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| 32 576 GORE SCIENCE_EXPERTS_SCI.REPORTS GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT VILLAIN FUEL_RESOLUTION HIERARCHICAL Trump 's words and actions threaten to derail climate change efforts Donald Trump is threatening to derail climate change efforts with his persistent denial of global warming , claim scientists . Pulling the US from the Paris Agreement has opened the flood gates as several others , including Russia and Turkey , follow his lead . Trump removed the US , the second greatest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the world , from the Paris Agreement as one of his first major presidential acts . One expert has published a study and said that the withdrawal of the US from the 2015 Paris Agreement as well as Trump 's ill - informed remarks on climate change could have long - lasting and severe ramifications . A United Nations - sponsored climate summit in Poland has kicked off today which brings together experts from around the world as leading figures in the UN claim our planet has reached a ' crossroads ' . They say the next two years are crucial to our success if we are to successfully halt global warming . A study , from the Institute of International and European Affairs , says Trump 's decision has created the ' moral and political cover for others to follow suit ' in leaving the agreement . It also claims it has soured the atmosphere and damaged goodwill in the international arena . 'The Paris agreement sent a shiver down the spine of institutional investors globally and made them question if they were exposed to stranded assets and whether these political leaders were really serious about climate change , ' said Joseph Curtin , a senior fellow at the IIEA.'There 's absolutely no doubt that the Trump effect has created a sense of uncertainty in terms of the political commitment to achieve anything close to a 2 ° C target . ' The Paris Agreement , which was first signed in 2015 , is an international agreement to control and limit climate change . It hopes to hold the increase in the global average temperature to below 2 ° C ( 3.6 ° F ) ' and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 ° C ( 2.7 ° F)'Sir David Attenborough will be in attendance in the ' people 's seat ' to represent the people who are affected by global warming . He gave a speech at the opening ceremony of the summit and said : '' We are facing a man - made disaster of global scale . ' Our greatest threat in thousands of years . Climate Change . 'The Conference of the Parties ( COP ) comes shortly after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) announced the intention to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 ° C . This gathering has been pegged as the most influential since the 2015 ratification of the Paris Agreement . It claimed that to achieve this goal , governments around the world would have to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 . Four influential previous presidents of the talks called for decisive action to reach these targets . They said the planet sits at a ' crossroads ' and urged action to cut emissions and reach Paris targets . Antonio Guterres , UN Secretary - General , said this period of time is ' a matter of life and death ' for countries around the world . A statement from the former chiefs came a day before the summit was scheduled to begin and is a highly unusual move . It earmarked the next two years as a key opportunity to help halt climate change . It read : ' What ministers and other leaders say and do in Katowice at COP24 will help determine efforts for years to come and either bring the world closer to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement - including protecting those most vulnerable to climate change - or push action further down the road . ' Any delay will only make it harder and more expensive to respond to climate change . ' The statement was issued by Frank Bainimarama of Fiji , Salaheddine Mezouar of Morocco , Laurent Fabius of France and Manuel Pulgar Vidal of Peru . In a report released ahead of the climate summit in Poland , the World Meteorological Organisation ( WMO ) pointed out that the 20 warmest years on record have been in the past 22 years . It found that 2018 is on course to be the 4th warmest year on record and we 're the ' last generation to be able to do something about it ' . The UN agency said in its provisional report that ' the past four years - 2015 , 2016 , 2017 and 2018 - are also the four warmest years in the series ' . dailymail questionable_source False True False False False |
| 33 601 NO_NEED_TO_ACT SCIENCE_EXPERTS_SCI.REPORTS ENV.ORGS_ACTIVISTS NONE HERO FUEL_CONFLICT INDIVIDUALISTIC "Bill Nye Freaks Out After Scientist Schools Him On Climate Change Comedian Bill Nye accused CNN of doing a "" disservice "" to its viewers for inviting a well - respected physicist on Earth Day to argue about the legitimacy of man - made global warming . Nye , who is well known for hosting a children 's TV show in the 1990s , scolded CNN 's "" New Day Saturday "" panel Saturday for pitting his environmentalist pedigree against the climate skepticism of physicist William Happer . He also suggested the 24 - news channel should instead drown out people like Happer with 98 scientists who believe in man - made global warming . "" And I will say , much as I love the CNN , you 're doing a disservice by having one climate change skeptic and not 97 or 98 scientists or engineers concerned about climate change , Nye said after the Princeton University academic suggested that it is a myth to believe that carbon dioxide is a pollutant causing widespread ecological destruction . Carbon dioxide is a perfectly natural gas , it 's just like water vapor , it 's something that plants love . They grow better with more carbon dioxide , and you can see the greening of the earth already from the additional carbon dioxide in the atmosphere , he added . He went on to say that Nye 's views on science are backward . Science is based on observation , Happer said , "" [ a]nd if you observe what 's happening to , for example , the temperature , the temperature is not rising nearly as fast as the alarmist computer models predicted . It 's much , much less — factors of two or three less . "" Happer , a science adviser to President Donald Trump , made public his skeptical views on climate change in January . He told reporters that climate change is "" tremendously exaggerated , "" adding that climate research is important , "" but I think it 's become sort of a cult movement in the last five years . Nye , who has a degree in engineering but no professional science background , called Happer 's position "" completely wrong , "" and suggested the physicist was "" cherry picking a certain model . "" Some scientists maintain people like Nye are the ones cherry - picking data . Climate models predicted Antarctic sea ice would shrink , and that climate change would boost snowfall in the southern hemisphere , yet neither of those predictions have panned out . In fact , scientists now say "" natural variability "" is overwhelming their models . Scientists with Columbia University 's Earth Institute , for instance , found there 's been almost no change in Antarctica 's snowfall . They blamed strong natural variability for the models ' failures . Scientists have also warned that Antarctica has been losing 147 gigatons of ice per year for years , mostly from melting on the northern Antarctic Peninsula . A NASA conducted in 2015 , meanwhile , found Antarctica 's ice sheet increased in mass from 1992 to 2008 , which essentially offset ice melting in the western part of the Antarctic . Nye , for his part , has been one of the most belligerent apostle for the environmental movement . He 's even suggested that throwing global warming skeptics in jail could be a potential solution , during an interview with the conservative Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow . Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience . For licensing opportunities of our original content , please contact [ email protected ] ." The Daily Caller right_bias True False False False False |
| 34 678 COLLAPSE_IS_IMMINENT ENV.ORGS_ACTIVISTS GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS GENERAL_PUBLIC VILLAIN FUEL_RESOLUTION EGALITARIAN An Open Letter To Senators Cruz And Cornyn Of Texas Republican politicians often evoke the Bible when it suits their purposes . But they disregard some of its most important teachings when formulating policy . This includes the story of Noah 's Ark. Noah 's story holds powerful lessons for us today . We live in a time when it has become absolutely clear that global warming is starting to have a devastating affect on our lives . From super storms and floods like the disaster unfolding in Houston , to droughts and fires of unprecedented magnitude , the direct effects of climate change are now impossible to ignore . Rising sea levels will put whole swaths of coastal cities like Miami under water before the end of the century . Yet despite such ample evidence and warnings , the Republican Party still chooses to ignore the reality . And sometimes I wonder whether any amount of evidence could convince you to act . After all , we have a surplus of evidence . What is lacking is the political will of Republican elected officials , like you , to do anything about it . The catastrophe unfolding in Houston is yet another stark warning . People are losing their homes and their jobs . Some have lost their lives . Scientists expect monster storms like Hurricane Harvey to increase in number — and intensify in magnitude — as warmer temperatures disrupt weather systems around the world . As I write , Hurricane Irma ― a terrifying superstorm with the highest wind speeds ever recorded in the Atlantic ― is cutting a destructive path through the Caribbean . Cities like Houston and New Orleans , on the Gulf of Mexico , face the threat of severe and life - threatening impacts . We have a moral responsibility to address this urgent threat . But Republicans do n't want to talk about the problem — or even admit it exists . Instead , the Republican strategy has consisted of aggressive denial of the facts coupled with staunch obstruction of any serious action to address the problem . Tragically , no industry has done more to block crucial action to address climate change than the oil industry . In fact , as Hurricane Harvey barreled towards Houston , two Harvard researchers were simultaneously releasing a report that detailed how Exxon Mobil spent decades lying to the American people about climate change . Now Exxon , along with other major oil corporations like Valero , Shell , Citgo and Phillips 66 , has been forced to shut down its Houston refinery because of flooding from the storm . Port Arthur , the planned terminus of the Keystone XL pipeline , is completely under water . The executives of these oil companies are bearing witness to the boomerang effect of burning fossil fuels . They are glimpsing a future that millions of Americans will face as the climate crisis intensifies . Senators , I hope that you will take some time to reflect . Few politicians have done more to prevent action on climate change than the two of you , which I suspect may have something to do with the $ 5.6 million you 've taken from the oil and gas industry over the years . But with so many citizens of your state suffering the direct consequences of climate change , I hope you can summon the moral courage to change course . We face an existential threat , and in the face of this , your specious economic arguments and lame , fossil fuel - endorsed excuses fall flat . We know that fighting climate change will reduce costs and create millions of jobs . We have the knowledge and technology needed to prevent future catastrophes . By doing so , we will create broad prosperity , cleaner air and water , cheaper energy for all , and , most importantly , we will save lives . Just as the evidence of crisis has made itself apparent in Texas , so has the fact that clean energy provides a better path for all made itself evident in the Lone Star State . Texas leads the nation in wind power generation , and it 's on the way to becoming a solar energy powerhouse . Senators , it 's time for you to join the team that is trying to do the right thing – not just in the short run , but with an eye to our shared future . The people of Texas need you to get on board with the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century : clean energy technology that will save lives , create jobs , and protect the amazing creation we all call home . On behalf of NextGen America , please know that the people of Houston are in our thoughts and prayers . We are also fully engaged in fundraising efforts to assist our fellow citizens affected by this catastrophe . Words do not suffice in a tragedy like this . This is a time for action – action to care for our fellow citizens in the face of disaster , and action to prevent a systemic worsening of the climate crisis by heeding the warning and doing what is right . The Huffington Post left_bias True True True True True |
| 35 74 NO_NEED_TO_ACT SCIENCE_EXPERTS_SCI.REPORTS GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS NONE HERO FUEL_CONFLICT INDIVIDUALISTIC "Meteorologist Forced to Educate Ocasio - Cortez On the Difference Between Weather and Climate New York 's democratic socialist sweetheart Rep. Alexandria Ocasio - Cortez is trying very hard to sell her idea of apocalyptic climate change , or at least the side of Ocasio - Cortez that 's serious about climate change ending the world in 12 years is . The other side of her thinks we 're foolish for believing her claim that climate change will destroy the world in 12 years . She can be very confusing . It seems , however , that she 's very confused herself , specifically about how weather works . Recently Washington D.C. suffered from tornado friendly weather , pushing AOC into believing that this natural disaster is simply part of the climate change disaster sweeping the globe . She also seemed disturbed at the appearance of "" casual tornadoes , "" though we 're not exactly sure what those are , and AOC did not elaborate . the climate crisis is real y' all , "" Ocasio said on Instagram . "" Guess we 're at casual tornadoes in growing regions of the country ? The odd proclamation prompted meteorologist Ryan Maue to step in and offer the young Democrat a lesson in what weather is . thought this was fake but it 's from [ Ocasio - Cortez 's ] Instagram story , tweeted Maue . No idea what she means with casual tornadoes and how this line of severe thunderstorms is proof of any climate crisis , he continued . It 's just the weather in D.C. "" In a second tweet , Maue pointed out that AOC does n't seem to know the difference between weather and climate , and offered her an easy analogy so that she understood for the future . Weather is what outfit you wear heading out the door , tweeted Maue . Climate is your closet wardrobe . Last year , climatologist Judith Curry noted that many of the world - ending weather scenarios and predictions from politicians like AOC are as good as fantasy novels , and told the Daily Caller that it 's actually impossible to predict what the climate will look like over a decade out . "" Projections of extreme , alarming impacts are very weakly justified to borderline impossible , "" Curry told The Daily Caller News Foundation . Curry 's latest research , put together for clients of her consulting company near the end of November , looks in detail at projections of sea level rise . Curry 's ultimate conclusion : "" Some of the worst - case scenarios strain credulity . "" "" With regards to 21st century climate projections , we are dealing with deep uncertainty , and we should not be basing our policies based on the assumption that the climate will actually evolve as per predicted , "" Curry told TheDCNF . "" Climate variability and change is a lot more complex than ' CO2 as control knob ' , "" Curry said . "" No one wants to hear this , or actually spend time understanding things , "" Curry said . Of course , a lot of this alarmism from Ocasio - Cortez is a weak attempt to sell her "" Green New Deal , "" which already failed to pass through Congress with any yes votes . The point of the Green New Deal is n't necessarily to save the world but to push socialistic standards for America in everything from how we travel to how we farm . However , everyone from economists to climate scientists , to Democrat politicians have called the Green New Deal a foolish venture , and after having reviewed it personally , I can say it 's a piece of legislation that 's really only good enough for kindling . |
| Gender - based justice , Reparations , Universal income , Medicare for All ... Incoming New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio - Cortez brings with her a massive online following , influence she says she 'll deploy only in support of candidates and politicians who support her plan for a "" Green New Deal . "" The Green New Deal "" is something Ocasio - Cortez invokes frequently in media appearances and rallies . So what 's actually in it ? Her office recently released the text of a proposed House rules change outlining the plan . The proposed rule change for the upcoming 116th Congress would require the creation of a Select Committee for a Green Deal that would be responsible for creating the plan by January 1 , 2020 , with corresponding draft legislation soon after . The text of the rule change lays out the committee 's jurisdiction and required areas of action . Its scope and mandate for legislative authority amounts to a radical grant of power to Washington over Americans ' lives , homes , businesses , travel , banking , and more . Early on , under Jurisdiction , the document makes clear its grandiose philosophical vision : The select committee shall have authority to develop a detailed national , industrial , economic mobilization plan for the transition of the United States economy to become greenhouse gas emissions neutral and to significantly draw down greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and oceans and to promote economic and environmental justice and equality . In addition to achieving its goal of meeting 100 % of national power demand through renewable sources , the document also repeatedly states the Green New Deal will advance non - environmental projects , such as , social , economic , racial , regional and gender - based justice . Ocasio - Cortez 's plan further claims it will ( virtually ) eliminate poverty : "" The Plan for a Green New Deal ( and the draft legislation ) shall recognize that a national , industrial , economic mobilization of this scope and scale is a historic opportunity to virtually eliminate poverty in the United States and to make prosperity , wealth and economic security available to everyone participating in the transformation . "" More specifically , Ocasio - Cortez 's plan calls for , within 10 years , a series of lofty overhauls of American life [ emphasis added]:Between its calls for upgrading homes and overhauling travel , public infrastructure , and even the way Americans consume electricity , the plan leaves virtually no facet of everyday life untouched . Think of how often you do n't use electricity to imagine how much of your average day the plan would n't impact . The proposed committee would also have seemingly total oversight of American industry , with a mandate for pushing union membership . Under Scope of the Plan , a section on labor states the committee 's final plan shall : "" Require strong enforcement of labor , workplace safety , and wage standards that recognize the rights of workers to organize and unionize free of coercion , intimidation , and harassment , and creation of meaningful , quality , career employment . "" Later in the document , Ocasio Cortez 's plan imagines creating a national jobs force to help people participate in this transition . The Green New Deal , it says , shall provide all members of our society , across all regions and all communities , the opportunity , training and education to be a full and equal participant in the transition , including through a job guarantee program to assure a living wage job to every person who wants one . The plan also imagines creating governmental support for transitioning minority communities . The deal shall : ensure a ' just transition ' for all workers , low - income communities , communities of color , indigenous communities , rural and urban communities and the front - line communities most affected by climate change , pollution and other environmental harm including by ensuring that local implementation of the transition is led from the community level . More , Ocasio - Cortez sees this plan is being a vehicle through which social equality might finally realized through the use of reparations to right historical injustices . The final Green New Deal will mitigate deeply entrenched racial , regional and gender - based inequalities in income and wealth ( including , without limitation , ensuring that federal and other investment will be equitably distributed to historically impoverished , low income , deindustrialized or other marginalized communities in such a way that builds wealth and ownership at the community level ) . And if that were n't enough to ensure that Democratic Socialism could be fully realized in America , the plan includes failsafe in the form of universal income and Medicare for All : The plan , it says , shall "" include additional measures such as basic income programs , universal health care programs and any others as the select committee may deem appropriate to promote economic security , labor market flexibility and entrepreneurism . "" Ocasio - Cortez clarifies that this plan would not only need to be financed by taxpayers , but also the Federal Reserve and other institutions the government can create . The end of the document contains a Q&A , one of which deals with the plan 's funding : The Federal Reserve can extend credit to power these projects and investments , new public banks can be created ( as in WWII ) to extend credit and a combination of various taxation tools ( including taxes on carbon and other emissions and progressive wealth taxes ) can be employed . Ocasio - Cortez may not be in Congress yet , but she already has a plan to remake the way Americans drive , commute , live , work , and even use the financial system . Let there be little doubt how she aspires to wield power in Washington . Editor 's Note : This post has been updated with grammatical fixes ." drudgereport right_bias False False False True False |
| 37 238 12_YEARS LEGISLATION_POLICIES_RESPONSES GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT VILLAIN PREVENT_CONFLICT HIERARCHICAL "There 's a climate crisis – but Trump 's cabinet continues to backtrack on science | Kate Aronoff In an effort to suppress federal climate research , the ) will direct state agencies to no longer consider worst - case scenarios of global warming . Climate modelers working for federal agencies will only be permitted to forecast to 2040 , decades before the as - much - as 8C degrees of global warming that could take place by 2100 if we continue on our current path . William Happer – most recently famous for ) that the "" demonization "" of carbon dioxide""really differs little from the Nazi persecution of the Jews "" – will lead a team charged with reviewing the science produced by government researchers , no doubt hunting for references to the disastrous sea - level rise , crop failures and health impacts continued warming stands to create . The irony in all of this is that Trump , Happer and company may have a firmer grasp on the epic scope of these climate projections than many Democrats . As Naomi Klein argues , even the right 's fervent conspiracy theorists tend to understand at some level how profound the implications of this crisis are for business as usual , which has distributed its profits among elites of both parties . Members of Trump 's cabinet , "" Klein has ) , "" with their desperate need to deny the reality of global warming , or belittle its implications "" , NONEtheless""understand something that is fundamentally true . To avert climate chaos , we need to challenge the free - market fundamentalism that has conquered the world since the 1980s . "" For all their bluster and junk science , Republican decision - makers have a clear sense for their own self - interest – and just how much is at stake for them and the rest of the 1 % . Consider Happer himself , a retired physicist who has spent his post - academy days hopping between various climate - denying thinktanks , a good many of them funded by the fossil fuel industry . In 2015 , Greenpeace activists duped Happer into agreeing to write a report on the benefits of carbon dioxide for a fictional oil company . The ( real ) coal company Peabody Energy has paid him to deliver testimony at a state hearing in Minnesota , and Happer has joined hands with groups like the Heritage Foundation , the Cato Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute – all recipients of ample industry funding – to bolster Trump 's agenda and cast doubt on the scientific consensus . As the New York Times reported in its article on the White House 's new climate plans , both Happer and John Bolton – who tapped him for the administration – have received generous support from the Mercers , the right wing family credited with both spreading climate denial and helping fuel the opioid epidemic . We ca n't know whether Happer genuinely believes the nonsense he 's spouting , or is just being paid well enough to sound like he does . The answer does n't really matter . Any clear - eyed assessment of what the science is telling us spells out who the winners and losers of rapid decarbonization would be . To cap warming at around 2C – a threshold many already dealing with climate impacts argue is too high – about three - quarters of known fossil fuel reserves will need to be kept underground , a reality that if realized as public policy would crater the stock price of energy companies . Climate scientist Kevin Anderson has estimated that if the top 10 % of greenhouse gas emitters were to live like the average European – an improvement even for many of us in the United States – global emissions could decline by a third . It is ) with the laws of chemistry and physics , according to IPCC scientists , to limit warming to the boldly ambitious target of 1.5C. The problem is our politics , and how much of a stranglehold the fossil fuel executives with the most to lose from decarbonization have over them . Establishment Democrats , meanwhile , are asleep at the wheel . The pitch for taking on the climate challenge is a compelling one for reasons well beyond the fact that it could prevent runaway catastrophe . The Green New Deal promises a well - paid job for everyone who wants one , a real mass transit system , clean and affordable energy and universal healthcare – a necessity as people leave their jobs to find new work in the transition away from fossil fuels . While several Democratic primary contenders have embraced the Green New Deal and begun proposing their own plans , the front runner in that race , Joe Biden , and the Democrats ' congressional leadership have been cooler toward it , offering neither a decarbonization plan nor a compelling reason for voters to get behind them come 2020 . That 's a dead end for the planet , but also for the party 's political prospects . With Donald Trump at their helm , Republicans will keep denying climate change because it represents a dire threat to their fossil fuel donors ' bottom lines . Democratic leadership would do well to follow the lead of their party 's insurgent progressive wing , and take the climate threat as seriously ." theguardian left_center_bias True True False False False |
| 38 282 OFFICIALS_DECLARE_EMERGENCY GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS INDUSTRY_EMISSIONS ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT HERO FUEL_RESOLUTION HIERARCHICAL "Pope Francis Wants to Add ' Ecological Sin ' to Catechism ROME — Pope Francis told a group of lawyers that he could like to introduce the category of "" ecological sin "" into official Catholic teaching . "" We must introduce – we are thinking about it – in the Catechism of the Catholic Church the sin against ecology , the ecological sin against the common home , because it is a duty , "" the pope said Friday in addressing participants in an international conference on penal law . More specifically , Francis said , are all those actions that can be considered as "" ecocide , "" for instance , "" the massive contamination of air , land and water resources , the large - scale destruction of flora and fauna , and any action capable of producing an ecological disaster or destroying an ecosystem . "" Ecocide "" is to be understood as the loss , damage or destruction of the ecosystems of a given territory , so that its utilization by inhabitants has been or can be seen as severely compromised , "" he said , adding that such a sin is "" a fifth category of crimes against peace , which should be recognised as such by the international community . "" The pontiff said that such actions are "" usually "" caused by corporations , and "" an elementary sense of justice would require "" that they be punished for them . An ecological sin is "" an action or omission against God , against one 's neighbour , the community and the environment , Francis said , quoting the Fathers of the recently concluded Pan - Amazon Regional Synod . It is a sin against future generations and is manifested in acts and habits of pollution and destruction of the harmony of the environment , in transgressions against the principles of interdependence and in the breaking of networks of solidarity between creatures . Above and beyond its sinfulness , failure to care for the environment is an injustice and a crime , Francis suggested and should be legally enforced . I would like to appeal to all the leaders and actors in this area to contribute their efforts to ensuring adequate legal protection for our common home , he said . The pope 's words coincided with the release of a new survey by the Pew Research Center , which found that church - going Americans accept their clergy 's on spiritual matters , but generally distrust their advice on issues such as climate change . Pew found that 68 percent of U.S. adults who attend religious services at least a few times a year say they have a lot of confidence in the advice of their clergy on growing closer to God , yet just a small fraction of this number ( 13 percent ) say they have this confidence when the topic is climate change . Pope Francis has thrown his moral weight behind the battle against anthropogenic climate change , but has also acknowledged that the Church has no authority on scientific questions . In his 2015 encyclical letter on the environment , Francis urging nations and individuals to exercise more responsible stewardship of the created world , but insisted that he wanted to encourage debate rather than pronounce on environmental issues . On many concrete questions , he wrote , the Church has no reason to offer a definitive opinion ; she knows that honest debate must be encouraged among experts , while respecting divergent views . Here I would state once more that the Church does not presume to settle scientific questions or to replace politics , Francis said . But I am concerned to encourage an honest and open debate so that particular interests or ideologies will not prejudice the common good . |
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| Commentary : No , Donald Trump did n't cause or worsen Hurricane Florence — here 's the proof Accompanying every hurricane are numerous stories in mainstream media outlets suggesting disaster could have been averted had American elected officials done more to stop global warming , which left - wing pundits continue to insist is almost entirely being caused by humans ' carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) emissions . In article after article , pundits have claimed Republicans , especially President Donald Trump , are in some way responsible for Hurricane Florence . The Washington Post 's editorial board — in an article titled Yes , you can blame President Trump for Hurricane Florence — even went so far as to say Trump was complicit for the storm . This is total nonsense . Not only are there countless good reasons to question the extent to which humans are contributing to global warming , there 's no evidence indicating hurricanes have become significantly worse as a result of global warming . As Roy Spencer , Ph.D. , an acclaimed climate scientist who previously worked for NASA , recently stated , "" The fact that there has been no long - term change in global hurricane activity , and even a 50 percent decrease in U.S. landfalling major hurricanes over the last 80 years , means no one is ' complicit ' in these storms . "" James Agresti , the president of the Just Facts think tank , rightly notes data appearing in the academic journal Geophysical Research Letters show "" the global number and intensity of cyclones , hurricanes , and major hurricanes have been roughly level for the past four - to - five decades . "" Some have said Florence was made worse because of warmer ocean waters caused by climate change , but that 's also false . Writing for Climate Change Dispatch , Michael Bastasch explains , An analysis of Florence 's path by Cato Institute meteorologist Ryan Maue showed ocean temperatures were ' abnormally cool ' for most of the storm 's trek through the Atlantic Ocean . Even the United Nations ' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , one of the most notorious defenders of the theory humans are headed for a climate catastrophe , admitted in 2012 there "" is low confidence in long - term changes in tropical cyclone activity , after accounting for past changes in observing capabilities . However , over the satellite era , increases in the frequency and intensity of the strongest storms in the North Atlantic are robust . However , the cause of this increase is debated and there is low confidence in attribution of changes in tropical cyclone activity to human influence . "" And if all that were n't enough , it 's absolutely absurd to say Trump is any way responsible for global warming because even if it is true humans are the primary cause of warming , carbon dioxide emissions actually dropped in Trump 's first two years in office . In 2017 , the United States emitted 41.8 million fewer tons of CO2 than in 2016 , the largest reduction in the world . And from 2006 to 2016 , the United States has averaged an annual reduction in its carbon dioxide emissions of 1.2 percent , according to an analysis by BP . The reason the Washington Post and others are consistently alleging , despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary , that Republicans are somehow to blame for natural disasters such as Hurricane Florence is either because they know absolutely nothing about the topic or because they believe it will help Democrats win elections . Either way , you should stick to what the best - available science says , not the fear - mongering of anti - conservative zealots . Justin Haskins ( Jhaskins@heartland . org ) is executive editor of The Heartland Institute and the co - founder of StoppingSocialism . com . |
| California has 8 of 10 most polluted American cities ... Forget the Golden State . California should be called the Smoggy State . Eight of the USA 's 10 most - polluted cities , in terms of ozone pollution , are in California , according to the American Lung Association 's annual State of the Air report , released Wednesday . The Los Angeles / Long Beach area took the dubious distinction of being the nation 's most ozone - polluted city as it has for nearly the entire 19 - year history of the report . Overall , the report said about 133 million Americans — more than four of 10 — live with unhealthful levels of air pollution , placing them at risk for premature death and other serious health effects such as lung cancer , asthma attacks , cardiovascular damage and developmental and reproductive harm . "" We still have a lot to do in this country to clean up air pollution , "" said Lyndsay Moseley Alexander , director of the Association 's Healthy Air Campaign . The report looked at pollution levels from 2014 to 2016 . Ozone pollution was worse overall in this report than it was in last year 's report . Bakersfield , Calif. , was in second place for ozone pollution . Other California cities on the list include Fresno , Sacramento and San Diego . The only non - California metro areas in the top 10 list were Phoenix and New York City . Of the 10 most - polluted cities , seven cities did worse in this year 's report , including Los Angeles and the New York City metro area . Near record - setting heat from our changing climate has resulted in dangerous levels of ozone in many cities across the country , making ozone an urgent health threat for millions of Americans , Lung Association President and CEO Harold P. Wimmer said . Smog forms on warm , sunny days and is made worse from chemicals that exit vehicle tailpipes and from power plant and industrial smokestacks . Warmer temperatures make ozone more likely to form . This adds to the evidence that a changing climate makes it harder to reduce ozone pollution and protect human health , Alexander said Bakersfield took the top spot in a list of cities with another variety of air pollution — small particulate matter , aka soot . Increased heat , changes in climate patterns , drought and wildfires — many related to climate change — contributed to the high number of days with unhealthy particulate matter . Since California is known for its strict environmental regulations , why are so many cities from the state typically on this list ? It 's because the state would be far worse off without its strict laws on tailpipe pollution and eliminating coal - fired power plants . California has done more than any other state to counteract air pollution , the Lung Association said . With this report , the Lung Association also calls out Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) for ongoing threats to the nation 's air quality , including steps to roll back or weaken enforcement of the Clean Air Act . EPA administrator Scott Pruitt has taken many steps to roll back or put in loopholes to the Clean Air Act , Alexander said , adding that the association is concerned and we will continue to fight for healthy air , she said . Some good news in the report was that particulate pollution generally continued to improve in 2014 - 16 , the report said . This was true for both short - term particulate pollution and for year - round particulate pollution . For year - round particle pollution , Fairbanks , Alaska , was the most - polluted city . The Lung Association also lists the nation 's cleanest cities , meaning ones that experience no high ozone or high particulate pollution days . The nation 's cleanest cities are Bellingham , Wash. ; Burlington , Vt . ; Casper , Wyo . ; Honolulu ; Melbourne , Fla. ; and Wilmington , N.C. |
| Rhode Island sues major oil companies over climate change ( Reuters ) – Rhode Island on Monday sued several major oil companies , including Exxon Mobil Corp and BP plc , accusing them of contributing to climate change that is damaging infrastructure and coastal communities in the state . The lawsuit announced by Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin was the first by a state seeking to hold oil companies responsible for costs associated with climate change and followed similar cases by several local governments nationally . The lawsuit alleged that various oil companies had created a public nuisance in the state and failed to adequately warn customers , consumers and regulators about the risks posed by their products . For a very long time , there has been this perception that ' Big Oil ' was too big to take on , but here we are – the smallest state – taking on some of the biggest corporate polluters in the world , Kilmartin said in a statement . The lawsuit , filed in Providence County Superior Court , named as defendants Exxon , BP , Royal Dutch Shell Plc , and Chevron Corp , among other companies . Shell , in a statement , said , lawsuits that masquerade as climate action and impede the collaboration needed for meaningful change were not the answer to climate change . The other companies did not respond to requests for comment . The lawsuit by the Democratic attorney general follows similar cases by U.S. cities and local governments , arguing the production of fossil fuels had led to rising tides that damaged shorelines , roads and other properties requiring remediation . The lawsuit contended that the companies sought to refute scientific findings regarding how greenhouse gas pollution was causing climate change , and failed to prevent the harm that would result from consumers ' using fossil fuel products . The lawsuit said that companies also violated the state 's Environmental Rights Act by polluting and destroying natural resources in Rhode Island . Kilmartin is seeking to force the companies to pay for damages associated with climate change , citing the costs taxpayers were incurring to repair roads and bridges and rebuild coastal structures . The complaint seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages as well as orders requiring the companies to pay abatement costs and to disgorge profits . |
| The cost of Trump 's Endangered Species Act proposal The Trump administration has proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act ( ESA ) , a law credited with keeping hundreds of species from going extinct . The change would eliminate automatic protections for threatened plant and animal species , and make it easier for species to be removed from the list . Wildlife conservation groups say the proposed change could have disastrous lasting effects on at - risk species . Trump officials say the change will streamline the regulatory process . The proposed change is the latest in a series of White House efforts to remove environmental regulations designed to protect vulnerable species and their habitats , as well as leave untouched some of America 's most wild places . Environmentalist groups have reacted with outrage , and the Center for Biological Diversity said these proposals would slam a wrecking ball into the most crucial protections for our most endangered wildlife . If these regulations had been in place in the 1970s , the bald eagle and the grey whale would be extinct today . The Endangered Species Act was signed into law in 1973 by Republican President Richard Nixon and now protects more than 1,200 plant and animal species . The list of species is maintained by US Fish and Wildlife and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , which oversees marine species . It has been credited with reviving bald eagle populations and bringing the Yellowstone grizzly bear back from the edge of extinction . Here are several species that could be affected by the change , or may not currently exist if it was not for the landmark law . Experts agree that arctic sea ice - which polar bears require for fishing and hunting - is shrinking , which is leading to enormous stresses on the world 's largest bear species . The proposed change to the ESA includes a narrowing of the definition of "" foreseeable future "" . The US government says they want the language clarified to "" make it clear that it extends only as far as [ wildlife officials ] can reasonably determine that both the future threats and the species ' response to those threats are probable . Environmentalists fear the new language will make it possible for government biologists to disregard the long - term effects of climate change on the environment . The polar bear could be emblematic of many species being affected by climate change , says Bob Dreher of the environmental group Defenders of Wildlife . Whether government biologists will recognise this slow - acting but inevitable change in ecosystem because of climate change or wait until more evidence is available is unclear , he tells the BBC . The ESA provides blanket protections to species which are categorised as either threatened - such as the California gnatcatcher - or endangered . Endangered species are those likely to go extinct , while threatened species are those likely to become endangered . Under current law , both are granted critical habitat protections , but the Trump administration wants automatic protections for threatened species to be eliminated and , in the future , to be considered on a case by case basis . Protections for the California gnatcatcher have barred development across nearly 100,000 acres of land in the Greater Los Angeles area , according to the Los Angeles Times . If not for their current protections , their native habitat would likely become part of more urban sprawl . The sage grouse has been a candidate for protection as a threatened species for nearly a decade , but it is unclear if it will ever be added . They , as well as the dunes sagebrush lizard , have seen their territory encroached upon by human development and have seen decreasing populations in recent years . The distinctive sage grouse return to their breeding grounds , known as Leks , every year . Biologists believe some Leks can be hundreds of years old . If the sage grouse does achieve threatened status , environmentalists fear under the new Trump proposal it would be too late for them to gain the broad protections they need . Although the proposed change would only affect future creatures joining the list , Mr Dreher says that if the proposed rules had been in effect in the 1970s , animals such as wolves and bald eagles may have been extinct by now . In a significant reversal , the proposed change would eliminate language that precludes wildlife experts from considering economic impacts when determining when an organism should be listed . Wolves , which were re - introduced in the lower 48 states , have faced criticism from ranchers and farmers who argue that they have impacted their livelihood by killing their livestock . Re - introducing them to the continental US came at great cost and effort , says Mr Dreher , a former US Fish and Wildlife official . Mr Dreher says that the ESA was designed by Congress to say that the value of life on earth is priceless and that politicians should not have to decide whether it is too expensive to prevent extinction . If we made those decisions you can see under different administrations we would end up protecting nothing . Because who knows what a snail is worth ? Who knows what a frog is worth ? |
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| Democrats Take a Nonsensical Approach to Climate Change Environmental concerns are real , but the planet still will be here in twelve years . Imagine there 's a movie about a meteor heading toward Earth . It will be here in twelve years . Following Hollywood convention , once you got past the part where the maverick scientist or precocious kid discovering it struggles to convince the world about the threat , you 'd expect the president or the military to leap into action . Congress is usually left out of such plots , but it 's not a stretch to imagine that Congress would race to authorize a plan to send astronauts into space to prevent Armageddon or a planetary deep impact . ( If you do n't believe me , I refer you to the movies Armageddon and Deep Impact.)The initial rollout of the Green New Deal , a sweeping proposal to overhaul the U.S. economy and , taken seriously , society itself , was supposed to follow a script like this . The United Nations opened the bidding by announcing last year that we had twelve years to keep the pace of climate change from accelerating too fast to contain the damage . Like a high school game of telephone , this quickly became a blanket statement that we have twelve years to save the planet . Climate change is a real concern , but if we did absolutely nothing to stop it , the planet would still be here in a dozen years . So would the human race and many other living things . In fact , if America did virtually everything the Green New Dealers propose , global emissions of greenhouse gases would n't change that much unless China , India , Russia , and all the African nations followed suit . There are people who NONEtheless believe that climate change is a world - threatening calamity and that exaggeration is a necessary tool to galvanize public opinion . If you Google the phrase "" twelve years to save the planet , "" you 'll find people who think it 's literally true . The problem is that we 've heard these things before . In 1989 , a U.N. official predicted entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000 . In 2008 , Al Gore warned that the northern polar ice cap could be gone in five years . Melting polar ice is something to worry about , but it 's not gone . The reasons this is a political problem for climate - change warriors should be obvious . First , they are their own worst enemy when it comes to maintaining credibility . By working on the theory that they have to scare the bejeebus out of the public , they made it easy for people to dismiss them when their Chicken Little prophecies did n't materialize . Another problem , which compounds the first , is that they get greedy . Working on the premise that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste , progressives have a long record of trying to throw other items on their wish list into the anti - climate - change shopping cart . The Green New Deal , as presented by Representative Alexandria Ocasio - Cortez ( D. , N.Y. ) , includes high - quality health care for everyone , guaranteed jobs , paid vacations , a living wage , and retirement security . Indeed , it 's worth remembering that environmentalists targeted the fossil - fuel industry for early retirement long before concerns about global warming were on the agenda . The anti - oil campaign began with the Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969 , back when concerns about another ice age were still taken seriously . You can believe that climate change is a real problem and also be forgiven for thinking progressives are trying to pull a fast one . This is especially so when you consider that proponents of the GND also favor phasing out nuclear power , which could provide vastly more electricity than wind or solar ( and more efficiently ) . Which gets me back to where I started . Imagine there was a movie about an incoming meteor that could be stopped only with a nuclear warhead , and the heroes insisted that nuclear weapons are just too icky to use , even to save the planet . Audiences would scratch their heads . They might also think they missed a crucial plot point if the protagonists proposed a sweeping government effort to stop the meteor and then , when given the opportunity to vote for it , voted "" present "" in protest . That 's similar to what happened this week . Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell brought the Green New Deal to the floor for a vote , and Democrats refused to vote for it . Instead , they harangued McConnell for pulling a stunt . They were right . It was a stunt . But sometimes it takes a stunt to expose an even bigger one . |
| Global warming fail : Study finds melting sea ice is actually helping Arctic animals Proponents of the theory humans are primarily responsible for rising global temperatures long claimed wildlife are harmed significantly by global warming , and that unless mankind stops producing significant amounts of carbon - dioxide emissions , the world 's animals will not be able to thrive . While rising temperatures have certainly put a strain on species in some parts of the world , a new study by researchers at the University of Southern Denmark suggests animals in the Arctic region are thriving as because of higher global temperatures . According to a press release touting the study 's new findings , warmer conditions have produced a larger number of life - sustaining melt ponds in Arctic waters . Melt ponds provide more light and heat for the ice and the underlying water , but now it turns out that they may also have a more direct and potentially important influence on life in the Arctic waters , stated the press release . Mats of algae and bacteria can evolve in the melt ponds , which can provide food for marine creatures . This is the conclusion of researchers in the periodical , Polar Biology , the press release said . The researchers said nutrients are able to reach sea creatures in the Arctic more easily because of the melt ponds . Climate change is accompanies by more storms and more precipitation , and we must expect that more nutrients will be released from the surroundings into the melt ponds , said Professor Ronnie Glud of the Department of Biology at SDU . These conditions , plus the fact that the distribution of areas of melt ponds is increasing , can contribute to increased productivity in plant and animal life in the Arctic seas . Recent data released by scientists at NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center reveals sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic regions are at their lowest recorded point since 1979 , when satellite data first started estimating sea ice . About 2 million square km of Arctic sea ice are estimated to have been lost since 1979 . Current data suggest about 14.28 million square km of sea ice remain . USA Today recently declared the loss of sea ice terrifying , but global warming skeptics have long suggested these claims are overblown when put into perspective . As reported by Anthony Watts on his influential climate - change website Watts Up With That , the president of the Royal Society in London reported in 1817 significant reductions to arctic sea ice . It will without doubt have come to your Lordship 's knowledge that a considerable change of climate , inexplicable at present to us , must have taken place in the Circumpolar Regions , by which the severity of the cold that has for centuries past enclosed the seas in the high northern latitudes in an impenetrable barrier of ice has been during the last two years , greatly abated . ... this affords ample proof that new sources of warmth have been opened and give us leave to hope that the Arctic Seas may at this time be more accessible than they have been for centuries past , and that discoveries may now be made in them not only interesting to the advancement of science but also to the future intercourse of mankind and the commerce of distant nations . """ TheBlaze right_bias True False False False False |
| 47 668 YOURE_DESTROYING_OUR_FUTURE ENV.ORGS_ACTIVISTS GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS GENERAL_PUBLIC HERO FUEL_RESOLUTION EGALITARIAN Who Will Protect The Air We Breathe And Water We Drink ? The Resistance More and more Americans are coming to the conclusion that climate change is no myth at a time when the Trump administration is intent on ignoring reality and appeasing corporate interests . Some environmental leaders are responding by formulating a lowest common denominator strategy on climate , like revenue neutral approaches , hoping to magically create a middle ground by bowing to the altar of limited government . Fortunately , an inclusive , inter - sectional and organic resistance is rising . This spring , throughout a week of powerful demonstrations from Earth Day to May Day , this resistance will blossom . OneAmerica is a multi - issue immigrant rights organization that calls Washington state – aka the Center of the Resistance – home . Our communities are as harmed in the short term by ICE raids and unconstitutional travel bans as they are in the long term by gutted environmental regulations . To fight these destructive and unpopular attacks , we need everyone , but more importantly , we need to follow the leadership of those most impacted by these regulatory rollbacks and programmatic cuts . People across the country overwhelmingly support action on climate and investment in renewable energy sources , and believe immigrants make the United States a better place to live . In partnership with our allies among labor , environmental , faith , and progressive business groups , OneAmerica has worked with other organizations led by people of color to build a statewide movement for action on climate change that puts our communities and other front line communities first . Our communities , to quote environmental justice advocate Majora Carter , are the canaries in the coal mine : We have already begun to experience climate disruption by virtue of where we live and work , and we have always been on the front lines of pollution . Farm worker communities in Eastern Washington have worked through several severely hot summers , under threat of wildfires and job loss due to drought . In the Puget Sound region , some of the zip codes with the lowest life expectancy and highest pollution burdens are home to large and growing Latino and Asian Pacific American communities . Our movement has come together around the conviction that a well - crafted climate policy must actively seek to close that climate gap , the disproportionate and unequal impact of the climate crisis has on people of color and poor people . We demand climate action that addresses historic injustices by pricing pollution and investing in solutions that improve economic and environmental conditions in front line communities . Our policy , developed in partnership with mainstream environmental groups , labor unions , public health organizations and other stakeholders , represents some of the best of what a unified national resistance could create : Comprehensive , equitable action against the biggest existential threat of our generation : climate change . That 's why on Saturday , April 22nd , we will support an inclusive March for Science that embraces research - based policies to address climate change . We will push our allies in the movement to use racial equity in their analyses by identifying disparate impacts of pollution and climate disruption and designing remedies that improve conditions for the most overburdened first . The People 's Climate Movement takes to the streets on Saturday , April 29th , shedding light on the intertwined destinies of clean energy and employment in the United States and around the world . Finally , on May Day , OneAmerica will join partner organizations in championing immigrant and workers ' rights in Seattle and Yakima , in solidarity with mobilizations across the country . We will march to demand inter - sectional immigrant rights : The right to freedom from hate crimes and harassment ; the right to living wages and safe working conditions ; the right to love whomever we choose ; the right to keep families together ; and the right to a clean and healthy environment . These are the inextricable demands of a resistance as powerful as it is diverse , and as strong as it is resilient . Our hope rests not in convincing the willfully ignorant to change their ways , but in the coming together of broad - based people 's movements prepared to act to take back the initiative , moving from resistance to power . The Huffington Post left_bias True True True False True |
| 48 812 GORE SCIENCE_EXPERTS_SCI.REPORTS INDUSTRY_EMISSIONS ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT VILLAIN FUEL_RESOLUTION HIERARCHICAL "Record surge in atmospheric CO2 seen in 2016 Concentrations of CO2 in the Earth 's atmosphere surged to a record high in 2016 , according to the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) . Last year 's increase was 50 % higher than the average of the past 10 years . Researchers say a combination of human activities and the El Niño weather phenomenon drove CO2 to a level not seen in 800,000 years . This year 's greenhouse gas bulletin produced by the WMO , is based on measurements taken in 51 countries . Research stations dotted around the globe measure concentrations of warming gases including carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . The figures published by the WMO are what 's left in the atmosphere after significant amounts are absorbed by the Earth 's sinks , which include the oceans and the biosphere.2016 saw average concentrations of CO2 hit 403.3 parts per million , up from 400ppm in 2015 . It is the largest increase we have ever seen in the 30 years we have had this network , Dr Oksana Tarasova , chief of WMO 's global atmosphere watch programme , told BBC News . "" The largest increase was in the previous El Niño , in 1997 - 1998 and it was 2.7ppm and now it is 3.3ppm , it is also 50 % higher than the average of the last ten years . "" El Niño impacts the amount of carbon in the atmosphere by causing droughts that limit the uptake of CO2 by plants and trees . Emissions from human sources have slowed down in the last couple of years according to research , but according to Dr Tarasova , it is the cumulative total in the atmosphere that really matters as CO2 stays aloft and active for centuries . Over the past 70 years , says the report , the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere is nearly 100 times larger than it was at the end of the last ice age . Rapidly increasing atmospheric levels of CO2 and other gases have the potential , according to the study to "" initiate unpredictable changes in the climate system ... leading to severe ecological and economic disruptions . "" The study notes that since 1990 there has been a 40 % increase in total radiative forcing , that 's the warming effect on our climate of all greenhouse gases . Geological - wise , it is like an injection of a huge amount of heat , said Dr Tarasova . The changes will not take ten thousand years like they used to take before , they will happen fast - we do n't have the knowledge of the system in this state , that is a bit worrisome ! "" According to experts , the last time the Earth experienced a comparable concentration of CO2 was three to five million years ago , in the mid - Pliocene era . The climate then was 2 - 3C warmer , and sea levels were 10 - 20 m higher due to the melting of Greenland and the West Antarctic ice sheets . Other experts in the field of atmospheric research agreed that the WMO findings were a cause for concern . "" The 3ppm CO2 growth rate in 2015 and 2016 is extreme - double the growth rate in the 1990 - 2000 decade , "" Prof Euan Nisbet from Royal Holloway University of London told BBC News . "" It is urgent that we follow the Paris agreement and switch rapidly away from fossil fuels : there are signs this is beginning to happen , but so far the air is not yet recording the change . "" Another concern in the report is the continuing , mysterious rise of methane levels in the atmosphere , which were also larger than the average over the past ten years . Prof Nisbet says there is a fear of a vicious cycle , where methane drives up temperatures which in turn releases more methane from natural sources . "" The rapid increase in methane since 2007 , especially in 2014 , 2015 , and 2016 , is different . This was not expected in the Paris agreement . Methane growth is strongest in the tropics and sub - tropics . The carbon isotopes in the methane show that growth is not being driven by fossil fuels . We do not understand why methane is rising . It may be a climate change feedback . It is very worrying . "" The implications of these new atmospheric measurements for the targets agreed under the Paris climate pact , are quite negative , say observers . "" The numbers do n't lie . We are still emitting far too much and this needs to be reversed , said Erik Solheim , head of UN Environment . We have many of the solutions already to address this challenge . What we need now is global political will and a new sense of urgency . The report has been issued just a week ahead of the next instalment of UN climate talks , in Bonn . Despite the declaration by President Trump that he intends to take the US out of the deal , negotiators meeting in Germany will be aiming to advance and clarify the rulebook of the Paris agreement . Follow Matt on Twitter and on Facebook |
| United States begins process of withdrawing from Paris climate deal The United States submitted a formal notification that it will withdraw from the Paris climate agreement , Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Monday , a move that has been widely expected since President Trump announced his intention to do so in 2017 . The climate agreement , which went into force Nov. 4 , 2016 , committed countries that signed the measure to take certain voluntary steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions . The agreement was not legally enforceable and countries set their own emissions targets . The accord banned countries from announcing their intent to withdraw in its first three years , meaning Monday was the first day the U.S. was allowed to submit its intent to leave the agreement since it went into force in 2016 . President Trump made the decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement because of the unfair economic burden imposed on American workers , businesses , and taxpayers by U.S. pledges made under the Agreement , Pompeo said in a statement . The United States has reduced all types of emissions , even as we grow our economy and ensure our citizens ' access to affordable energy . "" LEONARDO DICAPRIO PRAISES GRETA THUNBERG AS ' A LEADER OF OUR TIME'Trump has previously said that the Paris climate agreement harms the U.S. economy and would hurt American jobs if left to stand . "" Compliance with the terms of the Paris accord and the onerous energy restrictions it has placed on the United States could cost America as much as 2.7 million lost jobs by 2025 according to the National Economic Research Associates , "" Trump said in the Rose Garden in 2017 when he announced plans to remove the U.S. from the accord . "" This includes 440,000 fewer manufacturing jobs — not what we need — believe me , this is not what we need — including automobile jobs , and the further decimation of vital American industries on which countless communities rely . They rely for so much , and we would be giving them so little . "" Some opponents of the agreement have noted that countries such as Russia and China were not affected as significantly by the accord as the United States and pointed out the unencouraging results of the Kyoto Protocol , raising questions about whether the Paris agreement would reduce global greenhouse gas emissions at all . "" Half of the countries that were legally bound to the Kyoto Protocol treaty failed to adhere to their pledges , and the host country of Japan even increased their carbon emissions , "" Sen. Jim Inhofe , R - Okla. , said as the Paris climate agreement was being debated in 2016 . "" Now we find ourselves celebrating an agreement where the world 's largest carbon emitter , China , is permitted to increase their emissions until 2025 and to continue bringing a coal - fired power plant online every 10 days . We even turn a blind eye to the fact that China lied about its carbon emissions when it first came to the table with its pledge last year . Others , however , see America backing out of the international pact to limit greenhouse gas emissions as an abdication of global leadership and denial of basic climate science . By withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement to double - down on a coal & fossil fuel energy agenda , Trump has engaged in a unilateral disarmament in the economic arms race that is the transition to clean energy , said Michael Mann , a climate scientist and professor at Penn State University . The challenge of averting dangerous and irreversible climate change and massive coastal inundation , devastating floods and droughts , is that much more an uphill climb with Trump 's pullout from the Paris agreement . "" CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPIn his statement Monday , however , Pompeo maintained that the United States was on the right track both economically and environmentally . "" Our results speak for themselves , "" he wrote . "" U.S. emissions of criteria air pollutants that impact human health and the environment declined by 74 percent between 1970 and 2018 . U.S. net greenhouse gas emissions dropped 13 percent from 2005 - 2017 , even as our economy grew over 19 percent . """ foxnews right_bias True False False False False |
| 50 504 12_YEARS NONE GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS GENERAL_PUBLIC VILLAIN PREVENT_CONFLICT HIERARCHICAL "Trump 's EPA Plans To Ease Carbon Emissions Rule For New Coal Plants Trump 's EPA Plans To Ease Carbon Emissions Rule For New Coal PlantsThe Trump administration plans to eliminate an Obama - era requirement that new coal - fired power plants have expensive technology to capture carbon dioxide emissions . This latest administration effort to boost fossil fuel industries comes as leaders from nearly 200 countries are meeting in Poland to discuss how to keep greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere . And amid reports that CO2 emissions are rising again , as well as the administration 's own report that climate change is causing more severe weather more frequently and could eventually hurt the U.S. economy . The Environmental Protection Agency proposal would revise its New Source Performance Standards for coal power plants , allowing coal - fired generators to emit more CO2 per megawatt - hour of electricity generated . This would ease an Obama - era rule that was a central target in critics ' accusations of a "" war on coal . "" The coal industry argues the existing Obama administration requirements made it all but impossible to build new coal power plants , by requiring costly technologies such as carbon capture and storage . EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler , a former coal industry lobbyist , echoed that argument in announcing the proposed rule change . "" By replacing onerous regulations with high , yet achievable , standards , we can continue America 's historic energy production , keep energy prices affordable , and encourage new investments in cutting - edge technology that can then be exported around the world , said Wheeler . Environmental groups argue that in order to reduce climate change risks , the world will have to stop burning coal . They blasted the EPA 's announcement . "" This is just one more foolhardy move by a misguided administration that will be judged harshly by future generations , "" said David Doniger , senior strategic director of the Climate & Clean Energy program at the Natural Resources Defense Council . "" Today 's proposal is nothing more than another thoughtless attempt by the Trump Administration to prop up their backwards and false narrative about reviving coal at the expense of science , public safety , and reality , said Mary Anne Hitt , senior director of Sierra Club 's Beyond Coal campaign . In fact , it 's not at all clear if the change would help the ailing coal industry . In recent years it has stopped building new plants and been shutting down old ones instead . The federal Energy Information Administration reports U.S. coal consumption has declined over the last decade and this year is expected to be at its lowest level in 39 years . Even as coal use rises in China and India , coal has struggled in the U.S. to compete with cheaper electricity produced from natural gas and renewable energy . But coal industry officials believe this rule change will still help . It does appear that this proposal would make it feasible for new coal plants to be a viable option in the future in the United States , says Michelle Bloodworth , president and CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity . This is the latest in a series of efforts the Trump administration has taken to help the coal business . Previous actions include relaxing Obama - era regulations on carbon emissions and mercury emissions as well as rolling back existing regulations that govern coal ash . The EPA will collect public comments on the proposal for 60 days and plans to hold a public hearing on the proposed rule change . |
| Antarctica Has Lost More Than 3 Trillion Tons Of Ice In 25 Years Antarctica Has Lost More Than 3 Trillion Tons Of Ice In 25 YearsScientists have completed the most exhaustive assessment of changes in Antarctica 's ice sheet to date . And they found that it 's melting faster than they thought . Ice losses totaling 3 trillion tonnes ( or more than 3.3 trillion tons ) since 1992 have caused global sea levels to rise by 7.6 mm , nearly one third of an inch , according to a study published in Nature on Wednesday . Before 2010 , Antarctica was contributing a relatively small proportion of the melting that is causing global sea levels to rise , says study co - leader Andrew Shepherd of the University of Leeds . But that has changed . Since around 2010 , 2012 , we can see that there 's been a sharp increase in the rate of ice loss from Antarctica . And the ice sheet is now losing three times as much ice , "" Shepherd adds . The annual sea level rise that 's attributed to Antarctica has tripled , from 0.2 mm to 0.6 mm , he says . That 's a big jump , and it did catch us all by surprise , "" Shepherd says . The melting is caused by rising ocean temperatures due to climate change . Shepherd says they 've seen the most dramatic effects in West Antarctica , where the ice sheet rests on the sea bed . When we look into the ocean we find that it 's too warm and the ice sheet ca n't withstand the temperatures that are surrounding it in the sea , he says . That 's causing glaciers to flow more quickly into the sea . East Antarctica , which is home to the South Pole , has seen considerably less melting because most of its ice is above sea level . That 's an important distinction , because it means it 's insulated from changes in the ocean 's temperature . This assessment , conducted by 84 scientists from 44 international organizations , is known as the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter - comparison Exercise ( IMBIE ) . There have been many other estimates of how much ice has melted in Antarctica . And many of those papers showed different results . Some of the estimates covered different proportions of the ice sheets , some of them covered different time periods , and all of them used different methods and so it became difficult for people who are not specialists to try to pick them apart , says Shepherd . So that was the motivation for originally setting up the project . The scientists combined 24 different satellite surveys , which Shepherd says provides a more complete picture of the overall ice sheet change than previous studies . We believe that we 've captured all of the different satellite records that exist on the planet , "" he says . To analyze the ice , the researchers use three different kinds of measurements . Satellite altimeters measure the height of the ice sheets , to see how much they are thinning or thickening over time . Another measurement records the speed of the glaciers and how they 're moving into the ocean . Finally , the scientists are recording gravity measurements for Antarctica . These tell us about changes in the earth 's gravitational attraction over time and that can be related to the mass of the ice sheets overall , "" Shepherd says , "" and they are really powerful measurements because they can add up everything across Antarctica . "" So what accounts for the apparent three - fold speed up in Antarctica 's melting in the last five years ? Shepherd says that actually , their data shows a a progressive increase in ice loss throughout the whole 25 year time period . However , a period of heavy snowfall between 2005 and 2010 masked some of the immediate effects of the ice loss , accounting for the sudden , steep increase in more recent years . This new data creates a much starker picture of the future than previous estimates . Shepherd says until 2010 , the data had been tracking a lower scenario which estimated that Antarctica would n't make much of a contribution to sea level rise at all "" because of the effects of higher snowfall . However , he says that now the data is tracking a higher scenario , which could mean nearly 6 inches of additional sea level rise in the next century . That could be a big deal , he says , "" for anybody who lives , works and governs a coastal region . "" Understanding the rate of Antarctica 's melting is crucial for these communities . If all of the ice in Antarctica melted , global sea levels would rise by more than 190 feet . |
| Climate Report Warns Of Extreme Weather , Displacement Of Millions Without Action Climate Report Warns Of Extreme Weather , Displacement Of Millions Without Action . Some of the world 's top climate scientists have concluded that global warming is likely to reach dangerous levels unless new technologies are developed to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere . The United Nations ' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) says pledges from the world 's governments to reduce greenhouse gases , made in Paris in 2015 , are n't enough to keep global warming from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius ( 2.7 degrees F ) above pre - industrial temperatures . That was the Paris agreement 's most ambitious target ( a 2 - degree C rise was established as a more practical goal ) . But even with a 1.5 - degree C increase , the world can expect serious changes to weather , sea levels , agriculture and natural eco - systems , according to a report issued Monday following an IPCC meeting in South Korea . "" Limiting warming to 1.5 C is possible within the laws of chemistry and physics , "" says Jim Skea of Imperial College London , one of the authors of the report , "" but doing so would require unprecedented changes . "" Scientists and climate researchers have long doubted that the 1.5 - degree C goal was practical or economically feasible . Their new report lays out the difficulty in stark detail : it would require a 40 - 50 percent reduction in emissions by 2030 ( global emissions are currently rising ) . It would mean a carbon - neutral world — one with no net additional greenhouse gases in the atmosphere — by 2050 . They now say that scenario is very unlikely without new measures and technologies to remove greenhouse gases from the air , some of which have yet to be invented . "" We have a monumental task in front of us , "" says co - author Natalie Mahowald , from Cornell University , "" but it is not impossible . "" In 50 years , she says , "" it 's going to be very different . This is our chance to decide what that road will look like . The IPCC report holds out hope that if the global climate warms more than the 1.5 - degree , or even the 2 - degree target , this overshoot could be reversed with carbon removal techniques . It suggests numerous ways to take carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) , the leading greenhouse gas , out of the atmosphere . Growing more forests , which absorb CO2 , is one tactic . But research shows that the amount of land needed for that would be formidable . Another possibility involves burning biomass to make electricity instead of using fossil fuels . Currently , about 1 percent of electricity in the U.S. is made that way , using things like waste wood and agricultural material . It 's expensive , however . Crops like corn are now turned into ethanol , but that raises food prices . To be economical , the biomass would have to be agricultural waste or special crops like switchgrass that do n't compete with food crops . There are experimental methods now that can take CO2 directly out of the air , after which it could be buried . But billions of tons of CO2 would have to come out , and these techniques now cost as much as $ 1,000 to extract a single ton of CO2 , according to Howard Herzog , an engineer at MIT who specializes in these carbon capture technologies . CO2 is a tiny percentage of the air ; Herzog likens the technique to removing 400 CO2 marbles from a pile of one million marbles . The best way to remove CO2 from the air , he says in his book Carbon Capture , is to not release it into the air in the first place . Herzog calls most of these extraction ideas more of a hope than a reality . He says it comes down to cost , and it 's a lot cheaper to take it out now ( by reducing emissions ) than in the future . "" But most governments now fear the cost of a global overhaul of the world 's energy economy in the short time needed to meet the Paris climate goals . As the report concludes : There is no simple answer to the questions of whether it is feasible to limit warming to 1.5 C and to adapt to the consequences .... However , it does make clear the consequences of warming above that level : more heat waves , more severe rain and snow events , higher sea levels , damage to agriculture and displacement of millions of people . |
| MIT professor warns humanity will hit ' mass extinction ' event — here 's why A geophysics professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology says that he 's run the numbers on humanity facing a mass extinction event , and the numbers are not good . According to Digital Trends , a mass extinction event is an event in which a large number of species become extinct at once — as was the case with the death of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago . Daniel Rothman told the publication that we are approaching a threshold of catastrophe in the carbon cycle similar to that of the five previous periods of mass extinction over the last 540 million years . he study identifies two thresholds for major carbon cycle change , Rothman said . One is a critical rate of change , corresponding to the rate at which CO2 is added to the ocean / atmosphere system . The other , a critical size or mass , corresponds to the total carbon added to the oceans . Exceeding the critical rate at slow time scales — much greater than about 10,000 years — or exceeding the critical size at fast time scales — much less than about 10,000 years — is associated with mass extinction , he explained . The MIT research paper ] predicts that the critical mass , about 300 gigatons of carbon , he concluded , will likely be exceeded sometime this century . If so , following the paper 's logic , the marine carbon cycle would proceed to follow a trajectory which could excite a mass extinction over a period of about 10,000 years . "" Rothman goes on to explain that the tipping point of "" unknown territory "" wo n't take that long – he predicts it will come as soon as 2100 , or sooner . Rothman says that decreasing carbon emissions , would be the best way to try to avoid the catastrophe . Those who point to discrepancies in the global warming narrative have also noted that many of the solutions offered by climate change advocates do very little to actually stop carbon emissions and turn back the clock . They also cite previous doomsday scenarios offered by alarmist scientists that did n't come to fruition , including acid rain and global cooling ." TheBlaze right_bias False False False False False |
| 54 602 DEBATE_AND_SCAM SCIENCE_EXPERTS_SCI.REPORTS ENV.ORGS_ACTIVISTS INDUSTRY_EMISSIONS VILLAIN PREVENT_RESOLUTION INDIVIDUALISTIC "Enviro - Funded Report Ties Exxon Crusade To Largest Oil Spill In History Global warming is partially responsible for a decades - old oil spill that happened after an Exxon Mobil tanker hit a barrier reef , according to a Los Angeles Times report funded in part by liberal billionaire George Soros . The LA Times published a wide - ranging piece Thursday suggesting climate change laid the groundwork for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill , a disaster that eventually dumped more than 10 million gallons of crude off the coast of Alaska . Higher than normal water temperatures near Prince William Sound caused ice bergs to chip off the Columbia Glacier and force the ship into uncharted territory . Floating chunks of ice forced the tanker out of its primary shipping lane , the paper noted . It veered off and crashed into the Bligh Reef , causing Exxon more than $ 3.4 billion through 2008 in cleanup costs and court settlements . Columbia Journalism School 's Energy and Environment Reporting Project , the group that conducted the paper 's report , was also involved in an investigation last November targeting Exxon 's climate change research . Thursday 's report dovetails with the group 's previous investigations showing the oil company hid knowledge about climate change from the public for years . For the two decades following the Exxon Valdez disaster , the company worked quietly to safeguard its operations and infrastructure against steadily rising sea levels and thawing permafrost , The LA Times wrote . Yet in public , it vociferously fought regulations and policies that would have limited fossil fuel emissions while publicly questioning the science behind climate change . Some climate scientists believe the LA Times is taking a leap of faith . Roy Spencer , a climate scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville , for one , told The Daily Caller News Foundation that ice always calves off glaciers , because snow falls on the mountains , and the ice flows downhill — no global warming needed . There is a perfectly reasonable explanation for why ice bergs were cleaving off glaciers at the time of the Valdez disaster , he said , and it does n't really have anything to do with man - made global warming . "" If the Columbia Glacier was calving more in the 1980s , it 's most likely because the Pacific Decadal Oscillation ( PDO ) flipped in the late 1970s , which caused it to suddenly warm in Alaska , Spencer added , referencing an El Nino - like weather pattern that commonly affects the area the oil spill . What happened to the Valdez is no different than what happened to the Titanic , he said , referring to the passenger ship that hit an iceberg in 1912 , which killed thousands of people heading to New York from England . Several wealthy philanthropic groups such as the Rockefeller Brothers Fund ( RBF ) , Rockefeller Family Fund ( RFF ) , and the Open Society Foundations bankrolled large portions of the LA Times ' report . Soros is the director and founder of Open Society and has financed climate crusades in the past . RFF has single - handedly financially propped up the anti - Exxon campaign . It also pressured various attorneys general into investigating Exxon , namely for the purposes of bringing the company up on racketeering charges . The only way to target Exxon for hiding climate change research was to request the New York AGs office to open an investigation into the company , David Kaiser and Lee Wasserman , directors of RFF , wrote in an editorial for New York Books . The LA Times , for its part , has failed in the past to disclose its ties with RFF . Wasserman wrote an op - ed in January for the California paper , fleshing out specifics about the probes into Exxon 's climate research . The paper disclosed the Wasserman 's financial contributions to the investigation , but falsely suggested RFF had nothing to do with the investigations . "" The Fund has made grants to the Columbia Journalism School 's Energy and Environment Reporting Project and InsideClimate News , but has no involvement in articles they produce , the paper 's disclosure notes . The disclosure implies RFF did not actively participate in the investigations , which were first reported by environmental media group , InsideClimate News and the LA Times last November . Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience . For licensing opportunities of our original content , please contact [ email protected ] ." The Daily Caller right_bias True False False True False |
| 55 663 ENDANGERED_SPECIES SCIENCE_EXPERTS_SCI.REPORTS INDUSTRY_EMISSIONS ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT VICTIM PREVENT_CONFLICT HIERARCHICAL "The Arctic Sea Ice Reduction since 1978 is 4 x10 ^ 6 km2 half of which is since 2016 Its true that not all the sea ice is gone yet , but much of what remains is thin enough that the light passing through it is allowing algae blooms . In many places it is cracked and subject to being broken up by storms which due to the extremes of heat and cold confronting eachother in that region have extremes of wind and wave . The Jacobshaven Glacier delivering 10 % of the ice melt from Greenlands ice caps to the sea no longer flows at a glacial pace but rather is retreating at 10 km / yr with the rate of retreat increasing at an increasing rate just as with the sea ice . Instead of climate changing over millennia we are now seeing it change in ways we can observe with our own eyes in the course of a season . Even as some scientists are still looking at what happened during the second half of the 20th century at a scale of change over decades others are beginning to address the significant acceleration of changes observed year by year . A link to a number of papers since 2015 showing dramatic climate change globally and in particular with extremes at the poles is still controversial to some . "" Dramatic climate change is affecting both the Arctic and West Antarctica , yet the relative roles of local versus remote forcings in causing the changes are being debated . As global climate change continues to unfold , the two - way links between the tropics and the poles will play key determining factors in the climatic evolution of these sensitive regions . Thus , the time is ripe for a detailed look at how the tropics and the poles are coupled climatically . This special collection of the Journal of Climate on "" Connecting the Tropics to Polar Regions "" grew out of a mini - conference on the same topic that was held at Lamont - Doherty Earth Observatory in June 2014 : of the sea ice from over the ESAS allows storms to churn up the bottom sediments speeding the release of Methane . Methane releases speed up the melting of the permafrost . The permafrost stores huge amounts of methane and fresh water . We have known this since 2007 . "" policy briefing from the Woods Hole Research Center concludes that the IPCC does n't adequately account for a methane warming feedbackWhile most attention has been given to carbon dioxide , it is n't the only greenhouse gas that scientists are worried about . Carbon dioxide is the most important human - emitted greenhouse gas , but methane has also increased in the atmosphere and it adds to our concerns .... As the Earth warms , and the Arctic warms especially fast , the permafrost melts and soil decomposition accelerates . Consequently , an initial warming leads to more emission , leading to more warming and more emission . It is a vicious cycle and there may be a tipping point where this self - reinforcing cycle takes over . Recently , a policy briefing from the world - leading Woods Hole Research Center has moved our understanding of this risk further through a clearly - written summary . The briefing cites two recent papers ( here and here ) that study the so - called permafrost carbon feedback . One of these studies makes use of projections from the most recent IPCC report to estimate that up to 205 gigatons equivalent of carbon dioxide could be released due to melting permafrost . This would cause up to 0.5 ° C ( up to 0.9 ° F ) extra warming . "" Arctic scientists warn that the release of the methane from the ESAS could happen with the same surprising acceleration we see with glaciers , sea ice and the polar ice caps melting and have a huge effect on the melt rate of the permafrost . "" Just as bad , the permafrost melting would continue after 2100 which would lock us into even more warming . Under this scenario , meeting a 2 ° C limit would be harder than anticipated . The current IPCC targets do not adequately account for this feedback . "" This is essentially what arctic scientists have been warning about for a decade now but pointing out that the time scale is no longer centuries but just years , and this is another reason why the IPCC is moving up their next report date" Daily Kos left_bias False False False False False |
| 56 81 OFFICIALS_DECLARE_EMERGENCY GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS INDUSTRY_EMISSIONS GENERAL_PUBLIC HERO FUEL_RESOLUTION HIERARCHICAL "Cory Booker Says Any Serious Climate Plan Has to Include Nuclear Power Among the 2020 presidential candidates , Cory Booker stands out for his record of advocating for the people who bear the brunt of pollution and toxic waste . Before his presidential run , he traveled to Louisiana , North Carolina , and Alabama to inform a sweeping bill that codifies the federal government 's requirement to incorporate the interests of communities of color in environmental regulation . And as the mayor of Newark , Booker tackled the city 's lead water crisis and industrial pollution . Booker is also one of the few presidential contenders to embrace nuclear energy openly — his $ 3 trillion plan to address the climate crisis includes $ 20 billion in research and development of nuclear technology . This is one major difference between Booker and his opponent Bernie Sanders , who has called nuclear power a "" false solution "" and actually phases it out in his climate plan . The candidate sat down with Climate Desk in Anacostia , Washington , D.C. for an exclusive interview a day before the climate strikes taking place around the world . As part of the wide - ranging conversation about climate change , he explained how he squares his support for nuclear power with his passion for cleaning up pollution in disadvantaged communities . "" did n't come to the United States Senate as a big nuclear guy , Booker told Grist 's executive editor Nikhil Swaminathan on Thursday , "" but when I started looking at the urgency of climate change , I saw that over 50 percent of our non - carbon - producing power right now comes from nuclear . "" Nuclear has to be a part of the blend , "" Booker added . "" And to say it 's not , to say you 're going to get rid of nuclear , really you are handicapping [ and ] undermining our ability to get to the ambitious goals we must have . "" Booker also supports a fee or tax on carbon pollution that would be used in part to fund clean energy and efficiency investments . ( South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is also in favor of price on carbon , and explained his plan to Climate Desk this week . ) "" I do n't think there 's any pathway to get to where we need to go without putting some kind of price on carbon , "" he said . "" A lot of people say , ' well gas is so cheap right now . ' Yeah , it 's cheap because [ the price ] does not include the full cost to humanity . Booker 's support for nuclear power and a carbon fee has tempered any praise from the Climate Justice Alliance , a network that fears these policies would hurt more than help affected communities . Indeed , critics of a carbon tax worry that it would be regressive , hurting the poor more than the rich . But Booker argues that rebates and investments in poor communities could help solve that problem . And while historically , nuclear power companies have built their plants — and dumped the waste — in poor communities of color , Booker believes it does n't have to be that way : He points to agreements struck between local and national governments in Canada and Europe as a model for a community process to deal with the waste . Nuclear has proven to be one of the safest ways to advance carbon neutrality , he said . Even if it means that we have to phase off it in the future , the real pressing challenge right now the threat to our health and our safety and our well - being is climate change and that needs to be our driving focus . |
| Delingpole : Mass Extinction Apocalypse Will Begin Around 2100 Claims MIT Professor According to Daniel Rothman , professor of geophysics in the MIT Department of Earth , Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and co - director of MIT 's Lorenz Center , we are fast approaching "" thresholds of catastrophe "" in the carbon cycle which make doom almost inevitable . In a paper published today in Science Advances , he proposes that mass extinction occurs if one of two thresholds are crossed : For changes in the carbon cycle that occur over long timescales , extinctions will follow if those changes occur at rates faster than global ecosystems can adapt . For carbon perturbations that take place over shorter timescales , the pace of carbon - cycle changes will not matter ; instead , the size or magnitude of the change will determine the likelihood of an extinction event . Taking this reasoning forward in time , Rothman predicts that , given the recent rise in carbon dioxide emissions over a relatively short timescale , a sixth extinction will depend on whether a critical amount of carbon is added to the oceans . That amount , he calculates , is about 310 gigatons , which he estimates to be roughly equivalent to the amount of carbon that human activities will have added to the world 's oceans by the year 2100 . If we get a repeat of the Great Dying , 275 million years ago , what this means basically is that we are all going to die . Even you . But before you ring up your grandchildren and warn them to cancel the marquee they 've booked for their 100th birthday celebrations , perhaps a note of caution should be attached to professor Rothman 's cheery prediction . First , let 's not forget it that it is flatly contradicted by the recent bombshell study suggesting that the effects of carbon dioxide on global warming have been overstated , that the computer models are running "" too hot "" and that we 're not about to fry any time soon . Second , Rothman appears to have given himself so much margin for error as to render his doomsday projection meaningless . Does this mean that mass extinction will soon follow at the turn of the century ? Rothman says it would take some time — about 10,000 years — for such ecological disasters to play out . However , he says that by 2100 the world may have tipped into unknown territory . This is not saying that disaster occurs the next day , Rothman says . It 's saying that , if left unchecked , the carbon cycle would move into a realm which would be no longer stable , and would behave in a way that would be difficult to predict . In the geologic past , this type of behavior is associated with mass extinction . "" R - i - g - h - t. So what you 're saying , Dr Rothman , is that you 're allowing plus or minus 10,000 years ' leeway for this mass extinction which wo n't definitely happen but which "" may "" happen . Do you know what ? Even though I 'm not a professor of geophysics at MIT , I think even I could have come up with a scientific theory as rock - solid and testable as that one . |
| Activists Outside the 2020 Debate Are Demanding That Climate Change Take Center Stage Just a few hours before the second round of 2020 Democratic presidential contenders are set to face off , dozens of local activists in Miami , Florida held an Underwater Climate Rally , calling for more discussion about climate change at the second Democratic debate . A coalition of local environmental groups organized the march to the Arsht Center in Miami , where this round of debates is being held , with marchers sporting signs calling for a specific climate change debate and pushing for the Green New Deal . Melissa Baldwin , co - organizer of Miami Climate Month , which organized the rally , says from the moment she and her fellow organizers found out the first debate would be in Miami , they wanted to put a spotlight on climate change , because you ca n't come to Miami without talking about climate change . "" Climate change and fossil fuels have already disturbed the daily lives of Floridians . Sea level rise and warming temperatures threaten cities like Miami . Kim Ross , ReThink Energy Florida leader , resident witnessed people in her community in Tallahassee feeling helpless after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster , which damaged Gulf Coast ecosystems . "" his is n't something in the future , Ross says . This is something that 's happening now and needs to be addressed now . "" At the first 2020 Democratic debate on Wednesday night , Democrats spent less than 10 minutes talking about climate change . Though not an extensive conversation , that was still more time spent talking about climate change than in all of three debates combined between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in 2016 . Baldwin tells Mother Jones that climate and energy policy needs a prolonged conversation at every debate because "" climate change is an issue that affects every other issue : agriculture , the economy , including tourism . "" She recalls a friend saying , "" Who wants to go to Disney when it 's 105 degrees outside ? |
| Despite Few Details And Much Doubt , The Green New Deal Generates Enthusiasm Environmental activists occupy the office of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi this past December . They plan more sit - ins to push for support of as weeping resolution to address climate change . * * J. Scott Applewhite / AP******hide caption********toggle caption****J. Scott Applewhite / AP Environmental activists occupy the office of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi this past December . They plan more sit - ins to push for support of as weeping resolution to address climate change . J. Scott Applewhite / AP For a nonbinding resolution with an uncertain future , ) is getting a lot of attention , along with a decidedly mixed reaction . Dozens of Democrats on Thursday the measure , an ambitious framework for future legislation designed to eliminate the U.S. carbon footprint by 2030 . Our energy future will not be found in the dark of a mine but in the light of the sun , said Sen. Ed Markey , D - Mass. , as he announced the legislation on Capitol Hill . The resolution has few details , but it aims to overhaul the U.S. economy and spread wealth more evenly . It calls for a speedy shift in energy generation , from fossil fuels to renewable sources like wind and solar , and for a fair and just transition for all communities and workers . Much of the early criticism revolves around the scope of the plan , which backers say is big to match the challenge of the climate change problem . All great American programs , everything from The Great Society to The New Deal , started with a vision for our future , said co - sponsor Rep. Alexandria Ocasio - Cortez , D - N.Y. But this vision is for an extremely near - term future . I 'm afraid I just can not see how we could possibly go to zero carbon in a 10 - year time frame , "" former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz tells NPR 's _ All Things Considered _ . Moniz , now CEO of Energy Futures Initiative , agrees that the U.S. needs topick up the pace of its shift away from carbon , but he calls the decade - longtime frame impractical . He worries it could turn off key constituencies needed in the climate effort , including labor unions , oil companies and the business community . I 'm afraid I just can not see how we could possibly go to zero carbon in a 10 - year time frame . Ernest Moniz , former energy secretary and CEO of Energy Futures Initiative The Green New Deal does n't even mention some of the usual ideas for addressing climate change , such as a carbon tax or cap - and - trade program . Instead , it calls for lots of spending to create , among other things , infrastructure and transport that do n't rely on fossil fuels . Environmental groups generally support the resolution . "" It is a breath of fresh air to see leaders in Congress discussing climate solutions that rise to the scale of the challenge , "" said Aliya Haq , federal policy director for the Climate & Clean Energy Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council ) . But some groups were disappointed the plan does n't call for a complete end to using fossil fuels . We have 12 years , according to science , if we 're going to meet the challenge of the climate crisis . And to do that we have to tackle fossil fuels head - on . And the resolution just does n't quite get us there , says Nicole Ghio , senior fossil fuel program manager at Friends of the Earth . The oil industry says it 's already reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the electricity sector as coal plants switch to natural gas . "" They need to do a whole lot more homework""**These days , ) . Green New Deal backers say they want more high - speed trains to make airline travel less necessary , and more electric cars and charging stations . But experts warn that changing the existing fleet of cars in the U.S. would be an extraordinary effort . "" There 's 350 million liquid fuel cars on the road today in the United States and most Americans do n't buy a new car except every decade , "" says Amy Myers Jaffe , director of the program on Energy Security and Climate Change at the Council on Foreign Relations . Green New Deal backers say they also want to eventually phase out nuclear energy , which currently supplies 20 percent of electricity in the U.S. The Nuclear Energy Institute ) that its electricity is carbon - free and should be a part of any program addressing climate change . The proposal takes aim at methane from cows , too . Methane is an especially potent greenhouse gas , and cows produce a lot of it . But the beef industry is at a loss to respond because of the lack of details in the Green New Deal . "" They need to do a whole lot more homework and much more research and analysis before we can ever even really engage in this discussion , "" says Colin Woodall , senior vice president of government affairs for the National Cattlemen 's Beef Association . So far the plan 's biggest success may be that it 's energizing thousands of young activists . A group called the Sunrise Movement held a ) around the country Tuesday . Jeremy Ornstein , 18 , says he deferred going to college to work with the organization . Ornstein is among the Sunrise Movement organizers who plan three weeks of activism , including lobbying members of Congress to sign onto the Green New Deal . And we 're going to give our elected officials a deadline . They 've got to get an answer to us by Feb. 26 or face the consequences , warns Ornstein . He says activists around the country will occupy members ' offices in what the group calls a "" nationwide day of action . "" Given the scope and ambitious nature of the Green New Deal , it might be tempting to criticize or dismiss activists supporting it . But Amy Myers Jaffe hopes older , more experienced policymakers wo n't do that . We need not to discourage them , she says . They have an energy and will to innovation that is not only infectious , but inspiring . And she says that could be what 's needed to address a problem as daunting as climate change ." npr left_center_bias True True False False False |
| 60 216 ALL_GOING_TO_DIE NONE CLIMATE_CHANGE GENERAL_PUBLIC VICTIM PREVENT_CONFLICT EGALITARIAN "Some unexpected consequences of extreme heat This weekend , close to 200 million Americans will face temperatures of 90F ( 32C ) and higher . Add in humidity , and many cities across the East Coast and Midwest will be feeling more like 110F ( 43C ) . Heat waves have killed more people on average than any other extreme weather event in the US , according to the Centers for Disease Control ( CDC ) . Officials define extreme heat as a period of two to three days of high heat and humidity with temperatures above 90F ( 32C ) . On the heels of earth 's hottest June on record , the US National Weather Service ( NWS ) estimates over 100 record - high minimum temperatures could be set as the heat lingers even past sunset . Here 's what that sort of heat can do . Air - conditioning is used in 87 % of US homes , according to a 2018 report by the US Energy Information Administration ( EIA ) . During heat waves , air conditioning use stresses power grids and can lead to city - wide outages . In cities , that means millions of units - including those on cars and buses and trains - constantly pushing out heat into the atmosphere . Studies have found the extra heat from air - conditioning can raise temperatures by as much as 2C. And when it gets hotter , our thermostats turn lower and the cycle continues . But it goes further than just an ever - hotter summer season - the emissions from air conditioners and their refrigerants is contributing to climate change . The man - made greenhouse gases used in air conditoners , called hydrofluorocarbons ( HFCs ) , are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide in the atmosphere . In cities , the cycle is also exacerbated by all the concrete , asphalt , steel and glass , creating an urban heat island . When temperatures get too high , planes get grounded . Extreme heat reduces air density and the amount of lift a plane can get to take - off . Temperatures of 120F ( 49C ) saw dozens of flights cancelled in Phoenix during a 2017 heatwave . Smaller planes are affected first , but larger Boeing or Airbus jets have maximum operating temperatures around 126F ( 52C ) , AZ Central reported . In a heat wave , concrete and asphalt do n't fare well . Asphalt warps and melts . Concrete , if water is involved , can sometimes explode or break open . This week , local media in Kansas has reported several instances of cracked and buckled roads as temperatures rise . In Iowa , one city mayor said old concrete roads soaked with floodwaters from this spring are now exploding and damaging sewer lines . The NWS outpost in Omaha , Nebraska , demonstrated just how hot vehicles can get in heat waves by cooking American biscuits on a dash . The temperatures reached a high of 185F ( 85C ) - not quite enough for a proper bake , but certainly too hot for humans or animals to survive in . According to the National Weather Service , 21 young children have died in hot cars this year . Unsurprisingly , as everything warms up in a heat wave , anything metal gets even hotter . When it comes to power lines , this can cause dangerously low sagging . If lines droop low enough to touch the ground or trees , they can short out . Kinks can form on train rails when the metal expands . In 2012 , a heat kink caused a 32 - car - long freight train to derail and fly off an overpass ; a similar derailment happened in 2017 . Experts told Fox 26 News more than 2,100 trains have been derailed in the last 40 years because of these heat warps . Metal components in draw - bridges can expand and become inoperable - last year , Chicago firefighters had to hose down a downtown draw - bridge so it could be used . Crops can also feel the heat . Farmers across the Midwest are warning that vegetables can wilt in the heat and farms will lose productivity - worsening the situation after a historic flooding season this spring . Soybean farmers also say the dry conditions could cause an increase in spider mites and other plant diseases . Extreme heat makes pollution worse , which can be dangerous for the very young , the elderly and anyone with respiratory diseases . In the nation 's capital , where the mayor has declared a heat emergency , officials warned that air quality would reach unhealthy levels for these sensitive groups over the weekend ." bbc left_center_bias False False False False False |
| 61 225 12_YEARS NONE GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS GENERAL_PUBLIC VILLAIN PREVENT_CONFLICT HIERARCHICAL E.P.A. Plans to Get Thousands of Deaths Off the Books by Changing Its Math Want climate news in your inbox ? Sign up here for Climate Fwd : , our email newsletter . WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency plans to change the way it calculates the health risks of air pollution , a shift that would make it easier to roll back a key climate change rule because it would result in far fewer predicted deaths from pollution , according to five people with knowledge of the agency 's plans . The E.P.A. had originally forecast that eliminating the Obama - era rule , the Clean Power Plan , and replacing it with a new measure would have resulted in an additional 1,400 premature deaths per year . The new analytical model would significantly reduce that number and would most likely be used by the Trump administration to defend further rollbacks of air pollution rules if it is formally adopted . The proposed shift is the latest example of the Trump administration downgrading the estimates of environmental harm from pollution in regulations . In this case , the proposed methodology would assume there is little or no health benefit to making the air any cleaner than what the law requires . Many experts said that approach was not scientifically sound and that , in the real world , there are no safe levels of the fine particulate pollution associated with the burning of fossil fuels . Fine particulate matter — the tiny , deadly particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream — is linked to heart attacks , strokes and respiratory disease . thenewyorktimes left_center_bias False False False False False |
| 62 338 CLIMATE_SOLUTIONS_WONT_WORK ENV.ORGS_ACTIVISTS GREEN_TECHNOLOGY_INNOVATION ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT VILLAIN PREVENT_RESOLUTION INDIVIDUALISTIC thedailycaller right_bias True False False True False |
| 63 189 GORE SCIENCE_EXPERTS_SCI.REPORTS INDUSTRY_EMISSIONS ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT VILLAIN FUEL_RESOLUTION HIERARCHICAL bbc left_center_bias False True False False False |
| 64 291 CARBON_EXPANSION NONE LEGISLATION_POLICIES_RESPONSES GENERAL_PUBLIC VICTIM PREVENT_RESOLUTION INDIVIDUALISTIC breitbart questionable_source True False False True False |
| 65 297 CLIMATE_SOLUTIONS_WONT_WORK NONE LEGISLATION_POLICIES_RESPONSES GENERAL_PUBLIC VILLAIN PREVENT_RESOLUTION INDIVIDUALISTIC breitbart questionable_source False False False True False |
| 66 46 DEBATE_AND_SCAM NONE GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS GENERAL_PUBLIC VILLAIN PREVENT_RESOLUTION INDIVIDUALISTIC foxnews right_bias True False False True False |
| 67 520 OFFICIALS_DECLARE_EMERGENCY GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS GENERAL_PUBLIC HERO FUEL_RESOLUTION HIERARCHICAL cbsnews left_center_bias True True False False False |
| 68 594 OTHERS_ARE_WORSE GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS NONE VILLAIN PREVENT_RESOLUTION INDIVIDUALISTIC The Daily Caller right_bias False False False True False |
| 69 691 COLLAPSE_IS_IMMINENT ENV.ORGS_ACTIVISTS GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT VILLAIN FUEL_RESOLUTION EGALITARIAN Daily Kos left_bias False True False False True |
| 70 726 OFFICIALS_DECLARE_EMERGENCY GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS INDUSTRY_EMISSIONS ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT HERO FUEL_RESOLUTION HIERARCHICAL The Huffington Post left_bias False True False True False |
| 71 73 GORE SCIENCE_EXPERTS_SCI.REPORTS INDUSTRY_EMISSIONS ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT VILLAIN FUEL_RESOLUTION HIERARCHICAL drudgereport right_bias False False False False False |
| 72 846 DEBATE_AND_SCAM SCIENCE_EXPERTS_SCI.REPORTS GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS GENERAL_PUBLIC VILLAIN PREVENT_RESOLUTION INDIVIDUALISTIC Breitbart questionable_source False False False False True |
| 73 848 NO_NEED_TO_ACT GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS LEGISLATION_POLICIES_RESPONSES GENERAL_PUBLIC HERO FUEL_CONFLICT INDIVIDUALISTIC Breitbart questionable_source False False False True False |
| 74 878 12_YEARS ENV.ORGS_ACTIVISTS GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT VILLAIN PREVENT_CONFLICT HIERARCHICAL RT questionable_source True False False True False |
| 75 124 ENDANGERED_SPECIES SCIENCE_EXPERTS_SCI.REPORTS INDUSTRY_EMISSIONS ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT VICTIM PREVENT_CONFLICT HIERARCHICAL These 3 supertrees can protect us from climate collapse Dozens of countries have extraordinary tropical forests , but three stand out : Brazil , Indonesia , and the Democratic Republic of Congo . These countries not only have the largest areas of tropical forest within their borders ; they also have the highest rates of deforestation . Dozens of countries have extraordinary tropical forests , but three stand out : Brazil , Indonesia , and the Democratic Republic of Congo . These countries not only have the largest areas of tropical forest within their borders ; they also have the highest rates of deforestation . We traveled to protected areas deep inside these countries to learn the superpowers of three tree species that play an unusually important part in staving off environmental disaster , not just locally but globally . These trees play many ecological roles , but most impressive is how they produce rainfall , remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere , and support hundreds of other species . If these ecosystems collapse , the climate effects are likely to be irreversible . And so what happens to these forests truly affects all life on Earth . This is the story of three trees at the center of our climate crisis that provide big benefits to you , me , and the whole world . Meet the trees , get to know their superpowers , and learn how scientists are trying to protect them . This project was supported by the Pulitzer Center . vox left_bias False True False False False |
| 76 254 YOURE_DESTROYING_OUR_FUTURE ENV.ORGS_ACTIVISTS GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS GENERAL_PUBLIC HERO FUEL_RESOLUTION EGALITARIAN breitbart questionable_source False True False True False |
| 77 326 EVERY_LITTLE_HELPS GENERAL_PUBLIC GENERAL_PUBLIC ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT HERO FUEL_RESOLUTION INDIVIDUALISTIC drudgereport right_bias False False False False False |
| 78 370 CLIMATE_SOLUTIONS_WONT_WORK GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS LEGISLATION_POLICIES_RESPONSES ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT VILLAIN PREVENT_RESOLUTION INDIVIDUALISTIC thedailycaller right_bias True True False False False |
| 79 379 DEBATE_AND_SCAM SCIENCE_EXPERTS_SCI.REPORTS GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS NONE VILLAIN PREVENT_RESOLUTION INDIVIDUALISTIC thedailycaller right_bias False False False False False |
| 80 11 ALL_GOING_TO_DIE NONE GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT VICTIM PREVENT_CONFLICT EGALITARIAN Tribe looks on helplessly as rainforest is destroyed by man and fire ... These devastating images show an indigenous family surveying the ruins of their homeland in the Amazon rainforest . Surrounded by dry soil and fallen timber , their native land has been all - but destroyed by rapid deforestation . During the day , the usually - fierce sun is obscured by a thick , grey smoke caused by deliberately - lit wildfires that are raging out of control across Brazil . The smell is of barbecue , caused by vast swathes of the world 's largest tropical rainforest going up in flames . Raimundo Mura , indigenous leader with the Mura tribe who live in a reserve near Humaita , Amazonas state said : ' For the forest , I will go on until my last drop of blood . ' All the trees had lives , they all needed to live , each in their own place . ' For us this is destruction . What is being done here is an atrocity against us . ' The rainforest is home to some one million indigenous people and three million species of plants and animals . But it is being decimated at record rates – burnt or cleared for farming and mining . Scientists have recorded more than 74,000 fires in Brazil this year – an 84 % increase compared to the same period last year . They can now be seen from space and have plunged the largest city Sao Paulo into darkness because of the heavy smoke . In total , the blazes have created a layer of smoke estimated to be 1.2 million square miles wide that spreads across Latin America to the Atlantic coast . Handech Wakana Mura , another local leader within the forest , said : ' With each passing day we see the destruction advance – deforestation , invasion and logging . ' We are sad because the forest is dying at every moment . ' We feel the climate changing and the world needs the forest . ' We need the forest and our children need the forest . ' Environmentalists and academics have blamed the Brazilian government , under far - right President Jair Bolsonaro , for a sharp increase in Amazon deforestation . The climate change sceptic swept to power in January promising to open up the Amazon to mining and farming . His rhetoric is said to have emboldened farmers to burn large sections of the rainforest for beef and soy production . Camila Veiga of the Brazilian Association of NGOs said : ' The fires are the consequence of a policy of environmental devastation , of support for agribusiness , of increasing pastures . ' The fires have been raging for around three weeks and an area the size of a football pitch is said to be lost every minute . Global concern is growing as the rainforest is key to tackling global warming because of the way it absorbs carbon dioxide and releases oxygen . Mr Bolsonaro largely ignored the issue at first and even attempted to blame environmental charities , accusing them of lighting the fires . Opposition MPs have said the raging infernos are a ' crime against humanity ' and blamed his policies for fuelling the blazes . French President Emmanuel Macron had called the wildfires an international crisis and said the leaders of the G7 group of nations should hold urgent discussions about them during their summit in France this weekend . Mr Macron tweeted : ' Our house is burning . Literally . The Amazon rain forest – the lungs which produces 20 % of our planet 's oxygen – is on fire . 'Mr Bolsonaro hit back at Macron , complaining he was the subject of a smear campaign and the media had exploited the fires to undermine his government . His chief of staff , Onyx Lorenzoni , also accused European countries of exaggerating environmental problems in Brazil in order to disrupt its commercial interests . Relations between Europe and Brazil are at a low , which has worried the powerful agriculture sector . Last week , Norway joined Germany in halting $ 60 million worth of Amazon protection subsidies , accusing Brazil of turning its back on the fight against deforestation . French and German leaders have also threatened not to ratify a trade deal between the European Union and Mercosur countries ( Argentina , Brazil , Paraguay and Uruguay ) to pressure Brazil into complying with its environmental pledges within the Paris Climate Agreement . In contrast , the UK is currently on a trade mission in Brazil attempting to forge closer ties post - Brexit . The neighbouring country of Bolivia is also struggling with wildfires , many believed to have been set by farmers clearing land for cultivation . drudgereport right_bias True False True True False |
| 81 192 ALL_TALK NONE GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT VILLAIN PREVENT_CONFLICT EGALITARIAN "Beto O'Rourke : just how green is the Texas Democrat ? It was not hard for Beto O'Rourke to seem like a champion of green issues during his eye - catching Senate campaign in America 's 2018 midterm elections – after all , he was up against Ted Cruz , a climate change denier . Now , as the former US congressman vies to be the Democratic candidate to run against Donald Trump in the 2020 race for the White House , he faces much closer scrutiny on the subject . Environmental advocates and experts wait to see if – as O'Rourke pivots from an election in a conservative - led oil state to a national primary race heavily influenced by left - leaning Democratic candidates – he will have more latitude and desire to put progressive green policies at the heart of his strategy . "" He did n't really emphasise climate change and global warming very much when he was running against Ted Cruz , but he 's got a field that is absolutely filled with people who are making it a campaign item for voters to consider , and I think he 's going to have to adjust his narrative when he 's out on the trail , "" said Robert Forbis , an assistant professor of political science at Texas Tech University . "" He 's going to have to take a pretty strong stand . The seeds of a decisive and urgent approach were visible in his first campaign visits to Iowa in March , when O'Rourke praised the radical climate change - led proposals in the Green New Deal , citing his home state 's struggles with extreme weather such as droughts and hurricanes . Storms like Harvey are only going to become more frequent and more severe and more devastating and ultimately they 'll compromise the ability to live in a city like Houston , Texas , "" he told the audience . O'Rourke signalled support for reducing the country 's dependence on fossil fuels and investing in green technology to reach net zero emissions . "" Some will criticise the Green New Deal for being too bold or being unmanageable . I 'll tell you what : I have n't seen anything better that addresses the singular crisis we face , a crisis that could at its worst lead to extinction , "" he said . "" Literally the future of the world depends on us . "" Cruz held his Senate seat with a narrow win over O'Rourke last November . The Republican has dismissed climate change as a pseudoscientific theory and wrote an opinion article in 2017 urging Trump to rip up the landmark Paris climate agreement . O'Rourke , meanwhile , wrote a blog backing the Paris accord and during six years in Congress he successfully worked to secure federal protection for more than 7,000 acres of mountainous land on the outskirts of his native El Paso . The League of Conservation Voters ' National Environmental Scorecard gives Cruz a lifetime rating of 4 % based on his voting record in Congress ; O'Rourke 's score is 95 % . Still , O'Rourke 's history on environmental issues is more complex than that number might suggest – perhaps unsurprisingly for a politician who hails from west Texas . Texas has more installed wind power capacity than any other state and solar power is growing . But the state 's economy is heavily dependent on the fossil fuel industry , which also wields immense political clout . O'Rourke received $ 476,325 in campaign contributions from oil and gas sources in the 2017 - 18 election cycle , according to the Center for Responsive Politics – second nationally to Cruz , albeit not from Pacs and a small percentage of his total donations . This helped fuel accusations that O'Rourke is more of a fossil fuel ally than his lofty rhetoric might imply . The Sludge , an investigative website , reported last December that O'Rourke 's Senate campaign failed to comply with a pledge not to knowingly accept contributions of more than $ 200 from the oil and gas industry . O'Rourke has not yet signed up to the pledge for 2020 . Already , five declared presidential candidates have officially signed the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge , meaning more than a third of declared Democratic candidates have done so , said David Turnbull , strategic communications director of Oil Change US , a group that urges politicians to commit to clean energy . We look forward to the sixth candidate signing the full No Fossil Fuel Money pledge , and we 're hopeful that Beto might be that candidate . "" O'Rourke 's campaign did not respond to questions about whether he plans to sign the pledge or how his qualified support for natural gas is compatible with the Green New Deal . In 2015 , O'Rourke twice voted to repeal the nationwide ban on exporting crude oil internationally , arguing that lifting the prohibition would boost the economy and national security . We have seen the result , which is an emergency of booming fossil fuel production here in the United States at precisely the time we need to be urgently moving away from those dirty fuels , Turnbull said . similarly problematic , Beto has pointed to fracked natural gas as a potential part of the solution to the climate crisis when the reality is that there is simply no room for new fossil fuel development of any sort , including fracked gas . Like with his support for the removal of the crude export ban , we hope that when Beto lays out his full climate policies it will reflect the fact that we ca n't afford any new fossil fuels of any sort , including gas . "" Given Texas 's critical importance to the environmental and economic future of the country , a Texas presidential candidate can deliver a powerful green narrative , said Luke Metzger , executive director of Environment Texas , an advocacy group . I think Texas has a real interesting story to tell in terms of our both being number one in the country for global warming pollution but also being number one for renewable energy , he said . To be able to come from Texas and show we can reduce our pollution , we can invest in clean energy ... I think that 's a strong message . "" "" """ theguardian left_center_bias True False False True False |
| 82 21 CLIMATE_SOLUTIONS_WONT_WORK NONE LEGISLATION_POLICIES_RESPONSES GENERAL_PUBLIC VILLAIN PREVENT_RESOLUTION INDIVIDUALISTIC "Here 's the Outrageous Cost of Ocasio - Cortez 's "" Green New Deal "" Freshman Democrat Alexandria Ocasio - Cortez has some lofty goals for herself and for America , with the benefits definitely more geared to benefit her . Meanwhile , her plans for us are incredibly costly , and not just because she 's pushing a failed economic system for us to operate under . Ocasio - Cortez 's "" Green New Deal , "" as Fox News highlighted on Tuesday , is unprecedentedly expensive . The plan involves completely removing any and all uses of fossil fuels within America and moving to 100 percent renewable energy . The New York Democrat says the plan will take ten years . The cost of this ten - year plan ? $ 7 trillion . As I 've highlighted previously , the plan is beyond bad . Not only would it indebt us to Russia and China who hold the vast majority of the rare - earth materials needed to build the tidal wave of renewable energy devices we 'd need to keep up with the nation 's energy needs , but the wind farms , tidal generators , and solar farms have proven to be more deadly to the environment than oil spills . Hundreds of thousands of birds , many of them protected species , die at the hands of wind turbines yearly . Tidal generators beach whales with such frequency that if it were a Republican - backed project , environmental groups would be having conniption fits and endless marches . Still , Ocasio - Cortez believes that if this plan gets put into action it 'll solve every problem under the sun , including racism and bigotry . What 's more , the young democratic socialist proclaims that if we do n't do it then we 're all going to die in 12 years . When pie - in - the - sky thinking meets end - of - times conspiracy theories we get something like this . A scenario where we 're all going to die unless we do exactly the thing some brave Democrat has proposed . All we have to do is give up our common sense ." redstate right_bias True False False True False |
| 83 228 TECHNOLOGICAL_OPTIMISM GREEN_TECHNOLOGY_INNOVATION INDUSTRY_EMISSIONS ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT HERO FUEL_RESOLUTION EGALITARIAN "Chew On This : Farmers Are Using Food Waste To Make Electricity Chew On This : Farmers Are Using Food Waste To Make Electricity . This story was produced as part of a collaboration with the PBS NewsHour . As the season of big holiday meals kicks off , it 's as good a time as any to reflect on just how much food goes to waste . If you piled up all the food that 's not eaten over the course of a year in the U.S. , it would be enough to fill a skyscraper in Chicago about 44 times , according to an estimate from the U.S. Department of Agriculture . And , when all this food rots in a landfill , it emits methane , a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change . In fact , a recent report from the United Nations from a panel of climate experts estimates that up to 10 percent of all human - made greenhouse gas emissions are linked to food waste . So , here 's one solution to the problem : Dairy farmers in Massachusetts are using food waste to create electricity . They feed waste into anaerobic digesters , built and operated by Vanguard Renewables , which capture the methane emissions and make renewable energy . The process begins by gathering wasted food from around the state , including from many Whole Foods locations . We visited the chain 's store in Shrewsbury , Mass. , which has installed a Grind2Energy system . It 's an industrial - strength grinder that gobbles up all the scraps of food the store ca n't sell , explains Karen Franczyk , who is the sustainability program manager for Whole Foods ' North Atlantic region . The machine will grind up all kinds of food waste — everything from bones , we put whole fish in here , to vegetables to dry items like rice or grains , Franczyk says as the grinder is loaded . It also takes frying fats and greases . While Whole Foods donates a lot of surplus food to food banks , there 's a lot waste left over . Much of it is generated from prepping prepared foods . Just as when you cook in your own kitchen , there are lots of bits that remain , such as onion or carrot peel , rinds , stalks or meat scraps . The grinder turns all these bits into a slurry . "" It really becomes kind of a liquefied food waste , "" Franczyk says . From here , the waste is loaded into a truck and sent to an anaerobic digester . "" There 's no question it 's better than putting it in the trash , "" Franczyk says . She says the chain is committed to diverting as much waste as possible and aims for zero waste . In addition to food donations , Whole Foods composts ; this waste - to - energy system is yet another way to meet its goal . "" We really do like the system , "" she says . We visited Bar - Way Farm , Inc. in Deerfield , Mass. Owner Peter Melnik , a fourth - generation dairy farmer , showed us how his anaerobic digester , which is installed next to his dairy barn , works . "" We presently take in about a 100 tons [ of waste ] , which is about three tractor - trailer loads , every day , "" Melnik says . In addition to all the food waste from Whole Foods , he gets whey from a Cabot Creamery in the area , as well as waste from a local brewery and a juice plant . In the digester , he combines all of this waste with manure from his cows . The mixture cooks at about 105 degrees Fahrenheit . As the methane is released , it rises to the top of a large red tank with a black bubble - shaped dome . "" We capture the gas in that bubble . Then we suck it into a big motor , "" Melnik explains . Unlike other engines that run on diesel or gasoline , this engine runs on methane . "" This turns a big generator , which is creating one megawatt of electricity "" continuously , Melnik says — enough to power more than just his farm . "" We only use about 10 percent of what we make , and the rest is fed onto the [ electricity ] grid , "" Melnik explains . It 's enough to power about 1,500 homes . He says times are tough for dairy farmers , so this gives him a new stream of revenue . Vanguard pays him rental fees for having the anaerobic digester on his farm . In addition , he 's able to use the liquids left over from the process as fertilizer on his fields . "" The digester has been a home run for us , "" Melnik says . "" It 's made us more sustainable — environmentally [ and ] also economically . Vanguard Renewables hopes to expand its operations in the state and elsewhere . There 's more than enough food waste in Massachusetts to feed all of our five digesters , plus many more , "" says CEO John Hanselman . Massachusetts has a state law that prohibits the disposal of commercial organic waste — including food — by businesses and institutions that generate at least one ton of this waste per week . This has created an incentive for food businesses to participate in the waste - to - energy initiative . Hanselman points to Europe , where there are thousands of digesters in operation . His hope is that the concept will spread here . "" The food waste recycling through anaerobic digestion could be done in every part of the country , "" Hanselman says . The company is currently building an anaerobic digester on a farm in Vermont . The gas produced there will be piped to Middlebury College , which will help the college reduce its carbon footprint ." npr left_center_bias False True False True False |
| 84 28 YOURE_DESTROYING_OUR_FUTURE ENV.ORGS_ACTIVISTS INDUSTRY_EMISSIONS ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT HERO FUEL_RESOLUTION EGALITARIAN "Europe 's growing ' climate civil disobedience ' movement ... Thousands of European activists plan to blockade a large German lignite mine this week , the latest protest of a growing climate civil disobedience movement . While school students have held Fridays for Future rallies for months , protesters of the Extinction Rebellion group launched in Britain have risked arrest with more confrontational protests . From next Thursday to Monday , Europe 's veteran "" Ende Gelaende "" ( EG ) anti - coal activists will hold their sixth large - scale blockade of an open - pit coal mine and power plants run by German energy giant RWE . The group 's online action consensus says : In view of the urgency of the climate crisis , we consider it necessary and appropriate to go one step further : from public protest to civil disobedience . Here is a look at this growing form of environmental activism . Tadzio Mueller , a German organiser of the movement , argues that massively breaking the rules ... is the only thing that works to prevent the status quo in the face of climate chaos . Azna Lecuyer of the French branch of Ende Gelaende agrees that we feel a passion for actions of civil disobedience , especially among young people . This is reflected in demand for training courses everywhere and by the very rapid rise in skills of new activists . Lecuyer stresses that non - violence is part of our action consensus : it is forbidden to harm the security forces , site employees or to damage the equipment . During past protests at the nearby Hambacher Forest , police and RWE company staff have accused the most militant protesters of having hurled rocks or molotov cocktails . The Ende Gelaende movement has distanced itself from those environmental militants and any acts of violence . The EG activists — dressed in trademark white overalls symbolising the toxicity of fossil fuels — plan to march from their protest camp to the Garzweiler mine about 10 kilometres ( six miles ) away . They hope to evade police roadblocks and enter the vast open - pit mining area to occupy strategic locations and technical infrastructure such as rails , access roads and excavators . Meanwhile they plan to organise in so - called affinity groups of up to 10 people of similar physical fitness — and a willingness to be arrested for trespassing and other offences . Before the protest , activists attend training workshops to learn non - violent resistance techniques such as locking their arms and legs in formation with names such as the little train or the turtle . What risks do protesters take ? Occupying an industrial site is illegal under German law , and volunteer legal advisers are on hand to support activists before and after they are arrested . They advise them to say as little as possible while in custody . Other risks lurk at the Garzweiler site . A vast moonscape - like terrain where the surface can be unstable after rain or drought , it is criss - crossed by high - power cables and dug up by building - sized excavators . When breaking up protesters ' blockades , German police have in the past employed high - powered water jets and pepper spray . Lecuyer says that some activists experience a form of "" trauma ... due to the high emotions from stress and excitement and the physical effort , because you have to walk for miles in groups to the target , pass police roadblocks , sometimes under water cannon or pepper spray , and then hold the blockade "" ." drudgereport right_bias True False False False False |
| 85 354 TECHNOLOGICAL_OPTIMISM GREEN_TECHNOLOGY_INNOVATION CLIMATE_CHANGE ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT HERO FUEL_RESOLUTION EGALITARIAN "Humans delayed onset of Sahara desert by 500 years ? The study by a team of geographers and archaeologists from UCL and King 's College London , published in Nature Communications , suggests that early pastoralists in North Africa combined detailed knowledge of the environment with newly domesticated species to deal with the long - term drying trend . It is thought that early pastoralists in North Africa developed intricate ways to efficiently manage sparse vegetation and relatively dry and low fertility soils . Dr. Chris Brierley ( UCL Geography ) , lead author , said : The possibility that humans could have had a stabilising influence on the environment has significant implications . We contest the common narrative that past human - environment interactions must always be one of over - exploitation and degradation . The fact that societies practising ' pastoralism ' persisted in this region for so long and invested both economically and ideologically in the local landscape , does not support the scenario of over - exploitation . Our study shows that increasing human population and sustainable pastoralism did not accelerate — and may even have delayed — the decline of the ' Green Sahara ' . Around 8,000 years ago , the Sahara was n't desert , but instead was a vibrant ecosystem that supported hunter - gatherers and fisherfolk . The ' Green Sahara ' - the colloquial term for the African Humid Period – was the period in which North Africa became much wetter than it is today thanks to a series of monsoons . As the Earth 's orbit slowly changed , the rain started to reduce , and the vegetation started to die back . Around 5,500 years ago , the ecosystem in the Sahara went into a terminal decline towards the desert we have today . Pastoralism ( nomadic or semi - nomadic cattle - herders ) blossomed in the Sahara from around 1000 years before that collapse . Previous studies have put the blame for the collapse of the ' Green Sahara ' onto these nomads who have often been marginalised in history , but this latest studies dispels that myth . The study uses a novel climate - vegetation model to determine whether the end of the African Humid Period occurred earlier than expected . The model keeps track of variables such as vegetation and rainfall , and other processes such as the amount of energy coming from the sun , and the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere . The model found that the ' Green Sahara ' should have collapsed earlier than it did . This suggests that pastoralists lasted longer than expected and the techniques they used helped them to adapt to the environmental changes . Dr. Brierley added : Those places where pastoralists last longer are where there are more resources . It 's a good adaptation to the climate change taking place at the time . There is now work today looking at what we can learn from nomadic pastoralists , such as selective grazing strategies , which can be applied to sustainable adaption to desertification that we expect from future climate change . "" Dr. Katie Manning ( King 's College London ) , concluded : Despite the largely inhospitable conditions of the Sahara today , it is not hard to find evidence of human occupation from the last 11,000 years . Thousands of rock art sites illustrate a lush environment , large - game hunting and livestock herding . The spread of domestic animals across the Sahara occurred at a time of increasing climatic instability , and yet , these pastoralist populations thrived . It is likely that strategies used by contemporary traditional herders , such as seasonal movement and selective grazing , were also used by these early pastoralists , helping to maintain an otherwise deteriorating ecosystem . Explore further : Did humans create the Sahara Desert ? |
| White House Abruptly Orders EPA To Loosen Clean Air Rules In Polluter Giveaway The executive order ― titled Promoting Domestic Manufacturing and Job Creation ― Policies and Procedures Relating to Implementation of Air Quality Standards ― reverses an Obama - era decision . The 2015 decision allowed the EPA to intervene in states that fail to meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards , forcing them to adopt federal regulatory plans to reduce ozone emissions that generally come from power plants , refineries and cement factories . It opens the door to drastic changes in how science is used to set clean air rules , disqualifying huge amounts of peer - reviewed public health research in favor of industry - backed studies in a move that builds on steps EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has already taken . The order requires the EPA to speed up reviews of state plans to reduce air pollution , setting a strict 18 - month deadline , and complete reviews of all pre - construction permits for industry within a year . Construction permitting is primarily a state - level issue ; the language in the order , critics say , appears to be a dog whistle to polluters , suggesting the EPA would pull back on any oversight . The purpose is that if states make determinations that are somewhat less than the rigor of what might be expected , EPA wo n't second guess it , "" Stan Meiburg , a former acting deputy EPA administrator who spent 39 years at the agency , told HuffPost by phone . "" It 's a go - ahead for industry that if they take their best shot at states , the EPA wo n't be getting in the way . "" The order instructs the EPA to consider what countries that do n't border the United States are doing to reduce pollution , allowing the agency to compare U.S. regulations to those in developing nations like China and India . It also directs Pruitt to allow states to trade pollution permits , a move environmentalists warn could make offsets nearly impossible to track and police . In what could be the most controversial part , the order requires the EPA 's science advisers to consider the downside of cleaner air rules , something for which industry groups have clamored for years . They argue the policies could raise electricity costs and make things like air conditioning more expensive . That directive is likely to prompt watchdog groups to sue . The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 2001 , in a decision written by late Justice Antonin Scalia , that the EPA can not consider the costs of implementation when setting air quality standards . It marks the latest assault on clean air rules , putting poor people and communities of color particularly at risk . People living below the poverty line were exposed to 1.35 times more particulate matter than those living above it , according to a landmark EPA study released in February . People of color breathe in 1.2 times more particulate matter pollution , and black people , in particular , are on average exposed to 1.54 times more particulate matter pollution than the general pollution . The National Association of the Advancement of Colored People released a report in February that found black people are exposed to air that is 38 percent more polluted than white people on average , and they are 75 percent more likely to live in communities abutting industrial sites . "" People who are most affected by air pollution are the most vulnerable and these policy changes would mean even less protection for those people , "" Janet McCabe , who served as the assistant administrator for the EPA 's Office of Air and Radiation until 2017 , told HuffPost by phone . It could mean yet more pollution in their neighborhoods . The new order could put the administration at loggerheads with California regulators again . But the quiet rollout of the memorandum avoided swift criticisms . The California Air Resources Board told HuffPost the agency had not yet reviewed the ordered by Thursday afternoon . This is yet another example of this administration selling out our future to industry polluters – it 's nothing more than a naked attempt to attack science , gut our clean air protections , and put polluter profits ahead of our health , "" Sara Jordan , a legislative representative at the nonpartisan League of Conservation Voters , said in a statement ." thehuffingtonpost left_bias True False False False False |
| 87 431 12_YEARS NONE GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT VILLAIN PREVENT_CONFLICT HIERARCHICAL "Marco Rubio lies about climate science while Florida drowns After Florida was hit by the devastating Hurricane Michael this week , Sen. Marco Rubio ( R - FL ) made it clear he would rather lie about climate change , which makes these storms worse , than commit to doing anything to stop it . On Sunday morning 's edition of CNN 's "" State of the Union , "" host Jake Tapper pressed Rubio about the recent United Nations report on climate change , which predicts global catastrophe if carbon emissions are not cut dramatically in the next 12 years . "" So you believe [ climate change ] is , at least in part , man - made ? "" Tapper asked . Rubio said that while scientists agree that human behavior is "" contributing "" to climate change , "" I ca n't tell you what percentage of that is due to human activity . He also claimed that many scientists would debate the percentage of what is attributable to man , versus normal fluctuations . No matter what we do with laws — let 's say we went to all solar panels and did all that stuff , which is not realistic — this trend [ of sea - level rise ] would still continue , "" Rubio said . Instead of clean energy or reducing emissions , Rubio said he is focused on "" strategies to mitigate those factors that are going be in place no matter what happens with our energy policy . "" But , he added , "" I 'm also not going to destroy our economy . Almost every word out of Rubio 's mouth was either a lie or a shameful dodge . There is overwhelming scientific consensus , including from the United States government , that human activity is the main driver of climate change . There is no "" debate "" among scientists about this . Human society is overwhelmingly responsible for our warming planet . That 's why it makes no sense to quibble , as Rubio does , about exactly what percentage of climate change is caused by humans . No matter what , the answer is most or all of it . And contrary to Rubio 's assertions , the United Nations ' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) report says that drastic reductions in carbon emissions could , in fact , prevent the most catastrophic effects of climate change . The report says that in order to avoid irreversible global warming , Global net human - caused emissions of carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030 , reaching ' net zero ' around 2050 . Reducing our carbon emissions will also reduce the effects of climate change . It 's as simple as that . But Rubio apparently wants to throw up his hands and claim that since rising seas will drown Florida no matter what , all we can really do is strengthen levies or lift up roads and buildings . Rubio also seems to think that reducing carbon emissions would do more to "" destroy our economy "" than , say , allowing 1 million Florida homes to flood by the end of this century . Unfortunately , Republicans like Rubio have joined Trump in ignoring science , and doing everything they can to keep pumping as much carbon into the atmosphere as they can get away with . Americans deserve leaders who will do everything they can to prevent the catastrophic effects of climate change , instead of waffling and lying about it like Rubio . Published with permission of The American Independent ." shareblue left_bias True True True False False |
| 88 44 YOURE_DESTROYING_OUR_FUTURE ENV.ORGS_ACTIVISTS GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS GENERAL_PUBLIC HERO FUEL_RESOLUTION EGALITARIAN "Kids Around The World Are Using Climate Change As An Excuse To Skip School Young students across the world plan to skip class on Friday , claiming that they will devote the day to protesting man - made climate change . Students from more than 70 countries will skip class on Friday , March 15 to demand that their governments take more action on addressing climate change , according to # FridaysForFuture , a youth - led movement that is behind the strike . Tens of thousands of students will reportedly take part in the event . "" We will no longer accept this injustice . We demand justice for all past , current and future victims of the climate crisis , and so we are rising up , "" read an open letter that the activists published on the Guardian , claiming they would be protesting on "" every continent "" on Friday . "" Thousands of us have taken to the streets in the past weeks all around the world . Now we will make our voices heard . "" 350 . org , an international environmental group , is helping bolster the strike with its own promotional video . Activists are hoping to closely mirror the youth - led March For Our Lives protests in Washington , D.C. , which took place nearly a year ago following the fatal Parkland , Florida school shooting , and spark more debate among lawmakers about the dangers of climate change . Activists in the U.S. are making similar demands that are found in Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio - Cortez 's Green New Deal : a swift transition to 100 percent renewable energy , a complete abolition of fossil fuels and other environmental mandates . The group strongly references the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 's 2018 report , which claims the world only has a few year to dramatically reduce carbon emissions or else face dire environmental consequences . "" We have the right to live our dreams and hopes , "" the letter continues . "" Climate change is already happening . People did die , are dying and will die because of it , but we can and will stop this madness . "" The protesters in Washington , D.C. , will enjoy the presence of one well - known adult figure : Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar . The freshman Democrat , who has made national headlines recently for a slew of anti - Semitic remarks , says she will attend the strike along with her 16 - year old daughter , Isra Hirsi , an organizer of the protest . Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience . For licensing opportunities of our original content , please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation . org ." thedailycaller right_bias True False False False False |
| 89 459 12_YEARS NONE GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS GENERAL_PUBLIC VILLAIN PREVENT_CONFLICT HIERARCHICAL "US ambassador to Canada tries to "" both sides "" climate science During an interview with CBC , the new US ambassador to Canada , Kelly Craft , claimed she believes "" both sides "" of climate science . Asked , "" Do you believe in climate change ? "" Craft responded , "" I believe there are scientists on both sides that are accurate . "" Do you believe there is science that proves that man is not causing climate change ? "" the interviewer followed up . "" Well , I think that both sides have , you know , their own results from their studies , and I appreciate and respect both sides of the science , "" Craft said . Though several members of the Trump administration , including President Trump himself , continue to cast doubt on humans ' role in the changing climate without providing any evidence , it 's simply not a matter on which scientists disagree at all . The latest National Climate Assessment , written by more than 300 scientists at 13 US federal agencies including the Department of Defense and NASA , for instance , opens with the statement : "" Earth 's climate is now changing faster than at any point in the history of modern civilization , primarily as a result of human activities . The report goes on to detail the toll climate change has already taken on health , quality of life , and the economy of the US and how those impacts will mount if emissions are not dramatically reduced in the coming years . With continued growth in emissions at historic rates , annual losses in some economic sectors are projected to reach hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century — more than the current gross domestic product ( GDP ) of many U.S. states , according to the assessment . The Trump administration released the report ahead of schedule on the Friday after Thanksgiving — a move many interpreted as an attempt to bury the findings . The facts of climate science and the urgency of the climate threat to the US are a nuisance to an administration that has consistently prioritized the demands of the fossil fuel industry to roll back federal policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions . And Trump has appointed a number of officials like Craft whose allegiance to industry is clear . In 2016 , Craft reportedly donated $ 265,400 toward Trump 's election and $ 17,000 to the Republican National Committee . Craft 's husband , Joseph Craft , is a billionaire coal magnate . A Global News report from 2017 provides some details about him : While the Crafts have a personal financial stake in pushing climate denialism , other prominent Republicans have tried to tamp down on the conclusions of the Climate Assessment by citing concerns about the impact curbing greenhouse gas emissions would have on industry and jobs . But as Vox 's David Roberts has detailed , "" [ t]here is no consistent evidence that environmental regulations cause long - term changes in overall employment . """ vox left_bias True False False True False |
| 90 470 ALL_GOING_TO_DIE NONE INDUSTRY_EMISSIONS GENERAL_PUBLIC VICTIM PREVENT_CONFLICT EGALITARIAN "Trump 's New Pollution Rules Will Kill Off His Own Supporters President Donald Trump picked West Virginia to announce his plan to reduce pollution controls on coal - fired power plants , which is no surprise . West Virginia loves coal , and coal miners love Trump , but what both of them may not love is the fact that a reduction in pollution controls is going to greatly increase the number of people who die prematurely from pollution created by burning coal . It will also greatly increase the number of people who get sick with serious illnesses such as heart and lung problems . When he made his announcement somehow Trump left out those details of the life - threatening side - effects of using coal to create electrical energy . Even though they will be getting sick and dying at higher rates , it is not expected that Trump 's actions will reduce his popularity among West Virginians . An analysis done by his own Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) concludes that the rollback of Obama - era pollution controls will lead to many more people dying and suffering health problems that they otherwise would not have . Clean - air controls since the 1980 's stopped the columns of black soot that used to rise from coal smokestacks in the region . The clean air rules reduced the number of people dying from coal - fired power plants substantially . Technology has changed , and now pollutants rise from smokestacks as gases before solidifying into invisible particles small enough to pass through lungs and into bloodstreams . An EPA analysis says those pollutants would increase under Trump 's plan , when compared to what would happen under the Obama rules . This will result in many thousands of more heart attacks , asthma problems and other illnesses than would have happened without Trump 's new rules . The EPA says up to 1,500 more people will die each year under Trump 's plan . And the areas that will be hit the hardest are in Trump country — the coal mining regions of West Virginia . There could be dozens of new deaths and hundreds of new serious illnesses each year because of Trump 's plan . Obama 's Clean Power Plan targeted climate - changing carbon dioxide and would have curbed harmful emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants from the coal - fired power plants . It would have increased federal regulation of emissions from the nation 's electrical grid and broadly promoted natural gas , solar power and other cleaner energy . Trump 's Affordable Clean Energy program will dismantle President Barack Obama 's 2015 Clean Power Plan which has not yet been implemented due to court battles . Trump 's plan will give up much of the federal oversight of existing coal - fired power plants . Not only that , but the government will no longer promote cleaner energy . Individual states will decide how much to regulate coal power plants in their own states . At his public announcement Trump said "" I 'm getting rid of some of these ridiculous rules and regulations , which are killing our companies ... and our jobs . There was no mention of the increases in harmful emissions that would result , compared to the Obama plan , or the health risks . In West Virginia , coal is popular , and politicians who support coal get elected . Vivian Stockman of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition was protesting outside Trump 's rally . "" Our state is beholden to coal . Our politicians are beholden to coal . Meanwhile , our people are being poisoned , "" she said ." politicususa left_bias True False True False False |
| 91 476 ALL_GOING_TO_DIE NONE GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS GENERAL_PUBLIC VICTIM PREVENT_CONFLICT EGALITARIAN "California fires : death toll rises to 79 as winds threaten efforts to control blaze Strong winds on Sunday were expected to hamper progress for crews battling California wildfires which have now claimed at least 79 lives . Gusts of up to 50 mph were threatening efforts to control the Camp blaze , which is still only 55 % contained 10 days after it brought devastation to northern California . The fire which destroyed nearly 10,000 homes and has spread across 233sq miles is already the deadliest American wildfire in a century . And there are fears that the eventual death toll will rise much higher , with almost 1,300 people still unaccounted for . However , it seems likely that number of missing persons may be an over - estimate amid confusion over the way the list has been compiled . Butte county sheriff Kory Honea has stressed that the roster has been built up from missing person reports from calls , reports and emails since the fire began on 8 November . He has described it as "" raw data "" and said "" there is the likely possibility that the list contains duplicate names "" and some evacuees who have not reported themselves safe . California 's outgoing Democratic governor Jerry Brown visited the scene of devastation at the town of Paradise with Donald Trump on Saturday . He told CBS 's Face the Nation that Trump has "" got our back "" and has committed emergency support . Trump initially blamed state officials for poor forest management in making the fires in northern and southern California worse and even threatened to cut off federal funding . At the scene on Saturday , Trump recounted a conversation he had in Paris on 11 November with Finland 's president Sauli Niinisto , who talked about monitoring forest resources with a good surveillance system . Trump said wildfires were n't a problem in Finland because the Finns "" spend a lot of time on raking "" leaves and "" cleaning and doing things "" . But Sauli Niinistö , president of Finland , told one of the country 's leading newspapers , Ilta - Sanomat , on Sunday that he never discussed raking with Trump . mentioned [ to ] him that Finland is a land covered by forests and we also have a good monitoring system and network , Niinistö said , but had no recollection of mentioning raking of leaves or forest undergrowth , which the president appears to have seized on as a key point in wildfire prevention , while dismissing the issue of global warming . Asked on Saturday whether he thought climate change had a role in the fires , he said you have a lot of factors . And asked if seeing the devastation changed his mind on climate change , Trump said : No . No . I have a strong opinion . I want great climate . We 're going to have that . "" Jerry Brown , in the interview aired on Sunday , said : "" Changing climate and the increasing drought and the lower humidity and water vapor "" were important factors . He said : "" Managing the forest is part of it . They 're a lot denser than they were 200 years ago . But on top of that , we have this five year drought . We have reduced rainfall . We have the dryness that turns vegetation and bushes and houses and trees into – literally into timber . So it 's ready to explode . So there is an atmospheric element which is part of the natural cycle and then there is an increasing effect of climate change . "" But asked if he had made that case to Trump , he said : "" I certainly raised it but I did n't feel that that was where we needed to go , then added that science would be the guide for analysing the fires and the president in no way negated that . |
| Clean water : the latest casualty in Trump 's attack on the environment | Ross Barkan The cruelty and the idiocy of Donald Trump 's presidency does not chiefly lie in his tweets or even his words . Trump the performer is ridiculous , but that 's the clown show that keeps many of us either terrified or entertained – the real harm is elsewhere , away from the blaring headlines . Trump has been most destructive in his willingness to carry out an unabashedly right wing policy agenda . Most Republicans competing for the nomination in 2016 embraced their party 's total capitulation to the fossil fuel industry , denying the existence of climate change and promising to shred Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) regulations . This is a central threat to America 's future : a major , powerful political party rejecting science itself . This week , the Trump administration said it would ) designed to protect millions of acres of wetlands and thousands of miles of streams from pesticide runoff and other pollutants . This proposal would not just undo Obama - era regulations but chip away at protections instituted under the late George HW Bush , perhaps the last major Republican to pay even lip service to the environment . The Obama era rule was designed to limit pollution in about 60 % of the nation 's bodies of water , protecting sources of drinking water for about a third of the United States . Federal authority was extended to limit pollution in large bodies of waters and smaller bodies that drain into them , like streams and wetlands . Rural landowners complained about the government regulating how much pollution from chemical fertilizers and pesticides could seep into water on their property . Real estate developers and owners of golf courses attacked the water regulations too , and cheered the news that Trump , a fan of both real estate development and golf , was delivering on a campaign promise . The protection of our water , they figure , should n't interfere with business . Not only will it soon be easier for pollution to seep into our waterways , if a developer finds a wetland is in the way of a money - making opportunity , the habitat can be paved over altogether . Wetlands adjacent to a major body of water will warrant federal protection . The rest are fair game . Environmentalists are rightfully horrified and fearful of what 's to come . It 's not just clean drinking water the Trump White House has disregarded . Proposals have circulated to weaken regulations on planet - warming emissions from power plants , oil rigs , and cars . Trump is trying to speed new drilling at the Arctic national wildlife refuge . As climate change accelerates and the planet hurdles ever closer to an existential crisis , Trump went to a United Nations conference to ) of fossil fuels . The current administrator of the EPA , Andrew Wheeler , used to spend his time lobbying against environmental regulations on behalf of coal magnate Robert E Murray . He was chief counsel to Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma , a proud denier of climate change . Democrats hoping Trump is impeached , indicted or somehow toppled before 2020 should understand even such far fetched scenarios wo n't change the status quo . Trump has surrounded himself with people who care far more about the sanctity of fossil fuel profits than the safety of the American people . They worship at the altar of nihilistic capitalism . Mike Pence wo n't save you . For 2020 and beyond , climate justice will have to become the most animating issue for Democrats – not because it 's a winning argument , though it is , but because the future of the planet depends on it . This is why Alexandria Ocasio - Cortez ) Nancy Pelosi 's office to force support for a "" Green New Deal "" . We are left with no other alternatives . The job of the next president will be to undo the damage Trump has wrought . There will be much hand wringing about the shattering of democratic norms , but the real work will be in doing whatever we can , in the little time we have , to avert a true climate catastrophe ." theguardian left_center_bias True True True False True |
| 93 52 DEBATE_AND_SCAM GENERAL_PUBLIC GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS ANIMALS_NATURE_ENVIRONMENT VILLAIN PREVENT_RESOLUTION INDIVIDUALISTIC "Environmental Hypocrites of the Left Why progressives refuse to live by their own Earth Day bluster George Monbiot recently expressed a carefully calibrated environmental message that allows people on the environmental left to feel self - righteous without making any real sacrifice . In a video that was shared widely , including by celebrities such as James Corden , the British writer argues that the only way to help the environment is to change the "" big , structural , political economic stuff . "" Monbiot concludes that we need to "" go straight to the heart of capitalism and overthrow it . "" At the same time , he dismisses "" pathetic , micro - consumerist bollocks which just is n't going to get us anywhere . This is absolution for those who want to feel green but ca n't be bothered with going to the effort and expense of actually living their own values . Publicly advocating the "" do as I say , not as I do "" approach reinforces the reality that conservatives tend to live out the environmental ethic that the Left only preaches . As a conservative who has worked in environmental policy for two decades , I have been frustrated watching as ideological fellow travelers avoid environmental topics , even as they privately express their commitment to environmental stewardship . As the Left becomes more detached from responsible and effective environmental solutions , conservatives should confidently fill the void . One reason conservatives do not engage is that environmentalism has become synonymous with horrible government policy . Every Earth Day , we are treated to theatrical images of marches featuring unhinged activists demanding action on a range of environmental issues . Clever hashtags are generated . Alarmist slogans are flaunted . Naked people glue themselves to park benches . And all who disagree with the demands for more government power are denigrated as "" deniers . "" The other 364 days of the year , however , people on the left do little in their daily lives to justify all that environmental browbeating . A study by researchers at the University of Michigan and Cornell University found that those who are "" highly concerned "" about climate change are "" least likely to report individual - level actions "" to reduce their environmental impact . Those who considered themselves "" skeptical "" of climate change "" were most likely to report engaging in individual - level pro - environmental behaviors . "" To be sure , not all conservatives are skeptical of climate change , but generally , we are n't nearly as alarmist about climate change or other environmental issues , even when we recognize the risk . That gap between the Left 's loud talk and their unwillingness to make personal sacrifices is not an accident . It is now part of their dogma . Individual actions are mere "" bollocks , "" useless gestures . Only the sacrifices made by others will make a difference . This dichotomy is evident in my home state of Washington , where politicians pride themselves on showing "" leadership "" in the effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions . This year , our legislature enacted a law requiring the state to meet a 100 percent renewable - energy target by 2045 . Environmental activists tweeted their support , saying they "" demand action now "" and worrying about the climate crisis . Ironically , though , many who demand action do little of it themselves . For only a few dollars a month , anyone who supports renewable energy can already buy renewable - energy credits ( RECs ) , ensuring that there is enough renewable energy on the grid to cover their personal use . I asked one politician pushing for the 100 percent – renewable requirement if she buys RECs to cover her environmental impact . She admitted that she does not and has no plans to do so . This is consistent with the message of Monbiot and political leaders pushing the Green New Deal . Personal sacrifice is of little consequence , so why even try ? Even as they call for an end to air travel , politicians who demand we impose lifestyle change have not curtailed their own carbon - producing travel , despite living in the era of HD video conferencing . The most effective environmental efforts are often small , personal actions in which people have skin in the game . Farmers find ways to conserve water because waste costs money . Aluminum cans are lighter today because it saves resources and they cost less to ship . Homeowners and businesses conserve energy because they pay the price for every kilowatt - hour . When they do n't save , they change course , unlike politicians who fear public embarrassment and throw good money after bad . This is n't just a theory . The amount of energy per unit of GDP in the United States has fallen steadily for several decades . There are no sharp drops . Instead , the improvement is gradual and constant , as individuals and businesses find ways to squeeze a bit more out of their energy use . Politicians can lecture all they want , but these are truly the front lines of environmental stewardship . As Earth Day 2019 came and went , the pattern of environmentalists demanding action that they themselves wo n't take predictably repeated itself . The pattern of conservatives ' avoiding talk of environmental stewardship even as they live it every day , however , is a pattern we should break . Effective environmental policy does n't start with politicians and publicity stunts . Conservatives understand this . We should make it clear that personal environmental stewardship is not only more effective , it is a more moral way to live . |
| Greta Thunberg FAILS her ' zero emissions ' promise after climate summit moves to Spain Greta Thunberg tried really hard to keep her zero emissions promise , but it has collapsed like all hypocritical left - wing plans because it was just too difficult . From the Hill : Greta Thunberg 's plan for carbon - free travel was contradicted when her sailboat captain flew across the Atlantic Ocean to pick her up . Thunberg , 16 , has been on a tour of North America to raise awareness for climate change . As part of her pledge to cut back carbon dioxide emissions to save the planet , Thunberg vowed not to travel by air to limit her carbon footprint while she tours . The plan for "" zero emissions "" travel was subverted when Thunberg 's yacht captain , Nikki Henderson , 26 , flew to the United States from England , burning roughly two or three tons of carbon CO2 in the process . Thunberg and her father , who has traveled North America throughout his daughter 's activist tour , could have flown aboard the same flight and burned just as much CO2 . Ironically , she failed because of left - wing communist protesters in Chile : Henderson was forced to make the flight last second because protests in Chile caused the U.N. 's Cop25 climate summit to be moved to Madrid , Spain . Thunberg was set to speak at the conference but needed to leave the U.S. sooner than expected . I mean , you really think the entire world is going to come to a screeching halt for carbon emissions when you ca n't even organize a publicity stunt with your own standards ? No wonder celebs opt to be complete and utter hypocrites instead of actually trying to get carbon neutral . And we all kinda see what is happening here – if they ca n't do it now , then why would we believe that they would be carbon free after they force all of us to live in backwards slums ? |
| Judge Rules Dakota Access Pipeline To Continue Operating Amid Impact Study BISMARCK , N.D. ( AP ) — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Dakota Access oil pipeline can continue operating while a study is completed to assess its environmental impact on an American Indian tribe . U.S. District Judge James Boasberg 's decision will come as a blow to the Standing Rock Sioux , who have argued that an oil spill from the pipeline under Lake Oahe — from which the tribe draws its water — could have a detrimental effect on the tribal community . "" Today 's decision is a disappointing continuation of a historic pattern : Other people get all the profits , and the tribes get all the risk and harm , said Jan Hasselman , an Earthjustice attorney representing the tribe in an ongoing federal lawsuit through which Standing Rock and three other tribes still hope to shut down the pipeline . Boasberg found that it is likely the Army Corps of Engineers will be able to justify previous decisions made while permitting the pipeline . The Corps must simply connect the dots , he said . This , then , is not a case in which the agency must redo its analysis from the ground up . Boasberg also acknowledged that shutting down the pipeline would disrupt the energy industry , but said it was n't a major factor in his decision . The $ 3.8 billion pipeline built by Texas - based Energy Transfer Partners has been operating since June 1 , moving oil from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a distribution point in Illinois . From there it can be shipped to the Gulf Coast and potentially lucrative markets abroad . It has the capacity to move half of the oil produced daily in North Dakota , the nation 's second - leading producer behind Texas . Energy industry officials applauded Boasberg 's ruling , with North Dakota Petroleum Council President Ron Ness calling the pipeline "" a critical part of American energy infrastructure . "" The Justice Department declined comment on behalf of the Corps . President Donald Trump had pushed for the pipeline 's completion , and the Corps dropped a plan to conduct more environmental study after he took office . Boasberg ruled on June 14 that the Corps largely complied with environmental law , but he ordered the agency to reconsider certain areas of its analysis , and took arguments on whether to shut down the 1,200 - mile ( 1,930 - kilometer ) pipeline while the work is done . Boasberg in June said the Corps did n't adequately consider how an oil spill under the Lake Oahe reservoir on the Missouri River in the Dakotas might affect the Standing Rock Sioux . The tribe is among four that have challenged the pipeline in court over environmental fears that ETP says are unfounded . The judge said the Corps also did n't adequately study how the pipeline might disproportionately affect the tribal community — a concept known as environmental justice . That aims to ensure development projects are n't built in areas where minority populations might not have the resources to defend their rights . In its analysis of the Missouri River crossing , the Corps studied the mostly white demographics in a half - mile ( 0.8 - kilometer ) radius , which the agency maintains is standard . But if the agency had gone an additional 88 yards ( 80 meters ) — about the length of a football field — the study would have included the Standing Rock Reservation . Boasberg in his ruling Wednesday said that issue was "" a closer call "" than the others , but that it still did not justify shutting down the pipeline . He noted that the tribe 's water intake has been moved about 50 miles ( 80 kilometers ) downstream since pipeline construction began , and said an alternative river crossing near Bismarck that had been studied and rejected would pass much closer to a drinking water intake that serve tens of thousands more people . Risks presented to this tenfold increase in population must , of course , be considered , the judge said . Corps attorneys said the agency expects to be able by next spring to substantiate its earlier determination that the pipeline poses no significant environmental threats . ETP maintained that a shutdown would cost it $ 90 million monthly and significantly disrupt the broader energy industry as well as state and local tax revenue . The North Dakota Pipeline Authority this week said that the Dakota Access pipeline boosted the state 's tax revenues by about $ 19 million in its first three months of operation . Tribal attorneys argued that ETP had overstated the potential effects of a shutdown , and Boasberg acknowledged "" some cause for skepticism "" regarding ETP 's predictions . Tribal attorneys also said a shutdown would create incentive for the Corps to take the review seriously . The tribes had proposed a fallback plan if Boasberg decided against a shutdown . It includes increased public reporting of pipeline issues such as repairs , and implementation of a spill response plan — including equipment staging — at Lake Oahe . Boasberg said he will hear arguments on the matter . He scheduled a status conference for Oct. 18 . |
| Trump Axes Climate Plan As The World Burns Wildfires are raging through California 's wine country . Flooded homes in Houston , Texas , are still rotting . Puerto Ricans are languishing in darkness , collecting drinking water from streams . And South Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands were still picking through the rubble , as yet another hurricane made landfall over the mouth of the Mississippi River . Scientists say the frequency and severity of natural disasters like these are linked to climbing global temperatures . But the Trump administration on Tuesday announced plans to repeal the United States ' only major policy to combat climate change . The Clean Power Plan ― a set of Obama - era regulations aimed at slashing emissions from coal - fired power plants and boosting renewable energy production ― had yet to go into effect , after being temporarily blocked by the Supreme Court since February 2016 . On Tuesday afternoon , Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt ― who sued to halt the plan last year when he was Oklahoma 's attorney general ― released a proposal to eliminate the policy without any replacement , leaving the country without a national strategy to adapt to global warming . Rain soaked the state last winter , stacking its mountains with colossal snowdrifts and quenching soil left parched after more than half a decade of historic drought . But record - breaking heat baked the West in July and August , drying its woodlands and leaving it vulnerable to the sort of blaze now engulfing the wine - producing region neighboring San Francisco . "" These people have either no sense or a very sophisticated sense of irony to be doing this at this time , "" he added , referring to the Trump administration . Following an exceptionally hot summer , 172 fires ― 78 of which qualified as "" large "" incidents according to the National Interagency Fire Center ― burned more than 8 million acres in western Montana and the Pacific Northwest . That 's almost double the 10 - year average of 5.5 million acres . Elsewhere , a spate of fierce hurricanes inundated parts of the South and Caribbean . Warmer oceans tend to exacerbate storms and shift their directions . After Hurricane Harvey dumped 30 inches of rain on Houston in August , scientists warned that the Category 4 storm served as a teachable example of the type of weather event their models predict will become more common as the planet continues to warm . The next few weeks proved Mother Nature to be a cruel instructor . Hurricane Irma rampaged through the Caribbean before slamming into Florida as a Category 5 beast , knocking out power for millions and ultimately killing 69 people . Less than two weeks later , Hurricane Maria pummeled Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands , crippling the U.S. territories ' power grids and leaving whole areas uninhabitable . In Puerto Rico , which has a larger population than 21 U.S. states , the death toll continues to climb , hitting 39 this week as the island 's aging utility struggles to rebuild electrical transmission wires . But the proposal to scrap the policy without any kind of replacement to curb greenhouse gases underscores the extent to which the Trump administration 's refusal to acknowledge basic climate science is leaving the country vulnerable to global warming effects that are no longer theoretical . "" It is crazy to think about having an EPA administrator who has nothing to offer in replacement of an admittedly not - so - good regulatory solution , "" former Rep. Bob Inglis ( R - S.C. ) , now the executive director of the conservative environmental advocacy group RepublicEn , told HuffPost by phone on Tuesday . "" To get rid of the Clean Power Plan without any idea of what to do that could be better is malfeasance on the part of the EPA administrator . """ The Huffington Post left_bias True False True False False |
| 97 89 OFFICIALS_DECLARE_EMERGENCY GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS CLIMATE_CHANGE NONE HERO FUEL_RESOLUTION HIERARCHICAL CNN is giving 2020 Democrats 7 hours to talk about climate change CNN will host a seven - hour marathon of interviews with 10 presidential candidates about climate change on Wednesday beginning at 5 pm Eastern as part of its climate crisis town hall . A live stream of the town hall will air on CNN . com . You can also stream it via CNN apps on iOS , Android , Apple TV , Roku , Amazon Fire , Chromecast , and Android TV . The forum will also be broadcast on SiriusXM Channels 116 , 454 , 795 , and the Westwood One Radio Network . Here is the format : The audience will be composed of selected Democrats , independents , and stakeholders . No public tickets will be issued . That a major television network would devote so much time to a single issue is a sign of how important climate change has become for Democrats and how successful activists have been in elevating the issue . Climate change has rocketed up the list of concerns for primary voters , with some polls showing climate change as the number one issue and other indicating that strong majorities want robust climate action from the White House . Activists groups like the Sunrise Movement have refused to let the Democratic National Committee ignore the issue , holding sit - ins outside their headquarters to demand a climate debate . The DNC responded that it will not hold a climate change debate for 2020 presidential contenders , nor will it allow candidates to attend a third - party debate . But CNN and MSNBC have found a loophole in the rules that still permits candidates to attend televised forums and town halls . CNN did not respond to requests for comment . MSNBC 's climate forum is scheduled for September 19 and 20 . In the past few months , candidates have been steadily releasing their own visions for how to limit warming this century . Washington Gov. Jay Inslee , who made climate change the centerpiece of his presidential campaign and put out the most comprehensive policy agenda , is now out of the race , giving other candidates some room to distinguish themselves on the issue . Several candidates , including Booker , Buttigieg , and Harris , are issuing new climate plans this week . For the most part , the Democratic presidential contenders agree that climate change demands a serious policy response and that the US needs to become carbon neutral by roughly the middle of the century . And indeed many have voiced support for the Green New Deal and most have pledged to refuse donations from the fossil fuel industry . The main differences among the candidates lie in how much political capital they intend to expend on fighting climate change and what they would do with executive authority . The town hall will give them an opportunity to present their plans in greater detail , and with more nuance . In the prior two rounds of presidential debates spanning more than eight hours , climate change received just 35 minutes of airtime . Much of the discussion was shallow and uninformative , partly a consequence of having to split attention across 20 candidates . A forum format with one - on - one discussions with the candidates could better get at these distinctions , forcing candidates to make the affirmative case for their own policies rather than sniping at those from other candidates . On the other hand , a candidate in the hot seat wo n't receive any direct challenges from their opponents . It would behoove the networks to focus their discussion on getting at these subtle differences among the candidates , like what executive orders they would sign , how high climate change ranks as a priority , and what measures would a candidate pursue to ensure a just transition to clean energy . ( Vox 's David Roberts and I have come up with some questions that could serve as starting points.)CNN 's climate change forum has immense potential to illuminate real differences among the candidates and inform the public about the often - weedy details of climate policy . However , it remains to be seen if there is an audience with a seven - hour attention span for a single issue . And there 's always the risk that it could devolve into rote recitals of platitudes . Here 's to hoping we learn something new . vox left_bias False True False False False |
| 98 92 12_YEARS NONE GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS GENERAL_PUBLIC VILLAIN PREVENT_CONFLICT HIERARCHICAL "Trump brags about ' crystal clean ' air — but his own EPA admits it 's gotten dirtier Trump regularly brags about making America 's air cleaner , but evidence from his own Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) shows the opposite is happening : The air we breathe is getting dirtier . New EPA data shows that since 2016 , a decades - long trend of improving air quality has started to backslide . In both 2017 and 2018 , the number of unhealthy air days in metropolitan areas increased 15 % compared to the last four years of President Obama 's administration , the Associated Press reported Tuesday . That 's the exact opposite of what Trump regularly claims . During his embarrassing trip to Ireland in early June , Trump said , "" We have the cleanest air in the world , in the United States , and it 's gotten better since I 'm president . "" At his big rally Tuesday in Orlando , Trump made a similar false claim : "" We have among the cleanest and sharpest — crystal clean , you 've heard me say it , I want it crystal clean — air and water anywhere on Earth . Air pollution leads to the premature death of 100,000 Americans every year , the AP reports , and Trump 's own EPA shows not only worse air pollution , but a significant increase in the two worst categories : "" very unhealthy "" and "" hazardous "" conditions . During the Trump administration , U.S. cities saw air pollution in one of these two categories nearly 140 times , which is almost three times as often as the average from 2013 to 2016 . In fact , the AP notes that the four years from 2013 and 2016 , Obama 's second term in office , were a clean air heyday for America that boasted the fewest unhealthy air days since 1980 . That heyday appears to be over for now . To make matters worse , on Wednesday the EPA finalized what will be its biggest climate policy rollback , according to the Washington Post . The new rule will allow coal plants to spew more pollution into the air than a previous rule put in place by President Obama . The new rule is really a dereliction of duty — moral , ethical , but also legal , Andres Restrepo , a lawyer with the Sierra Club 's Environmental Law Program , told the Post . Scientists are unclear as to the exact reasons air pollution has gotten worse under Trump , but they say it 's very clear that his policies will make the situation worse . There is zero reason to expect any other outcome than worsening air quality if Trump continues to roll back regulations , Neil Donahue , an engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University , told the AP . While Trump has been in office , the air has gotten dirtier . His lies do n't make it cleaner , and his policies are on track to make it worse . Published with permission of The American Independent ." shareblue left_bias True False False False False |
| 99 97 12_YEARS SCIENCE_EXPERTS_SCI.REPORTS GOVERNMENTS_POLITICIANS_POLIT.ORGS GENERAL_PUBLIC VILLAIN PREVENT_CONFLICT HIERARCHICAL "Trump EPA appointees want more air pollution — that 's a very bad idea Climate change garners most of the headlines , but the Trump administration is pushing a much larger and broader pro - pollution agenda whose latest manifestation is a push at the EPA to overturn a long - established scientific consensus that fine particulate pollution ( colloquially soot ) kills people . This is critically important for two main reasons . One is that for decades the EPA has been regulating various sources of particulate emissions and the science around how harmful they are plays a role in driving how strict those regulations become . The other is that particulate emissions play a key role in the bureaucratic politics of climate change . Because carbon dioxide emissions are global and the consequences of climate change are also global , it is generally hard to demonstrate that cutting a given source of greenhouse gas emissions will have large benefits to Americans . But most regulations that reduce carbon emissions also reduce much more localized soot — and taking into account the fact that soot has a marked tendency to kill people who live nearby the emissions sources is important to making the cost - benefit analysis math work . Tony Cox , an industry consultant Trump tapped to lead the EPA 's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee , argues that the EPA 's agency 's current standards for evaluating this question does not feature enough causal rigor . He wants to abandon the current "" weight of the evidence "" standards that allows for a wide range of evidence to be considered , with credibility weighted according to the quality of study design , in favor of a very narrow class of studies that employ "" manipulative causation "" methods . But as Francesca Dominici , a biostatistician at Harvard 's T.H. Chan School of Public Health , writes with researcher Gretchen Goldman in a new Science essay on the subject , this loads the dice against demonstrating harms , because randomized control trials are not possible ( or ethical ) when studying environmental hazards . In other words , you ca n't get a group of volunteers together and then randomly assign half of them to have the air they breathe be deliberately poisoned just to see how bad the poison is . You have to rely on ways of exploiting random variation through methods like observational data , time series , and quasi - experiments . It 's true , of course , that you do n't want to do a completely naive associational study and then leap to big policy conclusions from it . But public health researchers are aware of the limits of the data available and use matching , statistical controls , and other standard techniques to try to get a clearer picture of what 's going on . Barring all that evidence would , as Dominic writes , place a nearly unattainable burden of proof on the scientific community and totally undermine the EPA 's legal mandate to protect vulnerable people . Both the public health research and the EPA debate are largely focused on the question of soot 's ability to kill people ( through , e.g. , asthma ) , but there 's a big emerging set of empirical economics studies suggesting that fine particulates have a wider range of adverse cognitive impacts and are significantly underrated . In other words , the consequences of rolling back the war on soot could be substantially worse than the mortality impacts alone imply . Economists , like public health researchers , are limited by their inability to deliberately poison people in order to study the impact of the poisoning . Consequently , NONE of the studies I 've read on particulate pollution and cognitive impairment quite reaches gold standard levels of scientific evidence . But there are , instead , lots of quasi - experiments and statistical matching studies , and they all find that air pollution is worse than we thought . In addition to killing small numbers of people , air pollution harms large numbers of people in small but meaningful ways : This is an emerging field of study , and it would obviously benefit from some further inquiry . That said , it appears to be the case that fine particulate pollution induces cognitive impairments in school children , white collar workers , blue collar workers , and the elderly — in other words , all people at all stages of life . Each of these impacts independently suggests that we are currently allowing too much air pollution , and they also cry out for more research that attempts to assess the long - term cumulative impact of pollutants that appear to induce cognitive problems throughout the life cycle . The question of exactly how much we are under - regulating particulates seems somewhat open to me , but the sign of the error is very clear . |
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