents Association)
- Greenland ice melt is reaching a 'tipping point', new study finds:
- Greenland’s Melting Ice Nears a ‘Tipping Point,’ Scientists Say (NY Times):
The study is the latest in a series of papers published this month suggesting that scientific estimates of the effects of a warming planet have been, if anything, too conservative. Just a week ago, a separate study of ice loss in Antarctica found that the continent is contributing more to rising sea levels than previously thought. - Greenland’s ice is melting four times faster than thought—what it means (National Geographic):
New science suggests Greenland may be approaching a dangerous tipping point, with implications for global sea-level rise. - Satellites saw rapid Greenland ice loss (BBC)
- VIDEO: Greenland Melt Strong, Accelerating (Climate Crocks)
- VIDEO: 'The only thing we can do is adapt': Greenland ice melt reaching 'tipping point,' study finds (CNN)
- It's not just Greenland - Antarctica, North America's glaciers melting faster, too:
- North America’s Glaciers Are Melting Four Times Faster Than They Were a Decade Ago (Earther):
Across the world’s icy landscapes, climate change is spurring a major meltdown. That includes the western U.S. and Canada where not only is ice vanishing, but it’s doing so at a more rapid pace than it was just a decade ago, according to a new study released this week in Geophysical Research Letters. - In Greenland and Antarctica, supposedly “safe” ice is melting alarmingly fast (Quartz)
- New polls show overwhelming majority of Americans now concerned about climate change:
- Climate Change in the American Mind: December 2018 (Yale Program on Climate Communication)
- Nearly Half Of Americans Are More Convinced Than They Were Five Years Ago That Climate Change Is Happening, With Extreme Weather Driving Their Views (Energy Policy Institute, Univ. of Chicago)
- Americans’ climate change concerns surge to record levels, poll shows (Guardian UK):
Total of 72% polled now say global warming is personally important to them, Yale said, as 73% accept it is happening. - 'Year from hell' means more Americans are taking climate change personally, new polling shows (Washington Post):
An overwhelming majority of the U.S. public — more than 7 in 10 American adults — acknowledge that the world is getting warmer, according to the two surveys, which were both conducted late last year and published independently of one another on Tuesday. - Global Warming Concerns Rise Among Americans in New Poll (NY Times):
“I’ve never seen jumps in some of the key indicators like this,” the lead researcher said. - The Unprecedented Surge in Fear About Climate Change (The Atlantic):
More Americans than ever are worried about climate change, but they’re not willing to pay much to stop it. - Teen climate activist pressures elites at World Economic Forum in Davos:
- VIDEO: Greta Thunberg: Truth to Power at Davos (Climate Crocks)
- Swedish teen takes climate activism to jet-setters in Davos (AP)
- Davos, this is outrageous (op-ed, Christiana Figueres and
Greta Thunberg, Washington Post) - Davos elite looks to ‘Globalisation 4.0’ to stem climate change (Climate Change News)
- VIDEO: Sir David Attenborough and Prince William take world leaders to task on environment (Guardian UK):
Sir David Attenborough has warned that humankind has the power to exterminate whole ecosystems “without even noticing”, and urged world leaders to treat the natural world with respect, during an interview with Prince William in Davos. Prince William also took world leaders to task at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, asking Attenborough why those in key positions have “taken so long” to address climate change. - Davos 2019: do the global elite have the will to fix the world's problems? (Guardian UK):
The World Economic Forum sees its role as “improving the state of the world”. But the political analyst and author Anand Giridharadas speaks for many critics when he dubs Davos “a family reunion for the people who broke the world”.
'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
- 3 Newborn Endangered Right Whales Inspire Hope for Species (EcoWatch)
- How Brands Think They Can Make a Buck off Climate Change (Earther)
- Google, Facebook, and Microsoft Sponsored a Conference That Promoted Climate Change Denial (Mother Jones)
- VIDEO: New Bud Super Bowl Ad features Wind Turbines (Climate Crocks)
- Climate Change Making Us Sicker And Shortening Our Lives, Doctors Say (LA Times)
- As planet warms, plants will absorb less CO2, study finds (NY times)
- Corporate America Is Getting Ready to Monetize Climate Change (Bloomberg)
- Lawmakers Propose Banning Shark Fin Trade (The Hill)
- Bees Face Yet Another Lethal Threat In Dicamba, A Drift-Prone Pesticide (Reveal)
- Wisconsin Project Works With Farmers To Reduce Phosphorus Runoff (Ensia)
- Illinois joins states committed to carbon-emission reduction (AP)
- U.S. Oil Production Is Set to Rise as Experts Say Fossil Fuels Need to Be Phased Out (Pacific Standard Magazine)
- Fourth National Climate Assessment, Vol. 2: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States [PDF] (U.S. Global Change Research Program)
- What genuine, no-bullshit ambition on climate change would look like: How to hit the most stringent targets, with no loopholes. (David Roberts, Vox)
- A Global Shift To Sustainability Would Save Us $26 Trillion (Vox)
- Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)
- An Optimist's Guide to Solving Climate Change and Saving the World (Vice)
- The great nutrient collapse: The atmosphere is literally changing the food we eat, for the worse. And almost nobody is paying attention. (Politico)
- The world's bleak climate situation, in 3 charts: We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there. (Vox)
- 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.
FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page