‘Green News Report’ – March 12, 2020

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Coronavirus is officially a pandemic, with uncertain long term impacts for our climate crisis; GM bets big on all-electric vehicles; Honolulu, Hawaii sues the oil industry; PLUS: Coal is no longer king — renewables now generate more electricity… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): The climate crisis already disrupting life for millions, WMO finds; Green energy’s $10 trillion revolution faces oil crash test; Electric grid overseer issues warning on coronavirus; Senate energy bill stalled over GOP disagreement on HFC emissions cuts; Polar ice caps melting six times faster than in 1990s; Trump Administration presses cities to evict homeowners from flood zones… PLUS: PanDumbic: Corona response mirrors climate change denial… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Coronavirus is officially a pandemic, with uncertain long-term impacts:
• WHO Declares Novel Coronavirus Outbreak A Pandemic (CNN)
• Greta Thunberg calls for digital strikes amid coronavirus fears (Deustche-Welle):
  Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg on Wednesday said that campaigners must avoid mass rallies amid the escalation of coronavirus cases around the world. Instead, “digital strikes” would be the way forward during the crisis, she said on Twitter. “We young people are the least affected by this virus but it’s essential that we act in solidarity with the most vulnerable and that we act in the best interest of our common society,” Thunberg said..
• Corona virus and climate activism (Fridays For Future):
  If striking in public with others may put your health at risk, choose other kinds of climate activism…Important to flatten the curve in an epidemic.
• Greta Thunberg urges climate protests to move online because of coronavirus outbreaks (Verge)
• The Coronavirus Pandemic Is Bringing Down Emissions, But Not for Long (Wired)
• The Oil Collapse Raises Fears of Financial Crisis (David Dayen, The American Prospect)
• Coronavirus could halt the world’s emissions growth. Not that we should feel good about that. (Washington Post)
• GM doubles down on electric vehicles:
• General Motors takes ‘shot across the bow’ at Tesla with new all-electric vehicles (CNBC):
  “We thought it was time for people to understand that General Motors has a leadership position in electrification and we’re moving fast,” GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra told reporters.
• General Motors to spend $20 billion through 2025 on new electric, autonomous vehicles (CNBC)
• Coronavirus and Climate Change: “electrification is here to stay” (NY Times):
  “For most consumers, high upfront prices are the biggest thing holding electric vehicles back,” Colin McKerracher, head of advanced transport at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said in an email. “Battery prices matter more than oil prices. If those keep falling, electric vehicle adoption will keep going up.”
• GM Debuts New EV Platform It Pioneered Two Decades Ago (Jalopnik)
• Putin just sparked an oil price war with Saudi Arabia — and US energy companies may be the victims (CNBC)
• NBER research finds housing market failing to price flood risk:
• Americans Are Paying $34 Billion Too Much for Houses in Flood Plains (Bloomberg):
  At least 3.8 million U.S. homes lie in flood plains. Together, they may be overvalued by $34 billion.
• Americans Are Paying $34 Billion Too Much for Houses in Flood Plains (Claims Journal, no paywall)
• Does Information About Climate Risk Affect Property Values? (National Bureau of Economic Research):
  [T]the price penalty for flood risk is larger for commercial buyers and in states where sellers must disclose information about flood risk to potential buyers, suggesting that policies to improve risk communication could influence market outcomes.
• Climate change and soaring flood insurance premiums could trigger another mortgage crisis (Vox)
• Climate science-denying Heartland Institute in financial trouble:
• Pro-Trump Climate Denial Group Heartland Institute Lays Off Staff Amid Financial Woes, Ex-Employees Say (Huffington Post)
• Heartland Institute Statement on Reorganization (press release, Heartland Institute)
• Exposé Shows Rise of Heartland Institute’s Climate Denial Efforts Overseas, Using Dark Money and a YouTuber (DeSmog Blog)
• Honolulu sues Big Oil over climate damages:
• Honolulu Sues Petroleum Companies For Climate Change Damages to City (Inside Climate News):
  Honolulu city officials, lashing out at the fossil fuel industry in a climate change lawsuit filed Monday, accused oil producers of concealing the dangers that greenhouse gas emissions from petroleum products would create, while reaping billions in profits.
• City & Co. of Honolulu files lawsuit against large oil companies for ‘climate change cover-up’ (KITV-Honolulu)
• Coal use is plunging rapidly in U.S.:
• U.S. coal use plunging at fastest rate since Eisenhower era (Bloomberg)
• Coal-Fired Power Plants Hit a Milestone in Reduced Operation (Inside Climate News):
  Coal-fired power plants are retreating from the market in at least two big ways. One is hard to miss: Many plants are closing. The other is more subtle: Remaining plants are running much less often than before.
• Wind has surpassed hydro as most-used renewable electricity generation source in U.S. (U.S. Energy Information Administration)

‘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

• VIDEO: PanDumbic: Corona Response Mirrors Climate Change Denial (Climate Crocks)
• VIDEO: Climate plus Dumb Development = Disaster (Climate Crocks)
• The climate crisis is disrupting life for millions, a report finds (CNN)
• Green Energy’s $10 Trillion Revolution Faces Oil Crash Test (Bloomberg)
• Senate Environment Panel To Hear HFC Plan Stalling Energy Bill Passage (The Hill)
• Polar Ice Caps Melting Six Times Faster Than In 1990s (Guardian UK)
• Minnesota Supreme Court Upholds Winona County’s Silica Sand Mining Ban (AP)
• Trump Administration Presses Cities To Evict Homeowners from Flood Zones (NY Times)
• 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).