Arguments
2019 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #48
Posted on 30 November 2019 by John Hartz
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Nov 24 through Sat, Nov 30, 2019
Editor's Pick
10 ways to accelerate progress against climate change
From pricing carbon to shifting diets, here’s what we need to prioritize now.
Erlangen, Bavaria / Germany - May 24, 2019: Fridays for future, Global Climate Strike on the European elections - Shutterstock Image
The United Nations reported this week that the world is continuing to drift further off course in limiting climate change, despite growing alarm about the impacts of rising temperatures. With greenhouse gas emissions continuing to increase, even more drastic reductions are needed to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement.
“Any further delay brings the need for larger, more expensive and unlikely cuts,” wrote Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme in the Emissions Gap Report 2019. “We need quick wins, or the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement will slip out of reach.”
And the impacts of climate change are already here. Climate scientists told us late last year in the National Climate Assessment that the United States is already experiencing the severe and costly consequences of a changing climate. In a separate United Nations report released in October, scientists reported that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius would require a gargantuan global effort to halve emissions — and that we have roughly 12 years to do it. But how?
Let’s make something clear: The emissions we need to focus on now are the ones at the industrial, corporate level.
Climate Tipping Points Are Closer Than We Think, Scientists Warn by Bob Berwyn, InsideClimate News, Nov 27, 2019
Click here to access the entire article as posted on the Vox website.
Articles Linked to on Facebook
Sun Nov 24, 2019
- A climate-change fix is the ‘biggest investment opportunity in history’: Al Gore to millennials by Rachel Koning Beals, MarketWatch, Nov 22, 2019
- Irish Climate Case Appeals to Country’s Supreme Court by Dana Drugmand, Climate Liability News, Nov 22, 2019
- It’s not just Venice. Climate change imperils ancient treasures everywhere. by Kate Yoder, Grist, Nov 19, 2019
- NYC to Appeals Court: Our Climate Case Does Not Seek to Regulate Emissions by Karen Savage, Climate Liability News, Nov 22, 2019
- 2.5 million acres on fire. Stifling smoke. Burned koalas. This is spring 2019 in Australia. by Andrew Freedman & Diana Leonard, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, Nov 21, 2019
- Global heating supercharging Indian Ocean climate system by Peter Beaumont & Graham Readfearn, Global Development, Guardian, Nov 19, 2019
- Why religious narratives are crucial to tackling climate change by Shamil Shams, Deutsche Welle (DW), Nov 22, 2019
- Scottish Power plans major expansion of onshore windfarms by Jillian Ambrose, Environment, Guardian, Nov 24, 2019
Mon Nov 25, 2019
- Waterfront Retreat: A Bay Community Faces Rising Seas and Buyouts by Tom Horton, Yale Environment 360, Nov 21, 2019
- Coal Knew, Too by Elan Young, HuffPost, Nov 22, 2019
- Pulling CO2 out of the air and using it could be a trillion-dollar business by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Nov 22, 2019
- Analysis: Global coal power set for record fall in 2019 by Lauri Myllyvirta, Dave Jones & Tim Buckley, Carbon Brief, Nov 25, 2019
- Can we have net zero emissions and still fly? by Stuart Clark, Science, Observer/Guardian, Nov 24, 2019
- New Senate Climate Caucus Is Filled With Climate Deniers and Climate “Delayers” by Sharon Zhang, Environment & Health, Truthout, Nov 24, 2019
- 'Another Year. Another Record.': Levels of Key Climate-Heating Gases Hit New Highs in 2018, UN Reveals by Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams, Nov 25, 2019
Tue Nov 26, 2019
- We'll see an ice-free Arctic this century, latest research says by Walter Strong, CBC News, Nov 25, 2019
- What happens when the humble circuit breaker becomes a computer by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Nov 25, 2019
- Paris to expand district cooling network as global warming boosts aircon by Geert De Clercq, Reuters, Nov 25, 2019
- EU lawmakers set to declare 'climate emergency' ahead of UN conference by Jonas Ekblom, Reuters, Nov 25, 2019
- EXPLAINER-Talk the talk: how to decipher U.N. climate jargon by Nina Chestney, Reuters, Nov 25, 2019
- FACTBOX-What's at stake at this year's U.N. climate talks? by Nina Chestney, Reuters, Nov 25, 2019
- Yes, electric vehicles really are better than fossil fuel burners, William Todts, Environment, Guardian, Nov 26, 2019
- In bleak report, U.N. says drastic action is only way to avoid worst effects of climate change by Brady Dennis, Climate & Environment, Washington Post, Nov 26, 2019
Wed Nov 27, 2019
- Summit host Spain chides 'silent complicity' in climate crisis by Isla Binnie & Belén Carreño, Reuters, Nov 26, 2019
- Governments’ Fossil Fuel Policies Could Leave Them Open to Climate Liability by Dana Drugmand, Climate Liability News, Nov 21, 2019
- Cities Look to Natural Gas Bans to Curb Carbon Emissions by Benjamin Storrow, E&E News/Scientific American, Nov 26, 2019
- UNEP: 1.5C climate target ‘slipping out of reach’ by Zeke Hausfather, Carbon Brief, Nov 26, 2019
- Ian Plimer op-ed in The Australian again presents long list of false claims about climate, Edited by Scott Johnson, Climate Feedback, Nov 26, 2019
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #47, 2019 by Doug Bostrom, Skeptical Science, Nov 27, 2019
- Quiz: How much do you know about climate change? by Ryan Bacic & Aviva Loeb, Climate Solutions, Washington Post, Nov 22, 2019
- UN report: Pollution from planned fossil fuel production would overshoot Paris climate goals by Dana Nuccitelli, Yale Climate Connection, Nov 26, 2019
Thu Nov 28, 2019 (Thanksgiving Day in US)
- Climate tipping points — too risky to bet against, Comment by Lenten, et al, Nature, Nov 27, 2019
- Fire, drought, heatwaves: Australia prepares for tough summer by Sonali Paul, Reuters, Nov 27, 2019
- Call for Australia to show Unesco it’s ‘walking the walk’ on Great Barrier Reef by Graham Readfearn, Environment, Guardian, Nov 28, 2019
Fri Nov 29, 2019
- These uses of CO2 could cut emissions — and make trillions of dollars by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Nov 27, 2019
- Young Ontarians launch lawsuit against province after Ford government scales back emissions targets by Nick Boisvert, CBC News, Nov 25, 2019
- European Parliament declares symbolic "climate emergency" ahead of summit by Jonas Ekblom, Reuters, Nov 28. 2019
- The five corrupt pillars of climate change denial by Mark Maslin, The Conversation UK, Nov 28, 2019
- Groups inspired by Greta Thunberg plan Black Friday climate strikes by Darran Simon, CNN, Nov 29, 2019
- Climate change driving entire planet to dangerous 'tipping point‘ by Stephen Leahy, Science, National Geographic, Nov 27, 2019
- Recording of "Taking on fake news about climate change" by Baerbel Winkler, YouTube Video, Nov 25, 2019
- 13 new books and reports about the future of food, Review by Michael Svoboda, Yale Climate Connections, Nov 26, 2019
- Countries from Siberia to Australia are burning: the age of fire is the bleakest warning yet, Opinion by Julian Cribb, Comment is Free, Guardian, Nov 29, 2019
Sat Nov 30, 2019
- Why We Strike Again by Greta Thunberg , Luisa Neubauer & Angela Valenzuela, Project Syndicate, Nov 29, 2019
- Borneo is burning by Rebecca Wright, Ivan Watson, & Masur Jamaluddin, Special Report, CNN, Nov 2019
- Amazon fires intensify Andes glacier melt by Victoria Gill, Science & Environment, BBC News, Nov 28, 2019
- In-depth Q&A: How ‘Article 6’ carbon markets could ‘make or break’ the Paris Agreement by Simon Evans & Josh Gabbatiss, Explainers, Carbon Brief, Nov 29, 2019
- 10 ways to accelerate progress against climate change by Eliza Barclay & Umair Irfan, Energy & Environment, Vox, Nov 26, 2019
- Climate Tipping Points Are Closer Than We Think, Scientists Warn by Bob Berwyn, InsideClimate News, Nov 27, 2019
- John Kerry Launches Star-Studded Climate Coalition by Lisa Friedman, Climate, New York Times, Nov 30, 2019
- Madrid climate talks to split nations into vanguard and laggard by Chloé Farand, Climate Home News, Nov 29, 2019
nigel southway,
Human activity resulting in accumulating impacts that are likely to produce negative consequences is an accurate description of the impacts of excess CO2 added to the environment by the burning of ancient hydrocarbons.
Claiming "It is not pollution" does not change the reality.
Policies to curtail the use of fossil fuels are not in the interests of developed perceptions of superioriy in the Western World. Those policies are in the interests of the future of humanity.
In summary, all of the Sustainable Development Goals are a very robustly established set of objectives required to be achieved for humanity to have a lasting future that will actually be able to be sustainably improved.
Some perceptions of superiority need to be corrected to achieve those goals. Those corrections are undeniably Good Things no matter how disappointed some developed interests in the Western World become as a result of their achievement.
Truly sustainable perceptions of superiority are not at risk. Only the unsustainable ones have to be worried about. And those worriers should not deter responsible leadership from enacting the policies required to help achieve all of the Sustainable Development Goals, especially the Climate Action goal because achieving that one quicker makes it easier to sustainably achieve the Others.
Although every single bit helps, there is no solution to Climate Change until we start dealing with human population. If we halve our carbon footprint and in the meantime we double our population, we are left with the same problem. In my opinion, we should implement a worldwide one-child policy and move away from economic policies that promote unsustainable growth.
jgestiot @2,
Total population is a concern. But the real concern is the Total Impact of the Total population.
A Total population of 1 billion having essentially the same impact as the current total global population Solves Nothing.
That is why the earliest global leadership agreements required the largest and earliest reduction of impacts to be from 'The largest impacting portion of the population'.
That is still the requirement, getting all of the highest impacting people to dramatically reduce the impact of how they act. That then sets the 'Bar' for All Others to aspire to develop to:
jgestiot @2,
I agree that All economic activities that are contrary to the achievement of Any of the Sustainable Development Goals, and improvements and expansion of that understanding, need to be corrected. And Policy that correctly Governs the Economic activity will be required because the freer socioeconomic-political systems have proven to Develop problems and Develop powerful resistance to correcton.
Responsible Governing of human activity is required for humanity to have a sustainable future. It would be nice if the entire population pursued expanded awareness and improved understandig and applied that learning to help achieve and improve the Sustainable Development Goals. But that is a Fairytale Fantasy. The reality is that Responsible Governing will require some self-correction resistant people to be externally corrected 'against their harmful desired free-will'.