‘Green News Report’ – March 3, 2020

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer gets out of 2020 Presidential race; Coronavirus concern slams energy markets and cancels global conferences; China’s air pollution dramatically decreases amid coronavirus measures; PLUS: Climate change cancels this year’s “Firefall” in Yosemite National Park… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Interior Dept. inks deal with water district tied to Interior Sec. Bernhardt; Tornadoes devastate Tennessee, killing at least 19; Green New Deal backers vs. Koch money in Texas; No, Trump, wind turbines are not ‘rotting’; Coal miners are being “cheated”; Climate models are running red hot, and scientists don’t know why yet; Trump White House rewrote EPA scientists’ assessment on toxic chemical, and not in a good way… PLUS: How to prepare for the Coronavirus in the U.S., and why it is your civic duty to get ready… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer gets out of 2020 presidential race:
• VIDEO: Tom Steyer drops out of presidential race (WLTX)
• Tom Steyer Drops Out Of 2020 Presidential Race (NPR)
• Thank you for everything (Tom Steyer)
• Greenpeace ranks the remaining 2020 presidential candidates’ climate policies:
• Where’s Your 2020 Candidate on Climate? (Greenpeace)
• Candidates Backed by Bloomberg Helped Pollute the Planet (Center for Media and Democracy)
• Climate group 350 Action endorses both Sanders and Warren (The Hill)
• Coronavirus concerns hamper major conferences:
• Coronavirus cancels CERAWeek as energy threats rise (E&E News):
  Big Oil CEOs, Cabinet officials and international dignitaries won’t gather in Texas next week for one of the world’s top energy conferences after organizers took the unprecedented step of canceling the event yesterday amid growing concerns about the COVID-19 virus…It costs $8,500 per person to attend the event as a delegate, he said.
• Businesses fearful after CERAWeek cancellation due to growing coronavirus fears (ABC-13 Houston)
• Vital COP26 climate talks could be derailed by coronavirus (Guardian UK):
  This year’s UN talks on the climate are the most important since the Paris agreement in 2015, as the world is now far adrift of the Paris goals and the Cop26 summit – scheduled for Glasgow this November – is seen as one of the last chances to put nations back on track to avoid climate breakdown.
• Coronavirus disrupts both oil and solar energy sectors:
• OPEC Tries to Head Off Oil Glut as Coronavirus Saps Demand (NY Times):
  A rise in oil prices on Monday suggested traders believe OPEC and Russia will agree on a new cut in oil production this week.
• Before OPEC meeting, Russia is cagey about more oil cuts (Al Jazeera)
• Oil Prices Fall as Coronavirus Spreads Outside China (US News & World Report)
• Coronavirus Is Starting to Slow the Solar Energy Revolution (Bloomberg):
  [T]he warnings that have started to trickle out are a reminder of China’s importance in the global supply chains involved in building clean-energy plants and reducing the pollution that’s damaging the climate…The country leads the world both in installing new wind and solar farms and in producing photovoltaic panels used almost everywhere. Of the top 10 cell makers, nine are mainly Chinese manufacturers and one is from South Korea.
• How Coronavirus Could Impact the Global Supply Chain by Mid-March (Harvard Business review)
• China’s air pollution cut dramatically due to Coronavirus restrictions:
• Airborne Nitrogen Dioxide Plummets Over China (NASA Earth Obervatory)
• Coronavirus: Nasa images show China pollution clear amid slowdown (BBC):
  Satellite images have shown a dramatic decline in pollution levels over China, which is “at least partly” due to an economic slowdown prompted by the coronavirus, US space agency Nasa says…It comes amid record declines in China’s factory activity as manufacturers stop work in a bid to contain the coronavirus.
• Chinese manufacturing hits record low amid coronavirus outbreak (BBC)
• Climate change cancels Yosemite’s annual “Firefall”:
• VIDEO: Yosemite ‘firefall’ slows to a trickle amid drought (PBS NewsHour):
  Firefall is not the only part of the park that’s being impacted by climate change.
• Some parts of California had no rain in February — and are already seeing wildfires (NBC News):
  Huge swaths of California experienced its driest February on record, with some northern areas of the state recording zero precipitation for the entire month, according to the National Weather Service.

‘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

• Tornadoes devastate Tennessee, killing at least 19 people (AP)
• Preparing for Coronavirus to Strike the U.S.: Getting ready for the possibility of major disruptions is not only smart; it’s also our civic duty (Scientific American)
• Green New Deal Backers Go Head-To-Head With Koch Money In Texas Race (Huffington Post)
  

• Trump says turbines are ‘rotting.’ Is that true? (E&E News)
• World’s beaches disappearing due to climate crisis – study (Guardian UK)
• VIDEO: Coal Miners Being “Cheated” (Climate Crocks)
• “We hope it’s not the right answer”: Climate Models Are Running Red Hot, and Scientists Don’t Know Why (Blomberg)
• Trump administration awards $180 million for border barrier in Rio Grande Valley (Texas Tribune)
• EPA scientists found a toxic chemical damages fetal hearts. The Trump White House rewrote their assessment. (Reveal)
• Interior Dept. inks deal with water district tied to Interior Sec. Bernhardt (E&E News)
• DuPont Owes $50 Million in PFAS Cancer Cases, Jury Finds (Bloomberg)
• EPA Board: Trump Rollback of Obama Auto Rule Not As Good For Society (The Hill)
• Feds Reject Removal Of 4 US Northwest Dams In Key Report (AP)
• What Does ’12 Years to Act on Climate Change’ (Now 11 Years) Really Mean? (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept)
• 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).