IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Obama 'finds the courage': orders federal government to increase use of renewable energy; Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) celebrates melting Arctic; ALEC and Koch Bros. launch an attack on solar; Solar panel maker takes on Germany's electric utilities; PLUS: The Heartland Institute is lying again, this time about the American Meteorological Society ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): No climate change deniers in the global re-insurance industry; Abrupt climate change: what's in store for us?; Big Oil already prepared to pay carbon tax; Massive winter storms assault UK, EU, US; Experts worried rise in TX earthquakes caused by fracking injection wells; Hitachi unveils storage for solar, wind; Chicago tests pollution-eating concrete; We're #1: Lake Superior heating up faster than any other lake on Earth ... PLUS: Nelson Mandela led coalition of global elders to halt climate change ... and much, MUCH more! ...
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...
The Stupid Is Strong: ME Gov. Paul LePage Thinks Climate Change Will Be A Bonus:
Maine GOP gov. applauds ‘global warming’ for opening ice-free oil shipping routes (Raw Story)
Canceling of Gulf of Maine shrimp season a heavy blow (Portland Press Herald)
Maine Maple Syrup and Effects of Climate Change on Maple Trees (Portland Press Herald)
Alaskan Arctic villages hit hard by climate change (Washington Post)
Obama: Federal Government to Use 20% Renewable Energy by 2020:
Obama to Feds: Boost Renewable Power 20 Percent (AP):
The directive on renewable energy applies to all federal agencies, civilian and military. The Defense Department had previously set a goal that 25 percent of its energy needs should be supplied by renewable energy by 2025.
Presidential Memorandum --- Federal Leadership on Energy Management (White House.gov)
Obama orders agencies to increase renewable energy use (LA Times)
Triple threat: Obama orders federal agencies to boost clean energy use threefold (Grist)
ALEC To Launch Attack on US Clean Energy Industry:
ALEC calls for penalties on 'freerider' homeowners in assault on clean energy (Guardian UK):
• Documents reveal conservative group's anti-green agenda
• Strategy to charge people who install their own solar panels
• Environmentalists accuse ALEC of protecting utility firms' profits
VIDEO: Right Wing Group Mobilizes to Stop Solar Energy (Climate Crocks)
VIDEO: Rachel Maddow: Powerful right-wing lobby ALEC desperate and hurting after Trayvon Martin (Raw Story)
Koch Brothers, ALEC Attack Maine Renewable Energy Standards (DeSmog Blog)
Koch Brothers Fund Effort To Undermine Tea Party Support Of Solar Energy in Georgia (Climate Progress)
Poll: Majority of Americans support renewable energy (Yale Center for Climate Communication)
Toshiba New Business Model Threatens German Electricity Utilities:
Toshiba Just Became Germany’s Newest Solar Utility (GreenTech Media) [emphasis added]:
Toshiba, the Japanese electronics and engineering firm, announced plans today to bypass utilities and offer solar electricity directly to German apartment dwellers. The company calls it an "on-site consumption model" that will function outside Germany's feed-in tariff program.
Under Threat, Germany’s Second-Biggest Utility Says It Will Create a New ‘Prosumer Business Model’ (GreenTech Media)
Heartland Institute Lies Again: Deception Over American Meteorological Society Survey:
American Meteorological Society Reprimands Heartland Institute's Deception: Going to the Source for Accurate Information (American Meteorology Society):
A disturbing aspect of this e-mail is that it seems some effort was placed in making it appear to have been sent by AMS. It was sent from an e-mail account with AMS in the name (though not from the “ametsoc.org” domain) and featured the AMS logo prominently (used without permission from AMS).
How do meteorologists fit into the 97% global warming consensus? (Guardian UK): A new study examines meteorologists, the global warming consensus, political ideology, and climate expertise
James Taylor of Heartland Institute twists new AMS study to cast doubt upon industrial climate disruption consensus (Scholars & Rogues)
AUDIO: KPFK 'BradCast': Dr. Michael Mann, the 'Hockey Stick Graph' and His Report from the Front Lines (and Very Center) of the Climate Wars [at about :23 minutes] (The BRAD BLOG)
'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...
Nelson Mandela Leads Global Elders Coalition to Halt Climate Change (Pan Africa News):
The Elders, a group of eminent global leaders brought together by former South African president, Nelson Mandela, have told world leaders that nothing short of a decisive, ambitious, binding and effective deal would be expected from the meeting.
No Deniers in the Foxholes: Insurance Industry Copes with Climate Reality (Peter Sinclair's Climate Crocks) [emphasis added]:
Climate deniers hate those pesky intrusions of reality. For Insurance giants like Munich Re, Swiss Re, and Lloyds of London, climate change is a reality that is showing up where it hurts most, on the ledgers. The long piece excerpted below is quite an extraordinary investigation for a mainstream publication, and deserves a look.
What surprises could climate change have in store for us?: Scientists on likelihood of abrupt climate shifts: (Wahsington Post)
Large Companies Prepared to Pay Price on Carbon: (NY Times) [emphasis added]:
Tom Carnac, North American president of CDP, said that the five big oil companies seemed to have determined that a carbon price was an inevitable part of their financial future. “It’s climate change as a line item,” Mr. Carnac said. “They’re looking at it from a rational perspective, making a profit. It drives internal decision-making.”
‘Let them eat coal’: Why cheap, dirty fuels aren’t a meal ticket for developing countries (Grist)
European storm and tidal surge cause evacuations and travel chaos (BBC)
Shaking in Texas makes officials worry about injection from drilling (E & E News)
Coral Reef Habitat Response to Climate Change Scenarios (PLOS One) [emphasis added]:
Anthropogenic climate change will alter many physical and chemical characteristics that comprise the niches of marine species and ecosystem habitats. Changes in these physico-chemical conditions are already leading to shifts in the habitat ranges of some marine species, and extinction rates of marine species are expected to increase.
Hitachi unveils storage for wind, solar energy (SF Gate)
SolarCity to Use Batteries From Tesla for Energy Storage (NY Times)
City of Chicago Testing Pollution-eating concrete (Columbia Tribune)
Will Your Tax Dollars Fund a Highway that's a Mountaintop Removal Coal Mine in Disguise? (Treehugger)
Monterey Shale Report Exposes Myth of Economic Prosperity From Fracking California (EcoWatch)
Climate change affects Northwest snowpack, study says (Spokane Spokesman-Review)
Fukushima water tanks: leaky and built with illegal labor (Reuters)
Renewable fuel backers try to change EPA's mind at hearing (Reuters)
Lake Superior is heating up faster than any other lake on Earth (Michigan Public Radio)
Just in Time for Black Friday: NRDC's Green Electronics Holiday Shopping Guide 2013 (NRDC)
Living Green's Green Gadget Gift Guide (Living Green)
Warming ‘Will Be Hard to Reverse’ (Climate News Network via Truthdig) [emphasis added]:
They simulated a planet in which greenhouse gas emissions continued to rise... [A]fter an initial period in which temperatures started to drop, something else happened. The simulated planet started to warm again, and go on warming for another 400 years or more.
FOR MORE on Climate Science and Climate Change, go to our Green News Report: Essential Background Page
Skeptical Science: Database with FULL DEBUNKING of ALL Climate Science Denier Myths
Warning: Even in the best-case scenario, climate change will kick our asses (Grist)
NASA Video: Warming over the last 130 years, and into the next 100 years:
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).