‘Green News Report’ – October 19, 2023

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Alaska cancels snow crab harvest due to crashing populations; New documents show the natural gas industry used Big Tobacco’s playbook to block gas stove pollution regulations for decades; PLUS: Sweeping new study finds the U.S. is on track to reach net zero climate goals, but it’s gonna take a lot more work… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Will the Earth breach its 1.5C guardrail sooner than we thought?; The case against the US government’s big ‘blue hydrogen’ bet; Alabama Wood Pellet Mill Seeks Millions in Climate Funds, but Critics Say It Won’t Cut CO2; New study projects sea level rise to drain Florida’s financial future; 10 states sue US government over steep flood insurance rate increases; Racist, homophobic “Christian” goes off on the “globalist climate agenda”… PLUS: Factory fishing for krill in Antarctica is targeting the cornerstone of a fragile ecoysystem… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• 2023 will be the hottest year ever recorded, and likely hottest ever for the oceans:
• Analysis: ‘Greater than 99 percent chance’ 2023 will be hottest year on record (Carbon Brief):
  With three months of 2023 still remaining, Carbon Brief’s analysis reveals there is a greater than 99 percent chance that 2023 will be the hottest year since records began in the mid-1800s, and likely for millennia before as well.
• Virtually certain 2023 will be warmest year on record: US agency (AFP)
• Stressful Summer for Coral Reefs (NASA Earth Observatory)
• VIDEO: 2023 on track to be the hottest year ever recorded, September now feels like July (NBC News-Philadelphia)
• Backgrounder: Ocean Warming (NASA)
• Alaska cancels snow crab harvest season, again:
• VIDEO: Alaska cancels snow crab harvest again due to population concerns (King-5 Seattle):
  Both the snow crab and Bristol Bay red king crab seasons were closed in 2023. Crabbers and industry associations warned of the massive impact the decision would have on many small businesses, prompting calls by Congressional officials for an emergency declaration and federal aid….[T]he harvests were closed over concerns about long-term conservation and the sustainability of crab stocks.
• As the once-lucrative Bering Sea crab harvest resumes, Alaska’s fishers face challenges (Alaska Public Radio)
• How 10 billion snow crab vanished from Alaskan waters and what it means for the seafood industry (King5-Seattle):
  “It’s either a mortality event, crabs are not there because they all died. Or our survey didn’t sample them. Whether that’s because they moved either west or north, those were questions we certainly asked in 2021,” said Fedeway. She said they did not see an increase in snow crabs in surrounding areas, so it did not seem likely that the species moved.
• Industry groups sue to stop New York’s phase-out of natural gas hookups:
• New York’s Gas Stove Ban Is an ‘Existential Threat,’ Trade Group Lawsuit Says (Earther):
  The many unions and plaintiffs that are part of the lawsuit claim that the ban is already affecting them, even though the law hasn’t yet gone into effect. “The ban presents an existential threat for the small, family-owned businesses in New York that sell, install, and service gas equipment and infrastructure,” the filing said. “It threatens the livelihoods of the individuals who work in these fields.”
• Lawsuit to block New York’s ban on gas stoves is filed by gas and construction groups (AP)
• Natural gas utility industry knew, lied about gas stoves’ indoor pollution:
• How gas utilities used tobacco tactics to avoid gas stove regulations (NPR):
  “They are the ones who told me that the gas stoves produce nitrogen dioxide because of their high temperature,” says Shy, now 91, at his home near Durham, N.C. “They said the hoods above gas stoves were really not powerful enough to pull out the nitrogen dioxide.” But in the following decades, the gas industry argued the opposite, asserting that range hoods could clear up this pollution. And it has contended that fumes from cooking food are more of a problem than the fossil fuel pollution of nitrogen dioxide.
• VIDEO: Fossil Gas Used Tobacco Tactics to Cover Health Data (Climate Crocks)
• Your Gas Stove Is Leaking Methane Even When It’s Off (Earther)
• How the Fossil Fuel Industry Convinced Americans to Love Gas Stoves (Mother Jones, 6/17/2021)
• US can achieve net zero targets, but it’s gonna take a lot more work:
• Accelerating Decarbonization in the United States: Technology, Policy, and Societal Dimensions (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine)
• One key step in the energy transition? No new gas lines. (Washington Post):
  Banning gas lines is one of more than 80 recommendations in a sweeping new report on how to speed up decarbonization in the U.S.
• Scientists see net zero within reach by 2050 after new federal investments (Politico):
  The report comes as companies roll out hundreds of billions of dollars in new investments in clean energy, electric vehicles and batteries in response to the incentives in major legislation passed during the previous Congress that are designed to speed the transition away from fossil fuels. “Successful implementation of current U.S. policy would establish the nation as the international leader in the fight against climate change and would be vital to achieve global emissions reductions,” the report said.
• Study finds world has likely passed the ‘global solar tipping point’:
• The momentum of the solar energy transition (Nature):
  “If you don’t put any additional policy in your system, you still get a switch or a flip,” says Femke Nijsse, a lecturer at the University of Exeter who focuses on energy-systems modeling and was lead author on the study. “We currently have a fossil fuel-dominated system and without additional policies, we arrive at a state that’s dominated mostly by solar.”
• The World Has Already Crossed a ‘Tipping Point’ on Solar Power (Bloomberg News)
• World may have crossed solar power ‘tipping point’ – study (BNE Intellinews)
• World reaching “global irreversible solar tipping point” – report (PV Tech Magazine)
• Solar Prices Still Plummeting, While Quality, Durability Keep Improving (Climate Crocks)

‘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

• Will the Earth breach its 1.5C guardrail sooner than we thought? (Guardian)
• The case against the US government’s big ‘blue hydrogen’ bet (Canary Media)
• Alabama Wood Pellet Mill Seeks Millions in Climate Funds, but Critics Say It Won’t Cut CO2 (Inside Climate News)
• New study projects sea level rise to drain Florida’s financial future (NPR)
• In Florida: The Insurance-Driven Exodus Begins (Climate Crocks)
• Louisiana, 9 other states sue US government over steep flood insurance rate increases (AP)
• The Worst People: Racist, Homophobic “Christian” Goes off on the “Globalist Climate Agenda” (Climate Crocks)
• Factory fishing for krill in Antarctica is targeting the cornerstone of a fragile ecoysystem (AP)
• Alaska: Giant open-pit mine near two national parks dealt a blow by Biden administration (Washington Post)
• The fight over a facility that recycles dead animals in Los Angeles (Grist)
• Texas Continues to Issue Thousands of Flaring Permits (Inside Climate News)
• Japan: Former rural golf courses now sites for sea of solar power panels (Asahi Foundation)
• 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.