‘Green News Report’ – May 6, 2021

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: The Earth’s new normal is hotter than it used to be, thanks to global warming; Alarming news for the planet’s glaciers; California accuses Nestle of stealing millions of gallons of water; Major flaws in state’s forest carbon offset program; PLUS: Biden cancels Trump border wall funding, money saved will repair environmental damage… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): China’s greenhouse gas emissions now larger than all developed countries combined; Emissions cuts could drop the impact of melting ice on oceans by half; Maine fishing interests seek ban on offshore wind; Methane is a major global warming, health menace: UN report; As cars go electric, China is set to rule electric car production; In the West, drought disaster looms; Leaked slides show natural gas industry is freaking out… PLUS: How melting glaciers have accelerated a shift in Earth’s axis… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• The Earth’s new normal is hotter than it used to be, thanks to global warming:
• The new U.S. Climate Normals are here. What do they tell us about climate change? (NOAA)
• NOAA unveils a warmer climate “normal” for the U.S. (Axios)
• America’s new normal: A degree hotter than two decades ago (AP):
  “Almost every place in the U.S. has warmed from the 1981 to 2010 normal to the 1991 to 2020 normal,” said Michael Palecki, NOAA’s normals project manager.
• VIDEO: NOAA’s “new normal” climate report is anything but normal (CBS News)
• Your city just got hotter. NOAA announced new climate normals Tuesday (CNN)
• Nearly all of the planet’s 220,00 glaciers are melting faster than ever:
• Satellites show world’s glaciers melting faster than ever (AP)
• VIDEO: Why are glaciers melting at such a rapid pace (CBS News)
• Glaciers Are Melting More Rapidly, Risking Floods and Droughts (Bloomberg):
  A new study found the Earth lost 30% more ice per year from 2015 to 2019 compared with the previous five years.
• AUDIO: Researchers Find Glaciers Are Melting Faster Than Expected (NPR)
• A glacier in Northern Italy has melted, revealing a cave that sheltered 20 Austrian WW1 soldiers (Joe UK)
• Major problems uncovered in California’s carbon offsets program:
• Systematic over-crediting of forest offsets (Carbon Plan):
  “Rather than improve forest management to store additional carbon, ecological and statistical flaws in California’s offsets program create incentives to generate credits that do not reflect real climate benefits.
• Forest Offsets Actually Adding Millions of Tons of CO2 Into Atmosphere (Pro Publica):
  California’s top climate regulator…established fixed boundaries around giant regions, boiling down the carbon stored in a wide mix of tree species into simplified, regional averages. That decision has generated tens of millions of carbon credits with dubious climate value…
• California program overestimates climate benefits of forest offsets -study (Reuters):
  CarbonPlan, a group that researches the integrity of programs designed to offset carbon emissions, said that 29% of the forest carbon offsets it analyzed in California’s cap and trade program overestimated the amount of carbon emissions they were offsetting, totaling 30 million tonnes, worth about $410 million.
• The Yurok Tribe is using California’s carbon offset program to buy back its land (GreenBiz)
• California accuses Nestle of stealing millions of gallons of water
• Drought-Plagued California Orders Nestlé to Stop Hogging Water (Guardian UK):
  The draft cease-and-desist order, which still requires approval from the California Water Resources Control Board, is the latest development in a protracted battle between the bottled water company and local environmentalists, who for years have accused Nestlé of draining water supplies at the expense of local communities and ecosystems.
• Facing Droughts, California Challenges Nestlé Over Water Use (NY Times):
  The officials issued a draft cease-and-desist letter to the company last week — the latest development in a battle that has dragged on for years.
• Nestlé doesn’t have valid rights to water it’s been bottling, California officials say (Desert Sun)
• Investigative Report: Regarding complaint about water diversions from the Strawberry Creek watershed in San Bernardino County ([PDF] (State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Rights)
• President Biden cancels funding for Trump’s border wall:
• Homeland Security to repair damage created by border wall (AP):
  The Biden administration said Friday that it will begin work to address the risks of flooding and soil erosion from unfinished sections of the wall on the U.S. border with Mexico and will cancel military-funded contracts as it shuts down one of President Donald Trump’s signature domestic projects…[T]he Trump administration “blew large holes” into the flood barrier system of low-lying regions in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley…
• Biden cancels border wall projects Trump paid for with diverted military funds (San Diego Union Tribune)
• Biden terminating border wall construction contracts (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

• Chinese Greenhouse Emissions Now Larger Than All Developed Countries (Washington Post)
• Emissions Cuts Could Drop the Impact of Melting Ice on Oceans by Half (NY Times)
• Maine Fishing Interests Seek Total Ban On Offshore Wind Energy (Portland Press-Herald)
• A Giant Organic Farm Faces Criticism That It’s Harming The Environment (NPR)
• Methane is a major global warming, health menace: UN report (Axios)
• How melting glaciers have accelerated a shift in Earth’s axis (Guardian UK)
• As cars go electric, China is set to rule electric car production (NY Times)
• World risks runaway Antarctic ice melt if Paris targets not met (Axios)
• In the West: Drought Disaster Looms (Climate Crocks)
• Severe Water Cuts Are Coming for Arizona. The Rest of the Southwest Is Next. (The New Republic)
• Leaked Slides Show the Gas Industry Is Freaking Out (Earther)
• Ron DeSantis Pushes Coastal ‘Resilience’ While Doing Little To Tackle Climate Change (NPR)
• Florida: “They’re Trying to Make It So We Walk Away”: It’s About to Get Harder to File Lawsuits Saying Sugar Harvesters Poisoned the Air (Pro Publica)
• EPA official directs agency to ramp up enforcement in communities hit hard by pollution (The Hill)
• TN: Controversial Mining Operation Ignoring Orders To Halt (AP)
• U.S. Eyes Nuclear Reactor Tax Credit To Meet Climate Goals -Sources (Reuters)
• Washington state now has the nation’s most ambitious climate policy (David Roberts, Volts)
• VIDEO: How Solar Got so Cheap (Climate Crocks)
• Electric cars: What will happen to all the dead batteries? (BBC)
• Climate Fund Choices for Investors Are Multiplying (Bloomberg/Yahoo)
• How climate change could undo 50 years of public health gains (Grist)
• 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).