Arguments
2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #31
Posted on 1 August 2020 by John Hartz
Editor's Choice
The four types of climate denier, and why you should ignore them all
The shill, the grifter, the egomaniac and the ideological fool: each distorts the urgent global debate in their own way
‘Serious debates about what to do about the climate crisis are turning into action. The deniers have nothing to contribute to this.’ Signs of global warming on the Mer de Glace glacier in the French Alps. Photograph: Konrad K/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock
Anew book, described as “deeply and fatally flawed” by an expert reviewer, recently reached the top of Amazon’s bestseller list for environmental science and made it into a weekly top 10 list for all nonfiction titles.
How did this happen? Because, as Brendan Behan put it, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity”. In an article promoting his book, Michael Shellenberger – with jaw-dropping hubris – apologises on behalf of all environmentalists for the “climate scare we created over the last 30 years”.
Shellenberger was named a hero of the environment by Time magazine in 2008 and is a loud advocate of nuclear power, but the article was described by six leading scientists as “cherry-picking”, “misleading” and containing “outright falsehoods”.
The article was widely republished, even after being removed from its first home, Forbes, for violating the title’s editorial guidelines on self-promotion, adding further heat to the storm. And this is why all those who deny the reality or danger of the climate emergency should be ignored. Obviously, I have broken my own rule here, but only to make this vital point once and for all.
The science is clear, the severity understood at the highest levels everywhere, and serious debates about what to do are turning into action. The deniers have nothing to contribute to this.
Click here to access the entire opinion piece as originally posted on The Guardian website.
The four types of climate denier, and why you should ignore them all, Opinion by Damian Carrington, Comment is Free, Guardian, July 31, 2020
Articles Linked to on Facebook
Sun, July 26, 2020
- Policy Can Clash with Affordable Housing by Jennifer Hijazi, E&E News, Scientific American, July 24, 2020
- Why low-end ‘climate sensitivity’ can now be ruled out, Guest Post by Piers Forster, Zeke Hausfather, Gabi Hegerl, Steven Sherwood & Kyle Armour, Carbon Brief, June 22, 2020
- Biden plots $2tn green revolution but faces wind and solar backlash by Oliver Milman, Environment, Guardian, July 25, 2020
- In the 21st century the most patriotic thing to do with fossil fuels is keep them in the ground by Adam McGibbon, Independent (UK), July 23, 2020
Mon, July 27, 2020
- Why the next president should establish a Department of Climate, Opinion by Allison Crimmins, Vox, July 21, 2020
- World Bank policy advice boosts oil and gas, undermining climate goals by Heike Mainhardt, Climate Home News, July 21, 2020
- In 100 days, the climate emergency may be even more serious. That's why we’re launching this series, Opinion by John Mulholland, Comment is Free, Guardian, July 27, 2020
- Climate Sensitivity: A new assessment by Gavin Schmidt, Real Climate, July 22, 2020
Tue, July 28, 2020
- This country regrew its lost forest. Can the world learn from it? by Nell Lewis, CNN, Jun 27, 2020
- It’s been a landmark year for investor action on climate change by Attracta Mooney & Patrick Temple-West, Financial Times/Los Angeles Times, July 26, 2020
- E.P.A. Inspector General to Investigate Trump’s Biggest Climate Rollback by Coral Davenport & Lisa Friedman, Climate, New York Times, July 27, 2020
- Scientists launch ambitious conservation project to save the Amazon by Shanna Hanbury, Amazon Conservation, Mongabay, July 27, 2020
Wed, July 29, 2020
- How the global climate fight could be lost if Trump is re-elected by Oliver Milman, Climate Countdown, US News, Guardian, July 27, 2020
- Rainn Wilson To Host Docuseries ‘An Idiot’s Guide To Climate Change’; Greta Thunberg Among Guests by Eric Pedersen, Deadline, July 28, 2020
- The curse of ‘both-sidesism’: How climate denial skewed media coverage for 30 years by Joseph Winters, Climate, Grist, July 28, 2020
- Killer heat: US racial injustices will worsen as climate crisis escalates by Nina Lakhani, Climate Countdown, US News, Guardian, July 27, 2020
Thu, July 30, 2020
- What is 'climate justice'? by Daisy Simmons, Article, Yale Climate Connections, July 29, 2020
- The US withdrawal from the Paris climate accord is a racist act, Opinion by Adrienne Hollis, Comment is Free, Guardian, July 27, 2020
- The surprising reasons why people ignore the facts about climate change by Kate Yoder, Climate, Grist,July 28, 2020
- The Trump EPA is vastly underestimating the cost of carbon dioxide pollution to society, new research finds by Dana Nuccitelli, Yale Climate Connections, July 30, 2020
Fri, July 31, 2020
- Microsoft’s astonishing climate change goals, explained by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, June 30, 2020
- MIT climate scientist Kerry Emanuel on energy and Shellenberger's 'Apocalypse' by Kerry Emmanuel, Article, Yale Climate Connections, July 29, 2020
- Rising Seas Could Menace Millions Beyond Shorelines, Study Finds by Brad Plumer, Climate, New York Times, June 30, 2020
- The four types of climate denier, and why you should ignore them all, Opinion by Damian Carrington, Comment is Free, Guardian, July 31, 2020
Sat, Aug 1, 2020
- Why Alarm Over Climate Change Is Not Alarmism by Gernot Wagner, Bloomberg News, July 31, 2020
- How Trump is emboldening other countries' 'bad behavior' on the climate crisis by Fiona Harvey, Environment, Guardian, July 30, 2020
- Inside Clean Energy: How Soon Will An EV Cost the Same as a Gasoline Vehicle? Sooner Than You Think. by Dan Gearino, InsideClimate News, July 30. 2020
- Scientists have ruled out the worst-case climate scenario — and the best one too by Umair Irfan, Energy & Environment, Vox, July 31, 2020
The science is clear. Unless we're missing something.
"A 2015 study suggested that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) has weakened by 15-20% in 200 years."
"May 20, 2020 - Over the last 200 years, the magnetic field has lost around 9% of its strength on a global average."(ESA)
"Atlantic Circulation [is] Consistently Tied to Carbon Dioxide". Weakening AMOC means more CO2 is left in the air instead of absorbed in the ocean, no?
The missing piece of the puzzle is whether electrically conductive salt water experiences the Lorentz force moving through earth's magnetic field.
Weaker field = less AMOC = less ocean CO2 = more air CO2 which is what we're seeing and most of it is from nature (NOAA), and the time frame is even correct.
Since the field is only half a gauss, the question is the quantity of force compared to the coreolis effect, convection or other forces.
Scientists are currently frustrated in trying to model AMOC so that might be a missing factor.
It's presented here as just a theory that can be checked out if we want to cover all the bases to avoid missing anything.
Does this fall into one of the four categories or might there be a fifth?
[DB] Others have already responded to you, except for this:
"Over the last 200 years, the magnetic field has lost around 9% of its strength on a global average"
In actuality and for full context, the strength of Earth’s magnetic field is currently among the strongest in the past 100,000 years:
"Except for the Laschamp excursion, which is seen globally in the model, other apparent excursions appear in limited locations and are likely regional in nature.
Transitional or reversed directions during excursions do not occur simultaneously all over the globe. And, the regional duration of the excursions varies from a few centuries to about 3.5 thousand years.
It has been suggested that the current dipole decrease and association with the South Atlantic Anomaly where field intensity is unusually weak might indicate an imminent field reversal or excursion.
However, none of these similar cases progressed to transitional events: thus the present field morphology cannot be taken as any clear indication of an upcoming reversal or excursion."
Panovska et al 2020 - One Hundred Thousand Years of Geomagnetic Field Evolution
The earths magnetic field is not causing the AMOC to slow. Magnetic fields affect electrical fields, not physical phenomena like ocean currents.
There is no correlation between the slowing AMOC and weakening magnetic field. The magnetic field has been weakening for at least the last 200 years, and the recent slowdown in the AMOC is believed to have started at earliest in the 1850's but the strongest evidence suggests in the last couple of decades.
The AMOC is slowing because anthropogenic global warming is not surprisingly affecting ocean currents. Some related stuff below.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health-news/earths-magnetic-field-is-weakening-here-is-how-it-might-impact-you/articleshow/76003806.cms
www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-04086-4
Why would anyone propose an idea like this? Not the average scientist. I think only a "ego driven" denilalist crank would do this.