Posted on 20 January 2018 by John Hartz

Editor's Pick

Wildfires, sea level rise, coral bleaching: Climate change is already here

(Clockwise from top left: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times; Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times; Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times; John McConnico / Associated Press)

From extreme wildfires in the Western United States to melting ice sheets in Antarctica, the effects of rising temperatures on Earth have not gone unnoticed.

On Thursday, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced 2017 was at least the third hottest year on record. The year 2016 holds the record as the hottest. Before that, the record was set in 2015. Before that, it was 2014.

Both agencies linked the record-breaking temperatures to human-caused climate change. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released by cars, factories and power plants trap more heat in the atmosphere, causing temperatures to climb upward.

Although the most severe consequences of this warming have yet to come — especially if greenhouse gas emissions remain at current levels — some of the effects have already been felt. Scientists, public health officials and even the Pentagon are watching with great concern. Here’s a look at some of those effects:

Wildfires, sea level rise, coral bleaching: Climate change is already here by Sean Greene, Los Angeles Times, Jan 18, 2018

Links posted on Facebook

Sun Jan 14, 2018

• Tiny individual decisions really could help avert climate chaos, Comment by Adam Corner, New Scientist, Jan 12, 2018 
• America's Most Pressing Threat? Climate Change, Opinion by James Staridvis, Bloomberg Views, Jan 11, 2018
• Jet Stream Changes Since 1960s Linked to More Extreme Weather by Mari N. Jensen, UA News, Jan 12, 2018
• Sea levels off Dutch coast highest ever recorded in 2017, Agence France-Presse (AFP), IPR, Jan 13, 2018
• These Climate Change Emojis Are Peak 2018 by Yessenia Funes, Justice, Earther, Jan 11, 2018
• Exxon Ramps Up Free Speech Argument in Fighting Climate Fraud Investigations by David Hasmyer, InsideClimate News, Jan 13, 2018
• January 2018 La Niña update: summiting the peak by Tom Di Liberto, ENSO Blog, NOAA's Climate.gov, Jan 11, 2018
• L.A. lawmakers look to sue big oil companies over climate change — and the costs that stem from it by David Zahnhiser, Los Angeles Times, Jan 13, 2018

Mon Jan 15, 2018

• Severe heatwave headed for Sydney and eastern NSW, with more days in the 40s likely by Peter Hannam, Environment, Sydney Morning Herald, Jan 15, 2018
• China leading on world’s clean energy investment, says report by Jocelyn Temperley, Carbon Brief, Jan 9, 2018
• 1.5 Degrees Warming and the Search for Climate Justice for the Poor by John H Cushman Jr, InsideClimate News, Jan 12, 2018
• How a Coal Baron’s Wish List Became President Trump’s To-Do List by Lisa Friedman, Climate, New York Times, Jan 9, 2018
• Snowpack Near Record Lows Spells Trouble for Western Water Supplies by Bob Berwyn, InsideClimate News, Jan 15, 2018
• Q&A: How do climate models work? by Robert McSweeney & Zeke Hausfather, Carbon Brief, Jan 15, 2018
• Powering up: rooftop solar installations jump by half to hit record 1GW in 2017 by Peter Hannam, Envoironment, Sydney Morning Herald, Jan 16, 2018
• 'It was like Niagara Falls': how California's rich and poor united against a tide of mud by Rory Carroll. The Observer/Guardian, Jan 14, 2018

Tue Jan 16, 2018

• New research, January 1-7, 2018 by Ari Jokimäki, Skeptical Science, Jan 12, 2018
• How Australia's extreme heat might be here to stay by Adam Morton, BBC News, Jan 13, 2018
• China wants to dominate the world’s green energy markets – here’s why by Chris G. Pope, The Conversation UK, Jan 12, 2018
• Could biodiversity destruction lead to a global tipping point? by Jeremy Hance, Envioronment, Guardian, Jan 16, 2018
• A Foreboding Similarity in Today’s Oceans and a 94-Million-Year-Old Catastrophe by Peter Brannen, The Atlantic, Jan 12, 2018
• Human Emissions Made Ocean Heat Wave 53 Times More Likely by Craig Welch, National Geographic, Jan 16, 2018
• German power sector: coal and nuclear down, renewables up in 2017 by Graig Morris, Energy Transition-The Global Energiewende, Jan 11, 2018
• Study finds that global warming exacerbates refugee crises by John Abraham, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Jan 15, 2018

Wed Jan 17, 2018

• Flaws of Lüdecke & Weiss by Ari Jokimäki, Skeptical Science, Jan 16, 2018
• Rising sea swamps island along Bengal coast by Joydeep Gupta, thethirdpole.net, Jan 15, 2018
• 'Bomb-cyclone' weather in a warming world, This is Not Cool video by Peter Sinclair, Yale Climate Connections, Jan 11, 2018
• Timeline: The history of climate modelling by Leo Hickman, Carbon Brief, Jan 16, 2018
• Scott Pruitt insincerely asked what's Earth's ideal temperature. Scientists answer by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Jan 17, 2018
• Climate scientists say they may be able to rule out the worst-case scenarios — and the best ones by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Jan 17, 2018
• In Colorado, a glimpse of renewable energy’s insanely cheap future by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Jan 16, 2018
• Is warming in the Arctic behind this year’s crazy winter weather? by Jennifer Francis, The Conversation US, Jan 11, 2018

Thu Jan 18, 2018

• Christianity Is Not Getting Greener by Niina Heikkinen, ClimateWire/Scientific American, Jan 16, 2018
• Turning Soybeans Into Diesel Fuel Is Costing Us Billions by Dan Charles, NPR, Jan 16, 2018
• Imagination and Will in the Anthropocene by Laurie Laybourn-Langton, Open Democracy, Jan 16, 2018
• US unilateralism makes tacking climate change harder, WEF warns by Larry Elliott, Davos, Guardian, Jan 17, 2018
• How to Achieve Zero Emissions, Even if the Federal Government Won't Help by C.J. Polychroniou, Truthout, Jan 17, 2018
• The planet just had its hottest 4 years in recorded history. Trump is dismantling efforts to fight climate change. by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Jan 18, 2018
• Trump Administration Deserts Science Advisory Boards Across Agencies by Georgina Gustin, InsideClimate News, Jan 18, 2018
• In-depth: Scientists discuss how to improve climate models, Carbon Brief, Jan 17, 2018

Fri Jan 19, 2018

• Germany and Bangladesh sign €330m deal to fight climate change, Climate Action, Jan 16, 2018
• One year in, Trump's environmental agenda is already taking a measurable toll by Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times, Jan 18, 2018
• The latest winter storms have been deadly. But are cold snaps deadlier than heat waves? by Umair Irfan, Energy & Environment, Vox, Jan 18, 2018
• New study ‘reduces uncertainty’ for climate sensitivity by Daisy Dunne, Carbon Brief, Jan 17, 2018
• This graphic explains why 2 degrees of global warming will be way worse than 1.5 by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Jan 18, 2018
• Long-term warming trend continued in 2017: NASA, NOAA, NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Jan 18, 2018
• Rising CO2 affecting freshwater three times faster than saltwater by Karen Graham, Digital Journal, Jan 14, 2018
• 2017 Was Another Year of Amazing Heat. It’s not Natural, and It IS the Greenhouse Gases by Dan Satterfield, Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal, AGU Blogosphere, Jan 18, 2018

Sat Jan 20, 2018

• New research, January 8-14, 2018 by Ari Jokimäki, Skeptical Scince, Jan 19, 2018
• EPA - Government must prepare Superfund sites for climate change Karen Graham, Digital Journal, Jan 14, 2018
• Wildfires, sea level rise, coral bleaching: Climate change is already here by Sean Greene, Los Angeles Times, Jan 18, 2018
• Will the weather get worse in 2018? What the experts say by Lindsay Beevers , The Conversation UK, Jan 11, 2018
• Coral reefs 'at make or break point', UN environment head says by Michael Slezak, Guardian, Jan 19, 2018
• Well, At Least One Catastrophic Climate Scenario Is Looking Less Likely by Maddie Stone, Earther, Jan 18, 2018
• The 5 most alarming climate events in a near-record warm 2017 by Angela Fritz & Jason Samenow, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, Jan 18, 2018
• With cheap solar and wind power, is it time to rethink ‘energy efficiency’ by Nicholas Good & Eduardo Martínez Ceseña, The Conversation UK, Jan 19, 2018