Arguments
2015 SkS Weekly News Roundup #51
Posted on 19 December 2015 by John Hartz
A chronological listing of the news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook page during the past week.
Sun, Dec 13
- All the Reasons the Paris Agreement is a Huge Freaking Deal for the Climate by Carol Linnitt, DeSmog Canada, Dec 12, 2015
- Paris Accord Considers Climate Change as a Factor in Mass Migration by Sewell Chan, New York Times, Dec 12, 2015
- World leaders hail Paris climate pact, Deutsche Welle, Dec 13, 2015
- Arnold Schwarzenegger just came up with a climate change argument that’s hard to argue with by Alan Martin, alphr, Dec 12, 2015
- Now comes the tough part: The world's carbon diet starts by Seth Borenstein, AP, Dec 13, 2015
- Leaders Move to Convert Paris Climate Pledges Into Action by Sewell Chan & Melissa Eddy, New York Times, Dec 13, 2015
- World leaders adopt 1.5 C goal — and we’re damn well going to hold them to it by Bill McKibben, Grist, Dec 12, 2015
- The oceans are coming for us: how should we plan for dire sea level forecasts? by Filippo Dall'Osso, Dale Dominey-Howes & Tom FitzGerald, The Conversation, Dec 13, 2015
Mon, Dec 14
- John Kerry rejects leading climate scientist's claim Paris talks were 'fraud' by Oliver Milman, The Guardian, Dec 13, 2015
- A Signal to Industry to Go Green in an Era of Carbon Reduction by Clifford Krause & Keith Bradsher, New York Time, Dec 13, 2015
- Republican Lawmakers Vocal In Opposition To Climate Deal by Kevin Freking, AP/The Huffington Post, Dec 13, 2015
- Climate Accord Is a Healing Step, if Not a Cure by Justin Gillis, New York Times, Dec 12, 2015
- Republicans on Campaign Trail Largely Ignore the Climate Deal by Thomas Kaplan, New York Times, Dec 13, 2015
- The Paris agreement signals that deniers have lost the climate wars by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus,- the 97%, The Guardian, Dec 14, 2015
- WATCH: Stars spoof Koch Brothers in new climate change music video by Juliet Elperin, Washington Post, Dec 10, 2015
- How the world learned its lesson and got a climate deal by Richard Valdmanis & Emmauel Jarry, Reuters, Dec 14, 2015
Tue, Dec 15
- 'The Warning Bells are Deafening': Super El Niño Threatening Global Hunger Crisis by Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams, Dec 14, 2015
- Past climate treaties failed. So the Paris deal will try something radically different. by Brad Plumer, Vox, Dec 14, 2015
- The Globe’s Hottest Year Just Keeps Getting Hotter by Brian Kahn, Climate Central, Dec 14, 205
- The Siege of Miami by Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, Dec 21, 2015 Print Issue
- India says Paris climate deal won't affect plans to double coal output by Krishna N. Das & Tommy Wilkes, Reuters, Dec 14, 2015
- The Paris Climate Deal Is President Obama’s Biggest Accomplishment by Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine, Dec 14, 2015
- Seven Wrinkles in the Paris Climate Deal by Oscar Reyes, Foreign Policy in Focus, Dec 14, 2015
- What Happens When Mother Earth Gets Angry, Op-ed by Keith Schneider, New York Times, Dec 15, 2015
Wed, Dec 16
- A Turning Point in Combating Climate Change May Be Here by Shannon Hall, Scientific American, Dec 14, 2015
- The world just adopted a tough new climate goal. Here’s how hard it will be to meet by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Dec 15, 2015
- Record high Arctic temperatures in 2015 having 'profound effects' on region by Oliver Milman, The Guardian, Dec 15, 2015
- Not Just for Paris, but for the Future: How the Paris Agreement Will Keep Accelerating Climate Action by Eliza Northrop, World Resources Instittue (WRI), Dec 14, 2015
- Greenland has lost a staggering amount of ice — and it’s only getting worse by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Dec 16, 2015
- Will Global Warming Heat Us Beyond Our Physical Limits? by Cheryl Katz, National Geographic, Dec 15, 2015
- Polar bears travel further as Arctic sea-ice drifts by Jonathan Amos, BBC News, Dec 16, 2015
Thu, Dec 17
- Scientists may have just solved one of the most troubling mysteries about sea-level rise by Chelsea Harvey, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Dec 11, 2015
- San Diego Vows to Move Entirely to Renewable Energy in 20 Years by Matt Richtel, New York Times, Dec 15, 2015
- New NASA Satellite Maps Show Human Fingerprint on Global Air Quality, NASA, Dec 14, 2015
- 2016 set to be hottest year on record globally by Damien Carrington, The Guardian, Dec 17, 2015
- Haitians are noticing climate change impacts on extreme weather and agriculture by John Abraham, Climate Consensus,- the 97%, The Guardian, Dec 14, 2015
- Have we hit "the end of the fossil fuel era"? Not even close. by Brad Plumer, Energy & Environment, Vox, Dec 14, 2015
- NASA Examines Global Impacts of the 2015 El Niño, NASA, Dec 15, 2015
- The conceptual breakthrough behind the Paris climate treaty by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Dec 14, 2015
Fri, Dec 18
- Environmentalists condemn budget deal that lifts US oil export ban by David Smith, The Guardian, Dec 16, 2015
- The budget bill will unleash wind and solar. Here’s what that means for the climate by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Dec 17, 2015
- Centuries of Melting Already Locked in for Polar Ice, Scientists Say by Phil Mckenna, InsideClimate News, Dec 17, 2015
- Melbourne and Adelaide to sweat it out as temperatures climb past 40C by Calla Wahlquist, The Guardian, Dec 17, 2015
- UK cuts to renewable energy make a mockery of its pledge at Paris climate talks by Dsmien Carrington, The Guardian, Dec 17, 2015
- Republicans still hope to throw a wrench in the Paris climate deal by Ben Adler, Grist, Dec 16, 2015
- Even the charts used by climate-change deniers show that temperatures are getting warmer by Jim Edwards, Business Insider, Dec 18, 2015
- Why the Paris agreement could be the beginning of the end for global warming denial by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Dec 17, 2015
Sat, Dec 19
- We’ve got a climate goal of 1.5 degrees – so how do we get there? by Kate Dooley & Doreen Stabinsky, The Conversation, Dec 19, 2015
- Engaging civil society will help ensure transparent and credible review of climate pledges by Valerie J Karplus & Michael Davidson, The Conversation AU, Dec 16, 2015
- New Method Unlocks Climate Change Secrets From Tibetan Ice, Eurasia Review, Dec 19, 2015
- Govt awards new oil permits straight after COP21 by Gary Farrow, New Zealand Herald, Dec 17, 2015
- Paris Climate Agreement: Between the Lines by Daniel Grossman, Yale Climate Connections, Dec 17, 2015
- Climate Accord Mobilizes Health Industry by Sam Ross-Brown, The American Prospect, Dec 18, 2015
- Newspapers' and Scientists' Views on COP21, Yale Climate Connections, Dec 16, 2015
'Now comes the tough part"
I don't think it's going to be all that difficult, at least for the next 15 to 20 years when the reductions in CO2 emissions won't be that big. Getting all the way down to zero will be tough, but that's not until what, 2070?
I just looked at my latest electric bill. Only 1.95% came from wind, and solar was only 0.05%. Both of those could easily be upped by a factor of ten over the next 5 to 10 years. Add in 10% efficiency improvements with better appliances and better insulated houses and buildings and you already have a significant reduction, without any new inventions or noticable financial pain.
I've seen these articles that CO2 reductions will be very difficult, but I would argue that we don't really know that because we haven't really tried in any serious way.
The LA Times had an interesting Op-Ed piece on the relationship of Climate Chamge and social unrest like the war in Syria. It might be good for an OP here at Skeptical science.
The authors, who study violence in society, suggest that climate change increases the chance of social unrest but are usually not the only cause of unrest.
I had a look at the quotations of scientists and newspapers in the final link above. With one exception, they are all quite reasonable and sensible. The exception is the Wall Street Journal of 14 December 2015. The final sentence of the quotation is enough to evoke homicidal feelings:
The grandiose claims of triumph in Paris represent the self-interest of a political elite that wants more control over the private economy in the U.S. and around the world.
To this my riposte is:
The insensate rejection of science by the Wall Street Journal represents the self-interest of a corporate elite that wants more control over national governance in the US and around the world.
On the one hand, there are the dire consequences of unmitigated climate change. On the other hand, there is the propaganda campaign certain corporations and individuals have waged to sabotage any action designed to avert such change. The item from the Wall Street Journal is an example.
It is difficult to conceive of people so evil that they are willing to countenance the destruction of the planetary environment in the long-term — and human civilization with it — simply to maintain their wealth and power in the short-term.
I hope the foregoing does not constitute a "political" or "ad-hominem" comment. We are after all talking about people trying to stop others from averting a catastrophic future climate. If my language seems too strong, I refer readers to the above-mentioned "homicidal feelings".