‘Green News Report’ – August 6, 2019

Follow @GreenNewsReport…

(Or use “Click here to listen…” link below.)

IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Historic ice melt in Greenland raises worldwide sea levels; We’ve all just lived through the hottest month ever recorded on Planet Earth; PLUS: CNN’s 2020 Democratic Presidential debate, for the first time, covered climate change and climate action in-depth… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): We must change food production to save the world, says leaked report; Top climate scientist quits USDA, alleging political suppression; Who will pay for the huge costs of holding back rising seas?; Climate liability lawsuits are on the rise; N.J. lakes closed due to toxic algae blooms; El Paso suspect’s alleged manifesto highlights eco-fascism’s revival; U.S. has lost 24 million acres of natural land in 16 years; As Gulf Stream cools and weakens, what’s in store for Florida?; Heat headache for 2020 planners as Tokyo swelters a year before Olympic Games… PLUS: The new ruins of the melting Alps… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Historic Greenland ice melt measurably raised sea levels, as Arctic fires rage:
• VIDEO: Climate System “Getting Unhinged” as Massive Heat Wave Causes Record Melting of Greenland Ice Sheet (Democracy Now!)
• The Greenland ice sheet poured 197 billion tons of water into the North Atlantic in July alone (Washington Post):
  An extraordinary melt event that began earlier this week continued through August 1 on the Greenland ice sheet, and there are signs that about 60 percent of the expansive ice cover saw detectable surface melting, including at higher elevations that only rarely see temperatures climb above freezing.
• Greenland Loses Staggering Amount Of Ice In July Heat Wave (Huffington Post):
  Greenland saw a staggering melt of its ice sheet in July amid an unrelenting heat wave, producing enough water to cover all of Florida by several inches, researchers said Friday.
• Time will tell if this is a record summer for Greenland ice melt, but the pattern over the past 20 years is clear (The Conversation)
• Greenland’s ice wasn’t supposed to melt like last week until 2070 (The Hill)
• Arctic wildfires are releasing as much carbon as Belgium did last year (Grist)
• The Arctic Fires Are Making Climate Change Worse: Releasing so much carbon that they could create a feedback loop (Outside Magazine):
  [C]arbon dioxide isn’t the only thing we have to worry about. Particulates released into the atmosphere in smoke from the fires can trap heat, magnifying the effects of a warming climate. When those particulates settle onto snow and ice, they decrease their reflectivity, making them melt faster, contributing to even more warming.
• July 2019: Hottest month ever recorded globally:
• July Was the Hottest Month in Human History (Eric Holthaus, Rolling Stone):
  “The hottest month in history should make the stakes of our time crystal clear: Either we change everything, or the consequences of planetary warming will do that for us.”
• Here’s how the hottest month in recorded history unfolded around the world (Washington Post):
  “While we don’t expect every year to set a new record, the fact that it’s happening every few years is a clear sign of a warming climate,” said Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist with Berkeley Earth.
• U.N. Sec. General Antonio Guterres – Opening remarks at press encounter at UN Headquarters (United Nations):
  We have always lived through hot summers. But this is not the summer of our youth. This is not your grandfather’s summer.
• Watch the 2nd round of 2020 Democratic presidential debates:
• VIDEO: Second Democratic Presidential Debate, Night 1, July 30 2019 (YouTube)
• VIDEO: Second Democratic Presidential Debate, Night 2, July 31 2019 (YouTube)
• VIDEO: Stephen Colbert’s LIVE Monologue Part 1: A Whole Lot Of Delaney Fans (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert)
• VIDEO: Stephen Colbert’s LIVE Monologue Part 2: Hands In The Air (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert)
• VIDEO: Dem Debate Night 2: This Time It’s Not All White People (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert)
• Climate change and climate action in the 2020 Democratic debates:
• In Detroit, Democratic candidates actually did some climate debating (Grist):
  It’s not just that candidates spent more time discussing climate — about 12 minutes on each night. The second debates featured a much stronger dialogue about what Democratic candidates might do if they took up residence in the Oval Office — and talk stretched far beyond just name-dropping either the Paris Accord or the Green New Deal, the bold proposal that seems to have helped supercharge political dialogue on warming.
• ‘Nobody Should Get Applause for Rejoining the Paris Climate Accords’ (The Atlantic):
  Democrats have figured out how to talk about climate change with urgency and air real differences among the candidates’ ideas for dealing with it.
• Joe Biden’s Climate Plan Melted During the Debate (Mother Jones):
  “Mr. Vice President, your argument is not with me, it’s with science.”
• Fact check: Democrats trip on Detroit details (Detroit Free Press)
• Andrew Yang Is Not Your Climate Friend (The Atlantic)
• 2020 Democratic Debates: Climate justice issue raised for the first time in US history:
• 2020 Democrats put climate justice front and center ahead of debates (Climate Progress)
• Jay Inslee Has a Plan to Spend $1.2 Trillion to Fight Climate Change and Inequality (Earther)
• The Just Transition for Coal Workers Can Start Now. Colorado Is Showing How. (In These Times)
• Kamala Harris and Jay Inslee focus on climate justice ahead of Detroit debates (Grist)
• 2 climate-focused 2020 presidential candidate town halls set for September:
• In a historic first, two climate forums announced for 2020 Democratic candidates (Climate Progress)
• MSNBC and CNN to host climate events for the presidential candidates (Grist)

‘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

• We must change food production to save the world, says leaked report (Guardian UK)
• Top climate scientist quits USDA, complaining of political suppression (Politico)
• Who will pay for the huge costs of holding back rising seas? (Yale e360)
• Climate liability is on the rise. Here’s what it looks like (E&E News)
• Climate Change becomes an issue for ratings agencies (Inside Climate News)
• El Paso suspect’s alleged manifesto highlights eco-fascism’s revival (Huffington Post)
• 2 more N.J. lakes have toxic algae blooms. One is closed, and officials all but shut down swimming at the other (NJ Star-Ledger)
• U.S. has lost 24 million acres of natural land in 16 years: independent report (Reuters)
• The New Ruins of the Melting Alps (The New Republic)
• As Gulf Stream cools and weakens, what’s in store for Florida? (Tampa Bay Times)
• SoCalGas Admits Funding ‘Front’ Group in Fight for Its Future (KQED)
• Heat headache for 2020 planners as Tokyo swelters a year before Games (Reuters)
• Google says it will use recycled materials in all of its hardware products by 2022 (The Verge)
• 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).