"Extreme weather patterns associated with heat waves and droughts are raising the risks of simultaneous harvest failures of vital crops worldwide such as wheat, maize and soybeans, two studies published Monday found. This is pushing the world closer to the edge of potential food price spikes, associated social unrest and food shortages."
"Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Tuesday proposed a “Blue New Deal” plan in what she calls an effort to protect oceans and rebuild the economy associated with oceans."
"New York will restrict the use of the toxic pesticide chlorpyrifos, but will rely on regulations rather than legislation to accomplish the goal."
"A majority of Americans say they want more stringent oversight of large-scale livestock operations, according to a national poll by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for a Livable Future released Tuesday. The polling follows a recent recommendation from the nation’s leading public health association to temporarily halt the creation of new concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, and increase their oversight and regulation."
"Relations between EPA and its inspector general took another hit today as the agency's watchdog office issued a new report taking aim at Chief of Staff Ryan Jackson."
"Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, made an appearance Tuesday at the United Nations climate summit to assure the world that “Americans are continuing to lead on climate change, even with a climate denier in the White House.”"
"The Greenland ice sheet’s losses have accelerated so fast since the 1990s it is now shedding more than seven times as much ice each year, according to 89 scientists who use satellites to study the area."
"A top Interior Department official broke a federal ethics rule by improperly meeting with his former employer, a conservative research organization, to discuss the rollback of endangered species protections that the group had been pushing, the department’s internal watchdog said in a report published Tuesday."
"A New York state judge on Tuesday handed Exxon Mobil a victory in the civil case brought by the state’s attorney general that argued the company had engaged in fraud through its statements about how it accounted for the costs of climate change regulation."
Millions of acres of pristine Arctic wilderness long at the heart of a national debate over energy development and conservation are expected to be in the news again in 2020, with renewed plans to open land for drilling. The latest TipSheet explains the backstory and why the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge matters, plus story ideas and reporting resources.
