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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Wildfire season turns tragic – 19 firefighters killed in AZ and the climate connection; Record SW heat wave “one of the greatest in American history”; L.A. bets on solar; Billionaire Koch Bros. sneaky ‘No Climate Tax’ pledge … PLUS: Obama keeps up climate change pressure … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen 7/2/2013

‘Green News Report’ – July 2, 2013  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...   · · · · ·   ‘Green News Report’ – July 2, 2013  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): The Bike Boom: more Americans now choosing bicycles to get around; A new normal for Arctic sea ice; MIT: new solar cell could be 1,000x more powerful; Chemical, oil companies say EPA rule will expose trade secrets; Sunday news shows ignored Obama’s historic climate speech; GOP silent as DOE launches billions in fossil fuel loan guarantees; Maine lobstermen now support climate action; CO2 has big consequences for ocean food chain … PLUS: The Coal Lobby’s Fight for Survival … and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Tragedy in AZ: Wildfire Kills 19 Firefighters:
• NY Times Explains Climate Change Drives Record Wildfires, But Fails To Explain What Drives Climate Change (Climate Progress)
• VIDEO: Rethinking Wildfire Fighting in Era of Climate Change: (USA Today):
  Former Hotshot firefighter talks about the Yarnell, Ariz. fire
  
  Former Firefighter Tim Wendel talks with USA TODAY’s Hadley Malcolm about his experience as a member of an elite Hotshot firefighting crew.
• Wildfire wildcard: How weather can help trigger an explosive fire (CS Monitor):
  This week’s loss of 19 elite firefighters battling Arizona’s Yarnell Hill wildfire raises questions about how scorching temperatures and low humidity may contribute to explosive fires and unanticipated safety hazards. Here’s what researchers have learned.
• AZ: Fastest-Warming in US, Now With More Wildfires:
• The Climate Context Behind the Deadly Arizona Wildfire (Climate Central):
  Compared to an average year in the 1970s, during the past decade there were seven times more fires greater than 10,000 acres each year in 11 Western states, and nearly five times more fires larger than 25,000 acres each year, according to Climate Central research.
• NY Times Explains Climate Change Drives Record Wildfires, But Fails To Explain What Drives Climate Change (Climate Progress)
• Experts See New Normal as a Hotter, Drier West Faces More Huge Fires (NY Times)
• Record Heat And Drought Fuel Chaotic Wildfire In Arizona, Killing 19 Firefighters (Climate Progress)
• Record Heat Wave One of Worst In American History:
• Historic Heat Wave Reponsible for Death Valley’s 129°F Gradually Weakening (Dr. Jeff Masters’ WunderBlog):
  One of the greatest heat waves in North American history peaked on Sunday and Monday, but will still bring some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded to portions of the Western U.S. during the afternoon today. The extraordinary heat wave, caused by an unusually extreme standing wave pattern in the jet stream, brought Earth’s highest June temperature ever recorded on Sunday, June 30, when the mercury hit 129.2°F (54.0°C) in Death Valley, California.
• How Climate Change Makes Wildfires Worse (Mother Jones)
• Deadly Heat Wave in the West Brings Fires and Travel Delays (NY Times)
• Why this heat wave’s so scary and what’s behind it (AP)
• Heat-related disasters? There’s a map for that (Grist)
• L.A. Bets on Solar:
• In L.A., getting paid to go green (LA Times):
  Called Clean L.A. Solar, the program allows the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to pay customers to generate solar power across the city’s vast expanse of flat roof space.
• Heat wave tests California power grid. Why no blackouts so far? (CS Monitor):
  A heat wave scorching its way through the West is the first major test of summer’s spiking energy demand, but it seems to be passing the test. Better technology and communications may be to thank for that. But utilities are still on high alert, particularly in California where two nuclear plants have gone offline.
• President Obama Keeps Up the Climate Action Pressure:
• VIDEO: Confronting the Growing Threat of Climate Change (White House.gov):
  “This is the fight America can and will lead in the 21st century. But it will require all of us, as citizens, to do our part.
  …
  And those of us in positions of responsibility will need to be less concerned with the judgment of special interests and well-connected donors, and more concerned with the judgment of our children….Remind everyone who represents you, at every level of government, that there is no contradiction between a sound environment and a strong economy – and that sheltering future generations against the ravages of climate change is a prerequisite for your vote. We will be judged – as a people, as a society, and as a country – on where we go from here.
• Obama Announces Power Africa Plan To Double Electricity Access In Sub-Saharan Africa (Climate Progress)
• VIDEO: Obama announces African electricity initiative, reflects on Mandela (NBC News)
• Obama announces initiative to combat wildlife trafficking (Washington Post)
• Koch Bros. Screwing the Climate Even More Than We Thought:
• Koch Pledge Tied to Congressional Climate Inaction (The New Yorker):
  Fossil fuel magnates Charles and David Koch have, through Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group they back, succeeded in persuading many members of Congress to sign a little-known pledge in which they have promised to vote against legislation relating to climate change unless it is accompanied by an equivalent amount of tax cuts. Since most solutions to the problem of greenhouse-gas emissions require costs to the polluters and the public, the pledge essentially commits those who sign to it to vote against nearly any meaningful bill regarding global warning, and acts as yet another roadblock to action.
• G.O.P. Sees Opportunity for Election Gains in Obama’s Climate Change Policy (NY Times)
• Koch millions spread influence through nonprofits, colleges (Investigative Reporting Workshop)
• How the Koch brothers screwed over the climate even more than you know (Grist)
• Map of climate change deniers in Congress (Treehugger)
• Potential Koch Tribune Takeover Sparks Concerns at National Press Club Event (Media Matters)

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

• The Bike Boom (CS Monitor): Americans are using bicycles for transportation and recreation in record numbers as the fitness and green movements, as well as high energy costs, spur a two-wheel revolution.
• MIT: New Solar Cell Could Theoretically Be Pound-For-Pound 1,000 Times More Powerful Than Any Other (Climate Progress)
• Chemical, oil companies fear potential EPA rule will expose trade secrets (The Hill)
• Judge strikes down federal disclosure rule for oil companies (The Hill’s e2 Wire):
  The decision is a defeat for human rights groups, who say the rule provides “transparency” that can help prevent corruption and ensure the public benefits from energy development in Africa and elsewhere.
• Sunday News Shows Ignored Obama’s Climate Plan But Late-Night Comics Picked Up The Slack (Climate Progress) [emphasis added]:
  You may have heard that President Obama gave a big speech last week laying out his plan to cut carbon pollution. Sadly, you wouldn’t have heard that if you were relying on the Sunday morning news shows that supposedly recap and discuss the big stories of the week. Mirthfully, David Letterman and Jay Leno spent a combined three minutes on climate, and The Daily Show on Comedy Central beat that.
• DOE rolls out fossil fuel loan guarantees: No Republican objects. Go figure! (The Hill’s e2 Wire)
• A new normal for Arctic sea ice (U.S. Nat’l Snow & Ice Data Center):
  June is a transition period for Arctic sea ice as 24-hour daylight reigns, and melt reaches towards the North Pole. Thus it is an appropriate time for NSIDC to transition to a new 30-year baseline period, also called a “climate normal.”
• Hawaiians fight back against GMO experiments (Grist)
• Maine lobster coalition: Obama’s climate-change plan necessary (Portland Press Herald): Businesses and environmental groups join to bring attention to the negative effects of carbon pollution on the waters of the Gulf of Maine.
• Atmospheric CO2 has big consequences for the tiny bacteria that are foundation of most of life (Science Daily)
• Tree rings reveal El Niño tied to recent global warming (CS Monitor):
  El Niño, the notoriously capricious weather phenomenon, has a clear pattern of unusually aggressive behavior throughout the past century. Scientists see a link to global warming.
• The Coal Lobby’s Fight for Survival (National Journal):
  Once a Washington powerhouse, it now lies in disarray at the mercy of forces beyond its control. Can a group built for war sue the Obama administration for peace?
• Costs rise for Southern Co’s coal gasification plant (Reuters):
  The cost to finish building Southern Co’s controversial coal-gasification power plant in Kemper County, Mississippi, may increase by at least $160 million to $4.5 billion or more, or more than double initial cost estimates, the company said in a filing with regulators.
• Goodbye, Miami (Rolling Stone):
  By century’s end, rising sea levels will turn the nation’s urban fantasyland into an American Atlantis. But long before the city is completely underwater, chaos will begin
• Climate change making insurers reassess natural disaster policy (Raw Story)

FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page