West Antarctic Region Sheds Mount Everest of Ice Every 2 Years: Study
Parts of the Antarctic ice sheet are melting faster than anyone expected.
Source: Wash Post, 12/04/2014
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"Little Backing in Congress for Obama Climate Moves"
"When Republicans take control of both houses of Congress next month, President Barack Obama will be hard-pressed to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions dramatically — a promise he made to Americans and the world and a key to his legacy."
Source: AP, 12/04/2014
"US Will Stick With 28% Emissions Cut Pledge at UN Talks, Stern Says
"The U.S. has no plans to strengthen its 'highly aggressive but achievable' pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions up to 28 percent over the next decade as it resumes negotiations that are to conclude with an international climate accord in 2015, the top U.S. climate negotiator said Dec. 1."
Source: Bloomberg BNA, 12/04/2014
"Data Shows 2014 Was An Exceptionally Hot Year"
"Rejecting claims global warming has paused, The World Meteorological Organization said the global average temperature for much of 2014 was above average, and is on track to tie the record hot year of 2010."
Source: AP, 12/04/2014
Read the Congressional Reports You're Not Supposed To Read
Journalists hurrying to get up to speed on environmental or energy issues can get objective background from reports by the Congressional Research Service (an arm of the Library of Congress), which does not release them to the taxpaying public that funded them. We thank the Federation of American Scientists' Government Secrecy Project for publishing them.
Monsanto Brings Agriculture Geodata to the Public
If you report on agriculture-related environmental issues, you may find useful a new geodata tool available free to the public online. Monsanto has bought The Climate Corporation (for $930 million), which compiles weather, soil, and crop data down to the field level.
House Bills Would Stifle Science at EPA
Three GOP-backed House bills attacking science at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are unlikely to become law in the current Congress — or the next. The Obama administration has threatened to veto all three, which the House passed in November along party lines. None is likely to muster enough support to override a veto.
Congress Could Still Pass FOIA Reform
There is still a chance that Congress could pass legislation strengthening the Freedom of Information Act before it adjourns. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a fix-FOIA bill (S 2520) November 20, 2014, setting up the possibility of full-Senate floor action. The Society of Environmental Journalists has urged Congress and the President to support such legislation.
Free Speech for Science Advisors? EPA Loosens the Leash
EPA has issued a "clarification" of its SAB scientist-muzzling policy, which acknowledges that SAB members are free to talk to reporters — mostly — as long as they are speaking for themselves. Still, the Society of Professional Journalists wrote EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy December 1 declaring their dissatisfaction with the clarification.
J-Groups Call on Forest Service To Drop Permit Requirements
A coalition of journalism groups, including SEJ, is calling on the U.S. Forest Service to make clear in its directives that journalists, documentarians, and media photographers do not need permits to take pictures in National Forest Wilderness or other public lands.
