2019 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #32
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Aug 4 through Sat, Aug 10, 2019
Editor's Pick
This Land Is the Only Land There Is
Here are seven ways of understanding the IPCC’s newest climate warning.
Climate change could make water even more scarce in naturally dry areas, the report warns. Australia’s ranchers have struggled under a drought for years. BROOK MITCHELL / GETTY
1. There is no shortage of scary facts in the major new report on climate change and land, a summary of which was released today by a United Nations–led scientific panel. Chief among them: For everyone who lives on land, the planet’s dangerously warmed future is already here. Earth’s land has already warmed more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.6 degrees Fahrenheit) since the industrial revolution, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. That’s the same amount of warming that climate activists are hoping to prevent on a global scale.
This spike makes sense, scientifically: Land warms twice as fast as the planet overall. Earth as a whole has warmed by only 0.87 degrees Celsius (1.5 degrees Fahrenheit) during the same period. But this increase makes the stakes of climate change clear: When scientists discuss preventing “1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming,” they are really talking about forestalling 3 degrees Celsius—or 5.1 degrees Fahrenheit—of higher land temperatures.
And land temperatures are what humanity usually cares about. Land, really, is what humanity cares about. That’s the point.
This Land Is the Only Land There Is by Robinson Meyer, Science, The Atlantic, Aug 8, 2019
Links posted on Facebook
Sun Aug 4, 2019
- Greenland's Melting: Heat Waves Are Changing the Landscape Before Their Eyes by Sabrina Shankman, InsideClimate News, Aug 1, 2019
- New Zealand shows Australia how it’s done on emissions policy, climate by Michael Mazengarb, Renew Economy, Aug 2, 2019
- 200 reindeer starved to death in Norway and scientists say climate change is to blame by Sophie Lewis, CBS News, Aug 3, 2019
- Russian Land of Permafrost and Mammoths Is Thawing by Neil MacFarquhar, World, New York Times, Aug 4, 2019
- Air travel is a huge contributor to climate change. A new global movement wants you to be ashamed to fly. by Umair Irfan, The Highlight, Vox, Aug 1, 2019
- India expects coal-fired power capacity to grow 22% in 3 years by Sudarshan Varadhan, Reuters, July 31, 2019
- 'We Urgently Need to Change Our Way of Living,' Experts Warn as Heat Wave Causes Historic Ice Melt in Greenland by Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams, Aug 1, 2019
- Climate Change Is Finally Getting the Attention It Deserved 20 Years Ago by Emily Atkin, The New Republic Magazine, Aug 1, 2019
Mon Aug 5, 2019
- Climate Could Be an Electoral Time Bomb, Republican Strategists Fear by Lisa Friedman, New York Times, Aug 2, 2019
- Desertification: A Serious Threat To Southern Europe by Ana Garcia Valdivia, Forbes, July 30, 2019
- Progressive Activists Have Pushed Democrats to the Left on Climate Issues. Now What? by Astead W. Herndon, Politics, New York Times, Aug 4, 2019
- July equalled, and maybe surpassed, the hottest month in recorded history, WMO Press Release, Aug 1, 2019
- Climate Change Becomes an Issue for Ratings Agencies by Kristoffer Tigue, InsideClimate News, Aug 5, 2019
- Siberian Wildfires and Heatwaves in Alaska: How the Arctic Is Nearing a Point of No Return by Jasmine Acguiler, World, Time Magazine, Aug 2, 2019
- What this summer’s record-breaking heat means for global sea level rise, PBS News Hour, Aug 2, 2019
- Global warming brings wildfire risk to rainy US Northwest by Tom James/KOMO News, Aug 4, 2019
Tue Aug 6, 2019
- Interactive: How climate change could threaten the world’s traditional dishes by Daisy Dunne, Carbon Brief, Aug 5, 2019
- Why solar, wind and EVs will be the death of the petroleum industry by Giles Parkinson, Renew Economy (AU), Aug 5, 2019
- What you need to know about the link between sea-level rise and coastal flooding by Jan Ellen Spiegel, Yale Climate Connections, Aug 6, 2019
- World leaders must prove they've listened to climate activists - Thunberg by Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters, Aug 5, 2019
- Here’s how the hottest month in recorded history unfolded around the world by Brady Dennis & Andrew Freedman, Climate & Environment, Washington Post, Aug 5, 2019
- Surprise! Unexpected ocean heat waves are becoming the norm by Brian Bienkowski, Environmental Health News, Aug 6, 2019
- Journalists Say Florida Is ‘Ground Zero’ For Climate Change. Here’s What They’re Doing About It, KERA News (Dallas, TX), Aug 5, 2019
- People don't need to 'believe' in climate change to act on it, study suggests by Kristen Pope, Policy & Politics, Yale Climate Connection, Aug 2, 2019
Wed Aug 7, 2019
- Exxon Accused of Pressuring Witnesses in Climate Fraud Case by Nicholas Kusnetz & David Hasemyer, InsideClimate News, Aug 6, 2019
- How much CO2 your country can still emit, in three simple steps by Stefan Rahmstorf, Real Climate, Aug 6, 2019
- Alaska's sea ice has completely melted away by Mark Kaufman, Science, Mashable, Aug 6, 2019
- Deadly cliffside collapse underscores California's climate-fueled crisis by Susie Cagle, US, Guardian, Aug 7, 2019
- People downloaded this landmark climate study 1 million times by Mark Kaufman, Science, Mashable, Aug 6, 2019
- New Models Point to More Global Warming Than We Expected by Bob Henson, Category 6, Weather Underground, Aug 6, 2019
- Government Scientists Are Censoring Themselves, Opinion by Jacob Carter, Observations, Scientific American, Aug 5, 2019
- Using electricity at different times of day could save us billions of dollars by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Aug 7, 2019
Thu Aug 8, 2019
- 'Youth and Workers Uniting Behind This Crisis': German Labor Union Urges 2 Million Members to Join Global Climate Strike by Jake Johnson, Common Dreams, Aug 6, 2019
- 57 dead, 18,000 taken to hospitals in Japan due to heatwave since July 29, Japan Today, Aug 6, 2019
- The consensus on consensus messaging by John Cook, Skeptical Science, Aug 8, 2019
- Climate change could trigger an international food crisis, UN panel warns by Emma Newburger, Weather & National Disasters, CNBC, Aug 8, 2019
- US states face water crisis as global heating increases strain on supplies by Emily Holden, Global Development, Guardian, Aug 6, 2019
- Motivating Climate Action: A Review of Per Espen Stoknes "What We Think About When We Try Not to Think About Global Warming." by Cynthia Kaufman, Common Dreams, Aug 8, 2019
- Report: we have to change how we eat and grow food to fight climate change by Umair Irfan, Energy & Environment, Vox, Aug 8, 2019
- Buckle up: Climate change is already contributing to bumpier trans-Atlantic flights, study finds by Andrew Freedman, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, Aug 7, 2019
Fri Aug 9, 2019
- This website shows you exactly how guilty you should feel about flying by Umair Irfan, Energy & Environment, Vox, Aug 7, 2019
- Climate change and overfishing could lead to higher mercury levels in fish by Linda Carroll, NBC News, Aug 7, 2019
- Climate change: Marine heatwaves kill coral instantly by Duncan Mascarenhas, Science & Environment, BBC News, Aug 9, 2019
- A More Active Hurricane Season Could Lie Ahead, Scientists Warn by John Schwartz, Climate, New York Times, Aug 8, 2019
- August 2019 El Niño Update: Stick a fork in it by Nat Johnson, ENSO Blog, NOAA's Climate.gov, Aug 8, 2019
- Climate Deniers Launch Personal Attacks on Teen Activist by Scott Waldman, E&E News/Scientific American, Aug 9, 2019
- Heatwave caused nearly 400 more deaths in Netherlands - stats agency by Bart Meijer, Reuters, Aug 9, 2019
- This Land Is the Only Land There Is by Robinson Meyer, Science, The Atlantic, Aug 8, 2019
Sat Aug 10, 2019
- Alaska's hottest month portends transformation into 'unfrozen state' by Yereth Rosen, Reuters, Aug 9, 2019
- Global sea level rise began accelerating ‘30 years earlier’ than previously thought by Ayesha Tandon, Carbon Brief, Aug 5, 2019
- Typhoon in eastern China causes landslide, killing 18 people by Muyu Xu, Tony Munroe & Martin Pollard, Reuters, Aug 10, 2019
- China is going to get hot by Richard A Lovett, Cosmos Magazine, Aug 7, 2019
- We can’t keep eating as we are – why isn’t the IPCC shouting this from the rooftops?, Opinion by George Monbiot, Comment is Free, Guardian, Aug 8, 2019
- Why Solar Activity And Cosmic Rays Can’t Explain Global Warming by Marshall Shepherd, Science, Forbes, Aug 10, 2019
- Explainer: ‘Desertification’ and the role of climate change by Robert McSweeney, Carbon Brief, Aug 6, 2019
- Getting to 100% renewables requires cheap energy storage. But how cheap? by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Aug 9, 2019
Posted by John Hartz on Saturday, 10 August, 2019
