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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: G20 meeting ends with separate statement on climate change for Trump and the U.S.; Only one G20 nation on track to reduce emissions; A warning for a “world at a crossroads” as talks begin at the annual U.N. climate summit; PLUS: The somewhat surprising environmental legacy of the late President George H.W. Bush… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): >’A kind of dark realism’: Why the climate change problem is starting to look too big to solve; Dr. Michael Mann: Tackle global warming with hope, not fear; Climate Town Hall: Bernie Sanders Stakes Out Forceful Climate Stance; Trump Aide Larry Kudlow Calls for End of Electric Vehicle Subsidies; How whales and dolphins may be harmed by new seismic airgun approval; ALEC members reject electricity competition resolution after EEI opposition; Inside the Sunrise Movement (it didn’t happen by accident); New report finds coal ash is heavily polluting nearby Illinois groundwater… PLUS: Trump’s skepticism of climate science is echoed across GOP… and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- The somewhat surprising environmental legacy of George H.W. Bush:
- Hot Topic: Tribute To George H.W. Bush And “Moderate” Republicans (Guy Walton, Climate Guy)
- The Energy 202: How George H.W. Bush helped turn acid rain into a problem of yesteryear (Washington Post):
The signing of the 1990 Clean Air Act was Bush’s biggest contribution to his significant if imperfect environmental legacy. The law is credited for making acid rain an issue largely of yesteryear. It did so through a market-based mechanism that at the time was experimental but since then has been heralded by economists and environmentalists as enormously effective.
- VIDEO: George HW Bush’s 1988 Environmental Speech (Climate State YouTube channel)
- George H.W. Bush understood that markets and the environment weren’t enemies (The Conversation)
- Bush’s sordid Saudi ties set template for Trump – he was just more subtle (Guardian UK)
- G20 meeting ends with special carve-out for Trump, as emissions rise:
- 19 of 20 World Leaders Just Pledged to Fight Climate Change. Trump Was the Lone Holdout. (Mother Jones):
In an email to reporters, the White House took credit for shaping the language that mentions recognizing “all energy sources and technologies in the energy mix” and promoting “energy security”-a favorite line of Trump’s to justify subsidizing coal in order to compete with renewables.
- Brown to Green Report 2018 (Climate Transparency Partnership):
Covering 80 indicators, the report is the world’s most comprehensive review of G20 climate action. It provides concise and comparable information on G20 country mitigation action, finance and vulnerability.
- G20 nations still led by fossil fuel industry, climate report finds (Guardian UK):
Among the G20 nations 15 reported a rise in emissions last year, according to the most comprehensive stock-take to date of progress towards the goals of the Paris climate agreement.
- UN Paris Agreement: COP24 negotiations now underway in Poland:
- Live updates from CNN International: COP24 climate conference – World facing ‘greatest threat in thousands of years’ (CNN International)
- Live updates from Associated Press: Poland to invest in cleaner public transport (AP)
- ‘We are last generation that can stop climate change’ – UN summit (Guardian UK)
- Four things the UN chief wants world leaders to know, at key COP24 climate conference opening (United Nations News)
- COP24, the New Round of Global Climate Talks, Has Begun. We Answer Three Key Questions. (NY Times)
- VIDEO: Sir David Attenborough: collapse of civilisation is on the horizon (Guardian UK):
Attenborough said: “Right now we are facing a manmade disaster of global scale, our greatest threat in thousands of years: climate change,” he said. “If we don’t take action, the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon….The world’s people have spoken. Time is running out. They want you, the decision-makers, to act now. Leaders of the world, you must lead. The continuation of civilisations and the natural world upon which we depend is in your hands.”
- At COP24 in Poland, Negotiators Must Lay Down Ground Rules for the Paris Agreement (World Resources Institute)
- COP 24: Transparency, ambition and carbon markets on the Paris rulebook agenda in Katowice (Environmental Defense Fund)
- COP24 Off To A Rocky Start As Previous Leaders Call For “Unequivocal Message” (Clean Technica)
- VIDEO: Arnold Schwarzenegger goes Yiddish on Donald Trump at COP24 (Grist)
- Trump undermining Paris Agreement, encouraging countries to backslide:
- The “Trump effect” threatens the future of the Paris climate agreement (David Roberts, Vox):
The accord depends on trust and good faith. Trump is offering the opposite…Though the [Paris climate] agreement doesn’t technically go into effect until 2020, the Katowice meetings are meant to encourage early ambition and serve as an informal “stocktake,” a check-in with how countries are doing relative to their upcoming pledges.
- US isolated on climate as world meets to create a rulebook for Paris agreement (CNN)
- A Climate Summit in the Heart of Coal Country (Bloomberg)
- Poland Literally Filled an International Climate Change Conference With Coal (Earther)
- Brazil cancels hosting climate change summit (Sydney Morning Herald)
- World Bank to invest record amount in mitigation, adaptation projects:
- World Bank Group Announces $200 billion over Five Years for Climate Action (press release, World Bank Group)
- VIDEO: World Bank ups funds to tackle ‘existential threat’ of climate change (Reuters):
The World Bank will give equal weight to curbing emissions and helping poor countries deal with the “disastrous effects” of a warming world as it steps up investments to tackle climate change in the first half of the 2020s…Of the $100 billion the World Bank plans to make available in the five years from mid-2020, half would go to adaptation measures, it said.
- Multilateral Development Banks make joint declaration on climate finance alignment (EBRD):
Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) today announced a joint framework for aligning their activities with the goals of the Paris Agreement, reinforcing their commitment to combat climate change…in six key areas considered central to meeting the goals of the Agreement.
‘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
- ‘A kind of dark realism’: Why the climate change problem is starting to look too big to solve (Washington Post)
- Tackle global warming with hope, not fear (Dr. Michael Mann, Politico Europe)
- Climate Town Hall: Bernie Sanders Stakes Out Forceful Climate Stance, Leapfrogging The 2020 Field (Huffington Post)
- ‘Just a lot of alarmism’: Trump’s skepticism of climate science is echoed across GOP (Washington Post)
- Trump Aide Larry Kudlow Calls for End of Electric Vehicle Subsidies (Bloomberg)
- How whales and dolphins may be harmed by new seismic airgun approval (National Geographic)
- France To Suspend Fuel Price Hike Amid ‘Yellow Vest’ Campaign (CNN)
- ALEC members reject electricity competition resolution after EEI opposition (Utility Dive)
- Inside the Sunrise Movement (it didn’t happen by accident) (E&E News)
- New report finds coal ash is heavily polluting nearby Illinois groundwater (Climate Progress)
- U.S. Clean Coal Program Fails To Deliver On Promised Smog Cuts (Reuters)
- Why Peatlands Matter In The Battle Against Climate Change (Irish Times)
- U.S. Top Court Snubs Environmental Challenge To Trump’s Border Wall (Reuters)
- U.S. Down to 2 Aging Icebreakers; National Security Is at Risk (Inside Climate News)
- Beloved Yellowstone Wolf ‘Spitfire’ Killed By Trophy Hunter (Huffington Post)
- Past Four Years Hottest On Record, Data Shows (Guardian UK)
- Salt River Project, tech giant partner on 100-megawatt solar project (Phoenix Business Journal)
- World must triple efforts or face catastrophic climate change, says UN (Guardian UK)
- Fourth National Climate Assessment, Vol. 2: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States [PDF] (U.S. Global Change Research Program)
- What genuine, no-bullshit ambition on climate change would look like: How to hit the most stringent targets, with no loopholes. (David Roberts, Vox)
- A Global Shift To Sustainability Would Save Us $26 Trillion (Vox)
- Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) wants to phase out all gas vehicles by 2040 (Pamplin Media Group)
- Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)
- An Optimist’s Guide to Solving Climate Change and Saving the World (Vice)
- The great nutrient collapse: The atmosphere is literally changing the food we eat, for the worse. And almost nobody is paying attention. (Politico)
- The world’s bleak climate situation, in 3 charts: We’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there. (Vox)
- 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
