‘Green News Report’ – December 14, 2021

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Unprecedented, deadly December tornado swarm plows path of destruction in the Midwest; Yes, man-made global warming is increasing the risk of massive tornado outbreaks; PLUS: Biden Administration unveils ambitious strategy to build national network of EV charging stations… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Lower 48 states could have warmest December on record; How rising groundwater caused by climate change could devastate coastal communities; Farallones poison drop would put Bay Area wildlife at risk; The controversies at the heart of California’s solar net-metering fight; Crucial Antarctic Ice Shelf Could Fail Within 5 Years; Plant Has Been Spewing Sulfur Dioxide For Years; Now EPA Will Act… PLUS: Coal Powered Industrial Revolution, Left Behind Environmental Catastrophe… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Sen. Rand Paul demands federal disaster aid for KY, rejects for everyone else:
• VIDEO: CNN’s John Avlon Ridicules Rand Paul Seeking Federal Aid After Blocking It for Other Disasters: ‘Socialism For Me but Not For Thee’ (CNN/MSN)
• VIDEO: Rand Paul, Senate Floor, Dec. 11, 2011 (Acyn Torabi, Twitter):
  Rand Paul: People here will say they have great compassion and they want to help the people of Puerto Rico, the people of Texas, and the people of Florida but notice they have great compassion with someone else’s money.
• Rand Paul ripped for hypocrisy on natural disaster aid after requesting federal funds for Kentucky (Salon)
• Unprecedented December tornado outbreak plows path of devastation:
• How Friday night’s rare and deadly December tornado outbreak unfolded (Washington Post/MSN)
• Tornado-slammed parts of Kentucky face long recovery (AP)
• Thousands without heat, water after tornadoes kill dozens (AP)
• Biden to tour tornado damage in Kentucky on Wednesday (AP):
  The president said his message to governors was that the federal government would help them get “Whatever they need, when they need it.”
• VIDEO Kentucky Gov. Beshear: Tornado death toll is north of 70, may exceed 100 (NBC News)
• VIDEO: Biden directs immediate surge of federal resources to states hit by deadly tornadoes (NBC News)
• Gov. J.B. Pritzker issues disaster proclamation for parts of state hit hard by tornados, storms (CIProud.com)
• After tornado kills 6 at Amazon, governor says climate change may force building code changes (Fox32 Chicago):
  “We’re all quite well aware that storms are getting more severe, that climate change is affecting businesses and homes and individuals all across the nation – not to mention here in Illinois – and if we need to strengthen those codes because of climate change, we should go do that,” Pritkzer said.
• OSHA opens probe into deadly Amazon warehouse collapse in Illinois (CNBC)
• Climate change is increasing frequency of massive tornado outbreaks:
• Tornado outbreak offers a grim climate warning (Axios)
• VIDEO: “This Isn’t a Natural Disaster”: Climate Scientist Michael Mann on Deadly Tornadoes in 8 States (Democracy Now!):
  And make no mistake, we have been seeing an increase in these massive tornado outbreaks that can be attributed to the warming of the planet. But what’s going to happen here, we’re going to continue to see that climate change is going to combine with natural factors, like the La Nina event that we’re experiencing, to produce ever more extreme examples of these sorts of phenomena.
• Brutal Storms Kick off Week of Record Warmth (Climate Crocks)
• Unusually warm, humid weather helped spark Arkansas tornadoes (Axios)
• EXPLAINER: Was tornado outbreak related to climate change? (AP)
• VP Harris unveils federal strategy for national network of EV charging stations:
• White House rolls out $7.5B electric vehicle charging plan (E&E News):
  The Biden administration today released a road map for building out a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations as part of its plan to combat climate change…”The science is clear. Climate change has become a climate crisis, and it demands urgent action,” Vice President Kamala Harris said at an event today in Brandywine, Md., announcing the blueprint. “And one important way we achieve net-zero emissions is by investing in zero-emission vehicles,” she said.
• Biden administration announces EV charging network plan (Detroit News)
• VIDEO: Harris Unveils Plan for Electric Vehicle Charging Network in U.S. (Bloomberg)
• VIDEO: Harris unveils plan to build 500,000 EV charging stations across the U.S. (CNBC/MSN)
• VIDEO: Biden unveils plan to build 500,000 EV charging stations across the U.S.
• 53 US utilities will build a nationwide fast-charging EV network by end of 2023 (Electrek)

‘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

• Lower 48 states could have warmest December on record (Axios)
• How rising groundwater caused by climate change could devastate coastal communities (MIT Technology Review)
• Revealed: Biden administration was not legally bound to auction gulf drilling rights (Guardian UK)
• Halting the Gas Export Boom: On Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, the fossil fuel industry is planning a massive expansion of LNG exports. One woman is determined to stop them. (Sierra Club Magazine)
• Businesses face mounting flood risks (Axios)
• Marin Voice: Farallones poison drop would put Bay Area wildlife at risk (Marin Independent Journal)
• The controversies at the heart of California’s solar net-metering fight (Canary Media)
• Alex Jones says Joe Biden may have used “weather weapons” to create tornadoes that killed scores in the central US (Media Matters)
• Don’t Look Up: the first good movie about climate change (David Roberts, Volts)
• Study: Winter Tornadoes To Get More Powerful As World Warms (AP)
• Russia Vetoes UN Resolution Linking Climate Change, Security (AP)
• Crucial Antarctic Ice Shelf Could Fail Within 5 Years, Scientists Say (Washington Post)
• Officials Underestimating PFAS Chemicals Lurking in US Food: Scientists (The Hill)
• LA Plant Has Been Spewing Sulfur Dioxide For Years; Now EPA Will Act (NOLA)
• Coal Powered Industrial Revolution, Left Behind Environmental Catastrophe (Inside Climate News)
• Green Upheaval: The New Geopolitics of Energy (Foreign Affairs)
• VIDEO: 2050: what happens if we ignore the climate crisis (Guardian UK)
• Guilt, grief and anxiety as young people fear for climate’s future (Reuters)
• 99.9 percent Of Scientists Agree Climate Emergency Caused By Humans (Guardian UK)
• An Empire of Dying Wells: Old oil and gas sites are a climate menace. Meet the company that owns more of America’s decaying wells than any other. (Bloomberg)
• 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 9 Years) Really Mean? (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept)
• 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.