2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #09
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, Feb 25, 2024 thru Sat, March 2, 2024.
Story of the week
This week's big news is close to home for Skeptical Science and comes via UNICEF: Seriously Cranky: the uncle we all have helps build the skills we all need to resist misinformation (pdf). It's a story spanning an arc of progress beginning with fundamental research by Skeptical Science founder John Cook and ending with operational application of findings from that investigation-- now in multiple arenas including and beyond Skeptical Science's core mission of promoting accurate understanding of the science of climate change.
We're speaking of Cranky Uncle, a game built on scientifically tested and verified methods of improving critical thinking skills, first deployed to help people avoid being mentally infected with climate bunk transmitted by a veritable zoo of grifters attached to the fossil fuel industry. The same techniques and delivery framework for boosting cognitive competency have now successfully been adopted and adapted for combating vaccination hesitancy and reluctance, by UNICEF and with the assistance of John Cook and Skeptical Science.
Conceptualization, exploration and funding for creating Cranky Uncle came thanks to and via Skeptical Science's own internal and external contributors. Without Skeptical Science in the picture UNICEF's successful project to help save lives wouldn't have been possible. All who assisted may share pleasure plus at least a little pride in this outcome. Our ripples of progress travel far. It's a great true story!
Stories we promoted this week, by publication date:
Before February 25
- Designing Impactful Climate Literacy Education for Emergency Management-and Beyond, State of the Planet, Olga Rukovets. Emergency managers are tasked with preparation, response, mitigation and recovery from natural hazards leading to disasters and other emergencies—a responsibility that has grown increasingly challenging as climate impacts become more frequent and less predictable.
- Does the 'drug dealer defence' still hold up in climate law cases?, Latest business news, Jo Lauder. The Australian federal government is using a ''drug dealer's defence'' and a ''drop in the ocean'' argument in its assessment of two coal mine expansions.
- CCS Redux: Capturing CO2 From Exhaust Pipes Is A Bad Idea That Won`t Die, CleanTechnica, Michael Barnard. So here’s an idea. A lot of CO2 comes from cars and light trucks, right? So why don’t we just capture it in the car itself?
- 'Climate contrarianism' is down but not out, expert says, Phys.org, Clay Bonnyman Evans, University of Colorado at Boulder. Researcher Max Boycoff finds climate science being added to a stew of reactionary causes.
- Climate books for Black History Month, Yale Climate Connections, Michael Svoboda. 'In this very political year, the fight for a sustainable future is also a fight for a fair and equitable society.''
- Thrown to the wind' — are wind farms really killing whales?, potholer54 on Youtube, Peter Hadfield. A video rebuttal to Michael Shellenberger's video 'Thrown to the Wind'. It looks at the issue of whether wind farms are killing whales, as the title suggests.
- ‘Blue’ Hydrogen Could Produce 50% More Warming than Burning Fossil Fuels, The Energy Mix, Mitchell Beer.
- Antarctica sea ice reaches alarming low for third year in a row, The Observer, Graham Readfearn. The extent of ice floating around the continent has contracted to below 2m sq km for three years in a row, indicating an ‘abrupt critical transition’
- Are food influencers wrong about climate change?, ClimateAdam on Youtube, Adam Levy. ClimateAdam talks about the connections between food and climate change in his latest video.
February 25
- 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #08, Skeptical Science, Bärbel Winkler. Last week's compilation of articles we found relevant
- Climate change is throwing the water cycle into chaos across the U.S., NBC News, Denise Chow and Evan Bush. As the planet continues to warm, this cycle is expected to be increasingly stretched, warped and broken.
- One of the world’s biggest cities may be just months away from running out of water, World/Climate, CNN, Laura Paddison, Jack Guy & Fidel Gutiérrez.
February 26
- UN member states are meeting to plan how to tackle the world’s environmental crises, Climate, AP News , Carlos Mureithi.
- The ‘Doomsday Glacier’ is rapidly melting. Scientists now have evidence for when it started and why, Climate/World, CNN, Laura Paddison.
- All this climate data is wild, Yale Climate Connections, Kristen Pope. Animals wearing sensors gather tremendous amounts of data from forbidding regions such as high altitudes, ocean depths, and frozen areas near the poles.
- `A Trojan horse of legitimacy`: Shell launches a `climate tech` startup advertising jobs in oil and gas, The Guardian, Molly Taft. Onward touts a vision of a ‘clean energy future’, but experts say ventures like this are part of fossil fuel firms’ greenwashing plan
February 27
- At a glance - Is Greenland gaining or losing ice?, Skeptical Science, John Mason. Highlighting our 54th updated rebuttal since we started the project about a year ago!
- How to recycle the giant magnets inside wind turbines? These scientists have a few ideas., Grist, Maddie Stone. Many turbines rely on high-demand rare-earth minerals. A new Department of Energy program aims to keep them out of landfills.
- How psychology can help people live more climate-friendly lives – lessons from around the world, The Conversation Europe, Chiara Longoni & Kimberly Doell. Different climate policies will work in different places, communities and contexts, so new research that highlights the nuances could be a vital tool.
- Trump's Green-Bashing and Europe's Right Put Climate Goals at Risk, Bloomberg Green, Laura Millan, Zahra Hirji, Olivia Rudgard, & Jonathan Gilbert. "Climate policy has become a political flash point in the US and Europe, risking to slow down the energy transition when it needs to speed up."
February 28
- Explained: Carbon credits, MIT News, David L. Chandler. Can carbon trading systems reduce global emissions, or are they little more than greenwashing? Clear, enforceable standards may make the difference.
- Climate change could cause 'generational trauma' in great apes, CBC Technology News, Anand Ram. They’re just like us — and wildfires, floods and droughts could drive them to extinction
- Michael Mann beat his defamers. But climate scientists are still under attack., Yale Climate Connections, Lauren Kurtz. Climate scientists report that death threats and online harassment are causing anxiety, sleeping problems, and loss of productivity .
- Exxon CEO blames public for failure to fix climate change, TheHill, Saul Elbein.
- Anti-Renewable Group Says It Met Privately with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, DeSmog, Geoff Dembicki. Wind Concerns founder has called CO2 the ‘gas of life’ and praised the province’s ban on new wind and solar projects.
- Q&A: What does the EU `nature restoration` law mean for climate and biodiversity?, Carbon Brief, Carbon Brief Staff. The EU’s law to restore nature was given the green light by the European parliament this week.
February 29
- The human cost of climate-related disasters is acutely undercounted, new study says, NPR, Alejandra Borunda.
- Has Antarctic sea ice shifted into a new state?, Dr. Gilbz on Youtube, Ella Gilbert. Ella Gilbert gives a brief summary about the state of the Antarctic sea ice.
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #9 2024, Skeptical Science, Doug Bostrom & Marc Kodack. Our weekly easy-access listing of the latest in climate research
- Seriously Cranky: the uncle we all have helps build the skills we all need to resist misinformation, Unicef, Unicef Press Center. Cranky Uncle Vaccine leverages cutting-edge science to protect against misinformation, with promising results.
- Climate deniers don't deny climate change any more, YouTube, Simon Clark.
March 1
If you happen upon high quality climate-science and/or climate-myth busting articles from reliable sources while surfing the web, please feel free to submit them via this Google form so that we may share them widely. Thanks!
Posted by BaerbelW on Sunday, 3 March, 2024
