‘Green News Report’ – September 7, 2023

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: 2023 was the hottest summer ever recorded; Extreme storms trigger deadly floods in Brazil and Greece; PLUS: Biden Administration moves to block oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, again… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Beast from the East: Hurricane Watchers Keeping Close Eye on Rapidly Intensifying Lee; Why Extreme Heat Is So Dangerous For Those With Schizophrenia; States Withhold Cooling Aid For The Poor As Heat Gets Deadlier; A Colorado City Has Been Battling for Decades to Use Its Own Water; 61 Indicted In Georgia On RICO Charges Connected To ‘Stop Cop City’ Movement… PLUS: Alaskan Fishers Fear Bleak Season As Crab Numbers Dwindle In Warming Waters… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Earth just saw its hottest Summer in recorded history:
• Earth had hottest three-month period on record, with unprecedented sea surface temperatures and much extreme weather (WMO)
• This summer broke the world record for the highest temperature officially recorded (AP)
“It’s time for global leaders to start telling the truth,” said Weaver, a professor at the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria in Canada. “We will not limit warming to 1.5 C; we will not limit warming to 2.0 C. It’s all hands on deck now to prevent 3.0 C global warming — a level of warming that will wreak havoc worldwide.”
• Summer 2023 was hottest on record, scientists say (Reuters):
  Last month was the also the hottest August on record globally, the third straight month in a row to set such a record following the hottest ever June and July, the EU said on Wednesday… “The scientific evidence is overwhelming, we will continue to see more climate records and more intense and frequent extreme weather events impacting society and ecosystems, until we stop emitting greenhouse gases,” Burgess said.
• VIDEO: NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt discusses this summer’s extreme weather and long-term trends (PBS NewsHour)
• World just endured its hottest summer on record. UN chief says ‘climate breakdown has begun’ (CNBC):
  The WMO made clear that the extreme weather events seen across the world this summer were taking place before the full warming impact of El Niño, a major climate phenomenon which typically plays out in the second year after it develops.
• Extreme heat sets new all-time high temperature records around the world:
• Japan And Australia Notch Hottest Seasons On Record As 2023 Heat Records Continue (Forbes/MSN)
• Heat records are being smashed in multiple parts of the globe (Washington Post)
• The Human Limit: Where dangerous heat is surging (Washington Post):
  [E]xtremely risky heat…is equal to a temperature of 120 degrees if it’s dry, or in the mid-90s if it’s very humid. At that point, even healthy adults who are active outside for more than 15 minutes in an hour can suffer heat stress; many deaths have occurred at much lower levels…By 2050, 1.3 billion people will be exposed unless they can find some sort of cooling, up from 500 million in 2030 and 100 million in 2000.
• 80 million Americans suffer another record-shattering heat wave:
• A heat wave, and lack of air conditioning, disrupt school districts nationwide (NPR):
  Schools along the East Coast and in parts of the Midwest changed their schedules – in some cases sending students home early – due to heat advisories and lack of air conditioning… A 2020 study from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that an estimated 41 percent of districts needed to update or replace HVAC systems in at least half their schools.
• School Districts Frequently Identified Multiple Building Systems Needing Updates or Replacement (US GAO):
  [A]n estimated 41 percent of districts need to update or replace heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in at least half of their schools…In nearly all districts GAO visited, security also had become a top priority, with some districts prioritizing security updates over replacing building systems, such as HVAC.
• VIDEO: Schools close as late-season heat wave puts millions across U.S. under heat alerts (CBS News)
• Are heat days the new snow days? Schools are canceling class as temperatures soar (CNN)
• Ocean heat fuels new extreme storms, deadly floods in Brazil, Greece:
• Scientists assess the impacts of a warming ocean (WMO)
• The death toll rises from fierce storms and flooding in Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria (AP)
• “Historic flooding event” in Greece dumps more than 2 feet of rain in just a few hours (CBS News)
• Cyclone batters southern Brazil, death toll from floods hits 36 (Reuters/MSN)
• Brazil, US, Greece, Turkey and China all hit by natural disasters as world records hottest summer (ABC Australia)
• Federal regulators halt Trump-era LNG bomb trains:
• Trump Rule Allowing Rail Shipments Of LNG Will Be Put On Hold For Safety (AP)
• Biden administration changes Trump-era rule, will ban liquefied natural gas on trains (UPI):
  Though there has been no transportation of LNG via rail since July 24, 2020, the Transportation Department says the updated regulations are being put in place to prevent any transport occurring while the safety parameters are evaluated.
• Feds suspend rule that would have allowed ‘bomb trains’ in South Jersey (New Jersey Monitor)
• Biden Administration blocks oil drilling across millions of acres of Arctic Alaska:
• Biden to block oil drilling in ‘irreplaceable’ Alaskan wildlands (Washington Post/MSN):
  President Biden moved Wednesday to protect more than 10 million acres of Alaska’s North Slope from development, barring oil drilling across giant swaths and canceling leases in the iconic Arctic National Wildlife Refuge issued under President Donald Trump.
• Interior Department cancels remaining leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (AP):
  The U.S. Interior Department on Wednesday canceled the remaining seven oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that were part of a sale held in the waning days of the Trump administration, angering state political leaders including Alaska’s Republican governor, who threatened to sue…However, a 2017 law mandates another lease sale by late 2024. Administration officials said they intend to comply with the law.
• Haaland cancels leases in Alaska’s Arctic Refuge: ‘Climate change is the crisis of our lifetime’ (Alaska Public Radio)
• PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD OPEN HERE: Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program

‘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

• Beast from the East: Hurricane Watchers Keeping Close Eye on Rapidly Intensifying Lee (Climate Crocks)
• African Climate Summit issues unanimous call for world leaders to support global carbon tax on fossil fuels (AP)
• Why Extreme Heat Is So Dangerous For Those With Schizophrenia (Washington Post)
• States Withhold Cooling Aid For The Poor As Heat Gets Deadlier (E&E News)
• A Colorado City Has Been Battling for Decades to Use Its Own Water (NY Times)
• 61 Indicted In Georgia On RICO Charges Connected To ‘Stop Cop City’ Movement (AP)
• Invasive Species Costing World Billions A Year, UN Warns (DW News)
• Alaskan Fishers Fear Bleak Season As Crab Numbers Dwindle In Warming Waters (AP)
• The Summer From Hell Was Just A Warning (E&E News)
• Rising Temperatures Are Wreaking Havoc Year-Round (gift link, Bloomberg)
• Rough years ahead [as new El Nino arrives] (Nature)
• Complete Series: Farmers Under Attack for Supporting Clean Energy (Climate Crocks)
• These are the places most at risk from record-breaking heat waves as the planet warms (CNN)
• 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)
• 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.