‘Green News Report’ – October 27, 2020

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Yet another hurricane — Hurricane Zeta — takes aim at the Gulf Coast; Yet another round of hurricane-force winds and fires hit California and Colorado; PLUS: Truth and nonsense on climate change at the final Presidential Debate of 2020… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): The Whole World Is on the Ballot: As American democracy teeters, so does the fate of our burning planet; GM, Ford knew about climate change 50 years ago; As wildfires burn, fears that climate change is causing “multi-level emergency” mount; Arctic scientists alarmed as sea ice fails to form off of Siberia; Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation could derail climate action; U.S. nuclear plants in S. Carolina, Missouri face the highest quake risks; An all-electric home will probably save you money; First murder hornet nests on US soil eradicated… PLUS: FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps helped repair the country. Is it time to revive it?… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Hurricane Zeta: Another record-breaking storm in record 2020 Atlantic hurricane season:
• Now A Hurricane, Zeta Is On Track To Hit Louisiana On Wednesday (NPR)
• Louisiana under hurricane warning as Zeta leaves Mexico’s Yucatan (Guardian UK)
• The climate science behind this year’s wildfires and powerful storms, wtih Dr. Michael Mann (60 Minutes/CBS News)
• Colorado battles top two largest wildfires in state history, in the same county:
• Snow gives firefighters “day of rest” on East Troublesome fire, other blazes in Colorado (Colorado Gazette)
• VIDEO: 3 of the largest wildfires in Colorado history have occurred in 2020 (NBC News)
• Snow, cold weather puts damper on Colorado wildfire (AP)
• Crews assess damages for Colorado’s second-largest wildfire (AP)
• California battles another round of hurricane-force winds, fires, and power shut-offs:
• Wildfires force thousands to evacuate near Los Angeles: Here’s how the 2020 Western fire season got so extreme (Houston Chronicle):
  Fires thrive on three elements: heat, dryness and wind. The 2020 season was dry, but the Western U.S. has seen worse droughts in the recent decade. It had several record-breaking heat waves, but the fires did not necessarily follow the locations with the highest temperatures. What 2020 did have was heat and dryness hitting simultaneously. When even a moderate drought and heat wave hit a region at the same time, along with wind to fan the flames, it becomes a powerful force that can fuel megafires.
• Southern California wildfires explode, forcing more than 60,000 to evacuate (CBS News)
• Utility says its equipment may have sparked California blaze (AP)
• Final Presidential Debate of 2020 – Truth and nonsense on climate change:
• Biden says the U.S. needs to move off oil to tackle climate change as Trump attacks the plan’s cost, economic impact (Washington Post)
• Biden schools Trump on environmental justice during debate (Grist)
• There’s A Lot At Stake For The Climate In The 2020 Election (NPR)
• At Last, Joe Biden Leaned Into Climate (Huffington Post):
  Polls overwhelmingly show President Trump’s climate denial is his greatest weakness. At the final debate, the Democrat seized on the issue.
• The Energy 202: Biden’s oil ‘transition’ comment may not be as damaging as Trump hopes (MSN/Washington Post):
  By dinging Biden over oil, Trump is returning to his playbook in 2016, when he bashed Clinton over coal. But times have changed.
• Biden: ‘I would transition from the oil industry’ (The Hill)
• Biden’s aggressive climate policy runs into backlash in debate aftermath (LA Times)
• How the US could lead on climate change – in 8 simple steps (Grist)
• Poll: two-thirds of voters support Biden climate plan (The Hill)
• Voters Prefer Biden Over Trump on Almost All Major Issues, Poll Shows (NY Times)
• High stakes for Earth’s climate future in US vote (AFP)

‘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

• The Whole World Is on the Ballot: As American democracy teeters, so does the fate of our burning planet. (The New Republic)
• As Colorado wildfires burn, fears that climate change is causing “multi-level emergency” mount (Denver Post)
• Peak Gas Is Coming to the U.S. Sooner Than Anyone Expected (Bloomberg)
• Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation could revive this hidden doctrine — and derail climate action (Grist)
• Living In Harm’s Way: State laws fail to disclose flood risk (NPR)
• U.S. nuclear plants in S. Carolina, Missouri face the highest quake risks: report (Reuters),/li>
  

• More murder hornet nests suspected after first on US soil eradicated (Guardian UK)
• Belching cows and endless feedlots: Fixing the beef industry’s climate issues: (NY Times)
• FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps helped repair the country. Is it time to revive it? (Grist)
• Exclusive: GM, Ford knew about climate change 50 years ago (E&E News)
• Oil Jobs Are Big Risk, Big Pay. Green Energy Offers Stability And Passion (NPR)
• Hot real estate tip: An all-electric home will probably save you money (Grist)
• North Dakota seeks to repurpose coronavirus aid for fracking (AP)
• Arctic Sea Ice Has Yet To Form Off Of Siberia, Worrying Scientists (Mongabay)
• Revealed: The Full Extent Of Trump’s Assault On US Wilderness (Guardian UK)
• 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).