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ARB Newsclips for September 2, 2015. 

This is a service of the California Air Resources Board’s Office
of Communications.  You may need to sign in or register with
individual websites to view some of the following news articles.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate change could alter key ocean bacteria: study. Climate
change could put a type of oceanic bacteria into evolutionary
overdrive in a way that could pose a threat to its long-term
survivability and its important role in the food chain, according
to a study published on Tuesday. The research published in the
journal Nature Communications focuses on trichodesmium…
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/01/us-usa-microbes-study-idUSKCN0R149K20150901


Indonesia to pledge to make deeper emission cuts by 2030.
Indonesia will pledge to increase its commitments on cutting
greenhouse gas emissions growth by 29 percent by 2030, the
environment and forestry minister said on Wednesday, but giving
few details on how this would be done. Indonesia, ranked third in
the amount of land covered by tropical forests and the world's
top palm oil producer…
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL4N1182KZ20150902


Denmark’s Government Readies U-Turn on Ambitious Climate Targets.
Denmark’s widening budget deficit is forcing its policy makers to
take some hard decisions in the very area where they are
considered global role models: the fight against climate change.
Denmark’s Liberal government is to reverse ambitious CO2 emission
targets 
The news about Denmark’s cost-cutting measures, which also
include a reduction in…
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-NTZWYZ6KLVRV01-0HETAGE4NLAVFPL7KQLF03TRQU
 

International Efforts to Cut Carbon Pollution Won’t Be Enough.
Pledges from dozens of nations to rein in carbon emissions aren’t
enough so far to avoid catastrophic climate change, according to
four European research centers. Plans submitted by China, the
U.S., the European Union and other top polluters won’t limit
global warming…
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-NU0KX16KLVRB01-0A27KA7G23JAIC8P1DFQHIFU10


Analysts: Emission cuts for Paris climate pact not enough to stop
Earth warming 2 degrees C. Analysts tracking efforts to control
greenhouse gas emissions say the reductions pledged by major
economies ahead of an envisioned climate pact this year won't be
enough to avoid warming the Earth by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6
degrees Fahrenheit) or more.
http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2015/09/02/nations-pledges-to-cut-emissions-called-insufficient
 

UN: This El Nino to be among the strongest since 1950. The
current El Nino weather pattern may be on track to become one of
the strongest in more than half a century, experts at the World
Meteorological Organization said Tuesday. The El Nino event
involves a shift in winds in the Pacific Ocean along the equator
every few years, warming the water more than usual and triggering
a change in global weather patterns.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/UN-agency-predicts-El-Nino-to-be-among-strongest-6478098.php


DOE awards ~$25M to 8 projects for CO2 capture and compression;
$15M for novel. The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) National
Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has selected eight projects
to receive almost $25 million in funding to construct small- and
large-scale pilots for reducing the cost of CO2 capture and
compression through DOE’s Carbon Capture Program.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/09/20150902-fcedfc.html 

California Forest Helps Offset Volkswagen Emissions. Volkswagen
is relying on a privately managed forest in California to help
offset its contributions to greenhouse gas emissions.  Auto
industry analyst Karl Brauer writes in Forbes that although the
German auto giant is in the midst of various steps to curb its
environmental impact, VW can't eliminate its emissions entirely.
http://www.mbtmag.com/news/2015/09/california-forest-helps-offset-volkswagen-emissions


PRESIDENT OBAMA - ALASKA ARTIC

Obama visits Arctic community to discuss Native issues. President
Barack Obama on Wednesday will become the first sitting U.S.
president to visit a community north of the Arctic Circle, a trek
the White House hopes will bring into focus how climate change is
affecting Americans.
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL1N1171LJ20150902
 
  
Rapid Arctic Change Adds Pressure to Climate Talks. President
Barack Obama's historic trip to the rapidly warming Alaskan
Arctic could help put pressure on international negotiators to
successfully ink a global deal to fight climate change at a
year-end summit in Paris. Urgency has been a theme of the
three-day trip: The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest
of the world.
http://www.bna.com/rapid-arctic-change-n17179935453/ 

Obama points to melting glacier in climate change campaign.
President Barack Obama stared down a melting glacier in Alaska on
Tuesday in a dramatic use of his presidential pulpit to sound the
alarm on climate change. From a distance, Exit Glacier appears as
a river of white and blue flowing down through the mountains
toward lower terrain. In fact, it's just the opposite.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/glacier-336934-ocprint-obama-climate.html
 

President Obama Announces New Investments to Enhance Safety and
Security in the Changing Arctic. Climate change is reshaping the
Arctic in profound ways. The global Arctic has warmed
approximately twice as fast as the rest of the world, resulting
in significant impacts on land and sea. Among the most noticeable
changes is the retreat of Arctic sea ice, which has experienced
significant…
http://www.imperialvalleynews.com/index.php/news/national-news/5063-president-obama-announces-new-investments-to-enhance-safety-and-security-in-the-changing-arctic.html


In climate bid, Obama stares down melting Alaska glacier.
President Barack Obama stared down a melting glacier in Alaska on
Tuesday in a dramatic use of his presidential pulpit to sound the
alarm on climate change. From a distance, Exit Glacier appears as
a river of white and blue flowing down through the mountains
toward lower terrain. In fact, it's just the opposite.
http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/national/In-climate-bid-Obama-stares-down-melting-Alaska-glacier-323802001.html


Obama ends Alaska trip with climate funds for Native towns.
President Obama will wind up his historic three-day trip to
Alaska today by providing millions of dollars in federal funding
and assistance to help the state's Native communities grapple
with climate change and high energy costs.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2015/09/02/stories/1060024171  

DROUGHT

When the wells run dry: California families cope in drought.
Looking for water to flush his toilet, Tino Lozano pointed a
garden hose at some buckets in the bare dirt of his yard. It’s
his daily ritual now in a community built by refugees from
Oklahoma’s Dust Bowl. But only a trickle came out; then a drip,
then nothing more. “There it goes,” said Lozano, a 40-year-old
disabled vet, masking his desperation with a smile.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/water-680308-california-okieville.html


GREEN ENERGY

UPDATE 2-EEX to launch wind power contract in early 2016. The
European Energy Exchange (EEX) will launch a wind power futures
contract in the first quarter of 2016, it said on Wednesday,
allowing customers to hedge risks and speculate on an
increasingly important part of the electricity market. The
contract could help both wind and conventional power plants cope
with the unpredictability of wind production.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/02/power-bourse-eex-idUSL5N1181KJ20150902?feedType=RSS&feedName=utilitiesSector


Scott Walker's Record on Wind and Solar Power Leaves Renewables
Industry Fuming. Five years after Walker took office, renewable
energy in Wisconsin is lagging the boom in the rest of the
country and industry blames the two-term governor for the
shortfall. Walker and his appointees have pushed new restrictions
on windmills…
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-NU1L0B6KLVR801-7AH1H1DFOQU7SKKHVAVPNU0VPL


Better Health a Key Benefit of Renewables, Study Says. Building
wind and solar farms helps to reduce the human impact on climate
change by displacing noxious emissions from coal-fired power
plants. A new study says there’s another important benefit to
renewables development: cost savings from cleaner air that saves
lives.
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/renewables-benefit-climate-public-health-19397?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20climatecentral/djOO%20Climate%20Central%20-%20Full%20Feed
 
MISCELLANEOUS

This Democrat's decision on climate change could be a game
changer.  Henry T. Perea was having a change of heart. For years,
the Democratic assemblyman had griped about the Central Valley
getting shortchanged by Sacramento and overshadowed by Los
Angeles, San Francisco and other big-city magnets for state
dollars. Now he was in a poor Fresno neighborhood, not far from
where he grew up…
http://www.latimes.com/local/great-reads/la-me-pol-c1-henry-perea-20150902-story.html


Mercury News reporters win Oakes environmental writing award for
drought reporting. Two San Jose Mercury News reporters have won
one of environmental writing's most prestigious prizes -- the
2015 John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental
Journalism -- for their reporting on the California drought.
http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_28743993/mercury-news-reporters-win-oakes-environmental-writing-award


OPINIONS

In Alaska, Obama warns against climate change but OKs drilling. 
President Obama is doing God’s work in Alaska by highlighting the
ominous shifts in the Arctic environment being caused by climate
change, but his administration has made a deal with the devil by
approving Royal Dutch Shell’s plans to drill for oil in the
Arctic Ocean.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-alaska-obama-climate-20150901-story.html


It's not 'the environment vs. jobs' anymore. To the editor: The
conclusion in the UC Berkeley study that stronger requirements
for renewable energy would create jobs is another piece of
evidence that California has known for a long time. Renewable
energy regulations have helped to make California a leader in the
country in creating jobs, reducing harmful air pollution…
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-le-0902-wednesday-renewable-energy-20150902-story.html


Transit is key to both climate change and transportation. We are
in the midst of a record drought and wildfire season that
scientists tell us is one of the effects of climate change. We
clearly cannot continue business as usual, yet two deeply
intertwined debates are underway in their usual separate silos in
the Legislature. Gov. Jerry Brown is pushing even more ambitious
goals to reduce carbon emissions…
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article33219828.html#storylink=cpy


Fabian Nuñez: On climate change, California matters. In three
months, world leaders will gather in Paris at the United Nations
climate summit. As the evidence mounts that man made greenhouse
gas emissions are a significant cause of climate change--now an
incontrovertible, scientific fact--the summit represents a narrow
window of opportunity for the world's largest economies to reach
common ground on reducing emissions and turning the tide before
it's too late.
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_28740569/fabian-nunez-climate-change-california-matters


BLOGS

Marcos Breton: Consumption, contradiction and climate change. The
allure of a big truck is strong even though I have no need for
one. I would never drive it off-road. I wouldn’t use it to haul
anything heavier than laundry and groceries. But there I am late
at night, scanning car websites, imagining myself behind the
wheel of a massive vehicle that would not fit my lifestyle.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/marcos-breton/article33306153.html#storylink=cpy


Fossil Fuel Execs Made Twice As Much As U.S. Pledged To Help
Fight Climate Change Overseas. "If we don't reverse these
perverse incentives, we all remain at risk." The top executives
at the largest publicly held fossil fuel companies in the United
States have made nearly $6 billion in the last five years --
enough to double the U.S. commitment to addressing climate change
abroad.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fossil-fuel-execs-climate-change_55e62913e4b0b7a9633ac41a


How China Is Taking Major Steps to Control Shipping Air
Pollution. In a series of announcements over the weekend and on
Monday, the Chinese government took several important steps to
control emissions from shipping activities, which until now have
been virtually unregulated. Vessels and ports are major sources
of the severe air pollution choking many coastal cities in China…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barbara-a-finamore/how-china-is-taking-major_b_8078334.html





California is in a drought emergency.
Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.