‘Green News Report’ – May 4, 2023

Follow @GreenNewsReport…



(Or use “Click here to listen…” link below.)

IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Spain broils in unprecedented heat, while Italy’s rivers dry up; European Union adopts ‘the biggest climate protection law of all time’; El Nino return likely to shatter recent heat records; PLUS: New York officially becomes first state to ban natural gas in newly-constructed buildings… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Click here to listen or download MP3 (6 mins)…

Link:
Embed:

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): El Niño is coming. Here’s what that means for weather in the U.S.; In Texas, Lawmakers Throw Tax Funded Lifeline to Fossil Fuels; Toxic water floods an Okla. town. Will FERC hold a dam liable?; New IEA report highlights the need and means for the oil and gas industry to drastically cut emissions; IKEA boosts gigascale output at an Arizona solar panel factory; Is deadly Illinois dust storm a climate indicator?; FL and LA must borrow millions to pay insurance claims… PLUS: Is it a lake, or a battery? A new kind of hydropower is spreading fast… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• EU braces for hot and dry summer ahead, as Italy’s rivers dry up:
• Lack of snow condemns Italy’s Po to a desperately dry summer (AP):
  Italy’s largest river is already as low as it was last summer, with the winter snow fields that normally save it from drying up over the warmer months having receded by 75%, according to the Bolzano climate and environment agency. It’s already causing some reliant on the Po to course correct.
• ‘Deep wounds’: Lake Garda just over a third full as Italy braces for second year of drought (EuroNews)
• Saltwater intrusion and climate change impact on coastal agriculture (PLOS One)
• Spain broils in unprecedented, early heat wave:
• Spain Bakes in Summer-Like Heat, and Worries About What Comes Next (NY Times):
  The April temperatures, over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in some places, come on top of a long-running drought that has depleted reservoirs and dried up fields.
• VIDEO: After Dry Winter – Spain’s April Heat Hits Hard (Climate Crocks)
• VIDEO: Peter Kalmus: Why is Spain facing unusually hot temperatures for April? (Youtube/TRT News)
• Spain pleads for aid from EU after historic drought devastates its farmers (EuroNews)
• Spanish heatwave: Is climate change behind record heat in Europe? (New Scientist/MSN)
• VIDEO: This medieval village was submerged in water. A severe drought changed that (CNN)
• UN warns that coming El Nino will likely shatter recent heat records:
• World should prepare for El Nino, new record temperatures: UN (AFP/Yahoo News)
• UN warns of new heat records as El Nino expected to return (DW News):
  Now “the world should prepare for the development of El Nino.” The expected arrival of the climate pattern “will most likely lead to a new spike in global heating and increase the chance of breaking temperature records.”
• UN warns heat records could be broken as chance of El Niño rises (Guardian)
• Over 20,000 died in western Europe’s summer heatwaves, figures show (Guardian, 11/24/2022)
• Earth in hot water? Worries over sudden ocean warming spike (AP)
• European Union finalizes major climate law including carbon border tax:
• EU adopts “biggest climate protection law of all time” (Energy Monitor):
  The three key components of the ‘Fit for 55’ package – a carbon border tax, a just transition fund and a carbon price for petrol and home heating – have just become law.
• A New Tax on Greenhouse Gases (NY Times):
  In a first, the European Union is imposing a charge on some high-emissions imports like steel. Here’s what it means.
• A New Tax on Greenhouse Gases: European Union imposes a charge on some high-emissions imports (NY Times)
• EU Gives Green Light to Revamp of Europe’s Main Climate Policy (VOA News)
• G.M. to discontinue popular all-electric Chevy Bolt:
• GM eliminates the Chevrolet Bolt, but electric pickups and SUVs are still going strong (Axios):
  This is about profits. Pickups and SUVs make more money — and people buy more of them than passenger cars…When they ever turn a profit on EVs, those will have a bigger profit margin than the Bolt,” Autotrader analyst Michelle Krebs tells Axios.
• Why GM is killing the Chevy Bolt — America’s cheapest EV — amid record sales (CNBC):
  Barra’s comments about the vehicle getting axed were as swift as a butcher cutting the head off a chicken but spoke volumes when combined with the company’s plans to churn out profitable electric vehicles in the years ahead… [The Bolt] uses older battery technology purchased from LG, and GM is currently focused on scaling up more cost-effective in-house battery production.
• GM Ends Chevy Bolt Production to Focus on Trucks (Climate Crocks)
• GM announces Chevy Bolt is over, long live the Equinox (Electrek)
• GM kills another electric car. It’s different this time. (E&E News)
• I.E.A.: Electric car sales surged in 2022:
• Demand for electric cars is booming, with sales expected to leap 35% this year after a record-breaking 2022 (IEA):
  The global auto industry is undergoing a sea change, with implications for the energy sector, as electrification is set to avoid the need for 5 million barrels of oil a day by 2030.
• Electric car sales surged by 55% last year to surpass 10 million, and China led the way: IEA (CNBC)
• One in five cars sold this year will be electric – IEA (Reuters/MSN)
• Global electric car sales’ ‘explosive growth’ – in numbers (Electrek)
• New York becomes first state to ban natural gas in new building construction:
• N.Y. enacts landmark gas ban, carbon trading program (E&E News)
• New York becomes the first state to ban natural gas stoves and furnaces in most new buildings (CNN):
  The law bans gas-powered stoves, furnaces and propane heating and effectively encourages the use of climate-friendly appliances such as heat pumps and induction stoves in most new residential buildings across the state. It requires all-electric heating and cooking in new buildings shorter than seven stories by 2026, and for taller buildings by 2029. The state’s budget doesn’t ban gas in all new buildings – there are exceptions…
• VIDEO: New York to ban gas stoves in new residential building construction, and what it means for other states (CBS News)

‘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

• El Niño is coming. Here’s what that means for weather in the U.S. (NPR)
• In Texas, Lawmakers Throw Tax Funded Lifeline to Fossil Fuels (Climate Crocks)
• Toxic water floods an Okla. town. Will FERC hold a dam liable? (E&E News)
• New IEA report highlights the need and means for the oil and gas industry to drastically cut emissions from its operations (International Energy Agency)
• IKEA boosts gigascale output at an Arizona solar panel factory (Electrek)
• VIDEO: Is Deadly Dust Storm a Climate Indicator? (Climate Crocks)
• [Republican] Senators Back Solar Tariffs, Oppose Prairie Bird Safeguards (AP)
• Is It a Lake, or a Battery? A New Kind of Hydropower Is Spreading Fast. (NY Times)
• FL and LA must borrow millions to pay insurance claims (E&E News)
• Exxon’s Unethical Supreme Court Play (The American Prospect)
• New climate paper calls for charging big US oil firms with homicide (Guardian)
• Why It’s Time to Officially Get Over Your EV Range Anxiety (Inside Climate News)
• Building Steam in Lithium Valley (The American Prospect)
• Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here’s How to Get Started (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: See what three degrees of global warming looks like (The Economist/YouTube)
• 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)
• Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)
• VIDEO: 2050: what happens if we ignore the climate crisis (Guardian UK)
• 99.9 percent Of Scientists Agree Climate Emergency Caused By Humans (Guardian UK)
• 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)
• 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.