2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #40

Editor's Pick

The Nihilism of Trump’s Climate Policy

A firefighter works to control the Delta Fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, California, in September 2018. Noah Berger/AP

The Washington Post dove deep into a draft statement issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week and found buried within it a startling admission.

Planet Earth, the agency’s analysts observed, is currently on track to warm by approximately 4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. But that’s not the startling thing I’m referring to. This is: The statement’s authors were passing along this bit of news in order to lend support to the administration’s decision to weaken fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks built after 2020.

That’s right: The United States government is basically making the argument that reducing carbon pollution from cars can’t save us—so why bother?

This is, to put it mildly, a twist on the usual rules of engagement between those who advocate for climate action and those who don’t. We’re used to fighting skepticism. But outright nihilism? That’s a new one. 

The Nihilism of Trump’s Climate Policy by Jeff Turrentine, On Earth, NRDC, Oct 5, 2018 

Links posted on Facebook

Sun Sep 30, 2018

• Hawai'i land impacted by sea level rise may be double previous estimates, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Phys.org, Sep 27, 2018
• The Amazon on the Brink, Opinion by Philip Fearnside and Richard Schiffman, New York Times, Sep 26, 2018
• Record 2017 hurricane season driven by warm Atlantic Ocean, study says by Daisy Dunne, Carbon Brief, Sep 27, 2018
• The US Is Ready For 100% Clean Energy — 10 Cities Model How To Get There by Carolyn Fortuna, Clean Technica, Sep 28, 2018
• Faith leaders want a moral voice to tackle climate change by Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News, Sep 27, 2018
• Editorial: Politicians will make flooding a priority when voters do. Opinion by Steve Bailey, Post & Courier (Charleston, SC), Sep 30, 2018
• Scorecard: Debate moderators should be asking climate change questions. Are they? by Elvondo Cooper, Media Matters for America, Sep 25, 2018
• Hurricane Florence Released Tons of Coal Ash in North Carolina. Now the Coal Industry Wants Less Regulation. by Sharon Lerner, The Intercept, Sep 28, 2018

Mon Oct 1, 2018

• Cheaper Battery Is Unveiled as a Step to a Carbon-Free Grid by Ivan Penn, New York Times, Sep 26, 2018
• Arctic sea ice summer minimum in 2018 is sixth lowest on record by Robert McSweeney, Carbon Brief, Sep 27, 2018
• Scientists Weigh Call for Much Deeper Cuts to Coal Pollution by Jeremy Hodges, Climate Changed, Bloomberg News, Sep 30, 2018
• Election 2018: Clean Energy’s Future Could Rise or Fall with These Governor’s Races by Marianne Lavelle & Dan Gearino, Inside Climate News, Oct 1, 2018
• Vanishing Joshua trees: climate change will ravage US national parks, study says by Emily Holden, Environment, Guardian, Sep 25, 2018
• As global warming continues, Trump wants to burn fossil fuels with an arsonist's glee, Opinion by Editorial Board, Los Angeles Times, Sep 29, 2018
• New study finds incredibly high carbon pollution costs – especially for the US and India by Dana Nuccitelli, The Climate Consensus - 97%, Environment, Guardian, Oct 1, 2018
• Climate science comeback strategies: Al Gore said what? by Karin Kirk, Yale Climate Connections, Oct 1, 2018

Tue Oct 2, 2018

• Poland pushing forest agenda as climate host, leak shows by Natalie Sauer, Politics, Climate Home News, Sep 28, 2018
• Why Indonesia’s tsunami was so deadly by Umair Irfan, Energy & Environment, Vox, Oct 1, 2018
• Trump Administration Prepares a Major Weakening of Mercury Emissions Rules by Coral Davenport, Climate, New York Times, Sep 30, 2018
• Rosa Hitting SW U.S., Baja With Heavy Rains; Updates on Leslie, Kong-Rey, Trami, and Walaka by Bob Henson, Category 6, Weather Underground, Oct 1, 2018
• NAFTA replacement avoids 'climate change,' talks ozone, air and sea pollution by Carl Meyer, National Observer, Oct 1, 2018
• The speed of #MeToo gives me hope – we can still stop climate change, Opinion by Andrew Simms, Comment is Free, Guardian, Oct 1, 2018
• Floods. Wildfires. Yet Few Candidates Are Running on Climate Change. by Trip Gabriel, New York Times, US Politics, New York Times, Oct 2, 2018
• Not Your Expected Climate Impact: Arizona Flooded by a Tropical Storm by Ucilia Wang, Climate Liability News, Oct 2, 2018

Wed Oct 3, 2018

• Which cities will sink into the sea first? Maybe not the ones you expect, Opinion by Mark Miodownik, Comment is Free, Guardian, Oct 1, 2018
• Fighting climate change is too expensive because destroying the planet is cost-free, Opinion by Tom Toles, Washington Post, Oct 1, 2018
• The Trump administration knows the planet is going to boil. It doesn't care, Opinion by Bill McKibben, Comment is Free, Guardian, Oct 2, 2018
• A Pair of Monster Cyclones Have Exploded to Life in the Pacific by Brian Kahn, Earther, Oct 2, 2018
• IPCC: Climate scientists consider 'life changing' report by Matt Mcgrath, Science & Environment, BBC News, Oct 1, 2018
• ‘Guardians of the forest:’ Indigenous peoples come together to assert role in climate stability by Justin Catanoso, Mongabay, Oct 2, 2018
• Reasons to be hopeful' on 1.5C global temperature target by Matt Mcgrath, Science & Environment, BBC News, Oct 1, 2018
• How to show Trump you care about climate change, Opinion by Jay Inslee, CNN, Oct 2, 2018
• How Wildfires Are Polluting Rivers and Threatening Water Supplies by Ed Struzik, Yale Environment 360, Oct 2, 2018

Thu Oct 4, 2018

• Can Buddhism Help Fight Climate Change? by Lucia Graves, Pacific Standard, Oct
  2, 2018
• Should I tell my Republican friend that her Florida mansion is doomed by sea-level rise? by Sara Peach, Climate Advice, Yale Climate Connections, Sep 24, 2018
• In Comments on New Climate Report, U.S. Plays Up Uncertainties, Fossil Fuels by Jean Chemnick, E&E News/Scientific American, Oct 3, 2018
• Climate scientists are struggling to find the right words for very bad news by Chris Mooney & Brady Dennis, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Oct 3, 2018
• An Atmospheric Rarity: Twin Cat 5s Prowl the Pacific by Jeff Master, Category 6, Weather Underground, Oct 2, 2018
• A Green New Deal is on the ballot in Washington state this year by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Sep 28, 2018
• The impacts of climate change at 1.5C, 2C and beyond: Interactive, Carbon Brief, Oct 4, 2018
• Utilities have a problem: the public wants 100% renewable energy, and quick by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Oct 2, 2018

Fri Oct 5, 2018

• Huh? Carbon Dioxide Emissions Raise Risk of Satellite Collisions by John Fialka, E&E News/Scientific American, Oct 4, 2018
• Red tide spreads to Florida's east coast, shuttering some Miami-Dade beaches by Paul P. Murphy, CNN, Oct 4, 2018
• From London to Shanghai, world's sinking cities face devastating floods by Fiona Harvey, Environment, Guardian, Oct 4, 2018
• Trump’s Wrong. We Can Still Stop Apocalyptic Global Warming by Victoria Albert, Daily Beast, Oct 5, 2018
• Industry Study Warns Airports: Climate Impacts Will Be Costly by Karen Savage, Climate Liability News, Oct 4, 2018
• Understanding the IPCC special report on 1.5°C global warming, Press Release, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Oct 1, 2018
• Trump’s men wage war on climate reality by Joydeep Gupta, thethirdpole.net, Oct 3, 2018

Sat Oct 6, 2018

• Storms drench Australia's parched interior, but won't break drought by Tom Westbrook, Reuters, Oct 4, 2018
• Do Chinese people care about climate change? by Li Jing, thethirdpole.net, Oct 4, 2018
• The Nihilism of Trump’s Climate Policy by Jeff Turrentine, On Earth, NRDC, Oct 5, 2018
• Rising use of plastics to drive oil demand to 2050 - IEA by Ahmad Ghaddar & Ron Bousso, Reuters, Oct 4, 2018
• A major climate report will slam the door on wishful thinking by Umair Irfan, Energy & Environment, Vox, Oct 5, 2018
• Three decades after nuclear disaster, Chernobyl goes solar by Pavel Polityuk, Reuters, Oct 5, 2018
• Why the next three months are crucial for the future of the planet by Fiona Harvey, Environment, Guardian, Oct 5, 2018
• Climate change apathy, not denial, is the biggest threat to our planet, Opinion by Leo Barasi, Comment is Free, Guardian, Oct 5, 2018
• New research, September 24-30, 2018 by Ari Jokimäki, Skeptical Science, Oct 5, 2018

Posted by John Hartz on Saturday, 6 October, 2018

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