‘Green News Report’ – November 13, 2014

Follow @GreenNewsReport…

 


(Or use “Click here to listen…” link below.)

IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Historic climate deal between U.S. and China: it’s the deal Republicans said could never be done; Hope breaks out for international climate treaty negotiations; Republicans freak out at home, while scientists say it’s not enough, but it’s a good start…(Also, BREAKING: Coal mine owner Don Blankenship indicted…) All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Coal mine boss Don Blankenship indicted for mine explosion that killed 29; Why those 5 cent charges for plastic bags actually work; Keystone XL Pipeline: Lame-Duck Congress Fast-Tracks Legislation; Why The U.S.-China Climate Deal Makes Keystone XL Pipeline An Even Worse Idea; IEA Warns Fossil Fuel Trends Dire; Lightning Will Increase With Warming… PLUS: Pope Francis: “Unbridled consumerism” will have destructive consequences for the planet … and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Historic and Symbolic US-China Climate Deal:
• White House Fact Sheet: U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change and Clean Energy Cooperation (White House.gove)
• Op-Ed, Sec. of State John Kerry: China, America and Our Warming Planet – Our Historic Agreement With China on Climate Change (NY Times)
• Everything You Need to Know about the U.S.–China Climate Change Agreement: A turning point has been reached in the world’s bid to curb global warming (Scientific American)
• Major climate breakthrough: U.S. and China announce emissions cuts (Mashable):
  Obama said the new U.S. goal is to cut emissions by 26% to 28% by 2025, compared to 2005 levels….The new goal therefore commits the U.S. to a much faster pace of emissions cuts than previously announced, and, if fulfilled, would keep the country on course to cut emissions by 80% relative to 2005 levels by 2050.
• The US and China just reached a major climate deal on cutting emissions (Vox):
  China, for its part, set a new goal of having emissions stop growing by around 2030 — and possibly peak earlier. China will also aim to get one-fifth of its energy from non-fossil sources by 2030.
• China’s Climate Change Plan Raises Questions (NY Times):
  When the presidents of China and the United States pledged on Wednesday to reduce or limit carbon dioxide emissions, analysts and policy advisers said, the two leaders sent an important signal: that the world’s largest economies were willing to work together on climate change.
• Republicans’ ‘But China!’ Excuse Eliminated, But They Find Others:
• GOP Congressional Leaders Denounce U.S.-China Deal on Climate Change (Washington Post):
  Any hope for Congress to reconvene with a sense of bipartisanship was quickly erased Wednesday morning as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) sharply criticized the announcement of a new climate deal between the United States and China.
• VIDEO: Fox News Melts Down Over The U.S.-China Climate Deal (Climate Progress)
• VIDEO: The GOP loses its last, best argument against fighting climate change (Climate Progress)
• Impacts of US-China Deal:
• VIDEO: All In with Chris Hayes: China Deal… the inside story. (All In With Chris Hayes)
• No, The New Climate Deal With China Won’t Hurt The Economy — It May Actually Help (Climate Progress)
• China’s Gigantic New Commitment To Renewable Energy, Explained (Climate Progress)

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

• Longtime Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship indicted for mine explosion that killed 29 (Charleston Gazette):
  “Blankenship knew that UBB was committing hundreds of safety-law violations every year and that he had the ability to prevent most of the violations that UBB was committing,” the indictment states. “Yet he fostered and participated in an understanding that perpetuated UBB’s practice of routine safety violations, in order to produce more coal, avoid the costs of following safety laws, and make more money.”
• Pope Francis: “Unbridled consumerism” will have destructive consequences for the planet (Salon) [emphasis added]:
  Free market fundamentalism poses a grave threat to both economic security and the health of the planet, Pope Francis warns in a letter to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, the host of this weekend’s Group of 20 leaders’ summit in Brisbane.
• Chinese Hack U.S. Weather Systems, Satellite Network (Washington Post):
  Hackers from China breached the federal weather network recently, forcing cybersecurity teams to seal off data vital to disaster planning, aviation, shipping and scores of other crucial uses, officials said.
• In Climate Deal With China, Obama May Set 2016 Theme (NY Times)
• Fracking Sand in Oilfields Stirs Up a Serious Health Risk for Workers (Denver Post):
  ealth concerns about oil field fracking have been focused on the mixed brew of chemicals injected into wells. But it is another innocuous-sounding substance — sand — that poses a more serious danger to workers.
• The surprising reason why those 5 cent charges for plastic bags actually work (Washington Post):
  [I]t’s the way this small change disrupts habitual behaviors and helps people draw a tighter linkage between the environmental awareness that they already possess, and actions in the world that actually advance that consciousness and their values.
• Keystone XL Pipeline: Lame-Duck Congress Fast-Tracks Legislation (NBC News)
• Why The U.S.-China Climate Deal Makes Keystone XL Pipeline An Even Worse Idea (Climate Progress)
• Thunderstruck: Lightning Will Increase With Warming (Climate Central):
  [A] new study finds that lightning strikes will become even more frequent as the planet warms, at least in the continental U.S.
• Post Climate Pact, IEA Warns Fossil Fuel Trends Dire (Climate Central) [emphasis added]:
  …[A] dire warning from the International Energy Agency in its annual World Energy Outlook, which was released on Wednesday. The IEA said the U.S., China and the rest of the world’s biggest carbon dioxide emitters are going to have to do a lot to put the brakes on climate change because the globe is still hooked on fossil fuels, and there’s little indication that will change much over the next 25 years.
• Rich countries subsidising oil, gas and coal companies by $88bn a year (Guardian UK):
  US, UK, Australia giving tax breaks to explore new reserves despite climate advice that fossil fuels should be left buried.
• Fossil fuels should be phased out by 2100 says IPCC (BBC) [emphasis added]:
  The unrestricted use of fossil fuels should be phased out by 2100 if the world is to avoid dangerous climate change, a UN-backed expert panel says. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says in a stark report that most of the world’s electricity can – and must – be produced from low-carbon sources by 2050. If not, the world faces “severe, pervasive and irreversible” damage. The UN said inaction would cost “much more” than taking the necessary action.
• How to stop global warming, in 7 steps (Vox.com) [emphasis added]:
  5) Cutting emissions will cost us — but so will global warming… Economic modeling suggests that this would shave 0.06 percentage points off global economic growth each year….The world would still get richer over time, but at a somewhat slower rate.

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).