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newsclips -- Newsclips for April 10, 2015

Posted: 10 Apr 2015 14:46:18
ARB Newsclips for April 10, 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.

AIR POLLUTION

China risks social conflict if war on pollution lags - govt
researchers.  Any failure to tackle China's huge pollution
problems in the coming years could stoke public discontent and
create "social conflicts", government researchers warned,
underlining political concerns driving Beijing's war on smog.
With pollution identified as a major source of unrest, China's
ruling Communist Party has promised to tackle a host of
environmental problems brought about by more than three decades
of breakneck economic growth, an environment ministry think tank
said on Thursday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/10/china-environment-idUSL4N0X733P20150410


Bad-air days decline in Southern California.  Southern
California’s decades-long war on air pollution is far from over,
but a report released Thursday gives everyone a reason to take a
deep breath and maybe even lace up some running shoes. Compared
with about 12 years ago, those who breathe in Orange, Riverside
and San Bernardino counties now get roughly triple the number of
good-air days – times when the particle-pollution level is low
enough for the air to be considered healthy.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/air-657447-pollution-quality.html


CLIMATE CHANGE

US carbon pollution set for 2015 drop as coal plants close.  US
efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions look set for a huge boost
this year, with carbon pollution from the power sector set to
fall to its lowest level since 1994. Record numbers of US
coal-fired power plants are set to close this year, and analysts
at Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) say this will likely see
power sector emissions drop 15.4% below 2005 levels.
http://www.rtcc.org/2015/04/10/us-carbon-pollution-set-for-2015-drop-as-coal-plants-close/


Climate change seen bringing more fires, less snow to
Yellowstone.  Predicted climate changes bringing warmer and drier
conditions to Yellowstone National Park will likely fuel
catastrophic wildfires, cause declines in mountain snows and
threaten the survival of animals and plants, scientists said on
Thursday. Warming that is expected in the American West over the
next few decades would transform lands in and around Yellowstone
from a wetter, mostly forested Rocky Mountain ecosystem to a more
open landscape akin to the arid U.S. Southwest, the researchers
said in a special issue of a park report.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/10/us-usa-yellowstone-climate-idUSKBN0N02H320150410


Move over sci-fi: 'Climate fiction' finds way into classrooms. 
Students at a Massachusetts college have just read "The Windup
Girl", the tale of a dystopian future Bangkok where climate
change has pushed up temperatures and sea levels, and viruses
acquired from genetically modified food are killing people. The
book, by debut novelist Paolo Bacigalupi, is the product of a new
class at Holyoke Community College on "climate fiction" or
"cli-fi", a relatively new variant of science fiction.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/10/us-climatechange-fiction-idUSKBN0N11T820150410


A few questions about Kevin de Léon’s big climate change measure.
 Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Léon cannot be faulted for
aiming too low. With his friend and patron, billionaire
environmentalist Tom Steyer, sitting by his side, de Léon
presented his signature climate change legislation, Senate Bill
350, earlier this week.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article17997944.html 

DIESEL ACTIVITIES

California Energy Commission awards nearly $9M to 3 projects to
support local manufacturing of heavy-duty electric vehicles,
PHEVs.  As part of its approval of more than $83.7 million in
grants and loans for 46 projects covering transportation, energy
storage, biogas and efficiency programs, the California Energy
Commission awarded nearly $9 million to three companies to
encourage the manufacturing of heavy-duty electric vehicles and
components in California.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/04/20150409-cec.html 

DROUGHT

California farmers mount PR campaign to counter backlash over
water use.  When Gov. Jerry Brown announced his unprecedented
water use reduction order last week, California farmers were
largely spared. They quickly developed another problem: Bad PR.
At issue was the apparent disconnect between Brown’s focus on
urban water use and the fact that agriculture – not cities or
towns – accounts for roughly 80 percent of all water used by
people in California.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article18013727.html


California faces 'Dust Bowl'-like conditions amid drought, says
climate tracker.  With a slew of statistics projected on the
slideshow behind him, California's state climatologist had a
stark warning during a Thursday presentation on the severity of
the drought. "You’re looking on numbers that are right on par
with what was the Dust Bowl," said the climatologist, Michael
Anderson.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-pc-california-dust-bowl-drought-20150409-story.html


#SaveTheDropLA: City offers rebates, freebies to encourage water
savings.  Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Thursday rolled out
a new public engagement campaign touting several incentives to
help the city reduce its water use during the state's on-going
drought.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/04/09/50906/la-offering-rebates-freebies-to-encourage-water-sa/

VEHICLES

UC Berkeley hybrid semiconductor nanowire-bacteria system for
direct solar-powered production of chemicals from CO2 and water. 
Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed an artificial
photosynthetic scheme for the direct solar-powered production of
value-added chemicals from CO2 and water using a two-step process
involving a biocompatible light-capturing nanowire array with a
direct interface with microbial systems.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/04/20150410-liu.html 

GREEN ENERGY

Obama touts clean energy in bid to restore U.S. leadership in
Caribbean.  President Barack Obama on Thursday unveiled a major
clean energy partnership at a Caribbean summit where he sought to
reassert U.S. leadership in the region at a time when the
economic clout of oil-producing Venezuela appears to be receding.
The White House used the occasion to announce an important step
towards healing its five-decade-old rift with Cuba, saying the
State Department has completed a review of whether to remove the
communist-ruled island from a list of state sponsors of
terrorism.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/09/us-usa-caribbean-idUSKBN0N021820150409


Vancouver commits to run on 100% renewable energy.  Vancouver has
become the latest city to commit to running on 100% renewable
energy. The city of 600,000 on Canada’s west coast aims to use
only green energy sources for electricity, and also for heating
and cooling and transportation.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/10/vancouver-commits-to-run-on-100-renewable-energy


Desert Hot Springs families get free solar on homes.  Nancy Villa
and Carlos Paz were smiling as they sat in their living room
Thursday, with Villa holding their three-week-old son, Iker, in a
colorful blanket. Above their heads, a dozen volunteers —
including several local high school students — installed solar
panels on the roof of their Desert Hot Springs home.
http://www.desertsun.com/story/tech/science/energy/2015/04/09/free-solar-low-income-desert-hot-springs-families/25550857/


OPINIONS

Mayor Eric Garcetti must now put his plan into action.  Mayor
Eric Garcetti released a sweeping plan this week that outlines
his environmental and economic priorities and sets measurable
goals in a wide range of areas, from cutting smog and reducing
the city's reliance on imported water to adding bike-share
programs and urban farms. The 105-page report was billed as the
mayor's 20-year strategy for fighting pollution and climate
change while also addressing poverty and economic inequality.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-sustainable-city-plan-20150410-story.html


California is naturally brown and beautiful. Why are our yards
green?  A few years ago, my wife and I decided to replace the
mangy bit of lawn in front of our house with drought-tolerant
dymondia, which was supposed to spread into an interconnected
ground cover. Less water, no mowing, I thought. Easy call. But
the dymondia struggled, and seemed to ebb in the hot summer and
flow in the cooler, wetter winter. So a few months ago we
replaced the top six inches of dirt with a more desert-like sand
mixture and installed a garden of large rocks and mixed
succulents (and replaced the 1974 hand-cranked sprinkler
system).
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-drought-water-suburbia-lawns-20150409-story.html


California should stretch urban supplies before cutting water for
farms.  A 25 percent cutback in urban water use – as Gov. Jerry
Brown imposed last week – is less a hardship on California
residents than an adjustment to a new reality. Droughts like the
one gripping California now are inevitable, though climate change
makes their frequency and severity unpredictable. We need to
change the way we use water, especially outdoors, to cope now and
into the future. Simple steps, such as not overwatering lawns,
will go a long way. Replacing lawns with drought-tolerant
landscaping will go even further.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article17892764.html


BLOGS

Fracking Endangers Our Water and Air.  Hydraulic fracturing
involves injecting millions of gallons of water with sand and
chemicals under high pressure down and across as far as 10,000
feet below the surface. The mixture causes rock layers to crack
and open and allow the oil to penetrate the sand particles  so
the natural gas from the fracture can flow up the well.
http://blog.sfgate.com/mary-matzek/2015/04/10/fracking-endangers-our-water-and-air/


Tesla Trumps Toyota: The Seven Reasons Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars
Are Stalled.  For reasons that mostly defy logic, the otherwise
shrewd car company, Toyota, is placing a large bet on hydrogen
fuel cell cars, starting with the Mirai. At the same time, it has
backed away from its partnership with Tesla to build an
all-electric vehicle.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/04/08/3643876/tesla-toyota-hydrogen-fuel-cell-cars/





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

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