Posted on 26 May 2024 by BaerbelW, Doug Bostrom, John Hartz

Story of the week

This week's typiclal compendium of stories we'd rather were plot devices in science ficition novels but instead are captured from our own small planet present a daunting prospect. We're in a world of trouble, documented day-by-day. Is there a unifying theme to our troubles, and if so what's our answer?

How about looking for a theme?

• TV meteorologist blasts Florida’s new ‘Don’t Say Climate Change’ law amid oppressive heat
• Democrats ask DOJ to investigate Big Oil
• `Scary`: public-school textbooks the latest target as US book bans intensify
• Calmes: Whatever Big Oil wants, Big Oil gets. As long as it bankrolls Trump
• Climate victims file criminal case against bosses of oil firm Total
• Despite Advertising Carbon Capture, ExxonMobil Saw Marginal Role for It in Fighting Climate Change
• Climate Scientist Leaves ExxonMobil`s Board With Little to Show for It
• The fossil fuel industry's 'existential choice'
• Big Oil May Pay Billions for Climate Pollution under New Legislation
• New Legislation in Vermont Will Make Fossil Fuel Companies Liable for Climate Impacts in the State. Here`s What That Could Look Like

That's 10 of 34 stories we highlight this week. Granted this is colored by Skeptical Science's own prism, which is concerned with climate change as a communications challenge thwarted by vested interests.. That said, the litany of physical, biological and cultural impacts of our accidental sudden changing of our climate clearly share a common root cause: fossil fuel extraction and marketing at prodigious scale. 

Nobody originally intended or volunteered to cause harm on the scale of our anthropogenic climate change, but equally we shouldn't expect any volunteers to step forward to abandon what's worked before in terms of acquiring wealth in astronomical quantity. Let alone gratuitously eschewing vast riches, the entrenched fossil hydrocarbon industry is actively working to preserve the earning capacity of its natural gift-- including by promoting copious bunk (pdf) for absorption by the public mind. We can gauge the success of this strategy by our current global temperature. Climate disinformation works at scale.  

All of this by way of elliptically arriving at our Story of the Week: Mastering FLICC - A Cranky Uncle themed quiz. Rarely we blow our own horn— that's what you're hearing now. What's "FLICC?" FLICC stands for "Fake experts," "Logical fallaices," "Impossible expectations,' "Cherry picking," and "Conspiracy theories." FLICC is a taxonomical system for classifying different forms of bunk, allowing us to identify which particular cognitive weapons are being targeted at our psychological susceptibilities. Here we're talking about climate disinformation promoted by the fossil fuel industry.

Some familiarity and practice with FLICC helps us to deal with the firehose of climate myths lobbed into our brains by professional disinformers on a daily basis. Our Story of the Week is really a quiz: How are your bunk detection skills right now? Take our test and find out. If you're not happy with your results, give our FLICC synopsis a read! 

Stories we promoted this week, by publication date:

Before May 19

• Can we really suck up Carbon Dioxide?, ClimateAdam on Youtube, Adam Levy.
• Mexico City Has Long Thirsted for Water. The Crisis Is Worsening., World, New York Times, James Wagner, Emiliano Rodríguez Mega & Somini Sengupta. "A system of dams and canals may soon be unable to provide water to one of the world’s largest cities, a confluence of unchecked growth, crumbling infrastructure and a changing climate."

May 19

• 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #20, Skeptical Science, Bärbel Winkler, Doug Bostrom & John Hartz. A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 12, 2024 thru Sat, May 18, 2024.
• `Scary`: public-school textbooks the latest target as US book bans intensify, US news The Guardian, Erum Salam. A school district in Houston has voted to redact chapters on vaccines and climate change, and parents and educators are worried
• Calmes: Whatever Big Oil wants, Big Oil gets. As long as it bankrolls Trump, Climate , Jackie Calmes.
• California's first Black land trust fights climate change, makes the outdoors more inclusive, Climate , Tyrone Beason.

May 20

• The Bezos Earth fund has pumped billions into climate and nature projects. So why are experts uneasy?, The Guardian, Patrick Greenfield. The Bezos Earth fund has pumped billions into climate and nature projects. So why are experts uneasy? Jeff Bezos’s $10bn climate and biodiversity fund has garnered glittering prizes, but concerns have been voiced over the influence it can buy – and its interest in carbon offsets
• Record low Antarctic sea ice 'extremely unlikely' without climate change, says scientists, Phys.org, British Antarctic Survey. Antarctica’s vast expanse of sea ice regulates Earth’s temperature, as the white surface reflects the Sun’s heat back into the atmosphere.
• The Race to Decarbonize Heavy Industry Heats Up, Clean Energy, Inside Climate News, Phil Mckenna. "Backed by federal funding, MIT spinoff Electrified Thermal Solutions says its electrically conductive bricks can replace fossil fuels."
• World`s benchmark climate monitoring station celebrates 50 years, NOAA, Abigail Reid. The Mauna Loa Observatory is celebrating 50 years of collecting CO2 measurements
• Ocean water is rushing miles underneath the ‘Doomsday Glacier’ with potentially dire impacts on sea level rise, Climate, CNN, Laura Paddison.
• In Two New Studies, Scientists See Signs of Fundamental Climate Shifts in Antarctica, Inside Climate News, By Bob Berwyn. A steep decline of Antarctic sea ice may mark a long-term transformation in the Southern Ocean, and seawater intrusions beneath the Thwaites Glacier could explain its melting outpacing projections.

May 21

• UN court: Countries must go beyond Paris Agreement to protect oceans, Climate Home News, Matteo Civillini. Small island states score “historic” victory as UN maritime tribunal says countries must take necessary measures to address emissions
• At a glance - How does the Medieval Warm Period compare to current global temperatures?, Skeptical Science, John Mason.
• Climate victims file criminal case against bosses of oil firm Total, The Guardian, Damian Carrington. Case alleges French company’s exploitation of fossil fuel contributed to deaths of victims in extreme weather disasters
• TV meteorologist blasts Florida’s new ‘Don’t Say Climate Change’ law amid oppressive heat, Climate, CNN, Rachel Rameriz.
• Despite Advertising Carbon Capture, ExxonMobil Saw Marginal Role for It in Fighting Climate Change, DeSmog, Cartie Werthman. Internal documents unearthed by a U.S. Senate panel show the oil giant modeled up to 500 CCS sites operating globally by 2050, far fewer than rival Shell.
• ‘The fear has properly set in’: how it feels to watch my home town disappear into the sea, Environment, The Guardian, Rachel Keenan. "Inverbervie, on the north-east coast of Scotland, faces an existential threat, with storms carving away metres of shoreline. Can anything be done to save what is left?"
• Migratory freshwater fish populations ‘down by more than 80% since 1970’, Environment, The Guardian, Phoebe Weston. " ‘Catastrophic’ global decline due to dams, mining, diverting water and pollution threatens humans and ecosystems, study warns"

May 22

• `Never-ending` UK rain made 10 times more likely by climate crisis, study says, The Guardian, Damian Carrington. Winter downpours also made 20% wetter and will occur every three years without urgent carbon cuts, experts warn
• Democrats ask DOJ to investigate Big Oil, HEATED, Emily Atkin. Here's what to know, and why it's important.
• Study: Social networks can influence perception of climate-change risk, Phys.org, Phil Ciciora.

May 23

• Study: While most of the world trusts climate scientists, a skeptical minority can lead to climate inaction, Phys.org, Public Library of Science.
• Climate Scientist Leaves ExxonMobil`s Board With Little to Show for It, DeSmog, Emily Sanders. Advocates had hoped Susan Avery’s nomination would be a turning-point moment for the company’s climate approach. It wasn’t.
• ‘Heat dome’ leads to sweltering temperatures in Central America and the U.S. South, AP/PBS News Hour, Isabella O'Malley & María Verza.
• New NASA Mission Tracks Microscopic Organisms in the Ocean and Tiny Particles in the Air to Monitor Climate Change, Inside Climate News, Teresa Tomassoni. The spectrum of colors viewed by the PACE satellite can identify different phytoplankton species in the ocean and a variety of aerosols in the atmosphere, helping researchers identify threats to the health of people and the planet.
• The fossil fuel industry's 'existential choice', Framelab, David Fenton. The oil and gas industry has done some truly great things. But it's time for a major change

May 24

• Mastering FLICC - A Cranky Uncle themed quiz, Skeptical Science, Bärbel Winkler. Check your FLICC savvy!
• The enduring influence of "The Day After Tomorrow," 20 years later, Yale Climate Connections, Michael Svoboda. The groundbreaking film popularized an extreme climate scenario. To what effect?
• EU election 2024: What the manifestos say on energy and climate change, Carbon Brief, Josh Gabbatiss. Elections for the European Parliament are taking place between 6-9 June, kicking off a process that will establish a new EU leadership.
• Big Oil May Pay Billions for Climate Pollution under New Legislation, Scientific American Content: Global, Adam Aton & E&E News. Lede: Vermont's “Climate Superfund Act” would use attribution science to force oil, gas and coal companies to cover damages associated with their emissions

May 25

• Q&A: New Legislation in Vermont Will Make Fossil Fuel Companies Liable for Climate Impacts in the State. Here`s What That Could Look Like, Inside Climate News, Paloma Beltran. The legal and moral case for holding companies accountable.
• The Maldives faces existential threat from a climate crisis it did little to create. We need the world`s help now | Mohamed Muizzu, The Guardian, Mohamed Muizzu. Small islands like ours face an uncertain future. We can adapt – but climate finance that we badly need must be unlocked.
• ‘I’ve seen things no one should go through’: the overwhelming scale of loss in Brazil’s floods, Global Development, The Guardian, Fernanda Canofre. "In the state of Rio Grande do Sul, authorities are struggling to find shelter for half a million displaced people as a health crisis looms"