With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
By Desi Doyen on 7/24/2012, 3:14pm PT  


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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Deadly floods in China, drought in Europe - global food prices rise as extreme weather hammers crops across the planet; Germany warns time is running out to cut emissions; EPA to pull back on new mercury pollution standards?; PLUS: Mutants in Florida: pushing back against the Franken-skeeter! ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): BC premiere criticizes tar sands pipeline; "Experts" wrong again on renewable energy predictions; "Perfect storm" on Gulf dolphin deaths; Michael Mann threatens to sue over conservative media's Sandusky comparison; Fukushima: workers' radiation levels faked? ... PLUS: Fossil fuels and global warming's terrifying new math ... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

  • Merkel warns of global warming if no climate accord (Reuters):
    Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on Monday that global warming will accelerate at a dramatic rate unless leaders reach a deal on limiting greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible.
  • Cut air pollution, buy time to slow climate change: U.S. (Chicago Tribune):
    Cutting soot and other air pollutants could help "buy time" in the fight against climate change, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday as seven nations joined a Washington-led plan.
  • Mutant Mosquitoes in Florida:
  • 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

    • Bill McKibben: Global Warming's Terrifying New Math (Rolling Stone):
      The numbers aren't exact, of course, but that carbon bubble makes the housing bubble look small by comparison. It won't necessarily burst – we might well burn all that carbon, in which case investors will do fine. But if we do, the planet will crater. You can have a healthy fossil-fuel balance sheet, or a relatively healthy planet – but now that we know the numbers, it looks like you can't have both. Do the math: 2,795 is five times 565. That's how the story ends.
      ...
      The five biggest oil companies have made more than $1 trillion in profits since the millennium...Much of that profit stems from a single historical accident: Alone among businesses, the fossil-fuel industry is allowed to dump its main waste, carbon dioxide, for free. Nobody else gets that break – if you own a restaurant, you have to pay someone to cart away your trash...
      ...
      The fight, in the end, is about whether the industry will succeed in its fight to keep its special pollution break alive past the point of climate catastrophe, or whether, in the economists' parlance, we'll make them internalize those externalities.
    • Tar Sands: Gateway pipeline risks exceed rewards, B.C. Premier says (Globe & Mail) [emphasis added]:
      British Columbia Premier Christy Clark is warning that the environmental risks associated with a plan to sell Canadian oil to Asia through the Northern Gateway pipeline outweigh the economic benefits, leaving her at odds with the federal and Alberta governments.
      ...
      Opposition to Northern Gateway, particularly among first nations and environmental groups, has hardened following a series of oil spills in Alberta and elsewhere in North America.
    • Why do ‘experts’ always lowball clean-energy projections? (Grist):
      Suffice to say, the projections did not fare well. They were badly wrong, and all in the same direction --- they underestimated the growth of renewable energy.
    • Piecing the Puzzle Together on Dolphin Deaths (NYT Green):
      Unusually cold water in the Gulf of Mexico combined with damage to the food web from the BP oil spill probably caused the premature deaths of hundreds of dolphins in the region, a new report concludes.
    • Penn State scientist threatens legal action over Sandusky comparison (Politico):
      Penn State University global warming researcher Michael Mann is lawyering up to counter attacks by conservatives who have referred to him as the “Jerry Sandusky of climate science.”
    • Must-See Videos: ABC Interviews Climatologist Michael Mann (Climate Progress)
    • Claim Fukushima worker's radiation levels faked probed (AFP):
      Japan's labour minister on Tuesday ordered an investigation into claims that subcontractors at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant told workers to lie about their radiation exposure.
    • For Coast Guard Patrol North of Alaska, Much to Learn in a Remote New Place (NY Times):
      “More traffic up there means more people,” said Cmdr. Kevin Riddle, the captain of the Coast Guard cutter Alex Haley, which was preparing to deploy north this month from its base in Kodiak, Alaska. With cruise ships full of hundreds of passengers potentially needing rescue, tanker ships going adrift in coastal areas or getting stuck in sea ice, and the energy boom itself, Commander Riddle said, once largely empty waters are getting more crowded.
    • Shell Parody Site: ArcticReady.com (ArcticReady.com):
      That's why we at Shell are committed to not only recognize the challenges that climate change brings, but to take advantage of its tremendous opportunities. And what's the biggest opportunity we've got today? The melting Arctic.
    • Fake Shell advertisements spreading on the web (Fuel Fix) [emphasis added]:
      Greenpeace mounted a satirical billboard on the highway near Shell's Houston headquarters this morning. The billboard shows polar bears and proclaims: "You can't run your SUV on cute. Let's Go."

      The spoof is one of a handful of fake "Let's Go! Arctic" advertisements on the ArcticReady.com protest website that drilling foes launched earlier this year. The website, which is modeled to look like an authentic Shell site and created by Greenpeace and the Yes Lab, includes an iceberg-zapping game and more spoof ads.
  • Essential Climate Science Findings:
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