‘Green News Report’ – June 4, 2019

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Long-awaited disaster relief package finally passes out of Congress despite Republican obstruction; No end in sight for Midwest flooding; Trump Administration rolls out new tactic to suppress climate science; PLUS: Colorado goes big on renewable energy… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): FDA sampling finds toxic nonstick PFAS compounds in some food; EPA head says media ‘does a disservice’ by not promoting agency’s achievements; You can’t save the climate by going vegan. Corporate polluters must be held accountable; You will have to make sacrifices to save the planet; Elizabeth Warren proposes $2 trillion clean energy plan as Green New Deal momentum builds; With new plan, Biden establishes ambitious climate action as the 2020 standard; The relentless slaughter of wolves paved the way for a predator that refuses to die… PLUS: Trump pushes up to 20 years in prison for pipeline protesters… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Yes, Trump Dept. of Energy calls natural gas exports ‘freedom gas’:
• US energy department rebrands fossil fuels as ‘molecules of freedom’ (Guardian UK)
• No end in sight for Midwest floods:
• Record-Setting Precipitation Leaves U.S. Soils Soggy (NASA Earth Observatory)
• The U.S. Just Had Its Wettest 12 Months on Record (Yale e360:
  From May 1, 2018 to April 30, 2019, the contiguous U.S. averaged 36.20 inches of precipitation ? more than half an inch higher than the previous record-setting year (April 2015 to March 2016) and the most in 124 years of modern record-keeping.
• No end in sight as record flooding in Midwest, Southeast persists (Climate Progress):
  Over the next week to 10 days, major or record flooding will hit every large community along the Arkansas River, the National Weather Service warned earlier this week. This flooding comes from past weeks of heavy rain which is testing the limits of aging levee infrastructure and putting crops at risk. And more heavy rain is on its way.
• VIDEO: Catastrophic Midwest flooding threatening farmers’ crops (CBS)
• ‘So much land under so much water’: extreme flooding is drowning parts of the midwest (Guardian UK)
• A warming Arctic produces weather extremes in our latitudes (Phys.Org)
• US House finally passes disaster relief bill despite GOP obstruction:
• House approves much-delayed $19.1B disaster aid bill (The Hill)
• These 43 Republicans voted against disaster relief funding after demanding it for their own states (Climate Progress)
• As House passes disaster-relief bill, Trump gets confused (MSNBC)
• Trump Admin’s latest move to mislead public on climate science:
• Trump Administration Hardens Its Attack on Climate Science (NY Times):
  Scientists say that would give a misleading picture because the biggest effects of current emissions will be felt after 2040. Models show that the planet will most likely warm at about the same rate through about 2050. From that point until the end of the century, however, the rate of warming differs significantly with an increase or decrease in carbon emissions.
• Transcript: NYT’s Coral Davenport on the Trump Administration’s latest attack on climate science ( All In w/ Chris Hayes, MSNBC)
• Trump’s Latest Attack on Federal Climate Science May Backfire (Wired)
• The Trump administration escalates its fight against climate science (Grist)
• Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signs ambitious slate of climate action bills:
• Colorado Gov Polis unveils roadmap to 100% carbon free by 2040, signs 11 clean energy bills (Utilty Dive):
  Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis last week signed seven climate and energy bills along with four electric vehicle (EV) bills, and unveiled a roadmap of the state’s path to 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040. The newly signed legislation will decarbonize the state’s economy 90 percent below 2005 levels by 2050, codify Xcel Energy’s 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2050 goal and expand energy efficiency and EV programs in the state.
• VIDEO: Today we’re rolling out our roadmap to 100% renewable energy in Colorado by 2040 (Gov. Jared Polis Facebook page)
• Package of new Colorado laws to boost electric vehicles (Colorado Politics)
• Gov. Polis signs bills on renewable energy, but what does that mean for Colorado’s energy future? (Denver Post)

‘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

• FDA: Sampling finds toxic nonstick PFAS compounds in some food (AP)
• EPA head says media ‘does a disservice’ by not promoting agency’s achievements (The Hill)
• You can’t save the climate by going vegan. Corporate polluters must be held accountable. (Dr. Michael Mann, USA Today)
• You Will Have to Make Sacrifices to Save the Planet (The New Republic)
• Elizabeth Warren proposes $2 trillion clean energy plan as Green New Deal momentum builds (Washington Post)
• With new plan, Biden establishes ambitious climate action as the 2020 standard (Climate Progress)
• The relentless slaughter of wolves paved the way for a predator that refuses to die (Washington Post)
• Ohio’s Nuclear Bailout Plan Balloons to Embrace Coal (while Killing Renewable Energy Rules) (Inside Climate News)
• Trump pushes up to 20 years in prison for pipeline protesters (Climate Progress)
• VIDEO: Why do we need to rapidly reduce CO2 emissions? (Univ. of WA Atmospheric Sciences)
• #NoMiddleGround Goes Viral as Sanders Backers Say Democrats Can’t Afford to Compromise on Medicare for All, Reproductive Rights, and Bold Climate Agenda (Common Dreams)
• West Virginia coal industry data shows excessive pollution: green groups (Reuters)
• Can We Grow Enough Seaweed to Help Cows Fight Climate Change? (Civil Eats)
• Court throws replacement of Enbridge Line 3 into limbo; judges rebuke state agency (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
• Court document reveals Range Resources, other defendants agreed to $3 million settlement in Washington County contamination suit (State Impact PA)
• Question of the Century: Do We Have a Right to a Livable Climate? (The Revelator)
• Twenty-Six Apply To Be Florida’s First Chief Resilience Officer (WFME-Miami)
• How California became far more energy-efficient than the rest of the country (Vox)
• 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).