Arguments
2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #36
Posted on 9 September 2023 by John Hartz
A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Sep 3, 2023 thru Sat, Sep 9, 2023.
Story of the Week
Lee adds to a growing trend of intense hurricanes powered by warmer oceans
Source: NOAA's National Hurricane Center
Hurricane Lee rapidly intensified at a historic pace into a Category 5 storm Thursday night, adding to a spate of extremely intense hurricanes this year and in recent decades which experts say is a symptom of the climate crisis.
Lee is now the eighth Category 5 storm in the North Atlantic since 2016, which means 20% of Category 5 hurricanes on record in the basin have occurred in the last seven years, a CNN analysis of NOAA’s hurricane database shows.
This year alone, Category 5 storms have already appeared in all seven ocean basins where tropical cyclones form, including Hurricane Jova, which also rapidly strengthened into a Category 5 storm earlier this week.
“The increase in Category 4 or 5 storms, especially that we’ve seen over the last couple years due to the increase in rapid intensification, is a telltale sign of climate change, which is exactly what we expect to see in a warmer world,” Kevin Reed, a hurricane expert and professor at Stony Brook University’s school of marine and atmospheric sciences, told CNN.
Click here to access the entire article as originally posted on the CNN website.
Lee adds to a growing trend of intense hurricanes powered by warmer oceans by Rachel Ramirez, Weather, CNN, Sep 9, 2023
Articles posted on Facebook
Sunday, Sep 3, 2023
- UNICEF: Children in Africa are among the most at risk to climate change by Rédaction Africanews/AFP, Sep 1, 2023
- Scientists Find Success With New Direct Ocean Carbon Capture Technology In a research paper, the scientists say capturing carbon dioxide directly from the oceans could have advantages over direct air capture. by Ananya Chetia, Science, Inside Climate News, Sep 2, 2023
- How sea level rise made Idalia’s storm surge worse by Chris Mooney & Kevin Crowe, Climate Washington Post, Sep 1, 2023
- Home insurers cut natural disasters from policies as climate risks grow Some of the largest U.S. insurance companies say extreme weather has led them to end certain coverages, exclude natural disaster protections and raise premiums by Jacob Bogage, Economy, Washington Post, Sept 3, 2023
Monday, Sep 4, 2023
- Climate disasters are fueling the rise of "doomsday" seed vaults by Ayurella Horn-Muller, Energy & Environment, Axios, Sept 1, 2023
- New Research Shows Direct Link Between Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Polar Bear Decline Scientists say their findings could help close a legal loophole that enables the federal government to avoid considering greenhouse gas emissions impacts on threatened and endangered species. by Bob Berwyn, Science, Inside Climate News, Sep 3, 2023
- John F. Clauser: the latest climate science-denying physicist by Dana Nuccitelli, Skeptical Science, Sep 4, 2023
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #35 2023 by Doug Bostrom & Marc Kodack, Skeptical Science, Aug 31, 2023
Tuesday, Sep 5, 2023
- Anti-ULEZ Protest Group Promotes Conspiracy Theories and Climate Science Denial This week’s widely covered Westminster protest was led by a group that has claimed anti-pollution schemes will lead to the creation of “open prisons”. by Adam Barnett & Sam Bright, DeSmog, Sep 2, 2023
- Climate-Change Myths by Jay Katsir, Humor, The New Yorker Magazine, Sep 4, 2023
- At a glance - Is CO2 a pollutant? by John Mason & Baerbel Winkler, Sep 5, 2023
- Alabama’s John Christy may be the country’s best known and most criticized climate change skeptic by Richard Banks, Richard Banks, WBHM, Sep 01, 2023
- This Alaskan glacier holds back billions of gallons of water. Until it doesn’t. This summer’s flood on the Mendenhall Glacier destroyed houses and displaced residents in Juneau. It won’t be the last. by Joshua Partlow, Climate, Washington Post, Sep 4, 2023
Wednesday, Sep 6, 2023
- Clean Energy Projects Are Booming Everywhere. Except in Poor Nations. A big obstacle is the lack of loans, a subject of intense disagreement between richer and poorer countries. But in Congo, a hard-fought solar investment shows a possible path forward. by Max Bearat, Climate New York Times, Sep 4, 2023
- What Do Climate Scientists Tell Their Kids about the Future? Doom and gloom, or realism and hope? Here’s how six climate experts describe the future to their young children by Katie Weeman, Climate Shange, Scientific American, Sep 5, 2023
- The Teachers' Guide to Cranky Uncle: Downloads and Translations by Baerbel Winkler, Skeptical Science, Sep 6, 2023
- Texas fracking billionaire brothers fuel rightwing media with millions of dollars Farris and Dan Wilks’ deep pockets fund climate denialism education, conservative politicians and pro-fossil fuel projects by Peter Stone, US News, The Guardian, Sep 5, 2023
Thursday, Sep 7, 2023
- Earth had hottest three-month period on record, with unprecedented sea surface temperatures and much extreme weather, Press Release, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Sep 6, 2023
- US ‘university’ spreads climate lies and receives millions from rightwing donors PragerU is not accredited but has become a key tool in pushing false claims to youngsters – and raked in $200m from 2018 to 2022 by Peter Stone, US News, The Guardian, Sep 6, 2023
- WMO Bulletin: heatwaves worsen air quality and pollution, Press Release, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Sep 6, 2023
- Climate crisis could contribute to a global food shortage by 2050, US special envoy on food security warns Cary Fowler says world needs to produce 50-60% more food by middle of the century but global heating is expected to reduce yield rates by Gabrielle Chan, The Guardian Australia, Sep 4, 2023
Friday Sep 8, 2023
- Climate change is destroying reefs, but the effects are more than ecological – coral’s been woven into culture and spirituality for centuries Coral reefs are home to rich biodiversity, but that’s not their only value by Michele Currie Navakas, Ethics & Religion, The Conversation US, Sep 5, 2023
- America Could Be in for a Rough Fall The weather is about to get even weirder. by ois Parshley, Planet, The Atlantic Magazine, Sep 6, 2023
- Exploring the feasibility of a new feature: Bunk of the Week by Baerbel Winkler, Skeptical Science, Sep 7, 2023
- USA TODAY, Ipsos poll: 20% of Americans fear climate change could force them to move by Elizabeth Weise, Nation USA Today, Sep 6, 2023
Saturday Sep 9, 2023
- Half of world’s population suffered under climate crisis-fuelled extreme heat this year, research says Researchers say ‘virtually no one’ escaped extreme heat this year as world’s poorest faced the worst brunt by Stuti Mishra, Climate News, The Independent (UK), Sep 8, 2023
- Factcheck: Scientists pour cold water on claims of ‘journal bias’by author of wildfires study by Robert McSweeny & Ayesha Tandon, CarbonBrief, Sep 8, 2023
- John Podesta on big oil, extreme weather and wind woes by Amy Harder, Cipher News, Sep 6, 2023
- Lee adds to a growing trend of intense hurricanes powered by warmer oceans by Rachel Ramirez, Weather, CNN, Sep 9, 2023
The Guardian had an article about Powis et al 2023. This paper shows that heat waves hot enough to kill humans will spread to many locations with 2C of warming. They use a lower wet bulb temperature of 31.5C where previous studies of extreme heat used 35C wet bulb . Recent studies have found the 31.5C wet bulb temperature is fatal without fans or AC.
I have not seen a similar article that discusses when agriculturatal animals like cattle and goats will begin to be killed by heat. Obviously it will be impossible to air condition pastures. If the heat cannot be withstood by animals even occasionally, it will be very difficult to keep animals in those areas. Imagine if they could not raise cattle in Texas for the entire summer!! At 2C warming large areas of the world are too hot for humans (and presumably agricultural animals) (sorry, I could not copy the diagrams showing where the heat would be too hot for humans)
Does anyone have a link for the threat of extreme heat to agricultural animals?
Extreme heat is forcing America’s farmers to go nocturnal
"Rising temperatures in key agricultural regions across the United States are leading more farmers to harvest in the middle of the night to safeguard the quality of their crops.
Heat has become a major economic threat to the agriculture industry, and it’s only expected to get worse. By the end of the century, climate change could lead to worldwide crop damage five to 10 times greater than conventional climate models have predicted, according to a 2021 study published in the Journal of the European Economic Association."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/09/09/heat-night-harvesting-farmers/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most