Posted on 8 June 2014 by John Hartz

SkS Highlights

Within days of its intital posting, Richard Tol launched his first attack on John Cook and his team of SkS volunteers for the work they did in producing Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature, Cook et al, 2013 Environmental Research Letters. Since that initial onslaught, Tol has continued his campaign. His recent efforts to discredit Cook et al (2013) are thoroughly critiqued and shown to be flawed in two articles by Dana, i.e., Republican witness admits the expert consensus on human-caused global warming is real and Richard Tol accidentally confirms the 97% global warming consensus, and in one article by John Cook Resources and links documenting Tol's 24 errors. 

Other Blog Posts on Tol's Campaign to Discredit Cook et al (2013)

• Bravo, Richard Tol, Bravo! by And Then There's Physics
• Arson Attack on Ivory Towers by Graham Wayne*, Small Epiphanies 
• The Consensus on Climate Change, Greg Laden's Blog
• Consensus Matters by Andy Skuce*, Critical Angle
• Model Making, Mathturbation, and Bullshit Tests by Eli Rabbett, Rabbett Run
• Richard Tol’s 97% Scientific Consensus Gremlins by Collin Maessen*, Real Sceptic
• Ridiculous Richard Tol sez 12,000 is a strange number by Sou, HotWhopper

*Denotes a member of the SkS author team. 

Toon of the Week

Andrei Popov (Russia)

Note: This is the first cartoon embedded in 9 Political Cartoons That Put Climate Change In Perspective by Katherine Brooks, The Huffington Post, Jun 7, 2014.

El Niño Watch

• Brazil Drought: El Nino Impacts and Political Unrest by Eric Leister, AccuWeather.com, June 7, 2014
• California drought: El Niño chances increase, but scientists say it may be a weak one by Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury News, June 5, 2014
• El Niño would be a disaster for the world's coral reefs by Johnny Langenheim, Evironment Blog, The Guardian, June 5, 2014
• El Niño Odds Raised to 70% by NOAA, But El Niño is Actually Imminent by Michael Ventrice, Weather Underground, June 7, 2014
• El Nino rains may not help California drought: Oregon weather watch by Stuart Tomlinson, The Oregonian, June 7, 2014
• No El Niño Yet, Still Expected This Summer by Andrea Thompson, Climate Central, June 5, 2014

Quote of the Week

"We need ever higher ambition by all nations in the run-up to the U.N. climate convention meeting in Paris in 2015 — ambition that can match emission reductions and support for adaptation in vulnerable countries and communities with the sobering scientific reality." - Chrstina Figueres

China follows USA with emissions pledge by Kim Hjelmgaard, USA Today, June 3, 2014

SkS in the News 

In his Washington Post Wonkbook post, Why Obama’s new climate rule matters. Puneet Kollipara links to the SkS rebuttal article, What is the link between hurricanes and global warming?  

SkS Spotlights

• Daily Tck: Day 5 of the Bonn climate change conference 
• Daily Tck: Day 4 of the Bonn climate change conference
• Daily Tck: Day 3 of the Bonn climate change conference
• Daily Tck: Day 2 of the Bonn climate change conference
• Daily Tck: Day 1 of the Bonn climate change conference
• US and China change the game as climate talks resume in Bonn4

Poster of the Week

Point/Counterpoint

• 7 reasons America will fail on climate change by Ezra Klein, Vox Conversations, June 5, 2014
• 7 Reasons America Should Succeed On Climate Change by Joe Romm, Climate Proress, June 6, 2014

Insurance Industry News

• Insurer's Message: Prepare for Climate Change or Get Sued by John Roach, NBC News, June 4, 2014  

Coming Soon on SkS 

• New Video: Meltwater Pulse 2B (Peter Sinclair)
• This Ice Sheet Will Unleash a Global Superstorm Sandy That Never Ends (Chris Mooney)
• Ice picks: Five pieces of ice news revealing earth’s ice cover is in serious decline (Roz Pidcock)
• How will El Nino impact weather patterns? (Guest post)
• Summer reading for the climate crowd (Guest post)
• SkS Weekly News Roundup #24 (John Hartz)

Mother Nature Always Bats Last!

• Beetles ravaging Mount Rushmore drain budgets as West warms by Jennifer Oldham, Bloomberg News/Chicago Tribune, June 7, 2014
• ‘Monsoons could last 10 days longer’ by Speial Correspndent, The Hindu, June 6, 2014
• The Ocean is Heating Up for Hurricane Season by Brian Kahn, Climate Central, June 4, 2014