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'Green News Report' - July 14, 2016
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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Porn is dirty, but coal is clean, says the Republican Party platform; Senate Democrats call out the 'web' of professional climate deniers; June 2016 was the hottest on record for the U.S.; PLUS: Another fracking explosion, this time in New Mexico... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Republicans just escalated the war over ExxonMobil and climate change; Once-respected science group has one more chance to reject Exxon Mobil funding; Transportation Dept. proposes new oil train rules; Puget Sound to close another coal plant; State's Delta smelt plan calls for more water flowing to sea; Fake bio-diesel factory made millions; Loneliest natural gas terminal bucks pipeline trend; Number of Americans "alarmed" by climate change rises in latest poll... PLUS: Clean energy investment in 2016 undershoots last year's record... and much, MUCH more! ...

'Green News Report' is heard on many fine radio stations around the country. For additional info on stories we covered today, plus today's 'Green News Extra', please click right here to listen!

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Fossil Fuel Divestiture Campaign Focuses On Big Pensions
The fossil fuel divestiture campaign GoFossilFree equates the end of oil, gas and coal to the great moral crusades of our time -- Apartheid and tobacco -- while hoping to reduce demand for fossil fuel stocks and thereby threaten their stock prices.

"2016-07-13-1468421997-189784-DivestScottishParliament.jpg"

It's a tall order. As long as GoFossilFree was focused on divesting university endowments, the campaign was a gnat on the haunch of the elephant. After all, why should an industry worth $5 trillion be afraid of endowments worth $467 billion, whose investments in oil and gas are probably 10%, or $50 billion, at best? Chump change to this industry's behemoths.

But more recently, the FossilFree campaign began targeting pensions as well, and that's a problem. Consider the numbers: as of 2013, US pension assets totaled $21 trillion. Using that same 10%, you're talking $2.1 trillion in fossil fuel stocks. That's a number big enough to scare even Big Oil.

The first real threat came in 2015 from California's state pensions. In April of that year, the California legislature voted to divest its coal stocks from the pensions' $657 billion investment fund. A scary precedent and one that got Big Oil's attention.

Evidence of Big Oil's alarm is clear on the anti-divestment site divestmentfacts.com. Funded by the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), the site used to publish letters from University Presidents justifying their decisions not to divest and a few reports on how much individual college endowments would lose through divestment.

In June, the DivestmentFacts site underwent a radical change. Focused now on pension funds, the site promotes the idea that under divestment, pension funds will lose $7 billion over twenty years. Three studies from three separate universities support the claim.

A closer look at the study authors reveals how much more the IPAA is investing to stop pensions from divesting. The lead study is authored by none other than the notorious economist and lawyer Daniel Fischel, the short-lived dean of Chicago Law School who resigned over a sex scandal and one-time expert witness in criminal trials of Mike Milken and Charles Keating as well as officers of Enron and Philip Morris. Fischel is Chairman and President of Compass Lexecon, one of the largest consultancies that specialize in what Charles Ferguson described in the Huffington Post as "The sale of academic 'expertise' for the purpose of influencing government policy, the courts, and public opinion... now a multi-billion dollar business." The other two studies are by academics who are also Senior Consultants at, yes, Compass Lexecon. That's some pricey research.

Shortly after releasing the three studies, the IPAA published a survey of pensioners conducted by FTI Consulting, which owns -- wait for it -- Compass Lexecon. FTI's report warns, "Even the largest college endowment funds in existence today hold only a fraction of the assets managed by public pension funds," then goes on to present "statistics" that prove pensioners don't want divestment. A spokesman from the American Petroleum Institute (API) draws on heart strings when he concludes, "Millions of retirees and pension holders depend on income from oil and natural gas investments to live."

Both oil lobbying organizations, API and IPAA, are funded mostly by the fossil fuel majors, with the bulk coming from Shell, BP and Chevron, companies that have the most to lose from divestiture. And they're right to spend whatever they have to, because the truth is, the smart money in pensions should flee oil and gas for economic reasons. Looking ahead, HSBC Global Research found that global carbon regulations could result in fossil fuel companies losing 40-60% of their value, which will translate into reductions in share price. Similar warnings have come from CitiBank, Standard and Poor's, and the Bank of England.

Big Oil is right to be afraid. Pension fund divestment has moved to Europe. Just two weeks ago, the EU issued a directive that, on ratification, will require all pensions to "consider climate and risks related to...'stranded assets,'", referring to oil and gas reserves that may never be used. EU pensions total £3.2 trillion, $4.4 trillion at today's depressed exchange rates.

Spending on anti-divestment is just a finger in the dike. Big oil and gas will lose to carbon-free energy. Will they follow buggy-manufacturers who never embraced the automobile and were pushed out of business? Or will they imitate American carmakers that entered the electric car market? Perhaps divestment will exact the same financial pressure on oil and gas that forced dramatic innovation in the American auto industry.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Photo courtesy of Friends of the Earth Scotland via Flickr CC.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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The Climate Post: Study Quantifies Climate-Change-Related Deaths
A study in Environmental Research Letters suggests a fifth of premature deaths during a 2003 heatwave in Europe are linked to human-caused climate change.

"We are now able to put a number on the deaths caused by climate change in a heat wave," said lead author Daniel Mitchell of the University of Oxford. "This has never been done before. Previous studies have attributed changes in heat waves to climate change, or related increased heat stress to human deaths, but none have combined the two."

The study's U.S. and U.K researchers calculated that, during a Europe-wide heat wave in summer 2003, 506 of 735 deaths in Paris and 64 of 315 deaths in London were due to a heat wave worsened by anthropogenic climate change. They reached that conclusion after putting the results of several thousand runs of two climate model simulations of the 2003 heat wave into a health impact assessment of death rates.

By comparing two scenarios--one reflecting the climate of 2003 without human influences and one reflecting all known climatic forces contributing to the 2003 heat wave--the researchers determined how climate change had affected that summer's temperatures.

The study, reports Carbon Brief, analyzes a direct impact measure--mortality--rather than an indirect one--temperature. It links mortalities to climate and introduces another level of uncertainty, especially when long and reliable health datasets are not available for use in analyses.

Nevertheless, reports ClimateWire, the study demonstrates that losses can be directly linked to climate change and thus its framework can be used to assign costs of "loss and damage" and to improve planning and adaptation (subscription).

"It is often difficult to understand the implications of a planet that is one degree warmer than preindustrial levels in the global average, but we are now at the stage where we can identify the cost to our health of man-made global warming," Mitchell said. "This research reveals that in two cities alone hundreds of deaths can be attributed to much higher temperatures resulting from human-induced climate change."

Last week at a meeting held by the French government to study Paris Agreement-related actions to reduce health risks linked to climate change, the World Health Organization said that change is likely to kill 250,000 additional people each year by 2030--primarily through malaria, diarrhea, heat stress, and malnutrition. Children, women, older people, and the poor will be most affected.

Climate Change and Cloud Cover

A new study in the journal Nature suggests there's evidence of climate change in satellite cloud records. By comparing satellite data from 1983 to 2009 to climate models, the authors found that the clouds forming most often are not low-lying reflective ones that cool the planet. Instead, cloud patterns were in line with what scientists would expect to see in climate models--an increase in greenhouse gases associated with human activity over the study period.

"Cloud changes most consistently predicted by global climate models are currently occurring in nature," the authors write. "As cloud tops rise, their greenhouse effect becomes stronger."

Clouds have both an Earth-cooling effect by reflecting solar radiation back to space and an Earth-warming effect by restricting the planet's thermal infrared radiation.

"Even if there is no change in the overall coverage of clouds on the earth, clouds closer to the pole reflect less solar radiation because there is less solar radiation coming in closer to the pole," said lead author Joel Norris of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

In Science magazine, Norris noted one caveat: during the study period, two major volcanic eruptions cooled and then warmed the climate, producing cloud patterns similar to those produced by greenhouse gas-related warming.

Draft Proposes Extension of California Cap-and-Trade Program

The California Air Resources Board released a draft plan to extend the state's cap-and-trade program beyond 2020, when it is set to expire. The program--one of the first economy-wide programs put in place--aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by creating a fixed number of permits, called allowances, to emit a single ton; compliance entities and other market participants can buy and sell allowances, thereby enabling the market to determine the lowest-cost compliance path.

The draft plan calls to extend the program another decade and to reach emissions levels 40 percent below 1990 levels. It would include preliminary caps through 2050 "to signal the long-term trajectory of the program to inform investment decisions."

No board vote is scheduled on the proposal until March 2017. A state appeals court is considering a challenge from the California Chamber of Commerce, which contends that the pollution-credit program is an illegal tax, not a fee.

The Climate Post offers a rundown of the week in climate and energy news. It is produced each Thursday by Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Why Recharging Your Batteries Is Important To Your Environmental Health

Nantucket might sound pretty far for a California girl to travel to go to the beach but over twenty years it's become a family tradition and the place where I recharge my batteries. Having downtime to decompress, unplugging from technology and everyday demands are not only critical to ones overall mental and physical well-being, but it's also key to my personal environmental health.

The island has preserved its natural beauty with beautiful beaches, windmills, lighthouses and cobblestone streets. Just 47.8 square miles there is not much need for a car, so I rarely use one, preferring to use my bicycle to get around town. Nantucket's activities are so engaging that it is the perfect setting to turn off the cellphone and watch the sunset while enjoying a picnic dinner from Something Natural out on Great Point.

Nantucket is also filled with memories of my children growing up - another subtle reminder to slow down and be present.

I've been pregnant here, lying like a beached whale under an umbrella, wandering through Bartlett's Farms with toddlers hanging off my shopping cart, and sipping ice tea as if my life depended on it after a sleepless night. My children all learned to ride bikes on the island. We've spent time at the library story hour, visited the Whaling Museum on rainy days, had family movie nights at the Dreamland Theater, attended lectures at The Atheneum and church services at the Union Chapel. We go fishing for bluefish and strippers at Just Do It Too and turtling in swamp water. Each season we try the new restaurants, and when our children were younger, we would bike to The Downyflake Donuts. There is a lot about Nantucket that makes it qualify as one of my happy places.

But beyond the bike rides to Sconset, tennis, and yoga and lazy afternoons in the shade reading a book, the best part for me of my Nantucket escape is the part that I can't see or touch. It's the feeling I get from allowing myself the luxury of letting my body recharge and indulge in serendipity instead of schedule, turning off not just the computer but also my brain so it can reset to its naturally creative self.

As an advocate for environmental health, I know that means more than being a conscious consumer and eliminating toxins from our food and air and water. It's also about purity in spirit which is something I find easy to access in Nantucket, dressing simply, wearing no make-up, spending time with friends singing at karaoke night or laughing while playing a board game and sitting on a porch at sunset and letting my mind detox and my soul refresh. Nantucket is a place where I can breathe fully and just be.

Each year when I leave on the ferry to Hyannis we throw an auspicious penny into the harbor in hopes we will return next summer. I remind myself that I don't have to wait until next summer to recharge my batteries. There are many things I can make a commitment to incorporate in my weekly routine that will improve my environmental health.

The research has shown that just twenty minutes a day being outside in nature can significantly boost vitality levels. A picnic in the park with friends or family, a hike, a walk or even sitting under a tree on a bench without the company of a cell phone can make a world of difference. A weekend without social media, cell phone free dinners and my self-imposed rule of no screen time after eight o'clock all help to restore that feeling I get while on Nantucket.

Whatever recharging your batteries means for you, I'm advocating you do it. Surrender your electronics for awhile, get out in nature and stretch your legs, breathe deeply and fully and let life flow in. Work and school and all the obligations of our human existence will always exist but taking extra time to just be, not just during the summer but all year round, will go a long way towards improving your personal environmental health.

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Get Smart Fast: Climate Change Policy After the CPP Stay
Earlier this year in a surprise move, the Supreme Court issued a stay on the Clean Power Plan (CPP) while legal challenges play out. Opponents of the CPP and its goals had hoped this would dampen efforts to advance related policies. Yet the Administration is continuing to move forward with regulation and policy to further its climate change goals.

The EPA recently proposed the Clean Energy Incentive Program (CEIP), a voluntary initiative that would provide incentives to states for early investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

The Administration is also targeting methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Last month EPA finalized rules governing methane emissions from new sources in the oil and gas industry and is taking the first steps toward regulating existing sources. In addition, the Department of the Interior has proposed regulations to limit venting and flaring on public lands by oil and gas companies.

The stay on the CPP has certainly slowed - but not stopped - the Obama Administration's efforts to tackle climate change. And while these regulations will not all be finalized before President Obama leaves office, they will lay the groundwork for ongoing efforts to reduce greenhouse gases if Hillary Clinton takes his place.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Restoring Hope

The United Nations was founded 70 years ago in the turmoil and trauma of World War II with the firm conviction that a better future was possible, and it was ours to create.

Much has been achieved in the intervening years that has certainly kept the world on a safer trajectory, but today, only 16 years into the new millennium, we seem beset on all sides by impossible problems. Terrorism, inequality, environmental degradation, financial crises, wars, forced migration. There is a growing sense that our problems have changed and become more complex but also that they have become too large for us to solve. As a result, we have become used to not really addressing the fundamental issues but lurching from one crisis to the next, just getting by.

People have lost trust that their lives can get better and that institutions are on their side. This in turn is leading to apathy, depression, despair and in some cases to the development of radical views.

This cycle must be stopped, before it consumes our collective future.

The truth is that the problems of today can only be addressed through working together, using multilateral dialogue to find common ground and take collective action. The last years have seen a discrediting of multilateralism as agreements on issues such as trade and the refugee crisis have proved elusive. These failures themselves further feed the narrative that our problems have grown beyond our control.

It does not have to be this way.

I joined the UN Climate Secretariat after the disaster of the Copenhagen negotiations in 2009 and left in 2016 on the back of the most ambitious climate agreement in history. The Paris Agreement was not an accident -- it was strategy and attitude. It was the culmination of six years of patient rebuilding of a broken system that had lost all trust and confidence, into one that was capable of entering an upward spiraling of commitment and ambition. It was the result of a shared commitment that arose from the collective realization that we would all be losers if we did not find a way to win together. It was the harvest of years of careful listening that enabled the elusive common ground to emerge.

Paris can be an anomaly or it can become the norm for multilateralism in the 21st century. We must ensure it is the latter, so that we can rebuild the world's confidence in the ability of the UN and its Member States to work together and solve the most difficult problems of our times.

As our world becomes more interdependent and more complex, the necessity to make genuine progress through dialogue, commitment and investment is further increased. This is because the interconnections are such that failure to address critical areas of concern means that they will quickly spread and become destabilizing.

Without stronger mechanisms for managing critical cross-border issues, including resource management, refugees, and migration, we will not build the shared security needed to support everyday practical cooperation. Without adequate restrictions on the proliferation and use of weapons, we will continue to see growing displacement and inequalities generated by conflict and violence. Without climate stability there will be no food or water security, reducing our ability to remain in our communities, towns and countries. Without securing women's rights to education, land ownership, and political participation, we will not see a rise in equitable economic development. Without building more resilience to natural disasters, we will not create the economic or political space to plan for long-term development. Without respect for human rights, citizen participation, and reduced corruption, we cannot build the conditions for a sustained peace.

The interconnectedness of these issues further underlines the essential role that the UN must play. Indeed, only the UN can provide the forum through which Member States can coordinate effectively to address the intricate and interconnected issues that affect our world. If this is not achieved, then we face a risk that the unstable parts of the world will continue to destabilize other parts. This is unacceptable.

We must embrace the tough challenges and refuse to believe that real solutions are beyond our ability to find. It is our best chance to improve the lives of people everywhere.

We need a UN that reclaims its standing as a beacon of hope; a reason for global optimism that calls us toward a compelling vision of the future, rekindling our confidence and inspiring each and every one of us to live up to our highest purpose. Impossible is not a fact, it is an attitude. That is my conviction and my experience. It is also my invitation; together we can restore hope.

It is for the opportunity to pursue this vision that I have accepted the nomination of Costa Rica for the position of UN Secretary-General.

This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post regarding the selection and appointment of the next Secretary-General of the United Nations. A new Secretary-General will take office on January 1, 2017, and each of the declared candidates for the position was invited to participate in this blog series. The President of the General Assembly noted that, this year, the selection process will have more transparency than ever before. The declared candidates for the position are listed by the UN here. To see all the posts in the series, visit here.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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The Economics of Organic
Consumer demand for organic food products led to $37 billion in sales last year, a significant 12% increase from 2014; halfway into 2016, the market's current worth is priced at a healthy $39 billion by some reports. Flourishing with real double-digit growth in most years since the 90s, even 2008's economic downturn didn't slow down organics, sales progression continuing to hold steady around 10%. In fact, the recession revealed a global consumer willingness to pay premiums for quality in a climate that called for more discretion with one's dollars, establishing consumer demand for organic foods as transcending the niche market segment.

Organic is the fastest-growing food and lifestyle consumer trend in modern history, yet less than 1% of the nation's farmland is certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). With demand creating what Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack calls "a powerful local and regional food movement," why have so few farmers joined up on this profitable market trend?

Farmers aiming to transition to organic are presented with prohibitive challenges that, like most institutional obstacles, boil down to be a matter of economics. The strict production and labeling requirements for any raw or processed agricultural product to be USDA certified organic mean that farms and businesses that aim to grow, handle or process organic products must wait 3 years to become eligible. The lack of a market for transitional crops (non-organic crops grown during a farms transition to organic practices) to offset the sharp increase in production costs causes many farmers to that begin the process to abandon their changeover. Most farmers never even consider a changeover.

Increasing acreage beyond the 1% requires financial and infrastructural support for farmers transitioning to organic. Certified Transitional, created by Quality Assurance International (QAI), an independent, USDA-accredited organic certifying body, is the first and only program recognizing and incentivizing farmers as they transition their land from conventional to organic growing methods. Because there are not enough crops in the U.S. transitioning, products that contain 51% of transitional content produced by these farmers can be Certified Transitional and bear the program's QAI trademark logo, which helps consumers identify and support companies working towards the USDA Organic seal, which requires 70% organically produced ingredients.

The first food product to be certified under the new Certified Transitional program is Kashi's Dark Cocoa Karma Shredded Wheat Biscuits cereal. As it stands currently, all Kashi products are Non-GMO Project Verified, and many of its bestselling products are USDA certified organic. Consumers that already patronize the Kashi's health food goods now have the opportunity to directly support transitional farmers and impact the food supply chain as do consumers advocating for increased nationwide acreage of organic farmland.

Bear Naked, a TerraCycle program sponsor and a Kashi sister brand, is a company that currently demonstrates its commitment to sustainability by lowering the economic boundaries that prevent its packaging from being recycled. Similarly, QAI's Certified Transitional program eases the uncertainty and economic boundaries preventing farmers from going organic in direct partnership with key brands.

So that more farmers have the financial security to go full-term organic, the goal of this initiative to have more companies and producers consider transitional crops when sourcing ingredients. Consumer product manufacturers like Kashi can command premium pricing for Certified Transitional items similarly to items that are USDA certified organic, which means farmers can be paid more for a higher market value crop.

Food manufacturers nationwide are in a position to support "organics-in-training" and ensure supply chain security by joining this protocol. With the demand of organic foods continuing to eclipse supply, companies can either continue to source their ingredients from the limited 1% acreage currently available, or make the economics of organic work for them. Identifying as Certified Transitional encourages the support of farmers in transition and allows companies to bring the consumer into the process of expanding access to organic farmland.

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Kayakers Explore Alaska's Newly Revealed Class V Gorge

Imagine being dropped off by a tiny bush plane into a remote wilderness, knowing you are about to brave the biggest challenge you have ever faced. Todd Wells did just that when he led an exploratory kayaking expedition into the heart of the Wrangell Mountains in Alaska. He and his team members were only able to get to their destination at the headwaters of the Chitina River by being dropped off one at a time, with their kayaks strapped to the bottom of the plane. “I had paddled Class V with each of these paddlers before, but this … was probably the biggest challenge that any of us had ever faced,” Wells says. “Our goal [was] just to make it down safely in one piece.”

The Chitina River in the WrangellSt. Elias National Park in Alaska originates right beneath the Logan Glacier. “Just a decade or two ago, the Logan Glacier used to cover this canyon,” Wells says. “Because of climate change and because of the recession of all these glaciers in Alaska, the Logan Glacier has retreated farther up into the mountains and opened up an entrance to the canyon that we've now been able to access.” Now there is a new, raging Class V+ gorge, which was previously concealed beneath the ice.

"Matt — Matt Peters and Todd Wells walk over a debris-covered section of the Logan Glacier to access the source of the Chitina River. Photograph by Eric Parker

Wells put together a team of paddlers he trusts who have each spent at least 10 years paddling Class V rivers: friend Ben Mar, friend and photographer Eric Parker, Wells's brother Brandon, videographer Chris Korbulic, and local friend Matt Peters.

The headwaters canyon is about 12 miles (19 kilometers) long, and the team's goal was to paddle as much of the canyon as they could. “We knew that there were probably a couple portages that we would have to make, but as long as we were able to paddle the majority of the river and not have to portage the whole canyon, I was going to be satisfied,” Wells explains. They ended up only having to portage twice for about 500 yards (457 meters), which meant they faced a lot of white water.

"Eric — Eric Parker and Brendan Wells portage “Hero's Thunder” an un-runnable rapid in the Headwaters Canyon. Photograph by Chris Korbulic

“Sometimes when we're in a safer environment, we really push it hard and we try to run every single rapid and really, really push it. But out here on the Chitina, our goal [was] just to make it down safely in one piece and that's what we were able to do,” Wells says. “There are a couple rapids we portaged that potentially we could go back and try to run sometime, but they were really pretty scary and if we were to make a mistake on either one of those rapids, it could have been fatal.”

The team had to prepare carefully for other demanding conditions as well, such as camping in the cold and packing all of their equipment inside the back of their kayaks. “None of us have ever done anything quite like this,” Wells said. “It was a learning process figuring out where to set up camp where we [were] protected from the wind, how to portage and scout rapids safely. It was a difficult challenge for us all.”

The retreat of the Logan Glacier opened up the landscape relatively recently so there are dramatic rugged rocks and not a lot of vegetation. “Just being in the heart of the WrangellSt. Elias National Park was a really, really amazing experience. I'd never been anywhere that felt nearly as remote as the headwaters canyon and the Chitina River. We were seeing wildlife throughout the trip. There were bears and moose and just no human influence at all. It was a really special spot to be.”

This kind of remote exploration is what drives Wells as a kayaker. Doing a first descent down the Chitina canyon was a thrill. “I really feel that Alaska is the last frontier for a lot of explorations, a lot of kayaking expeditions. It's really unique to be able to be up there and explore these places that no one has ever been before.”

Todd Wells is a grantee of Nat Geo's Expeditions Council. Learn more about the science and exploration supported by the nonprofit National Geographic Society at natgeo.org/grants.

See more video from Todd Wells and the team at MountainMindCollective.com.

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