2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #1

Posted on 6 January 2018 by John Hartz

Editor’s Pick

Show this cartoon to anyone who doubts we need huge action on climate change

This story focuses on a scenario from climate scientist Joeri Rogelj, which would give us a 66 percent chance at limiting warming to 2 degrees, which would requires no emissions by 2065, followed by negative emissions. But a previous version of this story said we would need to reach no emissions by 2050, which is part of a scenario in which we give ourselves a 50 percent chance at staying under 1.5 degrees warming — a far less realistic goal.

Show this cartoon to anyone who doubts we need huge action on climate change by Alvin Chang and David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Jan 5, 2018 

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Sun Dec 31, 2017

• A great year for clean energy in Australia ends, while bad news for coal continues, Opinion by Simon Holmes à Court, Energy, Guardian, Dec 30, 2017
• One appliance could determine whether India, and the world, meet climate change targets by Shashank Bengali, Los Angeles Times, Dec 29, 2017
• The Political Responsibility in the Collapse of Our Planet, Robert Savio, Inter Press Service (IPS), Dec 27, 2017
• Climate Change 2017: What Happened and What It Means, Analysis by Bruce Melton, Truthout, Dec 30, 2017
• It Doesn’t Matter How Cold it is Today. Global Warming is Killing People. by Lou Del Bello, Earth & Energy, Futurism, Dec 29, 2017
• Hurricanes and heatwaves: stark signs of climate change ‘new normal’ by Oliver Milman, Climte Change, Guardian, Dec 28, 2017
• Experts Say We Should Tax Meat Eaters the Same Way We Tax Smokers by Lou Del Bello, Earth & Energy, Futurie Society, Futurism, Dec 26, 2017
• Hans Rosling On Why Rich Countries Need To Tackle Climate Change Differently by Heather Farmbrough, Forbes, Dec 31, 2017

Mon Jan 1, 2018

• Cabinet papers: Keating MPs considered carbon tax to tackle climate change by Anne Davis, Guardian, Dec 31, 2017
• Scientists find that a saltier sea is a warning of floods to come by Samantha Harrington, Yale Climate Connection, Dec 28, 2017
• Can agriculture and the climate fix their ‘unhappy marriage’ in 2018?, Analyis by Thin Lei Win, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Dec 28, 2017
• Vehicles are now America’s biggest CO2 source but EPA is tearing up regulations by Oliver Milman, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Guardian, Jan 1, 2018
• Resilience in 2017: Five communities looking after their own future by Adela Suliman, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Dec 29, 2017
• To round out a year of rollbacks, the Trump administration just repealed key regulations on fracking by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Dec 29, 2017
• Climate Change Places a Major Economic Burden on Future Generations by Brad Bergan & Chelsea Gohd, Future of Society, Furturism, Jan 1, 2018
• Taking the human response into account in climate change, Discoveries, ASU Now, Jan 1, 2018

Tue Jan 2, 2018

• Climate change: Lack of coordination, unimplemented policies put environment at risk by Shahzad Anwar. The Express Tribune, Jan 1, 2018
• New report on January 10: Climate Change Web Content Under Trump, Press Release, Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI), Dec 31, 2017
• On its hundredth birthday in 1959, Edward Teller warned the oil industry about global warming by Benjamin Franta, Climate Consenus – the 97%, Guardian, Jan 1, 2018
• How Scott Pruitt turned the EPA into one of Trump’s most powerful tools by Brady Dennis & Brady Eilperin, Health & Sciences, Washington Post, Dec 31, 2017
• Eight energy and climate issues to watch in 2018  by Amy Harder, Axios, Jan 2, 2018
• 2017 was the hottest year on record without an El Niño, thanks to global warming by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consenus – the 97%, Guardian, Jan 2, 2018
• What rolling back the Clean Power Plan means for the US climate fight by Umair Infran, Energy & Environment, Vice, Dec 29, 2017
• Keep global warming under 1.5C or ‘quarter of planet could become arid’ by Hannah Devlin, Climate Change, Guardian, Jan 2, 2017

Wed Jan 3, 2018

• Scientists Can Now Blame Individual Natural Disasters on Climate Change by Chelsea Harvey, ClimateWire/Scientific America, Jan 2, 2018
• Survey: Finns increasingly concerned about climate change, Yle News, Jan 2, 2018
• The most consequential environmental stories of 2017 by Brady Dennis & Darryl Fears, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Jan 1, 2018
• It’s Not Too Late: A Climate Change New Year’s Resolution by Nicholas Kusnetz, InsideClimate News, Jan 2, 2018
• Science Says: Why there’s a big chill in a warmer world by Seth Borenstein, AP News, Jan 3, 2018
• Linking extreme weather to climate change could help curb carbon emissions by Sarah DeWeerdt, Anthropocene, Jan 2, 2018
• Large Antarctic snowfall increases could counter sea level rise, scientists say by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Jan 3, 2018
• 2017 in Review: looking back at 10 years of SkS and more by BaerbelW, Skeptical Science, Jan 3, 2018

Thu Jan 4, 2018

• Suzuki’s list of climate actions to protect our ‘imperilled biosphere’ in 2018, Opinion by David Suzuki, National Observer, Jan 3, 2018
• What Will It Really Take to Avoid Collapse? by Jeremy Lent, MAHB, Jan 2, 2018
• Is Chocolate ‘On Track To Go Extinct’ in 40 Years? by Alex Kasprak, Snopes, Jan 2, 2018
• As Temperatures Dip, Some Wonder How Global Warming Exists by Lauren Casey, CBS Philly, Jan 3, 2018
• The Year Climate Change Began to Spin Out of Control by James Temple, MIT Technology Review, Jan 4, 2018
• NASA-led study solves a methane puzzle by Carol Rasmussen, NASA Global Climate Change, Jan 2, 2018
• Climate Advisory Panel Disbanded by Trump Is Revived—But Not By the Feds, State of the Planet, Earth Institute, Columbia University, Jan 3, 2018
• Baked Alaska and 2017 in review, Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis, NSIDC, Jan 3, 2018

Fri Jan 5, 2018

• As an EPA intern, I was barred from mentioning climate change by Katie Miller, Outlook, Washington Post, Jan 3, 2018
• Scientists Find Surprising Evidence Of Rapid Changes in the Arctic, News Release, Woods Hole Oceanographic, Jan 3, 2018
• Analysis: Low-carbon sources generated more UK electricity than fossil fuels in 2017 by Simon Evans, Carbon Brief, Jan 3, 2018
• U.S. Fails to Submit Reports on 1 January as Required Under U.N. Climate Treaty by Nicky Sundt, Climate Science & Policy Watch, Jan 4, 2018
• Severe coral reef bleaching now ‘five times more frequent’ than 40 years ago by Daisy Dunne, Carbon Brief, Jan 4, 2018
• Show this cartoon to anyone who doubts we need huge action on climate change by Alvin Chang and David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Jan 5, 2018
• How climate change could counterintuitively feed winter storms by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Jan 4, 2018
• Winter storm 2018: almost the entire East Coast is covered in snow by Brian Resnick, Science & Health, Vox, Jan 5, 2018

Sat Jan 6, 2018

• New research, December 25-31, 2017 by Ari Jokimäki, Skeptical Science, Jan 5, 2018
• Low oxygen levels, coral bleaching getting worse in oceans by Seth Borenstein, AP News, Jan 4, 2018
• Trump’s Disdain for Science, Opinion by Neal F. Lane & Michael Riordan, New York Times, Jan 4, 2018
• Empowering Women Could Reduce Climate Change by Jessica Williamson, Vice Impact, Jan 4, 2018
• Erosion May Transform the Arctic Food Chain by Chelsea Harvey, ClimateWire/Scientific American, Jan 4, 2018
• Trump Administration Proposes Massive Expansion of Offshore Drilling by Alexander C Kaufman & Chris D’Angelo, HuffPost, Jan 4, 2018
• Environmental Justice Grabs a Megaphone in the Climate Movement by Phil McKenna, InsideClimate News, Jan 5, 2018
• ‘All happening very quickly’: Tesla battery sends a jolt through energy markets  by Peter Hannam, The Sydney Morning Herald, January 6, 2018