2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #5

Posted on 3 February 2018 by John Hartz

Editor’s Pick

Ice, fire, storms and heat: Climate change is now part of our everyday lives

While the West Coast was being inundated, on the other side of the Alps, there were fires.  Photo: Iain McGregor/Stuff

Analysis: January 2018 was officially the hottest month ever recorded in New Zealand.

Niwa made the announcement on Friday afternoon, as communities on the West Coast were mopping  up the mess created by a powerful storm that descended over eroding coasts; as some in Dunedin settled into their homes after a sweeping fire while others in low-lying parts of the city clear up after yet another flood; as it was snowing in Cromwell during the hottest summer in many years, after a month where the mean air temperature was 3C warmer than usual, based on the country’s century-old seven-station record.

Earlier in the week, the news was filled with fan shortages, wildfires and mountains shedding rock because of a lack of snow; at its end, it was 14C in parts of central Otago, multiple areas near Christchurch were on fire, and homes throughout the South Island had been damaged by the sea. An ominous super blood moon part way through the week, whilst unrelated, summed up the vibe: unsettled, bordering on Biblical. 

Ice, fire, storms and heat: Climate change is now part of our everyday lives, Analysis by Charlie Mitchell, Stuff (New Zealand), Feb 2, 2018 

Links posted on Facebook

Sun Jan 28, 2018

• Latin Americans Take Climate Change Seriously by Yessenia Funes, Earther, Jan 26, 2018
• Can Drought Be Prevented? Slovakia Aims to Try by Ed Holt, Inter Press Service (IPS), Jan 22, 2018
• Paris remains on flood alert as Seine rises by Laura Smith-Spark & Eva Tapiero, CNN, Jan 28, 2018
• UCS Sues to Stop EPA from Kicking Independent Experts Off Advisory Boards by John Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), Jan 23, 2018
• There’s a ‘crisis looming’ for Canadian climate research, scientists warn by Carl Meyer, National Observer, Jan 22, 2018
• Donald Trump appears to misunderstand basic facts of climate change in Piers Morgan interview by Josh Gabbatiss, The Independent, Jan 27, 2018
• Monthly Messenger: Could Inoculation be the Cure to Climate Denial?,   National Caucus of Environmental Legislators (NCEL), Jan 26, 2018
• Is this the end of civilisation? We could take a different path, Opinion by George Monbiot, Environment, Guardian, Jan 24, 2018

Mon Jan 29, 2018

• New research, January 15-21, 2018 by Ari Jokimäki, Skeptical Scince, Jan 25, 2018
• ‘Global weirding’ to blame for west coast flooding, says MUN research scientist by CBC News, Jan 19, 2018
• Colorado governor releases state’s electric vehicle plans, saying “we know that we can have a cleaner option” by Jesse Paul, The Denver Post, Jan 24, 2018
• Is There A Ticking Time Bomb Under The Arctic? by Michaeleen Doucleff, NPR Morning Edition, Jan 24, 2018
• State of the Union: What Trump won’t say about climate change by Sammy Roth, The (Palm Springs, CA) Desert Sun/USA Today Network, Jan 29, 2018
• A Lifetime in Peru’s Glaciers, Slowly Melting Away by Nicholas Casey, Americas, New York Times, Jan 27, 2018
• How the Trump Administration Distorts Analysis of Key Environmental Rules by Matthew Kotchen, Yale Environment 360, Jan 29, 2018
• Natural gas killed coal – now renewables and batteries are taking over by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus – the 97%, Guardian, Jan 29, 2018

Tue Jan 30, 2018

• How to Get Evangelicals to Care About Climate Change by Elaine Howard Ecklund & Christopher P. Scheitl, Nautilus, Jan 28, 2018
• New Wave of Mini Satellites Could Boost Climate Research by John Fialka, ClimateWire/Scientific Amerian, Jan 29, 2018
• Debunking the claim ‘they’ changed ‘global warming’ to ‘climate change’ because warming stopped by Jason Samenow, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, Jan 29, 2018
• Greenland’s recent temperature drop does not disprove global warming by Charlotte Price Persson, Science Nordic, Jan 29, 2018
• New Jersey to Rejoin East Coast Carbon Market, Virginia May Be Next by Phil McKena, InsideClimate News, Jan 29. 2018
• How Sensitive Is Earth’s Climate to Carbon Dioxide Pollution? by Matt Smith, Seeker, Jan 30, 2018
• Dissolving stereotypes and seeking climate ‘solutions’ by Karin Kirk, Yale Climate Connections, Jan 30, 2018

Wed Jan 31, 2018

• We can’t rely on corporations to save us from climate change by Christopher Wright & Daniel Nyberg, LSE Business Review, London School of Economics & Political Science, Jan 30, 2018
• Scientists Pinpoint How Ocean Acidification Weakens Coral Skeletons, News Release, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Jan 29, 2018
• We’re climate researchers and our work was turned into fake news by Michael Grubb, The Conversation UK, Jan 25, 2018
• State of the Union: Trump Glorifies Coal, Shuts Eyes to Climate Risks by John Cushman Jr, InsideClimate News, Jan 31, 2018
• As Paris mops up, warning of more floods in Europe’s future, Agence France Presse (AFP), Jan 29, 2018
• ‘Big Five’ in Alberta’s oilpatch suspected of sitting on a $2 trillion liability by Carl Meyer, National Observer, Jan 31, 2018
• White House seeks 72 percent cut to clean energy research, underscoring administration’s preference for fossil fuels by Chris Mooney & Steven Mufson, Business, Washington Post, Jan 31, 2018
• Trump Says Climate Is Both ‘Cooling’ and ‘Heating.’ He’s Only Half Right. by John Schwartz, Climate, New York Times, Jan 29, 2018

Thu Feb 1, 2018

• The temperature in Siberia rose 100 degrees. The northern U.S. may pay a frigid price. by Jason Samenow, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, Jan 31, 2018
• German parties agree on climate as coalition talks progress by Andreas Rinke & Markus Wacket, Reuters, Jan 31, 2018
• UN makes open call for ideas on fighting climate change by Megan Darby, Climate Home, Jan 30, 2018
• It’s not okay how clueless Donald Trump is about climate change by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus – the 97%, Guardian, Feb 1, 2018
• Rainforests: Scientists concerned climate change is altering the tropical life cycle by 8Daisy Dunne, Carbon Brief, Jan 30, 2018
• The 10 most ridiculous things media figures said about climate change and the environment in 2017 by Kevin Kalhoefer, Media Matters, Dec 26, 2017
• Trump’s Top Environment Pick, a Fossil Fuels Evangelist, May Be in Trouble by Marianne Lavelle, InsideClimate News, Jan 29, 2018
• Science 1, Gobbledygook 0: Debunking Trump’s Climate Claims by Brenda Ekwurzel, Union of Concerned Scientists, Jan 31, 2018

Fri Feb 2, 2018

• Five-year forecast indicates further warming, News Release, Met Office, Jan 31, 2018
• Has Trump Killed More Regulations Than Any Other President? by Zack Colman, ClimateWire/Scientific American, Feb 1, 2018
• What Global Warming?: Unmasking a proxy war strategy by online climate change denialists. by Paul Rosenberg, Salt Lake City Weekly, Jan 31, 2019
• Polar Bears Really Are Starving Because of Global Warming, Study Shows by Stephen Leahy, National Geographic, Feb 1, 2018
• Climate change is impacting some women’s decisions to have children by Julie Unruh, WGN9 (Chicago), Jan 31, 2018
• At Climate Feedback, scientists encourage better science reporting. But who is listening? by Cassandra Willyard, Columbia Journalism Review, Feb 1, 2018
• The EU got less electricity from coal than renewables in 2017 by Simon Evans, Carbon Brief, Jan 30, 2018
• Energy guarantee protects coal sector from renewable competition – analysis by Katharine Murphy, AU News, Guardian, Feb 1, 2018

Sat Feb 2, 2018

• Australia cops UN investor slap on climate policy as ‘green paradox’ looms by Peter Hannam, Sydney Morning Herald, Feb 1, 2018
• The Wired Guide To Climate Change by M. Palmer & Matt Simon, Wired, Feb 1, 2018
• Activism and talking climate: The power of normal by Kate Heath, Transition Network, Feb 1, 2018
• Ice, fire, storms and heat: Climate change is now part of our everyday lives, Analysis by Charlie Mitchell, Stuff (New Zealand), Feb 2, 2018
• Climate Impact Lab: measuring the social cost of climate change by Erica Chen, Research IT, University of California Berkeley, Jan 31, 2018
• Negative emissions have ‘limited potential’ to help meet climate goals by Daisy Dunne, Carbon Brief, Jan 31, 2018