IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Was logging a factor in deadly Washington landslide?; New BP oil spill in Lake Michigan; Rooftop solar endangers the electric grid? 'Bullsh*t', says former Energy Secretary; Next UN climate report warns climate change will affect 'every aspect of human life' and 'cost trillions'; PLUS: Irreversible climate change could be locked in as early 2036... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): House of Representatives votes for No More National Parks; U.S. Oil Boom Shifts Alliance as Obama Visits Saudi King; Ridiculously Resilient Ridge Hangs Tough; Fracking’s Earthquake Risks Push States to Collaborate; Fracking the USA: New Map Shows 1 Million Oil, Gas Wells; EPA moves to protect streams, wetlands; Drug companies agree to curb livestock antibiotic use ... PLUS: Millions of salmon begin migration --- by truck ... and much, MUCH more! ...
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...
Did Logging Contribute to Deadly Washington State Landslide?:
VIDEO: Mudslide tragedy prompts review of past studies (The Rachel Maddow Show)
State allowed logging on plateau above slope (Seattle Times):
In recent decades the state allowed logging — with restrictions — on the plateau above the Snohomish County hillside that collapsed in last weekend’s deadly mudslide.
Logging OK’d in 2004 may have exceeded approved boundary (Seattle Times)
A forest clear-cut nine years ago appears to have strayed into a restricted area that could feed groundwater into the landslide zone that collapsed on Saturday and took at least 16 lives.
Risk of slide ‘unforeseen’? Warnings go back decades (Seattle Times):
“We’ve known it would happen at some point,” he told The Seattle Times on Monday. “We just didn’t know when.”
What Climate Change Could Mean for Northwest Landslides (EarthFix, Oregon Public Broadcasting)
Celebrating 25th Anniversary of Exxon Valdez Oil Spill with MORE OIL SPILLS:
Oil spills into Lake Michigan from BP refinery (Reuters)
BP Refinery Leaks Oil Into Lake Michigan (Climate Progress)
Exxon Spill – 25 Years of Tears (Shannyn Moore, Just A Girl From Homer) [emphasis added]:
Meanwhile, dozens of Alaskans, displaced from their identity, committed suicide while waiting for justice.
You know why? Oil rules. It’s bigger than governments. For all the nut-jobs hoarding Mormon food and bullets talking about the “New World Order”? It’s here. It’s called Big Oil. It’s why countries are invaded, wars are waged and media pretends it isn’t happening.
Dike, ports closed after barge collides with ship (Galveston County Daily News):
The two vessels collided about 12:30 p.m. at the intersection of the Texas Ship Channel, the Intracoastal Waterway and Houston Ship Channel. Coast Guard officials declined to say whether one vessel struck the other, saying the investigation was in its early stages. They would not say whether fog contributed to the accident.
UN IPCC: Climate Change Will Affect 'Nearly Every Aspect of Human Life':
UN IPCC Big Climate Report: Warming Is Big Risk For People (AP) [emphasis added]:
If you think of climate change as a hazard for some far-off polar bears years from now, you're mistaken. That's the message from top climate scientists gathering in Japan this week to assess the impact of global warming. In fact, they will say, the dangers of a warming Earth are immediate and very human.
"The polar bear is us..."
Global warming has not stopped, will go on for centuries: WMO (Reuters) [emphasis added]:
U.N. weather agency chief Michel Jarraud said ocean temperatures, in particular, were rising fast, and extreme weather events, forecast by climate scientists, showed climate change was inevitable for the coming centuries.
Climate Scientists: We’re Alarmed. Here’s Why You Should Be, Too. (Climate Progress):
[T]he American Association for the Advancement of Science, has issued an uncharacteristically blunt call to action on climate change. The must-read new report by the AAAS’s Climate Science Panel, “What We Know” has several simple messages: We are as certain that humans are responsible for most recent climate change as we are that cigarettes kill.
Climate Scientist Mann Warns Irreversible Climate Change Locked In As Early As 2036:
VIDEO: Mike Mann: Irreversible Climate Change a Few Years Away (Climate Crocks):
Earth Will Cross the Climate Danger Threshold by 2036 (Scientific American) [emphasis added]:
The rate of global temperature rise mayhave hit a plateau, but a climate crisis still looms in the near future:
...
To my wonder, I found that for an ECS of three degrees C, our planet would cross the dangerous warming threshold of two degrees C in 2036, only 22 years from now. When I considered the lower ECS value of 2.5 degrees C, the world would cross the threshold in 2046, just 10 years later...We are well on our way to surpassing these limits.
Big Climate Danger Could Arrive as Soon as 2036 (Scientific American)
Good News: Renewable Energy Is Booming:
Catch the Breeze: Wind Farms Blast Across U.S. (Climate Central)
Renewable Energy: 100% of New US Generating Capacity in January (GreenTech Media)
Goldman Sachs: Solar Is On The Way To Dominating The Electricity Market (Business Insider):
Goldman Sachs has set an estimated date for when they believe residential solar power becomes competitive with existing electric across the U.S.... 2033.
Wind and Solar Harvest Enough Energy Now to Pay Back Manufacture Plus Add Storage (Scientific American):
Renewable power can pay for its own manufacture via energy produced plus cover the cost of adding batteries.
Stanford: 50-state plan to transform U.S. to renewable energy (Stanford University): Prof. Mark Jacobson and his colleagues have created a 50-state roadmap for replacing coal, oil and natural gas with wind, water and solar energy.
Former Energy Secretary Has Plan to Save Big Utilities, Calls 'Bullshit' in War On Solar:
Steven Chu Solves Utility Companies' Death Spiral (Forbes) [emphasis added]:
In December, Hawaiian Electric Company shut down rooftop solar installations, citing “grid stability.” “That’s another bullshit argument,” said Chu, a Nobel Prize winning physicist who served as energy secretary from 2009 to April, 2013.
...
In Chu’s business model, utilities ...[will] partner with private rooftop-solar installation firms—”because I don’t expect a utility company to figure out how to do that”—to install rooftop panels and batteries at customer homes. The utility will own the panels and batteries and sell electricity to the customers at a much lower rate.
Steven Chu On Power Companies' 'Bullshit Argument' (Energy Matters):
The death spiral could have been avoided if utilities embraced solar instead of resisting it in an effort to maintain their old-school and strong-arm approach to energy. While it's not too late, Big Energy needs to change how it views the threat it sees in small-scale solar; instead considering it an opportunity.
VIDEO: Energy, Innovation and Global Climate Change with Steven Chu (Univ. of Chicago)
'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...
California Drought: Millions of salmon begin migration — by truck (Bend Bulletin):
Wildlife officials on Tuesday formally launched a massive trucking operation to move 30 million Sacramento River salmon toward the sea to help the fish avoid harmful river conditions caused by drought.
U.S. Oil Boom Shifts Alliance as Obama Visits Saudi King (Bloomberg News):
The U.S. energy boom that’s upended global markets is now reshaping political alliances built over decades. Almost 70 years after Franklin Roosevelt cemented relations with the Saudi royal family, the U.S. finds itself free to address policy differences with oil as less of a bargaining chip, analysts said.
VIDEO: Ridiculously Resilient Ridge Rides Rough, Hangs Tough (Climate Crocks):
So were the forecasters using made-up language—an issue of late, with weather services pasting names on every snow flurry and windy day? Nope, Rex and the bomb are legit meteorological terms.
House Of Representatives Votes To Gut Antiquities Act (National Parks Traveler):
Maureen Finnerty, the former superintendent of Everglades and Olympic national parks, said the vote "is a tragic development. Now, our national parks and monuments are being treated as a political football that is being kicked around, for the sake of nothing more than crass political posturing."
Fracking’s Earthquake Risks Push States to Collaborate (Bloomberg News):
Several U.S. states are banding together to combat the mounting risks of earthquakes tied to the disposal of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing for natural gas.
Fracking the USA: New Map Shows 1 Million Oil, Gas Wells (Climate Central)
Most Chinese Cities Fail Pollution Standard, China Says (NY Times)
Wind and Solar Harvest Enough Energy Now to Pay Back Manufacture Plus Add Storage (Scientific American):
Renewable power can pay for its own manufacture via energy produced plus cover the cost of adding batteries.
This One Simple Graphic Explains The Difference Between Climate Science And Climate Politics (Climate Progress)
VIDEO: Extreme Weather Events: What are the Odds? (Climate Crocks)
Can’t see Beijing’s tourist sites through the haze? Smog insurance is for you! (Grist)
Bad News For Polluters: EPA Moves To Better Protect Streams And Wetlands (Climate Progress)
Transparent Panels Signal the Future of the Solar Industry (Triple Pundit)
U.S. Drug Firms Move To Bar Antibiotic Use in Livestock Growth (Reuters)
AUDIO: Appeals Court Rules to Reinstate Logging In Tongass National Forest (Alaska Public Radio)
In Ranchers vs. Weeds, Climate Change Gives Weeds An Edge: (NPR):
Most climate models a bleak picture of the Great Plains a century from now as a hot region besieged by heavy rainstorms and flooding. And new studies suggest that climate change may bring farmers another headache: more invasive plants.
Here's How NASA Thinks Society Will Collapse: Too much inequality and too few natural resources could leave the West vulnerable to a Roman Empire-style fall.