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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: New heat wave exacerbates Australia’s bushfires, now raging out of control; Oceans losing oxygen, thanks to man-made global warming; Bankrupt PG&E reaches $13.5 billion settlement with victims of deadly Northern California fires; PLUS: Tens of thousands of young climate activists pressure U.N. climate summit to get moving… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
Green News Report
with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen
12/10/2019
‘Green News Report’ – December 10, 2019 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... · · · · · ‘Green News Report’ – December 10, 2019 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): How do we pay for a zero-emissions economy?; 1.9 billion at risk from mountain water shortages; Extreme weather patterns raising risk of a global food crisis; Alaska cod fishery closes, industry braces for ripple effect; Texas cancer cluster near Houston creosote site; Las Vegas groundwater management plan succeeding, but overpumping issues loom; Fractured forests endangering wildlife; FPL’s Turkey Point first US nuclear plant to get license out to 80 years… PLUS: Hundreds of new wells dry up one of Arizona’s most precious rivers… and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- Trump attacks water efficiency standards that save consumers money:
- VIDEO: We investigate Trump’s claim that people are flushing toilets ’10 times, 15 times’ (Grist)
- Trump takes aim at trickle-down toilets, faucets (Reuters)
- VIDEO: Trump claims “people are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times” (Vox):
Although Trump said during the event that the “EPA is looking at [water flow] very strongly, at my suggestion,” this review is actually mandated under 2018 legislation that directs the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate water regulations adopted before 2012.
- Australia’s bushfires raging out of control, amid new heat wave:
- Australians flee as soaring temperature, winds threaten to fan fires (Reuters)
- NSW Rural Fire Service says bushfires have combined to create 60km ‘mega fire’ north of Sydney (ABC Australia):
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) warned “some fires were too big to put out” and the level of smoke was such that it was showing up on its radar as rain. NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) deputy commissioner Rob Rogers said there were “probably more than eight fires” in the area north of Sydney that had combined.
- Sydney smoke: Residents ‘choking’ on intense bushfire pollution (BBC)
- Sydney smoke at its ‘worst ever’ with air pollution in some areas 12 times ‘hazardous’ threshold (ABC Australia)
- NSW fires: wind change fans bushfires as Sydney smoke causes hazardous air quality (Guardian UK)
- Australia bushfires: Sydney gets toughest water restrictions in a decade (BBC)
- Australia’s Terrifying Bushfires Are Turning New Zealand Glaciers Pink (Earther)
- PG&E reaches $13.5 billion settlement with victims over deadly fires:
- PG&E’s $13.5B deal with fire victims removes huge obstacles (AP)
- PG&E reaches $13.5 billion settlement over California wildfires (CBS News):
The company previously reached a $1 billion agreement with cities, counties and other public entities, and an $11 billion settlement with insurance carriers. Both agreements were related to 2017 and 2018 wildfires in California.
- PG&E stock soars nearly 16% on settlement with wildfire victims (LA Times):
[PGE] has spent months trying to negotiate a viable restructuring plan to emerge from bankruptcy by the middle of next year. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has threatened a state takeover if the utility fails to come up with a plan soon, and the judge overseeing the company’s reorganization had ordered parties into mediation.
- PG&E failed to inspect transmission lines that caused deadly 2018 wildfire: state probe (Reuters)
- Global warming causing world’s oceans to lose oxygen:
- Ocean deoxygenation : everyone’s problem (International Union for Conservation of Nature)
- World’s Oceans Are Losing Oxygen Rapidly, Study Finds (NY Times):
It found that oxygen levels in the world’s oceans declined by roughly 2 percent between 1960 and 2010. The decline, called deoxygenation, is largely attributed to climate change, although other human activities are contributing to the problem.
- Oceans losing oxygen at unprecedented rate, experts warn (Guardian UK):
Sharks, tuna, marlin and other large fish species were at particular risk, scientists said, with many vital ecosystems in danger of collapse. Dead zones ““ where oxygen is effectively absent ““ have quadrupled in extent in the last half-century, and there are also at least 700 areas where oxygen is at dangerously low levels, up from 45 when research was undertaken in the 1960s.
- World’s oceans are losing oxygen at a dangerous, unprecedented rate as temperatures rise, study finds (CBS News)
- UNFCC COP25 climate summit underway in Madrid, Spain:
- UN Climate Change Conference – December 2019 (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change)
- Carbon offsets have patchy human rights record. Now UN talks erode safeguards (Climate Change News):
A new global carbon market could unleash finance for projects around the world. But protections for local communities were weakened in draft rules at COP25.
- In-depth Q&A: How ‘Article 6’ carbon markets could ‘make or break’ the Paris Agreement (Carbon Brief)
- UN climate talks aim to pave way for global carbon market (AP)
- Carbon offsets have patchy human rights record. Now UN talks erode safeguards (Climate Change News)
- The world plans to fix climate change with carbon credits. But do they work? (Quartz)
- COP25 really is the ‘point of no return’ in the climate emergency. Here’s why (CNN)
- Young climate activists pressure UN climate negotiators to get moving:
- COP25 climate summit: put children at heart of tackling crisis, says UN (Guardian UK)
- VIDEO: Greta Thunberg at Madrid March: Hope in the Streets, Not the U.N. Climate Summit (Democracy Now!)
- Too much of a Greta thing? Activist urges focus on others (AP)
- VIDEO: Greta Thunberg speaks ahead of climate march in Madrid as COP25 summit continues (Global News)
- Irresistible Greta Thunberg meets immovable UN climate talks (Climate Change News)
- Greta Thunberg’s Atlantic crossing: ‘Why I wanted to help’ (BBC)
‘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
- Need an idea for a climate-friendly gift? We have 79. (Grist)
- Las Vegas Groundwater Management A Success, But Overpumping Issues Loom (Las Vegas Sun)
- 1.9 Billion People At Risk From Mountain Water Shortages, Study Shows (Guardian UK)
- How Do We Pay for a Zero-Emissions Economy? (The American Prospect)
- >Global groundwater ““ it is time to act (Thomson Reuters Foundation)
- Extreme weather patterns are raising the risk of a global food crisis, and climate change will make this worse (Washington Post)
- Alaska Cod Fishery Closes And Industry Braces For Ripple Effect (NPR)
- They Built a Life in the Shadow of Industrial Tank Farms. Now, They’re Fighting for Answers. (Inside Climate News)
- Texas Finds Cancer Cluster Near Houston Creosote Site (Houston Chronicle)
- Fractured Forests Are Endangering Wildlife, Scientists Find (NY Times)
- Hundreds Of New Wells May Dry Up One Of Arizona’s Most Precious Rivers (Arizona Republic)
- FPL’s Turkey Point first US nuclear plant to get license out to 80 years (Utility Dive)
- EPA faces legal pressure on standards for harmful incineration emissions (Waste Dive)
- Cranky Uncle: The smartphone game designed to fight climate denial (The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists)
- What Does ’12 Years to Act on Climate Change’ (Now 11 Years) Really Mean? (Inside Climate News)
- 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
Propaganda is repeating the same thing over and over. Climate alarm fits the definition. There are not now nor ever will be readings from the future confirming scary UN stories about an overheating Earth – especially during what appears to be a developing Solar Minimum. It gets sillier. Deoxygenation of the oceans is a thing, but is perfectly explicable from overuse of farming fertilizers running into the sea and sparking algal growth. It has done that in lakes, too, causing problems with poisoning people and animals. The wildfire problem is drought related – and although a recurring phenomenon is not necessarily a matter of permanent change. It may seem that way at times. What has been happening is people are trying to ‘sequester carbon’ in forests by closing access roads – necessary for fire control – and cutting back fire mitigation practices. Clever. It literally adds fuel to the fire and causes worse problems.
Actually, “propaganda” is defined as “the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person”; “ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause.” Your climate science denial definitely fits that definition of propaganda, since what you’ve posted here is easily disproven and far outweighed by the vast breadth of climate science research. Climate science deniers repeat the same old dull, moldy, previously-debunked myths generally because they don’t like what they perceive to be the potential policy solutions. But the neat thing about science is that it is true regardless of your beliefs or ideology. The reason you know about any of it is because actual scientists already did the work. Please have the courtesy to read the studies helpfully linked above, and update your understanding of the complex factors at work in deoxygenation (related to but not the same as toxic algae blooms), wildfires, drought, solar cycles and the interaction of solar radiation with atmospheric CO2. Try updating your understanding of the current scientific data first, and pre-bunk yourself at SkepticalScience.com.
What Desi said.