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2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #51
Posted on 24 December 2017 by John Hartz
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Graphic of the Week... SkS Spotlights... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... Climate Feedback Reviews... SkS Week in Review... 97 Hours of Consensus...
Merry Christmas!
Story of the Week...
Macron Tries To Keep the Paris Agreement Alive
There was a moment last week—as television cameras showed dozens of heads of state, business leaders, and A-list celebrities filing off a riverboat into the newly completed Seine Musicale venue in Paris' suburbs—when it seemed as though the international climate process might get the financial help it desperately needs.
In the end, the December 12th event convened by French President Emmanuel Macron to mark the two-year anniversary of the landmark Paris Agreementproduced a flurry of new announcements and initiatives that could eventually shift the world's economy onto a greener, more sustainable pathway. But the new commitments fall far short of the hundreds of billions—some say trillions—of dollars that must be mobilized in order to achieve the Paris Agreement's goals of limiting climate change and helping poor countries survive its worst effects.
The big announcements at the summit included the unveiling of the Climate Action 100+ pledge, from 225 institutional investors managing more than $26 trillion, to pressure the world's 100 largest companies to implement more environmentally sustainable policies. A total of 16 countries, including Brazil and Norway, said they would start adopting policies to make their economies carbon-neutral by mid-century. And 36 countries, including Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, jointly called for the international shipping sector to take on binding climate commitments for the first time.
Macron Tries To Keep the Paris Agreement Alive by Eric J Lyman, Pacific Standard, Dec 19, 2017
Toon of the Week...
Hat tip to Stop Climate Science Denial
Graphic of the Week...
Original cartoon by John Cook
SkS Spotlights...
Climate Liability News is a not-for-profit news site dedicated to reporting on the issues at the intersection of climate change impacts and law. Those issues include government and corporate responsibility and accountability for global warming and its consequences across society and around the world. Through hard-nosed, uncompromising journalism, we seek to advance a greater understanding and wider public discussion of the role of the law in addressing the wide-ranging impacts of of climate change.
Climate Liability News is a project funded by donations to Climate Communications & Law, a new 501(c)3 nonprofit. Climate Communications & Law seeks to deepen the public’s understanding of the issue of climate change and how its impacts are being dealt with by the legal system in the United States and around the world.
The editorial content of CLN is not subject to approval or influence by CCL donors.
Coming Soon on SkS...
- Some curious things about Svensmark et al. reference list (Ari)
- The US government's climate report on the oceans (John Abraham)
- From the eMail Bag: Carbon Isotopes - Part 2 - The Delta Notation (David Kirtley)
- To beat 'alternative facts', scientists propose 'technocognition' (Dana)
- New research this week (Ari)
- 2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #52 (John Hartz)
- 2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Waming Digest #52 (John Hartz)
Poster of the Week...
Climate Feedback Reviews...
Climate Feedback asked its network of scientists to review the article, Jerry Brown Blames Climate Change for California Fires: ‘The New Normal’ by Joe Pollak, Breitbart, Dec 9, 2017
Five scientists analyzed the article and estimate its overall scientific credibility to be 'very low'.
A majority of reviewers tagged the article as: Biased, Cherry-picking, Flawed reasoning, Misleading.
Review Summary
This article in Breitbart criticizes a statement by California Governor Jerry Brown, who said that the recent dangerous fires are “the new normal” for the area. The article correctly lists a number of factors that contribute to wildfires, including weather patterns and the construction of homes in areas at risk of fire. The article represents the contribution of climate change to wildfire trends as unknown, and a matter of debate for climate scientists.
Scientists who reviewed the story found this to be misleading. The article fails to explain the ways in which climate change can clearly influence the factors that control wildfires. A number of published studies have found that climate change is an important contributing factor to wildfire behavior in the western United States.
See all the scientists’ annotations in context
Breitbart article on California fires misleads by omitting explanation of climate’s influence, Climate Feedback, Dec 19, 2017
SkS Week in Review...
- 2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #51 by John Hartz
- How blogs convey and distort scientific information about polar bears and Arctic sea ice by Bart Verheggen (My view on climate change)
- New research, December 11-17, 2017 by Ari Jokimäki
- Analysis: How developing nations are driving record growth in solar power by Zeke Hausfather (Carbon Brief)
- From the eMail Bag: Carbon Isotopes, Part 1: The Basics by David Kirtley
- One Planet Summit: Finance Commitments Fire-Up Higher Momentum for Paris Climate Change Agreement by UN Climate Change News
- Scientists have beaten down the best climate denial argument by Dana Nucitelli (Climate Consensus - the 97%)
- 2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #50 by John Hartz
97 Hours of Consensus...
Quote derived with author's permission from:
"Global warming refers to an increase in the planet's average temperature, and there's no question that that's happened over the last 100 years. Over the last 50 years, it's increasingly clear that that warming, the more recent warming, is because of human activities.And there are other associated changes with climate change, not just changes in temperature but also changes in rainfall patterns and so on that might happen."
Merry christmas to skepticalscience.com.
Regarding the hilarious Santa cartoon, lots of people probably say god created coal, so it must be ok to use coal. But maybe they take the wrong message. The bible also has clauses that require us to look after the environment, and think for ourselves as follows:
www.patheos.com/blogs/christiancrier/2015/06/23/top-7-bible-verses-about-taking-care-of-the-earth/
Does anyone actually read Breitbart? It looks like demented, one sided conspiracy theory piffle to me.
Indeed, Nigel. Maybe God created coal as a form of carbon sequestration to make Earth more habitable for humans. Just a thought.
David@2,
A thought very similar to yours was first conceived by James Lovelock, the author of Gaia theory in 1960s. It's interesting how Lovelock's book The Revenge of Gaia, in his apocalyptic vision of humans' destruction by the Mother-Earth Godness, parallels similar stories conceived by other world religions: e.g. biblical Deluge.
The science have progressed really fast since Lovelock's prime time, and rockweathering thermostat theory conceived just 20years later in 1980, explained well why Earth climate has been stable and why coal ahs been sequestered. We don't need religious believes ala Gaia anymore to understand it. But interestingly, Lovelock, still with us, denies rock weathering thermostat theory and stands by his apocalyptic vision of humankind destruction within 20years. A harmless vision (or even would be useful if it sparked an according mitigation action), but a ridiculusly set in an atlernative reality.