Posted on 7 August 2016 by John Hartz

SkS Highlights

One Nation's Malcolm Roberts is in denial about the facts of climate change by John Cook (The Conversation AU) generated the highest number of comments amomg the articles posted on SkS during the past week.   

Toon of the Week

Quote of the Week 

Leading climate scientists have warned that the Earth is perilously close to breaking through a 1.5C upper limit for global warming, only eight months after the target was set.

The decision to try to limit warming to 1.5C, measured in relation to pre-industrial temperatures, was the headline oucome of the Paris climate negotiations last December. The talks were hailed as a major success by scientists and campaigners, who claimed that, by setting the target, desertification, heatwaves, widespread flooding and other global warming impacts could be avoided.

However, figures – based on Met Office data – prepared by meteorologist Ed Hawkins of Reading University show that average global temperatures were already more than 1C above pre-industrial levels for every month except one over the past year and peaked at +1.38C in February and March. Keeping within the 1.5C limit will be extremely difficult, say scientists, given these rises.

These alarming figures will form the backdrop to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change talks in Geneva this month, when scientists will start to outline ways to implement the climate goals set in Paris. Dates for abandoning all coal-burning power stations and halting the use of combustion engines across the globe – possibly within 15 years – are likely to be set.

Atmospheric heating has been partly triggered by a major El Niño event in the Pacific, with 2016 expected to be the hottest year on record. Temperatures above 50C have afflicted Iraq; India is experiencing one of the most intense monsoons on record; and drought-stricken California has been ravaged by wildfires.

Stanford University’s Professor Chris Field, co-chair of the IPCC working group on adaptation to climate change, told the Observer: “From the perspective of my research I would say the 1.5C goal now looks impossible or at the very least, a very, very difficult task. We should be under no illusions about the task we face.”

Scientists warn world will miss key climate target by Robin McKie, Observer/Guardian, Aug 6, 2016 

He Said What?

Campaigning in Pennsylvania on Monday, Republican nominee Donald Trump went on an odd — but on-brand — rant against solar and wind. Trump appeared to occasionally conflate the two renewable energy technologies, and criticized both for being expensive.

“It’s so expensive,” Trump said. “And honestly, it’s not working so good. I know a lot about solar. I love solar. But the payback is what, 18 years? Oh great, let me do it. Eighteen years.”

In fact, the cost of solar has declined 70 percent since 2008, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, and the return on investment for a homeowner in California, say, is nine years. In New Jersey, it is seven years.

Fastest-Growing Source Of Electricity ‘Not Working So Good,’ Trump Claims by Samantha Page, Climate Progress, Aug 2, 2016 

SkS in the News

In his Washington Post Op-ed, Why facts don’t matter to Trump’s supporters, David Ignatius states:

The final point that emerged from Graves’s survey is that people will resist abandoning a false belief unless they have a compelling alternative explanation. That point was made in an article called “The Debunking Handbook,” by Australian researchers John Cook and Stephan Lewandowsky. They wrote: “Unless great care is taken, any effort to debunk misinformation can inadvertently reinforce the very myths one seeks to correct.”

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Coming Soon on SkS

• Rejection of experts spreads from Brexit to climate change with 'Clexit' (Dana)
• As nuclear power plants close, states need to bet big on energy storage (Eric Daniel Fournier & Alex Ricklefs)
• Climate scientists make a bold prediction about sea level rise (John Abraham)
• Six charts show UK progress towards low-carbon energy (Simon Evans)
• Climate-related disasters raise conflict risk, study says (Robert McSweeney)
• 2016 SkS Weekly News Roundup #33 (John Hartz)
• 2016 SkS Weekly Digest #33 (John Hartz)

Poster of the Week

SkS Week in Review

• 2016 SkS Weekly News Roundup #32 by John Hartz
• One Nation's Malcolm Roberts is in denial about the facts of climate change by John Cook
• Natural forces overpowering Antarctic Peninsula warming by Roz Pidcock (Carbon Brief)
• New research shows penguins will suffer in a warming world by John Abraham (Climate Consensus-the 97%, Guardian)
• Online course on climate science denial starts Aug 9 by John Cook
• A climate scientist and economist made big bucks betting on global warming by Dana Nuccitelli (Climate Consensus-the 97%, Guardian)
• 2016 SkS Weekly Digest #31 by John Hartz

97 Hours of Consensus: J Marshall Shepard

Marshall Shepherd's bio page

Quote derived with permission from author from:

"...as I often say, weather is your mood and climate is your personality. So on any given day, you can have really cold weather or really violent weather. But the scientific literature, including our recent AMS Climate Change statement, does suggest that our climate is changing and I think we can say some things about certain weather phenomenon and climate phenomenon that are more linked to this climate change and we are in a different climate system now. Almost every weather phenomenon happens in a warmer and more moist climate."

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