‘Green News Report’ – April 12, 2022

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: NOAA reports a disturbing increase in climate-warming methane; Biden Dept. of Transportation tightens mileage standards for cars and trucks; Boston and L.A. shift to all-electric buses; PLUS: Microplastic pollution now found in human blood and lungs… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Four solutions to mitigate climate change, from the IPCC; The climate crisis is supercharging rainfall in hurricanes; U.S. solar expansion stalled by rural land-use protests; Why a ban on Russian energy is hard for Germany; US wind energy just hit a major milestone; Advocating inaction: a historical analysis of the Global Climate Coalition; The US needs a better lithium plan… PLUS: In an exception to the Clean Air Act, Biden will allow E15 gas to be sold this summer… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• NOAA: Methane emissions hit new record in 2021:
• Increase in atmospheric methane set another record during 2021 (NOAA)
• NOAA: Potent heat-trapping methane increases at record pace (AP):
  Global atmospheric levels of the potent but short-lived greenhouse gas methane increased a record amount last year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday, worrying scientists because of the large role methane has in climate change.
• VIDEO: Record increases in atmospheric methane may be evidence of a climate-related feedback loop (KCRA-TV Sacramento)
• NOAA: Record increases in atmospheric methane may be evidence of a climate-related feedback loop (KCRA-TV Sacramento):
  Wetlands contain lots of decaying organic matter. That decay process releases methane. Rain can accelerate that release…That feedback loop is an example of a naturally-driven cycle that likely can’t be altered significantly by human activity or inactivity. But there are other areas where methane releases can be reduced.
• Methane Emissions Soared to a Record in 2021, Scientists Say (NY Times)
• Japan to ban Russian coal::
• Japan to Ban Russian Coal Imports in Surprise Policy Shift (Yahoo News):
  The coal plan signals a policy reversal for Japan, which had previously drawn a line at cutting energy ties to Russia because of its heavy dependence on fuel imports. Russian coal imports make up about 13 percent of Japan’s power-generating supply and are also used in steel production and the cement industry.
• Why Japan Will Struggle to Do Without Russian Energy (Washington Post)
• VIDEO: “Kill Them All” – Ukraine is Only the Latest Fossil Fuel War (Climate Crocks, Peter Sinclair):
  No one fights over sunlight and wind.

  As long as we are dependent on fossil fuels, autocrats like Vladimir Putin will lust for oil fields like those in Eastern Ukraine, and use fossil gas as a weapon against democracy.

• Microplastic pollution now found in humans:
• Researchers found microplastics in human lungs and bloodstreams. Should we be concerned? (NBC)
• Microplastics found in human blood for first time (Guardian UK):
  “The big question is what is happening in our body?” Vethaak said. “Are the particles retained in the body? Are they transported to certain organs, such as getting past the blood-brain barrier? And are these levels sufficiently high to trigger disease? We urgently need to fund further research so we can find out.”
• A First: Researchers Find Microplastics Deep In Lungs Of Living People (NPR)
• Biden Transportation Dept. tightens mileage standards for cars, trucks, SUVs:
• VIDEO: Buttigieg unveils stricter fuel economy standards for US vehicles (ABC News)
• US unveils stricter tailpipe emissions standards for new vehicles (The Verge):
  By 2026, the average new vehicle in the US will get 49 miles of travel per gallon of gasoline (mpg) under the revised Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, Buttigieg said…The rules would also keep in place the so-called “light-duty truck loophole,” in which vehicles that are bigger and heavier, like SUVs and pickup trucks, are allowed to pollute more than smaller vehicles.
• Boston and Los Angeles move to transition to all-electric city fleets:
• Boston to replace school buses with electric ones by 2030 (The Hill/Yahoo News):
  The estimated $7 million cost of purchasing the first 20 electric buses will be paid for with funds from the school department’s operating budget as well as federal coronavirus stimulus funds, officials said.
• VIDEO: Boston Pushing To Make School Bus Fleet Fully Electric By 2030 (Yahoo News)
• Los Angeles to Electrify City’s Entire 10,000-Vehicle Fleet (Bloomberg/MSN):
  The Electric Vehicle Master Plan was unanimously approved by the LA city council on Wednesday. The switch to electric vehicles will start at the city’s largest departments of sanitation, recreation and transportation.

‘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

• Four solutions to mitigate climate change, from the IPCC (Dr. Michael Mann, Penn Today)
• The climate crisis is supercharging rainfall in hurricanes, scientists report (CNN)
• Cheaper Energy, Pricier Wires: The slept-on trend that threatens decarbonization, and how we’ll fix it. (State of Charge)
• Special Report: U.S. solar expansion stalled by rural land-use protests (Reuters)
• Why a ban on Russian energy is hard for Germany (E&E News)
• Food, farming and forestry must be transformed to curb global warming, U.N. says (Reuters)
• US wind energy just hit a major milestone (CNN)
• EPA launches civil rights inquiry into Louisiana agencies (E&E News)
• Advocating inaction: a historical analysis of the Global Climate Coalition [PDF] (Dr. Robert Brulle)
• The US needs a better lithium plan (The New Republic)
• Yet Another Lithium Recycler Startup Joins Crowded Field (Climate Crocks)
• Hydrogen’s Greenhouse Effect Stronger than Thought (Climate Crocks)
• In an exception to the Clean Air Act, Biden will allow E15 gas to be sold this summer (NPR)
• UN warns Earth ‘firmly on track toward an unlivable world’ (AP)
• Environmental Sacrifice Zones: 8 Places We’ve Given Up-Probably Forever (Environmental Health Network)
• “Rare Earths” from Coal Waste (Climate Crocks)
• Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)
• 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.