Oil Drilling Blocked for Climate
A federal judge has temporarily blocked oil and gas drilling on hundreds of thousands of acres in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah, ruling that when the Bureau of Land Management held lease sales, they failed to adequately consider climate impacts. Vermont Law School Professor Pat Parenteau discusses the judiciary’s acknowledgement of climate change as an issue to be considered for fossil fuel leases and pipeline proposals. He also gives an update on the Juliana, et al v. United States youth climate lawsuit.
Climate Disasters and Softening Property Values
Climate change causes flooding around the world, with damage in recent weeks ranging from Southern Africa to the US Midwest. Nuisance floods caused by rising sea levels have also wiped out $16 billion in property values from 2005 to 2017 in the Eastern US, since houses in danger of high-tide flooding sell for less than their drier neighbors. Nicholas Kusnetz, a reporter for Inside Climate News, tells how the inevitable economic decline could eat away at local tax bases, devastating coastal communities further.
The Racial Gap of Pollution Responsibility
Fine particle air pollution is an especially dangerous threat to human health, and it has been well established that minority groups are disproportionately exposed. Dr. Christopher Tessum is the author of a study in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences that reflects a racial gap between those responsible for air pollution, and those breathing it.
Baboon, “The Observer”
We are closely related to our fellow primates, but our Explorer in Residence Mark Seth Lender thinks that these similarities are greater than simple physical resemblance. He tells the story of an encounter with an alert olive baboon in the marshes near Kenya’s Mara River.
Youth Strike for Climate
On March 15 an estimated million school children around the world went on strike for the climate, inspired by Greta Thunberg, who began striking outside the Swedish parliament during school hours in August of 2018, when she was just fifteen years old. Anna Grace Hottinger, who helped organize the school strikes in the US, discusses the movement.
Carbon Pricing and the Green New Deal
The Green New Deal resolution recently introduced to Congress by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) calls for the U.S. to quickly decarbonize its economy, but does not mention of carbon pricing, despite much interest from economists. Stephen Stromberg, an editorial writer for the Washington Post, explains why the Post urges that any Green New Deal should put a high price on carbon rather than impose government mandates to encourage decarbonization.
Australia May Scrap Carbon Tax
China is the world’s largest emitter, and much of its coal comes from Australia. With the election of a new Prime Minister, Australia looks set to revoke its carbon tax, leaving many environmentalists worried about their country’s contribution to climate change. (photo: Bigstockphoto.com)
Beyond the Headlines
Peter Dykstra of the Daily Climate and Environmental Health News brings us some far-flung environmental stories from this past week that didn’t make the headlines. This week: salt intrusion in Bangladesh and rare earth mining in Greenland.
Nicaraguan Canal
The first ships sailed down the Panama Canal in 1914. Now, nearly one hundred years later, Nicaragua has an agreement with a Chinese company to build a canal of its own to link the Pacific and Atlantic. (photo: Tim Rogers)
Oil Drilling Blocked for Climate
A federal judge has temporarily blocked oil and gas drilling on hundreds of thousands of acres in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah, ruling that when the Bureau of Land Management held lease sales, they failed to adequately consider climate impacts. Vermont Law School Professor Pat Parenteau discusses the judiciary’s acknowledgement of climate change as an issue to be considered for fossil fuel leases and pipeline proposals. He also gives an update on the Juliana, et al v. United States youth climate lawsuit.
Climate Disasters and Softening Property Values
Climate change causes flooding around the world, with damage in recent weeks ranging from Southern Africa to the US Midwest. Nuisance floods caused by rising sea levels have also wiped out $16 billion in property values from 2005 to 2017 in the Eastern US, since houses in danger of high-tide flooding sell for less than their drier neighbors. Nicholas Kusnetz, a reporter for Inside Climate News, tells how the inevitable economic decline could eat away at local tax bases, devastating coastal communities further.
GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski on the 2019 Public Lands Act
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is the Chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She has worked for years with Republican and Democratic colleagues to bring together the most sweeping land conservation bill in a decade, which was signed into law by President Trump on March 12, 2019. Senator Murkowski tells us the highlights of the Dingell Act and stresses the need for action on climate change.
This Week’s Show
March 22, 2019
listen / download
Oil Drilling Blocked for Climate
listen / download
A federal judge has temporarily blocked oil and gas drilling on hundreds of thousands of acres in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah, ruling that when the Bureau of Land Management held lease sales, they failed to adequately consider climate impacts. Vermont Law School Professor Pat Parenteau discusses the judiciary’s acknowledgement of climate change as an issue to be considered for fossil fuel leases and pipeline proposals. He also gives an update on the Juliana, et al v. United States youth climate lawsuit.
Climate Disasters and Softening Property Values
listen / download
Climate change causes flooding around the world, with damage in recent weeks ranging from Southern Africa to the US Midwest. Nuisance floods caused by rising sea levels have also wiped out $16 billion in property values from 2005 to 2017 in the Eastern US, since houses in danger of high-tide flooding sell for less than their drier neighbors. Nicholas Kusnetz, a reporter for Inside Climate News, tells how the inevitable economic decline could eat away at local tax bases, devastating coastal communities further.
The Racial Gap of Pollution Responsibility
listen / download
Fine particle air pollution is an especially dangerous threat to human health, and it has been well established that minority groups are disproportionately exposed. Dr. Christopher Tessum is the author of a study in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences that reflects a racial gap between those responsible for air pollution, and those breathing it.
Beyond the Headlines
listen / download
For this week’s trip beyond the headlines, Peter Dykstra recounts Donald Trump Jr.’s disbelief at the concept of environmental racism. He then discusses the Midwest’s “bomb genesis storm” of the last week, which has major national security implications, as well as the recent United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya. Finally, it’s the anniversary of Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi”, an iconic song that helped shape the environmental movement of the 1970s.
GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski on the 2019 Public Lands Act
listen / download
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is the Chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She has worked for years with Republican and Democratic colleagues to bring together the most sweeping land conservation bill in a decade, which was signed into law by President Trump on March 12, 2019. Senator Murkowski tells us the highlights of the Dingell Act and stresses the need for action on climate change.
Baboon, “The Observer”
listen / download
We are closely related to our fellow primates, but our Explorer in Residence Mark Seth Lender thinks that these similarities are greater than simple physical resemblance. He tells the story of an encounter with an alert olive baboon in the marshes near Kenya’s Mara River.
Special Features
Field Note: Baboon, "The Observer"
Living on Earth's Explorer in Residence Mark Seth Lender reflects on the exercise of trying to see the world through the watchful eyes of a species not unlike our own: the baboon.
Blog Series: Mark Seth Lender Field Notes
Field Note: A Great Egret's Mating Dance
Living on Earth's Explorer in Residence Mark Seth Lender remarks on the scene that inspired his essay about a Great Egret's mating dance.
Blog Series: Mark Seth Lender Field Notes
...Ultimately, if we are going prevent large parts of this Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes, we are going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground rather than burn them...
-- President Barack Obama, November 6, 2015 on why he declined to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline.
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