Posted on 14 October 2023 by John Hartz

Story of the Week

I Study Climate Change. The Data Is Telling Us Something New.

Staggering. Unnerving. Mind-boggling. Absolutely gobsmackingly bananas.

As global temperatures shattered records and reached dangerous new highs over and over the past few months, my climate scientist colleagues and I have just about run out of adjectives to describe what we have seen. Data from Berkeley Earth released on Wednesday shows that September was an astounding 0.5 degree Celsius (almost a full degree Fahrenheit) hotter than the prior record, and July and August were around 0.3 degree Celsius (0.5 degree Fahrenheit) hotter. 2023 is almost certain to be the hottest year since reliable global records began in the mid-1800s and probably for the past 2,000 years (and well before that).

While natural weather patterns, including a growing El Niño event, are playing an important role, the record global temperatures we have experienced this year could not have occurred without the approximately 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming to date from human sources of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. And while many experts have been cautious about acknowledging it, there is increasing evidence that global warming has accelerated over the past 15 years rather than continued at a gradual, steady pace. That acceleration means that the effects of climate change we are already seeing — extreme heat waves, wildfires, rainfall and sea level rise — will only grow more severe in the coming years.

I don’t make this claim lightly. Among my colleagues in climate science, there are sharp divisions on this question, and some aren’t convinced it’s happening. Climate scientists generally focus on longer-term changes over decades rather than year-to-year variability, and some of my peers in the field have expressed concerns about overinterpreting short-term events like the extremes we’ve seen this year. In the past I doubted acceleration was happening, in part because of a long debate about whether global warming had paused from 1998 to 2012. In hindsight, that was clearly not the case. I’m worried that if we don’t pay attention today, we’ll miss what are increasingly clear signals. 

Click here to access the entire op-ed as originally posted on the New York Times website.

I Study Climate Change. The Data Is Telling Us Something New. Guest Essay by Zeke Hausfather, Opinion, New York Times, Oct 13, 2023

Articles posted on Facebook

Sunday, Oct 8, 2023

• Global heat is now ‘gobsmackingly bananas’, but there’s hope humanity can limit the climate damage It’s hard to overstate just how exceptionally high global temperatures are now, but we have the technology to avert disaster, Opinion by Adam Morton, Comment is Free, The Guardian, Oct 4, 2023
• World breaches key 1.5C warming mark for record number of days The world is breaching a key warming threshold at a rate that has scientists concerned, a BBC analysis has found. by Matt McGrath, Mark Poynting, Becky Dale & Jana Tauschinski, Science, BBC News, Oct 7, 2023
• What Earth's past can teach us about climate change and our future By Michael Mann, Here & Now, WBUR/NPR, Oct 6, 2023
• It's a global climate solution — if it can get past conspiracy theories and NIMBYs by Julia Simon, NPR's Climate Week, NPR, Jan 8, 2303
• Whales and dolphins in American waters are losing food and habitat to climate change, U.S. study says A first-of-its-kind assessment says whales, dolphins and seals living in U.S. waters face major threats from the warming ocean temperatures, rising sea levels and decreasing sea ice associated with climate change. by Patrick Whittle, Portland Press Herald (OR), Oct 6, 2023
• We Need a Real Green Jobs Program to Fight Climate Change Joe Biden’s newly unveiled American Climate Corps is set to provide green jobs training to just 20,000 people. It falls far short of the ambitious public jobs program the Left has long demanded. by Daniel Goulden, Jacobian Magazine, Oct 4, 2023

Monday, Oct 9, 2023

• How a few bags of dirt could help make the planet more resilient to climate change by Jonathan Moes, Oct 8, 2023NPR Network, NPR's Climate Week, NPR, Oct 8, 2023
• How kids are making sense of climate change and extreme weather by Janet W Lee, NPR's Climate Week, NPR, Oct 7, 2303
• 'Bidenomics’ boosts blue-collar jobs and green energy. Do voters care? by Simon Montlake, Economy, Christian Science Monitor, Sep 28, 2023
• Individual actions you can take to address climate change by NPR Network, NPR's Climate Week, NPR, Oct 8, 2023
• Experts: How will the next decade of China’s ‘belt and road initiative’ impact climate action? by Anita Patel, Policy, Carbon Brief, Oct 6, 2023
• California to require big firms to reveal carbon emissions in first law of its kind Measure signed into law by Gavin Newsom on Saturday is strong blueprint for national climate accountability, experts say by Darna Nhor, US News, The Guardian, Oct 9, 2023

Tuesday, Oct 10, 2023

• Climate crisis costing $16m an hour in extreme weather damage, study estimates Analysis shows at least $2.8tn in damage from 2000 to 2019 through worsened storms, floods and heatwaves by Damian Carrington, Environment, The Guardian, Oct 9, 2023
• These are the places that could become ‘unlivable’ as the Earth warms In the hottest parts of the world, high temperatures and humidity will, for longer stretches, surpass a threshold that even young and healthy people could struggle to survive as the planet warms, study says by Scott Dance, Weather, Washington Post, Oct 9, 2023
• Half of Americans can’t install solar panels. Here’s how they can plug into the sun. by Michael J Coren, Climate Coach, Climate, Washington Post, Oct 10, 2023
• At a glance - How reliable are CO2 measurements? by John Mason & Baerbel Winkler, Skeptical Science, Oct 10, 2023
• Climate Change Is Pushing These Migratory Birds to the Brink Afro-Siberian red knots migrate from the Arctic to winter in Africa, where they recover from the arduous journey. But warming in Siberia is causing physical changes in the birds that hinder their ability to feed, and scientists fear the subspecies is headed for extinction. by Adam Welz, Yale Environment 360, Oct 5, 2023
• A watchdog group found a big flaw in a major environmental policy Findings by the Environmental Investigation Agency point to a perceived loophole in the Montreal Protocol. by Maxine Joselow, Climate, Washington Post, Oct 10, 2023

Wednesday, Oct 11, 2023

• Historic warmth grips Europe as summerlike weather refuses to relent The latest spell of high temperatures caps a record-warm September by Ian Livingston, Weather, Washington Post, Oct 9, 2023
• Scientists Disagree About Drivers of September’s Global Temperature Spike, but It Has Most of Them Worried The month’s shocking surge is likely to make 2023 the hottest year on record and drive extreme impact around the globe. It could also be a harbinger of even higher temperatures next year. by Bob Berwyn, Science, Inside Climate News, Oct 11, 2023
• How to Talk to Your Children About Climate Change by Emma Pattee, Sustainability, Newsweek, Oct 9, 2023
• Floods, storms and fires displaced 20,000 children every day over past six years, UNICEF report finds by Rosa Rahimi, World, CNN, Oct 6, 2023
• Climate change can have ‘lifelong impacts’ on young people’s mental health, report says by Giri Viswanathan, Health, CNN, Oct 1, 2023
• South America’s Winter Hot Spell Was 100 Times More Likely with Climate Change A heat dome that baked parts of South America in late September was made much more likely and at least 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.5 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter by climate change by Andrea Thompson, Environment, Scientific American, Oct 10, 2023

Thursday, Oct 12, 202 3

• Argentina wildfires create apocalyptic scene of blazes at city’s edge The fires were largely brought under control Wednesday, authorities said by Scott Dance, Weather, Washington Post, Oct 11, 2023
• Category 5 typhoon in Pacific sees winds leap 95 mph in 24 hours Super Typhoon Bolaven became the planet’s second-strongest storm this year, with 180 mph winds. It could affect weather patterns in North America. by Matthew Cappucci, Weather, Washington Post, Oct 11, 2023
• Living in a Rainforest Without Rain? This summer offered a window into a grim and uncertain future. by Karen Charleson, Culture, The Tyee (Vancouver, BC), Oct 10, 2023
• ‘People are happier in a walkable neighborhood’: the US community that banned cars A new housing development outside Phoenix is looking towards European cities for inspiration and shutting out the cars. So far residents love it by Oliver Milman, Cities, The Guardian, Oct 11, 2023
• Forty percent of Antarctica’s ice shelves are shrinking, worrying scientists by Kasha Patel, Environment, Washington Post, Oct 12, 202
• How does climate change threaten your neighborhood? A new map has the details. All 10 of the country’s most at-risk counties are in the South, according to the Climate Vulnerability Index, and half of them are in Louisiana. by Kate Yoder, Grist/Yale Climate Connections, Oct 12, 2023

Friday, Oct 13, 2023

• Severe debt burdens thwarting progress on climate and poverty, says World Bank  Bank’s new president Ajay Banga urges faster action on providing debt relief but says there is no ‘magic wand’ by Larry Elliott, Business, The Guardian, Oct 11, 2023
• It’s Not Your Imagination. Summers Are Getting Hotter. by Nadja Popovich & Adam Pearce, Climate, New York Times, Oct 6, 2023
• Deforestation in Bolivia has jumped by 32% in a year. What is going on? Everything points to more, not less, tree clearance, as country’s fastest-growing region embraces intensive agriculture by Thomas Graham, Global Development, The Guardian, Oct 12, 2023
• Refusing to fly has lost me my job as a climate researcher. It’s a price worth paying My company in Germany has demanded my swift return from climate-change fieldwork near Papua New Guinea. I can’t do it, Opinion by Gianluca Grimalda, Comment is Free, The Guardian, Oct 12, 2023
• There’s Surprisingly Little Evidence That EVs Will Require Fewer Workers The research instead suggests the opposite is true. by Emily Pontecorvo, Heat Map, Oct 6, 2023
• September 2023 was Earth’s most extreme month for heat ever recorded climate scientist James Hansen says the world may soon exceed the 1.5 degree Celsius warming threshold. by Jeff Masters, Eye on the Storm, Yale Climate Connections, Oct 13, 2023

Saturday, Oct 14, 2023

• The EU must take the driver’s seat in fossil fuel-free transport Transport accounts for a growing share of global emissions. The EU should lead a push for clean travel at home and internationally by Stientje van Veldhoven, Climate Home News, Oct 13, 2023
• The Brutal Realpolitik of Geoengineering Somebody is going to do it sooner or later. It’s critical to prepare now. by Ryan Cooper, Politics, Heat Map, Oct 10, 2023
• I Study Climate Change. The Data Is Telling Us Something New. Guest Essay by Zeke Hausfather, Opinion, New York Times, Oct 13, 2023
• A sudden spike in global warmth is so extreme, it’s mysterious by Scott Dance, Weather, Washington Post, Oct 13, 2023
• Kew report: Five key extinction risks facing the world’s plants and fungi by Orla Dwyer & Giuliana Viglione, Nature, Carbon Brief, Oct 10, 2023
• The Impact of Climate Change on the Global Economy Let's take a look at how climate change, GHG emissions, and ESG impact the global economy by Terel Miles, InvestorPlace, Oct 13, 2023