2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #19
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, May 3 through Sat, May 9, 2020
Editor's Choice
A Pandemic That Cleared Skies and Halted Cities Isn’t Slowing Global Warming
Oil tankers carrying more than 20 million barrels of oil float off the coast of California. Credit: Petty Officer Third Class Aidan Cooney/US Coast Guard
In some ways, the dire lockdowns undertaken to stop Covid-19 have fast-forwarded us into an unlikely future—one with almost impossibly bold climate action taken all at once, no matter the cost.
Just months ago it would have been thought impossible to close polluting factories virtually overnight and slash emissions from travel by keeping billions at home. Now we know that clear skies and silent streets can come about with shocking speed.
The pandemic is a cataclysmic event so big and disruptive that it can be measured in the planetary metrics of climate change. As many as 2.6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, about 8% of the estimated total for the year, will never be emitted into the atmosphere, according to estimates by the International Energy Agency. Pick any world-shaking event from 20th century history—none has produced a bigger decrease in emissions.
A Pandemic That Cleared Skies and Halted Cities Isn’t Slowing Global Warming by Laura Millan Lombrana & Hayley Warren, Bloomberg Green, May 8, 2020
Click here to access the entire article as originally published on the Bloomberg News website.
Articles Linked to on Facebook
Sun, May 3, 2020
- Next risk? Coronavirus pandemic underscores climate health threats by Laurie Goering, Thomson Reuters Foundation, May 1, 2020
- CO2 emissions from inland waters are vastly underestimated by Chrissy Sexton, News, Earth.com, May 1, 2020
- As loggers exploit virus, Cambodian forest protectors defy state ban by Matt Blomberg, Thomson Reuters Foundation, May 2, 2020
- Climate-smart agricultural practices boost food security by Chrissy Sexton, News, Earth.com, May 1, 2020
- Video: Covid-19 Drives Earth Day Anniversary Online, Inspiring Creative New Tactics For Climate Activists by Anna Belle Peevey, InsideClimate News, Apr 26, 2020
- Commentary: The Charleston sea wall is a solution whose time has not come, Opinion by Orrin H Pilkey, The Post & Crescent, May 3, 2020
- On a Melting Planet, More Precisely Tracking the Decline of Ice by Bob Berwyn, InsideClimate News, Apr 30, 2020
- Climate Change Trade-offs During The Pandemic by Michael Martin, All Things Considered, NPR, May 2, 2020
Mon, May 4, 2020
- Government (of Australia) offers $300m to boost hydrogen investment under clean energy financing by Katharine Murphy, Guardian, May 3, 2020
- Siberian Wildfires Have Burned an Area More Than Three Times the Size of Delaware by Brian Kahn, Earther, Gizmodo, May 2, 2020
- Sea level rise threatens UK nuclear reactor plans by Paul Brown, Climate News Network, Apr 28, 2020
- How does the way we define methane emissions impact the perception of its effects on global warming? by Justine Wickman, Skeptical Science, May 4, 2020
- Southern California Edison Contracts Huge Storage Portfolio to Replace Gas Plants by Jeff St John, GreenTech Media (gtm), May 1, 2020
- How one woman's Unitarian faith led her to climate activism by Sarah Kennedy & ChavoBart, Audio, Yale Climate Connections, May 4, 2020
- Baltimore and Annapolis experience worst coastal flooding in over 5 years by Jason Samenow, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, May 1, 2020
- Climate action under duress: how Dutch were forced into emissions cuts by Stephen Buranyi, Environment, Guardian, May 4, 2020
Tue, May 5, 2020
- Unsuitable for 'human life to flourish': Up to 3B will live in extreme heat by 2070, study warns by Doyle Rice, USA Today, May 4, 2020
- Global warming has ‘changed’ spread of tropical cyclones around the world by Daisy Dunne, Carbon Brief, May 4, 2020
- Leading economists: Green coronavirus recovery also better for economy, Guest Post by Brian O’Callaghan & Cameron Hepburn, Carbon Brief, May 5, 2020
- Warming Caused a Glacier in Alaska to Collapse by Chelsey Harvey, Sustainability, E&E News/Scientific American, May 4, 2020
Wed, May 6, 2020
- In Another Record 'We Should Not Be Breaking,' Daily Average of CO2 Levels Hits High of 418.12 ppm by Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams, May 5, 2020
- Young people face 'altered world', say lawyers for child climate case by Laurie Goering, Thomson Reuters Foundation, May 5, 2020
- Coronavirus stimulus money will be wasted on fossil fuels by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, May 1, 2020
- Global warming pushes April temperatures into record territory, as 2020 heads for disquieting milestone by Andrew Freedman, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, May 5, 2020
Thu, May 7, 2020
- Fire and Ice: Why Volcanic Activity Is Not Melting the Polar Ice Sheets by Alan Buis, Ask NASA Climate Blog, Global Climate Change, May 6, 2020
- Climate change is a ‘death by a thousand cuts’ by April Corbin Girnus, Sustainability, Nevada Current, May 5, 2020
- Fortress Charleston: Will Walling Off the City Hold Back the Waters? by Gilbert M Gaul, Yale Environment 360, May 5, 2020
- Zero-emission tractors, cattle that belch less gas can help curb global warming - McKinsey by Dominique Patton, Reuters, May 5, 2020
Fri, May 8, 2020
- How Climate Change Is Contributing to Skyrocketing Rates of Infectious Disease by Abraham Lustgarten, ProPublica, May 7, 2020
- Forest loss seen slowing globally, but progress patchy by Thin Lei Win, Thomson Reuters Foundation, May 7, 2020
- Action on climate change is not an either-or proposition. The COVID-19 pandemic exposes that as a false dichotomy. by SueEllen Campbell , Article, Yale Climate Connections, May 8, 2020
- Oregon Invites Public to Nominate Rocky Coastal Areas for Protection by Jennifer Browning, Pew Charitable Trusts, May 7, 2020
Sat, May 9, 2020
- A Pandemic That Cleared Skies and Halted Cities Isn’t Slowing Global Warming by Laura Millan Lombrana & Hayley Warren, Bloomberg Green, May 8, 2020
- COVID-19 and the climate crisis are intertwined threats to Native Americans and the Earth by Chase Iron Eyes, Environmental Health News, May 7, 2020
- Does the Covid crisis represent an opportunity for climate change? Here are four ways it might. by Jesse Remedios, Burning Questions Series, National Catholic Register, May 7, 2020
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #18, 2020 by Doug Bostrom, Skeptical Science, May 6, 2020
- Humidity and heat extremes are on the verge of exceeding limits of human survivability, study finds by Andrew Freedman & Jason Samenow, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, May 8, 2020
- The Conspiracy Theory Handbook: Downloads and translations by BaerbelW, Skeptical Science, May 7, 2020
Posted by John Hartz on Saturday, 9 May, 2020
