‘Green News Report’ – October 5, 2023

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Scientists are freaking out about September’s record heat and Antarctica’s missing sea ice; Critical climate targets still barely within reach, thanks to growth of renewable energy; PLUS: After weakening UK climate policies, British Prime Minister cancels high-speed rail, expands offshore drilling… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Pope urges leaders at UN talks to slow global warming before it’s too late; 2023 on track to be hottest year on record; Ozone hole over Antarctica grows to one of the largest on record; 6 ways humans are transforming Antarctica from a pristine preserve to a polluted wasteland; ‘They made a huge profit knowing they’d kill people’: US firms use tactics to avoid paying asbestos victims; Pope Francis Solar energy company unveils groundbreaking lightweight solar panels… PLUS: COP28 chief urges energy groups to prepare for fossil fuel ‘phase down’… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Scientists freaking out about September’s abnormal heat:
• Why September’s record-warm temperatures have scientists so worried (Washington Post):
  “The El Nino won’t peak until later this year and there is plenty more heat waiting in the wings,” Michael McPhaden, a senior scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said in an email. “So expect more records to be set in the coming months.”
• ‘Gobsmackingly bananas’: scientists stunned by planet’s record September heat (Guardian):
  September 2023 beat the previous record for that month by 0.5C, the largest jump in temperature ever seen. September was about 1.8C warmer than pre-industrial levels. Datasets from European and Japanese scientists confirm the leap.
• “Gobsmackingly” warm September was Earth’s hottest on record (Axios):
  The planet has shattered heat records in recent months, but even by the standards of a sizzling summer, September’s temperature anomaly stands out.
• Global climate vaults into even rarer territory, with more to come (Axios):
  There have been so many temperature records set this year that some of the words we use to describe them – ‘unprecedented,’ ‘record’ and ‘unusual’ – are losing their punch…[T]he past few days in September have registered the largest temperature anomalies so far this year.
• Wildlife struggling with record heat around the world:
• More than 100 dolphins dead in Amazon as water hits 102 degrees Fahrenheit (CNN)
• At Canada’s Largest Atlantic Puffin Colony, Chicks Are Dying Of Starvation (CBC)
• As rising temperatures threaten urban wildlife, experts recommend protecting green spaces (Phys.org)
• Scientists freaking out about Antarctica’s missing ice:
• Antarctic sets a record low maximum by wide margin (National Snow & Ice Data Center)
• Antarctica just hit a record low in sea ice – by a lot (Washington Post):
  Sea ice extent around Arctic was the sixth lowest on record as well…
  Sea ice around the polar regions plays a critical part in protecting the adjacent ice sheets. Less sea ice means less sunlight will be reflected back to space, causing waters to warm more and destabilize surrounding ice and glaciers. Coastlines are also much more exposed with less sea ice, removing a buffer that could help protect melting ice shelves or ice sheets.
• VIDEO: ‘Alarming drop off the cliff’: Record low Antarctic sea ice triggers emergency meeting, calls for urgent action (NewsHubNZ/Twitter)
• Antarctic sea ice peak is lowest on record, setting off alarm bells (Axios)
• UK Prime Minister expands fossil fuels, cancels high-speed rail:
• VIDEO: The facts have changed, says Rishi Sunak, as he scraps HS2 leg (BBC)
• UK makes drastic cuts to high-speed rail project (CNN)
• Britain approves huge, controversial oil and gas field in the North Sea (CNN)
• Sunak: Using every last drop of North Sea oil is ‘absolutely right thing to do’ (MSN)
• Rishi Sunak Cancels a Rail Project to Build an Image (NY Times):
  The British prime minister embraced a more divisive profile, casting himself as a disrupter and scrapping part of the High Speed 2 line that predecessors had championed.
• No new oil, gas or coal development if world is to reach net zero by 2050, says world energy body (Guardian, 5/18/2021)
• Arizona Gov. Hobbs halts Saudi Arabia’s unlimited groundwater pumping:
• Arizona to cancel leases allowing Saudi-owned farm access to state’s groundwater (AP):
  In April, [AZ Attorney General Kris] Mayes announced that the state had rescinded permits that would have allowed Fondomonte to drill new water wells after inconsistencies were found in its applications. On Monday, Mayes called the governor’s actions a “step in the right direction,” adding that the state should have acted sooner. “The decision by the prior administration to allow foreign corporations to stick straws in the ground and pump unlimited amounts of groundwater to export alfalfa is scandalous,” Mayes said.
• VIDEO: Inside Saudi company’s sweet water deal in Arizona (News12-Phoenix):
• VIDEO: Saudi company draws unlimited Arizona ground water for crop illegal to grow in Saudi Arabia (CBS News, 4/20/2023)
• A company is pumping ‘unlimited’ water in drought-stricken Arizona to grow crops for Saudi Arabia: ‘It is a scandal’ (The Cool Down)
• Biden Dept. of Energy issues new energy efficiency standards for gas furnaces:
• DOE Finalizes Energy Efficiency Standards for Residential Furnaces to Save Americans $1.5 Billion In Annual Utility Bills (U.S. Dept. of Energy)
• Gas Furnaces Face 95% Efficiency Standard With Final DOE Rule (Bloomberg)
• DOE finalizes gas furnace efficiency rule, potentially saving consumers $25B over 30 years (Utility Dive)
• Biden administration updates furnace efficiency standards for first time in 16 years (The Hill/MSN)
• Critical 1.5C climate target still within reach, IEA says:
• Net Zero Roadmap: A Global Pathway to Keep the 1.5 °C Goal in Reach (International Energy Agency)
• ‘Staggering’ green growth gives hope for 1.5C, says global energy chief (Guardian)
• IEA says ‘unprecedented’ clean energy surge has kept key warming target alive (Yale Climate Connections):
  “The pathway to 1.5°C has narrowed in the past two years, but clean energy technologies are keeping it open,” said International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol.
• Limiting Global Warming to 1.5 Degrees C ‘Remains Possible,’ Energy Experts Say (Scientific American)

‘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

• Pope urges leaders at UN talks to slow global warming before it’s too late (AP)
• 2023 on track to be hottest year on record, data indicate (The Hill)
• Ozone hole over Antarctica grows to one of the largest on record, scientists say (ABC News)
• COP28 chief urges energy groups to prepare for fossil fuel ‘phase down’ (Financial Times)
• 6 ways humans are transforming Antarctica from a pristine preserve to a polluted wasteland (Business Insider/Yahoo News)
• ‘They made a huge profit knowing they’d kill people’: US firms use tactics to avoid paying asbestos victims (Guardian)
• American society wasn’t always so car-centric. Our future doesn’t have to be, either. (Yale Climate Connections)
• Solar energy company unveils groundbreaking lightweight solar panels: ‘Its potential applications are limitless’ (The Cool Down)
• USFWS Creating a Frozen Library of Biodiversity to Help Endangered Species (Inside Climate 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.