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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Australia braces for El Nino to intensify already-massive bushfires this year; October 2023 was the hottest October on record; Michigan legislature enacts sweeping climate and environmental package; PLUS: President Biden unveils nation's largest investment in rail infrastructure in 50 years... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): In the Florida Everglades, a greenhouse gas emissions hotpot; The rich are buying in to build fortresses in Florida with taxpayer subsidies; As climate talks near, calls mount for a 'phaseout' of fossil fuels; How Midwest landowners helped to derail proposed CO2 pipeline; Toxic pesticides are sprayed next to thousands of schools; Cover crops help the climate and environment, but most farmers say no... PLUS: A climate change success story in Hoboken, NJ... and much, MUCH more! ...

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...

• October 2023 was the hottest October ever recorded:
• Earth has warmest October on record, new data shows (Axios):
  
  There is an ongoing El Niño event in the tropical Pacific Ocean, which helps to increase global average temperatures temporarily, but climate scientists say it cannot account for each of the shattered records this year. What they're saying: "While not quite as bananas as September, it remains gobsmackingly warm," climate scientist Zeke Hausfather told Axios via email.
• Global temperatures remain consistent with climate model projections (Zeke Hausfather, The Climate Brink):
  
  [W]e are still pretty early in the current El Nino cycle...It remains to be seen if we will see more exceptional warmth in the latter part of this year and early next as the El Nino event peaks or if this El Nino is behaving differently - potentially contributing more warming early on due to the rapid transition out of unusually persistent La Nina conditions - than we've seen in past events.
• VIDEO: Earth's Warmest October On Record Continues Journey To Its Hottest Year (Weather Channel)
• 2023 on track to be the hottest year ever. What's next? (Copernicus)
• Australia braces for El Nino to intensify already-massive wildfire season:
• Emergency services across Australia brace for bushfire season as El Nino approaches (MSN/ABC Australia)
• Queensland graziers told to sell cattle after bushfires as livestock feed dries up (ABC Australia)
• VIDEO: Easing weather conditions create reprieve after bushfires ravage WA's south (ABC Australia)
• Threatened species list grows as bushfire season looms (AAP)
• Wildfires are increasingly costly in the U.S.:
• Wildfires are dealing a massive blow to US real estate and homeownership, congressional report finds (CNN):
  
  The new report from the Joint Economic Committee, chaired by Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, examined a wide range of costs beyond immediate wildfire damage, including impacts to real estate value; premature deaths and health risks from wildfire smoke; threats to watersheds; and income loss..."Even if you live someplace where wildfire has never been an issue, these are numbers that are big enough to be systemically problematic for the economy."
• Report: 'Climate-Exacerbated Wildfires' Cost U.S. $394B-$893B Each Year (Insurance Journal):
  
  The costs and damages outlined in the report are equivalent to between 2-4 percent of U.S. GDP, well above existing estimates that put total wildfire costs at between $87.4 billion and $427.8 billion.
• Climate-exacerbated wildfires cost the U.S. between $394 to $893 billion each year in economic costs and damages (U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee)
• House Republicans work to gut EPA budget as government shutdown looms:
• House GOP approves cutting EPA budget by nearly 40 percent (The Hill)
• GOP House proposes slashing $4B from the EPA (Government Executive):
  
  The GOP funding cuts, passed along party lines, would significantly impact state and local efforts to improve drinking water and reduce water pollution. Additional cuts would severely hamper environmental justice projects.
• VIDEO: Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) - I was cold on Halloween, so climate change isn't real (Twitter)
• Biden unveils nation's largest investment in rail infrastructure in 50 years:
• VIDEO: President Biden Remarks on Infrastructure Agenda and Passenger Rail System (C-SPAN)
• Biden Visits Amtrak Maintenance Shed In Home State To Tout Infrastructure Law (Huffington Post/MSN):
  
  The money for Amtrak upgrades, $66 billion in all, was included in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package Biden pushed through Congress in 2021. It includes funding for several major projects along the Boston to Washington, D.C., stretch, the busiest corridor in the country with 800,000 daily riders.
• 'Amtrak Joe' Biden visits Delaware to promote $16 billion for passenger rail projects (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• FACT SHEET: President Biden Advances Vision for World Class Passenger Rail by Delivering Billions in New Funding (White House)
• Michigan legislature enacts sweeping climate and environmental package:
• Michigan Poised to Join States Requiring 100 Percent Clean Electricity (Inside Climate News):
  
  A suite of bills headed to the governor’s desk will also give the state, instead of local governments, the authority to approve industrial-scale renewable energy projects.
• Revised clean energy package passes Michigan House (Michigan Public Radio)
• VIDEO: Huge Victory as Clean Energy Overcomes Fossil Fuel 'Cult' in Michigan (Climate Crocks):
  
  Farmers and landowners in the midwest have come under attack from fossil fuel's facebook disinformation machine, which has organized intimidation, harrassment and threats against farmers and local officials who wish to site clean energy. Now, following similar initiatives in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois, Michigan has set state level clean energy siting standards, and gone a way further with a 2040 goal for decarbonizing the state's grid.
• Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer might notch a big climate win (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

• In the Florida Everglades, a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Hotspot (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: Rich Buying in to Build "Fortresses" on Florida Beach, with big Taxpayer Subsidies (Climate Crocks)
• As Climate Talks Near, Calls Mount for a 'Phaseout' of Fossil Fuels (Yale e360)
• Miami-Dade County Could Create The Strictest Workplace Heat Rules In The U.S. (Washington Post)
• Majority-Black Penn. Community Fights Proposed $6 Billion LNG Terminal (Environmental Health News)
• How Midwest Landowners Helped to Derail One of the Biggest CO2 Pipelines (Inside Climate News)
• Texas Could Spend U.S. Funds Meant To Cut CO2 Emissions On Highway Projects (Texas Tribune)
• World Bank Poised To Host Climate Loss And Damage Fund, Despite Concerns (Reuters)
• Toxic Pesticides Are Sprayed Next to Thousands of US Schools (Inside Climate News)
• Cover Crops Help The Climate And Environment, But Most Farmers Say No (AP)
• A Climate Change Success Story? Look at Hoboken. (NY Times)
• Biden Administration, After Setbacks, Talks Up Renewable Power Gains (NY Times)
• VIDEO: Unchecked Climate Change Will Bring Storms Beyond Imagination (Climate Crocks)
• The trillion-dollar quest to make green steel (Canary Media)
• Rising Temperatures Are Wreaking Havoc Year-Round (gift link, Bloomberg)
• Rough years ahead [as new El Nino arrives] (Nature)
• Complete Series: Farmers Under Attack for Supporting Clean Energy (Climate Crocks)
• These are the places most at risk from record-breaking heat waves as the planet warms (CNN)
• Building Steam in Lithium Valley (The American Prospect)
• Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here's How to Get Started (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: See what three degrees of global warming looks like (The Economist/YouTube)
• The 7 climate tipping points that could change the world forever (Grist)
• The 1977 White House climate memo that should have changed the world (Guardian UK)
• Four solutions to mitigate climate change, from the IPCC (Dr. Michael Mann, Penn Today)
• Environmental Sacrifice Zones: 8 Places We've Given Up-Probably Forever (Environmental Health Network)
• Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)
• VIDEO: 2050: what happens if we ignore the climate crisis (Guardian UK)
• 99.9 percent Of Scientists Agree Climate Emergency Caused By Humans (Guardian UK)
• 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)
• 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.

                 

Article Categories: U.S. House, Environment, U.S. Senate, Michigan, EPA, Solar energy, Extreme weather, Australia, Agriculture, Water, Gretchen Whitmer, Pollution, Electricity, Railroads, Andy Ogles