IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: President Biden vows Russia's controversial pipeline to Germany won't go forward if they invade Ukraine; Madagascar reels from second deadly cyclone in just two week; World's shrinking glaciers hold less ice than previously thought; PLUS: Bad news and good as new satellite data catches methane 'super-emitters'... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): How spiking energy prices complicate the fight against global warming; In the Rust Belt, EV battery plants spark jobs; Top corporations have vowed to fight climate change, but their net zero plans fall short; Urban air pollution affects 2.5 billion people worldwide, study says; Here are the minerals we need for batteries, solar and other clean energy tech; US flood risk is about to explode — but not for the reasons you think... PLUS: Biden’s 'Cancer Moonshot' turns toward pollution... and much, MUCH more! ...
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...
- Biden vows halt to controversial pipeline if Russia invades Ukraine:
- Biden meets with German chancellor, urges united front amid tensions with Russia (ABC News)
- Scholz and Biden warn Russia would pay ‘high price’ for Ukraine invasion (Guardian UK)
- VIDEO: Biden says Nord Stream 2 won’t go forward if Russia invades Ukraine, but German Chancellor demurs (CNBC)
- Germany's Scholz meets Biden in Washington (Deustche-Welle News)
- Gas prices climb to highest level in more than 7 years as oil surges above $90 (CNBC)
- How Climate and the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Undergirds the Ukraine-Russia Standoff (Inside Climate News)
- Madagascar reels from 2nd deadly cyclone in two weeks:
- Cyclone Batsirai: Whole villages swept away in Madagascar (BBC)
- Cyclone Batsirai kills 20 in Madagascar but quickly weakens on land (AP)
- Climate, Not Conflict. Madagascar's Famine is the First in Modern History to be Solely Caused by Global Warming (Time)
- VIDEO: Madagascar on brink of world's 1st climate change-driven famine (ABC News)
- Humanitarian Crisis In Madagascar As Cyclone Kills 20, Displaces 55,000 (NDTV):
Some 77 percent of Madagascar's 28 million people live below the poverty line and the latest blow comes during a severe drought in the south, which has plunged more than a million people into acute malnutrition, some facing famine. - World's glaciers contain less ice than previously thought:
- Mountain glaciers may hold 20% less water than thought, study finds (Axios):
The world’s glaciers may contain less ice volume than previously thought, according to a study published in Nature Geoscience, meaning their potential contribution to water supplies would be lower than older estimates. - Earth's shrinking glaciers contain less ice than previously thought, study shows (The National)
- Climate change: Mount Everest ice which took 2,000 years to form has melted in just 25, scientists say (Sky News)
- Satellites catch methane 'super-emitters', a tool for making rapid cuts:
- AUDIO: A satellite finds massive methane leaks from gas pipelines (NPR):
"No one expects that pipelines are sometimes wide open, pouring gas into the atmosphere," he says.Yet they were. Over the course of two years, during 2019 and 2020, the researchers counted more than 1,800 large bursts of methane, often releasing several tons of methane per hour. Lauvaux and his colleagues published their findings this week in the journal Science. - Cracking down on methane ‘ultra emitters’ is a quick way to combat climate change, researchers find (Washington Post):
Finding ways to eliminate such colossal and unnecessary leaks, whether they result from damaged pipelines or shoddy maintenance practices, the authors write, could yield economic benefits and would produce clear climate and health benefits for relatively low costs. They calculate that eradicating ultra-emitters would represent the equivalent of removing 20 million vehicles from the road for a year, and the avoided warming would prevent an estimated 1,600 deaths annually due to heat exposure. - Aerial surveys detect dozens of methane 'super-emitters' in Permian (Reuters)
- Nissan to phase out internal combustion engines --- except in U.S. market:
- Nissan to end gas engine development (but not really) (Electrek):
Nissan reportedly plans to end “most” gasoline engine development, becoming the first Japanese automaker to take this step, according to Nikkei Asia. The word “most” does a lot of work in that sentence, though, as Nissan still has significant plans to continue selling and developing gas-powered vehicles. - Nissan to end most development of new gasoline engines (Nikkei Asia)
- Nissan wants to end all combustion engine development. But not in the US? (Interesting Engineering)
- BYD's all-electric school bus does more than move kids:
'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
- How Spiking Energy Prices Complicate the Fight Against Global Warming (NY Times)
- A third of Americans are already facing above-average warming (Guardian UK)
- In Rust Belt, Battery Plants Spark Jobs (Climate Crocks)
- Top corporations have vowed to fight climate change. Researchers say their plans fall short. (Washington Post)
- Biden’s 'Cancer Moonshot' turns toward pollution (E&E news)
- Urban air pollution affects 2.5 billion people worldwide, study says (Washington Post)
- Here are the minerals we need for batteries, solar and other clean energy tech (Canary Media)
- New England grid operator should stop crying wolf (CommonWealth)
- US flood risk is about to explode — but not for the reasons you think (Grist)
- VIDEO: PBS on Jetstream and Climate (Climate Crocks)
- How Manchin used politics to protect his coal company (E&E News)
- Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)
- Green Upheaval: The New Geopolitics of Energy (Foreign Affairs)
- 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.