Posted on 9 June 2018 by John Hartz

Editor's Pick

Artificial Intelligence—A Game Changer for Climate Change and the Environment

AI is continually improving climate models. Photo: Los Alamos National Lab 

As the planet continues to warm, climate change impacts are worsening. In 2016, there were 772 weather and disaster events, triple the number that occurred in 1980. Twenty percent of species currently face extinction, and that number could rise to 50 percent by 2100. And even if all countries keep their Paris climate pledges, by 2100, it’s likely that average global temperatures will be 3?C higher than in pre-industrial times.

But we have a new tool to help us better manage the impacts of climate change and protect the planet: artificial intelligence (AI). AI refers to computer systems that “can sense their environment, think, learn, and act in response to what they sense and their programmed objectives,” according to a World Economic Forum report, Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for the Earth.

In India, AI has helped farmers get 30 percent higher groundnut yields per hectare by providing information on preparing the land, applying fertilizer and choosing sowing dates. In Norway, AI helped create a flexible and autonomous electric grid, integrating more renewable energy.

And AI has helped researchers achieve 89 to 99 percent accuracy in identifying tropical cyclones, weather fronts and atmospheric rivers, the latter of which can cause heavy precipitation and are often hard for humans to identify on their own. By improving weather forecasts, these types of programs can help keep people safe.

Artificial Intelligence—A Game Changer for Climate Change and the Environment by Renee Choo, State of the Planet, Earth Institute, June 5, 2018

Links posted on Facebook

Sun June 3, 2018

• New research, May 21-27, 2018 by Ari Jokimäki, Skeptical Science, June 1, 2018
• Snowfields a generation away from climate meltdown, report warns by Adam Carey, The Age, May 31, 2018
• Waste Heat: Innovators Turn to an Overlooked Renewable Resource by Nicola Jones, Yale Environment 360, May 29, 2018
• Gov. Brown says fallout from Trump quitting Paris accord is 'far more serious than anyone is saying' by Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times, June 1, 2018
• Hope in the Era of Trump’s Climate Foolishness, Editorial Board, New York Times, June 1, 2018
• Why Experts Just Changed Their Forecasts About 2018 Hurricane Season Activity by Marshall Shepherd, Forbes, May 2, 2018
• Truthsquading: Books and reports on the denial and obstruction of climate science by Michael Svoboda, Yale Climate Connections, May 31, 2018
• Oil Pipelines or Climate Action? Trudeau Walks a Political Tightrope in Canada by Nicholas Kusnetz, InsideClimate News, June 1, 2018

Mon June 4, 2018

• Don't turn to the military to solve the climate-change crisis, Opinion by Nick Buxton, Environment, Guardian, June 3, 2018
• Eerie silence falls on Shetland cliffs that once echoed to seabirds’ cries by Robin McKie, Environment, Observer/Guardian, June 3, 2018
• New documentaries bring climate change to the big screen by Annelise McGough, Jesse Nichols & Kate Yoder, Grist, May 30, 2018
• Two-Thirds Of Canadians Oppose Fossil Fuel Subsidies, The Energy Mix, June 3, 2018
• Rich nations spend $100 bln a year on fossil fuel subsidies despite climate pledges by Lin Taylor, Thomson Reuters Foundation, June 4, 2018
• Limiting global warming to 2 degrees now 'aspirational': scientists by Peter Hannam, Environment, Sydney Morning Herald, June 4, 2018
• Is America Ready for the Next Superstorm? by Sean Patrick Cooper, The New Republic, June 4, 2018
• Can A New Kind Of Consumerism Help Fight Climate Change? by Matt Simon, Environment, Wired, June 4, 2018

Tue June 5, 2018

• Big investors urge G7 to step up climate action, shift from coal by Alister Doyle, Reuters, June 3, 2018
• Why chronic floods are coming to New Jersey by Carlos Waters, Videos, Vox, June 4, 2018
• The World Is Dangerously Lowballing The Economic Cost Of Climate Change, Study Finds by Alexander C Kaufman, Environment, HuffPost, June 3, 2018
• 'Carbon bubble' could spark global financial crisis, study warns by Fiona Harvey, Environment, Guardian, June 4, 2018
• The moral calculus of climate change by Leda Zimmerman, MIT News, June 4, 2018
• The latest weak attacks on EVs and solar panels by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Environment, Guardian, June 4, 2018
• Concern for global warming is not a new craze by Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz, ScieneNordic, June 5, 2018
• World can limit global warming to 1.5C by ‘improving energy efficiency’ by Daisy Dunne, The Carbon Brief, June 4, 2018

Wed June 6, 2018

• Hawaii just passed a law to make the state carbon neutral by 2045 by Adele Peters, Fast Company, June 4, 2018
• Is LEED Tough Enough for the Climate-Change Era? by Brian Barth, City Lab, June 5, 2018
• How Climate Change Will Make Pollution Even Worse by David Bressan, Forbes, June 5, 2018
• Spain, Italy leadership changes raise hopes for EU climate ambition by Megan Darby, Climate Home News, June 5, 2018
• Judge Orders EPA to Produce Science behind Pruitt’s Warming Claims by Scott Waldman, E&E News/Scientific American, June 5, 2018
• GOP Congressmen Launch ‘Foreign Agent’ Probe Over NRDC’s China Program by Marianne Lavelle, InsideClimate News, June 6, 2018
• Hurricanes are traveling more slowly — which makes them even more dangerous by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, June 6, 2018
• This technology could fundamentally change our relationship to electricity by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, June 5, 2018

Thu June 7, 2018

• Cruises cut a slice through the Atlantic's carbon pie by Rebecca Lindsey & Michon Scott, NOAA's Climate.gov, June 5, 2018
• The White House Apparently Forgot to Tell NOAA Not to Mention Climate Change by Rebecca Leber, Mother Jones, June 5, 2018
• U.S. Coastal Flooding Breaks Records as Sea Level Rises, NOAA Report Shows by Nicholas Kusnetz, InsideClimate News, June 6, 2018
• Shell Knew About Climate Migration 40 Years Ago. This is What it Told the Public by Chloe Ferand, DeSmog UK, June 6, 2018
• Coal industry documents show extent of effort to influence Trump on Paris accord, regulations by Carolyn McAtee Cerbin, USA Today, June 6, 2018
• Tiny shrimp could influence global climate changes by John Abraham, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Environment, Guardian, June 7, 2018
• Nation’s Hottest May on Record Leaves Dust Bowl in the Dust by Bob Henson, Category 6, Weather Underground, June 6, 2018
• We Need More Volcanoes: Eruptions Slowed Global Warming in Past by Ruth Schuster, Haaretz, June 7, 2018

Fri June 8, 2018

• Climate change activists find ally in Orthodox Church leader by Derek Gatopoulos, AP/ABC, June 6, 2018
• Court cases will expose Big Oil’s hypocrisy on climate change by Dana Drugmand, Climate Home News, June 7, 2018
• U.S. Cities Need to Plan for an Influx of Internal Climate Migrants, Opinion by Victoria Hermann, Observations, Scientific American, June 6, 2018
• Trump to skip climate portion of G7 after Twitter spat with Macron and Trudeau by Kevin Liptak, Michelle Kosinski & Jeremy Diamond, CNN, June 8, 2018
• A new way to assess ‘global warming potential’ of short-lived pollutants, Guest Post by Michelle Cain, Carbon Brief, June 7, 2018
• CO2 Levels Break Another Record, Exceeding 411 Parts Per Million, E360 Digest, Yale Environment 360, June 7, 2018
• National Geographic accurately covers research pointing to slower-moving hurricanes, Edited by Scott Johnson, Climate Feedback, Jun 8, 2018
• Artificial Intelligence—A Game Changer for Climate Change and the Environment by Renee Choo, State of the Planet, Earth Institute, June 5, 2018

Sat June 9, 2018

• Want to halt global warming and raise living standards? Get efficient by Scott K Johnson, Ars Technica, June 5, 2018
• Welcome to Scientific American's New Climate Science Column, Opinion by Kate Marvel, Scientific American, June 8, 2018
• The scientific method and climate change: How scientists know by Holly Shaftel, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Global Climate Change, June 6, 2018
• Pope Tells Oil Executives to Act on Climate: ‘There Is No Time to Lose’ by Elisabetta Povoledo, Europe, New York Times, June 9, 2018
• Is Australia’s current drought caused by climate change? It’s complicated by Andrew King, Anna Ukkola & Ben Henley, The Conversation UK, June 7, 2018
• The story of coal in the 21st century, in one amazing map by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, June 7, 2018
• We are almost certainly underestimating the economic risks of climate change by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, June 9, 2018
• Climate Science blogs around the world by BaerbelW, Skeptical Science, June 6, 2018