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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Rightwing Heartland Institute says ‘climate change will be good for you!’; Russia threatens to cut off natural gas supplies to Ukraine, Europe; PLUS: Attack of the Tumbleweeds! (No, really!)… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen 4/10/2014

‘Green News Report’ – April 10, 2014  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...   · · · · ·   ‘Green News Report’ – April 10, 2014  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Could El Nino take the edge off of CA drought?; Austism ‘triggered in womb’ by environmental factors; CA salmon hitch a ride to the ocean; NC sides with Duke Energy over coal ash dumps; Restoring the CO River Delta, if only for a few weeks; Weather-related blackouts have doubled since 2003 … PLUS: Uncharted territory: highest CO2 levels in 800,000 years … and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Russia Threatens To Cut Off Natural Gas Deliveries to Ukraine, Europe:
• Putin warns Europe of gas shortages over Ukraine debts (BBC):
  Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned European leaders that Ukraine’s delays in paying for Russian gas have created a “critical situation”. Pipelines transiting Ukraine deliver Russian gas to several EU countries and there are fears that the current tensions could trigger gas shortages.
• Can U.S. natural gas rescue Ukraine from Russia? (Washington Post):
  Can American natural gas rescue Europe and Ukraine from the clutches of Russia? Not likely. Especially not soon.
• Why Exporting Natural Gas Isn’t A Simple Solution To The Russia Problem (Climate Progress)
• Sen. Whitehouse Says U.S. Should Deploy U.S. Renewable Energy Weapon:
• AUDIO: Sen. Whitehouse Suggests Exporting Clean Energy To Ukraine (The Pacifica Evening News, April 9, 2014)
• Clean energy for Ukraine would lessen Russia ties (Asbury Park Press):
  Thinking long term, the efficient use by Ukrainians of solar, wind, biofuels, geothermal and hydro energy systems would enable Ukraine to be energy independent and politically independent from Russia.
• Would Clean Energy Independence Have Prevented The EU Turnaround & Civil Unrest In Ukraine? (Crooks & Liars)
• Why US fracking companies are licking their lips over Ukraine (Guardian UK): From climate change to Crimea, the natural gas industry is supreme at exploiting crisis for private gain — what I call the shock doctrine.
• UN IPCC 3rd Report: Risk Management And Reducing Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions:
• Final chapter of IPCC climate report to be published this week (The Climate Group):
  The critical third chapter, Mitigation of Climate Change, will focus on how the planet can curtail or prevent greenhouse gas emissions.
• IPCC report proposes sucking carbon out of the air as climate fix (Guardian UK): Technique of burning biomass then pumping released carbon underground included in leaked draft from UN climate panel.
• Conservative Climate Panel Warns World Faces ‘Breakdown Of Food Systems’ And More Violent Conflict (Climate Progress)
• Heartland Institute Releases NIPCC Report: Climate Change Will Be Good!:
• Climate change is good for you, says ultra-conservative Heartland Institute (Guardian UK):
  What’s good for a pea pod isn’t necessarily good for the planet, of course. Idso did not mention how rising temperatures and growing water scarcity might affect plant growth under climate change. It was just one of many lapses by what claimed to be a serious scientific examination of the threat of climate change from the thinktank funded by the Koch oil billionaires and anonymous donors.
• VIDEO: Heartland Institute’s Smoke And Mirrors Attempt To Debunk Consensus Science (Media Matters):
  While IPCC’s dozens of authors are unpaid, at least three of the NIPCC’s four lead authors are paid by the Heartland Institute. One of the authors, Craig Idso, used to work for the coal company Peabody Energy and wrote a contracted study for the industry group The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. The IPCC reviews the current state of scientific knowledge, while the NIPCC’s references in its Summary for Policymakers include publications that date back to 1904.
• Heartland Institute NIPCC Climate Denier Craig Idso: “Climate Change Is Good For You” (DeSmog Blog)
• Heartland Institute’s ridiculous new lie: “Climate change is good for you” – Guess which major news network bought it (Salon)
• Now Fox News Is Defending Tobacco-Cancer Denial: Fox News Responds To Media Matters: Tobacco Isn’t That Bad (Media Matters)
• VIDEO: ‘Haunting Parallels’ in Denialist Tactics of Big Tobacco and Big Fossil Fuel (The BRAD BLOG)



• No, More CO2 Is NOT Better For Plants
• No Need to Worry About Global Warming, Folks: More Carbon Dioxide Will Be Awesome (Phil Plait, Bad Astonomer, Slate) [emphasis added]:
  [O]n a whole planet you’ll run into the fact that the ecosphere is incredibly complex. That extra CO2 means a lot of extra heat, and that will have all sorts of ramifications….Everything comes with a price. Droughts, flooding, fires, rising sea levels…increasing CO2 may help some plants in some places, but it will have catastrophic effects elsewhere.
• Field study shows why food quality will suffer with rising CO2 (Science Codex):
  For the first time, a field test has demonstrated that elevated levels of carbon dioxide inhibit plants’ assimilation of nitrate into proteins, indicating that the nutritional quality of food crops is at risk as climate change intensifies.
• Myth: ‘CO2 is plant food’ (Skeptical Science)
• Attack of the Tumbleweeds:
• Colorado Tumbleweeds Overrun Drought Areas (AP):
  The latest drought, which began in 2010, has created tumbleweed trouble in parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Desiccated Russian thistle, a woody leafy plant, and kochia (KOH’-sha), both invasive weeds from Eurasia, are the culprits.

  In Colorado, herds of cattle would eat the tumbleweed, helping to keep it in check, but many ranchers in recent years have reduced or gotten rid of their animals because of the drought. After the first winter freezes in November, the plants broke loose and began rolling with the wind.

• VIDEO: Tumbleweeds bury New Mexico town (KRQE-TV CBS)
• Drought Is Driving Beef Prices To All-New Highs (Climate Progress)

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

• Carbon Dioxide Levels Climb Into Uncharted Territory for Humans (Mashable):
  The amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere has exceeded 402 parts per million (ppm) during the past two days of observations, which is higher than at any time in at least the past 800,000 years, according to readings from monitoring equipment on a mountaintop in Hawaii.
  …
  Once emitted, a single molecule of carbon dioxide can remain aloft for hundreds of years, which means that the effects of today’s industrial activities will be felt for the next several centuries, if not thousands of years.
• VIDEO: Could El Nino Take the Edge off California’s Drought? (Climate Crocks)
• Autism Triggered in the Womb by ‘Environmental Factors’ (Environment News Service)
• Weather-Related Blackouts Doubled Since 2003: Report (Climate Central)
• In California, Salmon Hitch a Ride to the Sea (BusinessWeek) [emphasis added]:
  Convoys of four to seven tanker trucks, each bearing 130,000 silvery 3-inch smolts, leave a federal hatchery 180 miles north of San Francisco for a sloshy, three-hour drive to San Pablo Bay, where they’re held in netted pens to acclimate them to the chilly water before release. In all, 12 million juvenile fish will make the trip from the federal hatchery plus 18 million from four hatcheries owned by the state. They’ll return to California’s (hopefully replenished) rivers as adults to spawn.
  …
  “Our 2016 fishing season may be riding on the survival of the fish in these trucks.”
• North Carolina regulator sides with Duke Energy to appeal court ruling on coal ash dumps (Bloomberg)
• Will Nuclear Subsidies Derail a Renewable Europe? (Climate Crocks):
  Climate deniers often claim to be against subsidies that “pick winners” among different energy options. They are often conspicuously silent when those subsidies go to the nuclear industry. History has shown that nuclear power cannot exist without massive infusions of public money, and guarantees of profit from taxpayers and ratepayers. The danger is, this energy is so expensive it may crowd out other options.
• Obama Unveils New Wildfire Strategy Citing New Risks Posed By Climate Change (Climate Progress):
  The strategy addresses factors exacerbating wildfire danger such as climate change, increasing community sprawl, and pests and disease affecting forest health. It calls for adopting preventive measures, such as: fuels thinning and controlled burns; promoting effective municipal, county, and state building and zoning codes and ordinances; ensuring that watersheds, transportation, and utility corridors are part of future management plans; and determining how organizations can best work together to reduce and manage human-caused ignitions.
• Waters to flood part of Colorado River for just a few weeks: (NPR):
  Millions of gallons of water used to flow every day from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California. Now, the Colorado River ends at Morelos Dam on the U.S.-Mexico border. Below it, one of North America’s largest wetlands is dry.
• Why the fossil fuel industry wants us to ignore risk (Renew Economy):
  [Renewable energy] technology is having a massive impact on incumbent industries, perhaps more than any climate policy might have done in such a short period. The fossil fuel industry understands this – which is why they are so desperate to take such technologies out of the market…

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

• Video Proof That Global Warming is a ‘Hoax’!: NASA Temperature Data 1888-2011 (The BRAD BLOG):



• NASA climate change video: This is the U.S. in 2100 (NASA).