‘Green News Report’ – July 5, 2011

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Meet the nation’s newest oil spill, now on the Yellowstone River; Global Warming takes much of the fun out of the 4th of July in the Southwest; Fox’s favorite TV weatherman, Joe Bastardi says ‘Why worry?; Could the environment be a factor in triggering autism?; PLUS: The 50 states are getting warmer (no, not just because it’s summer!) … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Warmer oceans undermining polar ice sheets: study; How rising temperatures change extreme weather intensity, frequency; Making solar panels with paint; New asbestos fears in Superfund town of Libby, MT; EPA to unveil new rules on coal plant pollution; GOP wants to cut screening for deadly strain of E. coli; Drought in East Africa becoming a humanitarian emergency; Extreme weather link ‘can no longer be ignored’: scientists; Vast deposits Of rare earth minerals in Pacific ocean seabed; Fukushima residents dump radiated soil; Monster blue catfish record catch: a monster of our own creation; McDonald’s UAE to make biodiesel from used cooking oil … PLUS: If you enjoy your peace of mind, DO NOT read this study that indicates climate models are creating a false sense of security …

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

• Fox News’ Joe Bastardi Uses Independence Day to Bastardize Climate Science
• VIDEO: Fox News uses backyard grilling to ‘debunk’ climate change (Raw Story):
  “It sounds to me like it’s the last gasp of a desperate movement,” Bastardi said. “I think they know things are turning around, the overall global temperature, and they’re trying to grasp at any straw they can get their hands on.”

  “Greenhouse gases, there’s another term for them: It’s called plant food,” Bastardi said. “Grill a steak, grill a hamburger and help the trees out.”

• Explaining climate change science & rebutting global warming misinformation (Skeptical Science.com)
• The Most Common Arguments From Global Warming Skeptics & Deniers
• “It’s Cooling!”
• “It Hasn’t Warmed Since 1998”
• “Human CO2 is a tiny % of CO2 emissions”
• “CO2 is plant food”
• “It’s the sun” (No, it’s not.)
• An Uptick in United States Temperatures (NYT Green) [emphasis added]:
  Scientists have linked the warming trend to human activity like the burning of fossil fuels, in part by examining the composition of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the most rapidly increasing greenhouse gas. Man-made carbon dioxide and its naturally occurring counterpart tend to be made of different types of carbon atoms. The version associated with fossil fuel combustion is being found more frequently as the years go by, the report said.
• “State of the Climate in 2010” [PDF]: 2010 is tied with 2005 as the planet’s warmest year in recorded history (The National Climatic Data Center, NOAA)
• Survey: Scientists agree human-induced global warming is real (Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union)
• How the Media Gets It Wrong on Climate Change: The False, the Confused and the Mendacious (Climate Progress)
• How climate science deniers spread doubt for political ends (Climate Progress)
• Who’s your expert? How peer-reviewed research differs from rhetoric by climate science deniers (Climate Progress)
• Read the Report: State of the Climate in 2010 (NOAA)
• Exxon Apologizes for Nation’s Newest Oil Spill, Now on the Yellowstone River
• Ruptured Montana Pipeline Was Shut Down Before (NY Times)
• Yellowstone Spill Could Sour Montana on Keystone Pipeline: NRDC (Canadian Press)
• Debris and Heavy Flow of Water Hamper Cleanup of Oil in Yellowstone River (NY Times)
• Montana Governor Seeks Additional Resources for Yellowstone River Oil Spill Cleanup (All Headline News)
• Montana Leak May Alter Exxon Safety Reviews (Reuters)
• Scope of Yellowstone River Oil Spill May Grow (MSNBC)
• Exxon Mobil Admits Spread of Yellowstone Oil Spill (AP)
• Oil Spill Outrages Montana Residents (Los Angeles Times)
• Yellowstone River Oil Spill: Pollution Found 100 Miles From Rupture (Alaska Dispatch)
• Exxon Pipeline Oil Spill Cleanup Efforts Widening (Wall St. Journal)
• Oil Spill In Montana River Forces Evacuation (AP)
• Did ExxonMobil break its promise to stop funding climate deniers? [Umm…. yeah.] (Grist)
• Global Warming Taking the Fun Out of Independence Day
• Global Warming Hates The Fourth Of July (Think Progress Green):
  As fossil fuel pollution heats the planet, one of the casualties is the traditional celebration of the founding of the United States. The record droughts, floods, and storms fueled by global warming are causing widespread bans on fireworks and the cancellation of numerous municipal firework displays…
  …
  Firework shows from Texas to Massachusetts have been canceled because of the deadly climate conditions…
• Los Alamos fire could become the largest in New Mexico history:
  Big fires have happened before in New Mexico, but scientists see a recent pattern that may be the most severe since the last Ice Age (Christian Science Monitor):
  [R]ecent experience down here suggests that what we’re looking at in the last few decades is at least as severe and maybe more so than anything we’ve seen since the last Ice Age,” he adds.

  A build-up of fuels from forestry practices that emphasized fire suppression is partly responsible, he says.

  “But part of it as well – and the data are very good on this – it’s climatic warming” as human industrial activity and land-use changes have pumped increasing amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, he says.

• Global Warming Boosts Worst Wildfires ‘Since the Last Ice Age’, Extreme Drought Imperils July 4 Fireworks (Climate Progress)
• The Declaration of Interdependence (Climate Progress)
• The 50 States Are Getting Warmer (no, not because it’s summer):
  • The New Normal: Average U.S. temperature increases by 0.5 degrees F: NOAA (Nat’l Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration)
  • An Uptick in United States Temperatures (NYT Green):
    Baseline temperature averages issued by government scientists this week indicate that temperatures across the United States were half a degree warmer on average from 1981 to 2010 than they were from 1971 to 2000.

    Every state’s annual maximum and minimum temperatures increased on average, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Center said.

  • NOAA & AMS: Globally, Year 2010 Ranked Second Warmest on Record (Environment News Service) [emphasis added]:
    For the planet as a whole, 2010 was one of the two warmest years on record, according to three independent datasets detailed in the latest State of the Climate report, released today by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the American Meteorological Society.

    The year 2005 tops the list of warmest years since temperature recordkeeping began in 1880.

• Study: Environment Plays Larger Role In Triggering Autism Than Previously Thought:
• UCSF, Stanford Austism Study Shows Environmental Factors Key (SF Chronicle):
  Environmental factors play a more important role in causing autism than previously assumed and, surprisingly, an even larger role than genetics, according to a new study out of UCSF and Stanford that could force a dramatic swing in the focus of research into the developmental disorder.
• Autism study downplays role of genetics (LA Times):
  The analysis, which runs counter to decades of research, says environmental factors may be more important than genes in determining whether a child develops autism. The conclusion is roundly criticized by other autism experts.

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

• Warming Ocean Layers Will Undermine Polar Ice Sheets, Climate Models Show: Warming of the ocean’s subsurface layers will melt underwater portions of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets faster than previously thought, according to new University of Arizona-led research. (Science Daily)
• Global Warming and the Science of Extreme Weather: How rising temperatures change weather and produce fiercer, more frequent storms (Scientific American):
  Extreme floods, prolonged droughts, searing heat waves, massive rainstorms and the like don’t just seem like they’ve become the new normal in the last few years-they have become more common, according to data collected by reinsurance company Munich Re (see Part 1 of this series).
• Scientist: How to make solar panels with paint (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
• New Source of Asbestos Raises Fears in Montana Superfund Town (AP):
  For a decade, the people of Libby have longed for the day when they will be rid of the asbestos that turned their town into the deadliest Superfund site in America. Now they are being forced to live through the agony all over again.
• EPA to Unveil New Rules For Cutting Smog From Coal Plants (SolveClimate.org):
  EPA this week will release its long-awaited new rule to protect downwind states from pollution emitted by coal-burning plants in upwind states.
• U.S. Could Drop Screening For Deadly Strain of E. Coli (Chicago Tribune):
  At a time of rising concern over pathogens in produce, Congress is moving to eliminate the only national program that regularly screens U.S. fruits and vegetables for the type of E. coli that recently caused a deadly outbreak in Germany.
  …
  The [GOP-controlled] House last month approved a bill that would end funding for the 10-year-old Microbiological Data Program, which tests about 15,000 annual samples of vulnerable produce such as sprouts, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, cantaloupe and cilantro for pathogens including salmonella and E. coli.
• Drought in East Africa Prompts Calls to Address Humanitarian Emergency (Guardian UK):
  Aid agencies have launched multimillion-pound appeals to address a mounting humanitarian emergency in east Africa, where severe drought and high food prices have left 10 million people requiring assistance.
• Extreme weather link ‘can no longer be ignored’: Scientists to end 20-year reluctance with study into global warming and exceptional weather events (Telegraph UK)
• Vast Deposits Of Rare Earth Minerals in Pacific Ocean Seabed (Reuters):
  Vast deposits of rare earth minerals have been discovered on the seabed of the Pacific Ocean amounting to 1,000 times those on land, media reported on Monday citing a study by Japanese researchers.
• Fukushima Residents Dump Radiated Soil in Absence of Clean-up Plan (Reuters):
  More than three months after a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear meltdown at a nearby power plant, Fukushima residents are scrambling to cope with contamination on their own in the absence of a long-term plan from the government.
• Monster blue catfish record catch: a monster of our own creation (Washington Post):
  It has a distended beer gut of a belly, a chin studded with whiskers tipped with taste-bud-like sensors and a grunt like a pig’s. Like a creature from a Hollywood B-movie, it has grown fat from conditions created by pollution.
• McDonald’s UAE in Venture to Make Biodiesel From Cooking Oil – Bloomberg (Bloomberg)
• Climate models are creating a false sense of security, or at least insufficient terror (David Roberts, Grist):
  The details are technical but the takeaway point is this: the climate models currently in wide use (by, e.g., the IPCC) probably won’t be able to predict abrupt climate changes.

  Those abrupt changes, popularly known as “tipping points,” are the low(?)-probability, high-impact catastrophes that keep climate scientists up at night: shifts in ocean circulation, release of methane from permafrost, sudden collapse of ice sheets. They’re scary because they’d be both devastating and irreversible — civilization-threatening stuff.