‘Green News Report’ – October 29, 2013

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: One year later: the lessons of Superstorm Sandy – Scientists question rebuilding in coastal areas, warn of future climate impacts & of sea level rise; PLUS: It’s official: the Poles are having a heat wave! (No, not the Polish people) … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Leaked Documents Reveal the Secret Finances of a Pro-Industry Science Group; Voters in 2014 swing states favor EPA carbon rules; Washington State county to vote on Big Coal’s future; Coal industry lawyers hid evidence of black lung among sick miners; Most Powerful Storm in 14 Years Sweeps Northwestern Europe; Wireless electric car charging works, researchers show; BBC criticized for promoting climate science deniers; Battery breakthrough with graphene-coated power cell; BP Oil Disaster: Gulf fishermen say ‘there’s no life out there’; Western governors sign climate agreement … PLUS: The National Review’s worst nightmare: Climate activists might win … and much, MUCH more! …

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

• VIDEO: Fox Business Marks Sandy Anniversary With Climate Denial (Climate Progress):
  Despite numerous scientific attribution studies on wildfires, heat waves, droughts, and storms that have found global warming fingerprints, Gainor falsely claimed that “we cannot link climate change or global warming to a specific event.” He furthermore dismissed the decades of work by thousands of scientists in all earth-science disciplines that provide our understanding of climate change as “stuff” and “guesswork.”
• NJ Gov. Chris Christie blames Congress for delays in disaster aid:
• VIDEO: Christie on Sandy Recovery: ‘My Mission to Finish the Job’ (ABC News)
• TRANSCRIPT: ‘Inside the Koch Brothers’ 2011 Summer Seminar’ – Gov. Chris Christie’s Keynote Address (The BRAD BLOG)
• Lessons of Superstorm Sandy: One Year Later:
• 12 strange weather features of Superstorm Sandy (AP)
• How Sandy went from ‘boring’ to killer superstorm (AP)
• Expert Warns We’re Still Unprepared for Sandy-Like Event (Clmate Central.org)
• VIDEO: Megastorm Aftermath (PBS Newshour)
• Interactive Slideshow: Before & After Photos of Superstorm Sandy, One Year Later (AP)
• One year after Sandy, Christie officials sleepwalking on climate change: Opinion (NJ Star-Ledger)
• Superstorm Sandy anniversary: One year later, thousands still not home (NBC News)
• One year after Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey’s forgotten western shore struggles to rebuild (NJ Star-Ledger)
• Five Ways The Sandy Recovery Is Far From Over (Climate Progress)
• For Subway Riders, Fallout From Hurricane May Last Years (NY Times)
• A City Or A Swamp? One Year Later, Hoboken Still Struggling With Sandy (Climate Progress)
• NYC hurricane expert: “Sandy wasn’t the Big One” (Grist):
  Professor Nicholas K. Coch spent decades warning officials that a hurricane could slam into New York City. Superstorm Sandy proved him right — but it could have been much worse, he says.
• Sandy exposed flood insurance failure (Al Jazeera America)
• AUDIO: Is Rebuilding Storm-Struck Coastlines Worth The Cost? (NPR)
• More Sandys: Scientists Warn of Long Term Impacts of Climate Change
• VIDEO: Sandy One Year Later Conference (Monmouth University):
  Highlighting the economic and planning impacts of Sandy and of potential future storms, and will discuss things New Jersey and its municipalities need to be doing in order to be better prepared for the next severe weather event.
• CHARTS: Remember Sandy? Storms Like That Could Become the New Normal (Mother Jones)
• Five Things We Learned From Hurricane Sandy (Dr. Jeff Masters, Weather Underground):
  1) Hurricane Sandy was truly astounding in its size and power. At its peak size, twenty hours before landfall, Sandy had tropical storm-force winds that covered an area nearly one-fifth the area of the contiguous United States.
  …
  2) NHC’s procedures for issuing warnings need improvement.
  …
  5) There may be more storms like Sandy in the future.
• 4 Reasons You Should Worry About Another Sandy (Mother Jones): One year after the destruction, here’s what we know about climate change and storms.
• Superstorm Sandy’s Link To Climate Change: ‘The Case Has Strengthened’ Says Researcher (Climate Progress)
• How Arctic Ice Loss Amplified Superstorm Sandy — Oceanography Journal (Climate Progress)
• Cities Under Future Seas: Sea Level Rise ‘Locking In’ Quickly (Climate Central)
• Sea Level Rise: Floods Threaten Coastal U.S. (Climate Central)
• It’s Offiical: September 2012 4th Warmest on Record:
• September 2013: Fourth Warmest on Record Worldwide, According to NCDC (Weather Underground):
  September 2013 continued the long-standing trend of above-average temperatures globally, tying 2003 as the fourth warmest September on record worldwide according to the latest monthly report from the National Climatic Data Center.
• Global Analysis – September 2013 (NOAA.gov)
• Global August 2013 temperature ties for fourth highest on record; global ocean temperature ties for record highest (NCDC.gov)
• Heat Waves at the Poles:
• Sizzling September: More weather records fall as South Pole emerges from long winter (Antarctic Sun, US Antarctic Program):
  Another month at the South Pole. Another month of record high temperatures at the bottom of the world. The 2013 winter – the months of June, July and August – will already go down as the warmest such season at the South Pole since records began in 1957. That trend continued into September – now the warmest on record – with four new daily maximum record temperatures falling in the middle of the month.
• Arctic Temperatures Highest in at Least 44,000 Years (Live Science):

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

• >Leaked Documents Reveal the Secret Finances of a Pro-Industry Science Group (Mother Jones):
  Attacking the science behind environmental health and safety rules has long been an industry tactic. The American Council on Science and Health, a leader of the charge, has for years claimed that it is not an industry shill but an independent science organization. But it doesn’t disclose its funders. Now documents reveal most of its funding comes from industries who stand to profit from its claims.
• Voters in 2014 swing states favor EPA carbon rules (The Hill’s e2 Wire):
  Roughly 74 percent of voters support the proposed carbon regulations — and 58 percent of those were Republican voters in states where Senate seats are up for grabs come 2014.
• Washington State: The County Council Election That Could Make or Break Big Coal (Mother Jones):
  Its role in deciding the fate of Peabody Coal’s proposed $700-million Gateway Pacific Terminal has thrust the unassuming Whatcom County Council into the national political spotlight.
• Most Powerful Storm in 14 Years Sweeps Northwestern Europe (Weather Underground):