2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #23

Posted on 10 June 2017 by John Hartz

Editor’s Pick

Trump’s Climate-Change Sociopathy 

Win McNamee/Getty Images

President Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from the Paris climate agreement is not just dangerous for the world; it is also sociopathic. Without remorse, Trump is willfully inflicting harm on others. The declaration by Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, that Trump believes in climate change makes matters worse, not better. Trump is knowingly and brazenly jeopardizing the planet.

Trump’s announcement was made with a bully’s bravado. A global agreement that is symmetric in all ways, across all countries of the world, is somehow a trick, he huffed, an anti-American plot. The rest of the world has been “laughing at us.”

These ravings are utterly delusional, deeply cynical, or profoundly ignorant. Probably all three. And they should be recognized as such.

Trump’s Climate-Change Sociopathy, Commentary by Jeffry D Sachs*, Project Syndicate, June 7, 2017

*Jeffrey D. Sachs, Professor of Sustainable Development and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University, is Director of Columbia’s Center for Sustainable Development and of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. His books include The End of Poverty, Common WealthThe Age of Sustainable Development, and, most recently, Building the New American Economy.

Links posted on Facebook

Sun June 4 2017

• Communicating climate change: Key books and reports (Pt. 1) by Michael Swaboda, Yale Climate Connections, May 25, 2017
• Communicating climate change: Key books and reports (Pt. 2) by Michael Swaboda, Yale Climate Connections, June 1, 2017
• How G.O.P. Leaders Came to View Climate Change as Fake Science by Coral Davenpot & Eric Lipton, New York Times, June 3, 2017
• Trump’s Paris climate decision shows the threat rising tribalism poses to the planet by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, June 1, 2017
• The 5 biggest deceptions in Trump’s Paris climate speech by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, June 2, 2017
• Scott Pruitt, outspoken and forceful, moves to the center of power within the Trump administration by Juliet Eilperin & Brady Dennis, Politics, Washington Post, June 2, 2017
• Avoiding Two Degrees of Warming ‘Is Now Totally Unrealistic’ by Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, June 4, 2017

Mon June 5 2017

• “I Worship Jesus, Not Mother Earth”: American Christian Exceptionalism and The Paris Withdrawal by Jacob J Erickson, Religion Dispatches, Anenberg USC, June 2, 2017
• Haley: ‘President Trump believes the climate is changing’ by Miranda Green, CNN, June 4, 2017
• Exxon’s Climate Accounting a ‘Sham’ Under Rex Tillerson, New York’s AG Says by Nicholas Kusnetz, InsideClimate News, June 2, 2017
• The Renewed Importance of Pope Francis’s Encyclical on Climate Change by James Carroll, The New Yorker, June 2, 2017
• Climate Science Meets a Stubborn Obstacle: Students by Amy Harmon, New York Times, June 5, 2017
• Donald Trump’s Triumph of Stupidity, Spiegel Online, June 2, 2017
• Trump, Prioritizing Economy Over Climate, Cites Disputed Premises by Mark Landler, Brad Plumer & Linda Qiu, New York Times, Jun 1, 2017
• Trump’s Claim That US Is Cleanest Lacks Support from Studies by Seth Borenstein, AP, June 5, 2017

Tue June 6 2017

• How Is Worldwide Sea Level Rise Driven by Melting Arctic Ice? by Annie Sneed, Scientific American, June 4, 2017
• In the Withdrawal From The Paris Climate Agreement, The Koch Brothers’ Campaign Becomes Overt by Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, June 5, 2017
• The Many Faces of Climate Denial by Jacob J Erickson, HuffPost US, June 6, 2017
• Historic Heat Wave Sweeps Asia, the Middle East and Europe by Jeff Masters, Category 6, Weather Underground, June 6, 2017
• The day after withdrawing from Paris, Trump declared a flooding disaster in Missouri by John Abraham, Climate Consensus – the 97%, Guardian, June 6, 2017
• I wrote THE BEST presidential briefing on global warmingfor Donald Trump  by Andrew Freedman, Mashable, June 5, 2017
• Video: Tropics to see ‘unprecedented’ climates under future warming by Robert McSweeney, Carbon Brief, June 5, 2017

Wed June 7 2017

• IEA: World can reach ‘net zero’ emissions by 2060 to meet Paris climate goals by Simon Evans, Carbon Brief, June 6, 2017
• After Paris, it’s clear the Trump GOP no longer cares about policies — they’re just trolls by Bob Cesca, Salon, June 6, 2017
• New York Boardwalk Shows Climate Adaptation Costs by John Upton, Climate Central, June 5, 2017
• Denial by another name: The Trump administration’s climate rhetoric is just weasel words by Amanda Marcotte, Salon, June 6, 2017
• A climate chain reaction: Major Greenland melting could devastate crops in Africa by Chelsea Harvey, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, June 6, 2017
• Re-Connect with Nature Now… Before It Is Too Late! by Baher Hamal, Inter Press Service (IPS), June 5, 2017
• Climate change may be choking the ocean’s oxygen supply, study shows by Mic Smith, Mongabay, June 5, 2017
• Study: India’s rising temperatures are already deadly by Katy Daigle, AP, June 7, 2017

Thu June 8 2017

• Breaking: Record-Breaking New Renewables In 2016 Still Fell Short of Paris Targets As Investment Lagged, The Energy Mix, June 7, 2017
• Sea-Level Rise Poses a Rising Risk to U.S. Shores by April Reese, Scientific American, June 2017 Issue
• Caring about climate change: it’s time to build a bridge between data and emotion, Opinion by Ketan Joshi, Guardian, June 6. 2017
• Analysis: Meeting Paris pledges would prevent at least 1C of global warming by Zeke Hausfather, Carbon Brief, June 6. 2017
• This Marine Biologist Has a Message for Climate Change Deniers: ‘Get Over It’ by Justin Worland & Julia Lull, Time, June 7, 2017
• Pittsburgh and Paris join over 200 cities and states rejecting Trump on climate by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus – the 97%, Guardian, June 8, 2017
• Beyond a lie: The White House is creating misinformation as propaganda by Eric Boehlert, Media Matters/Salon, May 7, 2017
• Trump used our research to justify pulling out of the Paris agreement. He got it wrong. , Opinion by John Reilly, Washington Post, June 7, 2017

Fri June 9 2017

• June 2017 ENSO update: pancake breakfast by Emily Becker, ENSO Blog, NOAA Climate.gov, June 8, 2017
• France vows to go beyond Paris climate commitments by Bate Felix, Reuters, June 7, 2017
• Trump’s plan to cut basic energy research finds an unlikely opponent: oil executives by Steven Mufson, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, June 8, 2017
• Hawaii rebels against Trump with a law to uphold the spirit of the Paris climate accord by Kurtis Lee, Los Angeles Times, June 7, 2017
• Breitbart misrepresents research from 58 scientific papers to falsely claim that they disprove human-caused global warming, Climate Feedback, June 9, 2017
• 5 Shades of Climate Denial, All on Display in the Trump White House by Marianne Lavelle, InsideClimate News, June 9, 2017
• What Does a Hung Parliament Mean for Energy and Climate Change Issues? by Kyla Mandel & Mat Hope, DeSmog UK, June 9, 2017
• Politics, culture or theology? Why evangelicals back Trump on global warming by David Gibson, Religion News Service (RNS), June 9, 2017

Sat June 10 2017

• India’s Punishing Heat Waves More Deadly With Warming by Andrea Thompson, Climate Central, June 7, 2017
• Pittsburgh’s Lesson for Trump: ‘Be the Innovation Leader’ by Sabrina Shankman, InsideClimate News, June 8, 2017
• How Republicans came to embrace anti-environmentalism by Christopher Sellers, Vox, 2017
• Over 1,400 U.S. Cities, States and Businesses Vow to Meet Paris Climate Commitments by Georgina Gustin, InsideClimate News, June 6, 2017
• Warmest year on record a hoax because of margin of error? That’s wrong by Amy Sherman, Politifact Florida, June 9, 2017
• Trump’s Climate-Change Sociopathy, Commentary by Jeffry D Sachs, Project Syndicate, June 7, 2017
• SkS Analogy 7 – Christmas Dinner and the Faux Pause by Evan, Skeptical Science, June 9, 2017
• Exxon May Have Erased 7 Years of Tillerson’s ‘Wayne Tracker’ Emails, Witness Says by Daid Hasemyer, InsideClimate News, June 8, 2017