‘Green News Report’ – December 6, 2012

TWITTER: @GreenNewsReport
FACEBOOK: Green News Report
VIA SMART PHONE: Stitcher Radio!

IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Crunch time at UN climate talks in Doha; More dire warnings from the Arctic; Pollution regulations really do save lives; PLUS: Exxon hates your children (?!?!) … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): NASA: Climate Models Project Increase In U.S. Wildfires; UN climate may never pass US Senate; Driver still missing in coal ash slurry pond breach; Oil trains on the rise in U.S.; NJ toxic train wreck won’t be cleared for a week; Divide over coal trains in Pacific NW; Starving snowy oils flock south to British Columbia … PLUS: Photos: 60th anniversary of the deadly Great Smog of London … and much, MUCH more! …

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

• VIDEO: AZ Gov. Jan Brewer: ‘I probably don’t believe’ climate change is man made (Raw Story):
  “Everybody has an opinion on it and I probably don’t believe that it’s man made,” Brewer replied. “I believe, you know, that weather elements are controlled maybe by different things.”
• UN COP18: Next Phase of Climate Negotiations in Doha, Qatar:
• UNFCC Main Page: Video and Text (United Nations)
• VIDEO: UN COP18 Webcast Main Page: (United Nations)
• UN News Centre (United Nations)
• UNCOP18: Crunch Time:
• Will Philippines negotiator’s tears change our course on climate change?: At the COP18 climate talks, the Filipino delegate broke down as he appealed to the world: ‘no more delays, no more excuses’ (Guardian UK):



• Typhoon Bopha hits the Philippines at Cat 5 strength; at least 40 killed (Dr. Jeff Masters, Weather Underground):
  Bopha is the third Category 5 typhoon to affect the Western Pacific this year, and the strongest typhoon ever recorded to hit Mindanao, which rarely sees strong typhoons due to its position close to the Equator.
• Rare note of harmony at Doha as action agreed on black carbon: The 25 members of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition have agreed to vastly reduce black carbon [soot], methane and ozone (Guardian UK)
• How Reducing Soot Pollution Can Save Lives (Center for American Progress)
• Lord Stern: Developing Countries Must Make Deeper Emissions Cuts (Guardian)
• Clashes over financing threat UN climate talks (AP):
  The world’s poorest nations on Wednesday called for significant financing to cope with the impacts of global warming, setting up a potential clash with rich countries that could slow progress on reaching a global climate pact by 2015.
• AGU 2012: NOAA: Arctic Loses Record Ice, Snow in 2012:
• VIDEO: NOAA Press Conference: What’s Going On in the Arctic? (NOAA YouTube):
  Despite unremarkable air temperatures this year, the Arctic still set records for loss of summer sea ice, decline in spring snow extent, rising permafrost temperatures in northernmost Alaska,and duration and extent of melting at the surface of the Greenland ice sheet. Large changes in multiple indicators are affecting climate and ecosystems. What’s going on here? NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco and others will outline the changing conditions as part of the annual update of the Arctic Report Card, an international effort to assess the state of the Arctic environmental system.
• Arctic lost record snow and ice last year as data shows changing climate: Findings from US science agency NOAA suggest widespread and irreversible changes because of a warming climate (Guardian UK):
  The Arctic lost more snow and sea ice between October 2011 and August 2012 than any year other on record, a premier US science agency reported on Wednesday, delivering the fullest picture to date of a region in the throes of rapid, system-wide change.
• AGU 2012: Climate Change Impacts on Global Security:
• VIDEO: AGU Union Frontiers of Geophysics Lecture: The Impact of Climate Change on Global Security, with Professor Sir Bob Watson, CMG, FRS, Chief Scientific Adviser to DEFRA (AGU Fall Meeting 2012)
• Pollution Regulations Increase Life Expectancy:
• Declining Air Pollution Levels Continue to Improve Life Expectancy in U.S. (Science Daily):
  “Despite the fact that the U.S. population as a whole is exposed to much lower levels of air pollution than 30 years ago — because of great strides made to reduce people’s exposure — it appears that further reductions in air pollution levels would continue to benefit public health,” said lead author Andrew Correia, a PhD candidate in the Department of Biostatistics at HSPH.
• Exxon HATES Your Children:
• VIDEO: Exxon Hates Your Children:



• Calls to Stop Funding Climate Problem with Fossil Fuel Subsidies: (AP):
  [R]ich nations in 2011 gave more than $58 billion in tax breaks and other production subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. The U.S. figure was $13 billion.
  …
  The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has calculated that removing fossil fuel subsidies could reduce carbon emissions by more than 10 percent by 2050.
• Time’s Up: World on Track for Climate Disaster:
• CO2 Emissions Rises Mean Dangerous Climate Change Now Almost Certain (Guardian)
• Greenland and Antarctica ‘have lost four trillion tonnes of ice’ in 20 years (Guardian UK):
  • Landmark study by global team of scientists published
  • Finds melting polar ice has led to 11mm rise in sea level
  • Greenland losing ice five times faster than early 1990s
• Despite weak economy, CO2 emissions to grow 2.6 percent in 2012: study (Reuters) [emphasis added]:
  Carbon dioxide emissions from industry rose an estimated 2.6 percent in a weak global economy this year, a study released on Monday showed, powered by rapid emissions growth in China and India, which may add urgency to U.N. climate talks in Doha.
• With Carbon Dioxide Emissions at Record High, Worries on How to Slow Warming (NY Times):
  Global emissions of carbon dioxide were at a record high in 2011 and are likely to take a similar jump in 2012, scientists reported Sunday — the latest indication that efforts to limit such emissions are failing.
• Arctic sea ice larger than US melts, UN reports; climate change happening ‘before our eyes’ (Washington Post)
• US coastal cities in danger as sea levels rise faster than expected, study warns: “Satellite measurements show flooding from storms like Sandy will put low-lying population centres at risk sooner than projected.”
• 2012 expected to be 9th warmest year on record (Guardian UK)
• Study: Sea Levels Rising 60% Faster Than Projected, Planet Keeps Warming As Expected (Climate Progress)
• Ocean Acidification: Animals are already dissolving in Southern Ocean (New Scientist)
• Arctic sea ice larger than US melts, UN reports; climate change happening ‘before our eyes’ (Washington Post)
• Global warming targets further out of reach, UN says (Phys.org):
  Based on current pledges, global average temperatures could rise by three to five degrees Celsius (5.4 to 9.0 degrees Fahrenheit) this century-way above the two degrees Celsius being targeted, said a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report.
• Climate Change Report Warns of Dramatically Warmer World This Century (The World Bank)
• Thawing of permafrost to be ‘major factor’ in global warming, warns UN report (UN News Centre)

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

• NASA: Climate Models Project Increase In U.S. Wildfires, ‘Causing A Further Rise In The Release Of Carbon Dioxide’ (Climate Progress)
• US Negotiators Work on Treaty That May Never Pass Muster at Home: (Greenwire):
  The Senate’s rejection yesterday of a treaty to extend rights to disabled people internationally does not bode well for a climate change treaty, observers here said today as the clock began to wind down on this year’s U.N. climate talks.
• Coal: WV DEP Inspection of Consol Slurry Pond in October Found No Problems; Driver Still Missing (AP)
• Oil Trains on the Rise in the Northwest: (KUOW Seattle):
  As regulators in the region weigh the potential impacts of trains full of coal moving along the Columbia River and the shores of Puget Sound, trainloads of oil are quietly on the move.
• NJ: Toxic Chemicals from Train Wreck May Not Be Cleared Until Next Week: (Reuters):
  A U.S. Coast Guard official told an angry crowd on Wednesday that it may take until next week to clear the air of toxic chemicals spilled after a train wreck in their south New Jersey town, where evacuations were ramped up this week.
• Debate over coal exports in Pacific NW Leaves Some Out, Critics Charge:: (McClatchy DC)
  While proposals to turn green-leaning Washington state into a major exporter of coal to China have caused an uproar in coastal communities, the heated debate is largely absent from other places along the industry’s expected trade route to Asia.
• Starving Snowy Owls Flock South to BC: (CBC News):
  Snowy owls have left the arctic en masse this year, flocking south to B.C., delighting bird enthusiasts across the province but worrying biologists.
• 60 years since the great smog of London – in pictures (Guardian UK):
  On Friday 5 December 1952, a thick yellow smog brought the capital to a standstill for four days and is estimated to have killed more than 4,000 people. London’s air may appear much cleaner today, but is still dangerously polluted. The coal pollution that caused the infamous ‘pea soupers’ has been replaced by invisible pollution – mainly from traffic fumes – resulting in 13,000 early deaths each year in the UK and 4,300 in London.
• COVER STORY: It’s Global Warming, Stupid (Businessweek):
  Yes, yes, it’s unsophisticated to blame any given storm on climate change. Men and women in white lab coats tell us-and they’re right-that many factors contribute to each severe weather episode. Climate deniers exploit scientific complexity to avoid any discussion at all.
  …
  If all that doesn’t impress, forget the scientists ostensibly devoted to advancing knowledge and saving lives. Listen instead to corporate insurers committed to compiling statistics for profit.