Arguments
2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #10
Posted on 11 March 2018 by John Hartz
Story of the Week... Opinion of the Week... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... Graphic of the Week... Photo of the Week... SkS Spotlights... Video of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... 97 Hours of Consensus...
Story of the Week...
This mind-boggling study shows just how massive sea level rise really is
A satellite view of Antarctica is seen in an undated NASA photo released on Feb. 6, 2012. (Reuters/NASA)
As our planet continues to warm, coastlines worldwide will retreat inland — in the long run, maybe by a lot. That means some coastal cities, in places like Florida — where Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders debated precisely this topic on Wednesday night — stand to lose quite a lot of land where people currently live and own property.
It seems doubtful that we can defend all of the many coastal zones that will be at risk. So is there any other way to head off sea level rise?
It may sound ridiculous to even contemplate. But in a new study just out in the open access journal Earth System Dynamics, scientists have actually published an idea for doing that and provided some calculations regarding the scale of what it would take. That scale turns out to be simply massive, ultimately rendering the idea about as unfathomable as the oceans themselves.
This mind-boggling study shows just how massive sea level rise really is by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Mar 10, 2016
Opinion of the Week...
Opinion: Polar Bears at Ground Zero for Climate Change and Climate Science Deniers
The key to saving polar bears from their grim fate is making aggressive and rapid cuts in carbon pollution. Keeping global average temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius, in line with the Paris Agreement, will help preserve polar bears in many parts of their range, protect Arctic sea ice, and avoid many of the worst consequences of climate change.
At the heart of the matter is fossil-fuel production and consumption. The science is clear that keeping the vast majority of the world’s fossil fuels in the ground is necessary not only to protect the polar bear but help preserve a livable planet for the rest of us.
And the fossil-fuel lobby bankrolls climate science deniers to distract the public from exactly that.
Many people know to put reports by climate science denial propaganda outfits in the trash bin where they belong. As evidence of climate change becomes more overwhelming, their rhetoric becomes more absurd, pushing their voices deeper into the fringe.
Polar Bears at Ground Zero for Climate Change and Climate Science Deniers, Opinion by Shaye Wolf, DeSmog UK, Mar 5, 2018
Toon of the Week...
Hat tip to Stop Climate Science Denial
Quote of the Week...
The Arctic winter has ended with more news that is worrying even the scientists who watch the effects of climate change closely.
The region experienced its warmest winter on record. Sea ice hit record lows for the time of year, new US weather data revealed on Tuesday.
“It’s just crazy, crazy stuff,” said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, who has been studying the Arctic since 1982. “These heat waves – I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Arctic has warmest winter on record: 'It's just crazy, crazy stuff', Environment, AP/Guardian, Mar 6, 2018
Graphic of the Week...
These huge new wind turbines are a marvel. They’re also the future. by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Mar 8, 2018
Photo of the Week...
So far this year, snow levels across the Southwest — in particular the Sierra Nevada mountains and Southern Rockies — have been below average and much lower than those seen in 2017. The Northern Rockies, however, experienced a cold and wet February and winter, which led to record-high mountain snowpack in some areas. (Images from the Suomi NPP satellite via NOAA Satellite and Information Service.) (NOAA)
Sorry, Groundhog: February and Winter 2018 were warmer than average for the U.S. by Brady Phillips, NOAA News Release, Mar 7, 2018
SkS Spotlights...
ClimateWise supports the insurance industry to better communicate disclose and respond to the risks and opportunities associated with the climate-risk protection gap. This is the growing divide between total economic and insured losses attributed to climate change.
Representing a growing global network of leading insurance industry organisations, ClimateWise helps to align its members’ expertise to directly support society as it responds to the risks and opportunities of climate change.
Video of the Week...
We all remember the chorus around this year’s disastrous hurricane season: “Don’t politicize this! We don’t know if it’s climate change!” Well, thanks to a new field of scientific study, we actually do know if an extreme weather event was made possible by climate change. Get to know … extreme weather attribution!
Climate change made Hurricane Harvey wetter. Here’s how we know. by Jesse Nichols & Eve Andrews, Grist, Mar 6, 2018
Coming Soon on SkS...
- Burning coal may have caused Earth’s worst mass extinction (Dana)
- New scenarios show how the world could limit warming to 1.5C in 2100 (Zeke Hausfather)
- Biofuels could help solve climate change (John Abraham)
- Jet fuel from sugarcane? It’s not a flight of fancy (Deepak Kumar)
- New research this week (Ari)
- 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11 (John Hartz)
- 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #11 (John Hartz)
Poster of the Week...
SkS Week in Review...
- 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #10 by John Hartz
- New research, February 26 - March 4, 2018 Ari Jokimäki
- Jet fuel from sugarcane? It’s not a flight of fancy by Deepak Kumar & Vijay Singh (The Conversaton US)
- Explainer: The polar vortex, climate change and the ‘Beast from the East’
- There Will Be Consequences by Robert McSweeney (Carbon Brief)
- Stop blaming ‘both sides’ for America’s climate failures by Dana Nuccitelli (Climate Consensus - the 97%, Washington Post)
- 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #9 by John Hartz
97 Hours of Consensus...
I can just see exactly whats going to happen: " My insurance premiums have gone up $500 and they say its climate change. Why wasn't anything done about the problem?"