This is the 598th edition of the Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue). Here is the May 4 edition. Inclusion of a story in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
OUTSTANDING GREEN STORIES
terrypinder writes—Infrastructure Kos: DC-Baltimore hype(r)loop in EIS phase? Maybe: “This landed on my desk a week ago and I’ve been spending some time reading it. It’s, well, interesting. My skepticism, and then dislike, of Elon Musk’s hypeloop is pretty well known here and I’m not shy about it anywhere, since it does come up in my business life. Since proposed in 2013, a number of start-ups have popped up and an annual pod contest is conducted in the desert. Also, a lot of start-ups have failed in those five years. But, at least according to media reports over the last five years, governments still have an interest (including at least one cash-strapped tolling commission I’m intimately acquainted with looking for a new revenue stream), so it’s still hanging in there, with quite a few places shelling out money to study its feasibility. Also, since we’re here, the speeds of the pods travelling their (near) vacuum tube keep dropping, from the promised 700 miles an hour to 150 miles an hour in this particular case (it’s also not a vacuum tube)---we’ll get to that. One such project is the Boring Company’s hypeloop between Washington DC and Baltimore, Maryland. It has a champion in Maryland’s current governor, Larry Hogan, who also wants to widen all the freeways in the state because someone lied to him (and several other DOTs who believe widening reduces congestion—it NEVER, EVER does) that induced demand does not exist. Well, it does. At any rate, there’s a lot of interesting stuff in the draft environmental impact statement (EIS).”
Mother Mags writes—Trump appointee pressures wildlife official to reverse decision, threatening river and species: “When Arizona’s new Senator Kyrsten Sinema joined Joe Manchin (WV) and Martin Heinrich (NM) as the only Democrats to vote in favor of former oil-industry lobbyist David Bernhardt to head the Department of Interior, I fired off a letter to her office, as did many others. What we received was not helpful: a five-paragraph reply explaining how presidential appointments are made (reads like the script from another Schoolhouse Rock civics lesson), and one sentence that mentions her Bernhardt vote. Before casting that vote, she surely knew that as Deputy Secretary, Bernhardt had made at least a dozen policy changes that benefit his former industry clients, like shrinking Bears Ears and other National Monuments for mineral extraction or weakening EPA regulations on endangered species. Yet the only passage in the Senator’s letter that even mentions Bernhardt says he is ‘qualified’ and ‘supports the mission.’ Neither of those things is true, as many environmental, tribal, and public lands groups told Sinema and the other Senators charged with confirming or rejecting Trump’s nominee. Another grifter who will use his office to pad his pockets while dismantling his agency and its charge, David Bernhardt is the last person who should oversee our nation’s majestic lands, which Arizonans know too well.”
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Dan Bacher writes—Amazon Watch Responds to UN Global Biodiversity Assessment: “On Monday, May 6th, a United Nations assessment detailed threats to global biodiversity and found that one million species may face extinction due to climate change, habitat loss, and other anthropogenic changes in the environment. It also enumerated the ways in which this extinction will affect human social and economic systems. Amazon Watch Executive Director Leila Salazar-López made the following statement in response to the report (also available on here): ‘This sobering report shows that the time for protecting biodiversity is running out. From the Amazon to the Arctic, dirty industrial development and human greed is destroying critical ecosystems and harming the communities that depend on the land. As indigenous peoples have reminded us for years: our own survival as human beings is fundamentally tied to the health of our environment. For millennia, indigenous peoples have been the best stewards of the land but, as this report confirms, their territories are increasingly under threat from ‘resource extraction, commodity production, mining and transport and energy infrastructure.’ In order to protect critical ecosystems like the Amazon, the world’s largest and most biodiverse rainforest, we must support indigenous solutions to restore tropical forests and respect their right to Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC). The planet and the myriad creatures that call it home cannot afford any less’.”
OceanDiver writes—BackyardBirdRace/TheDailyBucket combo - May tally: “So if you’d like to participate, please list the birds you’ve seen, naming your general locale and type of setting. Pointing out who are the new birds since last month will be useful information too. As an example, here’s my information this month: • My general locale is coastal northwest Washington state, a mix of habitats from shrubs to woods to roadside to beach overlook. • As of early May I’ve seen 52 kinds of birds, 5 new ones since last month. • What I’m noticing is (1) far fewer ducks, who are off north to breed. A few stragglers are lingering. I’m already missing the ducks :( and (2) a few more summer birds are newly arrived, like Rough-winged swallows, Brewers blackbirds, White crowned sparrows and one early Blackheaded grosbeak. All these birds are here to breed, and will depart at some point in summer when they complete their nesting.”
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - goose eggs & chocolate lilies: “Late April 2019. Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest. There have been seasonal changes in my neighborhood since early April, including some drama at the beach. Last week we had some minus tides in the afternoon so I thought that would be a good opportunity to check out the wildflowers on a small islet just offshore. Below a 0’ tide you can walk out to the islet for a brief time. [...] The 8-10 Canada geese at this bay were honking continuously as I walked down the beach — not surprising since they do that if they see you approaching at any distance. I crossed the narrow strip of seaweedy sand and climbed up onto the islet, immediately rewarded with a carpet of chocolate lilies. Had to watch my step there were so many. [...] Coming around the corner of the islet to the far side I stumbled upon a nest of eggs! No wonder the geese had been squawking. No geese were on the nest, but one pair was swimming below. I didn’t notice them flying off the islet while I was at the beach, but perhaps they’d been keeping an eye on the nest.”
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - summer migrants in Anacortes: “May 8, 2019. Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest. The other day we took a quick trip over to the mainland for a medical appointment (one of the downsides to island life: no easy access to specialists). Luckily we didn’t need to go any further than the ferry terminal’s town so we were only away from homefrom noon to 8pm. But islanders become skilled at making the most of “downtime” over in the world, and for us, in addition to various errands like special fasteners at Ace hardware, that means nature-watching. And in summer, that means birds arriving for summer breeding season. [...] First stop: the tower at the marina where ospreys have nested for years. I observed that they’ve returned already, sooner than in our own neighborhood. All our Washington ospreys winter in Central America and southern Mexico (pubs.usgs.gov/...). I watched one sitting on the big pile of sticks up there for a while, and a local passerby coming and going from the hardware store said he saw two up there the day before. It’s quite a distance from my viewing spot but I can see well enough for general activity. Likely they are the same pair as last year, ospreys described as having ‘tenacious nest site fidelity’.”
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - spring turkeys: It’s that season, what the neighborhood tom turkeys have been waiting for all year. There’s a large flock of Wild Turkeys that wanders around here all year, in larger and smaller groups, variously by gender and age or mixed. For these couple of months of spring we’ll be hearing and seeing the toms displaying, hens expressing interest or not, until in summertime families of hens and poults begin emerging from the shrubbery. Sometimes it’s less clear what the turkeys are saying to each other. I passed a mixed group the other day which had some intriguing behavior, from a tight circling to chestbumping by what appeared to be a young hen. The video shows a few moments of social activity”:
matching mole writes—Dawn Chorus: Avian Doppelgängers: “Imagine you are Alexander Von Humboldt exploring the wilds of South America at the start of the 19th Century. During your studies of the vegetation zones of the Andes mountains you would have noticed vultures, large soaring birds with dark plumage and featherless heads that often featured brightly colored skin. When Humboldt’s expedition came across a dead vicuna or other large mammal they might well have seen vultures feasting on the carrion. Humboldt probably noticed that Just as the vegetation zones in the Andes were similar in general characteristics but differed in specifics from this in European mountains, so to did the vultures of the Andes differ from those in Southern Europe. They were clearly different species but similar in many characteristics and Humboldt may well have thought them close relatives. But he would have been incorrect.”
Angmar writes—The Daily Bucket: WNY 2019- Spring Flooding on Lake O: “Saturday, May 4th 2019. As the Ottawa, Canada area faces major flooding, New York State is deploying more sandbags, pumps and Aquadam to stem rising Lake Ontario waters. It's all part of the too much water problem in the Lake Ontario-St Lawrence Basing. Governor Cuomo made a stop in Irondequoit, on Lake Ontario north of Rochester on Saturday morning, announcing the deployment of more pumps and sandbagging machines, as well as temporary inflatable Aquadams to the shoreline. 100 National Guard members will also be deployed to help manage the rising water on Sunday. Lake Ontario is almost at flood level, Lake Erie, which empties into Ontario, is already over flood stage, according to the Governor. Downstream, there's also flooding in Canada, as the water makes its way to the sea. In the Ottawa area, they expect record level flooding to be a constant for at least a week, and more rain is in the forecast. It's so bad that residents in one neighborhood have been advised to not flush toilets or use showers, to avoid reverse flow in the sewers.”
Angmar writes—The Daily Bucket:"'Bee saviour' sugar cards could save starving insects”: “If you’ve ever felt a pang of pity for a starving bee struggling on the pavement in front of you, then help may soon be at hand. Or more precisely, in your wallet. A community development worker has invented a credit card-style reviver for bees containing three sachets of sugar solution, which can be placed beside the insect to feed it. Dan Harris, 40, is now crowdfunding to produce the “Bee Saviour” cardsafter the success of his prototype, with community groups and businesses in his local city of Norwich, including the Book Hive bookshop and a local pub, pledging to stock the £4 bee revivers. Each card contains three indentations containing a beekeepers’ formula, secured by foil-backed stickers which can be peeled off. theguardian.com/...”
enhydra lutris writes—
May 8 Open Thread: The Latest "Bee Safe" Pesticide Isn't: “
I receive an e-mail newsletter from UC about things going on in the UC system. Recently it contained an article entitled The ‘bee safe’ pesticide that isn’t by By Mario Aguilera, UC San Diego, Thursday, April 11, 2019, which can be found here. It concerns a multi-year study conducted by scientists at UC San Diego concerning ‘Silvanto,’ a broad spectrum insecticide developed by Bayer CropScience AG which is classified and touted as ‘bee safe.’ The study, which was published April 10 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, calls that classification into question. It is difficult to do an adequate ‘fair use’ abstract of the article in question because it is so short, so everybody should really go read it for themselves, but I'll try to present the gist of it.”
CLIMATE CHAOS
Marissa Higgins writes—Mike Pompeo dismisses climate change, calls melting Arctic ice caps 'new opportunities for trade': “Another day, another horrifying dismissal of climate change by one of our government representatives. In this case, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo decided to describe the Arctic's melting ice caps as ‘new opportunities for trade,’ which is possibly the worst climate-related take of the day. Pompeo uttered this out-of-touch assertion when he appeared at the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Finland. This probably doesn’t come as a major surprise, but the bulk of Pompeo’s speech centered on China and Russia. Russia, for what it’s worth, has long held a serious reach in the Arctic, but China is rapidly getting closer. But you know, why not throw in an asinine statement on climate change while you’re at it? ‘Steady reductions in sea ice are opening new passageways and new opportunities for trade,’ Pompeo told the audience. ‘This could potentially slash the time it takes to travel between Asia and the West by as much as 20 days. Arctic sea lanes could come before—could become the 21st century Suez and Panama Canals’.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Pompeo’s Ridiculous Arctic Optimism Illustrates Final Stage In Denial: Disaster Capitalism: “This week, Koch Congressman turned Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did his job and denied the reality of the impacts of climate change. In reference to the melting Arctic, Pompeo recognized that old fashioned ‘nu uh!’ denial wasn’t going to cut it. Instead, he suggested that the melt would be beneficial because it would open up new trade routes and cut down on shipping times. Given that this happened concurrently with a new UN report warning that human activity puts a million species at risk of extinction, the comments were an easy target for late night comedy. Seth Meyers, for example, spent a few minutes ridiculingPompeo’s position, saying it’s like “being excited your house burned down, because now you can see your pool from the driveway” and that making money off of a disaster is literally the plot of The Producers. (‘It’s spring time, for everyone, all of the time!’) Jimmy Kimmel, meanwhile, went a little more risque, using the extinction report and Pompeo’s comments to set up a mock-PSA featuring George Clooney fundraising for a new organization: United to Defeat Untruthful Misinformation and Support Science, or, UDUMASS. Showing clips of Trump’s ‘windmills cause cancer’ nonsense and James Inhofe’s snowball stunt, Clooney warns of how “rampant dumbfuckery now threatens our health, our security, and our planet’.”
Styracosaurus writes—Replies to Climate change denial: “Unlike some people here I am fortunate not to have relatives who are climate deniers or Trump supporters. Unfortunately, I am cursed with an inability to ignore absolute garbage in articles or posts on climate change. Even more unfortunately, climate science is complex, and it can be difficult to come up with a reply that is both short and graphic enough to capture the attention of people who appear to think in slogans, and accurate enough to be compelling. I have gathered common misconceptions, along with short replies plus a more extended explanations in the hope that some of these may be useful to others who are faced with climate denial. Please feel to use them, add to them, improve them, and if necessary, correct them. If people find this useful I will try to extend it in the future to diversions, such as concerns over economics and liberal agendas. These diversions generally cannot be answered until there is agreement that anthropogenic climate change is real.”
Pakalolo writes—Greenland unraveling rapidly as feedback loops bring the ice sheet closer to the tipping point: “Any fossil fool executives out there that want to rebuild the planet’s ice caps? Feedback loops make the problem of a warming Arctic that much worse and according to Thomas Growther, a professor at the Department of Environmental Systems Science of ETH Zurich, ‘It’s already begun, the feedback is in process.’ Yahoo news, reports that ‘carbon dioxide and methane emissions from thawing soils are “accelerating climate change about 12 to 15 percent at the moment,’ and said past IPCC reports that left out the feedback ‘were way more optimistic than they should have been.’ From Polar Portal on the ice melt on Greenland: Today DMI scientists announced the start of the Greenland melt season, the second earliest in a record that stretches back to 1980. “The start of the melt season occurs on the first of three consecutive days where more than 5% of the ice sheet has melted at the surface.” said scientist Peter Langen. ‘We use a pretty strict definition as we want to make sure it is a consistent start to melting and not just a blip due to unseasonal weather.’ This year’s start of 30th April is second only to 2016 when a very unusual weather pattern caused a very early start to the melt season in mid-April.”
Pakalolo writes—Two of Earths vast carbon sinks could reach the tipping point by 2060 warns study: “ ‘The huge carbon sinks that are global forests and soils have served as a planetary pressure valve for our own burgeoning emissions over the last century. If we fail to cut emissions deep and fast then these vast sinks could falter and increasingly switch from carbon-absorbing friend to big-emitting foe.’ --Dave Reay, Professor of Carbon Management and Education at the University of Edinburgh. Scientists have concluded that human greenhouse emissions have had an impact on drought since 1900. These droughts have had a serious negative influence on soils ability to store carbon — turning it from a carbon sink to a carbon source according to a study published in Nature on January 23, 2019. Soil is one of two terrestrial carbon sinks, the other being plants ability to sequester carbon can only last so long before the plant reaches a saturation point. At that time, plants will become a carbon source bringing the planet even closer to the tipping point. This diary is lengthy, so I will keep my commentary brief. Suffice it to say that things are accelerating and falling apart on the climate front. Unfortunately, we have the grim reaper occupying the White House, so don’t expect a fix for our dilemma anytime soon.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Trump’s EPA Lifts Policy Straight From Industry Group’s Recommendation: “Alex Guillén at PoliticoPRO revealed on Monday that when changing a key policy to let industry off the hook, the EPA lifted language directly from industry comment asking they be let off the hook. At issue is a policy memo regarding how to calculate emission changes from upgrades at polluting facilities, with industry seeking to avoid the air permitting process under the EPA’s New Source Review. In a memo issued in December of 2017, Pruitt decided the EPA would take industry’s word on whether or not they polluted enough to require further regulating instead of actually doing due diligence and verifying it. And we know the EPA was responding directly to industry’s concerns, and accommodating them. In that memo, Pruitt apparently lifted, verbatim, a line written by an industry group requesting the change. Given that Scott Pruitt got busted back in 2014 for putting his name on an industry’s letter during his tenure as Oklahoma’s Attorney General, that he continued this practice at the EPA should come as no surprise.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Girls Are Key To Convincing Their Conservative Fathers To Care About Climate Change: “As we all know too well, there are a variety of socio-political reasons that often prevent conservative men from caring about climate change. But what if there were a way to knock down the walls they put up? To cut through the political frame of denial that says conservatives don’t believe in climate change? To kill the rhetorical excuses predicated on a deliberate misunderstanding of the science, like the claim ‘the climate has always changed’? New research published Monday in Nature Climate Change suggests a possible solution that initially seems weird, but once you think about it, makes a lot of sense: their daughters. The study found that when girls take a course on climate change in school, conservative fathers ‘more than doubled their concern levels.’ How? Researchers in North Carolina created a climate change curriculum that educated kids about climate with the intention that those kids pass that knowledge on to their parent--without explicitly assigning them to tell their parents. With a sample size of 238 families with middle school children in coastal North Carolina, the study is far from the final word. But its findings certainly appear compelling.”
POPULATION, SUSTAINABILITY & EXTINCTION
KPMauros13 writes—Ok, It’s Time to Start Panicking about Biodiversity: “Speaking at the annual World Economic Forum, an event attended by world leaders, moguls of industry, famous scientists and policy advocates (and yes members of the Trump family) sat a 16 year old Swedish girl named Greta Thunberg ready to deliver her speech. Amongst a crowd of powerful men and women many of whom came via private jet, she spoke in a soft, acerbic, yet assertive tone that it’s time to stop playing around when it comes to climate change. ‘Adults keep saying we owe it to the young people, to give them hope, But I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. I want you to act. I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if the house is on fire, because it is.’ — Greta Thunberg (2019) In a brilliantly composed three minute speech, Greta stated plainly the threats we face as a species, the fear she feels as a young person destined to live through its effects, and how half-measures, and technocratic approaches just are not enough.”
igualdad writes—UN Report: Nature’s Dangerous Decline Unprecedented. Species Extinction Rates Accelerating: “The most comprehensive report of its kind just released today, the “Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) summary,” describes a catastrophic and urgent environmental crisis whereby ecosystems are deteriorating more rapidly than earlier thought. This landmark UN report warns that up to 1 million species are on the verge of extinction. ’The overwhelming evidence of the IPBES Global Assessment, from a wide range of different fields of knowledge, presents an ominous picture,’ said IPBES Chair, Sir Robert Watson. ‘The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.’ ‘The Report also tells us that it is not too late to make a difference, but only if we start now at every level from local to global,’ he said.”
Angmar writes—UN-backed study Science-Policy Platform On Biodiversity has grim implications for future of humanity: “A three-year UN-backed study from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform On Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services has grim implications for the future of humanity. READ THE REPORT. ipbes.net. [...] Nature is in freefall and the planet’s support systems are so stretched that we face widespread species extinctions and mass human migration unless urgent action is taken. That’s the warning hundreds of scientists are preparing to give, and it’s stark. The study from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform On Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), expected to run to over 8,000 pages, is being compiled by more than 500 experts in 50 countries. It is the greatest attempt yet to assess the state of life on Earth and will show how tens of thousands of species are at high risk of extinction, how countries are using nature at a rate that far exceeds its ability to renew itself, and how nature’s ability to contribute food and fresh water to a growing human population is being compromised in every region on earth.”
ENERGY
Green New Deal & 100% Clean Energy
Lefty Coaster writes—Jay Inslee signs a 100% clean Energy Bill for Washington in Seattle after signing a gun bill: “Inslee choose the Rainier Vista neighborhood for this signing ceremony. Rainier Visia is a mixed income development run by the Seattle Housing Authority, and one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the whole country. No doubt Inslee choose Rainier Visia to emphasize that this bill addresses eco justice at the same time it curtails carbon emissions. The first person to speak was the Great Great Great Grandson of Chief Seattle, and I was very moved by his words. A high school student from Bellevue spoke about how our summers are hazy with the smoke from wildfires. Our unpleasant introduction for the growing impacts the future holds if we do not act to change course. The bills Inslee signed includes all of the state’s electricity to be carbon neutral by 2045. Some of the things the bills include are 20,000 more electric cars by 2020, and it converts the state fleet of ferries to electric power. And I rode on a ferry to attend this event.”
Fossil Fuels
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Natural Gas Industry Falsely Claims Natural Gas Can Be Part of Cleaner Energy Future: “The recent appearance of a shift in GOP rhetoric on climate has apparently sent a chill down the spine of paid deniers, who are seeing their decades of work begin to unravel. For example, Benjamin Zycher of the tobacco, Koch, Exxon and other industry-funded American Enterprise Institute recently sounded an alarm for deniers in RealClearMarkets.If Republicans begin following SC Senator Lindsey Graham’s recent recommendation to come up with their own climate policy to fight off the Green New Deal, Zycher argues, then ‘they will be stuck with the underlying assumptions about climate phenomena, and they will have no principled answer’ to calls that climate change needs to be addressed. Standard denier lies aside, on the main point, Zycher is right. Once Republicans acceptthat fossil fuels are causing climate change, it becomes hard to support policies that continue to allow for burning them. But Zycher assumes the GOP will stick to principled answers. This has already proven naive, since acknowledging climate change hasn’t stopped politicians from putting forward policies that deceptively claim to address climate change while in fact facilitating further fossil fuel use.”
Dan Bacher writes—Gov. Newsom calls for "managing the decline" of fossil fuel demand & supply in California: “Environmental justice, conservation and public interest groups responded positively to a key sentence in ‘May revision’ of the Governor Gavin Newsom’s California state budget regarding transitioning the state from fossil fuels. ‘The May Revision also recognizes the need for careful study and planning to decrease demand and supply of fossil fuels, while managing the decline in a way that is economically responsible and sustainable,’ the sentence states. In response to this recognition by Governor Newsom of the need for a managed decline of fossil fuel supply in California, David Turnbull, Strategic Communications Director at Oil Change International, said in a statement: ‘Today’s support by Governor Newsom of the need to ramp down fossil fuel supply in tandem with reducing demand marks a critical recognition of what true climate leadership must look like in the face of our ever-worsening climate crisis. California can set a new standard of leadership by being one of the first major oil- and gas-producing jurisdictions to ramp down its fossil fuel production in line with what the climate demands and prioritizing a just transition for impacted communities and workers’.”
Dan Bacher writes—Trump wants to open 725,500 acres of public land to oil drilling in Bay Area, Central Coast: “Governor Jerry Brown expanded oil and gas drilling in California during his last two terms as governor, approving 21,000 new oil and gas drilling permits. Now the Trump administration wants to expand oil and gas drilling on federal lands in California. On May 9, the Trump administration finalized a controversial plan, entitled ‘The Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendment and Final Environmental Impact Statement for Oil and Gas Leasing and Development,’ to open 725,500 acres of public lands and mineral estate across California’s Central Coast and the Bay Area to new oil and gas drilling. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has selected “Alternative F” as its preferred alternative. This plan would increase by 327,000 acres the acreage in the draft proposal prepared under the Obama administration.”
Dan Bacher writes—‘Climate Strike’ Students Demand Fossil Fuel Divestment from CalSTRS, 2nd Largest US Pension Fund: “California government is a major supporter of the fossil fuel industry, despite the largely undeserved reputation that the state has acquired as the nation’s “green leader — and students from youth climate organizations want to change this. Not only did the state’s oil and gas regulators approve 21,000 new oil and gas drilling permits in California under Governor Jerry Brown, but one of the state’s pension’s funds, including CalSTRS, California’s $228 billion pension fund for public school teachers, is invested in fossil fuels. On May 8, students from youth climate justice organizations will be skipping school to attend a meeting of the CalSTRS Investment Committee to demand divest from fossil fuel companies, according to Fossil Free California. CalSTRS, the second-largest pension fund in the United States, currently has over $6 billion (2.86% of its portfolio) invested in fossil fuels.”
Lib Dem FoP writes—UK Uses NO Coal for Electricity Generation for a Week - Projects None At All by 2025: “The UK has just had another week when no electricity generated by coal burning was used by the National Grid. Unabated coal generation will be phased out entirely by 2025 when further regulatory changes on CO2 emissions will mean no coal can be used without carbon capture and storage. No current operator is planning to install CCS equipment. The UK went a record 114 hours without using coal power over the [May 6] Bank Holiday weekend, its longest consecutive period without drawing on the principal cause of global warming since the start of the Industrial Revolution. The record means the UK National Grid has operated without any reliance on coal for more than 1,000 hours so far in 2019, as total coal power use has dropped by almost two-thirds compared with the first four months of 2018, from 8.6Twh to just 2.9Twh. Conditions were particularly favorable to wind and solar power generation, despite not being ideal holiday weather. Last year the 10% of UK electricity was generated using coal. If the identified trend continues, this could be under 4% in 2019. In contrast, last year the USA generated 27% using coal and is projected to stiil generate 24% this year. ”
Emissions Controls & Carbon Pricing
Lib Dem FoP writes—Official Committe Recommendation: UK Should Cut All Greenhouse Gase Emissions by 2050: “The UK’s official advisory Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has recommended that the UK target emittings virtually no greenhouse gases by 2050 and become a world leader in reaching this target. The CCC target includes flying and shipping and all greenhouse gases, and allows no offsetting of emissions abroad, making it the toughest of any major economy. The CCC said it could prove a vital catalyst in unlocking matching pledges from other countries. The current plans of the world’s nations would lead to 3C of warming and catastrophic damage. Even if all other countries followed suit there is still only a 50-50 chance that the increase in global temperature rise will not exceed 1.5oC by 2100.There are divided views over whether this is too long a target or if the economic costs of doing so that quickly would be too great.”
Renewables, Efficiency & Conservation
Mokurai writes—Renewable Friday: Inslee's Got a Plan, and Beto's Got a Plan, and All God's Chillun Got Plans: “Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has just announced A New American Climate Mission. This is the most comprehensive and detailed campaign against Global Warming yet put forward.He has remarkably detailed plans to go with that mission. It will take us a few Fridays to unpack it all, along with the rest of the plans that have been announced by Presidential candidates and NGOs and technology innovators. If you want legislative language, too, Inslee has pointers to bills passed in a number of cities and states on a wide range of such measures. Also, the week before, Beto O'Rourke rolls out $5 trillion plan to combat climate change, a pivotal 2020 issue for Democrats. Earlier in April, it was Bernie Sanders. Combat Climate Change and Pass a Green New Deal. Every Democratic Presidential candidate has had a great deal to say about the issue. Their plans are all a bit different, and I am sure, Dear Reader, that your plan is a bit different from any of them. Mine certainly is. I roll all of their proposed measures together, and add in many more, including the material I have been mining for these Diaries.”
Pipelines & Other Oil and Gas Transport
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Nazi Comparisons Roil Penn Pipeline Fight, But There Are Actual Nazis In Conservative Media: “Last week, protests against construction on Southeastern Pennsylvania’s Mariner East 2 pipeline blocked workers from doing their job. In response to a tweet from an industry group, local lawmaker Rep. Danielle Friel Otten, who opposes to the pipeline, pointed out on Twitter that ‘the Nazis were just doing their jobs too.’ She added a link to a PBS story about the science behind how ‘just doing your job’ can be used to justify things individuals might not otherwise be comfortable with. Unsurprisingly, the industry responded by misrepresenting her tweet as an attack on union workers, as though pointing out the similarity in the ‘just doing their job’ excuse was tantamount to accusing the employees of carrying out genocide. The manufactured outrage played out as one might expect: the Pennsylvania state GOP called for her resignation, Rep. Otten made multiple statements explaining the misinformation and eventually apologized. But if the fracking industry is really all that concerned about invoking Nazis, they need not look any further than the mirror.”
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
Dan Bacher writes—Delta Flows: A Day for California History Books. But What’s Next? “When scholars of California history and California water review the decisions our state leaders made to plan for the impacts from climate change, they will look back at May 2, 2019 as the pivotal date in our state’s water planning processes. As the Department of Water Resources, under Governor Newsom’s direction, rescinded permits for California WaterFix from the State Water Resources Control Board, a decision was made to begin a new water planning process with the intention to make California water resilient in the decades ahead, while providing better protections for the Delta and Delta communities. While the vast majority of our followers recognize that the decision to end the twin tunnels is a huge victory for the Delta and the people of California, a minority remain skeptical that positive change can be brought forward in California to solve our centuries (yes centuries) of water wars.”
Dan Bacher writes—CA Rescinds Delta Tunnels Water Bond Resolutions, Feds Withdraw Contested Permit: “On May 7, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) formally rescinded the Bond Resolutions authorizing issuance of almost $9 billion of bonds to pay for the start of construction of the controversial Delta Twin Tunnels, formally called the California WaterFix. Tunnel opponents said DWR’s funding for any new one-tunnel proposal must start from scratch. Attorneys representing conservation, agriculture, and fishing groups praised DWR’s resolution. ‘There is great news now reflecting a complete restart of Department of Water Resources (DWR) planning for Delta water export issues including conveyance,’ said Bob Wright, Senior Counsel of Friends of the River. ‘On May 7, 2019, DWR rescinded the Bond Resolutions authorizing issuance of almost $9 billion of bonds to pay for the start of construction of the WaterFix Delta Tunnels Project’.”
CANDIDATES, STATE AND DC ECO-RELATED POLITICS
ctkosh writes—Beto respectfully but forcefully disagrees with climate change denier: “Beto’s events usually have a lot of Q&A, and it is no surprise that Republicans sometimes show up to try to ask “gotcha” questions. During his Senate campaign, Beto’s response to the NFL kneeling controversy that went viral was an earlier example where a Cruz plant asked the question thinking it would trip Beto up. One thing that impresses me about Beto is he is able to handle these types of questions in stride, staying calm and sticking to his values. Here is an example from this week where a climate denier asks what he thinks are “gotcha” questions to Beto.”
ctkosh writes—Beto: reaching out on climate change—farmers, canvasses: “Many of you have probably heard of Beto’s climate change plan. Gov. Inslee also has a good plan, and I think all of our candidates are on the right side of this issue (though with so many, I admit I don’t know the positions of everyone). But I think it is going to be important to go beyond any plan regardless of candidate and use grassroots organizing and campaigning to build public support. And this is where Beto continues to impress me. As a former Texan and current recent Washingtonian, I am happy to live in such a green state now (props and credit to Gov. Inslee). However, it came as both a massive disappointment and a complete shock to me when the Washington state ballot initiative for carbon tax failed in liberal, green Washington. Yes, there was a massive TV ad campaign against it and only a few TV ads for it, so maybe I shouldn’t have been so surprised. In hindsight, however, I didn’t observe any grassroots campaigning for it-- maybe there was and if so my apologies to those who put in the hard grassroots work.”
committed writes—OK NOW it is time to force Northam out: “I think this is a major offense to the whole human race. dump him now. Va. governor signs budget that restricts carbon-reduction efforts. Virginia’s recently signed budget includes language that restricts the state from spending funds on a multi-state agreement designed to reduce carbon emissions. The budget, signed over the weekend by Gov. Ralph Northam (D), includes Republican-introduced language that limits participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a pact initially started by Northeastern states in 2009 that creates a larger cap-and-invest market to reduce how much power producers can pollute.”
Lefty Coaster writes—Jay Inslee SLAMS Joe Biden's timid "Middle ground" response to the approaching Climate Catastrophe: “Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden is crafting a climate change policy he hopes will appeal to both environmentalists and the blue-collar voters who elected Donald Trump, according to two sources, carving out a middle ground approach that will likely face heavy resistance from green activists. As an island dweller, and master of my own vessel, I know the Merriam Webster Nautical Glossary defines Middle Ground as: Shoal area between two navigational channels. ‘Middle ground’ is a place you don’t want to venture into.”
FishOutofWater writes—Joe Biden Seeks Climate Policy Middle Ground: Updated Biden Says Reuters got it wrong: “Joe Biden, Democratic presidential candidate, informed Reuters through his climate policy advisors, that he is developing a “middle ground” climate policy that will endorse the Paris climate agreement while continuing to support fossil fuel consumption. Update: A Biden spokesman has now tweeted that the Reuters article is wrong but has not indicated what is wrong about the article:
Joe Biden has tweeted that climate change is an existential threat and will have more specifics in coming weeks.”
Mark Sumner writes—Biden spokesman says reported position on climate change is 'wrong' (Updated): “Update: A spokesperson for Joe Biden says that the Reuter’s article is ‘wrong’ and reiterates that Biden does consider climate change an existential threat. Biden just tweeted to state that we need ‘policies that reflect this urgency.’ Please consider this update when reviewing this article. [...] While climate change was so off the radar in 2016 that it didn’t get a single question at a single debate, in 2020 it’s not only showing up at or near the top of voter’s concerns, but has featured prominently in the policies put out by candidates. Last Saturday, Daily Kos published the first in a series of looks at energy and environmental policies put forward by 2020 candidates by comparing the policies of Beto O’Rourke and Jay Inslee. While the information available on Joe Biden’s policy proposals aren’t yet detailed enough for a thorough review, the information reported by Reuters can only be called profoundly disappointing. According to that report, Biden is seeking a ‘middle ground’ on climate change policy. That middle ground appears to consist of restoring some things that were done under Barack Obama … and nothing more.”
Angmar writes—INSLEE NEWS SUMMARY:Signing Bill Moves Washington State on 100% Clean Energy, New Gun laws,& More: “’Last week, I unveiled a landmark 100% Clean Energy for America plan. Today, I am proving that this plan is within our reach by signing a bill that moves Washington state to 100% clean energy. Vox is calling our new law ‘a model of cutting-edge climate policy.’ It's true! In fact, it's one of the strongest clean energy laws in the country. We're now one of the first states to make a commitment to 100% clean energy, and I'm proud we've made this a reality. The bill I just signed requires our state to adopt 100% carbon-free power, phasing out coal by 2025, and requiring all electricity sales to be carbon-neutral by 2030. Where one Washington is stalled, another is leading the way. I want to bring that kind of Washington leadership back to Washington, D.C. It’s why I'm running -- because our future can't wait’.”
Winter Rabbit writes—Tr*mp "Approved Natural Disaster Declaration" for Nebraska - NOT Pine Ridge Reservation (Update 2x): “Following a natural disaster, the state could deliberately prevent human aid, resulting in atrocity, crime against humanity, or genocide. Home to the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre, where US soldiers massacred 150 to 300 Native Americans in 1890, including women and children, the reservation is wracked by rampant poverty, lack of resources and poor infrastructure. Pine Ridge encompasses some of the poorest counties in the United States, with unemployment around 75% and the lowest life expectancy in the country. [...] Donald Trump approved a national disaster declaration for Nebraska and Iowa in March after the cyclone hit the region, providing federal funding to impacted individuals and communities in those states. But in South Dakota, Native Americans on the Pine Ridge Reservation hit by the same storm have been forced to try to recover on their own. If and only if the intent to commit genocide could be shown in terms of the state deliberately disallowing outside aid, or the state not giving direct necessary aid for the sustaining of life, then it should be concluded that state willfully used a natural disaster as the extermination stage of genocide and then denied that extermination.”
TRADE AND ECO-RELATED FOREIGN POLICY
By Choice writes—Why the U.S.'s withdrawal from the Arctic Pact could be a big Russian win: “Russia would give its left arm for seaports open to world trade year-round. Could Putin be behind Trump’s withdrawal from the Arctic Council's attempts to fight warming of the Arctic? With the news (from Reuters) that ‘The United States has refused to sign an agreement on challenges in the Arctic due to discrepancies over climate change wording,’ a thought occurs to me (or my wife, actually :-). [Note: this is less than twelve hours old, so you're seeing the very raw reporting, including this diary.] It's being said that this is simply another step in the Trump administration's attempts to expunge the phrase ‘global warming’ from human consciousness, but there's another possible interpretation, requiring some historical background. Russia in all its avatars (tsarist empire, communist state, USSR empire, Russian Federation) has effectively been land-locked because its seaports have been useless for over four months each year. Its multiple efforts to rule Crimea are part of its attempt to secure a “warm-weather port”. So an unfrozen Arctic Ocean would be an (almost-unmitigated) blessing to the Russian Federation. So why wouldn't Putin tell Trump to block attempts to prevent that event? Just sayin’.”
ECO-ACTION & ECO JUSTICE
birches writes—Strike for the Planet -- Week 10: Money: “Every week now for the last 10 weeks, from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m., I’ve been standing out in front of City Hall in SF (where I live) to strike for the planet. I arrive before many of the people working there get to work so they have to pass me coming in. I chalk a different topic on the sidewalk, hang up my signs, open my paper umbrella which is a sign as well, and make sure the traffic sees me. At 10, I go upstairs to deliver a new letter every week to the mayor’s office, to every supervisor’s office, to the Youth Commission, and to the Office of Resilience and Planning, and this week I’m adding the Dept of the Environment. I tried to get to them last week, but they’re in a different building (on Market) which they share with Uber headquarters and Square, and you can’t get in to talk to them if you aren’t on the list security has. And you need a photo ID. Not very accessible for a public institution. This week’s letter is below: STRIKE FOR THE PLANET because we have to stop destroying the biosphere now. It won’t be cheap, easy, politically feasible, pro-capitalist, or any of the rest of the stupid excuses we’ve been fed about why not to take action and about why any change is impossible. Pay attention, panic, and act like our lives depend on what you do today—because they do.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENING
mahdalgal writes—Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol 15.19 Endangered Monarch Butterfly May 11, 2019: “Climate change and species extinction are frightening and heart-stopping major headlines. Can one gardener have an impact on an extremely small patch of this planet? Maybe, but certainly not very much, I think. I would like to go to my grave knowing I tried my best. Warning: There’s a bit of a rant on fracking and species extinction in today’s diary. Re Species Extinction If every gardener in the world decided to focus on just one local plant — or migrating, vulnerable or endangered species — as a priority to aid its continued existence, there might be hope...one urban/suburban/exurban/rural garden at a time. We holler, scream, and protest to no avail about pesticide use (damn Roundup and Monsanto/Bayer) that kills the native milkweed along the monarch migration trail over the great plains. And yet massive displays of Roundup are still center stage at the big box stores. How about we do something less blood pressure-raising on a smaller scale with a greater influence on our personal physical and mental health. There’s power hidden in numbers. So, please, even if you’re NOT a gardener, buy just one native perennial bee or butterfly nectar plant, grab a shovel, make some room in a sunny place outside and plant something for the pollinators. We won’t have food to eat without the bees, butterflies, moths, beetles and bats staying alive and reproducing.”
TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE
Judge Moonbox writes—Washington Post Enables Amtrak's Enemies: “In today's (5/4/2019) editorials, The Washington Post took a stance against Amtrak's long distance service which they say would allow Amtrak to better support their corridor trains, but they enable Amtrak's enemies without any effort or even acknowledgement that the net effect of their piece would leave the nation's trains in a worse position. When California voted to build it's high speed rail system, the WaPo coverage led people to believe the initial construction segment would run from one sparsely populated area to another. In reality, it would connect Fresno, a metro area (CMA) with more than a million people; with Bakersfield, with over 800 thousand. Bakersfield also punches well above its weight in passengers per capita--the result of six trains from points north connecting to buses running to places from Las Vegas to Santa Barbara. The WaPo coverage of any rail transit system outside of Washington has been heavily negative, contrary to their perception of being so liberal.”
Proginoskes writes—Donald Trump's latest assault on Amtrak: “A lot of this came from Rail Passengers of America. At 7:20PM Eastern last night, our policy staffers learned that President Donald Trump had nominated Todd Rokita, the former Republican Congressman for Indiana, to the Amtrak Board of Directors. They immediately began researching his voting record on rail and transit, and what they found should be concerning to every Amtrak passenger. Todd Rokita was mentioned a few times last year at DK, but no one seems to have mentioned him with this recent action. We found that Rokita voted against Amtrak in 8 of the 13 Amtrak-specific amendments we tracked.”
Xaxnar writes—Uber files plans for world conquest. Kiss public transportation good bye if they succeed: “Thanks to 48Hills, an independent in the San Francisco area, we now know Uber is planning to continue expansion not just by getting people out of their cars, but by replacing public transportation as well. Tim Redmond reported on May 6 that: Uber has acknowledged in a federal filing that its long-term goal is to privatize public transportation around the world. In a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the ride-hail company reports that it seeks, as part of its growth strategy, not just to get people out of private cars but to get them off public buses and trains. Those public services would be replaced by Uber Buses, now being tested in Cairo. That stunning revelation is deep in a 300-page document called an S1, which the SEC requires for any company planning an initial public offering.”
MISCELLANY
Russ Feingold writes—We Need a Campaign for Nature: “A major report from 150 leading scientists from around the world released on May 6, 2019 shows that the crisis facing wildlife and nature is even worse than previously understood. Up to a million species are threatened with extinction, many within decades. And, the threats posed to people from the destruction of nature are just as serious as those posed by climate change. I am grateful for how my life has been deeply enriched by my own encounters with nature—whether hiking on Wisconsin's Apostle Islands, seeing gorillas in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park of the Democratic Republic of the Congo or looking into the wonder of the Grand Canyon. The bonds formed between family, friends and co-workers are strengthened by these memories of outdoor experiences. My mother was from Colorado and helped me form my own attachments to nature. I don’t know how anyone could see the beauty of the Rocky Mountains and not feel a strong desire to protect them for future generations. Thankfully, there is still time to act, and countries are increasingly interested in discussing how to address the crisis.”
durrati writes—LOL. George Clooney PSA - 'Rampant Dumbf--kery' Is Destroying the Planet. Can You Help? “In the wake of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying that "steady reductions in sea ice are opening new passageways and new opportunities for trade" Jimmy Kimmel and George Clooney have created a Public Service Announcement warning of the dangers of 'Rampant Dumbf—kery' which is, of course, more epidemic in the US of A than measles. Watch Below. (closed captioned):
‘The volumes of invaluable knowledge gathered over centuries are now threatened by an epidemic of dumbf--king idiots saying dumbf--king things. Dumbs--t is highly contagious infecting the mind of even the most stable geniuses. Rampant dumbf--kery now threatens our health, our security and our planet.’ “