Arguments
2013 SkS Weekly Digest #52
Posted on 29 December 2013 by John Hartz
SkS Highlights
Sea Ice Volume is Not Recovering by greenman and Anne Young features Andy Lee Robinson's update of his indispensable animation of Arctic sea ice volume – which makes the point yet again how dramatically northern sea ice is declining. If you have not yet viewed this post, you will definitely want to do so.
Toon of the Week
Quote of the Week
"The climate change countermovement has had a real political and ecological impact on the failure of the world to act on global warming," (Robert) Brulle* said in a statement. "Like a play on Broadway, the countermovement has stars in the spotlight – often prominent contrarian scientists or conservative politicians – but behind the stars is an organizational structure of directors, script writers and producers."
"If you want to understand what's driving this movement, you have to look at what's going on behind the scenes."
*Environmental Sociologist, Drexel University
"Dark Money" Funds Climate Change Denial Effort by Douglas Fischer, The Daily Climate/Scientific American, Dec 23, 2013
The SkS Week in Review
- 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #52 by John Hartz
- Greenland ice sheet stores liquid water year-round by NSF
- More misleading Congressional climate testimony by Dana
- Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Skeptical Science by John Cook
- Sea Ice Volume is Not Recovering by greenman and Anne Young
- Global warming will intensify drought, says new study by John Abraham
Coming Soon on SkS
- Provisional Statement on Status of Climate in 2013 (John Hartz)
- 2013 in Review: a Productive Year for Skeptical Science (Dana)
- Your chance to make a difference: Join the SkS-Translator team! (BaerbelW)
- Methane emissions from oil & gas development (gws)
In the Works
- Talking Trash on Emissions (jg, Andy Skuce)
- Mitigation Mosaic: How small steps can make a difference (BaerbelW)
- Comments on the Purpose of Privacy (Rob Honeycutt)
- Rebuttal to the myth 'CO2 is saturated' (Glenn Tamblyn & jg)
- Saving the Keeling curve (doug bostrom)
- Thirteen Years of Moths and Flames (jerryd)
- Honey, I mitigated climate change (Ari Jokimaki)
SkS in the News
Cowtan & Way (2013) was extensively discussed by Roz Pidcock in her article, Hockey sticks to huge methane burps: Five papers that shaped climate science in 2013 posted on the Carbon Brief.
The Cook et al. (2013) consensus paper was cited by Joseph Stromberg in his article, Six Things We Learned About Our Changing Climate in 2013 posted on Smithsonian.com.
John Cook's Closing the consensus gap: Public support for climate policy was cited by John Mecklin as one of the top five articles published by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists in Mecklin's article, The year in climate change.
SkS Spotlights
The Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry is dedicated to the study of global cycles of essential elements on Earth, their interactions among the biosphere, atmosphere, geosphere and the oceans, and their interrelation with the physical climate system.
The institute was founded by the Max Planck Society in 1997 and is located in the Thuringian city of Jena. After initial years as guest on the Zeiss premises, a new building was created in 2003 on the Beutenberg Campus, which is home to several academic and for-profit research institutions. The Campus and the local Friedrich-Schiller University offer excellent potential for local scientific cooperations.
Biogeochemical research is highly interdisciplinary and international. Scientists from all over the world are attracted to our institute and our research is often conducted in remote and exotic locations worldwide.
Note: The above text is from the About page of the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry website.
At the end of 2013, Tony Abbott (by his advisor) has given us the gift of revelation that he and his advisers are true anti-science nutters:
'Scientific delusion is crumbling'
Todate, I had some hope that current Oz govs are at least some sort of "luke-warmists", arguing the implications and policy responses, etc., but not denying the obvious logic of AGW. After that comment I have no doubt they have taken seriously John Howard's preaching that "scientists are religious zealots" and even extended it to the next level. That portrays them as absolute, uncurable nutters, like Jim Inhofe in US.
I wonder how far they are going to reach with such foolish agenda. Are australian electorate as silly as to believe it?
chriskoz, that article about Abbott's adviser had me shaking my head in disbelief. That the country is being guided by such 'Looney Right' opinions only confirms my worst fears about where the current government is heading. The only light on the horizon is the increasing number of people I am meeting, who are starting to worry about Abbott & Co's blindness to scientific advice. The most unlikely people are starting to realise AGW is real and they don't like the government being so out of touch.
Will 2014 be the year when we brought the Liberals kicking and screaming into the 21st century? I can only hope so, but the auguries are bad.