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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Vice President Mike Pence refuses to acknowledge his own administration scientists say climate change is a threat to national security; Millions suffering from acute water shortages and deadly heat wave in India; Trump USDA burying studies on impacts of climate change on U.S. agriculture; PLUS: General Electric scraps natural gas power plant 20 years early...Now, why would they do that?... 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): This is how 2020 candidates plan to hold Big Oil accountable for climate change; 'Climate apartheid' between rich and poor looms, UN expert warns; The truth comes out about the longest-lasting oil spill in Gulf of Mexico; Americans' plastic recycling is dumped in landfills, investigation shows; A 100% renewable grid isn't just feasible, it's in the works in Europe; U.S. spy satellite photos show Himalayan glacier melt accelerating; Maine, Vermont pass plastic bag bans on same day... PLUS: Militia groups become the armed wing for climate deniers... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• On eve of 2020 Democratic debates, South Florida hit with heat wave, wildfire:
• Yes, it's really hot. And Miami-Dade has a new record to show for it (Miami Herald)
• Another Extremely Hot Day As South Florida Continues Flirting With Record Heat (CBS Miami)
• Everglades wildfire, sparked by lightning, burns 17,000 acres (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
• Florida Could Face $76 Billion In Climate Change Costs By 2040: Report (Tampa Bay Times)
• Demand for Presidential Climate Debate Escalates after DNC Says No (Inside Climate News)
• Why the Democratic Party doesn't want a presidential debate about climate change (Vox)
• India: 6th largest city Chennai is on verge of running out of water:
• Chennai's the latest city to have almost run out of water, and other cities could follow suit (ABC Australia):
  
  The crisis in India's sixth-largest city - with a population bigger than Melbourne and Sydney combined - has pushed schools, hotels and commercial establishments to closE, while hospitals have put off non-essential surgeries. Millions of people are lining up at water trucks to fill containers of water in a crisis that's hit urban and rural Indians alike, and usually only half leave with their pots filled.
• VIDEO: Millions suffering from water crisis in India (CNN)
• Chennai water crisis: City's reservoirs run dry (BBC)
• Why Chennai, India's Sixth Biggest City, Has Run Out of Water (Earther):
  
  [T]the city is relying on mix of desalination plants and water being brought in by train and truck to quell unrest. The drought is indicative of morass of issues increasingly stressing water supplies not just in Chennai but around the world: poor management, overusing groundwater, and a shifting climate turning the hydrological cycle on its head. And if the world's water insecure cities don't act, they could be the next Chennai...The huge growth coupled with weak planning has led to a water system that's both overtaxed and widely inefficient.
• 21 Indian Cities Projected to Run Out of Groundwater by 2020, Report Says (Weather Channel)
• Rising Temperatures Ravage the Himalayas, Rapidly Shrinking Its Glaciers (NY Times)
• How climate change affects crops in India (Science Daily)
• 'I'm scared for my daughter': Life in India's first city that's almost out of water (CNN)
• Europe grapples with dangerous, potentially historic heat wave:
• 'Hell is coming': week-long heatwave begins across Europe (Guardian UK):
  
  Temperatures could hit 40C from Spain to Switzerland, with authorities urging children and older people to stay indoors.
• Europe heatwave: record high of 45C expected in France as minister warns heatwaves could become norm (Guardian UK)
• Europe prepares for scorching heat wave with public cooling rooms, mist showers and health warnings (CNN)
• This week's heat wave in Europe is a preview of what the climate crisis has in store (CNN):
  
  Global heat records are being set five times as often today as they would in a stable climate, and according to Rahmstorf, what we are seeing is exactly what was predicted by climate scientists as a result of rising global temperatures caused by increases in greenhouse gas emissions from burning coal, oil and gas...The frequency of heat wave events such as this one "is expected to double by 2050," Météo-France said, and without significant cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, they could be stronger and last longer than in the recent past.
• "Heat waves are on the rise": PIK statement (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research)
• Arctic heat wave triggers record early melting season:
• Temperatures leap 40 degrees above normal as the Arctic Ocean and Greenland ice sheet see record June melting (Washington Post)
• Soaring Temperatures Speed Up Spring Thaw on Greenland’s Ice Sheet (NY Times)
• Arctic Ice Melting at Near-Record June Rate as Summer Approaches (Weather Channel)
• Photograph lays bare reality of melting Greenland sea ice (Guardian UK)
• Trump USDA burying studies on impacts of climate change on agriculture:
• Agriculture Department buries studies showing dangers of climate change (Politico):
  
  The studies range from a groundbreaking discovery that rice loses vitamins in a carbon-rich environment - a potentially serious health concern for the 600 million people world-wide whose diet consists mostly of rice - to a finding that climate change could exacerbate allergy seasons to a warning to farmers about the reduction in quality of grasses important for raising cattle...It can also prompt universities, fearful of antagonizing a potential source of funding, to reconsider their own plans to publicize studies.
• Weather woes cause American corn farmers to throw in the towel (Washington Post)
• Soggy springs, scorching summers: Higher temperatures taking toll on US staple crops (Environmental Health News)
• Vice Pres. Pence refuses to acknowledge climate change is a threat to national security:
• Mike Pence Repeatedly Refuses To Say Climate Crisis Is A Threat to US (Guardian UK):
  
  At the end of a week in which the Trump administration rolled back Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan, Mike Pence declined repeated invitations to say the human-induced climate crisis is a threat to US national security.
• VIDEO: Pence won't say if climate crisis is a threat to US (CNN)
• US air quality is slipping after years of improvement (AP):
  
  President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed just the opposite, saying earlier this month in Ireland: "We have the cleanest air in the world, in the United States, and it's gotten better since I'm president." That's not quite the case. There were noticeably more polluted air days each year in the president's first two years in office than any of the four years before, according to new Environmental Protection Agency data analyzed by The Associated Press.
• G.E. closes CA natural gas plant 20 years early:
• General Electric to scrap California power plant 20 years early (Reuters):
  
  In a filing with the California Energy Commission on Thursday, GE said the plant is "not designed for the needs of the evolving California market, which requires fast-start capabilities to satisfy peak demand periods."
• GE gas plant to close 20 years early, become battery storage site - sign of the times? (Electrek):
  
  For renewable power advocates, this story is something else: GE loses almost $200 billion by going all-in with fossil fuels. The company has to close a roughly $1 billion natural gas-fired plant 20 years earlier than anticipated. And to top it all off, the plant's site will be used for battery energy storage in the future. It's the clean energy transition, in microcosm.

'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

• This is how 2020 candidates plan to hold Big Oil accountable for climate change (Climate Progress)
• Jay Inslee has a radical plan to phase out fossil fuel production in the US. This is going to make some people mad. (David Roberts, Vox)
• 'Climate apartheid' between rich and poor looms, UN expert warns (BBC)
• The truth comes out about the longest-lasting oil spill in Gulf of Mexico (Washington Post)
• Americans' plastic recycling is dumped in landfills, investigation shows (Guardian UK)
• Credible Threat: Militia Groups Become the Armed Wing for Climate Deniers (Climate Crocks)
• Court Nixes Cadiz Pipeline To Suck Water Out Of The Mojave To Sell (Huffington Post)
• A 100% renewable grid isn't just feasible, it's in the works in Europe (Climate Progress)
• U.S. Spy Satellite Photos Show Himalayan Glacier Melt Accelerating (Inside Climate News)
• Chesapeake Bay 'Dead Zone' Could Be Largest In Decades, Scientists Say (Salisbury Daily Times)
• The uphill battle for communities that ban pesticides (Environmental Health News)
• Invasive Mussel Threatens Lake Powell Pipeline Project (AP)
• California Governor Proposes A $21 Billion Wildfire Fund (Reuters)
• Trump Weakens NEPA Climate Review of Federal Agency Projects (Washington Post)
• Maine, Vermont pass plastic bag bans on same day (The Hill)
• VIDEO: A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept)
• This Is How Human Extinction Could Play Out (Rolling Stone)
• SEJ Backgrounder: Green New Deal Proposes Sweeping Economic Transformation (Society of Environmental Journalists)
• Explainer: The 'Green New Deal': Mobilizing for a just, prosperous, and sustainable economy (New Consensus)
• 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

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

                 

Article Categories: Florida, California, Environment, Democrats, Green News, Natural gas, Oil, Wind energy, Solar energy, Climate change, Extreme weather, Agriculture, Water, Arctic, European Union, Mike Pence, Jake Tapper, Jay Inslee