BBC World Service – The Real Story, Methane: The other greenhouse gas

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A Cow stands in front of the RWE Niederaussem coal-fired power plant while steam rises from cooling towers on February 16, 2016 near Bergheim, Germany – Credit: Volker Hartmann/Getty Images

The latest UN climate report concludes that while carbon dioxide (CO2) is the main driver of global warming, another gas – methane – is likely responsible for between 30-50% of the current rise in temperatures. Methane is much more effective at trapping heat in Earth’s atmosphere than CO2 is, but it also breaks down much faster, raising hopes that quick action to curb emissions could aid efforts to keep global warming below 1.5 C. Methane is the largest component found in natural gas and is also emitted during the process of fracking and coal production. It’s produced in large quantities by farmed animals but also leaks into the atmosphere when organic matter decomposes in landfills. A report published earlier this year claimed that if existing measures and technologies were used more widely, human-caused methane emissions could be cut by as much as 180 million tonnes a year by 2030. But others argue that until CO2 emissions are dealt with, methane will remain ‘a sideshow’ and that attention paid to the problem must not distract from the bigger threat. So, is enough being done to prevent the leakage of methane?

Paul Henley is joined by a panel of expert guests. Producers: Paul Schuster and Zak Brophy.

Contributors

Drew Shindell – Special adviser for methane action to the United Nations Environment Programme and Professor of Climate Sciences at Duke University

Raymond Pierrehumbert – The Halley Professor of Physics at The University of Oxford

Sarah Smith – Super Pollutants Director at the environmental advocacy group Clean Air Task Force

Euan Nisbet – Professor of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway – The University of London

Also featuring …

Frank Macchiarola – Senior Vice President of Policy, Economics and Regulatory Affairs at the American Petroleum Institute (API)

BBC World Service – The Real Story, What’s China doing to fight climate change?

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A couple walking in floodwater near Zhengzhou Railway Station in Zhengzhou in Henan Province which experienced a year’s rainfall in just three days. Photo by Zhu Zhe/VCG via Getty Images.

This week a year’s worth of rain fell in just three days in China’s Henan province, flooding roads and public transport systems, killing dozens and displacing thousands. Floods are common in China’s rainy season, but this event is being linked to the climate crisis. China is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world – and many of its most carbon-intensive sectors employ vast numbers of people. At the same time the country has led efforts to develop green technologies like solar and wind, bringing down prices and encouraging the global shift away from fossil fuels. China says it shouldn’t be expected to follow the same decarbonisation timetable as major Western economies. But the US Climate Envoy John Kerry this week insisted that efforts to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will be “essentially impossible” without faster action from Beijing. So how crucial is China to the fight against climate change? Ritula Shah is joined by a panel of experts.

Contributors

Junjie Zhang – Founder of the Environmental Research Center at Duke Kunshan University in China

Isabel Hilton – Journalist and founder of China Dialogue, an independent, non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting a common understanding of China’s environmental and climate challenges

Jennifer Turner – Director of the China Environment Forum at the Wilson Center in Washington DC

Apple, Google, Cowed By Putin, Remove Russian Protest Voting App As Election Begins

MSNBCSep 17, 2021
Rachel Maddow reports on a campaign by supporters of Alexei Navalny to expose corruption in Vladimir Putin’s regime and to encourage votes against candidates in Putin’s United Russia Party in the parliamentary election. Under pressure from Russian authorities, Google and Apple reportedly removed an app meant to coordinate those protest votes.

All-civilian SpaceX crew returns to Earth

Associated PressSep 18, 2021
A trailblazing tourist trip to orbit has ended safely with a splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. A SpaceX capsule carrying four people parachuted into the ocean just before sunset on Saturday off the Florida coast. (Sept. 18)

The Second American Revolution

RT AmericaSep 18, 2021
On the show, Chris Hedges discusses the Second American Revolution with author David Talbot.

The populist uprisings of the Progressive Era, labor militancy of the 1930s and the sweeping social and cultural transformations of the 1960s and 1970s constitute America’s second revolution. These movements sought to complete the unfinished work of the first revolution, enfranchising those the founders of the nation had condemned and thrust aside, Blacks, women, Native Americans and the poor. The second American revolution, embodied in its final phase by Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, spawned a series of powerful movements including the anti-war movement, the Black power movement, the women’s movement, the American Indian Movement, gay and lesbian movements, the United Farm Workers Union, the Weather Underground and a radical, alternative press embodied in publications such as Ramparts magazine. But the promises of these movements have been largely obliterated. The ruling elites mounted a sustained, often lawless and successful campaign to crush these expressions of popular yearning and popular discontent.

Salon founder David Talbot and New Yorker writer Margaret Talbot look back at this moment in our history in their book By the Light of Burning Dreams: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the Second American Revolution to ask what happened and what, finally, went wrong. The authors use portraits of radical activists, including Tom Hayden, Jane Fonda, Jerry Rubin, Bobby Seal, Huey Newton, Eldridge Cleaver, Heather Booth and the Women of Jane, Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Dennis Banks, Madonna Thunder Hawk, Russell Means, John Lennon and Yoko Ono as a lens to look at the inner workings and inherent flaws in the second American revolution.

Watch Full Episode and More on Portable.TV https://www.portable.tv/series/oncontact

Trump’s Psychological Disorder Exposed

Thom Hartmann ProgramSep 18, 2021
Crazy Alert! – Why Paul Ryan needed to do extensive research on psychological disorders when he dealt with Trump?

Climate Security Public Panel Discussion

The Climate Council

Streamed live 21 hours ago
The climate crisis is the defining security challenge of the 21st century, threatening the economic, social and political systems that underpin peace and stability.

Climate change is now a national security priority for the US Government, and at the centre of US foreign policy. This panel will explore the climate crisis through the lens of security: the risks, the solutions and why enhanced global cooperation on climate change is a number one security imperative.

Panelists:
– Douglas Sonnek, Acting Deputy Chief of Mission US Embassy in Australia
– Dr Robert Glasser, Head, Climate and Security Policy Centre, Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI)
– Cheryl Durrant, former Director of Defence Preparedness AusDoD, Climate Councillor, Climate Council and Adjunct Associate Professor, UNSW.