2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #14

Story of the week

Proxy measurement via Facebook "engagement" suggests a widely welcoming audience for Prof. Andrew Dessler's The Climate Brink article& How extreme was the Earth's temperature in 2023. With our recent Earth surface temperature record gaining& prominent media coverage— including many direct remarks by scientists employing adjectives not normally found in scientific parlance— it's not surprising that readers may appreciate an oasis of context and perspective of the kind Dessler provides. A couple of well supported key points come through in this treatment. Only a few years ago we saw a surface temperature graph remarkably similar to what's unrolling right now. Meanwhile, our recent experience remains within projections of climate models and can't truly be seen as an unanticipated outcome (do let's note: as usual we're seeing how climate models are fit for purpose and yield useful climate prognosis). Untreated in popularized analysis is the recent behavior of the world ocean's temperature. Given the much larger amount of energy involved and our general discomfort with hugely consequential mysteries of this kind, it would be helpful to have this gap plugged— but that is a more fundamentally difficult scientific problem.&

Before March 31

• New tech won’t save us from climate change. Here’s what will, Nature, BBC Science Focus Magazine, Dr Jonathan Foley. The one thing we need to save us from climate catastrophe is the one thing technology can’t provide.
• From Michigan to Nebraska, Midwest States Face an Early Wildfire Season, Science, Inside Climate News, Kristoffer Tigue. Lede: "The blazes come after a record dry winter in the region. 'Year to date, we've had 'close to 300 wildfires statewide' a Wisconsin official said. “The normal year-to-date 10-year average is about 40 fires.' ”
• Hacking planet Earth will not save us from ourselves, Newsroom, Kevin Trenberth. A number of geoengineering methods have been proposed as a way to cool our warming planet but the problem is the increasing amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere &- the pressure instead must increase to cut emissions and use of fossil fuels
• Natural Gas Is Scamming America, Climate Town on Youtube, Rollie Williams.
• Geoengineering Faces a Wave of Backlash Over Regulatory Gaps and Unknown Risks, Today's Climate, Inside Climate News, Kikley Price. "Technologies to slow global warming by manipulating the environment are rapidly advancing, but some experts want to pump the brakes"

March 31

• ExxonMobil accused of `greenwashing` over carbon capture plan it failed to invest in, The Guardian, Ben Webster. Investigation reveals project oil giant promoted may never leave drawing board and has received no licence or government support
• 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #13, Skeptical Science, Baerbel Winkler. Doug Bostrom, John Hartz. Listing of 34 articles we found interesting during the last week, March 24 to 30, 2024
• Election of Donald Trump `could put world`s climate goals at risk`, The Guardian, Fiona Harvey. Former UN climate chief warns of global impact of a possible regression in US green policies
• Can We Engineer Our Way Out of the Climate Crisis?, Climate, New York Times, David Gelles.
• Europe is cooking at double speed! Are Europeans ready?, "Just have a Think" on Youtbue, Dave Borlace. The latest "Just Have a Think" video summarizing the Climate Risk Assessment 2024 recently published by the European Environment Agency
• The Show Must Go On? Music Festival-Goers Are At Risk As Extreme Weather Events Become More Frequent and Severe, Inside Climate News, Kiley Price. Concert attendees are braving the elements as climate change accelerates, sometimes with grave consequences.
• As climate change and pollution imperil coral reefs, scientists are deep-freezing corals to repopulate future oceans, Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories, Mary Hagedorn.

April 1

• How federal tax dollars meant to fight climate change could end up boosting Louisiana`s fossil fuel production, The Conversation, Ned Randolph. Billions of federal tax dollars will soon be pouring into Louisiana to fight climate change, yet the projects they’re supporting may actually boost fossil fuels &- the very products warming the planet.
• How extreme was the Earth's temperature in 2023, The Climate Brink, Andrew Dessler. If 2023 Earth were a chicken tender, would it be mild, medium, Caliente!, Mui Caliente!, or Fire In The Hole!
• Democrats rebuke Biden for fighting young climate activists in court, Climate Wire, E&E News, pr 1, 2024, Lesley Clark. "DOJ is using 'extraordinary and oppressive efforts' to stop the Juliana youth climate case, 30 lawmakers told a federal appeals court."

April 2

• Bird Flu Is Picking its Way Across the Animal Kingdom-and Climate Change Could Be Making it Worse, Inside Climate News, Kiley Price. A person in Texas recently tested positive for avian influenza. The virus has already spilled over into a number of mammalian species since it first appeared.
• Who are today`s climate activists? Dispelling 3 big myths for Earth Month, The Conversation, Dana R. Fisher.
• US aiming to ‘crack the code’ on deploying geothermal energy at scale, Environment, The Gurdin, Oliver Milman . "Recent $74m investment made alongside assessment that 10% of electricity could be generated by geothermal by 2050"

April 3

• Global Warming Will Enable Tropical Species From the Atlantic to Colonize the Mediterranean Sea, Inside Climate News, Bob Berwyn. A new study documents large-scale ocean system changes that threaten the stability of marine ecosystems in the sea between Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
• Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles, Climate Law Blog, Jacob Elkin and Matthew Eisenson.
• A Virtual Reality Film That Makes the Climate Crisis Feel "Real", State of the Planet, Adrienne Day.
• Chevron Owns This City`s News Site. Many Stories Aren`t Told., DeSmog, Miranda Green/Floodlight, David Folkenflik/NPR. The oil and gas company-owned Richmond Standard tells mostly positive stories about the major industry that dominates this California city and its skyline.

April 4

• Should Big Oil Be Tried for Homicide?, Inside Climate News, Nicholas Kusnetz. Lede: A group of activists and legal experts are promoting the argument that fossil fuel companies should be charged for homicide and other crimes for their roles in driving climate harms.
• Is the Fight Against Climate Change Losing Momentum?, News, Politics, Opinion, Commentary, and Analysis, Bill McKibben. Some financial institutions are backing away from emission pledges.
• Forecasters predict an extremely active 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, Eye on the Storm, Yale Climate Commuknications, Jeff Masters. "Colorado State University’s hurricane forecasting team is calling for a near-record active season with 23 named storms, 11 hurricanes, and five major hurricanes."
• America’s new high-risk, high-reward $20 billion climate push, Climate Solutions, Washington Post, Maxine Joselow. "In an ambitious effort to fight climate change, the EPA is assisting local groups in financing clean-energy projects"
• Vast Majority of Global CO2 Emissions Tied to Just 57 Entities, DeSmog, Joe Fassler. A new report details the state and corporate producers that bear responsibility for 80 percent of carbon dioxide emissions since the Paris Agreement.
• Factcheck: Why the recent `acceleration` in global warming is what scientists expect, Carbon Brief, Zeke Hausfather. Over the past year, there has been a vigorous debate among scientists &- and more broadly &- about whether global warming is “accelerating”.
• Future Trends in Climate Litigation Against Governments, Climate Law Blog, Lucy Maxwell, April Williamson and Sarah Mead.
• Are rainforests doomed? Not necessarily., Down to Earth, Vox, Benji Jones. In a grim new analysis of tropical forests, there are a few important glimmers of hope.

April 5

• I Watched The Climate Deniers' New Movie So You Don't Have To, The Climate Laundry, Dave Vetter. A British filmmaker's latest attempt to convince us that climate change isn't happening is a feeble affair. But propaganda doesn't have to convince everyone to be effective.
• It`s Never Too Late to Take Climate Action, Scientific American Content: Global, James K. Boyce. The depiction of the climate crisis as a cliff—once we fall off the edge, it’s game over—is nonsense
• Australia should prepare for 20-year megadroughts as the climate crisis worsens, study finds, The Guardian, Aston Brown. Climate modelling by the Australian National University found Australia has experienced megadroughts every 150 to 1,000 years and is due for another

April 6

• Gigafact and Skeptical Science collaborate to create fact briefs, Skeptical Science, John Mason and Bärbel Winkler. Together with Gigafact we are re-starting a collaboration to create short fact briefs based on our rebuttals.

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!