‘Green News Report’ – August 10, 2010

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Thousands dead from heatwaves and fires in Russia; Thousands dead from flooding and mudslides in Pakistan and China; Massive ‘ice island’ breaks off of Greenland, as the heatwave continues in the U.S. (Global warming? What global warming?) … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): First signs of puberty seen in younger girls; Australia agriculture faces climate upheaval; Whole buildings could become solar panels; EPA issues new regulations for mercury pollution from coal plants; China to shut 2,000 factories to save energy; Oil spill shuts India’s busiest port; Highway projects don’t help the US economy … PLUS: 100+ Quick Rebuttals to Common Climate Change Denier Arguments (collect them all!)…

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

• 35 Years Ago on August 8th, Term ‘Global Warming’ Was Coined:: Thirty-five years ago this week, Wallace Broecker predicted decades of dangerous climate change caused by humans. Unfortunately, he was all too prescient. (Foreign Policy):
  Wally’s seminal Science paper built upon decades of earlier work by scientists who had found natural cycles of planetary warming and cooling in Greenland ice cores (Dansgaard, 1973), developed a mean global temperature from meteorological records (Mitchell, 1963), modeled the greenhouse influence of carbon dioxide on the atmosphere (Manabe and Wetherald, 1967, 1975; Rasool and Schneider, 1971), and measured the rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels (Keeling, 1973). Synthesizing the work, Broecker accurately predicted “that the present cooling trend will, within a decade or so, give way to a pronounced warming induced by carbon dioxide.”
  …
  In fact, one can even go back to the 1896 work of Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius, in which he predicted that the burning of coal could eventually double atmospheric CO2, leading to a temperature increase of several degrees Celsius, though he believed such a day was far into the future.
• The Cassandra Files: A 1979 Climate Warning (NY Times, 10/29/2008)
• The Great Russian Heat Wave of 2010
• NASA Earth Observatory August 9: Heatwave in Russia (NASA)
• Red Hot Disaster In Russia (TNR’s The Vine):
  As always, the precise way to link this to climate trends is like so: It’s hard to say whether this specific drought is a direct result of man-made global warming or a weird blip. What we do know, however, is that as we keep pumping greenhouse gases into the air, the planet will keep heating up, and scenes like this one are going to become more and more frequent. And the results don’t look pretty.
• Hundreds dead from heat, smog, wildfires in Moscow (USA Today)
• Climate change ‘partly to blame’ for sweltering Moscow: Global climate change is partly to blame for the abnormally hot and dry weather in Moscow, cloaked in a haze of smoke from wildfires, say researchers. (BBC)
• Russian Heatwave: Drought affects more than wheat; barley price has doubled in 6 weeks (Financial Times)
• English Transcript: Russian President Dmitry Mevedev: Speech at expanded Security Council meeting on fire safety measures for strategic facilities (Office of the President, The Kremlin):
  Overall, we need to learn our lessons from what has happened, and from the unprecedented heat wave that we have faced this summer. None of us can say what the next summer will be like. The forecasts vary greatly. Everyone is talking about climate change now. Unfortunately, what is happening now in our central regions is evidence of this global climate change, because we have never in our history faced such weather conditions in the past. This means that we need to change the way we work, change the methods that we used in the past.
• Unprecedented Extreme Weather Around the World Caused by Global Liberal Scam:
• Pakistan’s Katrina: No single weather event can be attributed to climate change, but a warming climate does load the dice in favor of heavier extreme precipitation events. This occurs because more water vapor can evaporate into a warmer atmosphere, increasing the chances of record heavy downpours. (Dr. Jeff Masters, Weather Underground)
• Pakistan Floods Hit 14 Million People as Heat Parches Russia, U.S. Midwest (Bloomberg News)
• 1,100 missing in China as Asian flood misery rises (AP)
• Monsoon Rains Continue in Flood-Ravaged Pakistan: Pakistan’s Meteorological Department forecast more rain for the next 24 hours, adding further hardship for the millions of people affected by Pakistan’s worst flooding in 80 years. (NY Times)
• Pakistan floods threaten key barrage in southern Sindh (BBC)
• More than 700 Die in China Mudslides (CNN)
• Rescue efforts continue as China landslide toll soars (BBC)
• “Ice Island” Breaks Off of Greenland
• Huge ice island calves off Greenland glacier (Reuters)
• Vast Ice ‘Island’ Breaks Free of Greenland Glacier (NYT Dot Earth)
• Extreme Weather Trends And Global Warming
• Pakistan Floods Shows Threat from Warmer World: Scientists (Reuters)
• The Problem With Climate Scientists (Washington Independent)
• ‘Environmentalism’ can never address climate change (David Roberts, Grist)
• The Asian Floods—Signs of Climate Catastrophes to Come? (Bryan Walsh, TIME)
• Analysis: Pakistan floods, Russia heat fit climate trend: Devastating floods in Pakistan and Russia’s heatwave match predictions of extremes caused by global warming even though it is impossible to blame mankind for single severe weather events, scientists say. (Reuters)
• Today Russia, tomorrow the world (Op-Ed, Toronto Star)
• Study Says Rising Temperatures Thwart Rice Growth (AP)
• Extreme Events: The IPCC projects the following likely, very likely, or virtually certain changes in extreme events and associated effects between now and 2100. (EPA)
• An open letter to all people and organizations working to combat global warming (Grist)
• The LATEST in the BP Oil Disaster in the Gulf:
• Relief well drilling delayed due to weather (NOLA.com)
• NOAA Tried to Silence Reports of Undersea Oil Plumes (Kate Sheppard, Mother Jones)
• The BP Cover-Up: BP and the government say the spill is fast disappearing-but dramatic new science reveals that its worst effects may be yet to come. (Julia Whitty, Mother Jones)
• Louisiana authorities report oil sightings from Gulf of Mexico spill (NOLA.com)
• Crabs provide evidence oil tainting Gulf food web (AP)
• Oil spill plugged, but more oiled birds than ever are being found (NOLA.com)
• BP Moves to Well Kill and Kicks Off Compensation Fund (Reuters)
• BP Puts $3 Billion in Gulf Fund, Moves Closer to Well Kill (Bloomberg)
• Deepwater Horizon: A scientist at the centre of the spill: The experience of one of the first researchers in the Gulf of Mexico to study the oil gushing out from the BP well (Nature)
• MORE Trouble for BP: Texas Sues BP Over Air Pollution from Refinery (AFP)

‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…

• First Signs of Puberty Seen in Younger Girls: Researchers suspect obesity and environmental chemicals that mimic the effects of estrogen may be to blame (NY Times)
• Australia agriculture faces climate upheaval: scientist: Land available for agriculture in Australia, one of the world’s largest food exporters, is in danger of shrinking because of climate change, a leading scientist said on Tuesday. (Reuters)
• Whole buildings could become solar panels: Whole buildings – including their windows – could potentially become solar power generators thanks to new technology. (Telegraph UK)
• EPA Sets First National Limits to Reduce Mercury and Other Toxic Emissions from Cement Plants (Environmental Protection Agency)
• In Crackdown on Energy Use, China to Shut 2,000 Factories (NY Times)
• Oil spill shuts India’s busiest port, threatens other coasts: Operations were suspended at India’s busiest container terminal, Jawaharlal Nehru Port, as authorities attempted to contain damage from the collision of two cargo vessels off the coast of Mumbai on Saturday. Several cargo containers abroad one of the ships were flung into the sea following the accident, which also triggered an oil slick along the Mumbai coast. (Business Standard)
• The Big Lie: Highway Projects Help the US Economy (LoveSalem blog)
• The science is clear, but not everyone gets it: 100+ Quick Rebuttals to Common Anti-Climate Change Arguments (Climate Progress)