‘Green News Report’ – May 14, 2019

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Trump’s escalating trade war hits U.S. natural gas industry; Administration ices Arctic Council declaration over climate change wording; Houston floods again as U.S. just saw its wettest year on record; PLUS: The UK and Scotland ratchet up action on our ‘climate emergency’… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Nearly all countries agree to stem flow of plastic waste into poor nations (except for the U.S.); Saudi oil tankers among those attacked off UAE amid Iran tensions; $2 billion verdict against Monsanto is 3rd to find Roundup caused cancer; Britain sets record of 7 days without coal power; CEI uses new White House Rule to undermine U.S. climate policy; Climate change jumps to biggest risk for insurers; Kelp: the climate-friendly vegetable you ought to eat; Scientists say they’ve cooked up an endlessly recyclable plastic… PLUS: Loving a vanishing world… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Houston hit with another flood emergency:
• Hammered by heavy rain and huge hail Thursday night, Houston braces for more downpours, flooding (Washington Post):
  The torrent was unlike Houston’s typical tropical flooding episodes. Much of it was powered by intense supercell thunderstorms, which also unleashed giant hailstones.
• Torrential rain in Houston leaves roads flooded and schools closed (Washington Post):
  [M]ore than three inches fell in most areas of Houston, but one area far east of Houston got four inches in 30 minutes…Earlier in the week, the city faced as much as six to 10 inches of rain in just a few hours… at least one location in Houston saw water rise higher than it did during Harvey.
• Deadly flooding is rocking Texas. Scientists say this is our future under climate change. (Climate Progress)
• VIDEO: Future flooding concerns (KPRC-TV Houston)
• NOAA: Last 12 months wettest on record in U.S.:
• Wettest 12 Months in U.S. History (Weather Underground):
  The 12 months ending in April 2019 were the wettest year-long period in U.S. records going back to 1895, according to the monthly U.S. climate summary issued Wednesday by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Averaged across the contiguous U.S., the total of 36.20″ made the period from May 2018 to April 2019 the first year-long span ever to top 36″. The old record for any 12-month period was 35.78″, from April 2015 to March 2016.
• The United States just had its wettest 12 months on record. It’s nearly drought-free, but flooding is rampant. (Washington Post)
• Trump’s escalating trade war hits U.S. farmers and natural gas industry:
• China hikes LNG tariff to 25 percent (Houston Chronicle)
• China hikes tariffs on U.S. goods after Trump warning (Reuters)
• VIDEO: Tom Cotton on Tariffs: Hey, At Least You’re Not a Dead Soldier (Splinter)
• U.S. liquefied natural gas shipments to China face mounting tariffs (Reuters)
• VIDEO: Illinois farmer to Trump on China trade war: “Farmers are the ones that are taking it on the jaw” (CBS News)
• Lone U.S. Rare-Earth Miner Is a Target of China Tariffs, CEO Says (Bloomberg)
• White House explores new farmer bailout plan as U.S.-China trade war heats up (Washington Post):
  The fresh uproar came as farmers, lawmakers, business executives, and global investors are looking to Trump for clues on how far he intends to take the trade showdown with China. On Monday, Trump suggested the standoff could last years and lead to structural changes in the global economy.
• I Work With Suicidal Farmers. It’s Becoming Too Much to Bear. (New Republic)
• Sec. of State Pompeo kills Arctic Council accord over climate wording:
• VIDEO: Sec. Pompeo remarks to the Arctic Council (US State Department)
• VIDEO: Pompeo: Melting sea ice presents ‘new opportunities for trade’ (CNN):
  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday praised the Arctic region — and its rapidly shrinking levels of sea ice — for its economic opportunities, despite continued warnings about the catastrophic effects of climate change.
• U.S. Refuses to Recognize Threat of Arctic Climate Change as Trump Official Cheers Melting Sea Ice (Earther)
• Pompeo warns of the dangers of Russian and Chinese activities in the Arctic (Washington Post)
• The US says melting Arctic ice is a wonderful economic opportunity (Quartz)
• We have a winner (loser?) (Environmental Health News):
  In the sweepstakes to find the dumbest climate- or environment-related utterance by the Trump Administration, it’s Mike Pompeo for the win.
• UK, Scotland, Ireland declare climate emergencies:
• Nicola Sturgeon says world is facing a climate emergency (Guardian UK):
  Nicola Sturgeon has said she believes the world is facing a climate emergency and pledged to speed up efforts to achieve zero carbon emissions. Following similar moves by the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, this weekend, the Scottish first minister said she was declaring the emergency because the science showed global warming was worsening.
• VIDEO: Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon declared the world faces a ‘climate emergency’ (Facebook)
• Irish parliament declares climate emergency (Guardian UK)
• UK Parliament declares ‘climate emergency’ (CNN)
• Scotland drops aviation tax cut plans after declaring climate emergency (Guardian UK)

‘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

• Nearly all countries agree to stem flow of plastic waste into poor nations (except for the U.S.) (Guardian UK)
• Springtime, and the renewables are surging (Grist)
• Saudi oil tankers among those attacked off UAE amid Iran tensions (Reuters)
• $2 Billion Verdict Against Monsanto Is 3rd to Find Roundup Caused Cancer (NY Times)
• CEI Uses New White House Rule to Try to Undermine U.S. Climate Policy (Inside Climate News)
• Crews Address Environmental Threats Flooding Leaves Behind (AP)
• Britain sets record of 7 days without coal power as renewables surge (Climate Progress)
• Climate Change Jumps To Biggest Risk For Insurers (Wyoming Public Media)
• Kernza: Grain may take a big bite out of cropland emissions (E&E News)
• Kelp: the climate-friendly vegetable you ought to eat (NY Times)
• Scientists Say They’ve Cooked Up an Endlessly Recyclable Plastic (Earther)
• Three Mile Island nuclear plant to proceed with closure (Washington Post)
• States Fight Trump Rollback Of Obama Lightbulb Rules (The Hill)
• Town Of Minden, WV Now Added To EPA National Priorities List (WOAY-TV)
• How W. Virginia Coal Industry Changed Federal Endangered Species Policy (Washington Post)
• Fifty Years After, A Daunting Cleanup of Vietnam’s Toxic Legacy (Yale e360)
• Loving a vanishing world (Medium)
• We Asked All 2020 Democrats About Climate Change. Here Are Their Ideas. (NY Times)
• VIDEO: A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept)
• This Is How Human Extinction Could Play Out (Rolling Stone)
• SEJ Backgrounder: Green New Deal Proposes Sweeping Economic Transformation (Society of Environmental Journalists)
• Explainer: The ‘Green New Deal’: Mobilizing for a just, prosperous, and sustainable economy (New Consensus)
• 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)
• 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.

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).