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ARB Newsclips for September 12, 2016. 

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 POLUTION

EU may keep own aviation emissions rules to meet targets. The
European Union wants its own measures to reduce airline pollution
from 2018 to 2020 ahead of when a proposed global deal is due to
come into force and may extend its own system if it sees fit,
European officials said on Monday. Some EU lawmakers argue the
global accord falls short of EU ambitions to cut back greenhouse
gases and does not justify…
http://www.reuters.com/article/climatechange-aviation-idUSL8N1BO2N1


Ex-EPA boss Whitman offers first-ever apology for bad info on
post-9/11 air quality: ‘People have died because I made a
mistake’ The former head of the Environmental Protection Agency
apologized for the first time for her declaration a week after
9/11 that the air in lower Manhattan was safe to breathe.
Christine Todd Whitman conceded Friday that it was a mistake to
give the all-clear at Ground Zero and said she was sorry for the
ongoing health crisis that still grips first responders.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ex-epa-boss-whitman-apologizes-bad-info-9-11-air-quality-article-1.2786706


Air-pollution-derived magnetic nanoparticles found in human
brains. Magnetite, a magnetic iron oxide mineral, is showing up
in a place it doesn’t belong: the brain. Researchers at the
University of Lancaster found unexpectedly high levels of
magnetite nanoparticles in human brain tissue they were examining
with electron microscopy.
http://cen.acs.org/articles/94/i36/Air-pollution-derived-magnetic-nanoparticles.html

http://www.ukprogressive.co.uk/toxic-air-pollution-particles-found-in-human-brains-society-the-guardian/article55634.html

https://health.spectator.co.uk/air-pollution-particles-that-can-enter-the-brain-may-be-a-factor-in-alzheimers/


Warning! Air Pollution Could Lead to Diabetes.  A new study from
Germany reveals that exposure to air pollution could lead to
diabetes, especially for those individuals in the so-called
pre-diabetic state or who already have an impaired glucose
metabolism. The study, published in the journal Diabetes, showed
a significant link between increase in air pollutant
concentrations in a certain area and the increase blood level
markers of the people living in it.
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/28506/20160912/warning-air-pollution-could-lead-to-diabetes.htm


CLIMATE CHANGE

Wheat, one of the world’s most important crops, is being
threatened by climate change. One of the biggest concerns about
climate change is the effect it will have on agriculture. Many
studies have suggested that rising temperatures could be harmful
to farms around the world, although there’s plenty of uncertainty
about how bad things will get and which food supplies we should
worry about most. 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/09/12/climate-change-is-really-bad-for-wheat-which-is-really-bad-for-us/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.968ae4bbed5f


Welcome to Carlisle, the British City With a Climate Change
Bull’s-Eye. After this ancient fortress city was hit by a
crippling flood in 2005, its residents could take some comfort in
the fact that it was the kind of deluge that was supposed to
happen about once every 200 years. But it happened again four
years later. And again last winter, when Storm Desmond brought
record-breaking downpours that turned roads into rivers, fields
into lakes…
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/science/carlisle-england-climate-change-flooding.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=874f7b0e5b-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-874f7b0e5b-327747457&_r=0


Above the Arctic Circle, climate change closes in on the remote
town of Barrow. Here in the northernmost municipality of the
United States, 320 miles above the Arctic Circle, people are
facing the idea that they may soon be among the world’s first
climate-change refugees.  Warming air, melting permafrost and
rising sea levels are threatening their coastline, and
researchers predict that by midcentury, the homes, schools and
land…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/above-the-arctic-circle-climate-change-closes-in-on-the-remote-town-of-barrow/2016/09/12/512c859a-43aa-11e6-8856-f26de2537a9d_story.html


Was August deluge in Louisiana worsened by climate change?
Southern Louisiana was hit hard by relentless rains a few weeks
ago. Some locations received a ridiculous soaking: two feet of
rain within three days. More than a dozen lives were lost in the
resulting flooding, and tens of thousands of homes were
inundated. 
The culprit was a low pressure system that was strong enough to
have become a tropical depression if it had moved out into the
Gulf of Mexico.
http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/09/was-august-deluge-in-louisiana-worsened-by-climate-change/

Little-noticed rule could press firms to acknowledge warming. The
U.S. government is the world's biggest buyer of supplies and
services, with a $450 billion annual budget. Soon, federal
contractors might have to talk about climate change to get a
piece of that pie. The Department of Defense, the General
Services Administration and NASA proposed a rule in May that
would compel suppliers of all federal agencies to say…
http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060042645 

VW RECALL

Veteran VW Engineer Is First Charged in U.S. Emissions Probe (5).
A veteran Volkswagen AG engineer pleaded guilty to conspiring to
defraud U.S. regulators and customers, the first criminal charge
in the Justice Department’s year-long investigation into the
company’s rigging of federal air-pollution tests. The engineer,
James Liang, who entered his plea in Detroit federal court on
Friday…
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-OD8QUB6K50YE01-5506ASFDQ3CB30BTC7TF2RM5KT


GREEN ENERGY

U.S. utility solar enjoys building boom in second quarter but
residential slows. U.S. solar installations rose 43 percent in
the second quarter, according to a new report, as sharp gains in
large projects for utilities offset slowing growth in residential
systems in top solar market California. The United States
installed 2,051 megawatts of photovoltaic solar in the second
quarter, according to a report…
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-solar-idUSKCN11I091 

Wind power is going to get a lot cheaper as wind turbines get
even more enormous. In a nugget of very good news for the
renewable energy sector, a survey of 163 wind energy experts has
found that in the coming decades, the cost of electricity
generated by wind should plunge, by between 24 and 30 percent by
the year 2030, and even further by the middle of the century.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/09/12/wind-power-is-going-to-get-a-lot-cheaper-as-wind-turbines-get-enormous/?utm_term=.a0c51c2bd729


Can our need for a carbon-free future override our fears of
nuclear energy?
Unlike coal and natural gas plants that emit carbon emissions
while producing electricity, nuclear generates none. So why
aren’t more states getting onboard? Nestled between Chattanooga
and Knoxville, Tennessee, the Watts Bar 2 nuclear power plant
sits on 1,700 acres in an area friendly to nuclear power.
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/sep/12/carbon-free-plants-nuclear-energy-future-power-state-sources


Far cheaper wind power forecast as turbines get enormous. The
study gives a boost to those concerned that a renewable energy
transition needs to happen as soon as possible. In a nugget of
very good news for the renewable energy sector, a survey of 163
wind energy experts…
http://www.pressherald.com/2016/09/12/experts-say-wind-power-is-going-to-get-a-lot-cheaper-as-turbines-get-enormous/


US plan for offshore wind energy: Jumpstarting an American
industry?  In the previous decade, the United States floundered
in the race for offshore wind farms. As Europe continued to build
its industry, the US was slowed by limited government financial
support, lower energy prices, and expensive technology. Today,
the US is committed to shifting course.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2016/0910/US-plan-for-offshore-wind-energy-Jumpstarting-an-American-industry


MISCELLANEOUS

Leonardo DiCaprio's Climate Change Documentary a 'Rousing Call to
Action'.
The Oscar-winning actor and longtime environmental advocate
celebrated the world premiere of his climate change documentary
on Friday at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
"Looking forward to sharing this documentary with everyone as we
continue to act on#climatechange together," DiCaprio tweeted.
http://www.ecowatch.com/leonardo-dicaprio-before-the-flood-2001158748.html


OPINIONS

You think global warming is a sham because ‘climate has changed
before?’ Read this comic. Randall Munroe posted an XKCD comic on
Monday that so perfectly sums up the illogical nature of the most
pervasive argument against the existence of man-made global
warming: “The climate has changed before.” Let me complete that
fallacy with its obvious conclusion: The climate has changed
before…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/09/12/you-think-global-warming-is-a-sham-because-climate-has-changed-before-read-this-comic/
   

A natural addition to social-science curriculum. California just
did something big. It didn’t get a lot of headlines, clicks or
television news coverage, but it will fundamentally transform the
way we teach our 6.2 million students. The California Board of
Education voted to include five key environmental principles and
concepts as part of the state’s new framework for how to teach
history-social science standards.
http://www.davisenterprise.com/forum/opinion-columns/a-natural-addition-to-social-science-curriculum/

Global warming is beyond our control. The real meat of climate
change — Sept. 3. The fact of global warming keeps being clouded
by a lot of fiction, and the panic is becoming palpable. Yes, and
of course, we all must be stewardly and conserving with the Earth
and its resources. We must curb or eliminate pollution when and
wherever we reasonably can. But are we the cause of global
warming, and more importantly, can we stop it, or else?
http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/6852536-global-warming-is-beyond-our-control/


BLOGS

Jerry Brown and California Press Forward Again on Climate Change.
There is no more fundamental and profound issue for the future of
humanity than the habitability of our planet, still the only one
we have. And as climate change becomes ever more evident, despite
the weirdly persistent efforts of many absurd deniers in this
country, humanity’s future grows more in doubt.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-bradley/jerry-brown-and-californi_b_11977780.html


Climate Change Creates Cruising Weather in the NW Passage - If
You Can Afford the Insurance. This Planet A series of videos
portraying this moment of reckoning between human nature and the
force of nature. Right here, right now, on this planet. The
fabled Northwest passage isn’t what it used to be - an
impenetrable ice-choked wilderness. For the first (but surely not
the last) time, a high-end luxury cruise ship has traversed the
Arctic Sea…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/this-planet/climate-change-creates-cr_b_11967958.html


No Need To Wait for the Future: Global Warming Impacts Are
Happening Right Here, Right Now. One thought hit me today, and it
was not a very optimistic one. I thought that one may get so used
to the fact that that month after month temperature records are
being broken, that the issue of global warming would somehow
become an afterthought, or a “cry wolf” phenomenon.
http://blog.ucsusa.org/astrid-caldas/no-need-to-wait-for-the-future-global-warming-impacts-are-happening-right-here-right-now


Why Global Warming Is Like a Scorching Dinner. Once the plate or
the planet gets too hot it takes forever to cool down, explains
ClimateAdam—and in both cases, that's a problem. How is our
warming planet like a scorching dinner? ClimateAdam explains to
an impatient friend why it’s no easy task to cool down our
planet—or our meals—if they get too hot.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/why-global-warming-is-like-a-scorching-dinner/


Sierra Club To U.S., India: Stop The Solar-Killing Trade Cases.
just days before the World Trade Organization (WTO) was expected
to release its final ruling in a case the U.S. launched against
India’s common-sense solar energy initiative – India filed a
complaint to the WTO against eight of the U.S.’ very own
renewable energy programs, the Sierra Club has announced.
http://solarindustrymag.com/sierra-club-to-u-s-india-stop-the-solar-killing-trade-cases




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