Obama Touts Climate Action Before G20: President Obama highlighted the need for climate action at the 20th Lake Tahoe Summit and later in Hawaii, before heading to Asia for the G20 summit, where the issue is expected to be high on the agenda. Talking about preserving natural “jewels” like Lake Tahoe, Obama said, “It sure is not going to happen if we pretend a snowball in winter means nothing is wrong…if we boast about how we’re going to scrap international treaties.” His administration also announced new programs to help Lake Tahoe and the rest of the Western US adapt to climate change. (New York Times $, Huffington Post, NPR, ABC News, Reno Gazette-Journal, Reuters, Guardian, Washington Post $, Wall Street Journal $, US News & World Report, AP, Bloomberg, TIME, LA Times $, The Hill, Morning Consult)
Americans Just Don’t Agree on Climate Change: Partisan polarization on climate change has widened over the years, raising the stakes for voters this election. In a new analysis, researchers found that there is now a 41 percent gap between Democrat and Republican opinions on whether climate change is caused by humans, compared with a 17 percent gap in 2001. “Whether, and how, individual Americans vote this November may well be the most consequential climate-related decision most of them will have ever taken,” lead author Riley Dunlap wrote. (News: Phys.org. Commentary: DeSmog, Graham Readfearn column)
Renewables Can Power a Third of the Eastern Grid: The power grid in the Eastern US could support 30 percent of its electricity from wind and solar sources annually by 2026. A new study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory used a detailed model to prove the Eastern Interconnection (EI) — the single, sprawling power grid that reaches from Maine to New Mexico and serves more than 240 million people — can incorporate the variable generation of wind and solar using technology available today without compromising service or reliability. At present, wind and solar make up less than 7 percent of EI’s annual electricity mix. (Vox, Greenwire $, Greentech Media) |