"The U.N. General Assembly has elected Inger Andersen of Denmark as the new executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, which is based in Nairobi, Kenya."
"Royal Dutch Shell PLC, one of the world's largest oil companies, gave fresh signals last week that it intends to be a purveyor of low-carbon electricity. It bought a battery company that will compete with Tesla Inc. and struck a partnership with Google to test an exotic wind generator."
"Claims that insects will disappear within a century are absurd, but the reality isn’t reassuring either."
"Sales of fossil fuelled vehicles are now on the decline in the world’s three largest auto markets, and being replaced by electric vehicles. Fossil car sales will only decrease from here on out."
"One man's effort in the 1990s to create an "artificial tree" to suck in and store accumulating, man-made emissions of carbon dioxide has morphed into the design of "artificial forests" that can do the job more efficiently and on a larger scale."
"Small, shy, survivor of crippling depression, Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish girl skipping school to shame the world into addressing climate change, drew a parade of fans one Friday in February on a frozen square in Stockholm."
"Climate-related disasters have cost the world $650 billion over the last three years, and North America is shouldering most of the burden, according to a new report from Morgan Stanley."
Our latest Issue Backgrounder looks at the potentially historic impact of the ambitious climate action agenda known as the Green New Deal — not just on this Congress or the next, or even on the race for the White House in 2020, but for the soul of the Democratic Party. An analysis of a public policy program in the making, the political maneuvering it’s engendering and its prospects to sow division or prompt a united front.
A former head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has written a powder keg of a book, “Confessions of a Rogue Nuclear Regulator.” Author Gregory Jaczko left the post in 2012, far more critical of nuclear power’s safety claims than he came in, his concerns amplified by the Fukushima meltdown in Japan in 2011. Now, he worries that its lessons have not sunk in deeply enough with an industry that he believes is headed toward catastrophe. Read our latest BookShelf review.
The Green New Deal may be just a broad outline, even after the recent introduction of a resolution in Congress. But don’t think the lack of specificity means the Green New Deal won’t be news for the long term. This week’s TipSheet explains the reasons the Green New Deal may endure and why it matters, plus story ideas and resources for journalists covering climate, environmental politics and more.
