Posted on 20 July 2014 by John Hartz

SkS Highlights

Dana's Rupert Murdoch doesn't understand climate change basics, and that's a problem understandably generated the most comments of the articles posted on SkS during the past week. Is global warming causing extreme weather via jet stream waves? by John Abraham attracted the second highest number of comments. Both articles are very topical and informative.  

El Niño Watch

• A Super-Strong El Niño Is Now Off the Table. Here’s What That Means by Eric Holthaus, Slate, July 17, 2014
• El Nino may not bring needed rains to parched California by Sharon Bernstein, Reuters, July 18, 2014
• Strong El Nino Seen Unlikely by Australia as Pacific Cools, Bloomberg, July 15, 2014

Toon of the Week

Source: Jerry Brown faces climate change facts while GOP chases moonbeams by David Horsey, Los Angeles Times, May 21, 2014

h/t to I heart Climate Scientists

Quote of the Week

"Some in the environmental community argue that there is a danger of acknowledging how much climate change is already costing us. They fear it could dampen people's willingness to pay more to slow it. But to unmask these costs is to reveal a financial tempest foretold. The consequences of climate change will only get more extreme and more expensive the longer we wait. Reduce emissions now and we can cushion, if not avoid altogether, the fall through that sequence of trap doors.

"So the question remains: Who will bear the burden of all those years of discounted energy when the real costs of all those discounts are breaking out all over?"

The carbon taxes we're already paying, Op-ed by Mark Schapiro, Los Angeles Times, July 19, 2014 

SkS in the News

The SkS profile, Climate Misinformer: John Christy is linked to in Joe Romm's Climate Progress post, Quoting John Christy On Climate Change Is Like Quoting Dick Cheney On Iraq.

In her Salon article, New York Times’ climate skeptic debacle: How a new profile sets back science, Lindsay Abrams links to two SkS articles:

• UAH Misrepresentation Anniversary, Part 1 - Overconfidence
• More misleading Congressional climate testimony

Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature, Cook et al, 2013, Environmental Research Letters, is referenced in a Letter-to-the-Editor byIvars Balkits posted on The Athens News of Athens County, Ohio.

The Versatility of the Debunking Handbook

"All of this myth-busting got me thinking about how much we, as humans, need help in seeing the facts for what they are. More specifically, it reminded me of 'The Debunking Handbook, by John Cook and Stephan Lewandowsky, a guide developed for scientists fighting climate deniers and something I have been emailing to friends and colleagues for many months now.

"The Debunking Handbook has also become my go-to manual in offering advice to investors, company managements and stockpickers alike, all of whom need to debunk myths as part of their day jobs."

How to Debunk 35 Years of High School Myths by Mariko Gordon, ValueWalk

SkS Spotlights

ClimateState gathers knowledge about the broad spectrum of climate change and tries to help increase understanding and awareness about the threat of dangerous (unchecked) climate change. The scope is to encourage the fast paced deployment of solutions, i.e. carbon sequestration with Biochar and taxing CO2. 

Poster of the Week

h/t to Climate Chnage Guide

SkS Week in Review 

• 2014 SkS Weekly News Roundup #29 by John Hartz
• Climate data from air, land, sea and ice in 2013 reflect trends of a warming planet (reprint of NOAA news release) by John Hartz
• Is global warming causing extreme weather via jet stream waves? by John Abraham
• Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes (reprint of WMO press release) by John Hartz
• Rupert Murdoch doesn't understand climate change basics, and that's a problem by Dana

Coming Soon on SkS

• Climate models accurately predicted global warming when reflecting natural ocean cycles (Dana)
• Seal of approval - How marine mammals provide important climate data (BaerbelW & Anne-Marie Blackburn)
• State Department cuts through the acid political environment on oceans and climate (Sarah)
• Updating the 'climate has changed before' myth rebuttal (Howard Lee)
• Nigel Lawson suggests he's not a sceptic, proceeds to deny global warming (Dana)

Mother Nature Always Bats Last!

• Super typhoon kills fourteen in southern China - Xinhua, Reuters, July 19, 2014