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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: U.S. global threat assessment warns climate change is a clear and present danger; Japan to dump Fukushima’s radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean; Biden’s budget seeks to undo Trump’s damage; Atmospheric methane hits largest single-year increase on record; PLUS: To combat climate change, France moves to ban short airline flights… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
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Green News Report
with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen
4/15/2021
‘Green News Report’ – April 15, 2021 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... · · · · · ‘Green News Report’ – April 15, 2021 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): China ‘Must Shut 600 Coal-Fired Plants’ To Hit Climate Target; Big Companies Line Up to Crush Green Transparency Resolutions; Study Finds Lower Life Expectancy Around Superfund Sites; Tribal Lawsuit Halts Donlin Gold Mine; ‘Seismic shift’ at FERC could kill natural gas pipelines; Florida To Close Wastewater Reservoir With Leak History… PLUS: DDT’s Toxic Legacy Can Harm Granddaughters Of Women Exposed: Study… and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- US Global Threat Assessments warns climate change is a clear and present danger:
- U.S. Intelligence Officials Warn Climate Change Is a Worldwide Threat (Inside Climate News):
Their annual assessment says climate hazards such as extreme weather, droughts, floods, wildfires and sea level rise threaten infrastructure, health and security.
- U.S. Spy Chiefs Warn of Threats From China to Climate Change (Bloomberg):
[E]cological degradation and climate change “will continue to fuel disease outbreaks, threaten food and water security, and exacerbate political instability and humanitarian crises,” according to the unclassified assessment prepared by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for congressional hearings this week.
- VIDEO: Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Annual Threat Assessment (US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence)
- Intel Report Warns Of Fragile Future Shaped By Pandemics, Climate Change (The Hill)
- DNI Haines opening statement on the 2021 Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community (Office of the Director of National Intelligence)
- Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community [PDF] (Office of the Director of National Intelligence)
- Global levels of CO2 and methane hit record highs:
- Carbon dioxide spikes to critical record, halfway to doubling preindustrial levels (Washington Post):
For the first time in recorded history, the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, or CO2, was measured at more than 420 parts per million at the Mauna Loa Observatory on the Big Island of Hawaii. It’s a disconcerting milestone in the human-induced warming of the planet, around the halfway point on our path toward doubling preindustrial CO2 levels.
- Despite pandemic shutdowns, carbon dioxide and methane surged in 2020 (NOAA):
Carbon dioxide levels are now higher than at anytime in the past 3.6 million years./
- VIDEO: Carbon dioxide levels are higher than they’ve been at any point in the last 3.6 million years (Meteorologist Jeff Berardelli, CBS News)
- Heat-Trapping Methane Surged in 2020 (E&E News/Scientific American):
Aquatic ecosystems, many altered by human activities, played a surprisingly large role.- COVID-19 hasn’t slowed global warming: Earth’s carbon dioxide levels highest in over 3 million years, NOAA says (USA Today):
At that time, sea levels were as much as 78 feet higher, the average temperature was 7 degrees Fahrenheit higher than in pre-industrial times, Greenland was mostly green, and Antarctica had trees.- Japan to dump Fukushima’s radioactive wastewater into Pacific Ocean:
- Japan says to release Fukushima treated radioactive water into sea NBC News):
Japan Fisheries Cooperatives chairman said the decision was “absolutely unacceptable,” and protesters demanded the plan be retracted.
- Japan scraps mascot promoting Fukushima wastewater dump (Guardian UK):
Little Mr Tritium’ was meant to help win support for release of contaminated water into sea.
- China to Japanese official: If treated radioactive water from Fukushima is safe, ‘please drink it’ (Washington Post:
“A Japanese official said it’s okay if you drink this water,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a news briefing. “Then please drink it.”
- Biden’s first budget seeks to undo Trump’s damage:
- Clean energy bonanza: Biden’s budget tries to undo Trump’s damage (Grist):
The ‘skinny budget’ asks Congress for $14 billion to address the climate crisis.
- Biden’s First Budget Aims to ‘Reverse’ Trump Cuts to CDC, Climate, Schools (Daily Beast/Yahoo News)
- U.S. solar industry saw record year in 2020 despite pandemic shutdowns:
- US solar sets records in 2020, predicted to quadruple by 2030 (Electrek):
US solar will reach a total of 419 GWdc over the next 10 years, according to a new report. Global clean energy investment must increase by 30% to $131 trillion by 2050 to avert the climate crisis, says IRENA.
- U.S. solar industry comes ‘roaring back,’ breaks multiple records in 2020 (PV Magazine)
- France moves to ban short flights, incentivize electric bicycles:
- Take the Train: France to Ban Short Flights (Treehugger)
- French lawmakers approve a ban on short domestic flights (Reuters):
“We know that aviation is a contributor of carbon dioxide and that because of climate change we must reduce emissions,” [Industry Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher] told Europe 1 radio. “Equally, we must support our companies and not let them fall by the wayside.”
- France Short-Haul Flight Ban Points Way to Cleaner Flying (Bloomberg):
“This policy really has the potential to accelerate all sustainable aviation options,” said Venkat Viswanathan, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University. “Among them it could really push electric aviation forward.”
- Trading clunkers for electric bikes: France moves to offer financial incentive (Reuters):
France is offering the owners of old, exhaust-belching cars the opportunity to hand over their vehicles for scrap in return for a 2,500 euro ($2,975.00) grant to buy an electric bicycle…If adopted, France will become the first country in the world to offer people the chance to trade in an ageing vehicle for an electric or folding bicycle.
- France Will Give You Almost $3,000 For An E-Bike With One Stupid Catch (Jalopnik)
‘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
- Big Companies Line Up to Crush Green Transparency Resolutions (Bloomberg)
- Study Finds Lower Life Expectancy Around Superfund Sites (Earther)
- Tribal Lawsuit Halts Donlin Gold (Indian Country Today)
- China ‘Must Shut 600 Coal-Fired Plants’ To Hit Climate Target (Guardian UK)
- Will Wildlife Refuge Benefit Heavily Polluted Albuquerque Neighborhood? (Guardian UK)
- The Next Aliso Canyon Could Happen On L.A.’S Westside (LA Times)
- Epic Drought Means Water Crisis On Oregon-California Border (AP)
- DDT’s Toxic Legacy Can Harm Granddaughters Of Women Exposed: Study (LA Times)
- Executives Call for Deep Emission Cuts to Combat Climate Change (NY Times)
- Schumer Pushes Plan to Ax Trump Methane Rule With Lawmaker Tool (Bloomberg)
- Florida To Close Wastewater Reservoir With Leak History (AP)
- A poultry plant, years of groundwater contamination and, finally, a court settlement (Washington Post)
- Computer Mapping Could Help Biden Find And Fix Polluted Neighborhood (Reuters)
- ‘Seismic shift’ at FERC could kill natural gas pipelines (E&E News)
- 4 states weigh plans to rescue coal plants (E&E News)
- Are Huge Tree Planting Projects More Hype than Solution? (Yale e360)
- How climate change could undo 50 years of public health gains (Grist)
- Feeding Cattle Seaweed Reduces Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions 82 Percent (Phys.Org)
- 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
- NASA Video: If we don’t act, here’s what to expect in the next 100 years:
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Reader Comments on
‘Green News Report’ – April 15, 2021
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1 Response
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Thank you Desi and Brad for pointing out that agencies are getting it (US Global Threat Assessments warns climate change is a clear and present danger; U.S. Spy Chiefs Warn of Threats From China to Climate Change; etc.) … Scientific American also says WE ARE IN A CLIMATE EMERGENCY …
And scientists are awakening to the Antarctica 2.0 factor … (Quantum Oceanography – 5).