Posted on 31 January 2021 by John Hartz

Story of the Week...

Tracking Biden’s environmental actions

The new president is unwinding Trump’s legacy while forging his own 

President Biden has placed climate change squarely at the center of his White House agenda, using his first hours in office to rejoin the Paris climate accord and begin overturning more than 100 environmental actions taken by the Trump administration.

He has in the past week made it clear he will go well beyond reversing former president Donald Trump’s policies. On Jan. 27 he signed an executive order that elevated climate change as a national security issue; instructed every agency to take climate change into account when formulating its policies; directed the government to buy clean and zero-emission vehicles for federal, state, local and tribal government fleets; established a new civilian conservation corps; and ordered a plan for conserving 30 percent of America’s lands and waters by the end of the decade.

“In my view, we’ve already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis. We can’t wait any longer,” Biden told reporters. “We see it with our own eyes. We feel it. We know it in our bones and it’s time to act.” 

Click here to access the entire article as originally published on the Washington post website.

Tracking Biden’s environmental actions by Juliet Eilperin, Brady Dennis & John Muyskens, Climate & Environment, Washington Post, Updated Jan 29, 2021 

Toon of the Week...

Hat tip to the Stop Climate Science Denial Facebook page.

Quote of the Week...

“I’ve done this work for a really long time and it was awesome to be a part of the Obama administration, but they’ve put this on steroids,” Carol Browner, who served as Obama’s climate czar and EPA administrator throughout Bill Clinton’s presidency, told Vox. “It’s ambitious, it’s proactive, it’s durable action on climate change.”

Biden’s “all of government” plan for climate, explained by Ella Nilsen, Vox, Jan 27, 2021

SkS Spotlights... 

The Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes (CLEX) is an international research consortium of five Australian universities and a network of outstanding national and international partner organizations supported by the Australian Research Council.

Climate extremes are the confluence of high impact weather and climate variability. The Centre will improve our understanding of the processes that trigger or enhance extremes and build this understanding into our modelling systems. The improved predictions of climate extremes will help Australia cope with extremes now and in the future.

Coming Soon on SkS...

• A climate bet impossible to lose (Rob Honeycutt)
• Next run of Denial101x starts on February 9 (Baerbel)
• SkS New Research for Week #5 (Doug Bostrom)
• Environmentalists' Climate Change Myths (Climate Adam)
• Global Ice Loss on Pace to Drive Worst-Case Sea Level Rise (Bob Berwyn)
• 2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #6 (John Hartz)
• 2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #6 (John Hartz)

Climate Feedback Article Review...

Video interview of Ian Plimer at Sky News falsely claims that a new study announces an incoming ice age, partly based on an incorrect Daily Mail headline

Analysis of “Earth's climate is 'cyclical' as new study claims an ice age is coming” published in Daily Mail, Sky News Australia, by Ian Plimer on 13 January 2021

Eight scientists analysed the article and unanimously estimate its overall scientific credibility to be ‘very low’.

A majority of reviewers tagged the article as: Clickbait headline, Flawed reasoning, Inaccurate, Misleading.

Click here to access the detailed analysis of this claim by a panel of experts. 

Video interview of Ian Plimer at Sky News falsely claims that a new study announces an incoming ice age, partly based on an incorrect Daily Mail headline, Edited by Nikki Forrester, Article Review, Climate Feedback, Jan 20, 2021

SkS Week in Review... 

• Sun: 2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #4 by John Hartz (SkS Original)
• Mon: The SCIARA Project – Interactive Time Travel into the Climate Future by Daniel Tamberg (SkS Original)
• Tue: Study: Accounting for value of nature reinforces Paris climate targets by Dana Nuccitelli (Yale Climate Connections Repost)
• Wed: Skeptical Science New Research for Week #4, 2021 by Doug Bostrom (SkS Original)
• Thu: Case study - identifying myths and fallacies in Climate Science (Mis)Information Briefs by BaerbelW (SkS Original)
• Fri: Refining the remaining 1.5C ‘carbon budget’ Guest Post by Dr Kasia Tokarska & Dr Damon Matthews (Carbon Brief Repost)
• Sat: 2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #5 by John Hartz (SkS Original) 

Poster of the Week...