Posted on 10 February 2013 by John Hartz

SkS Highlights

Thanks to the programming skills and hard work of Sphaerica, SkS now features an interactive glossary of scientific terms and acronyms commonly used in climate science. See Announcing the Skeptical Science Glossary for details about this outsanding new feature. Here's a big shout out for Spaherica from his SkS colleagues. 

Of the articles posted during the past week, Dana's Dueling Scientists in The Oregonian, Settled by Nuccitelli et al. (2012) garnered the most comments.

Toon of the Week

Hank D and the Bee: Predicting the Future of Weather

Click here to access Joe Mohr's inspiration for the above toon.

Quote of the Week

Michael Mann, a climatologist who directs the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, compared a major storm like Nemo — or Hurricane Irene or Superstorm Sandy, for that matter — to a basketball slam-dunk with a lower net.

"If you take the basketball court and raise it a foot, you're going to see more slam-dunks," Mann said. "Not every dunk is due to raising the floor, but you'll start seeing them happen more often then they ought to."

Climate Change And The Blizzard: Nor'easters More Fierce With Global Warming, Scientists Say by Lynne Peeples, The Huffington Post, Feb 8, 2913

The Week in Review 

• Announcing the Skeptical Science Glossary by Sphaerica
• 16 years - Update and Frequently Asked Questions by Kevin C
• 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #6 by John Hartz
• Introducing the History of Climate Change Science by rockytom
• An Updated Look at What Keystone XL and Alberta Tar Sands Mean for the Climate by Dana
• The Great Disconnect: the human disease of which climate change is but one symptom by John Mason
• A Climate Sensitivity Tail by Dana
• For Psychology Research, Climate Denial is the Gift that Keeps on Giving by Stephan Lewandowsky & John Cook
• Icy contenders weigh in by Jason Box
• New Slideshow on Myth Debunking for Educators and Science Communicators by Ullrich Ecker
• Dueling Scientists in The Oregonian, Settled by Nuccitelli et al. (2012) by Dana

Coming Soon

• The Climate Show #33: Salinger, carbon carnage and recursive fury (Gareth)
• Lukewarmerism, a.k.a. Ignoring Inconvenient Evidence (Dana)
• The Japan Meteorological Agency temperature record (Kevin C)
• A Glimpse at Our Possible Future Climate, Best to Worst Case Scenarios (Dana)
• Offline-friendly content added to Skeptical Science emporium (Doug Bostrom)
• No alternative to atmospheric CO2 draw-down (Andrew Glikson)
• Analysis of Greenland Ice Cores May Provide Glimpse into Climate's Future (John Hartz)
• 2013 SkS News Roundup #7 (John Hartz)
• 2013 SkS Weekly Digest #7 (John Hartz)

In the Works

• Recursive Fury: conspiracy theorists respond to evidence that they’re conspiracy theorists with more conspiracy theories (John Cook)
• Reconciling Two New Cloud Feedback Papers (Dana)
• Drost, Karoly, and Braganza Find Human Fingerprints in Global Warming (Dana)
• How We Know Cosmic Rays are Not Causing Global Warming, In One Simple Graph (Dana)
• Residence Time and Prof Essenhigh (Glenton Jelbert)
• New satellite confirms dramatic thinning of Arctic ice (MarkR)
• Residence Time and Prof Essenhigh (Glenton Jelbert)

SkS in the News

Lewandowsky and Cook and colleagues published a follow-up paper about the recursive fury of denial conspiracy theories.  The paper drew a lot of attention, including interviews with John Cook on The Climate Show and Skeptically Speaking, and posts on Climate Progress, Climate Crocks, Reddit, Slashdot, Rabett Run (twice), Not Spaghetti, Improbable News, Red Bluff, Blogotariat, Undernews, Father Theo's blog, Denying AIDS and other oddities, and a great many climate denialist blogs as well.

Andrew Revkin at NYT Dot Earth and Discovery Ruse referenced Dana's Climate Sensitivity Single Study Syndrome.

Media Matters and Greg Laden used the SkS consensus graphic to debunk Fox News' climate consensus denial.

Climate Progress referenced the SkS Advanced climate sensitivity rebuttal.

Jeremy Hance at Mongbay utilized the SkS graphic of observed CO2 emissions vs. IPCC emissions scenarios.

Not from this World posted a cartoon of the SkS Escalator and a link to the 'no warming in 16 years' myth debunking.

Weltanschuuang used Kevin C's 16 years video to debunk the 'global warming standstill' myth.

Learning from Dogs endoresed SkS as a great climate science resource.

SkS Spotlights

Climate Counts is a collaborative effort to bring consumers and companies together to address solutions around global climate change. As stated on the About Us page of its website:

We score the world's largest companies on their climate impact to spur corporate climate responsibility and conscious consumption. Our goal is to motivate deeper awareness among consumers — that the issue of climate change demands their attention, and that they have the power to support companies that take climate change seriously and avoid those that don't.

When consumers take action and raise their voices on issues that matter to them, businesses pay attention.

We have no interest in doom-and-gloom environmental reporting and instead believe that positive change starts with a hopeful outlook that real change is possible and that the relationship between companies and consumers can become more substantive and constructive.