‘Green News Report’ – September 24, 2020

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: California to end sales of all new gas-powered cars by 2035; US sees ‘alarming increase’ in combined heat waves and droughts; First 2020 Presidential debate will have no climate questions; PLUS: China announces bold pledge to reach carbon neutrality by 2060… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Ginsburg’s death could reawaken Mass. v EPA; See the toxic sites near you that are threatened by climate change; Seniors Were Left Behind When Hurricane Laura Hit; Western wildfires destroy forest designated as carbon offset; Pebble Mine executive resigns a day after being caught on tape boasting of his control over GOP politicians; E.P.A. Rejects Its Own Findings That a Pesticide Harms Children’s Brains; Melting Antarctic sea ice will raise sea levels 2.5 meters even if Paris goals are met… PLUS: Richest 1 percent produce double the carbon emissions of poorest 3 billion people… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Virtual Climate Week 2020 now underway:
• U.S. companies make new vows to tackle carbon emissions, even as global action falls short (Washington Post)
• Climate Week: Major companies announce emissions pledges (Politico)
• VIDEO Climate Week: Prince Charles calls for ‘swift’ action on climate change (BBC)
• Global net-zero commitments double in less than a year (Green Biz)
• Global coalition raises bar for corporate action at Climate Week NYC (Climate Change News)
• Trudeau promises green jobs for Canada as his leadership hangs in the balance (Climate Change News)
• Climate crisis must not be overshadowed by Covid, Johnson to tell UN (Guardian UK)
• $50M building challenge announced in New York to combat climate change, create jobs (WETM-NY)
• Few countries living up to Covid ‘green recovery’ pledges – analysis (Guardian UK)
• China announces bold pledge to reach carbon neutrality by 2060:
• China Says It Will Stop Releasing CO2 within 40 Years (E&E News):
  The surprise announcement vaults the country ahead of U.S. climate ambitions and could encourage developing countries to follow suit
• Climate change: China aims for ‘carbon neutrality by 2060’ (BBC):
  Observers believe that in making this statement at this time, the Chinese leader is taking advantage of US reluctance to address the climate question. “Xi Jinping’s climate pledge at the UN, minutes after President Donald Trump’s speech, is clearly a bold and well calculated move,” said Li Shuo, an expert on Chinese climate policy from Greenpeace Asia. “It demonstrates Xi’s consistent interest in leveraging the climate agenda for geopolitical purposes.”
• China’s Carbon Neutral Pledge Could Curb Global Warming by 0.3C (Reuters)
• China pledges to become carbon neutral before 2060 (Guardian UK)
• Analysis: Going carbon neutral by 2060 ‘will make China richer’ (Carbon Brief)
• 5 burning questions about China’s carbon neutrality pledge (Climate Change News)
• Analysis: China’s Covid stimulus plans for fossil fuels three times larger than low-carbon (Carbon Brief)
• No climate questions at first 2020 presidential debate:
• There Are No Excuses Left for Leaving Climate Change Out of the Debates (Wired)
• Debate moderators largely failed to address climate change in the primaries. For the Trump-Biden debates, viewers deserve better. (Media Matters)
• Democrats Criticize Upcoming Debate For Not Including Climate Change (NPR)
• Why the 6 Topics for the First Biden-Trump Debate Are Actually All About Climate Change: Every issue is a climate issue (Rolling Stone)
• Simultaneous heat waves and droughts are increasingly frequent in US:
• A century of observations reveals increasing likelihood of continental-scale compound dry-hot extremes (Science Advances)
• US sees ‘alarming’ increase in combined heatwaves and droughts (Carbon Brief):
  Climate change has driven an “alarming” increase in the number of years with both heatwaves and droughts across the US over the past five decades, a study finds. The co-occurence of heatwaves and droughts can have “grave implications” for crop production, electric grid reliability and the severity and size of wildfires, the authors say.
• Frequency of combined droughts and heatwaves has substantially increased in western U.S. over past 50 years (Phys.Org)
• California to phase out sales of new gas-powered cars and trucks by 2035:
• California to phase out sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035 (Washington Post):
  Under Newsom’s order, the state’s air regulator, the California Air Resources Board, will develop regulations that ensure every new passenger car and truck sold in the state is electric or otherwise “zero-emissions” by 2035. The plan would give industry until 2045 to make sure medium- and heavy-duty vehicles are zero-emissions when feasible. Transportation currently accounts for the largest source of emissions in the state, outpacing the industrial, agricultural and residential sectors combined.
• California governor orders ban on sale of gas-only cars within 15 years (Guardian UK):
  Gavin Newsom says ‘we can’t continue down this path’ as state grapples with historic fires and record temperatures
• VIDEO: Gov. Gavin Newsom announces California will phase out all new gas-powered cars by 2035 (ABC-Sacramento)
• Newsom calls for California ban on new gas-fueled cars by 2035 (Politico)

‘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

• Ginsburg’s death could reawaken Mass. v EPA (E&E News)
• These Seniors Were Left Behind When Hurricane Laura Hit. No One Claimed Responsibility. (Buzzfeed)
• MAP: See the toxic sites near you that are threatened by climate change (NBC News)
• This Oregon forest was supposed to store carbon for 100 years. Now it’s on fire. (Grist)
• Kentucky’s climate is suffering. Can the state slip the industry ties that prevent change? (Guardian UK)
• Climate Week: Richest 1% produce double the carbon emissions of poorest 3 billion people (Independent UK)
• Alaska mining executive resigns a day after being caught on tape boasting of his ties to GOP politicians (Washington Post)
• E.P.A. Rejects Its Own Findings That a Pesticide Harms Children’s Brains (NY Times)
• Melting Antarctic ice will raise sea level by 2.5 metres – even if Paris climate goals are met, study finds (Guardian UK)
• Unprecedented health costs of smoke-related PM2.5 from the 2019–20 Australian megafires (Nature)
• New Mexico Objects To License For Nuclear Fuel Storage Plan (AP)
• New Engineering Report Finds Privately Built Border Wall Will Fail (Pro Publica)
• Climate change: Earthquake ‘hack’ reveals scale of ocean warming (BBC)
• In Arkansas, Backlash Against Pesticide Regulation Gets Personal (NPR)
• Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)
• 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).