IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Powerful record-breaking Hurricane Eta slams into Central America, and may head to U.S.; Cable news using rightwing framing to report on climate policy, new study finds; Trump Administration strips endangered species protection from wolves; PLUS: The world waits and watches to see if America will choose climate action --- or not... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): This election isn't about the next four years. It's about the next four millennia; Exxon's climate fix is algae. Experts say it won't work; The 'Petro-Masculinity' of This Weekend's Trump Highway Rallies; Climate Change Sets a Drought Trap for U.S. Corn; Which countries are responsible for all that ocean plastic?; Double Whammy of Warming, Overfishing Could Spell Disaster for Antarctic Krill... PLUS: Shell’s Twitter fail: We want YOU to solve climate change!... and much, MUCH more! ...
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...
- Hurricane Eta slams into Nicaragua and Honduras:
- Live updates: Hurricane Eta Lashes Nicaragua, Knocking Out Power and Causing Flooding (NY Times):
The Category 4 storm threatened much of Central America with winds of up to 150 miles per hour and rainfall that could reach 35 inches in some areas....But even as the Category 4 hurricane pounded the Nicaraguan coast, there appeared to be disagreement between Nicaraguan and U.S. authorities about where the storm was. - Hurricane Eta lashes Nicaragua, raising fears of disastrous floods (Guardian UK)
- What Hurricane Eta's Potential Caribbean Reformation Could Mean For the United States (Weather Channel)
- ‘Extremely dangerous’ Hurricane Eta may cause catastrophe in Central America (Yale Climate Connections):
2020 parade of record-early named storms and rapid intensifiers continues. The formation of Eta ties 2020 with 2005 for the most named storms in an Atlantic hurricane season, with 28. Eta’s October 31 arrival marked the earliest date that any Atlantic season has produced its 28th tropical storm, topping the record held by Zeta from December 30, 2005 (an additional unnamed storm was added to 2005’s tally after the season was over). In total, 25 of 2020’s 28 named storms so far have set records for being the earliest-arriving for their respective letter. - A Human Tragedy Could Unfold With Hurricane Eta In Central America (Dr. Marshall Shepherd, Forbes)
- The climate science behind this year's wildfires and powerful storms, wtih Dr. Michael Mann (60 Minutes/CBS News)
- Trump strips endangered species protections from US gray wolves
- Gray wolves stripped of endangered species protections by Trump administration (Denver Post):
States now drive gray wolves’ fate as Colorado votes on whether to force a state-run reintroduction. - Trump officials end gray wolf protections across most of US (AP):
Some biologists and former government officials who previously reviewed the administration’s proposal for lifting protections said it lacked scientific justification. - Wolf decision triggers automatic hunt re-start in Wisconsin (Minneapolis Star Tribune):
The U.S. Department of the Interior announced Thursday that wolves would come off the list, a move designed to appeal to rural voters who have long complained that wolves are preying on their livestock. - Cable news adopts rightwing framing in reporting on Biden's climate policy:
- Cable news overwhelmingly adopts conservative, pro-Big Oil framing of Biden's debate comments about transitioning away from oil (Media Matters):
Only 10% of segments on Biden's comments about necessary transition from oil actually mentioned the climate implications. - League of Conservation Voters ad hits oil industry's decades of lies:
- VIDEO: LCV Victory Fund Launches $2M in Ads Hitting Big Oil and Trump For Making Climate Change Worse (League of Conservation Voters):
The campaign, initially launching in the battleground state of Arizona before a run on national cable TV, portrays the fossil fuel industry’s history of denying responsibility and downplaying their own science on climate change, while also highlighting how corporate polluters benefit from Trump’s dangerous environmental rollbacks. - The best, worst, and weirdest climate ads of 2020 (Grist)
- 2020 Election: 'Make or break' for the planet:
- US vote to shape how world warms as climate pact exit looms (AP):
What happens on election day will to some degree determine how much more hot and nasty the world’s climate will likely get, experts say. The day after the presidential election, the United States formally leaves the 2015 Paris agreement to fight climate change. - VIDEO Climate scientists gravely concerned about a second Trump term (CBS News)
- What the U.S. Election Means for Global Climate Action (Bloomberg):
A Biden administration could accelerate the global energy transition, while the U.S. risks falling further behind if Trump wins a second term. - Drilling, climate stakes high in Tuesday's presidential vote (The Hill)
- No Matter Who Wins, the US Exits the Paris Climate Accord the Day After the Election (Inside Climate News)
- How the Senate Race Could Shape Future U.S. Climate Action (E&E News):
“Mitch McConnell is going to be a really effective minority leader,” Deatrick said. “He’s the emperor of obstruction. His goal was to make Barack Obama a one-term president, and it’s going to be his goal again.”
'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 election isn't about the next four years. It's about the next four millennia (Guardian UK)
- Shell’s Twitter fail: We want YOU to solve climate change! (Grist)
- Exxon's climate fix is algae. Experts say it won't work (E&E News)
- The 'Petro-Masculinity' of This Weekend's Trump Highway Rallies (Earther)
- Climate Change Sets a Drought Trap for U.S. Corn (E&E News)
- Which countries are responsible for all that ocean plastic? (Grist)
- Double Whammy of Warming, Overfishing Could Spell Disaster for Antarctic Krill (E&E News)
- Justice Barrett's confirmation and how it may affect the energy industry (Utility Dive)
- Inside Environmentalists' Final Efforts to Get Out the Vote (Earther)
- In ND, Money Meant To Clean Up Old Wells Goes To Frack New Ones (Inside Climate News)
- When Trump EPA Needed a Climate Scientist, They Called on John Christy (Inside Climate News)
- 2020 Fires Endangering Uncontacted Amazon Indigenous Groups (Mongabay)
- Super Typhoon Goni Kills 10 in the Philippines (Weather Channel)
- As Biotech Crops Lose Their Power, Scientists Push For New Restrictions (NPR)
- Getting the Lead Out: Why Battery Recycling Is a Global Health Hazard (Yale e360)
- 5 Reasons to Rethink the Future of Dams (The Revelator)
- ‘Stick to the science’: when science gets political (Nature)
- Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)
- 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