Posted on 14 August 2016 by John Hartz

SkS Highlights

Rejection of experts spreads from Brexit to climate change with 'Clexit' by Dana Nuccitelli (Climate Consensus-the 97%) drew the highest number of comments among the articles posted on SkS during the past week. As nuclear power plants close, states need to bet big on energy storage by Eric Daniel Fournier & Alex Ricklefs (The Conversation US) attracted the second highest number of coments. 

Toon of the Week

Quote of the Week 

Professor Matthew England, a climate researcher at the University of NSW, says "John's work is all around securing Australia's future. His work could lead to saving billions of dollars of poor investment in infrastructure around the coast, billions of dollars securing coastlines."

If the cuts to Australian climate research were crafted on the basis that we can leave the heavy lifting to other nations and then piggyback on their findings – as many experts suspect – we've got another think coming, England says.

"Why do we keep harping on about southern-hemisphere capacity? Because a North American climate team is not going to be looking at those corners of the model nearly so much as they do the regional US climate. The US Government is funding them to do the best possible research for their region."

The whole way the CSIRO is framing science costs and pursuing profits is out of whack, England argues. "The benefits of John Church's work will far outlive his lifetime."

John Church and the rising ocean by Jo Chandler, The Age, Aug 13, 2016 

He Said What?

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Thursday “there could be some impact” from a changing climate, “but I don’t believe it’s a devastating impact.”

In an interview with The Miami Herald, Trump reiterated he’s “not a big believer in manmade climate change,” and while he acknowledged problems such as rising sea levels, he attributed them to “a change in weather patterns, and you’ve had it for many years.”

“I would say it goes up, it goes down, and I think it’s very much like this over the years,” he said. “We’ll see what happens. I mean, we’ll see what happens. ... Certainly, climate has changed.”

Trump: Climate change won't be ‘devastating’ by Devin Henry, The Hill, Aug 12, 2016

SkS Spotlights

The Climate Institute (Sydney, AU) makes progress in tackling climate change possible.

We are principled pragmatists. We get things done. 

We are can do: We are not just a think tank, we’re also a "do tank". We connect people who can make a difference with the resources, evidence and ideas that will make a difference. We solve problems.

We are will do: We are prepared to talk and share the table. We build bridges between people - experts, investors and decision-makers. From grassroots groups to big banks. From the ACTU to the Business Council of Australia. We bring them together to deliver collective impact.

We are know how: We are clear, credible and authoritative. We have the expertise and the experience. We provide actionable direction. We know how to get things done.

Our work has never been more important.

The science and data are compelling. The evidence is in. We know that climate change is real and its physical and economic impacts are scarring our environment and our way of life. 

We also know that policy is not adequately responding to the challenge and that this will only change when public, business and investor sentiment creates the pressure for change.

For 10 years we have been tackling this, with a focus on three vital areas where the potential impact is game changing. 

We have bold and ambitious goals. But we have a track record of getting difficult things done. The reputation and authority we have today are based on this track record. 

Coming Soon on SkS

• Climate urgency: we've locked in more global warming than people realize (Dana)
• Piecing together the Arctic’s sea ice history back to 1850 (Florence Fetterer)
• Guest Post (John Abraham)
• State of the Climate 2015: global warming and El Niño sent records tumbling (Andrew King)
• Climate-related disasters raise conflict risk, study says (Robert McSweeney)
• 2016 SkS Weekly News Roundup #34 (John Hartz)
• 2016 SkS Weekly Digest #34 (John Hartz)

Poster of the Week

SkS Week in Review 

• 2016 SkS Weekly News Roundup #33 by John Hartz
• Six charts show UK progress towards low-carbon energy by Simon Evans (Carbon Brief)
• Climate inertia by Bart Verheggen (My view on climate change)
• Climate scientists make a bold prediction about sea level rise by John Abraham (Climate Consensus-the 97%)
• As nuclear power plants close, states need to bet big on energy storage by Eric Daniel Fournier & Alex Ricklefs (The Conversation US)
• Rejection of experts spreads from Brexit to climate change with 'Clexit' by Dana Nuccitelli (Climate Consensus-the 97%)
• 2016 SkS Weekly Digest #32 by John Hartz

97 Hours of Consensus: Peter Gleick

Peter Gleick's bio page

Quote derived with permission from author from:

"...we know that humans are raising the temperature through the emissions of greenhouse gases. We're beginning to change the climate. Among the things that we're going to see when it gets warmer is that more of what we get in the hydrologic cycle is going to be rain, and less of it's going to be snow. As it gets warmer, the snow line is going to move up. What does fall as snow is going to melt earlier, and runoff faster." 

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