IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: New initiative for green jobs in the U.S.; New initiative to boost fuel efficiency; New study says No to Mountaintop Removal; New film Avatar raises wingnut ire... PLUS: Newsflash: It's cold in winter! Somebody alert Fox "News"! ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': Are pesticides to blame for mass die-offs?; Girding up for climate legislation battle in Senate; China leads global investment in clean technology; MN v. ND on CO2; Corporations boost jobs in sustainability; Coal company violated Clean Water Act 12,000 times .... PLUS: Fast-food ick: Ammonia in your burger, E. coli in your fast-food soda! ....

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

• Alert the Media: It's Cold in Winter! (But it doesn't disprove global warming):
• Doocy on cold weather: "That global warming thing is really kicking into high gear, isn't it?" (Media Matters)
• Experts: Cold Snap Doesn't Disprove Global Warming:
  Climate experts say the extreme cold around the world doesn't disprove global warming (AP)
• Cold snap ‘should not cast any doubt on global warming’ (Wales Online)
• Taking the Fringe to School (UN Dispatch)
• FLASHBACK: NOAA: Scientific Assessment Captures Effects of a Changing Climate on Extreme Weather Events in North America: The report is based on scientific evidence that a warming world will be accompanied by changes in the intensity, duration, frequency, and geographic extent of weather and climate extremes. (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, June 2008)
• Meanwhile: It Ain't Cold Everywhere:
• CANADA: Warm Weather, Rain Hamper Snow Making at Olympic Venues (Bloomberg)
• Obama Administration Announces Clean Energy and Fuel Efficiency Funding:
• Remarks by the President on Jobs and Clean Energy Investments (The White House) [emphasis added]:
  Competition is what fuels innovation. But I don’t want America to lose that competition. I don’t want the industries that yield the jobs of tomorrow to be built overseas. I don’t want the technology that will transform the way we use energy to be invented abroad. I want the United States of America to be what it has always been --- and that is a leader --- the leader when it comes to a clean energy future.

  And that’s exactly what this clean energy manufacturing initiative will help us do. It will help close the clean energy gap that’s grown between America and other nations.

  Through this initiative, we’re awarding $2.3 billion in tax credits for American manufacturers of clean energy technologies --- companies that build wind turbines, and produce solar panels, and assemble cutting edge batteries.

  The initiative we’re outlining today will likely generate 17,000 jobs, and the roughly $5 billion more that we’ll leverage in the private sector investments could help create tens of thousands of additional jobs.

• Energy Department Awards $187 Million for Development of Efficient Cars and Trucks
• 'Avatar' arouses conservatives' ire: Conservatives are blind to the 3-D blockbuster's charms (LA Times)
• Conservative Blogger Unveils Secret Environmentalist AVATAR Plot to Make People Care About Others (Treehugger)
• Avatar Labeled “Recruiting Film for Eco-terrorists”: The usual corporate cheerleaders have been warning audiences that Avatar is actually pushing a radical environmentalist message, because the Na’vi are, um, defending their utopian planet against complete annihilation. (Green Is the New Red)
• Bombshell study: MTR impacts ‘pervasive and irreversible’ (Coal Tattoo)
• READ THE STUDY: Mountaintop Mining Consequences (Science) [emphasis added]:
  Abstract: “Mining permits are being issued despite the preponderance of scientific evidence that impacts are pervasive and irreversible and that mitigation cannot compensate for the losses.”
• Scientists Say Mountaintop Removal Mining Should Be Banned - No Remediation Ever Enough (Treehugger)
• Science bombshell explodes myth of clean coal: Mountaintop “mining permits are being issued despite the preponderance of scientific evidence that impacts are pervasive and irreversible and that mitigation cannot compensate for losses.”
• FLASHBACK: COAL: Did Bush Administration Cover Up Environmental Disaster? (CBS, April 2004)

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': More green news not covered in today's audio report...

• Behind Mass Die-Offs, Pesticides Lurk as Culprit (Yale 360)
• China powers the global green tech revolution (Grist)
• Both Sides Gird for Bruising Senate Debate Over EPA Amendment (Greenwire)
• Minnesota v. North Dakota: CO2 Trade War Hits Midwest (Truthout)
• Eco-officers are moving into executive suites: At many companies, sustainability officers are placed in the upper echelons of companies, where they are highly visible. In some cases, the CEO has taken on the extra duty. (LA Times)
• Climate Denier's Coal Company Violated Clean Water Act 12,000 Times (No Exaggeration) (League of Conservation Voters)
• Environmental Groups Threaten to Sue Massey Energy:
  Sierra Club, other environmental groups threaten to sue Massey Energy over alleged pollution (ABC)
• Ammonia-treated burgers, tainted with E. coli! (Grist)
• E. Coli in Your Fast-food Soda?: It's not Just the Meat, It's the Soda (Beyond Green)

                 

Article Categories: Green News