climate change

Today's Top 5

Glyphosate Faces Wave of Wave of Legal Challenges As Alleged Carcinogen

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s marquee product, Roundup, is coming under fire from hundreds of legal challenges across the U.S., with individuals alleging that the herbicide is carcinogenic and linked to cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Whether the cases pay out for plaintiffs remains to be seen. But at the very least, they represent a big opportunity for litigators, with some thinking “glyphosate” could become a legal buzzword on par with asbestos. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Scientists Are Conspicuously Absent From Trump's Government

President Trump has moved to fill just one of 46 key science and technology positions that help the government counter risks ranging from chemical and biological attacks to rising seas, a Washington Post analysis has found. The vacancies in the 46 Senate-confirmed posts range from the president’s science adviser, to the administrators of NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to the chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. - Washington Post

Cook Inlet Gas Leak Remains Unmonitored As Danger to Marine Life Is Feared

As the underwater methane leak in Cook Inlet, Alaska continues well into its third month, even basic environmental monitoring has been impossible because of ice cover. The ice also prevents any repair to the pipeline or response to the leak. While much about the natural gas pipeline leak remains unknown, including its exact location or how the methane may be affecting the inlet's endangered beluga whales, enough is known to make some environmental scientists concerned about a potential environmental disaster in the making. - InsideClimate News

The West's Throwaway Culture Has Spread Waste Worldwide

Packaging – much of it single-use food wrapping – has created a rubbish problem that now pollutes every corner of the world. Manufacturers got us into this mess, but it’s up to us to dig ourselves out – and here’s how. - The Guardian

Arctic Sea Ice Driven By Natural Swings, Not Just Mankind

Natural swings in the Arctic climate have caused up to half the precipitous losses of sea ice around the North Pole in recent decades, with the rest driven by man-made global warming, scientists said on Monday. The study indicates that an ice-free Arctic Ocean, often feared to be just years away, in one of the starkest signs of man-made global warming, could be delayed if nature swings back to a cooler mode. - Reuters

 

Today's Top 5

As Construction Near Standing Rock Restarts, Pipeline Fights Flare Across US

While the Standing Rock Sioux and neighboring tribes attempt to halt the project in court, other opponents of the pipeline have launched what they’re calling a “last stand,” holding protests and disruptive actions across the U.S. In North Dakota, where it all began, a few hundred people continue to live at camps on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, using them as bases for prayer and for direct actions to block construction. Last week, camps were served eviction notices from Gov. Doug Burgum and from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, demanding that they clear the biggest camp, Oceti Sakowin, by Wednesday and a smaller camp, Sacred Stone, within 10 days. - The Intercept

Border Wall Would Cleave Tribe, and Its Connection to Ancestral Land

Mr. Trump’s plan to build a 1,954-mile wall from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico will have to overcome the fury of political opponents and numerous financial, logistical and physical obstacles, like towering mountain ranges. Then there are the 62 miles belonging to the Tohono O’odham, a tribe that has survived the cleaving of its land for more than 150 years and views the president’s wall as a final indignity. A wall would not just split the tribe’s traditional lands in the United States and Mexico, members say. It would threaten an ancestral connection that has endured even as barriers, gates, cameras and Border Patrol agents have become a part of the landscape. - New York Times

Politics-Wary Scientists Wade Into Trump Fray in Boston

Many scientists view political activism as a potential taint or threat to the absolute empiricism that science strives for—or simply feel they cannot afford to take time away from their work. But several said Sunday that they believe they no longer have the luxury of remaining in their labs. Instead, participants in the Rally To Stand Up For Science said they felt compelled to speak out against the new Trump administration’s use of “alternative facts,” climate change denial and restrictions on immigrants—many of whom work in medicine and science. - Scientific American

Republicans Push Texas As Unlikely Green Energy Leader

Texas, the most Republican-dominated, oil-rich and fracking-friendly of states, has found itself with the improbable status of being a national leader in renewable wind energy. Texas has 11,592 turbines and an installed wind capacity of 20,321 megawatts, according to the American Wind Energy Association: three times as much capacity as the next state, Iowa. (California is third.) For the 12-month period ending in October last year, wind provided 12.68% of Texas’s electricity production – equivalent to powering 5.7 million homes. - The Guardian

Wet Winter Has Improved Colorado River Basin's Water Forecast, But Drought Endures

California is not the only place in the West confronting startling amounts of rain and snow. Drought conditions have declined substantially across the region in recent weeks, with heavy storms replenishing reservoirs and piling fresh powder on ski resorts.Yet there is one place where the precipitation has been particularly welcome and could be transformative: the Colorado River basin, which provides water to nearly 40 million people across seven states. - Los Angeles Times

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What Does the Paris Climate Agreement Mean for the World's 8 Million Other Species?

In December, the world’s nations agreed on an aggressive plan to combat climate change. But what, if anything, will the landmark Paris agreement do for thousands of species already under threat from global warming? - The Guardian

Politics of Climate Unlikely to Change in 2016

In 2016, Americans will go to the polls to elect a new president, 34 senators, 435 representatives and 12 governors, not to mention countless state and local leaders. And despite this happening during what many scientists believe will be the hottest year on record and the stakes for the planet growing ever higher, climate change won't crack the list of top political issues. - InsideClimate News

The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare

Rob Bilott was a corporate defense attorney for eight years. Then he took on an environmental suit that would upend his entire career — and expose a brazen, decades-long history of chemical pollution. - New York Times Magazine

BA Blames UK Government for Scrapping of £340m Green Fuels Project

A groundbreaking plan to turn London’s rubbish into green jet fuel has been abandoned due to a lack of UK government support, British Airways says. - The Guardian

As If Slavery Weren't Enough, Six Other Reasons to Avoid Shrimp

For all its abundance, the diminutive shellfish carries some heavy baggage you might want to consider before consuming your next shrimp cocktail. Since its inception, the farmed-shrimp industry has been plagued by reports of unsavory working conditions and ecological destruction. - Mother Jones

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The Toxic Chemical in San Francisco's Fog

Fog rolling in off the Pacific brings iconic beauty to San Francisco, but scientists say it also carries with it something much less pleasant: toxic mercury. Scientists who studied the fog along the coast of California found that it deposits a neurotoxin called monomethyl mercury — at a concentration about 20 times that of rain — as it sweeps across the city. -- San Francisco Chronicle

The Italian Mob's Toxic Waste Dumping is Giving People Cancer

According to a new report released last week by the Italian National Institute of Health, a few local Italian mobs have been slowly killing dozens of innocent people for decades by way of a multibillion dollar toxic waste disposal racket. -- Vice Motherboard. 

Has the Organic Movement Left Black Farmers Behind? 

A history of discrimination, mass land loss, lack of start-up capital, lack of collateral for loans, and a multi-generational distrust of federal programs have put Black farmers behind in the organic movement. -- Civil Eats

California's 'Staggering' Leak Could Spew Methane for Months

A leaking natural gas storage field continues to belch thousands of tons of methane into the air every week, causing health and climate concerns. -- InsideClimate News

Where Is the Most Cycle-Friendly City in the World?

The Dutch and Danish cycling utopias of Amsterdam, Groningen, Utrecht and Copenhagen are high up the list – but what about the rest of the world? -- The Guardian

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Greenland Is Melting Away

Scientific data collected in the rivers of Greenland could yield groundbreaking information on the rate at which the melting of Greenland ice sheet, one of the biggest and fastest-melting chunks of ice on Earth, will drive up sea levels in the coming decades. The full melting of Greenland’s ice sheet could increase sea levels by about 20 feet. -- New York Times

Deadly Heat Forecast in Middle East By 2100

By the end of this century, areas of the Persian Gulf could be hit by waves of heat and humidity so severe that simply being outside for several hours could threaten human life, according to a study published Monday. Because of humanity’s contribution to climate change, the authors wrote, some population centers in the Middle East “are likely to experience temperature levels that are intolerable to humans.” -- New York Times

Bleaching and Disease Are Devastating Biggest Coral Reef In Continental US

The world’s coral reefs are currently in the grip of a massive global bleaching event — only the third such event in recorded history. Thanks to unusually warm water brought on by the effects of climate change, a particularly strong El Nino event and a persistent warm “blob” in the Pacific Ocean, corals throughout the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans are at risk of bleaching and possible death. One of the places most recently affected is the Florida coral reef tract, which spans from the Florida Keys up to Martin County and is the only coral reef tract found off the coast of one of the continental U.S. states. -- Washington Post

House, Senate Move to Block Obama's Power Plant Plan

Congressional Republicans are moving to block President Barack Obama's plan to force steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants. The maneuver is subject to a presidential veto and has rarely been successful in overturning executive branch rules. Still, it allows opponents to set up votes calculated to embarrass the Obama administration ahead of international climate talks in Paris this fall. -- Associated Press

No Chance for Africa's Lions? 

The king of the animals is facing extinction. According to a study, the species, which is endemic to Africa, can only survive there on reservations. In some regions, populations have disappeared completely. -- Deutsche Welle

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Study Finds Elevated Carbon Dioxide Impairs Human Brain Function

In a landmark public health finding, a new study from the Harvard School of Public Health finds that carbon dioxide has a direct and negative impact on human cognition and decision-making. These impacts have been observed at CO2 levels that most Americans — and their children — are routinely exposed to today inside classrooms, offices, homes, planes, and cars. -- Climate Progress

As Gulf of Maine Warms, Puffins Recast as Canaries in Coal Mine

Since 2004 the Gulf of Maine has warmed faster than anyplace else on the planet save an area northeast of Japan, and climate models suggest 2012-like conditions will become the new normal by the 2050s, with dramatic implications for life in Maine, on land as well as at sea. Scientists say the most catastrophic outcome would be a collapse in the foundations of the marine food web that sustains not just the puffins and their prey but most other species, from endangered right whales to the haddock and cod that fishermen depend on. -- Portland Press Herald

Leaked Map Reveals Big Gas Eyeing One of Most Biodiverse Places on Earth

Manu National Park in Peru’s Amazon is targeted by Pluspetrol, according to map of planned geological fieldwork -- The Guardian

Processed Meats Cause Cancer, and Red Meat Probably Does, Too

Eating hot dogs, ham and other processed meat can cause colorectal cancer, and eating red meat probably can cause cancer, the World Health Organization's cancer agency reported Monday. Dr. Kurt Straif, with the International Agency for Cancer Research, said the risk of developing colorectal cancer from eating processed meat remains small but rises with the amount consumed. Consuming red meat was linked to colorectal, pancreatic and prostate cancer, but the link was not as strong, the IARC report said. -- USA Today

Climate Change a Major Threat to Children's Health, Doctors Warn

Climate change poses a rising global public health and safety threat, and children are particularly vulnerable, the American Academy of Pediatrics says in a new policy statement. The group is urging pediatricians and politicians to work together to solve the crisis and protect children from the immediate and long-term health consequences of climate change. -- CBS News

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Our Deadened, Carbon-Soaked Seas

We can’t see this massive amount of carbon dioxide that’s going into the ocean, but it dissolves in seawater as carbonic acid, changing the water’s chemistry at a rate faster than seen for millions of years.  -- New York Times

Rising Seas Overwhelm Delaware Tidal Gates

Southbridge, although far from the beaches of Delaware’s bay and the Atlantic, is vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise. The neighborhood already faces chronic flooding, due to a combination of its low-lying location and aging infrastructure, and the flooding is likely to get worse as sea levels rise. -- Al Jazeera

US Announces New Moves to Limit Super Greenhouse Gases

New administrative measures and private sector pledges to phase down the use of hydrofluorocarbons, potent greenhouse gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning, will reduce its consumption by the equivalent of 1 billion metric tons of CO2 through 2025, the White House said Thursday. -- Reuters

Kasich Energy Plan Would Repeal Obama Rules, Boosting Drilling

GOP presidential hopeful John Kasich wants to repeal impediments to oil and natural gas production, including Obama administration regulations and limits on offshore drilling. -- The Hill

Oil Bosses Fight For Relevance Before Climate Talks

In an unprecedented public appearance, the bosses of Europe's top oil companies, who earlier this year jointly called on governments to introduce a global carbon pricing system, will be joined by the heads of the national oil companies of Saudi Arabia and Mexico who will lend their support to the initiative. The rare show of unity at a time when companies are all struggling with a sharp drop in oil prices also highlights a deep rift with American oil companies such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron who stayed away from the initiative. -- Reuters

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How Are Hospitals Trashing the Planet? Ask a MacArthur Genius.

It’s not every day that an environmental activist becomes a leading voice in health care, but that’s what happened to Gary Cohen, a new MacArthur fellow. By looking under the hood of hospitals, he’s discovered a few nasty secrets — and inspired big changes for a community of scientists and practitioners whose healing practices were actually hurting the world around them. -- Washington Post

In 2050 There Will Be 9 Billion People on Earth. How Will We Feed Them?

There are 805 million malnourished people on the planet and the global population is expected to reach nine billion by 2050. Climate change could make half the world’s current farmland unsuitable; agriculture, ironically, produces a third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. We are, argues Bourne, farming ourselves out of food. -- The Guardian

Democrats Compete Over Climate Change

In the past, climate change has barely rated more than a passing mention from candidates of either party. At best, it's been presented as part of a laundry list of issues facing America and the world. But now the Democratic candidates have at long last internalized it as a central part of their platforms, and that came through on Tuesday night. -- The New Republic

A Megacity Without a War: Sao Paulo's Drought

The biggest city in the Western hemisphere is facing its greatest water crisis in over 80 years — and climate change is only part of the problem. -- Time

Toyota Aims to Nearly Eliminate Gasoline Cars By 2050

Toyota, under ambitious environmental targets, is aiming to sell hardly any regular gasoline vehicles by 2050, only hybrids and fuel cells, to radically reduce emissions. -- Associated Press

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Report: Pesticide Exposure Linked to Childhood Cancer, Low IQ

The researchers concluded that children who had been exposed to insecticides indoors were 47% more likely to have leukemia and 43% more likely to have lymphoma. Although leukemia and lymphoma are rare -- leukemia affects about five in 100,000 children in the United States -- they are among the common types of childhood cancers. -- CNN

Court Sparks Debate By Rebuking EPA on Bee-Killing Pesticide

The court in Pollinator Stewardship Council v. EPA ordered the agency to dial back its registration of sulfoxaflor, which is used mostly on cotton in the Mississippi Delta. Sulfoxaflor and other chemicals in the neonicotinoid pesticide class have been implicated in the decline of honeybees and other pollinators. -- Greenwire

25 Fast Food Chains Ranked on Antibiotic Use

The paper, authored by several public interest groups, gave each chain a letter grade based on their use of antibiotics—and their transparency about it. Only two chains got an "A." -- Time

Commentary: Despite Spin, Bad News Keeps Sticking to Teflon

EPA records show that the broken and outdated Toxic Substances Control Act has let DuPont and other companies market alternative non-stick chemicals without ever proving that they’re safe. The limited animal studies that have been done show that the new generation of PFCs may be little safer than the chemicals they’re replacing. -- Environmental Health News

California Drought Leads to Lowest Snow Pack in 500 Years

The study, published the journal Nature Climate Change, concluded that the snowpack in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains was only 5 percent of its historic average this past spring.

-- The Hill

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"'Rivers of Acid' in Zambian Village"

Zambian villagers are taking a multinational copper mining firm to court in the UK, accusing it of poisoning their water. The BBC's Nomsa Maseko visited the area which has allegedly been polluted. -- BBC World

"Tougher Testing Sought to Detect Asbestos in Talc"

Internal records reviewed by FairWarning show that officials of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have long been concerned about potential asbestos contamination of cosmetic talc, but have left it to the industry to monitor itself. -- Fair Warning

"Salinas Valley's Thriving Crops Mask Fears Over Lone Water Source"

At a time when lakes have hit bottom, wells have run dry, and farmland 100 miles away in the Central Valley has gathered dust, the Salinas Valley remains an oasis — a green patchwork quilt of farmland unfurling roughly 90 miles along U.S. 101 north of Paso Robles to Monterey Bay, where the Salinas River meets the ocean. But the verdant landscape hides long-term troubles with the region's only water source. -- Los Angeles Times

"How Climate Change Is Behind the Surge of Migrants to Europe"

Even as Europe wrestles over how to absorb the migrant tide, experts warn that the flood is likely to get worse as climate change becomes a driving factor.  -- Time

"Paris Climate Talks Could Fail, Warns Francois Hollande"

The president of France, Francois Hollande, has warned that the global climate change talks scheduled for Paris this December will fail unless nations make a much greater effort to reach agreement – and that the result could be millions of new refugees fleeing climate disaster. --The Guardian

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"In the Future, the Best Chemistry Practices Will Be Green"

Gathering for a summit on green chemicals, industry leaders and academics discussed how to solve the problems that threaten to stall 20 years of good intentions. -- The Guardian

"Warming Oceans Put Marine Life 'In a Blender'"

Global warming is going to reshuffle ocean ecosystems on a scale not seen for millions of years. Marine biologists can’t yet say what these new habitats are going to be like. -- The New York Times

"Green, Civil Rights Groups Team Up on Ozone Rule"

The Obama administration is currently reviewing a final rule to set strict new standards for ozone pollution, and it’s expected to announce the new limits this fall. The NAACP and groups like the Sierra Club and Earthjustice are sponsoring ads this week highlighting the rule as especially important for black Americans, who are much more susceptible to adverse health effects caused by ozone because their communities are frequently in areas where smog pollution is worse than even the current standards. -- The Hill

"EU Diplomats Reveal Dam Project's Devastating Impact on Remote Ethiopian Tribes"

Lives of semi-nomadic tribespeople are being irreversibly changed by relocation into poorly planned settlements to make way for sugar plantation, says released report. -- The Guardian

"More Evidence Suggests Key to Allergy-Free Kids is Plenty of Dirt--And Cows"

New research provides more evidence that farms may have the best germs for preventing respiratory problems and allergic reactions later in life. -- Washington Post