‘Green News Report’ – May 12, 2022

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef hit with another mass coral bleaching event; Global warming a key factor in the emergence of new diseases, study confirms; Interior Dept. cancels offshore oil and gas lease sales; PLUS: Arizona and California move to enact more severe drought restrictions… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): The Southwest’s fires and droughts are a window into our climate change future; Salt Scourge: the dual threat of warming and rising salinity; Trump asked aides about China’s “Hurricane Weapon”; California lays out plan to drastically cut fossil fuel use; North Carolina offshore wind energy lease winners announced; Climate change activist’s self-immolation raises questions of faith and protest; U.S. gasoline prices hit a new high, but the oil market may signal relief; Exxon doubles down on ‘advanced recycling’ claims that yield few results… PLUS: Coming this summer: spiking electricity bills plus blackouts… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Great Barrier Reef suffers sixth mass bleaching event:
• Majority of Great Barrier Reef coral studied in 2022 was bleached, Australian scientists say (AP)
• Great Barrier Reef bleaching occurred on over 90 per cent of reefs this summer, report reveals (ABC Australia):
  It is the fourth mass bleaching event in seven years on the reef and the first to occur under La Niña conditions…”This was a La Niña year, normally characterised by more cloud cover and rain. It should have been a welcome reprieve for our reef to help it recover,” she said.
• Great Barrier Reef suffers sixth mass bleaching event with 91% of reefs surveyed affected (CNN)
• VIDEO: Report shows extent of Great Barrier Reef bleaching (ABC Australia)
• ‘Shocking’ coral bleaching report quietly released after accusations of political interference (Sydney Morning Herald)
• PM’s department cited caretaker mode to encourage delay of coral bleaching report (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Study confirms link between global warming and emergence of new viruses:
• Climate change increases cross-species viral transmission risk (Nature):
  At least 10,000 virus species have the capacity to infect humans, but at present, the vast majority are circulating silently in wild mammals. However, climate and land use change will produce novel opportunities for viral sharing among previously geographically-isolated species of wildlife. In some cases, this will facilitate zoonotic spillover — a mechanistic link between global environmental change and disease emergence.
• Climate change will result in new viruses and risk of new diseases, says study (AP):
  Climate change will result in thousands of new viruses spread among animal species by 2070 – and that’s likely to increase the risk of emerging infectious diseases jumping from animals to humans, according to a new study.
• New drought restrictions on tap for US Southwest:
• VIDEO: Next stage of water restrictions in Arizona could come as soon as August (KHOU)
• VIDEO: “Hard Decisions will Have to Be Made” – Arizona’s Water Crisis Deepens (Climate Crocks)
• DWP customers in L.A. face two-day-a-week water restrictions, with eight-minute limit (LA Times)
• California urban water use rose 19% in March despite worsening drought (LA Times)
• VIDEO: Mayor Garcetti Announces LA Limiting Outdoor Watering to 2 Days Per Week (NBC Los Angeles)
• Biden Interior Dept. cancels remaining 2022 offshore lease sales:
• Biden pulls 3 offshore oil lease sales, curbing new drilling this year (Washington Post)
• Biden administration cancels 3 major offshore oil lease sales (Axios):
  The Interior Department said in an emailed statement that due to “lack of industry interest in leasing in the area,” it “will not move forward with the proposed Cook Inlet OCS oil and gas lease sale 258.”
• Biden administration cancels Alaska oil and gas lease sale (CBS News):
  Federal law requires the Department of the Interior to stick to a five-year leasing plan for auctioning offshore leases. The administration had until the end of the current five-year plan — set to expire at the end of next month — to complete these lease sales.
• Biden administration cancels offshore lease sales in Cook Inlet and Gulf of Mexico| (Anchorage Daily News)
• IEA: Renewables broke records in 2021, on pace to break record in 2022:
• Following Record Growth in 2021, Renewables on Track for New High in 2022 (Yale e360):
  China led the world in the renewable buildout, with almost half of new capacity globally, followed by the European Union and the United States. The renewable boom is particularly noteworthy given that developers faced numerous speed bumps as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, from kinks in the supply chain to construction delays…Without stronger climate policies, renewable energy growth is likely to plateau in 2023, according to the report.
• IEA Warns Renewables Power Growth Will Lose Momentum In 2023 (Oil Price)
• Another record year of growth but with new boom and bust deployment cycles (IEA)

‘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 Southwest’s Drought and Fires Are a Window to Our Climate Change Future (Talking Points Memo)
• Trump Asked Aides about China’s “Hurricane Weapon” (Climate Crocks)
• California Lays Out Plan to Drastically Cut Fossil Fuel Use (NBC Los Angeles)
• Salt Scourge: The Dual Threat of Warming and Rising Salinity (Yale e360)
• Biden-Harris Administration Announces Winners of Carolina Long Bay Offshore Wind Energy Auction (Interior Dept.
• Climate change activist’s self-immolation raises questions of faith and protest (AP)
• House Democrats Seek Criminal Charges Against Bernhardt (E&E News)
• Coming This Summer: Spiking Electricity Bills Plus Blackouts (Inside Climate News)
• House Democrats Advance Bill To Require New USPS Delivery Vehicle Review (Reuters/Yahoo News)
• U.S. Gasoline Prices Hit A High, But The Oil Market May Signal Relief (NY Times)
• Wildfires In Russia: Will War In Ukraine Limit Firefighting Response? (DW News)
• Exxon doubles down on ‘advanced recycling’ claims that yield few results (Guardian UK)
• Four solutions to mitigate climate change, from the IPCC (Dr. Michael Mann, Penn Today)
• 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.