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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issues eviction notice to Dakota Access Pipeline protest camp; U.S. Chemical Safety Board investigating third oil refinery fire in two days; Extreme water shortages caused by drought trigger state of emergency in Bolivia; Major coral die-off along northern Great Barrier Reef; Developing nations pledge to switch to 100% renewable energy by 2050; PLUS: Federal judge rules a stable climate is a constitutional right… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): I Told The New York Times: “It’s time for a whole new approach to climate journalism!”; Tennessee: Drought and high winds fuel ‘apocalyptic’ wildfire; Bloomberg: Cities will fight climate change, with or without Trump; Chilling climate revelations from the last ice age; White House Releases Wishful Climate Change Plan Before Trump Takes Office; Antarctica: Rift in Pine Island Glacier points to a coming, broader collapse… PLUS: A Portrait of a Man Who Knows Nothing About Climate Change… and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- North Dakota: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers moves to evict Dakota Access protesters:
- U.S. Army Corps Statement: Omaha District Commander provides update regarding North Dakota activities (US Army Corps of Engineers):
The Army Corps of Engineers is seeking a peaceful and orderly transition to a safer location, and has no plans for forcible removal.
- Standing Rock protest: North Dakota governor orders immediate evacuation (Guardian UK)
- A fund set up by friends and verified to help with Sophia’s recovery is set up here:
- VIDEO: Witness Says Cops Targeted Sophia Wilansky Before Blowing Up Her Arm (Heavy)
- The Standing Rock Resistance Is Unprecedented (It’s Also Centuries Old) (NPR)
- Competing groups are trying to define the Dakota Access pipeline debate. So where does the truth lie? (LA Times)
- Palestinians support indigenous Dakota pipeline protests: “We stand with Standing Rock” (Salon)
- North Dakota regulators accuse company of failing to disclose the discovery of Native American sacred artifacts in oil pipeline’s path (Guardian UK)
- CEO behind Dakota Access to protesters: ‘We’re building the pipeline’ (PBS)
- Dakota Access pipeline company and Donald Trump have close financial ties (Guardian UK)
- Trump (reportedly) dumped his stock in the Dakota Access pipeline owner over the summer (Washington Post)
- Louisiana: U.S. Chemical Safety Board investigating 3 refinery fires in 2 days:
- U.S. Chemical Safety Board to probe Baton Rouge refinery fire (Reuters):
“The CSB has investigated too many incidents at refineries across the country,” Sutherland said in a statement on Wednesday.
- Four critically injured in fire at Exxon’s giant Baton Rouge refinery (Reuters):
The incident was the fourth in two days to hit Gulf refineries.
- Bolivia: Worst drought in 25 years triggers state of emergency:
- Shrinking glaciers cause state-of-emergency drought in Bolivia (Guardian UK):
Three main dams supplying water to La Paz and El Alto are no longer fed by Andean glaciers and have nearly run dry…One glacier on Chacaltaya mountain – which rises above El Alto and which once hosted the world’s highest ski resort – has already completely disappeared.
- Bolivian glaciers melt at alarming rate (Climate News Network, 10/22/16)
- Australia: 67 per cent of north Great Barrier Reef corals have died:
- Australia’s Great Barrier Reef suffered its worst die-off on record (Mashable):
The worst affected area is a 430 mile section of reefs in the northern part of the reef that has lost an average of 67 percent of its shallow water corals in just the past 8 to 9 months alone.
- VIDEO: Great Barrier Reef scientists confirm largest die-off of corals recorded (Guardian UK)
- Scientists chart a 400-mile zone of coral devastation at the Great Barrier Reef (Washington Post)
- UN Climate Talks: 47 developing nations vow to switch to 100% renewable energy:
- The Climate Vulnerable Forum Vision (U.N. CVF)
- ‘We strive to lead,’ climate-vulnerable countries declare, pledging robust action on Paris accord (UN News Centre)
- World’s poorest countries to aim for 100% green energy (BBC):
Representatives from 47 of the world’s most disadvantaged nations have pledged to generate all their future energy needs from renewables. Members of the Climate Vulnerable Forum issued their statement on the last day of the Marrakech climate conference.
- 48 Poor Nations Commit To 100% Renewables By 2050 (Clean Technica)
- Oregon: Federal judge rules a stable climate is a fundamental right:
- The Kids Suing the Government Over Climate Change Are Our Best Hope Now (Slate):
In denying the government’s motion to dismiss, Aiken, based in Eugene, Oregon, opened a path for an eventual court-mandated, science-based plan to bring about sharp emissions reductions in the United States. The case, Juliana v. United States, will now go to trial starting sometime in 2017 and could prove to be a major civil rights suit, eventually finding its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- Landmark U.S. Federal Climate Lawsuit: (Our Children’s Trust):
“Exercising my ‘reasoned judgment,’ I have no doubt that the right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life is fundamental to a free and ordered society.” -U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken.
…
Their complaint asserts that, through the governments affirmative actions in causing climate change, it has violated the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, property, as well as failed to protect essential public trust resources. - Emphatic Ruling by Judge Aiken (Dr. James Hansen, Columbia Univ.)
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
- A Portrait of a Man Who Knows Nothing About Climate Change (NY Mag):
In his interview with the New York Times, Donald Trump expressed more flexibility on climate change, which he has previously called a hoax created by China. That is the good news. The bad news is that Trump’s lack of commitment to the cause of climate-science denial is rooted in a comprehensive failure to grasp the issue.
- I Told The New York Times: “It’s time for a whole new approach to climate journalism!†(Medium) [emphasis added]:
They’re going to hire someone else. I think I’m still right…Some, though, not only understand the basics, but have begun to grapple with the larger challenges of how do we learn more about what’s coming, how do we act, how do we prepare. Narrowing the audience focus of climate coverage to concentrate on these informed climate readers — even if it alienates readers who are less informed or politically opposed to climate change — can energize these readers.
- Tennessee: Drought and high winds fuel ‘apocalyptic’ wildfire (Mashable):
“The center of Gatlinburg looks good for now,” said Newmansville Volunteer Fire Department Lt. Bobby Balding told the Knoxville News Sentinel on Tuesday. “It’s the apocalypse on both sides (of downtown).
- Michael Bloomberg: cities will fight climate change, with or without Trump (NY Times)
- Chilling climate revelations from the last ice age (UCLA Institute of the Environment)
- White House Releases Wishful Climate Change Plan Before Trump Takes Office (INside Climate News)
- Antarctica: Rift in Pine Island Glacier points to a coming, broader collapse (Mashable)
- ‘The answer to global transportation challenges is not less transport – it is sustainable transport’ – UN chief (UN News Centre)
- Perils of Climate Change Could Swamp Coastal Real Estate (NY Times):
Homeowners are slowly growing wary of buying property in the areas most at risk, setting up a potential economic time bomb in an industry that is struggling to adapt.
- Shocked, Grieving, and All in for All Life (Climate Mobilization):
We have always known we needed to accomplish an almost unthinkable transformation. We believe that, if anything, this election shows that we live in a time when old rules increasingly do not apply, in which the seemingly unthinkable is possible.
- ‘The Blob’ Is Back: What Warm Ocean Mass Means for Weather, Wildlife (News Deeply):
The Blob isn’t exactly to blame for California’s drought, though it certainly aggravated the problem. But it is to blame for seriously disrupting the ocean food chain and for creating conditions that fed unprecedented algal blooms in the coastal Pacific…[I]t does provide some hint, at least, of what it’s going to be like in future decades, in particular, with some of the impacts we’ve seen in the marine ecosystem.- Global warming alters Arctic food chain, scientists say, with unforeseeable results (NY Times):
These changes are likely to have a profound impact for animals further up the food chain, such as birds, seals, polar bears and whales. But scientists still don’t know enough about the biology of the Arctic Ocean to predict what the ecosystem will look like in decades to come.- Renewable Energy Seen as an Opportunity for the European Arctic (Arctic Deeply):
The North could become the “green battery†for Europe through an integration into the European energy market…With geothermal energy in Iceland, hydropower in Norway and wind energy in the Faroe Islands, Europe is well on its way to decarbonizing its energy systems.- Canada Sets In Motion Microbeads Prohibition (Toledo Blade):
Canada this month took steps toward joining the United States in banning the sale of personal-hygiene products that contain tiny plastics known as microbeads in an effort to keep them away from fish and wildlife and address plastic pollution in general.- China May Waste $490 Billion on Unneeded Coal Plants: Study (Bloomberg):
China risks wasting $490 billion by building more coal power plants than it needs as slower power demand growth and less polluting energy sources squeeze coal generation out of the power mix, according to a study from an environmental think tank.- No country on Earth is taking the 2 degree climate target seriously (Vox):
If we mean what we say, no more new fossil fuels, anywhere.FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page
- NASA Video: If we don’t act, here’s what to expect in the next 100 years:
2 Comments on “‘Green News Report’ – November 29, 2016”
Comments are closed.
- ‘The Blob’ Is Back: What Warm Ocean Mass Means for Weather, Wildlife (News Deeply):
Denier Conspiracy Claim:
Deniers claim that the scientists are in cahoots with each other (an intellectual conspiracy), so that they can continue getting grants and funding to maintain their jobs. While I don’t think this is true. Let’s examine this. Let’s weigh the benefits and liabilities to our society of two groups who claim the other is lying.
One is a group of ivory tower intellectuals who claim the sky is falling, and that we not only need to keep funding their research (in the millions of dollars), but we also need to invest in our economy (in the billions of dollars) so we can be more diverse and independent in our energy sources, so we can expand our jobs base, so we can reduce pollution and other health hazards caused by the extraction, transportation, refining, burning and disposing of waste from fossil fuels. Though they may be getting million dollar grants to keep their jobs, their suggestions sound like they are good for our country and maybe other countries in the long run.
The other group is a bunch of fat cats making billions of dollars who want to control the energy markets, and control our economy by manipulating prices. They claim they provide jobs but other energy sources are beginning to out-occupy the job market. They want to increase their personal profits which they may or may not share through trickle down economics (but are just as likely to be used to buy other companies so they have greater control of the economy). They are also trying to increase the financial liabilities of the public for their mistakes, and problems with fossil fuels. This is shown by their wish to reduce taxes on themselves, increase subsidies for their industry, long and bitter court cases when they are blatantly and obviously at fault for damaging our environment or our communities, which result in usually much lower fines to the companies than it cost to clean up the mess. They want us so dependent on them they can charge whatever price they can, with the idea that they will eventually run out of their product or it will become too expensive for us to buy. They want to reduce regulations and eliminate laws that were put on the books when their past indiscretions created an outcry calling for a law or rule to be passed to keep them in check. These fossil fuel executives seem to be short sighted and greedy, they do not sound like they are being responsible, mature or selfless, and they want billions of dollars too.
The scientists to me sound like they are trying to keep their jobs but trying to help our country (and world) become a more stable snd healthier place. The fossil fuel executives sound like people who want to keep the status quo but expand their power within that system, while making everyone else pay for their mistakes and poor judgment.
Even if the scientists are lying, I would rather pay millions for their research, and the billions for the improvement of our infrastructure and our economy, than give a few very well off people more (billions) money who are trying to increase their profits at our expense.
“The Military is the lead federal agency on climate change … and that is … extremely dangerous … we may lose the republic …” – Professor Wilkerson (Will Elections Cure The Disease? – 2)