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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for December 7, 2015.

Posted: 07 Dec 2015 14:49:19
ARB Newsclips for December 7, 2015. 

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AIR POLLUTION

Beijing Issues Red Alert Over Air Pollution for the First Time.
Officials in the Chinese capital declared for the first time on
Monday evening that the thick smog blanketing the city was bad
enough to require a red alert, the highest level of alarm. It was
the first time a code red had been sounded since Beijing
announced an emergency air pollution response system with
multicolored warnings in 2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/08/world/asia/beijing-pollution-red-alert.html


Electric Scooters, and a Network. Across Asia, motorized
two-wheeled vehicles provide mobility for the masses, but
emissions from hundreds of millions of scooters and motorcycles
are responsible for more than half of traffic pollution in many
cities, choking the air with hazardous levels of benzene and
particulate matter, in addition to greenhouse gases.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/08/business/energy-environment/electric-scooters-and-a-network.html


Study Sees Possible Dip in World Carbon Dioxide Emissions. Global
carbon dioxide emissions may be dropping ever so slightly this
year, spurred by a dramatic plunge in Chinese pollution,
according to a surprising new study by a scientific team that
regularly tracks heat-trapping pollution. The unexpected dip
could either be a temporary blip or true hope that the world is
about to turn…
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/12/07/world/europe/ap-eu-climate-countdown-pollution-peak.html


Conservative judge predicts court battle over EPA 'co-benefits'. 
As opponents sparred in court last week over the fate of a major
U.S. EPA rule to slash mercury emissions, a federal judge
forecast that the next big fight over the rule will center on how
the agency measures so-called co-benefits. The U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is grappling with
how to handle EPA's standards to cut …
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2015/12/07/stories/1060029089 

Health groups press EPA for new methane emissions limits. U.S.
EPA should forge ahead with new emissions limits for methane and
volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from existing oil and natural
gas operations, similar to what it is already proposing for new
sources, more than 600 nurses, doctors and other health care
professionals said in a letter Friday.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2015/12/07/stories/1060029090 

CLIMATE CHANGE

Surprisingly good news for the Earth’s climate: Greenhouse gas
pollution dropped this year. Emissions of man-made greenhouse
gases appear to have declined slightly in 2015, scientists said
Monday, reflecting what experts say is an encouraging, though
likely temporary, pause in the steady rise in pollutants blamed
for climate change.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/12/07/surprisingly-good-news-for-the-earths-climate-greenhouse-gas-pollution-dropped-last-year/


Bernie Sanders puts forward ambitious plan to combat climate
change. Presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday
released a highly ambitious plan to combat climate change, a
problem he pointedly says is being perpetuated by the
“billionaire fossil fuel lobby.” The plan, which reads like an
environmentalist’s wish list, seeks to reduce U.S. carbon
pollution by 40 percent by 2030…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/12/07/bernie-sanders-puts-forward-ambitious-plan-to-combat-climate-change/


New Data Suggest Period of Soaring Global Emissions May Have
Peaked. Industrial emissions of greenhouse gases rose only
slightly in 2014 and appear to be on track to decline in 2015,
according to new data that raise the possibility that a period of
rapid global emissions growth may be coming to an end.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/08/science/carbon-emissions-decline-peak-climate-change.html


From the Archives, 2005: How Much Warming Is Too Much? There was
one small problem with the first treaty addressing global
warming, in which 193 countries pledged to avoid “dangerous”
human interference with the climate: There was no accepted
definition of “dangerous.”
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/climate/2015-paris-climate-talks/from-the-archives-2005-how-much-warming-is-too-much


How Big Business Found Religion on Climate Change. CEOs still
don’t care about the whales. At a black-tie event in an opulent
ballroom late in 2014, a grim figure at a podium warned of the
“catastrophic impact of climate change.” “While there is still
time to act,” he admonished, “the window of opportunity is finite
and shrinking.”
http://fortune.com/2015/12/07/big-business-climate-change/ 

UN CLIMATE TALKS

At U.N. climate talks, top officials turn up heat for final week.
A four-year global effort to craft a binding deal to brake rising
world temperatures enters an intense home stretch on Monday, with
senior officials in Paris stepping up pressure to resolve the
most contentious points. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry,
dispatched to secure a deal meant to cement President Barack
Obama's legacy as a guardian of the environment…
http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-summit-idUKKBN0TO0C820151207


UN Officials Warn of Climate Disaster if Paris Pact Fails. Talks
on a universal climate pact shifted to a higher gear Monday with
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging governments to set off
an "energy revolution" to rein in heat-trapping carbon emissions
and avert disastrous global warming.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/12/07/world/europe/ap-climate-countdown.html


Scientists Enlist the Big Gun to Get Climate Action: Faith. The
cold hard numbers of science haven't spurred the world to curb
runaway global warming. So as climate negotiators struggle in
Paris, some scientists who appealed to the rational brain are
enlisting what many would consider a higher power: the majesty of
faith. It's not God versus science, but followers of God and
science together trying to save humanity and the planet, they
say.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/12/06/world/europe/ap-eu-climate-countdown-god-factor.html


Climate Talks Shift From Binding Targets to 'Name and Shame'.
It's clear at this point that even if the international climate
accord being negotiated in suburban Paris becomes legally
binding, it won't include punitive measures like trade sanctions
or embargoes on straggler countries that fail to meet their
commitments. "The only penalty for falling short on efforts to
fight global warming…
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/12/07/world/europe/ap-climate-countdown-peer-pressure.html

Kerry Off to Paris Again for Climate Conference. Secretary of
State John Kerry is headed back to Paris, to join negotiators
there trying to break through impasses on a climate change
agreement. Kerry left Washington late Sunday to return to the
talks in the French capital that he and President Barack Obama
were at just a week earlier.
Kerry, who has made climate change a priority as secretary of
state…
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/12/06/us/politics/ap-us-kerry.html


The Latest: India Urges Strong Rich Country Moves on Climate. The
latest news related to the U.N. climate conference in Paris,
which runs through Dec. 11. All times local: 8:55 a.m. India's
environment minister is urging industrialized nations to take
strong action and make sacrifices to fight climate change, as
Paris climate talks enter a second, crucial week. Prakash
Javadekar said in a statement Sunday night that "India is here to
ensure that rich countries…
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/12/07/world/asia/ap-climate-countdown-the-latest.html


Paris Climate Talks: How Often to Ratchet, and How Much? There is
(officially) less than a week to go at the Paris climate
conference, and Monday is the start of the “high-level segment,”
where foreign ministers and secretaries of state start wrangling
over the toughest parts of the text. One wonky but important
question yet to be resolved is the question of ratcheting – how
often, how much?
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/climate/2015-paris-climate-talks/paris-climate-talks-how-often-to-ratchet-and-how-much


Despite Push for Cleaner Cars, Sheer Numbers Could Work Against
Climate Benefits. As United Nations climate conferees meet near
here, Eric Feunteun wishes everyone could agree: If the world is
going to curb climate change, there is no choice but to stop
driving cars that burn fossil fuels. “If we want affordable,
practical and fully green technology,” Mr. Feunteun said in an
interview in an office building on the edge of…
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/08/business/energy-environment/despite-push-for-cleaner-cars-sheer-numbers-could-work-against-climate-benefits.html


Chasing a Climate Deal in Paris: ‘We’re Just Warming Up,’ Jerry
Brown Says. Gov. Jerry Brown of California is known for making
off-the-cuff remarks; now in his fourth term as governor (the
first two were from 1975 to 1983), he rarely uses prepared
remarks.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/climate/2015-paris-climate-talks


The Latest: IEA Chief Wants End to Fossil Fuel Subsidies. U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gina McCarthy says
Republicans and others fighting the Obama administration's
efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants are
going to lose — and might as well get over it. Despite a lawsuit
and Congress voting to repeal to the regulation…
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/12/07/world/asia/ap-climate-countdown-the-latest.html
 

Trust and Money at Core of Crucial Paris Talks on Climate Change.
The international climate change negotiations entering their
second and final week encompass a vast and complicated array of
political, economic and legal questions. But at bottom, the talks
boil down to two issues: trust and money. In this global forum,
no one questions the established science that greenhouse gases
from burning fossil fuels…
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/07/world/europe/trust-and-money-at-core-of-crucial-paris-talks-on-climate-change.html?ref=world


In Paris, Schwarzenegger and Brown unite seeking climate action.
It was like the debut of a environmentally themed buddy cop
drama, with a political odd couple joining together against a
common foe. In one chair was California’s current governor, Jerry
Brown, the cerebral Democrat known for dropping Latin phrases
into Capitol press conferences.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-paris-climate-talks-schwarzenegger-brown-story.html


Brown pushes cities, states to set tough environmental targets.
More than a year and a half ago, Franz Untersteller, the
environment secretary for the German state of Baden-Württemberg,
stepped into a meeting with Gov. Jerry Brown in Sacramento.
Untersteller was visiting California to learn about energy
policy, but the conversation shifted to how the two states…
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-me-pol-sac-climate-brown-agreement-20151206-story.html


Jerry Brown finds theme song: ‘Eve of Destruction’.  On his
second day in Paris, Gov. Jerry Brown found music. Delivering a
speech tied to the United Nations climate summit, Brown warned a
crowd the world is “on a track of destruction” if it does not
move quickly to counteract effects of climate change. 
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article48319365.html#storylink=cpy


Jerry Brown’s MOU life in Paris. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, hearing
one night this spring that Jerry Brown planned to “convene
government leaders from around the world” for a climate change
announcement, smiled broadly and surmised that the governor had
“another MOU” in the works. It was a safe bet.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article48303625.html#storylink=cpy


Paris climate talks: biggest polluters back tougher warming
target. US, China, Canada and EU among big carbon emitters at UN
summit supporting 1.5C target to protect most vulnerable
countries such as small island states. The world’s biggest
climate polluters rallied around a stronger target for limiting
warming on Monday, saying they were open to the 1.5C goal
endorsed by the most vulnerable countries.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/07/paris-climate-talks-biggest-polluters-back-tougher-warming-target


Arnold Schwarzenegger says climate campaigns need to focus on
'right now' not 2050. Green campaigners should stop talking about
the risks from climate change in 2050 and talk about “right now”,
the former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has
said. “It drives me crazy when people talk about 30 years from
now, rising sea levels and so on…
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/07/arnold-schwarzenegger-climate-campaigns-need-focus-right-now-not-2050?CMP=twt_gu


10 U.S. Senators Travel To Paris To Show Their Support For An
International Climate Deal. With the first week of the U.N.
climate summit coming to a close, the world appears increasingly
nearer to reaching to an international deal on climate action.
Back in the United States, a coalition of Republican senators and
representatives have been hard at work to stymie such a deal…
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/12/05/3728661/democratic-senators-support-climate-deal-in-paris/


Russia pledges not to stand in the way of Paris climate deal.
Vladimir Putin assures that his negotiators will not block an
agreement that has the backing of other major countries. Russia
has pledged not to stand in the way of a deal at the Paris
climate change conference, removing another obstacle to a
potential agreement, the Guardian has learned.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/07/russia-pledges-not-to-stand-in-the-way-of-paris-climate-deal
 

Climate Change Is Killing Us, Literally — And Here's How. Climate
change may be bad for people but it's good for bugs. Germs of all
kinds, as well as mosquitoes and other disease carriers, will
live longer in warmer weather because cold kills them. They'll
find more areas with the hot, humid conditions they need to
thrive. Disease-carrying insects have already begun to move into
new territory…
http://www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=458487877 

Carbon Farming Gets A Nod At Paris Climate Conference. This week,
world leaders are hashing out a binding agreement in Paris at the
2015 U.N. Climate Change Conference for curbing greenhouse gas
emissions. And for the first time, they've made the capture of
carbon in soil a formal part of the global response to the
climate crisis.
http://www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=458063708 

How Climate Change Became the Central Development Issue. Just a
decade ago, humanitarian groups working to address everything
from education to poverty competed with climate change for public
attention and development dollars. Now, leaders of groups focused
on solving a whole slew of development issues say that climate
change has become central with its effects permeating to other
key problems. http://time.com/4137733/climate-change-development/


The president's deal-shaper takes the stage in climate talks.
Todd Stern doesn't mind being the bad guy. The Obama
administration's special envoy for climate change said he knows
personal attacks come with the territory of pushing
often-unpopular U.S. positions before the United Nations. Over
the nearly seven years
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/12/07/stories/1060029066 

DROUGHT

Drought in cities: Will people get tired of water-saving demands?
Dead lawns. Buckets in showers. Low-flow toilets. In 2015, people
in cities from Merced to Tulare made changes inside and outside
their homes, some grudgingly to avoid a water penalty and some
willingly out of a sense of civic duty.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article48403240.html#storylink=cpy


FUELS

UCLA–UC Berkeley paper outlines how CA can boost biofuel
production to cut pollution and help the economy.  California has
not taken full advantage of opportunities to increase its
in-state production of biofuel, despite state policies that
encourage biofuel consumption, according to a policy paper by the
Climate Change and Business Research Initiative at the UCLA and
UC Berkeley law schools.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/12/20151207-calibiofuels.html


A global 'free-for-all' fueled by OPEC. The world's prime force
for moving oil prices has seemingly thrown in the towel,
signaling to its members that they can pump as much crude as they
like. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, at a
long and contentious meeting in Vienna last week, failed to make
a decision on anything, including on a possible revision to the
combined production target of 30 million barrels a day set in
2011.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2015/12/07/stories/1060029053 

VEHICLES

Plug-In Electric Car Sales In Nov: Volt Strong, But Leaf, i3
Decline (UPDATED). Sales of plug-in electric cars generally fall
off a bit as the weather gets colder, and it's the same this
year, with November sales slightly down on those of October. The
new 2016 Chevrolet Volt continued strong, even though it's on
sale only in California and a few other states, but weakness in
the Nissan Leaf and BMW i3 was stronger.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1101281_plug-in-electric-car-sales-in-nov-volt-strong-but-leaf-i3-decline


Hyundai introduces IONIQ: compact car with BEV, PHEV or HEV
powertrains. Hyundai Motor announced the name of its advanced,
alternative-fuel compact vehicle due for launch in 2016: the
Hyundai IONIQ. The car will be available with battery-electric
electric (BEV), plug-in gasoline/electric hybrid (PHEV), or
gasoline/electric hybrid (HEV) powertrains…
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/12/20151207-ioniq.html 

GREEN ENERGY

Green ETFs Struggle, Thanks to Fall in Oil. Lower oil prices
pressure shares of renewable energy companies. The environment is
in the spotlight, with the Paris climate talks in full swing. But
investors in “green” exchange-traded funds have learned from
experience that these funds have yet to establish a long-term
footing. There are all sorts of ETFs in this sector.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/green-etfs-struggle-thanks-to-fall-in-oil-price-1449460370


Change Isn’t as Easy as a Flip of a Switch. The spinning blades
of wind turbines produced 9 percent of Germany’s electricity in
2014. Most of those turbines are in the north of the country,
near Denmark and the Netherlands, or off the coast in the North
Sea. The majority of Germany’s electricity demand, however, comes
from some 400 miles to the south, in the factories and corporate
headquarters of Bavaria.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/08/business/energy-environment/change-isnt-as-easy-as-a-flip-of-a-switch.html


Denmark, a Green Energy Leader, Slows Pace of Its Spending. Not
long ago, Denmark was making headlines for harvesting so much
wind power that it was leading the way in generating renewable
energy, while becoming a center of innovation and growth for
green and clean technology. Then, in June, a center-left
government was replaced by a right-wing, minority coalition
determined…
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/world/europe/denmark-a-green-energy-leader-slows-pace-of-its-spending.html


OPINIONS

The Invisible Spill Spewing the Gases of a Half-Million Cars.
Call it the invisible spill.  
You can’t see it, but it’s there -- a steady stream of natural
gas seeping out of the pipe casing in a well in Southern
California that may spew as much greenhouse gas into the air as a
half-million cars do in a year. Pipeline operator Sempra Energy
says it may take three to four months to plug.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-05/the-invisible-spill-spewing-the-gases-of-a-half-million-cars


California's appearance at the climate change talks belies an
L.A. oil and gas health threat. Gov. Jerry Brown and a delegation
of California officials are in attendance at the U.N. climate
change conference in Paris. They are there, in part, to tout the
state's efforts to cut carbon pollution and simultaneously grow
the economy. Yet as much as California's environmental progress
deserves recognition…
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-sauls-los-angeles-oil-well-dangers-20151207-story.html


In Paris climate summit, a beginning not an end. No single
agreement should be expected to be the final solution to the
climate crisis, writes Heather Zichal, a former climate adviser
to President Obama. Today marks the final week of COP 21 in
Paris, the latest UN brokered negotiation to address the global
climate crisis, and with it comes high expectations that world
leaders…
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2015/1207/In-Paris-climate-summit-a-beginning-not-an-end


BLOGS

The 2°C limit on global warming. “NEVER before has a
responsibility so great been in the hands of so few,” declared
Christiana Figueres, head of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the opening of COP21 in
Paris. The UNFCCC, an environmental treaty, has been signed by
more than 190 countries since its inception in 1992.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/12/economist-explains-4?cid1=cust/noenew/n/n/n/2015127n/owned/n/n/nwl/n/n/NA/email


Energy Efficiency Is the Largest Contributor to Reducing CO2
Emissions. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA),
energy efficiency can deliver 38 percent of what is needed to
keep our planet within the two degree scenario of global warming
by 2050. Taking that into account, we should put energy
efficiency first when we discuss solutions to climate change.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/niels-b-christiansen/energy-efficiency-is-the_b_8655434.html


Climate Negotiators Won't Protect Oceans. The oceans occupy 71
percent of Earth's surface and they account for over 95 percent
of the biosphere, the planet's living space. It is shameful that
the climate negotiators in Paris have removed the ocean impacts
from the climate crisis and that they are refusing to protect
them.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-reese-halter/climate-negotiators-wont-_b_8736396.html


Forests: Big Player in the Fight against Climate Change. Forests
are often described as the "lungs of the planet," and their
ability to absorb immense volumes of carbon dioxide makes them a
tremendous asset in the fight against climate change. Cutting
forests down not only negates that ability; it also adds
significantly to global warming.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-jenkins-/forests-big-player-in-the_b_8737166.html


We May Get Some Good News About Global Carbon Emissions This
Year. But don't celebrate too much. There's still a long way to
go. As world leaders meet in Paris to negotiate a climate deal, a
study released Monday brings some good news: Global carbon
emissions likely stalled and possibly decreased this year. If the
final data show the world's CO2 emissions have dropped, it will
be the first recorded decrease during a "period of strong global
economic growth," according to the study published in the journal
Nature Climate Change.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/global-carbon-emissions-2015_565f3e33e4b072e9d1c45ccf





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