‘Green News Report’ – August 18, 2022

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Inflation Reduction Act’s landmark climate action is now the law of the land; Western states hit with unprecedented water cuts; Massachusetts passes sweeping climate and energy bill; PLUS: California proposes big changes amid historic drought… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Hundreds of thousands drop flood insurance as rates rise; Court clears path for Biden oil and gas leasing pause; Judge halts federal coal leasing; Five million in southwest China face power cuts in heatwave; 20 years of data confirm forest fires are getting worse; EU food companies break their plastics promises; San Francisco’s salt marsh restoration a stunning success; Ants can be better than pesticides in growing crops; Major cities blighted by nitrogen dioxide pollution… PLUS: Climate change is a secret driver of inflation… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• President Biden signs historic Inflation Reduction Act into law:
• VIDEO:President Biden Delivers Remarks and Signs Into Law H.R. 5376, The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 Transcript (Rev.com)
BIDEN: Remember every single Republican in Congress voted against this bill. Every single Republican Congress voted against lowering prescription drug prices, against lowering healthcare cost, against the fair tax system. Every single Republican, every single one voted against tackling the climate crisis, against lowering our energy cost, against creating good jobs.
• Not Even a Single Republican Voted for the Climate Bill (The Atlantic/MSN)
• VIDEO: Congress genius Bob Good knows more than 99 percent of scientists: “There is no climate crisis!” (Boing Boing)
• House adopts ‘transformative’ climate bill – Guest: David Roberts of Volts: ‘BradCast’ 8/12/2022 (The BRAD BLOG):
  “One of the most important aspects of this bill is the transformative effects it’s going to have on our political economy. It’s going to change politics,” he argues.
• VIDEO: Experts explain how the Inflation Reduction Act helps fight climate change (ABC News)
• Americans suffering intensifying climate change impacts:
• Hot nights: US in July sets new record for overnight warmth (AP)
• July 2022: Warmest nights in U.S. history (Yale Climate Connections)
• Hot nights due to climate change could increase death rate up to 60 per cent across world, study warns (Independent UK)
• American farmers are killing their own crops and selling cows because of extreme drought (CNN)
• Earth sees a top 3 hottest July, marked by deadly heat, flash floods (Axios)
• Surface air temperature for July 2022 (Copernicus)
• Videos show Las Vegas casinos underwater again following flash floods, the latest in a string of extreme weather events (Yahoo News)
• Fifth set of human remains found at diminishing Lake Mead (LA Times/MSN)
• Lake Mead’s unusual summer rise likely aided by monsoon season (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
• Western states face unprecedented Colorado River water cuts:
• The feds declined to seriously cut Colorado River water use. Here’s what that means going forward (High Country News):
  After Southwestern states failed to cut a deal, the Interior Department took it easy on them.
• Arizona loses more of its Colorado River water allocation under new drought plan (AZ Central)
• Western states hit with more cuts to Colorado River water (AP):
  Stephen Lewis, governor of the Gila River Indian Community in central Arizona, said the tribe was “shocked and disappointed” by the lack of progress. The tribe, which is entitled to nearly one-fourth of Arizona’s Colorado River deliveries, no longer plans to save its unused water in Lake Mead, as it has in recent years, and instead plans to store it underground.
• New water cuts coming for Southwest as Colorado River falls into Tier 2 shortage (CNN)
• VIDEO: As Colorado River crisis grows, some officials say it’s time for feds to drop the hammer on water cuts (CNN/MSN):
  As the Colorado River system spirals toward its demise, some Western water officials, lawmakers and experts had expected federal officials on Tuesday to announce an ambitious plan to cut usage and save the river basin after stakeholders failed to meet a Monday deadline to do it themselves.
• VIDEO: What Colorado River usage cuts mean for Colorado (KDVR)
• A New Round of Colorado River Cuts Is Announced (NY Times):
  Ms. Pitt said that if the states came back to the bureau in a month or two with a plan for cuts, “the federal government, I’m sure, would be happy to take that because no elected leader wants to be responsible for the decision about who’s not going to get water.”
• CA Gov. Newsom (D) proposes sweeeping water measures::
• Newsom: California must boost water recycling, desalination (AP)
• Newsom unveils long-term strategy to bolster California water supply (CalMatters)
• VIDEO: Newsom proposes billions to boost California water recycling, desalination (CBS News)
• Gov. Newsom’s wise move on water policy (op-ed, Orange County Register)
• Not easy being green: Newsom clashes with with Calif. environmentalists on climate, water (Sacramento Bee/MSN)
• Governor Newsom Announces Water Strategy For a Hotter, Drier California (Press release, Office of Gov. Gavin Newsom)
• VIDEO: FULL PRESS CONFERENCE: Newsom: California must boost water recycling, desalination (YouTube)
• MA Gov. Charlie Baker (R) defies GOP, signs sweeping climate/energy bill:
• Massachusetts’ Republican governor signs far-reaching climate bill into law (Grist):
  It’s “a big f****ing deal.”
• Massachusetts just passed a massive climate and clean energy bill (Washington Post/MSN):
  Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) on Thursday signed a major climate and clean-energy bill that contains sweeping policies targeting renewables, transportation and fossil fuels — a move that lawmakers and advocates say is critical to supporting the state’s goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

‘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

• Hundreds of thousands drop flood insurance as rates rise (E&E News)
• Court Clears Path For Biden Oil And Gas Leasing Pause (E&E News)
• Judge halts federal coal leasing (Laramie Boomerang)
• China cuts power to factories, homes as reservoirs fall (AP)
• Climate change is a secret driver of inflation (Axios)
• Forest Fires Are Getting Worse, 20 Years Of Data Confirm (Mongabay)
• European Food Companies Break Their Plastics Promises (DW News)
• Rebirth of San Francisco’s Salt Marshes (Biographic/Hakai Magazine)
• Ants Can Be Better Than Pesticides For Growing Healthy Crops: Study (Guardian UK)
• California could lend PG&E $1.4 billion to save Diablo Canyon nuclear plant (LA Times)
• Major Cities Blighted By Nitrogen Dioxide Pollution, Research Finds (Guardian UK)
• Nuclear winter: 5 billion could starve to death if U.S., Russia engage in nuclear war (Axios)
• An “Extreme Heat Belt” will soon emerge in the U.S., study warns (Axios)
• Kicking oil companies out of school: Faculty and staff at Cambridge are planning a vote that would require the university to stop accepting fossil fuel money for research. (NY Times)
• The 7 climate tipping points that could change the world forever (Grist)
• The 1977 White House climate memo that should have changed the world (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.