Posted on 15 September 2024 by BaerbelW, Doug Bostrom, John Hartz

Story of the week

From time to time we like to make our Story of the Week all about us— and this is one of those moments, except that "us" is more than only Skeptical Science.

This week we published our 16th Fact Brief of the year, Does manmade CO2 have any detectable fingerprint?  As with all Fact Briefs it's a slightly different look than our usual output.

The "fact brief" format is a less typical communications mode for us but the main effort at Gigafact, our partner and precipitating instigator in creating these bite-sized cognitive correctants. In a fine example of finding an importantly needful job vacancy and filling it, Gigafact has zeroed in on a significant communications niche going begging and is filling it via a laser-focused method:

Gigafact helps local newsrooms who join the network to implement a new standardized fact-checking editorial methodology via software tools, training, support and startup funding. Each week the newsrooms publish several short, sober and informative “fact briefs” that respond to influential claims and correct the record. Gigafact then assists in the amplification and distribution of those fact briefs to maximize the opportunity for the public to encounter them. This helps the newsrooms discover new audiences and growth opportunities. See one Gigafact newsroom talk about their experience here.

In an era when scanty advertisement dollars and increasingly distant and uncaring ownership have decimated newsrooms Gigafact has found an efficient way to broadly increase the strength and immediate impact of journalism, eliminating redundant effort and affording reporters and editors ready access to reliable debunking of common misunderstandings. Fact Briefs circulated by Gigafact's extensive and growing network are powerful effort multipliers. What could be hundreds of duplicative hours of work for journalists working scattered and alone becomes affordably shrunken and contained, already done and with results instantly accessible. 

As Gigafact's collaborator our role is to tap into our body of work and assist with creating fact briefs on matters touching anthropogenic climate change. Climate confusion is not quite as venerable as moon landing conspiracy theories or confusion about what direction water circles drains in the Southern Hemisphere, but it's still unfortunately the case that Skeptical Science has been up and running and dealing with tiresomely repetitious climate bunk for some 17 years. We've become reluctant experts and are not exactly happy with having to play the role we do— but we're certainly delighted to share our misery so as to help others.

We've found creation of fact briefs to be an intriguing and even challenging activity. Gigafact fact briefs are intended for drop-in use in news journalism, compatible with easy placement in tight page real estate, quick to hand (and kindly to our attention spans). Each fact brief has a hard limit of 150 words— and that often makes conveying the nitty-gritty on knowledge frequently sitting on deeply complicated foundations quite tricky. Authoring fact briefs is a demanding exercise in finding economy while avoiding informational gaps or ambiguty. It's safe to say we're the better for honing these skills. Benefit is flowing in all directions as we work with Gigafact.

We announced this current run of fact briefs (we worked with Gigafact's predecessor some time ago) back in early April. With the sharpened focus of the new fact brief format it's taken us a while to comfortably come up to pace but with this 16th publication we feel we're hitting our stride.

Although each brief is small in layout there's a lot going on behind the scenery. Our own talented science communicator John Mason works with Gigafact editorial staffers Sue Bin Park and Austin Tannenbaum to sculpt comprehensively detailed explanations of human-caused climate change particularities down to teacup size. This needs a generous amount of coauthorial repartee, patience, and perhaps hardest of all a willingness to strip prose of all poetry. On the Skeptical Science side our esteemed Baerbel Winkler handles details of this program's administration and scheduling.

Everybody in this crew deserves a hearty thanks. 

Here are this year's previous Gigafact Fact Briefs, chosen and prioritized for treatment due to saliency in public discussion:

• Fact brief - Does manmade CO2 have any detectable fingerprint?
• Fact brief - Is recent global warming part of a natural cycle?
• Fact brief - Is decreased cosmic ray activity driving global warming?
• Fact brief - Does CO2 correlate with global temperature long-term?
• Fact brief - Are carbon dioxide emissions from human activities enough to affect the climate?
• Fact brief - Are polar bears endangered?
• Fact brief - Were scientists caught falsifying data in the hacked emails incident dubbed 'climategate'?
• Fact Brief - Does temperature have to rise before CO2 does?
• Fact Brief - Was the Medieval Warm Period a global event?
• Fact Brief - Is ocean acidification from human activities enough to impact marine ecosystems?
• Fact Brief - Is the ocean acidifying?
• Fact Brief - Have climate models overestimated global warming?
• Fact Brief - Does breathing contribute to CO2 buildup in the atmosphere?
• Fact Brief - Is Antarctica gaining land ice?
• Fact Brief - Did global warming stop in 1998?
• Fact Brief - Was an Ice Age predicted in the 1970s?

Stories we promoted this week, by publication date:

Before September 8

• Lessons From Superstorms Past, Covering Climate Now, CCNOW. "The media ignored the climate connection to 2012’s Hurricane Sandy; here’s how to do better next time"
• The Deteriorating Environment Is a Public Concern, but Americans Misunderstand Their Contribution to the Problem, Science, Inside Climate News, Katie Surma. "A global survey suggests 88 percent of people are worried about the state of nature, but such polling says nothing about where those issues sit among competing concerns, like immigration and the economy."
• If Trump wins the election, this is what's at stake, US News, The Guardian, Bill McKibben.
• Billionaire Kelcy Warren invests in pipelines — and Trump, Energy Wire, E&E News, Mike Soraghan. "The Energy Transfer boss’ political strategy can yield big returns."
• Climate change and its impacts on the water cycle; how can it increase both droughts and heavy downpours?, Science Feedback, Editor: Darrik Burns.
• Project Bison fails. What’s next for the carbon removal megaproject?, Climate Wire, E&E Nrws, Corbin Hiar. "The Wyoming venture’s collapse raises questions about the fledgling direct air capture industry — and the Biden administration’s support of it."
• This World War I Prisoner of War Solved the Mystery of the Ice Ages, Smithsonian Magazine, Rudy Molinek. Serbian scientist Milutin Milankovi? changed our understanding of Earth’s climate—and did a key part of his work while detained by Austro-Hungarian forces

September 8

• 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #36, 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, September 1, 2024 thru Sat, September 7, 2024.
• Almost 68% of Australia`s tourism sites at major risk if climate crisis continues, report says, The Guardian, Graham Readfearn. Uluru, the Daintree and Bondi beach among iconic Australian locations that could be impacted if planet hits even 2C of warming by 2050
• Southern California Line Fire explodes in size, as Nevada fire forces evacuations, Weather, Washington Post, Diana Leonard. "The Line Fire in the mountains of San Bernardino County has prompted evacuations in Running Springs and Highland and threatens more than 35,000 homes."

September 9

• Inside the Anti-Climate Culture War Led by Jordan Peterson and Project 2025, DeSmog, Geoff Dembicki. The Canadian influencer and his allies in the U.S. religious right want people to see climate action as a ‘pseudo-religion.’
• 2024's unusually persistent warmth, The Climate Brink, Zeke Hausfather. This year is increasingly diverging from past El Nino years.
• Trump Clings to Inaccurate Climate Change Talking Points, FactCheck.org, Jessica McDonald.
• Hurricane Watches go up for Louisiana as Tropical Storm Francine forms, Eye on the Storm, Jeff Masters. "The National Hurricane Center predicts Francine will be a Cat 1 hurricane with 85 mph winds at landfall in Louisiana on Wednesday."
• Will Australia`s iconic landmarks be destroyed by climate change? | First Dog on the Moon, The Guardian, First Dog on the Moon. I’m sorry but your Big Prawn has climate-induced shell rot

September 10

• Italy`s Marmolada glacier could disappear by 2040, experts say, Environment The Guardian, Lorenzo Tondo. Rising temperatures causing largest glacier in Dolomites to lose 7-10cm of depth a day, according to scientists
• Regenerative agriculture is sold as a climate solution. Can it do all it says?, NPR Topics: Climate, Julia Simon.
• CO2 isn’t the only greenhouse gas: Where are the most potent coming from and can they be stopped?, Euronews Green, Staff. "Though it is the most well-known and second most abundant greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide is only one of the gases we need to tackle."
• During Brazil’s worst drought, wildfires rage and the Amazon River falls to a record low, Climate, AP News , Fabiano Maisonnave.
• Q&A: Why methane levels are rising with no ‘hint of a decline’, Science, Carbon Brief, Orla Dwyer & Yanine Quiroz. "Levels of methane in the atmosphere have soared by record-breaking amounts since 2020, according to new research."

September 11

• Dems Say Big Oil Execs Failing to Come Clean on Trump`s $1 Billion Quid Pro Quo Offer, DeSmog, Brett Wilkins. “The behavior of Donald Trump and the oil and gas industry has added to evidence of possible misconduct,” said three U.S. lawmakers.
• A “particularly dangerous situation” develops as wildfires rage in the West, CNN, Lauren Mascarenhas & Jillian Sykes.

September 12

• One Climate and Society Student`s Journey of Resilience, State of the Planet, Olga Rukovets.
• Consumerism and the climate crisis threaten equitable future for humanity, report says, Environment, The Guardian, Jonathan Watts. "The Earth Commission says hope lies in sustainable lifestyles, a radical transformation of global politics and fair distribution of resources"
• Entire Earth vibrated for nine days after climate-triggered mega-tsunami, Environment, The Guardian, Damian Carrington. "Landslide in Greenland caused unprecedented seismic event that shows impact of global heating, say scientists"
• Broken Blades, Angry Fishermen and Rising Costs Slow Offshore Wind, Business, New York Times, Stanley Reed & Ivan Penn. "Accidents involving blades made by GE Vernova have delayed projects off the coasts of Massachusetts and England and could imperil climate goals."
• Big oil faces a rising number of climate-focused lawsuits, report finds, US News, The Guardian, Dharna Noor. "Communities, states and advocacy groups push to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for role in climate crisis"
• ‘Weather Whiplash’ Helped Drive This Year’s California Wildfires, Science, Inside Climate News, Caroline Marshall Reinhart. "Exceptionally wet winters drove a boom of grasses and shrubs that a record hot summer dried into the fuel powering the Park Fire in Northern California, the Line Fire outside Los Angeles and other conflagrations."
• Skeptical Science New Research for Week #37 2024, Skeptical Science, Doug Bostrom & Marc Kodack. Skeptical Science's weekly review of climate research.

September 13

• Violations Discovered at Nation`s First Carbon Capture and Storage Project, DeSmog, Sharon Kelly. Corrosion issues in a deep monitoring well were discovered in March, raising concerns that early issues could be a sign of major problems to come as CCS and monitoring wells age.

September 14

• Fact brief - Does manmade CO2 have any detectable fingerprint?, Skeptical Science, John Mason & Sue Bin Park.