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2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #7
Posted on 15 February 2020 by John Hartz
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 9, 2020 through Sat, Feb 15, 2020
Editor's Pick
ANALYSIS-Climate change opens up 'frontier' farmland, but at what cost to the planet?
Climate change could expand farmland globally by almost a third but would also bring significant environmental threats, including a risk of increased emissions from soils
Kenya's livestock herders planting chilli peppers, Pakistan's mountain farmers rearing fish and tropical fruits in Sicily - farmers around the world are already shifting what they grow and breed to cope with rising temperatures and erratic weather.
In a few more decades, potatoes from the Russian tundra and corn from once-frigid areas of Canada could be added to the list as vast swathes of land previously unsuited to agriculture open up to farmers on a hotter planet.
Climate change could expand farmland globally by almost a third, a study by international researchers found this week.
They examined which new areas may become suitable for growing 12 key crops including rice, sugar, wheat, oil palm, cassava and soy.
"In a warming world, Canada's North may become our breadbasket of the future," the scientists wrote.
But, they warned, opening up new "agricultural frontiers" would also bring significant environmental threats, including a risk of increased planet-warming emissions from soils.
Climate change opens up 'frontier' farmland, but at what cost to the planet?, Analysis by Thin Lei Win, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Feb 15, 2020
Click here to access the entire article.
Articles Linked to on Facebook
Sun, Feb 9, 2020
- Climate crisis is turning Chile’s livestock ranchers against wild herbivores by Niki Rust & Solange Vargas, Environment & Energy, The Conversation UK, Feb 6, 2020
- Britain Is Getting Ready to Scale Up Negative-Emissions Technology by Mathew Carr & Akshat Rathi, Energy & Science, Bloomberg News, Feb 7, 2020
- New CSIRO, AEMO study confirms wind, solar and storage beat coal, gas and nuclear by Giles Parkinson, Renew Economy, Feb 6, 2020
- The Environmental Burden of Generation Z by Jason Plautz, Washington Post Magazine, Feb 3, 2020
- A summer of flame by Deborah Snow, Bushfires, Sydney Morning Herald, Feb 8, 2020
- Therapist launches website about climate-related anxiety and trauma by Sarah Kennedy, Audio, Yale Climate Connections, Feb 6. 2020
- Claims of a coming 30-year “mini ice age” are not supported by science, Edited by Scott Johnson, Climate Feedback, Feb 6, 2020
- The Trump Administration Is Withholding Almost $1 Billion in Renewable Energy Funding by Dharna Noor, Ether, Gizmodo, Feb 5, 2020
Mon, Feb 10, 2020
- How a California mom is supporting the youth climate movement by Daisy Simmons, Audio, Yale Climate Communications, Feb 4, 2020
- Australian smoke plume sets records by NASA Earth Observatory/EarthSky, Feb 6, 2020
- Flights axed and floods feared as Storm Ciara clobbers Europe by Kylie MacLellan, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Feb 9, 2020
- Explainer: Nine ‘tipping points’ that could be triggered by climate change by Robert McSweeney, Science, Carbon Brief, Feb 10, 2020
- Can Boris Johnson be trusted to act on the climate crisis? by Jonathan Watts, Environment, Guardian, Feb 7, 2020
- Is Trump’s USDA Ready to Address Climate Change? There are Hopeful Signs. by Georgina Gustin, InsideClimate News, Feb 8, 2020
- On climate misinformation and accountability by Dana Nuccitelli & John Cook, Skeptical Science, Feb 10, 2020
Tue, Feb 11, 2020
- Second Year of Major Spring Floods Forecast for U.S. Heartland by Thomas Frank, E&E News/Scientific American, Feb 10, 2020
- Blowing in the Wind: Why the Netherlands Is Sinking by Molly Quell, Undark, Jan 15, 2020
- These waters off Tasmania's east coast are warming up to four times faster than global average by Phoebe Hosier, ABC News (AU), Feb 7, 2020
- Overwhelming and terrifying’: the rise of climate anxiety by Matthew Taylor & Jessica Murphy, Environment, Guardian, Feb 10, 2020
- Could the Atlantic Overturning Circulation ‘shut down’?, Guest Post by Richard Wood & Laura Jackson, Tipping Points, Carbon Brief, Feb 11, 2020
- Poll reveals climate change as most important issue for U.S. adults by EarthSky Voices, Feb 6, 2020
- Electric bikes to pave green path for online deliveries in bid to reduce emissions by Brittney Kleyn, ABC News (AU), Feb 9, 2020
- How Native Tribes Are Taking the Lead on Planning for Climate Change by Nicola Jones, Yale Environment 360, Jan 11, 2020
Wed, Feb 12, 2020
- A stark climate warning from the green swan by Kieran Cooke, Climate News Network, Feb 10, 2020
- In fire-hit rural Australia, climate debate burns deep by Kate Lamb, Reuters, Feb 11, 2020
- Global power-related CO2 emissions flatten after 2-year rise-IEA by Nina Chestney, Reuters, Feb 11, 2020
- The pros and cons of enhanced geothermal energy systems by Will McCarthy, Article, Yale Climate Connections, Feb 6, 2020
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #6, 2020 by Doug Bostrom, Skeptical Science, Feb 12, 2020
- The irreversible emissions of a permafrost ‘tipping point, Guest Post by Christina Schädel, Carbon Brief, Feb 12, 2020
- The Guardian view on climate anxiety: we live in frightening times, Opinion by Editorial Board, Guardian, Feb 10, 2020
- A Rare Trump-Era Climate Policy Hits an Obstacle: The Tax Man by Brad Plumer, Climate, New York Times, Feb 11, 2020
Thu, Feb 13, 2020
- Deforested parts of Amazon 'emitting more CO2 than they absorb' by Gabriel Gatehouse, Science & Environment, BBC News, Feb 11, 2020
- Hundreds of billions of locusts — fueled by conflict and climate change — are swarming East Africa by Max Bearak, World, Washington Post, Feb 12, 2020
- Global Financial Giants Swear Off Funding an Especially Dirty Fuel by Christopher Flavelle, Climate, New York Times, Feb 12, 2020
- Adapting to climate change: We’re doing it wrong by Emily Caldwell, Ohio State News, Feb 10, 2020
- Alok Sharma appointed president of Cop26 climate conference by Fiona Harvey, Politics, Guardian, Feb 13, 2020
- Planting Trees Won’t Save the World, Opinion by Erle C. Ellis, Mark Maslin & Simon Lewis, New York Times, Feb 12, 2020
- Inside Australia's climate emergency: the new fire zone by Graham Readfearn, The Guardian Australia, Feb 12, 2020
- Antarctic temperature rises above 20C for first time on record by Jonathan Watts, World, Guardian, Feb 13, 2020
Fri, Feb 14, 2020
- Could climate change and deforestation spark Amazon ‘dieback’?, Guest Post by Peter Cox, Carbon Brief, Feb 13, 2020
- Climate change is happening now in Europe by Emanuela Barbiroglio, European Data Journalism Network, Feb 11, 2020
- Having fewer kids will not save the climate by Sigal Samuel, Future Perfect, Vox, Feb 13, 2020
- Earth just had hottest January since records began, data shows by Oliver Milman, Environment, Guardian, Feb 13, 2020
- There Is No Impending 'Mini Ice Age', Ask NASA Climate Blog, NASA Global Climate Change, Feb 13, 2020
- She pushed Trump to exit the Paris climate agreement and roll back environmental rules. And she’s returning to EPA as chief of staff. by Juliet Eilperin & Brady Dennis. Climate and Environment, Washington Post, Feb 14, 2020
- The Trump Administration vs. Children, Opinion by Geena Reed, Observations, Scientific American, Feb 14, 2020
- The Energy 202: Conservative groups at odds with new House GOP climate change proposals, Analysis by Dino Grandoni, PowerPost, Washington Post, Feb 13, 2020
Sat, Feb 15, 2020
- For tackling climate change, English bishops look to God—and cathedral heating by Katherine Dunn, environment, Fortune Magazine, Feb 13, 2020
- BP Pledges to Cut Emissions to Zero but Offers Few Details by Brad Plumer, Climate, New York Times, Feb 12, 2020
- Climate Crisis Could Cause a Third of Plant and Animal Species to Disappear Within 50 Years: Study by Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams, Feb 15, 2019
- Spring has arrived weeks early in the South. Flowers are blooming, and that could be a problem. by Jason Samenow, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, Feb 13, 2020
- Climate change opens up 'frontier' farmland, but at what cost to the planet?, Analysis by Thin Lei Win, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Feb 15, 2020
- How close is the West Antarctic ice sheet to a ‘tipping point’?, Guest Post by Christina Hulb, Tipping Points, Feb 15, 2020
- How climate experts think about raising children who will inherit a planet in crisis by Caitlin Gibson, On Parenting, Washington Post, Feb 14, 2020
- Model Arizona Muse urges fashion industry to change in climate fight by Hanna Rantala & Sarah Young, Reuters, Feb 13, 2020
Re: "Canada's North may become our breadbasket of the future"
This week on CBC Radio science news program Quirks & Quarks host Bob McDonald interviewed coauthor Evan Fraser about their study on climate-driven expansion of agricultural frontiers.
Listen at: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/wheat-and-potatoes-in-nunavut-climate-change-could-bring-agriculture-to-the-north-1.5463850
Fraser admitted that geographical and topographical factors such as soil type, hydrology and the vast expanse of exposed or thinly covered Canadian Shield bedrock were not taken into account in their study, which frankly makes their premise somewhat meaningless. I often used to encounter this common and naive mistake from those seeking to downplay the effects of warming climate by insisting that as the midwestern grain belt climate warmed too much the growing of wheat and corn would just shift north into Canada, but it is shocking to see it coming from trained scientists.
The expansion of farm lands could and probably will release carbon to the atmosphere if past experience is anything to go by. But there is a possibility that it could actually sequester masses of carbon into the soil. Read Growing A Revolution by David R Montgomery for chapter and verse.
It is my understanding that the northern limit of agriculture in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba is defined by the lack of land suitable for agriculture further north, not by climate. I suspect that a similar situation exists in Eurasia and Siberia.
As for carbon in soils, few to consider that the rich soils of the northern hemisphere's corn and wheat producing regions developed largely in thick parent materials beneath grasslands subject to cold winters. Once those soils warm up, especially when they cease to freeze in winter, both carbon content and fertility will markedly decline. The far north will never come close to the agricultural productivity of the farmlands that currently support humanity.
i posted a comment but it did not appear
[DB] It appeared. It was removed because there are dedicated posts on which you've participated in the past that would be more appropriate than the Weekly Roundup thread. You are welcome to repost it on one of those dedicated posts.
The comment was regarding the Editor's Pick for this week. What thread is that one on?