‘Green News Report’ – September 15, 2020

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Hurricane Sally approaches the U.S. Gulf Coast, with more hurricanes on the way; Deadly West Coast wildfires break more new records; August 2020 was the second hottest August ever recorded; PLUS: Former Vice President Joe Biden blasts climate denier Trump and urges swift action… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): After Australia, Reading the Lies About West Coast Fires Feels Like Deja Vu; Scientists baffled by orcas ramming sailing boats near Spain and Portugal; New EPA Guidance Rule Could Backfire on Business, Lawyers Say; Two Major Antarctic Glaciers Are Tearing Loose From Their Restraints; Daimler AG To Pay $1.5B To Settle Emissions Cheating Probes; Secret Recording Reveals Oil Execs’ Private Views on Climate Change… PLUS: 10 Years Ago, World Leaders Set Biodiversity Goals. They Haven’t Met a Single One…. and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Megadrought emerging in U.S. Southwest:
• Megadrought emerging in western U.S. could be the worst in 1,200 years, study finds (CBS News, 4/12/2020)
• Massive iceberg breaks off of Greenland ice sheet:
• Dismay as huge chunk of Greenland’s ice cap breaks off (AP):
  “What is thought-provoking is that if we … had seen this meltdown 30 years ago, we would have called it extreme. So in recent years, we have become accustomed to a high meltdown.”
• Record melt: Greenland lost 586 billion tons of ice in 2019 (AP, 8/20/2020)
• Dangerous Hurricane Sally bears down on US Gulf Coast:
• Live updates: Hurricane Sally begins prolonged assault on northern Gulf Coast with ‘historic’ flooding forecast (Washington Post):
  The NHC predicts the long-duration storm could produce as much as 30 inches of rain between southeastern Mississippi and the western Florida Panhandle, with widespread amounts of 10 to 20 inches.
• VIDEO: Hurricane Sally Crawling Toward Gulf Coast With Life-Threatening Storm Surge and Potentially Historic Flooding Rainfall (Weather Channel)
• VIDEO: Hurricane Sally, now a Category 2 storm, threatens the Gulf Coast (CBS News)
• Hurricane Sally set to batter a Louisiana still reeling from Hurricane Laura (Live Science)
• 5 tropical cyclones are in the Atlantic at the same time for only the second time in history (CNN)
• August 2020 was the 2nd hottest August ever recorded
• Northern Hemisphere Had Its Warmest Summer Ever, NOAA Says (CBS News)
• Northern Hemisphere just had its hottest summer on record (NOAA)
• Longtime Climate Science Denier Hired At NOAA (NPR)
• The Trump Team Has a Plan to Not Fight Climate Change (Wired):
  It’s only by looking forward that one can spot the bigger dangers: The Fifth National Climate Assessment is due out in 2023, and if Trump is reelected, his Administration will get to shape what is arguably the most important policy document on climate change produced by the federal government.
• Record wildfires continue to rage out of control in U.S. West:
• Wildfires Live Updates: Smoke Crosses U.S. as Blazes Rage in West (NY Times)
• At Least 35 Dead As Wildfires Rampage Along The West Coast (NPR)
• Cal Fire Mendocino Unit Chief describes August Complex as “100 miles of fire line” (Willits News)
• CZU fires’ aftermath points to emerging threat for California: water contamination (SF Chronicle)
• Evacuations continue as western Idaho fire grows to nearly 70,000 acres (Idaho News)
• VIDEO: UCSB Prof. Leah Stokes – California wildfires illustrate the consequences of climate change (PBS NewsHour)
• How climate change fuels California’s biggest fires (Salon)
• Pro Publica we know how to fix
• These Changes Are Needed Amid Worsening Wildfires, Experts Say (NY Times)
• The ‘Straightforward’ Link Between Climate and California’s Fires (NY Times)
• They Know How to Prevent Megafires. Why Won’t Anybody Listen? (Pro Publica)
• Trump blames states for wildifires, denies climate change exists:
• Trump baselessly questions climate science during California wildfire briefing (CNN)
• Transcript: Donald Trump Receives Briefing on California Wildfires (Rev)
• Trump in California amid devastating fires, as governors put focus on climate change (ABC News)
• VIDEO: Trump on climate change: “It’ll start getting cooler. You just watch … I don’t think science knows, actually.” (Aaron Rupar, Twitter)
• VIDEO: Climate Change Is Real,’ Newsom Tells Trump at Briefing (NY Times)
• ‘Debate is over,’ California’s governor says. ‘This is a climate damn emergency.’ (Cal Matters)
• Joe Biden rebukes Trump over his dangerous, deadly climate science denial:
• Devastating Wildfires Out West Inject Climate Change Into Campaign (Washington Post)
• Biden calls Trump a ‘climate arsonist’ as president denies science (Guardian UK)
• VIDEO: Joe Biden Climate Change Speech in Wilmington, Delaware (Rev)
• Biden slams Trump as ‘climate arsonist’ as fires ravage West (NBC News)
• Biden condemns Trump as ‘climate arsonist’ as wildfires burn – as it happened (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

• After Australia, Reading the Lies About West Coast Fires Feels Like Deja Vu (Dr. Michael Mann, op-ed, Newsweek)
• 10 Years Ago, World Leaders Set Biodiversity Goals. They Haven’t Met a Single One. (Earther)
• Scientists baffled by orcas ramming sailing boats near Spain and Portugal (Guardian UK)
• New EPA Guidance Rule Could Backfire on Business, Lawyers Say (Bloomberg Law)
• Two Major Antarctic Glaciers Are Tearing Loose From Their Restraints (Washington Post)
• 20 States Sue EPA Over Methane Emissions Standards Rollback (The Hill)
• Daimler AG To Pay $1.5B To Settle Emissions Cheating Probes (AP)
• Secret Recording Reveals Oil Execs’ Private Views on Climate Change (NY Times)
• Exxon’s Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)
• 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).