With a headline predicting that natural gas “will thrive in the age of renewables,” the article made the case that there are limitations on solar and wind power and that … natural gas “is part of the solution.” Why was the Washington Post weighing in on the need for continued production of this fossil fuel in the face of climate change? Or was it?
Top US Climate Problem
Cornell University’s Dr. Robert Howarth says methane leakage from the natural gas industry — and from fracking in particular — is the top driver of US greenhouse gas emissions. Videos, written testimony and a PowerPoint from Howarth are available at ncwarn.org/methane-events. Howarth gives an excellent 3-minute summary in this video.
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Examining The Future Of Energy In North Carolina — Charlotte Talks
NC WARN Executive Director Jim Warren was a guest on Charlotte Talks, the local talk show of NPR member station WFAE. He deftly countered Duke Energy’s corporate PR weasel-wording. It was a lively and feisty discussion that finally got the debate over North Carolina’s energy future out in the open. Listen here.
IPCC 1.5°C Report: Reducing Short-Lived Climate Pollutants necessary to achieve 1.5°C climate goal — Climate and Clean Air Coalition
The special report ‘Global Warming of 1.5°C’ says emissions of methane and black carbon need to be reduced by 35% or more by 2050
We are cooking up the Earth for long-range problems — News & Record
Op-ed by Beth McKee-Huger. The Earth is “cooking with gas.” Remember that ad? Large amounts of methane leak from fracking and gas lines. Since methane is 100 times more powerful as a heat-trapping gas than carbon dioxide, that heats up the Earth.
Is Natural Gas A Clean Alternative? — Beyond Extreme Energy
Natural Gas power plants are replacing coal plants from the 50’s and 60’s, but is natural gas a clean alternative? Can it help prevent climate change? No.
Fracking may cook the planet. But who’s listening? — The News & Observer
Jim Warren, the executive director of the Durham-based consumer advocacy group NC Warn, seems these days like a frantic lead character from a 1950s science fiction movie. He has seen an invisible gas being released by powerful corporations that is endangering the planet — but no one will listen to him. He’s not surprised that the corporations – especially Duke Energy – don’t want to believe him. But he’s mystified that news outlets that usually would pounce on such news are oddly indifferent.
WUNC, Media Failure on Climate Crisis — Letter from NC WARN
Letter to Connie Walker, President and General Manager of WUNC Radio, on the continuing news media failure in covering Duke Energy, fracked gas and accelerating climate urgency.
Read May 2 follow-up letter
Read N&O editorial backing our complaint
Write your own letter to WUNC
How Climate Activists Failed to Make Clear the Problem with Natural Gas — Yale Environment 360
The climate movement’s biggest failure has been its inability to successfully make the case that natural gas is not a clean replacement for other fossil fuels. So as natural gas has boomed, U.S. emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, have increased dramatically.
Cutting Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Production: One of the Year’s Biggest Energy Challenges — Rocky Mount Institute
Leave it to the rocket scientists to solve our biggest climate mysteries. That’s exactly what NASA has done to kick off 2018, using a spectrometer imaging satellite to measure global methane emissions—a potent greenhouse gas that accelerates climate change—and revealing an alarming increase in these emissions that threatens our climate.
Take ‘Clean Path’ — News & Observer
Letter to the Editor from Jim Warren: Every time a Duke Energy executive calls fracked natural gas “clean-burning,” it’s a pivotal lie of omission that very few reporters have been allowed to scrutinize since U.S. utilities began a huge expansion of gas burning.