Posted on 4 May 2019 by John Hartz

Editor's Pick 

Remembering Wallace Broecker, the Prophet of Climate Change

Dr. Wallace Broecker—lovingly called “Wally” by his coworkers, friends, and family—never wanted to be known as the prophet of climate change. He was the prank-playing, puzzle-loving, New Balance-wearing, colorblind, dented-Toyota-owning, dyslexic, opinionated rock of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Broecker saw the big picture.

Broecker was a nationally renowned climate scientist who won the most prestigious awards in his field. He passed away on February 18 at 87 years old. The Washington Post, the New York Times, and other major news sources covered Broecker’s academic achievements, including the fact that he popularized the term “global warming,” but they missed a crucial part of him: the immense influence he had on the lives of others.

Every so often, he would put climate puzzles out in Lamont cafeteria, posing questions like, “Where did all that carbon dioxide go during the ice ages?” He often offered cash rewards to those who could answer them. In his most personalized puzzle, he offered money to whoever could dig up an earlier citation of the term global warming. One of his students succeeded. 

Remembering Wallace Broecker, the Prophet of Climate Change by Katie Santamaria, Columbia Daily Spectator, May 2, 2019 

Links posted on Facebook

Sun Apr 28, 2019

• Don’t bother waiting for conservatives to come around on climate change by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Apr 26, 2019
• Should we turn the Sahara Desert into a huge solar farm? by Amin Al-Habaibeh, The Conversation UK, Apr 24, 2019
• US farmers count cost of catastrophic 'bomb cyclone' in midwest by Susan Cosier, Environment, Guardian, Apr 27, 2019
• Reckoning With Personal Responsibility In The Age Of Climate Change by Shannon Keating, BuzzFeed, Apr 27, 2019
• Nature loss: Major report to highlight 'natural and human emergency' by Matt McGrath, Science & Environment, BBC News, Apr 28, 2019
• Facebook fact checker has ties to news outlet that promotes climate doubt by Scott Waldman, E&E News/Science Magazine, Apr 25, 2019
• The Climate Change Generation Needs to Know What's Coming, Opinion by Michael E Mann, Newsweek, Apr 24, 2019
• Extinction Rebellion rushes activists' handbook This Is Not a Drill into print by Alison Flood, Books, Guardian, Apr 26, 2019

Mon Apr 29, 2019

• Storm-struck Mozambique must revamp climate preparations - former first lady by Laurie Goering, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Apr 26, 2019
• Ottawa River flood levels smash records, CBC News, Apr 28, 2019
• Mapping America’s wicked weather and deadly disasters by Tim Meko, National, Washington Post, Apr 25, 2019
• How will climate change’s warming pattern look in the future?, Guest Post by Dr Andrew King, Carbon Brief, Apr 24, 2019
• Why the climate protests that disrupted London were different by Eliza Barclay & Umair Irfan. Energy & environment, Vox, Apr 28, 2019
• Rain grounds Mozambique aid flights as cyclone death toll hits 38 by Mike Hutchings, Reuters, Apr 29, 2019
• Climate Change Blamed as Flooding Forces Thousands to Evacuate in Canada by Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch, Apr 29, 2019
• Climate change could cost the U.S. economy hundreds of billions a year by 2090 by Dana Nuccitelli, Yale Climate Connections, Apr 29, 2019

Tue Apr 30, 2019

• Photos: Climate-Change Protests Around the World by Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, Apr 25, 2019
• New research, April 15-21, 2019 by Ari Jokimäki, Skeptical Science, Apr 26, 2019
• Inverloch loses more than 30 metres of tourist fghotspot beachfront to coastal erosion by Jarrod Whittaker, ABC News (Australia), Apr 30, 2019
• Canada: extreme floods show climate threat as experts warn of further tumult by Kat Eschner, World, Guardian, Apr 30, 2019
• Surfers Fight to Block Oil Drilling in the Great Australian Bight by Jacqueline Williams, World, New York Times, Apr 29, 2019
• People Are Flocking To See Melting Glaciers Before They’re Gone — Bringing Both Benefit And Harm by Marcello Rossi, Ensia, April 26, 2019
• Indonesia Plans To Move Its Capital Out Of Jakarta, A City That's Sinking by Merrit Kennedy, NPR News, Apr 29, 2019
• With climate change, storm surge now could reach Baton Rouge, Opinion by Bob Marshall, NOLA.com, Apr 29, 2019

Wed May 1, 2019

• Let’s seize the moment and create a Green New Deal for the UK, Opinion by Ed Miliband, Caroline Lucas & Laura Sandys, Comment is Free, Guardian, Apr 30, 2019
• Beto O’Rourke now has the most robust climate proposal of any 2020 presidential candidate by Umair Irfan, Energy & Environment, Vox, Apr 30, 2019
• The media is failing on climate change – here's how they can do better ahead of 2020 by Emily Holden, Environment, Guardian, Apr 30, 2019
• Northeast India Keeps an Eye on Rapidly Strengthening Fani by Bob Henson, Category 6, Weather Underground, Apr 30, 2019
• A Portion Of The World’s Largest Ice Shelf Is Melting At A Ridiculously High Rate by Nina Golgowski, Huffington Post, Apr 30, 2019
• Extinction Rebellion succeeded where most climate protests fail by Akshat Rathi, Quartz, May 1, 2019
• Could Air-Conditioning Fix Climate Change? by Richard Conniff, Climate, Scientific American, Apr 30, 2019
• What to Cook in a Changing Climate by Sam Sifton, Food, New York Times, May 1, 2019

Thu May 2, 2019

• Climate change link to global droughts goes back a century, study finds by Peter Hannam, Environment, The Age, May 2, 2019
• Why Beto’s Climate Plan Is So Surprising by Robinson Meyer, Science, The Atlantic, Apr 30, 2019
• 'Climate Emergency': How Extinction Rebellion's Language of Urgency is Shaping the Political Agenda by Chloe Farand, DeSmog UK, May 1, 2019
• ‘Extremely severe’ Cyclone Fani on path to slam eastern India on Friday by Matthew Cappucci & Jason Samenow, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, May 1, 2019
• Activism Works': UK Parliament Makes History in Declaring Climate Emergency by Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams, May 1, 2019
• FAITH AND FLOODING: How Sea Level Rise Threatens America’s Houses of Worship, Research by Climate Central, May 1, 2019
• 100 million people in path of India's worst cyclone in 20 years By Swati Gupta, Brandon Miller and Helen Regan, CNN, May 2, 2019
• As Congress Preps for a Climate Vote, Both Parties Strain for Unity by Marianne Lavelle, InsideClimate News, May 2, 2019
• Trump administration pushed to strip mention of climate change from Arctic policy statement by Anne Gearan, Carol Morello & John Hudson, Politics, Washington Post, May 2, 2019

Fri May 3, 2019

• Washington Gov. Inslee: Climate change is at heart of 2020 campaign by Lauren Hernández, San Francisco Chronicle, May 1, 2019
• Young people won’t accept inaction on climate change, and they’ll be voting in droves by Hannah Feldman, The Conversation AU, May 2, 2019
• SEC Blocks More Shareholder Climate Resolutions, Citing ‘Micromanagement’ by David Hasemyer, InsideClimate News, May 2, 2019
• We can't save the planet with half measures. We need to go all the way, Opinion by Varshini Prakash, Comment is Free, Guardian, May 2, 2019
• In photos: Tropical Cyclone Fani lashes India, CNN, May 3, 2019
• New EPA document tells communities to brace for climate change impacts by Juliet Eilperin & Brady Dennis, Health & Science, Washington Post, Apr 27, 2019
• Change the Climate 2020: Week in Review, League of Conservation Voters (LCV), May 3, 2019
• Biodiversity crisis is about to put humanity at risk, UN scientists to warn by Jonathan Watts, Environment, Guardian, May 3, 2019
• Why my fears about climate change made me cross the line that separates academia from activism by James Dyke, The Conversation UK, May 2, 2019

Sat May 4, 2019

• Cyclone Fani hits India, UN moves to protect vulnerable refugees in Bangladesh, UN News, May 3, 2019
• Amsterdam to ban petrol and diesel cars and motorbikes by 2030 by Daniel Boffey, Netherlands, Guardian, May 3, 2019
• How vanishing lizards in Madagascar led to a troubling discovery about deforestation and climate change by Daniel Grossman, Yale Climate Connections, April 30, 2019
• Insurance experts rank climate change as top risk for 2019 by Paola Rosa-Aquino, Grist, May 3, 2019
• Deadly Flooding From Michigan to the South Damages Homes, Sends Mississippi River to 157-Year-High in Davenport, Iowa by Pam Wright, The Weather Channel, May 4, 2019
• Remembering Wallace Broecker, the Prophet of Climate Change by Katie Santamaria, Columbia Daily Spectator, May 2, 2019
• Climate strikes & the youth mental health crisis, Opinion by Tyee Bridge, Canada's National Observer, May 2, 2019
• Here's why Democrats pushed to pass a climate bill that isn't going anywhere by Dino Grandoni, Energy 202, Washington Post, May 3, 2019