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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Supply chain disruptions spike global energy prices; Putin says Russia would never artificially limit natural gas deliveries to Europe; California bans gas-powered lawn and leaf blowers; PLUS: Biden Administration goes big on offshore wind... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Michigan tells majority-Black city not to drink tap water amid new lead crisis; Over 100 Nations To Adopt 'Kunming Declaration' To Boost Biodiversity; CA Alisal Fire forces new evacuations, closure of 101 freeway and Amtrak route; Pollution from N.C.'s poultry farms unduly harms communities of color; Will China beat Tesla at its own game?; Trumpist solution to sea level rise: get rid of boats; Coastal fog around the world is declining due to warming climate... PLUS: Solving Bali's rivers of trash... and much, MUCH more! ...
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...
- Supply chain disruptions trigger global energy supply crunch:
- A global energy crisis is coming. There's no quick fix (CNN):
A global energy crunch caused by weather and a resurgence in demand is getting worse, stirring alarm ahead of the winter, when more energy is needed to light and heat homes. Governments around the world are trying to limit the impact on consumers, but acknowledge they may not be able to prevent bills spiking...In China, rolling blackouts for residents have already begun, while in India power stations are scrambling for coal. Consumer advocates in Europe are calling for a ban on disconnections if customers can't promptly settle what they owe. - Energy crisis is a 'wake up call' for Europe to ditch fossil fuels (CNN):
"This experience today of the rising energy prices is a clear wake up call... that we should accelerate the transition to clean energy, wean ourselves off the fossil fuel dependency," a senior EU official told reporters as the European Commission unveiled a series of measures aimed at tackling the crisis. - Gas Prices, Europe's Energy Crunch Threaten Biden Climate Push (Bloomberg)
- When will supply chains be back to normal? And how did things get so bad? (LA Times/Yahoo News)
- Russia says it would never use natural gas deliveries to EU as a weapon:
- VIDEO: Putin says Russia is not using gas as a weapon, claims U.S. added to energy crisis (CNBC):
Describing reports that Russia has withheld gas supplies to Europe, Putin called such accusations as "politically-motivated blather" and there was "nothing to support it [the idea] that we use energy as a kind of weapon." On the contrary, he said, Russia was "expanding its supplies to Europe." - $100 oil is 'quite possible,' Russia's Putin says (CNBC)
- VIDEO: Russia's "Headlock" on European Gas (Climate Crocks):
"Europe has now left itself hostage to Russia over energy supplies," said Timothy Ash, emerging markets senior sovereign strategist at Bluebay Asset Management, in a research note Wednesday, calling the situation "unbelievable."...Many experts believe that Russia has withheld gas supplies to Europe on purpose, in a bid to speed up Germany's certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. - China grapples with global spike in coal prices:
- Mass Floods Hit China's Coal Hub, Threatening Power Supplies (Washington Post)
- China's biggest coal-producing region was hit by floods at the worst possible time, as the country's energy supplies are already strained (Business Insider)
- Traffic lights gone dark. Factories shut down. What caused China's power crisis? (LA Times):
Overreliance on coal and overemphasis on growth, which coincided with rising coal prices this year, created the shortages. Analysts say that poor coordination between China's energy and economic policies and structural problems in China's power sector have made matters worse..."No one will generate power to lose more money because they know they're not only burning coal but also burning money." - China's Power Problems Expose a Strategic Weakness (NY Times):
The electricity crunch has also laid bare one of China's strategic weaknesses: It is a voracious, and increasingly hungry, energy hog. China has also emerged as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases by a wide margin, thanks mainly to its already heavy dependence on coal....Polysilicon, the main raw material for solar panels, has more than tripled in price recently, with most of the increase in the past couple weeks. - China is turning to market-based pricing to tackle its energy crisis (Quartz)
- U.S. natural gas prices are also spiking:
- The Energy Crunch, in Six Paragraphs (The Atlantic):
This new liquid-natural-gas market has harmonized European and Asian markets so that they are now pulling gas from the same sources. For the first time in history, something approaching a truly global market in natural gas exists, in much the same way that a global oil market exists. - Gas prices skyrocket as the global energy crisis worsens (CNN)
- Effect of Increased Natural Gas Exports on Domestic Energy Markets [PDF] (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2012)
- Why consumers will be paying a lot more for natural gas this winter (MarketWatch/MSN)
- Sharp surge in energy prices threatens economic recovery and is already slowing growth (CNBC)
- W.H.O. warns climate change is single biggest public health threat:
- Climate Action At COP26 Could Save Millions Of Lives, WHO Says (Reuters)
- Climate crisis is 'single biggest health threat facing humanity,' WHO says, calling on world leaders to act (CNN)
- WHO: Global health community prescribes climate action for COVID recovery (United Nations News)
- California bans gas-powered lawn and leaf-blowers:
- California moves toward ban on gas lawn mowers and leaf blowers (LA Times):
Machinery with so-called small off-road engines also includes chain saws, weed trimmers and golf carts, all of which create as much smog-causing pollution in California as light-duty passenger cars, and reducing those emissions is pivotal to improving air quality and combating climate change, proponents of the law said. - New California Law Bans Gasoline-Powered Lawn Mowers, Leaf Blowers (Ars Technica)
- Biden Administration goes big on offshore wind energy:
- Biden Administration Plans Wind Farms Along Nearly the Entire U.S. Coastline (NY Times):
"This is very big, big deal. This is a signal like we've never had before in the United States about where we can go with offshore wind," said Dan Reicher, who served as assistant secretary at the Department of Energy in the Clinton administration and now advises Magellan Wind, which develops projects with offshore floating turbines...."This is a repeat of what we did a couple of decades ago when we stepped up onshore wind, when it went from being a small niche source of energy to being a mainstream, affordable source of power." - Biden administration sets plan for 7 offshore wind farms by 2025 (Portland Press-Democrat)
- FACT SHEET: Biden Administration Jumpstarts Offshore Wind Energy Projects to Create Jobs (White House)
'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
- Michigan tells majority-Black city not to drink tap water amid lead crisis (Guardian UK)
- Over 100 Nations To Adopt 'Kunming Declaration' To Boost Biodiversity (Deutsche Welle)
- Calif. Alisal Fire Has Prompted Evacuations, Road And Amtrak Closures (CNN)
- Energy Agency Urges Bigger Global Push To Cut Emissions (AP)
- Pollution From N.C.'s Poultry Farms Unduly Harms Communities Of Color (Inside Climate News)
- U.S. Senator Sinema rejects vote on big Biden package before infrastructure-source (Reuters)
- VIDEO: Will China Beat Tesla at it's own Game? (Climate Crocks)
- Overruling scientists, Florida commission authorizes fishing of the vulnerable goliath grouper (Science)
- U.N. Biodiversity Summit: The Most Important Global Meeting You've Probably Never Heard Of Is Now (NY Times)
- Trumpist Solution to Sea Level Rise: Get Rid of Boats (Climate Crocks)
- Private Equity Funds, Sensing Profit in Tumult, Are Propping Up Oil (NY Times)
- Solving Bali's Rivers of Trash (Hakai Magazine)
- With a Warming Climate, Coastal Fog Around the World Is Declining (Inside Climate News)
- An Empire of Dying Wells: Old oil and gas sites are a climate menace. Meet the company that owns more of America’s decaying wells than any other. (Bloomberg)
- In Secret Tapes, Palm Oil Execs Disclose Corruption, Brutality (Washington Post)
- Tracking the Big Climate Bills - An Infrastructure/Reconciliation Breakdown (Society of Environmental Journalists)
- Will this metal recycling startup revolutionize the battery and clean energy sectors? (Electrek)
- Climate Fund Choices for Investors Are Multiplying (Bloomberg/Yahoo)
- How climate change could undo 50 years of public health gains (Grist)
- 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 9 Years) Really Mean? (Inside Climate News)
- VIDEO: A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept)
- 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.