Posted on 6 March 2016 by John Hartz

SkS Highlights 

Ted Cruz's favorite temperature data just got a lot hotter and GWPF throws out centuries of physics, climate scientists laugh, conservative media fawns by Dana Nuccitelli (Climate Consensus -the 97%, Guardian) attracted the most comments of the articles posted on SkS during the past week. Will Fossil Fuel Prices Fully Recover? by Riduna rounded out the top three. 

El Niño Impacts

• Science is warning us that a food crisis is coming to Southern Africa. Will we stop it? by Christopher Groskopf, Quartz Africa, Mar 6, 2016
• Vietnam hit by worst drought in 90 years, AFP, Arab News, Mar 2, 2016 
• Drought in eastern Mediterranean worst of past 900 years by Ellen Gray, GlobalClimate Change, NASA, March 1, 2016

Toon of the Week

Hat tip to I Heart Climate Scientists.

Quote of the Week

"The overall message that climate science delivers to society, policymakers, and the public alike is this: we have a global emergency. Fossil fuel CO₂ emissions should be reduced as rapidly as practical.  We argue that country-by-country goals, the approach of the 21^stConference of the Parties[13] cannot lead to rapid phasedown of fossil fuel emissions, as long as fossil fuels are allowed to be the cheapest energy.  It will be necessary to include a carbon fee that allows the external costs of fossil fuels to be incorporated in their price.  Border duties on products from countries without a carbon fee, would lead to most nations adopting a carbon fee." 

Regional Climate Change and National Responsibilities by James Hansen & Makiko Sato, Climate Science, Awareness & Solutions, Earth Institute, Columbia University, Feb 29, 2016 

He Said What?

Cruz* often brought up the satellite data in Senate hearings and on the campaign trail to dispute the existence of climate change. In a Senate subcommittee hearing in December, Cruz suggested the idea of climate change was a conspiracy among scientists, Democrats and the media.

“There has been no significant global warming in the past 18 years,” he said at the time. “Global warming alarmists don’t like these data. They are inconvenient truths, as Al Gore might say. But facts and evidence matters.”

*US Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and candidate for the Republican nomination for US President

Adjusted satellite data derails one of Cruz’s arguments against climate change by Elizabeth Koh, Dallas Morning Herald, Mar 6, 2016 

SkS in the News

How should we teach students about climate change? by John Cook was published by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

Lisa Bailey, Program Manager at RiAus, Australia’s Science Channel, interviewed John Cook for her article, Leo Wins Oscar But Can He Win The Public Over Climate Change? Her lead-in to Cook's repsonses:

I asked John Cook,  a research fellow in Climate Communication at UQ (and who also runs the fabulous and free Climate Denial 101x course you can check out here), what he thought of Leo’s win and it’s implications for public perceptions of climate change.

A new document, The 12 Questions Every Climate Activist Hears and What to Say, created and published by the Climate Reality Project contains references/links to a number of SkS Rebuttal articles.   

SkS Spotlights

The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law (Columbia Law Center) develops legal techniques to fight climate change, trains law students and lawyers in their use, and provides the public with up-to-date resources on key topics in climate law and regulation.

The core mission of the Sabin Center is to develop and promulgate legal techniques to address climate change, and to train the next generation of lawyers who will be leaders in the field. The Sabin Center is both a partner to and resource for public interest legal institutions engaged in climate change work. Further, the center addresses a critical need for the systematic development of legal techniques to fight climate change outside of the realm of judicial litigation, and the compilation and dissemination of information for lawyers in the public, private and NGO sectors.

Columbia Law School is specially situated to make fundamental contributions to the development of the legal structures needed to address climate change. As one of the world’s preeminent law schools, our faculty has unsurpassed depth in the many legal disciplines that must be harnessed to address the critical issue of climate change. This initiative benefits from great synergies with the school’s other centers and programs around Columbia University.

Coming Soon on SkS

• During the most important year for climate news, TV coverage fell (Dana)
• After 116 days, MIT fossil fuel divestment sit-in ends in student-administration deal for climate action (Geoffrey Supran)
• Guest Post (John Abraham)
• Why We Need to Keep 80 Percent of Fossil Fuels in the Ground (Bill McKibben)
• Why is 2016 smashing heat records? (Karl Mathiesen)
• 2016 SkS Weekly News Roundup #11 (John Hartz)
• 2016 SkS Weekly Digest #11 (John Hartz)

Poster of the Week

SkS Week in Review

• 2016 SkS Weekly News Roundup #10 by John Hartz
• Will Fossil Fuel Prices Fully Recover? by Riduna
• Ted Cruz's favorite temperature data just got a lot hotter by Dana Nuccitelli (Climate Consensus -the 97%, Guardian)
• Climate scientists worry about the costs of sea level rise by John Abraham (Climate Consensus -the 97%, Guardian)
• Mapped: The sensitivity of the world’s ecosystems to climate by Robert McSweeney (Carbon Brief)
• GWPF throws out centuries of physics, climate scientists laugh, conservative media fawns by  by Dana Nuccitelli (Climate Consensus -the 97%, Guardian)
• 2016 SkS Weekly Digest #9 by John Hartz 

97 Hours of Consensus: Sarah Das

 Sarah Das' bio page & Quote source