‘Green News Report’ – December 28, 2017

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: 2017 leaves parting gift, dumping record snowfall in Pennsylvania; Southern California’s Thomas Fire is now the largest in state history; 2017 to rank among top three hottest years ever recorded; PLUS: The clean energy revolution is unstoppable, no matter what Trump does… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): The 10 Most Important U.S. Climate Stories in 2017; How Big Oil lost control of its climate disinformation machine; Climate change is happening faster than predicted; Climate change is creating more refugees, so why don’t they count as refugees?; Pentagon strategy document will not include climate change; Pebble Mine kicks of permit process; EPA officials are leaving in droves; Fossil fuel industry makes huge investment in plastics production; How much it will cost the United States to save itself from rising seas over the next 50 years?…PLUS: Megadisasters devastated America this year. They’re going to get worse… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• 2017 wallops Erie, PA with record-shattering snowfall:
• VIDEO: Erie, Pa., Buried in Five Feet of Snow After Record-Breaking Storm (NY Times)
• Even for a place that gets a ton of snow, this was a record-breaking two days for Erie (CNN):
  The snowfall total was more than four times the city’s previous all-time Christmas record of 8.1 inches, and it also broke the record for most snowfall in one day in the city’s history, which was 20 inches on November 22, 1956. The snow didn’t stop overnight, either. Erie picked up another 24.5 inches of snow on Tuesday, bringing the two-day tally to 58.5 inches. That is the highest two-day snowfall total in the entire state of Pennsylvania.
• Why a Small City in Pennsylvania Just Shattered a Snowfall Record (Earther):
  Peak Great Lakes ice cover has been declining since satellite measurements began in the 1970s. Less ice means more chances for lake effect snow. And turns out that that’s exactly what scientists have observed.
• The paradox of lake effect snow: global warming could bring the Great Lakes more of it, at least for a while (NOAA)
• Does Record Snowfall Disprove Global Warming? ‘Exactly the Opposite,’ Scientist Says (EcoWatch)
• California’s Thomas Fire now largest in state history:
• Thomas Fire becomes largest blaze in California history, during state’s worst fire year (Mashable)
• California’s largest recorded wildfire winding down as firefighters gain upper hand (USA Today)
• Thomas Fire at 89 percent containment (KCBX)
• 3 Reasons Why California’s Fire Risk Won’t Dampen Anytime Soon (NPR)
• Spreading like wildfire (Nature):
  The 2017 wildfire season has seen unusually high fire levels in many parts of the world…What might now be considered high wildfire years like 2017 are likely to become more common in the future and this will inevitably stretch the existing institutional and infrastructural resources in place to manage them — resources that have already been shown to be inadequate this year in many places.
• Crews work on oil seepage fires in Ojai area as Thomas Fire enters 24th day (Ventura County Star)
• NASA, NOAA: 2017 likely to be second or third hottest year on record:
• Global Climate Report – November 2017 (NOAA)
• The biggest climate findings in 2017 (E&E News):
  As the potential effects of climate change are seen around the world — from starving polar bears to record-breaking storms — interest in climate science is soaring. Scientists are digging into the “how,” “why” and “what’s next” of global temperatures, melting ice, emission sources and sinks, changing weather patterns, and rising seas. The last year has seen major breakthroughs and advancements in climate research. Here are some of the biggest findings reported by scientists in 2017.
• WMO: 2017 ‘very likely’ in top three warmest years on record (BBC)
• 2017 will rank among Earth’s top 5 warmest years (Mashable)
• “Unstoppable”: 2017 ushers in the era of clean energy:
• Joe Romm: 2017 showed the global clean energy revolution is unstoppable no matter what Trump does (Climate Progress):
  The solar, wind, battery, and electric car “miracles” have gone mainstream…Solar and wind will make up nearly half of installed capacity and over one-third of global power generation by 2040. That’s a four-fold jump in wind capacity and a 14-fold jump in solar from today…The future is now.
• New study reaches a stunning conclusion about the cost of solar and wind energy (Climate Progress)
• Interview with Ray Thompson of Siemens: “Offshore Wind Increasingly Fuel of Choice” (The Energy Collective):
  [Chief of business development at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy] adds that “it’s staggering to think that in not much more than five years, we could have turned a technology seen as prohibitively expensive into the lowest cost, utility-scale technology available.”
• Germany Strikes Offshore Wind Deals, Subsidy Not Included (NY Times)
• 10 Giant Companies Commit to Electric Vehicles, Sending Auto Industry a Message (Inside Climate News)
• China joins the growing movement to ban gasoline and diesel cars (Ars Technica):
  The internal combustion engine’s days are numbered.
• Toyota says all its cars will have an electric or hybrid option by 2025 (CNBC)
• General Motors Is Going All Electric (Wired)
• Tesla’s new mega-battery in Australia reacts to outages in ‘record’ time (Independent UK)
• France Passes Law To Ban All Oil And Gas Production By 2040 (AP)
• Former Vice President Al Gore: challenge and opportunity in climate action:
• AUDIO: An Inconvenient ‘BradCast’ with Al Gore (The BRAD BLOG):
  Guest Host Angie Coiro’s exclusive interview with the former Vice President on elections, pollution, persuasion, activism, and hope…

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

For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Daily Headlines page

• The 10 Most Important U.S. Climate Stories in 2017 (Climate Central)
• Megadisasters devastated America this year. They’re going to get worse. (Vox)
• Global warming could cause surge in European asylum seekers in coming decades (Mashable)
• How Big Oil Lost Control of Its Climate Misinformation Machine (Inside Climate News)
• Climate Change Is Happening Faster Than Expected, and It’s More Extreme (Inside Climate News)
• Climate Change Is Driving People From Home. So Why Don’t They Count as Refugees? (NY Times)
• Pentagon Strategy Document Will Not Include Climate Change: Official (Reuters)
• Trump Resort in Ireland Gets Approval for Sea Walls (NY Times)
• Alaska’s Pebble Mine Project Kicks Off Permitting Process (Reuters)
• EPA Officials, Disheartened by Agency’s Direction, Are Leaving in Droves (NY Times)
• AP Finds Climate Change Risk For 327 Toxic Superfund Sites (AP)
• Politics: Here’s How Science Fared In The First Year Of Trump (E&E News)
• How much it will cost the United States to save itself from rising seas over the next 50 years? (Inside Climate News)
• Fossil fuel industry’s $180bn investment in plastic factories feeds global packaging binge (Guardian UK)
• The Climate Risks We Face (NY Times):
  To stabilize global temperature, net carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced to zero. The window of time is rapidly closing to reduce emissions and limit warming to no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the goal set in the Paris climate accord. The further we push the climate system beyond historical conditions, the greater the risks of potentially unforeseen and even catastrophic changes to the climate – so every reduction in emissions helps.
• The Uninhabitable Earth: When will climate change make earth too hot for humans? (New York Magazine):
  Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak – sooner than you think.
• A beginner’s guide to the debate over 100% renewable energy (Vox):
  Clean-energy enthusiasts frequently claim that we can go bigger, that it’s possible for the whole world to run on renewables – we merely lack the “political will.” So, is it true? Do we know how get to an all-renewables system? Not yet. Not really.
• 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 climate change video: This is the U.S. in 2100 (NASA).