‘Green News Report’ – October 3, 2013

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Non-essential FEMA workers essential after all, as potential hurricane threatens Gulf Coast; Russia charges Greenpeace activists with piracy; Tesla electric car battery catches fire; Do cities have a right to ban plastic bags?; PLUS: What the corporate media didn’t tell you about the new UN climate report … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Fracking wastewater contaminated Pennsylvania streambeds; BP’s well control exec says he was unprepared for U.S. Gulf blowout; Australia: Hottest September on record; More leaks at Fukushima; More bad news for Minnesota moose; Methane more potent greenhouse gas than previously thought; Farming vs. hunting on grasslands; Ocean acidification rises to record levels: “The next mass extinction may have already begun”; Monsanto buys climate change forecasting company; … PLUS: If You Distrust Vaccines, You’re More Likely to Think NASA Faked the Moon Landings … and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Shutdown Affects Weather, Disaster Prep as Dangerous Weather Threatens US:
• Furloughed FEMA workers recalled to respond to Tropical Storm Karen (NOLA.com) [emphasis added]:
  “Based on applicable legal requirements, and consistent with its contingency plan, FEMA has begun to recall currently furloughed employees necessary to serve functions of the agency to protect life and property as they prepare for potential landfall of Tropical Storm Karen,” White House press secretary Jay Carney.
• What Happens When A Hurricane Hits The U.S. During A Government Shutdown? (Climate Progress)
• Shutdown stopping flow of weather information as dangerous storms threaten nation (Capitol Weather Gang, Washington Post)
• Government shutdown: NASA turns 55 – and turns out the lights (CS Monitor)
• IPCC: We’ve Used Up 54% of the ‘Carbon Budget’:
• VIDEO: Panel Says We’re Close to ‘Danger Point’ (Weather Channel)
• The Real Budget Crisis: ‘The CO2 Emissions Budget Framing Is A Recipe For Delaying Concrete Action Now’ (Climate Progress):
  The Washington establishment and the media have been mesmerized into inaction by a short-term budget crisis — funding the continued operation of the government. But it is the continued operation of a livable climate that should have their full attention.
• VIDEO: Chief meteorologist John Farley discusses newly released report on climate change (WIST South Carolina)
• Media Coverage of Climate Change/Global Warming (Center for Science & Technology Research)
• Cargo Ship Crosses Arctic Ocean for the First Time, Carrying Coal:
• Ship crosses Northwest Passage, sails into history (Globe & Mail UK)
• Russia Charges Greenpeace Arctic Activists with Piracy:
• Greenpeace’s Arctic 30 Charged as Gazprom Says ‘Tragedy’ Averted (Bloomberg)
• VIDEO: Russia charges Greenpeace activists with piracy (BBC)
• Free the Arctic 30 (Greenpeace)
• Tesla Car Battery Catches Fire:
• VIDEO: Tesla Model S catches fire after colliding with ‘large metallic object’ (Treehugger)
• A Tesla Model S Caught Fire After A Crash. So What? (Climate Progress)
• IKEA to Sell Solar Panel Kits at All U.K. Stores:
• Solar power straight off the shelf (Environmental News Network)
• CA Supreme Court Upholds Plastic Bag Ban — Again:
• Marin County’s plastic-bag ban upheld by court (SF Chronicle):
  Plastic bag manufacturers lost another challenge to local ban-the-bag measures Wednesday when the state Supreme Court allowed Marin County to continue enforcing its restrictions at checkout counters in unincorporated areas.
• High court upholds Marin’s plastic bag ban (Marin Journal)
• Plastic Bag Bans Win in Supreme Court Yet Again (Environment California)

‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…

• If You Distrust Vaccines, You’re More Likely to Think NASA Faked the Moon Landings (Mother Jones): A new study finds that conspiracy beliefs tie together those who deny climate change, refuse vaccines, and question GMOs.
• VIDEO: Fracking wastewater contaminated Pennsylvania streambeds, study finds (CS Monitor):
  Despite being treated, wastewater from fracking and other forms of gas and oil extraction can leave elevated levels of contaminants in streambeds at the point they are discharged and well downstream, according to a study published Wednesday.
• BP’s well control exec says he was unprepared for U.S. Gulf blowout (Reuters) [emphasis added]:
  BP’s manager in charge of controlling the Macondo blowout in 2010 was never trained to permanently plug a ruptured oil well and said in court on Wednesday the British company was not fully prepared for the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history….He also emphasized that equipment needed to cap the well was not readily available in the industry at the time.
• Australia Has its Hottest September as Fire Threat Grows (Climate Central)
• Tokyo Electric says contaminated water leaked at Fukushima (Reuters):
  Heavy rain during a recent typhoon flooded one of the tank holding areas where Tepco stores excess water flushed over damaged reactors to keep them cool, a spokesman said.
• Former Japanese PM And Current Environment Minister Speak Out Against Nuclear Power (Climate Progress)
• More bad news for Minnesota moose (McClatchy DC):
  Minnesota’s dwindling moose herd has a year off from human hunters in 2013, but that doesn’t mean life for the big north woods critters is a walk in the park. Moose are still being hit hard by disease, injury and parasites, and they are still prey for four-legged hunters who don’t need licenses. And there are still far more dying than should be.
• Grasslands plowed under for farming mean trouble for hunters and wildlife (McClatchy DC):
  High commodity prices and skyrocketing land values are driving the conversion of grasslands back to crops, and few see any near-term change in the trend. Next year, some 205,000 acres of CRP contracts are scheduled to expire in Minnesota, Tenney said. All bad news for a state where the pheasant population is down 29 percent this fall.
• Researchers find historic ocean acidification levels: “The next mass extinction may have already begun (Climate Progress):
  The study finds a “deadly trio” of human-caused effects are proving disastrous for the health of the world’s oceans.
• Swarms of giant hornets kill 42 people, injure hundreds in northwest China (LA Times)
• For $19 you can kill a wolf in Montana (Treehugger)
• Monsanto Is Getting Into The Climate Data Business (Climate Progress): To provide better climate data to its farmers, the world’s largest seed company has made a major purchase.
• More Bad News For Fracking: IPCC Warns Methane Traps Much More Heat Than Previously Thought (Climate Progress)
• Clean Energy Fuels has started selling a fuel made of landfill methane at its 40+ filling stations inin CA (New York Times)
• WSJ ‘s Stephen Moore: Fracking Is “Like The Equivalent In Health Care Of A Cure For Cancer” (Media Matters.org)
• What Our Idyllic, Non-Dystopian Future Would Look Like If We Fixed the World (Motherboard/VICE):
  The book, The World We Made: Alex McKay’s Story from 2050, is told through the perspective of Alex, the non gender-specific protagonist living in the year 2050, reflecting on how the world came back from the brink of destruction. It’s due to come out next month.
• Fracking Chemicals May Be Unknown, Even To Gas Drillers, Lawsuit Documents Suggest (Huffington Post Green)
• Faux Pause: Ocean Warming, Sea Level Rise And Polar Ice Melt Speed Up, Surface Warming To Follow (Climate Progress)

FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page

• Video Proof That Global Warming is a ‘Hoax’!: NASA Temperature Data 1888-2011 (The BRAD BLOG):



• NASA climate change video: This is the U.S. in 2100 (NASA).