IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Record rains and floods threaten world's largest dam; Siberian heat wave 'impossible' without man-made climate change; Study implicates higher air pollution levels in COVID-19 death rates; PLUS: Remembering civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis, champion of environmental justice... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): FBI raids Ohio house speaker's farm amid alleged investigation into nuke plant bailout; Climate Change Poses 'Systemic Threat' to the Economy, Big Investors Warn; Australia's environment in unsustainable state of decline, major review finds; Facebook's Science Denial Loophole... PLUS: Supreme Court decision declaring half of Oklahoma Indian land raises big questions for oil drillers... and much, MUCH more! ...
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...
- Record rains, floods threaten collapse of China's Three Gorges Dam:
- China's mighty Yangtze nears crest again, new floods feared (AP)
- China warns of 'stronger flood' as Three Gorges Dam faces swell (Nikkei Asian Review)
- China blows up dam on Yangtze river tributary to ease flooding (Guardian UK)
- VIDEO: China floods affecting global PPE distribution (Reuters)
- Climate change blamed for China flood disaster (Al Jazeera)
- China floods and Japan downpour blamed on Indian Ocean hot spot (Nikkei Asian Review)
- Torrential rains in China cause $2.9 billion in damage, leave 63 dead or missing (Yale Climate Connections)
- Siberian heat wave "impossible" without man-made climate change:
- Climate change made Siberian heatwave 600 times more likely - study (Guardian UK)
- VIDEO: Arctic heat wave "essentially impossible" without human-caused climate change, study finds (CBS News)
- Scientists Attribute Record-Shattering Siberian Heat and Wildfires to Climate Change (Inside Climate News):
A decade of brutal Arctic heat waves increased emissions from fires and permafrost, melted heat-reflecting sea ice and pushed the High North climate toward collapse. - That Siberian Heat Wave? Yes, Climate Change Was a Big Factor (NY Times):
An analysis of recent record temperatures found that climate change made this year's long hot spell 600 times more likely. - Climate Change Made the Heat Wave Roasting Siberia 600 Times More Likely (Earther)
- VIDEO: Siberia heat wave likely caused by climate change, study suggests (CBC)
- VIDEO: Massive wildfires in Siberia fueled by record heat (Deustche-Welle)
- Study suggests Trump EPA enforcement freeze contributed to COVID-19 deaths:
- Study of emissions and virus deaths implicates EPA policy (E&E News):
A new study offers fresh evidence of a connection between dirty air and COVID-19 deaths, while suggesting that a 4-month-old EPA civil enforcement freeze has made the situation worse. The working paper by American University researchers found concentrations of soot and ozone rose in counties with more industrial facilities that report emissions to an EPA pollution database since the agency relaxed enforcement in late March. - Trump's deregulatory agenda has 'exacerbated' the COVID-19 pandemic (Grist):
The lengthy analysis, which NYU's Institute for Policy Integrity published Tuesday, comes as President Donald Trump and his team act as if the coronavirus threat is waning - when the U.S. outbreak stands out as one of the worst in the world - and as they work to finalize a frenzy of environmental rollbacks ahead of November's election. - EPA declines to tighten smog standards amid pressure from green groups (The Hill)
- Remembering Rep. John Lewis, civil rights icon and champion of environmental justice:
- John Lewis And His Environmental Legacy (Dr. Marshall Shepherd, Forbes)
- John Lewis remembered as civil rights, environmental champion (E&E News)
- VIDEO: Congressman John Lewis, The Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series (MLK Freedom Center/Peralta College)
- VIDEO: Rep. John Lewis on Harmful Effects of Climate Change (YouTube, 5/15/2019):
Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) speaks about climate change and its economic and health consequences during a hearing of the House Committee on Ways and Means.
'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
- Climate Change Poses 'Systemic Threat' to the Economy, Big Investors Warn (NY Times)
- Australia's environment in unsustainable state of decline, major review finds (Guardian UK)
- FBI raids Ohio house speaker's farm amid alleged investigation into nuke plant bailout (Toledo Blade)
- New Emails Show How Energy Industry Moved Fast to Undo Curbs (NY Times)
- Bailouts: From Covid-19 to climate: what's next after the global oil and gas industry crash? (Guardian UK)
- The Energy 202: Supreme Court decision declaring half of Oklahoma Indian land raises big questions for oil drillers (Washington Post)
- Exxon Moves D.C. Climate Case Against Big Oil to Federal Court (Bloomberg)
- Facebook's Science Denial Loophole (Climate Crocks)
- Exxon's Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)
- 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)
- 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