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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Unprecedented heat in India and Pakistan is ‘testing the limits of human survivability’; 20% of world’s reptiles at risk of extinction, thanks to humans; Denmark moves to ditch natural gas heating fast; PLUS: Good news? Mass extinction in the oceans can be avoided by cutting out fossil fuels… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen 5/3/2022

‘Green News Report’ – May 3, 2022  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...   · · · · ·   ‘Green News Report’ – May 3, 2022  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Warmer oceans threaten another CA forest, this one underwater; CA AG investigates the oil and gas industry’s role in plastic pollution, subpoenas Exxon; Biden Administration begins $3 billion plan for EV car batteries; Natural gas giants ghostwrite letters of support for elected officials; A longer life for CA’s Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant?; Texas stumbles in its effort to punish green financial firms; Outlaw lawns: Las Vegas has a new approach to saving water; The Koch’s dream of smashing climate action may be about to come true… PLUS: Why and how Americans became more vulnerable to oil price spikes… and much, MUCH more! …

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…

• Unprecedented heat in India and Pakistan is ‘testing the limits of human survivability’:
• ‘We are living in hell’: Pakistan and India suffer extreme spring heatwaves (Guardian UK):
  April temperatures at unprecedented levels have led to critical water and electricity shortages…”This is the first time the weather has wreaked such havoc on our crops in this area,” Shahwani said. “We don’t know what to do and there is no government help. The cultivation has decreased; now very few fruits grow. Farmers have lost billions because of this weather. We are suffering and we can’t afford it.”
• Climate change is making India’s brutal heat waves worse (MIT Technology Review)
• VIDEO: Climate Injustice: Those Who Face Record Heat Wave in India & Pakistan Did Not Create the Crisis (Democracy Now!)
• Pakistan: Heatwave alert issued as temperatures top 48°C [118°F]in April (Gulf News)
• India’s record-setting heat wave in pictures (CNBC):
  “India and Pakistan are two of the hottest places in the world and will likely continue to see heat waves of this magnitude and worse over the next several decades.”
• Dangerous heat wave endangers millions in India and Pakistan (Axios):
  Research has also directly linked increasingly intense and long-lasting heat waves around the world with human-caused global warming.
• VIDEO: Another landfill site catches fire in India amid heat wave (AFP)
• India has seen months of extreme heat and this week it will only get hotter (CNN)
• 20 percent of world’s reptiles at risk of extinction, thanks to human actions:
• A global reptile assessment highlights shared conservation needs of tetrapods (Nature)
• Groundbreaking study reveals the most threatened reptile species (CNN):
  It’s the first study of its kind for reptiles and involved 961 scientists in 24 countries across six continents and took 15 years to complete…Habitat loss driven by logging, agriculture and urbanization, and competition with invasive species is the main threat to reptiles. Other factors played a role for some species such as their use in traditional medicine. The climate crisis also poses an uncertain challenge, the study added.
• From King Cobras to Geckos, 20 Percent of Reptiles Risk Extinction (NY Times)
• VIDEO: World Risks Losing 1 in 5 Reptile Species as Human Activity Destroys Ecosystems, Says Report Author (Democracy Now!)
• UN Report Says Humanity Has Altered 70 Percent of the Earth’s Land, Putting the Planet on a ‘Crisis Footing’ (Inside Climate News)
• World’s insect populations in dramatic decline, thanks to humans:
• Agriculture and climate change are reshaping insect biodiversity worldwide (Nature)
• ‘Apocalypse Papers’: Scientists Call for Paradigm Shift as Biodiversity Loss Worsens (Inside Climate News):
  [A]nother study warned that the climate crisis is pushing Earth’s oceans toward a mass extinction event at a level not seen in about 250 million years…Taken altogether, the studies show how the rate at which animals and plants are going extinct because of human activity is getting worse and accelerating beyond what scientists had previously feared, Curry said.
• Climate change linked to fewer bugs, study finds (NBC):
  The insects that keep the world running by pollinating plants and supporting food chains face grave risks, a new study has found. The combination of climate change and heavy agriculture is having a profound impact on the abundance and diversity of insects…”At a global scale, we need to consider biodiversity and insects, specifically, in our global food chains.”
• Scientists’ warning to humanity on insect extinctions (Science Direct)
• 2021 was devastating for the world’s forests:
• Massive wildfires helped fuel global forest losses in 2021 (Washington Post:
  Fires accounted for more than a third of the world’s tree cover losses last year “” the largest share on record.
• Crucial tropical forests were destroyed at a rate of 10 soccer fields a minute last year (CNN)
• Vast forest losses in 2021 imperil global climate targets, report says (Reuters/Yahoo News)
• Despite COP26 pledges, the world is losing way too many trees (Salon):
  A new report says the world’s pristine forests were destroyed at a relentless rate in 2021.
• Mass extinction in the world’s oceans can be avoided by stopping fossil fuels
• Warning on Mass Extinction of Sea Life: ‘An Oh My God Moment’ (NY Times):
  A new study finds that if fossil fuel emissions continue apace, the oceans could experience a mass extinction by 2300. There is still time to avoid it.
• Mass extinction in oceans can be avoided by curbing fossil fuels (National Geographic/MSN):
  [T]he researchers contend, we can alter this trajectory. Curbing emissions rapidly could reduce extinction risks by 70 percent. Combining greenhouse gas reductions with concerted efforts to halt ocean pollution, overfishing, habitat destruction, and other marine stresses would give ocean life an even better chance of long-term survival.
• Denmark launches program to ditch natural gas heating:
• Denmark announces major plan to replace gas heating in homes (The Local/Denmark):
  Around 50 percent of Danish households that are currently heated by natural gas will be converted to district heating by 2028.
• Denmark unveils energy plan to be ‘free from Putin’ (GMA Network)

‘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

• Warmer Oceans Threaten Another California Forest, This One Underwater (NY Times)
• California Attorney General Investigates the Oil and Gas Industry’s Role in Plastic Pollution, Subpoenas Exxon (Inside Climate News)
• Gas Giants Ghostwrote Letters Of Support From Elected Officials (Huffington Post)
• The tick that makes people allergic to red meat is in D.C. (Washington Post)
• U.S. natural gas production growth wanes as need arises (Reuters)
• DOE finalizes rules to phase out older light bulbs, estimates consumers will save $3B annually (Utility Dive)
• On Saturday, California Ran on 100 Percent Renewables. The First Time, but Not the Last. (Climate Crocks)
• Drought-starved Lake Mead reveals a decades-old barrel with a body inside (Guardian UK)
• The Kochs’ Dream of Smashing Climate Action May Be About to Come True (Vice)
• Biden Administration Begins $3 Billion Plan for Electric Car Batteries (NY Times)
• A Longer Life For Diablo Canyon? Newsom Touts Nuke Extension (AP)
• Texas Stumbles In Its Effort To Punish Green Financial Firms (NPR)
• Is That an Outlaw Lawn? Las Vegas Has a New Approach to Saving Water (NY Times)
• EPA Staff Backs Status Quo On Ozone Limits In Blow To Enviros (E&E News)
• Why Americans Became More Vulnerable to Oil Price Spikes (NY Times)
• Florida Black Woman Fights Polluting Landfills Made From Sand Pits (Inside Climate News)
• Four solutions to mitigate climate change, from the IPCC (Dr. Michael Mann, Penn Today)
• UN warns Earth ‘firmly on track toward an unlivable world’ (AP)
• Environmental Sacrifice Zones: 8 Places We’ve Given Up-Probably Forever (Environmental Health Network)
• “Rare Earths” from Coal Waste (Climate Crocks)
• 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.