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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: ‘GNR’ Special Coverage: 2016 Republican and Democratic Presidential candidates talk climate, energy, and the path forward — or not… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Blowing Smoke: Report Says Violations Belie Chem Industry Rhetoric; After historic flooding, Death Valley gears up for ‘a long, hard recovery’; G20 Nations Spend $452 Billion a Year Supporting Fossil Fuels: Study; Fire Chiefs, White House See Climate Change Impact on Wildfires; Paris Climate Talks Not Just Hot Air, France Tells U.S; Montreal Sewage Dump Proceeding as Planned; Arizona Copper Smelter to Slash Emissions, Pay $163M; BP Oil Spill Dispersants Hindered Rather Than Helped, Study Says… PLUS: Native Americans Oppose Stripping Protection From Yellowstone Grizzlies… and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- Not Much Climate, Energy in 4th GOP Debate on Fox Business Channel:
- WATCH: Fourth Republican Debate 2015 Full Video & Highlights (Coed.com)
- VIDEO: Rand Paul on Climate Change | Fox Business GOP Debate (Rand Paul 2016)
- This Chart Shows Where All the Candidates Stand on the World’s Biggest Issue (Mother Jones)
- Rand Paul Goes Full-On Climate Science Denier (Climate Progress):
There was once a time when Rand Paul seemed like a moderate on climate change….But all that moderation went down the tubes on Tuesday night during the fourth Republican presidential debate. Asked about President Obama’s regulatory plan to fight climate change, Paul said he would immediately repeal it — and then questioned the reality of the problem altogether.
- We Can Stop Pretending Any of the 2016 Republicans Believe in Science (Mother Jones)
- Republican Candidates’ Climate Change Denial No Longer Reflects The Conservative Base (Huffington Post)
- The Last Time CO2 Was This High, Humans Didn’t Exist (Climate Central):
The last time there was this much carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth’s atmosphere, modern humans didn’t exist. Megatoothed sharks prowled the oceans, the world’s seas were up to 100 feet higher than they are today, and the global average surface temperature was up to 11°F warmer than it is now.
- Bankruptcy Expected for Arch Coal, a Reflection of Industry Woes (High Country News)
- ‘Climate Change Is An Opportunity’ at MSNBC Democratic Forum:
- WATCH MSNBC’s Democratic Presidential Candiates Forum 11-06-2015 (Vimeo)
- VIDEO: The Young Turks Summary – MSNBC’s Democratic Forum (The Young Turks Network)
- Martin O’Malley: Zero out fossil fuels by 2050 (Gov. Martin O’ Malley, op-ed, USA Today)
- Hillary Clinton proposes $30bn lifeline for hard-hit coal communities (Guardian UK):
Infrastructure and education in poor mining regions among targets of funding, as well as repurposing of lands and power plant sites for other industries.
- Senator Bernie Sanders: To Battle Global Warming, We Must Pick Clean Energy As A ‘Winner’ (Climate Progress)
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
- Blowing Smoke: Report Says Violations Belie Chem Industry Rhetoric (Center for Effective Government):
Large chemical companies and their major trade association and lobbying arm, the American Chemistry Council, say they can maintain high safety standards through self-regulation and voluntary actions. Our report finds this isn’t the case. Voluntary standards don’t work, and existing regulations are not effectively enforced.
- After historic flooding, Death Valley gears up for ‘a long, hard recovery’ (LA Times):
Hardest hit was one of the park’s best-known tourist stops, the area surrounding Scotty’s Castle, a rambling medieval-style villa erected in steep and narrow Grapevine Canyon in the 1920s. The floodwaters in Grapevine Canyon flowed at an estimated rate of about 93,000 cubic feet a second, 10 times that of a 100-year flood, official said. Damage estimates are in the tens of millions of dollars.
- G20 Nations Spend $452 Billion a Year Supporting Fossil Fuels: Study (AFP):
The G20 group of major economies spend $452 billion per year supporting fossil fuel industries, despite their primary role in causing climate change, according to a study released on Thursday.
- Fire Chiefs, White House See Climate Change Impact on Wildfires (McClatchy DC):
Fire chiefs from California, Idaho, Washington and other vulnerable states reinforced on Monday the Obama administration’s campaign against climate change.
- Paris Climate Talks Not Just Hot Air, France Tells U.S (Reuters):
Any global climate change deal reached in Paris next month will be legally binding and have a concrete impact, France’s foreign minister said on Thursday, reacting to U.S. comments that questioned the status of the accord.
- Montreal Sewage Dump Proceeding as Planned: Mayor (Toronto Globe & Mail):
The City of Montreal says the controversial process of dumping eight billion litres of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River went off without a hitch as it got under way on Wednesday.
- Native Americans Oppose Stripping Protection From Yellowstone Grizzlies (Reuters):
Native American tribes on Wednesday called for the U.S. government to halt plans to strip grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone of Endangered Species Act protection because it would open the way for trophy hunting in Idaho and two other states bordering the national park.
- European Scientific Advisers Say Glyphosate Unlikely To Cause Cancer (Reuters):
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on Thursday said glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto weedkiller Roundup, was unlikely to cause cancer in humans, but it proposed new controls on any residues in food.
- Arizona Copper Smelter to Slash Emissions, Pay $163M (Environment News Service):
Mexican copper miner, smelter, and refiner ASARCO must pay more than $163 million to settle U.S. government charges that the company broken the law by releasing hazardous air pollutants, including lead and arsenic, from its primary copper smelter in Hayden, Arizona.
- BP Oil Spill Dispersants Hindered Rather Than Helped, Study Says (CS Monitor):
Dispersants used to encourage the oil’s breakdown actually hindered microbes that were helping clean-up the huge slick, says new research.
- Carbon Emissions Fall in 11 of G20 Members, in Turning Point (Reuters):
Greenhouse gas emissions per capita are falling in 11 of the Group of 20 major economies, a turning point for tackling climate change, a study showed on Tuesday.
- Exxon, Keystone, and the Turn Against Fossil Fuels (Bill McKibben, The New Yorker] [emphasis added]:
T]he fossil-fuel industry—which, for two centuries, underwrote our civilization and then became its greatest threat—has started to take serious hits…. There is, now, an elsewhere to head…. Inevitability was their shield, but no longer. If we wanted to transform our energy supply, we clearly could, though it would require an enormous global effort.The fossil-fuel industry will, of course, do everything it can to slow that effort down; even if the tide has begun to turn, that industry remains an enormously powerful force, armed with the almost infinite cash that has accumulated in its centuries of growth.
FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page
But exactly how bad is still an open question, and a lot depends not only on how we react, but how quickly. The rate at which humans cut down on greenhouse gas emissions–if we do choose to cut them–will have a large bearing on how the world turns out by 2100, the forecasts reveal.
Restraining global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius will require changing how the world produces and uses energy to power its cities and factories, heats and cools buildings, as well as moves people and goods in airplanes, trains, cars, ships and trucks, according to the IPCC. Changes are required not just in technology, but also in people’s behavior.
“Climate Change Is An Opportunity”
For 18-wheeler Hearst market?
(Extinction: Sydney, Shanghai, Rio, NYC, Mumbai, London, & Durban)
Well, Dredd, that is the approach that the Democratic candidates have decided to take. Time will tell if that approach is a successful counter to the fear-mongering of the Republican candidates. The Democratic candidates’ argument is supported by actual economic data (EPA) showing that environmental regulations spur innovation, creating jobs and new industries to meet the new standards – cleaning up power plant emissions and transportation emissions, installing solar panels, and improving building energy efficiency all require human hands, on site, doing jobs that cannot be outsourced to other countries.
In the Democratic Forum on MNSBC, Martin O’Malley quoted Thomas Merton as saying, “Any appeal that begins from a standpoint of despair is doomed to fail.” O’Malley went on to say “We need to wrap the challenge of climate change in the opportunity of more jobs.” There is a growing body of academic work on communication that indicates people are more likely to engage in action if they are provided information about positive action steps than if they are presented only with information about negative outcomes – in line with Merton’s observations about human nature. These studies have found that people tend to give up and do nothing if they feel the situation is hopeless, and giving up is not a useful response to climate change. In that context, it is logical for the Democratic presidential candidates to focus on a positive vision of the path forward.
Desi @2,
Is the Oil companies keeping hidden all that tragic truth (about what their fossil fuel products were doing to life on Earth), and only talking about “the positive” things, an example?
Their good propaganda has done wonders for every one hasn’t it?
Destroying the environment is an opportunity to not destroy it?
We need more good lies?
Dredd, the Democratic candidates are attempting to engage people in voting for action, rather than induce them to give up and do nothing out of hopeless despair.
No, the oil companies’ propaganda would not be a good example.
Do you believe it is wrong to help voters understand that a renewable energy economy is possible?
Do you believe that the situation is hopeless?
Deso @4.
I guess I have a hard time conflating jobs and catastrophe.
Will the Paris terror attacks be discussed in terms of jobs?
The truth is that a catastrophe, The Sixth Mass Extinction, looms and it will not be solved by those who caused it.
There is plenty of hope, but it is the same hope expressed for decades now.
Expressed ad nauseum as things only got worse.
For the perpetrators to ask the victims to not worry, be happy, because jobs … well, it is imbecilic IMO.
Dredd @5 – Look, we agree on the catastrophic trajectory and the need for massive action. But how do you spur consumers and voters to demand change and swift nationwide mobilization at the speed and scale that the situation requires?
Frankly, the fear of catastrophic outcomes has not yet mobilized the vast majority of voters or consumers yet. Do you have any other suggestions?
It’s understandable to disapprove of the Democratic candidates’ approach, but it’s important to be fair and accurate as to what they’ve actually said. I’ve followed all of the campaigns closely on this subject. All three Democratic candidates have been quite vocal on the dangers of climate change. None of the 3 have said anything even remotely close to ‘don’t worry.’ All 3 clearly believe that articulating a positive vision of a hopeful future will translate into more votes than a vision of a dystopian hellscape of inescapable doom. The Republican candidates, in their denial of climate science and calls for maintaining fossil fuel’s supremacy, more closely match your statement of “ask(ing) the victims to not worry, be happy, because jobs.”
We will soon find out which approach works.
Des,
They should use you in the presidential debates, as one of the questioners.
You do get to the crux of the matter very well.