‘Green News Report’ – December 3, 2020

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Humanity is ‘waging war on nature’, warns United Nations, and should knock it off; Microplastic pollution found on Mount Everest; Exxon Mobil announces massive cuts in spending and value; PLUS: New Zealand declares a climate emergency… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Joe Biden should do everything at once by running a blitz; American Farmers Profit As Consumers Push Food Business To Go Green; World is ‘doubling down’ on fossil fuels despite climate crisis; Affordable Housing at Risk of Coastal Flooding; Second mass farmed salmon outbreak in Tasmania; Worsening climate ‘impacts tomorrow no matter where you live’; Illegal Tampering by Diesel Pickup Owners Is Worsening Pollution, E.P.A. Says; Illegal Tampering by Diesel Pickup Owners Is Worsening Pollution, E.P.A. Says… PLUS: Should it be called “natural gas” or “methane”?… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Humanity is ‘waging war on nature’, warns United Nations:
• Humanity is waging war on nature, says UN secretary general (Guardian UK):
  Guterres said: “Humanity is waging war on nature. This is suicidal. Nature always strikes back – and it is already doing so with growing force and fury. Biodiversity is collapsing. One million species are at risk of extinction. Ecosystems are disappearing before our eyes … Human activities are at the root of our descent toward chaos. But that means human action can help to solve it.”
• VIDEO: Humans waging ‘suicidal war’ on nature – UN chief Antonio Guterres (BBC):
  Here’s what Mr Guterres demanded the nations of the world do: Put a price on carbon. Phase out fossil fuel finance and end fossil fuel subsidies. Shift the tax burden from income to carbon, and from tax payers to polluters. Integrate the goal of carbon neutrality (a similar concept to net zero) into all economic and fiscal policies and decisions. Help those around the world who are already facing the dire impacts of climate change…
• VIDEO: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the State of the Planet (United Nations)
• Transcript: Secretary-General’s address at Columbia University: “The State of the Planet” (United Nations)
• Microplastic pollution found near peak of Mt. Everest:
• Microplastic pollution found near summit of Mount Everest (Guardian UK):
  “It really surprised me to find microplastics in every single snow sample I analysed,” said Imogen Napper, at the University of Plymouth, who led the new research. “Mount Everest is somewhere I have always considered remote and pristine. To know we are polluting near the top of the tallest mountain is a real eye-opener.”
• Plastic pollution discovered at deepest point of ocean (Guardian UK)
• ExxonMobil announces staggering writedown due to crash in energy prices:
• Even Exxon Mobil Is Capitulating to Peak Oil Demand (Yahoo News/Bloomberg):
  Oil giants are divesting from petroleum as fast as any climate-focused fund manager.
• Exxon Faces Historic Writedown After Energy Markets Implode (Yahoo News/Bloomberg)
• Exxon tries to put the worst behind it with $20 billion writedown (Reuters)
• Exxon Mobil Exits: The Dow Drops Its Oldest Member (NPR)
• Tesla’s stock will be added to the S&P 500 in a single step before the open on Dec. 21 (CNBC)
• Why Investors Are Loving Green Energy (Climate Crocks)
• Peabody Coal cuts retired miners’ healthcare:
• Coal giant Peabody to cancel health care benefit plan for Wyoming retirees (Casper Tribune):
  To save on costs, Peabody Energy will no longer cover medical expenses for workers on Medicare and will stop providing life insurance to retirees…Peabody Energy, which is the largest in the country, attempted to chip away at health care benefits for retirees during its bankruptcy process in 2015 and 2016.
• Peabody Energy Retirees Stand To Lose Health Benefits, Some Organize Class-Action Lawsuit (St. Louis Public Radio):
  It was from Peabody Energy, the company he retired from a decade ago, alerting him that his medical benefits would expire at the end of the year.
  At first he couldn’t believe it. He still has more than $200,000 in his account — enough, he thought, to cover the cost of supplemental insurance and other medical expenses for the rest of his life. “And now they’re trying to take it away, and I just don’t think it’s right at all,” said Ward, who recently turned 69. “And the guys who are 65 and under get to keep it.”
• New Zealand declares a climate emergency:
• VIDEO: Ardern declares climate emergency, pledges carbon neutral New Zealand government (Reuters):
  WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand promised its public sector would become carbon neutral by 2025 as it declared a climate emergency on Wednesday, a symbolic move that critics said needed to be backed with greater actions to reduce emissions.
• VIDEO: Jacinda Ardern declares ‘climate emergency’ in New Zealand (Guardian UK)
• New Zealand experiences warmest winter on record (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

• Joe Biden should do everything at once: How to succeed in hyperpolarized politics – run a blitz (David Roberts, Vox)
• Biden’s Environmental Lawyers Tasked With Bulletproofing Agenda (Bloomberg)
• N. American Farmers Profit As Consumers Push Food Business To Go Green (Reuters)
• EPA ditches Bush-era veto, approves WWII-era flood project (E&E News)
• World is ‘doubling down’ on fossil fuels despite climate crisis – UN report (Guardian UK)
• Vineyard Wind pauses U.S. permitting over switch to GE turbines (Reuters)
• Affordable Housing at Risk of Coastal Flooding (Climate Central)
• VIDEO: Worsening climate ‘impacts tomorrow no matter where you live,’ scientist explains (Yahoo News)
• ‘A circus’: second mass salmon outbreak in Tasmania outrages conservationists (Guardian UK)
• Should it be called “natural gas” or “methane”? (Yale Climate Communications)
• Eight dead after cyclone hits Somalia’s Puntland, spread of locusts feared (Yahoo News/Reuters)
• Illegal Tampering by Diesel Pickup Owners Is Worsening Pollution, E.P.A. Says (NY Times)
• A Hotter Planet Is Already Killing Americans, Health Experts Warn (NY Times)
• Automakers pledge to work with Biden to reduce emissions (Reuters)
• 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).