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2020 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #32
Posted on 8 August 2020 by John Hartz
Editor's Choice
Five Years After Speaking Out on Climate Change, Pope Francis Sounds an Urgent Alarm
The encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ motivated many people to take action on global warming, but governments, the pope said, have lagged far behind.
Pope Francis delivers his blessing from the window overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican during the Sunday Angelus prayer earlier this month. Credit: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty
When Pope Francis issued his landmark teaching document on climate change in 2015, his words went straight to the heart of Susan Varlamoff.
Varlamoff, 70, a biologist, read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring in the 1960s and speaks proudly of a Catholic faith that embraces science and calls on church members to take care of the earth. Her sister, she said, died from cancer as a child, and she wondered whether her father's liberal use of pesticides in their suburban yard might have been the cause.
She asked Archbishop Wilton Gregory, who was then the leader of 1.2 million Catholics in Atlanta and across much of Georgia, whether she could write a review for the archdiocese of the Pope's "Laudato Si': On Care for our Common Home," the first encyclical to be dedicated to the environment.
Instead, he asked for an action plan.
Click here to access the entire article as posted on the InsideClimate News website.
Five Years After Speaking Out on Climate Change, Pope Francis Sounds an Urgent Alarm by James Bruggers, InsideClimate News, Aug 7, 2020
Articles Linked to on Facebook
Sun, Aug 2, 2020
- It's time for America to reassert climate leadership. It starts with voting, Opinion by Michael Mann, Comment is Free, Guardian, July 29, 2020
- Hundreds of Toxic Superfund Sites Imperiled by Sea-Level Rise, Study Warns by David Hasemyer, InsideClimate News, July 29, 2020
- Isaias nears Florida coast, is poised to affect entire Eastern Seaboard with heavy rain, strong winds by Andrew Freedman & Jason Samenow. Capital Weather Gang, Washngton Post, Aug 2, 2020
- Ireland forced to strengthen climate plan, in supreme court win for campaigners by Isabella Kaminski, Climate Home News, July 31, 2020
Mon, Aug 3, 2020
- Wildfires, record warmth and rapidly melting ice: Arctic climate goes further off the rails this summer by Andrew Freedman, Capital Weather Gang, Washngton Post, July 29, 2020
- Climate and Environmental Crises by Victor Galaz, Politics, Oxford Research Encyclopedias, July 2020
- Forest fires surge in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, prompting fears for 'planet's lungs', AFP/Euronews, Aug 1, 2020
- Analysis: The global coal fleet shrank for first time on record in 2020, Guest Post by Christine Sherer, Carbon Brief, Aug 3, 2020
- There’s still a choice': New Zealand's melting glaciers show the human fingerprints of climate change by Graham Readfearn, Environment, Aug 4, 2020
Tue, Aug 4, 2020
- The politicians in FirstEnergy's pocket by Emily Atkin, Heated, Aug 3, 2020
- Big Oil Took a Big Hit from the Coronavirus, Earnings Reports Show by Nicholas Kusnetz, InsideClimate News, July 31, 2020
- ‘Worst-case’ global warming scenario still best guide until 2050, study says by Alister Doyle, Climate Home News, Aug 3, 2020
- Which states are making the most progress on emissions? Not the ones you think. by Shannon Osaku, Climate, Grist, Aug 4, 2020
Wed, Aug 5, 2020
- It's Time for American Leaders to Wake Up to the Threat of Climate Change for the Good of the Planet and Business, Opinion by John R Kasich, Ideas, Time Magazine, Aug 3, 2020
- Flooding could occur daily in Sydney by the end of this century because of climate change by Graham Readfearn, Environment, Guardian, Aug 4, 2020
- China poised to power huge growth in global offshore wind energy by Jillian Ambrose, Environment, Guardian, Aug 5, 2020
- Rising temperatures will cause more deaths than all infectious diseases – study by Oiliver Milman, Climate Coutdown, Guardian, Aug 4, 2020
Thu, Aug 6, 2020
- State of the climate: 2020 set to be first or second warmest year on record by Zeke Hausfather, Carbon Brief, July 30, 2020
- Major ship emissions study flags a bigger role for governments by Megan Darby, Climate Home News, Aug 4, 2020
- How Hot Is Too Hot? by Randall Munroe, Science, New York Times, Aug 4, 2020
- A Quarter of Bangladesh Is Flooded. Millions Have Lost Everything. by Somini Sengupta & Julfikar Ali Manik, Climate & Environment, New York Times, July 30, 2020
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #31, 2020 by Doug Bostrom, Skeptical Science, Aug 5, 2020
Fri, Aug 7, 2020
- ‘Extreme’ glacier loss events linked to human-caused climate change for first time by Daisy Dunne, Carbon Brief, Aug 3, 2020
- How to drive fossil fuels out of the US economy, quickly by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Aug 6, 2020
- This giant climate hot spot is robbing the West of its water by Juliet Eilperin, Climate & Environment, Washington Post, Aug 7, 2020
- Extreme droughts in central Europe likely to increase sevenfold by Fiona Harvey, Environment, Guardian, Aug 6, 2020
Sat, Aug 8, 2020
- Five Years After Speaking Out on Climate Change, Pope Francis Sounds an Urgent Alarm by James Bruggers, InsideClimate News, Aug 7, 2020
- Inside Clean Energy: What’s a Virtual Power Plant? Bay Area Consumers Will Soon Find Out. by Dan Gearino, InsideClimate News, Aug 6, 2020
- How They Made Us Doubt Everything by Phoebe Keane & Peter Pomerantsev, BBC Radio 4, July 27, 2020
- ‘Super-Pollutant’ Emitted by 11 Chinese Chemical Plants Could Equal a Climate Catastrophe by Phil McKenna, Lili Pike & Kristina Northrop, InsideClimate News, Aug 6, 2020
"The encyclical was seen in some camps as an attack on capitalism, and it made some Catholic Republican leaders squirm, like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who in 2015 observed that the pope "is not a scientist."
The pope is not a scientist. Yes Mr Bush, we know that. The Pope is not claiming to be a scientist. He is not making up his own science. He is not twisting or interpreting the science. Hes quoting the majority view in the scientific community. Plenty of consensus studies show what the vast majority of scientists think documented here.
nigelj,
Pope Francis may not be a scientist, but he is a Jesuit which means he is open minded about correcting beliefs based on evidence that justifies correction of established beliefs. In that way he is like a scientist, but is constrained by popular opinion among his flock.
OPOF @2, fwiw I think Pope Francis is the best Pope the church has had.