2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #3
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Jan 12, 2020 through Sat, Jan 18, 2020
Editor's Pick
The Past and the Future of the Earth’s Oldest Trees
Bristlecone pines have survived various catastrophes over the millennia, and they may survive humanity.
Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest - a protected area high in the White Mountains in Inyo County in eastern California. Photo: Felix Lipov - Shutterstock
About forty-five hundred years ago, not long after the completion of the Great Pyramid at Giza, a seed of Pinus longaeva, the Great Basin bristlecone pine, landed on a steep slope in what are now known as the White Mountains, in eastern California. The seed may have travelled there on a gust of wind, its flight aided by a winglike attachment to the nut. Or it could have been planted by a bird known as the Clark’s nutcracker, which likes to hide pine seeds in caches; nutcrackers have phenomenal spatial memory and can recall thousands of such caches. This seed, however, lay undisturbed. On a moist day in fall, or in the wake of melting snows in spring, a seedling appeared above ground—a stubby one-inch stem with a tuft of bright-green shoots.
...
What is most astonishing about Pinus longaeva is not the age of any single organism but the collective oldness and otherness of its entire community. No two super-elderly trees look alike, to the point where they have acquired the characteristics of individuals. Trees are prone to anthropomorphism; we project our dreams and our anxieties onto them. Bristlecones have been called elders, sentinels, sages. The possibility that climate change will cause their extinction has inspired a spate of alarmed news stories, although tree scientists tend to discount the idea that the bristlecones are in immediate danger. They have survived any number of catastrophes in the past; they may survive humanity.
The Past and the Future of the Earth’s Oldest Trees by Alex Ross, Annals of Nature, The New Yorker Magazine, Jan 13, 2020
Click here to access the entire article as originally posted on The New Yorker Magazine website.
Articles Linked to on Facebook
Sun, Jan 12, 2020
- Storms kill at least 8, with tornadoes, flooding and crippling ice still in the forecast for eastern US by Jennifer Gray & Jason Hanna, CNN, Jan 11, 2020
- Grass growing around Mount Everest as global heating intensifies by Patrick Barkham, Environment, Guardian, Jan 9, 2020
- Greta Thunberg calls on Siemens to review Australia coal project by Rama Venkat, Reuters, Jan 11, 2020
- Australia's indigenous people have a solution for the country's bushfires. And it's been around for 50,000 years by Leah Asmelash, CNN, Jan 12, 2020
- 'Dangerous, misinformation': News Corp employee's fire coverage email by Zoe Samios & Andrew Hornery, Environment, Sydney Morning Herald, Jan 10, 2020
- ‘We’re building an army’: Jane Fonda caps off weeks of climate protest in D.C. by Sarah Kaplan, Climate & Environment, Washington Post, Jan 10, 2020
- How scientists are coping with ‘ecological grief’ by Gaia Vince, Science, Observer/Guardian, Jan 12, 2020
- Last year was Europe’s hottest ever, EU data shows, AFP/Euractiv, Jan 9, 2020
Mon, Jan 13, 2020
- Brazil pushes plans for mining on tribal lands to European diplomats by Luciano Costa & Marcelo Teixeira, Reuters, Jan 10, 2020
- BlackRock Joins $41 Trillion Investor Climate Campaign by Laura Hurst, Annie Massa & Emily Chasan, Bloomberg News, Jan 9, 2020
- Scientists paint Australia fires as red alert on climate change by Laurie Goering, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Jan 11, 2020
- How bad can the climate crisis get if Trump wins again? by Emily Holden, Environment, Guardian, Jan 12, 2020
- Emails Reveal U.S. Justice Dept. Working Closely with Oil Industry to Oppose Climate Lawsuits by David Hasemyer, InsideClimate News, Jan 13, 2020
- Four Days on a Train for Climate Change by Emily Kelsall, Culture, The Tyee (Vancouver, BC), Jan 10, 2020
- Australia’s fires have pumped out more emissions than 100 nations combined by James Temple, Climate Change, MIT Technology Review, Jan 10, 2020
- Climate change, rising seas promise to affect how SC cities borrow money by Chloe Johnson, Post & Courier, Jan 12, 2020
Tue, Jan 14, 2020
- Australia’s Wildfires Might Intensify Future Climate Crises by Laurie Clarke, Wired, Jan 13, 2020
- Ocean temperatures hit record high as rate of heating accelerates by Damian Carrington, Environment, Guardian, Jan 13, 2020
- New Zealand schools to teach students about climate crisis, activism and 'eco anxiety' by Charlotte Graham-McLay, Guardian, Jan 12, 2020
- Pictures of the world on fire won’t shock us for much longer, Opinion by Mark O'Connell, Comment is Free, Guardian, Jan 13, 2020
- 'Cranky Uncle' smart phone game will show you how to disarm climate deniers by Bud Ward, Yale Climate Connections, Jan 14, 2020
- Climate change: Australia fires will be 'normal' in warmer world by Matt McGrath, Science & Environment, BBC News, Jan 14, 2020
- UN Proposes Protecting 30% of Earth to Slow Extinctions and Climate Change by Phil McKenna, InsideClimate News, Jan 14, 2020
- 8 things everyone should know about Australia’s wildfire disaster by Brian Resnick, Umair Irfan & Sigal Samuel, Science & Health, Vox, Jan 13, 2020
Wed, Jan 15, 2020
- EU sets out trillion dollar plan to avert "climate crash" by Marine Strauss, Reuters, Jan 14, 2020
- Watchdog head urges palm oil industry to look beyond forests in climate fight by Michael Taylor, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Jan 14, 2020
- Ocean Warming Is Speeding Up, with Devastating Consequences, Study Shows by Bob Berwyn, InsideClimate News, Jan 14, 2020
- Trump administration moves closer to rolling back U.S. vehicle fuel economy increases by David Shepardson, Reuters, Jan 14, 2020
- Climate threats now dominate long-term risks, survey of global leaders finds by Laurie Goering, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Jan 15, 2020
- Analysis confirms that climate change is making wildfires worse by Donna Lu, Environment, New Scientists, Jan 14, 2020
- Mars CEO: Business leaders must help fight the climate crisis, Opinion by Grant Reid, Davos 2020, CNN Business Perspectives, Jan 13, 2020
- WMO confirms 2019 as second hottest year on record, Press Release, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Jan 15, 2020
Thu, Jan 16, 2020
- Dead Birds Washing Up by the Thousands Send a Warning About Climate Change by Sabrina Shankman, InsideClimate News, Jan 15, 2020
- Firenadoes, ember attacks and megafires: Australia is seeing sci-fi weather by Andrew Freedman & Sarah Kaplan, Climate & Environment, Jan 13, 2020
- Climate activists invoke German constitution to sue Merkel government by Joseph Nasr, Reuters, Jan 15, 2020
- Rising sea levels threaten sovereign credit ratings - Moody's by Joe Brock, Reuters, Jan 16, 2020
- In-depth: Understanding the impacts of changing Arctic storms by Daisy Dunne, Carbon Brief, Jan 13, 2019
- YouTube Has Been 'Actively Promoting' Videos Spreading Climate Denialism, According to New Report by Ciara Nugent, Science. Time Magazine, Jan 16, 2020
- New York AG Will Not Appeal Exxon Climate Fraud Ruling by Karen Savage, Climate Liability News, Jan 13, 2020
- 2019 was second-warmest year on record by Rebecca Lindsey, NOAA's Climate.gov, Jan 15, 2020
Fri, Jan 17, 2020
- The 2010s Were the Hottest Decade—the 2020s Will Top Them by Thomas Frank, E&E News/Scientific American, Jan 16, 2020
- Bye bye lignite: Understanding Germany's coal phaseout by Gero Rueter, Environment, Deutsche Welle (DW), Jan 16, 2020
- Australia’s catastrophic fires are a moment of reckoning for Murdoch’s media empire, Opinion by Richard Cooke, Washington Post, Jan 16, 2020
- Power plant emissions down 47% under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative by Jan Ellen Spiegel, Yale Climate Connections, Jan 16, 2020
- How climate change influenced Australia's unprecedented fires by Dana Nuccitelli, Yale Climate Connections, Jan 17, 2020
- 'You have not seen anything yet,' climate activist Greta says ahead Davos by Marina Depetris & Cecile Mantovani, Reuters, Jan 17, 2020
- More Americans are alarmed by global warming than ever before, survey reveals by Drew Kann, CNN, Jan 17, 2020
- Cranky Uncle Vs. Climate Change: John Cook Is A Cognitive Scientist, Climate Communicator, & Cartoonist by Michael Barnard, CleanTechnica, Jan 13, 2020
Sat, Jan 18, 2020
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #2, 2020 by Doug Bostrom, Skeptical Science, Jan 15, 2020
- Australia's heat and bushfires are signs of fundamental shifts in its climate by Peter Sinclair, Yale Climate Connections, Jan 17, 2020
- UH study: As climate change takes hold, the tropics will get warmer faster by Chavonnie Ramos, Hawaii News Now, Jan 16, 2020
- 21 kids sued the government over climate change. A federal court dismissed the case. by Umair Irfan, Vox, Jan 17, 2020
- Antarctica's doomsday glacier is melting. Can we save it in time? by Adam Vaughn, Environment, New Scientists, Jan 15, 2020
- The Voyage to the End of Ice by Shannon Hall, Quanta Magazine, Jan 16, 2020
- The Past and the Future of the Earth’s Oldest Trees by Alex Ross, Annals of Nature, The New Yorker Magazine, Jan 13, 2020
- Advocates Outline Climate Action Plan At Vermont Statehouse by Pat Bradley, WAMC Northeast Public Radio, Jan 17, 2020
Posted by John Hartz on Saturday, 18 January, 2020
