![](https://bradblog.com/Images/GNR_BradDesi_TGiving_square70.jpg)
IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: U.N. climate summit ends with progress, compromises, and disappointments; Coal is 'down' but not 'out' in new Glasgow Climate Agreement; PLUS: President Biden signs landmark bipartisan infrastructure deal into law... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO HELP US CELEBRATE WITH A DONATION!
Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.
IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Flooding, outages and rescues surge in severe Pacific NW extreme rain event; The long road to phasing down coal after COP26; New Delhi's air pollution is so bad, officials are calling for a citywide lockdown; New electric grid transformers designed to withstand extreme weather; EPA finalizes its first national recycling strategy; Salton Sea, CA sees surge in interest for lithium mining; Extreme rain unleashes hordes of venomous scorpions in Egypt... PLUS: Ya don't say: 'Social media is polluted with climate denialism'... and much, MUCH more! ...
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...
- COP26 ends with progress, compromises, and disappontments:
- Gains and disappointments from COP26, and now to tend to the gaps (Yale Climate Connections):
There was plenty for optimists to toast, and pessimists to curse, in the wake of the 26th annual Conference of Parties (COP) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), COP26. The wheels of diplomacy did turn in Glasgow, albeit far too slowly for those impatient with rhetoric and half measures. And if it didn’t produce any radical breakthroughs, the Glasgow meeting did throw new klieg lights on some yawning gaps that block resolution of the global climate challenge. - The Glasgow climate pact, annotated (Washington Post)
- BBC's COP26 Live Coverage (BBC)
- AP COP26 Live Coverage (AP via PBS NewsHour)
- Five big takeaways from COP26 (Washington Post/MSN)
- COP26 climate deal calls for historic shift from fossil fuels (Axios)
- COP26 ended with the Glasgow Climate Pact. Here's where it succeeded and failed (CNN):
Greenpeace International Executive Director Jennifer Morgan saw the inclusion of coal as a win for the climate. "It's meek, it's weak and the 1.5C goal is only just alive, but a signal has been sent that the era of coal is ending. And that matters," she said...But Indian Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, who had opposed the language, said that it would be difficult for his country to end coal use and fossil fuel subsidies while it tries to address poverty. - China’s Glasgow gambit (Axios)
- COP26: China defends move on joining India to 'phase down' instead of 'phase out' coal' (WION)
- Uganda's Vanessa Nakate at COP26: 'God help us if you are wrong' (United Nations, YouTube)
- COP26 ends, but the 'emissions gap' remains:
- 'COP26 hasn’t solved the problem': scientists react to UN climate deal (Nature):
The Glasgow Climate Pact is a step forward, researchers say, but efforts to decarbonize are not enough to limit global temperature rises to 2°C. - Countries' climate pledges built on flawed data, Post investigation finds (Washington Post):
Across the world, many countries underreport their greenhouse gas emissions in their reports to the United Nations, a Washington Post investigation has found. An examination of 196 country reports reveals a giant gap between what nations declare their emissions to be vs. the greenhouse gases they are sending into the atmosphere. - Glasgow's 2030 credibility gap: net zero's lip service to climate action (Climate Action Tracker):
Under current policies, we estimate end-of-century warming to be 2.7°C. While this temperature estimate has fallen since our September 2020 assessment, major new policy developments are not the driving factor. We need to see a profound effort in all sectors, in this decade, to decarbonise the world to be in line with 1.5°C. Targets for 2030 remain totally inadequate: the current 2030 targets (without long-term pledges) put us on track for a 2.4°C temperature increase by the end of the century. - This is what the world looks like if we pass the crucial 1.5-degree climate threshold (NPR)
- Biden signs landmark Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill:
- VIDEO: Joe Biden Signs Infrastructure Bill: White House Speech Transcript (Rev.com)
- What’s in the infrastructure plan? (AP/PBS NewsHour):
The plan promises to reach almost every corner of the country. It’s a historic investment that the president has compared to the building of the transcontinental railroad and Interstate Highway System. The White House is projecting that the investments will add, on average, about 2 million jobs per year over the coming decade. - Biden signs infrastructure bill, promoting benefits for Americans. (NY Times)
- VIDEO: Passing the Infrastructure Bill was a Huge Win. Let's Celebrate! (Samantha Bee, Full Frontal)
- Biden heads to New Hampshire to tout infrastructure law (CBS News)
- The weird, tardy and failed GOP pushback on Biden’s infrastructure bill (Washington Post/MSN)
'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
- The long road to phasing down coal after COP26 (Axios)
- New Delhi's air pollution is so bad, officials are calling for a citywide lockdown (NPR)
- VIDEO: New Transformers Designed to Withstand Extremes (Climate Crocks)
- EPA Finalizes Its First National Recycling Strategy (Washington Post)
- Flooding, Outages, And Rescues Mount In Severe West Coast Weather (NBC)
- Drilling For ‘White Gold’ Is Happening Right Now At The Salton Sea (LA Times)
- Opinion: "Social Media Is Polluted With Climate Denialism" (NY Times)
- Memphis Residents Wage Fight Against TVA Coal Ash Storage (Tennessee Lookout)
- Climate Pumped Rain Extreme Unleashes Killer Scorpion Horde (Climate Crocks)
- Nations Fail To Agree On Antarctic Conservation For Fifth Straight Year (Mongabay)
- Flooding and Nuclear Waste Eat Away at a Tribe’s Ancestral Home (NY Times)
- The World's First Solar-Powered Steel Mill Is Here (Earther)
- Three degrees of global warming is quite plausible and truly disastrous (The Economist/Green Reporter)
- VIDEO: 2050: what happens if we ignore the climate crisis (Guardian UK)
- Guilt, grief and anxiety as young people fear for climate's future (Reuters)
- 99.9 percent Of Scientists Agree Climate Emergency Caused By Humans (Guardian UK)
- 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)
- 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.