‘Green News Report’ – August 8, 2024

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Tropical Storm Debby isn’t done with the East Coast yet; Hottest oceans in 400 years endanger Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, scientists warn; PLUS: Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate, Gov. Tim Walz, is a proven climate champion… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Harris faces racial attacks for promoting climate policies; July ends 13-month streak of global heat records as El Nino ebbs, but experts warn against relief; Fossil fuel industry’s ‘massive disinformation campaign’ is slowing global transition to green energy; Tropical weather brings record rainfall. Experts share how to stay safe in floods… PLUS: Death toll for birds may be more than 1 billion a year in U.S…. and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Tropical Storm Debby not done deluging the East Coast:
• Live Updates: Tornado Kills 1 and Damages School as Debby Roars Ashore (NY Times)
• Tornado death raises Tropical Storm Debby toll to 7 as heavy rains keep falling (AP)
• Tropical Storm Debby affecting weather as far away as Great Lakes (AP)
• Modern hurricanes are rewriting the rules of extreme storms (BBC):
  It’s thought that the reason for the slowdown is the uneven way that climate change is heating the globe, with the Arctic warming nearly four times faster than the rest of the world. As a result, the difference in temperature between the Arctic and the tropics is narrowing. “It’s that temperature gradient that drives the winds,” says Kossin. “The stronger the gradient, the stronger the winds.”
• How Vermont is preparing for Tropical Storm Debby while recovering from Beryl (WFFF-Burlington)
• Debby’s costly impacts on Florida:
• Much of Hurricane Debby property loss may not be insured as many Floridians lack flood coverage (Palm Beach Post)
• Hurricane Debby Could Cause Billions Of Dollars In Damage, Raise Insurance (MSN)
• Florida’s Insurer of Last Resort Asks Big Rate Increase (This Is Not Cool blog)
  Florida’s largest insurer has requested a 13.5 percent rate hike but says it needs a nearly 93 percent increase to match the competitive market.
• “Unlike any Storm”- Florida Infrastructure Fails with Debby (This Is Not Cool blog):
  [T]he barely Cat 1 hurricane dropped enough water to overwhelm storm sewers even in areas that were not categorized as flood zones.
• Hurricane flooding to impact millions more Americans:
• Why future hurricanes could bring flooding to millions more Americans (CBS News):
  A CBS News analysis of data from First Street Foundation, a research group specializing in climate, shows that by 2053, hurricanes could cause flooding damage to more than 19 million properties across the country. The flooding could reach areas not seen in modern history.
• Tropical rains flood homes in an inland Georgia neighborhood for the second time since 2016 (AP)
• More Americans Are Moving Into Flood And Fire Hot Spots (Washington Post):
  Much of that net flow was driven by migration to Texas and Florida, the Redfin analysis showed. The two states accounted for more than a quarter of the 378 flood-and fire-prone counties that gained population last year…People are probably drawn to those states for their relative affordability and greater availability of housing, de la Campa said. Texas and Florida have relatively low property taxes and led the country in construction of housing units last year.
• Great Barrier Reef endangered by hottest oceans in 400 years:
• Great Barrier Reef waters were hottest in 400 years over the past decade, study finds (AP):
  Ocean temperatures in the Great Barrier Reef hit their highest level in 400 years over the past decade, according to researchers who warned that the reef likely won’t survive if planetary warming isn’t stopped.
• Great Barrier Reef facing catastrophic damage, research shows (press release, Univ. of Melboure)
• Great Barrier Reef teeters on UNESCO’s ‘in danger’ status after Coral Sea’s hottest summer in 400 years (ABC Australia)
• Heat Raises Fears of ‘Demise’ for Great Barrier Reef Within a Generation (NY Times):
  To look back as far as possible, they used data from samples of the oldest living corals measured, about 400 years old…”It’s a stunningly important summary of the history of the world’s largest reef system,” said Stephen Palumbi, a professor of marine biology at Stanford University who led a committee on coral resilience for the National Academy of Sciences and was not involved with the study. “The paper lays out the danger that corals all around the world face from this heat.”
• VIDEO: Climate change: 400-year record heat threat to Great Barrier Reef (BBC News)
• The Great Barrier Reef faces its biggest threat in centuries (The Verge):
  Temperatures have reached unprecedented highs in the Great Barrier Reef, threatening its survival if the planet continues to warm.
• Dept. of Energy invests anouther $2.2 billion in the nation’s electric grid:
• Energy Department awards $2.2B to strengthen the electrical grid and add clean power (AP):
  The Department of Energy on Tuesday announced $2.2 billion in funding for eight projects across 18 states to strengthen the electrical grid against increasing extreme weather, advance the transition to cleaner electricity and meet a growing demand for power. The money will help build more than 600 miles of new transmission lines and upgrade about 400 miles of existing lines so that they can carry more current.
• Innovative transmission, energy storage projects in 18 states get $2.2B from DOE (Utility Dive)
• Democratic VP candidate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) is a climate action champion:
• ‘This is *the* climate pick’: How Walz could reshape the race (E&E News)
• How Tim Walz pushed Minnesota toward aggressive climate policies (Bloomberg):
  Kamala Harris picked a running mate for her presidential campaign with one of the most aggressive records enacting climate policy at the state level. Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor tapped on Tuesday to become the Democratic vice presidential nominee, has accelerated his state’s embrace of clean energy and electric vehicles in ways that could become templates for federal action in the next White House.
  Kamala Harris’s new VP running mate has made his home state a model of a quieter, Midwestern-style strategy for accelerating emission-free energy.
• What Harris’ pick of Tim Walz means for climate, energy (E&E News):
  Walz has made “huge strides”on climate, [Sunrise Movement spokesperson Stevie]O’Hanlon said, by “pitching climate action as a way to make people’s everyday lives better, create good-paying green jobs, and invest in making communities stronger. That is a winning message, and one the Democratic ticket should put at the forefront of their agenda.”
• VIDEO: Gov. Walz signs ‘100 Percent Clean Energy by 2040’ bill (YouTube)
• Governor Walz Signs Bill Moving Minnesota to 100 Percent Clean Energy by 2040 (press release, Office of Gov. Walz)
• Meet Tim Walz: Kamala Harris’s vice-presidential pick, a surprising Green New Dealer (Hill Heat)

‘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

• Harris faces racial attacks for promoting climate policies (E&E News
• July ends 13-month streak of global heat records as El Nino ebbs, but experts warn against relief (AP)
• Fossil fuel industry’s ‘massive disinformation campaign’ is slowing global transition to green energy (Guardian)
• Tropical weather brings record rainfall. Experts share how to stay safe in floods. (AP)
• Death toll rises to 156 as weeks of heavy monsoon rains wreak havoc in Pakistan (AP)
• Death Toll For Birds Hitting Buildings May Be Over 1 Billion A Year In US (Guardian)
• Climate Catastrophe Animal Vid of the Week: Rescuing Rescues from Debby (This Is Not Cool blog)
• Harris helped pass one of the strongest climate laws. Her policies don’t stop there (Guardian)
• Illinois Trees, Plants Damaged By Renewed Use Of Weedkillers On Farms (Chicago Tribune)
• Avocado Goldrush Links US Companies With Mexico’s Deforestation Disaster (Reuters)
• Carbon Capture Bamboozle: Oil companies sold the public on a fake climate solution — and swindled taxpayers out of billions (Vox)
• What Project 2025 would do to climate policy in the US (Grist)
• How to power your home through an outage without a gas generator (Washington Post)
• VIDEO: John Oliver on Trump’s Project 2025: Blueprint for the Death of Democracy (This Is Not Cool blog)
• Is the Atlantic Overturning Circulation Approaching a Tipping Point? (The Oceanography Society)
• How Oil Companies Manipulate Journalists (Drilled)
• Abrupt reduction in shipping emission as an inadvertent geoengineering termination shock produces substantial radiative warming (Nature)
• How To Spot 5 Of The Fossil Fuel Industry’s Biggest Disinformation Tactics (Guardian)
• The Oceans We Knew Are Already Gone (The Atlantic)
• Plug-in hybrids vs. electric cars: We did the math on which is better for you (Washington Post)
• How to electrify your life when you rent (The Verge)
• Complete Series: Farmers Under Attack for Supporting Clean Energy (This Is Not Cool blog)
• Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here’s How to Get Started (Inside Climate News)
• Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)
• Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)
• Exxon’s Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)
• Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)