Arguments
2017 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #43
Posted on 28 October 2017 by John Hartz
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook page during the past week.
Editor's Pick
Coal use must 'pretty much' be gone by 2050 to curb sea-level rise, researchers say
Warming waters are melting the Antarctic ice sheets from below. Photo: APT
Coal use will have to be "pretty much" gone by mid-century if the planet is to avoid sea-level rise of more than a metre by 2100 as Antarctic ice sheets disintegrate faster than expected, new modelling by an Australian-led team has found.
On business-as-usual projections, sea-level rise by the end of the century could exceed 1.3 metres compared with the 1986-2005 average, or 55 per cent more than predicted in the Fifth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, according to research published in the Environmental Research Letters journal.
"We have provided a preview of what will have to be considered and assessed in more detail by the upcoming Sixth IPCC report," due for release in 2021, said Alexander Nauels, lead author of the report, and a researcher at Melbourne University's Australian-German Climate & Energy College.
Coal use must 'pretty much' be gone by 2050 to curb sea-level rise, researchers say by Peter Hannam, Sydney Morning Herald, Oct 26, 2017
Links posted on Facebook
Sun Oct 22, 2017
- Pollution’s Annual Price Tag? $4.6 Trillion and 9 Million Dead by John Tozzi, Bloomberg News, Oct 19, 2017
- An evangelical Christian took her climate change message to the heart of conservative Iowa. Here's how she was greeted by Mike Kilen, DeMoines Register, Oct 21, 2017
- Jacinda Ardern commits New Zealand to zero carbon by 2050 by Karl Mathiesen, Climate Home, Oct 20, 2017
- Powerful typhoon drenches Japan, tens of thousands advised to evacuate by Elaine Lies & Makiko Yamazaki, Reuters, Oct 21, 2017
- Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Portraying Environmental Activism as Illegal Racket by Nicholas Kusnetz, InsideClimate News, Oct 16, 2017
- Phoenix's heat is rising — and so is the danger by Brandon Loomis, azcentral.com., Oct 18, 2017
- Hurricane Irma: U.S. Withdrawal from Paris Climate Deal 'The Most Backward Decision' Ever, Says Antigua PM by Connor Gaffney, Newsweek, Oct 20, 2017
- Gutting the Clean Power Plan puts off the steps needed to avert climate disasters, Editorial, BDN Maine, Oct 16, 2017
Mon Oct 23, 2017
- Warning of 'ecological Armageddon' after dramatic plunge in insect numbers by Damian Carrington, Guardian, Oct 18, 2017
- E.P.A. Cancels Talk on Climate Change by Agency Scientists by Lisa Friedman, New York Times, Oct 22, 2017
- Wild is the wind: the resource that could power the world by Paula Cocozza, Guardian, Oct 15, 2017
- Seven dead as Typhoon Lan lashes Japan, KYODO/The Japanese Times, Oct 23, 2017
- UN shipping climate talks ‘captured’ by industry lobbyists by Megan Darby, Climate Home, Oct 23, 2017
- Ocean acidification is deadly threat to marine life, finds eight-year study by Fiona Harey, Guardian, Oct 23, 2017
- Americans want a tax on carbon pollution, but how to get one? by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Oct 23, 2017
- Oceans Can Rise in Sudden Bursts by Chelsea Harvey, E&E News/Scientific American, Oct 20, 2017
Tue Oct 24, 2017
- In Defense of the 1.5°C Climate Change Threshold by Loren Legarda, Project Syndicate, Oct 23, 2017
- Scotland is Now Getting Electricity from the World's First Floating Wind Farm by Melissa C. Lott, Scientific American, Oct 22, 2017
- Seeking 'common ground' in climate change dialogs by Karin Kirk, Yale Climate Communications, Oct 23, 2017
- Climate Change Will Bring Major Flooding to New York Every 5 Years by Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, Oct 24, 2017
- Will global warming increase or decrease U.S. energy consumption? by Lucas Davis, Berkeley News, Oct 23, 2017
- Congressional Auditor Urges Action to Address Climate Change by Lisa Friedman, Climate, New York Times, Oct 23, 2017
- Ganges under threat from climate change by Jasvinder Sehgal, Deutsche Welle (WE), Oct 24, 2017
- London is trying an innovative new strategy to stop air pollution: taxing old cars by Zeeshan Aleem, Vox, Oct 23, 2017
Wed Oct 25, 2017
- How Climate Change Is Playing Havoc With Olive Oil (and Farmers) by Somini Sengupta, New York Times, Oct 24, 2017
- Washington D.C. Tackles Emissions with Dockless Bikes by Camille von Kaenel, E&E News/Scientific American, Oct 23, 2017
- In-depth: How will climate change affect animal sex ratios? by Daisy Dunne, Carbon Brief, Oct 23, 2017
- EPA Press Office Tips Toward Hostility Under Pruitt by Georgina Gustin, InsideClimate News, Oct 24, 2017
- Puerto Rico’s Solar Future Takes Shape at Children’s Hospital, with Tesla Batteries by Lyndsen Gilpin, InsideClimate News, Oct 25, 2017
- The Climate Apartheid: How Global Warming Affects the Rich and Poor by Jeff Goodell, Rolling Stone, Oct 24, 2017
- Why the IPCC's New Focus on Mountain Climate Change Is a Big Deal by Bob Berwyn, Pacific Standard, Oct 25, 2017
- Rising Seas Are Flooding Virginia’s Naval Base, and There’s No Plan to Fix It by Nicholas Kusnetz, InsideClimate News, Oct 25, 2017
Thu Oct 26, 2017
- Hurricane season 2017: what the hell just happened? by Brian Resnick, Energy & Environment, Vox, Oct 25, 2017
- Role of the Fashion Industry in UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by Karen Newman and Cara Smyth, Inter Press Service (IPS), Oct 23, 2017
- Latin America Heads to Climate Summit with Uneven Progress by Emilio Godoy, Inter Press Service (IPS), Oct 23, 2017
- Exclusive: The Interior Department Scrubs Climate Change From Its Strategic Plan by Adam Federman, The Nation, Oct 25, 2017
- Are Antarctica's Ice Sheets Near a Climate Tipping Point? by Bob Berwyn, InsideClimate News, Oct 26, 2017
- What does a sexist Google engineer teach us about women in science? by John Abraham, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Oct 23, 2017
- New science suggests the ocean could rise more — and faster — than we thought by Chris Mooney, Energy & Envronment, Oct 26, 2017
- Shipping executive: ‘We have deliberately misled public on climate’ by Karl Mathiesen, Climate Home, Oct 26, 2017
Fri Oct 27, 2017
- We will be toasted, roasted and grilled': IMF chief sounds climate change warning, Agence France-Presse (AFP), Guardian, Oct 25, 2017
- ‘Let us do our job’: Anger erupts over EPA’s apparent muzzling of scientists by Juliet Elperin & Brady Dennis, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Oct 23, 2017
- New research, October 16-22, 2017 by Ari Jokimäki, Skeptical Science, Oct 27, 2017
- New York City could face damaging floods ‘every five years’ in a warmer climate by Daisy Dumme, Carbon Brief, Oct 23, 2017
- Even climate deniers seem to think Scott Pruitt is bullshitting by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Oct 26, 2017
- Why hot weather records continue to tumble worldwide by Andrew King, The Conversation AU, Oct 26. 2017
- Coal use must 'pretty much' be gone by 2050 to curb sea-level rise, researchers say by Peter Hannam, Sydney Morning Herald, Oct 26, 2017
Sat Oct 28, 2017
- Tesla just brought solar to a hospital in Puerto Rico. The rest of the island won't be as easy. by Umair Irfan, Energy & Environment, Vox, Oct 26, 2017
- Down hundreds of staff, Weather Service ‘teetering on the brink of failure,’ labor union says by Jason Samenow, Capital weather Gang, Washington Post, Oct 26, 2017
- Analysis: How could the Agung volcano in Bali affect global temperatures? by Zeke Hausfather, Carbon Brief, Oct 25, 2017
- 5 Years After Sandy, New York Rebuilds With The Next Flood In Mind by Joel Rose, NPR News, Oct 28, 2017
- These ocean drones are trawling for climate change data by Katy Scott, CNN Money, Oct 27, 2017
- Climate change threatens the survival of Madagascar’s bamboo lemurs by Daisy Dumme, Carbon Brief, Oct 26, 2017
- Maritimes’ softwood trees in decline due to global warming, study warns by Michael Tutton, Canadian Press/Toronto Star, Oct 27, 2017
- Reaction: Dieter Helm’s ‘least cost’ ideas for meeting the UK’s climate targets by Jocelyn Timperley, Carbon Brief, Oct 27, 2017
Many people appear to remain unfortunately scepticial or complacent about sea level rise. I think we have a sort of perception problem that explains why a lot of people seem somewhat complacent about sea level rise impacts. We have had about 200mm over the last century which is so small and slow you hardly notice, and infrastructure easily adjusts (in the main, I know we are seeing problems emerge now etc and it depends on location etc). Its generally within the margins of safety when designing building platform heights, roads, and drainage systems. Buildings last about 50 - 80 years and when replaced its easy to build slightly higher foundations if required.
People are very conditioned to this long term pattern. It's probably very hard for many to visualise how a seemingly innocuous change to maybe 10mm per year or so and 1 metre per century would effect things quite seriously, because they have known nothing like it, and it seems distant, and just seems like a case of move to higher ground in some orderly fashion. But in fact one metre will leave many buildings and infrastructure useless well before its intended life expires, especially if we go on allowing building on low ground.
Drainage systems just stop functioning when inundated with water, and well before actual buildings are effected, and there are not simple answers to this. They have all been designed around very low levels of sea level rise past century, not for one metre or more.
You can keep water out of communities with barriers sometimes (at considerable expense) but thats only part of the issue.
Florida have already experienced quite significant sea level rise in parts recently and are starting to feel the impacts, yet remain in complete denial for the most part. It astounds me. You would think they would at least change building codes to require higher foundations, and stop developing very low lying lands for buildings.
It's not just the 200mm that makes a difference in most places, it's the more ferocious, more frequent storms, that send bigger storm surges into areas previously not regarded as vulnerable. Part of that problem seems to be the reluctance of many communities to face up to it for fear that it will provoke a catastrophic collapse of confidence in property values. I guess time will sort that out.
Kiwiano, you have raised an interesting point there, people in denial about sea level rise out of fear of admission and action leading to property price crash. It would be interesting to do polls on opinion on climate change in low lying areas and higher ground and compare the results.
Half a dozen European countries have committed to zero coal power production between 2022 and 2030... thus, the 2050 limit cited does not seem impossible. It seems that China and India are turning the corner and likely that any future industrialization (e.g. Africa) will follow a renewable path from the start. Political forces in the US and Australia are still desperately pushing coal, but they are clearly losing the battle... and the day is coming when coal companies won't be able to afford to buy politicians any more.