Posted on 18 February 2024 by BaerbelW

Story of the week

Based on mission alignment, our Story of the Week is certainly Can we be inoculated against climate misinformation? Yes – if we prebunk rather than debunk, published in The Conversation and authored by Christian Turney of the University of Technology, Sydney and Sander van der Linden of Cambridge University. The article parallels Skeptical Science and our emphasis on solidly actionable theory and tested methods of neutralizing misinformation - it starts at why and concludes with how. In the authors' words, the big picture "why learn this?" comes down to:

"Social media and the open internet have made it possible to broadcast information to millions of people, regardless of whether it’s true. It’s no wonder it’s a golden age for misinformation. Misinformation actors have found effective ways to cast scepticism on established science and then sell a false alternative.

"We have to respond. Doing nothing means the lies win. And getting on the front foot with prebunking is one of the best tools we have."

A few minutes spent reading this article will leave us better armed, informed by expert "virologists" studying inoculation against bunk. 

Stories we promoted this week, by publication date:

Published before February 11

• Beware climate populism, Psyche/Aeon, Ákos Szegöfi. The most ardent deniers of anthropogenic climate change today will become the climate conspiracy theorists of tomorrow
• How to speak with your family and friends about environmental issues, Articles, Yale Climate Connections, Laura Thomas-Walters. Viktoria Cologna, Emiel DeLange, Joshua Ettinger & Matthew Selinske. A simple guide to getting started.
• Skeptical Science New Research for Week #6 2024, Skeptical Science, Doug Bostrom & Marc Kodack. Skeptical Science's weekly climate research roundup.
• Climate-crisis deniers sought for exclusive Florida residence. Private ark essential | Gaia Vince, The Guardian, Gaia Vince. Gordon Pointe is going for a snip at $295m but set in a location particularly vulnerable to sea-level rises, buyers should beware

February 11

• 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #06, Skeptical Science, Bärbel Winker. A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, Feb 04, 2024 thru Sat, Feb 10, 2024.
• How a Climate Group That Has Made Chaos Its Brand Got the White House`s Ear, Inside Climate News, Keerti Gopal. In less than a year, Climate Defiance has drawn the admiration of activists and the ire of government leaders and CEOs. It may be a sign of an appetite among activists for more peaceful but confrontational direct action.
• Atmospheric river storms are getting stronger, and deadlier. The race to understand them is on, The Guardian, Gabrielle Canon. As the climate crisis supercharges storms over the Pacific, scientists are creating tools that can measure them from the inside.

February 12

• Climate change is erasing previous gains in air quality - fires are mostly to blame, The Verge - Science Posts, Justine Calma. As the planet heats up, pollution is getting harder to stop. A new report and online tool zooms in on rising risks in the US.
• The World Is Losing Migratory Species at Alarming Rates, Inside Climate News, Katie Surma. A first of its kind U.N. study by conservation scientists finds nearly half of internationally protected migratory species are on their way to extinction.
• Q&A: `Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action`, DeSmog, Michaela Herrmann. Democracy professor Dana R. Fisher says we cannot "keep kicking the can down the road."
• Trump's America Will Lose the Climate Race, Science, The Atlantic Magazine, Zoe Schlanger. A second Trump term would be a disaster. And the U.S. would mostly be hurting itself.
• BREAKING: Countries Need $2T Per Year to Triple Global Renewables by 2030, The Energy Mix, Mitchell Beer.

February 13

• In A Warming World, Climate Scientists Consider Category 6 Hurricanes, CleanTechnica, US Department of Energy.
• Attorney and Climate Science Defender: Unpacking the Mann Verdict, This is Not Cool, Peter Sinclair. No one better than Lauren Kurtz, Executive Director of the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, to give us a summary of a 12 year legal wrangle in the defamation case brought by Michael Mann against anti-science grifters.
• Argentine resistance hinders Milei`s forest and glacier destruction, Climate Home News, David Feliba. Ultra free-market president Javier Milei has not so far been able to get cuts to environmental regulations through Congress.
• For threatened polar bears, the climate change diet is a losing proposition, The Independent News, Seth Borenstein. With Arctic sea ice shrinking from climate change, many polar bears have to shift their diets to land during parts of the summer.
• Climate experts sound alarm over thriving plant life at Greenland ice sheet, Environment, The Guardian, Rachel Keenan. Research shows there has been a near-quadrupling across Greenland of methane-producing wetlands
• Global warming is making Greenland greener, NBC News World News, Denise Chow. A study of satellite images found that an estimated 11,000 square miles of Greenland's ice sheet and glaciers have melted over the past 30 years, giving way to vegetation.

February 14

• Amazon rainforest could reach `tipping point` by 2050, scientists warn, The Guardian, Jonathan Watts. "We need to respond now," says author of study that says crucial forest has already passed safe boundary and needs restoration.
• Climate connections: Four stories of relationships forged through climate action, Grist, Claire Elise Thompson. This Valentine's Day, we've collected tales of love and friendship that began with a shared passion for climate work.
• Google, Environmental Defense Fund will track methane emissions from space, ArsTechnica, John Timmer. Satellite data + Google Maps + AI should help figure out where methane is leaking.
• Can we be inoculated against climate misinformation? Yes - if we prebunk rather than debunk, The Conversation, Christian Turney & Sander van der Linden.
• AI study finds nearly 15% of Americans deny climate change is real, shaped by social media influencers: Public figures such as Trump play outsized role in influencing beliefs, University of Michigan, Nayiri Mullinix.

February 15

• When a climate denier becomes Louisiana`s governor: Jeff Landry`s first month in office, Grist, Terry L. Jones, Floodlight. Landry has surrounded himself with former fossil fuel executives and he has targeted the state's climate change task force.
• A Slap Shot Against Climate Denial, New York Times, Michael E. Mann and Peter J. Fontaine.
• MAGA Republicans Have a 920-Page Plan to Make Climate Change Worse. Here's What It Says., Heatmap, Jeva Lange. We read the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 playbook so you don't have to.
• Jennifer Francis PhD on El Nino, Global Temps, and Earth`s Mirror, This is Not Cool, Peter Sinclair.
• Climate change denial heats up at Wyoming Capitol, WyoFile, Mike Koshmrl and Dustin Bleizeffer. A group known for promoting misleading information about climate change won the attention — and hearts — of many Wyoming lawmakers this week.
• Skeptical Science New Research for Week 7, 2024, Skeptical Science, Doug Bostrom & Marc Kodack. Our weekly snapshot of the beating heart of climate research

February 16

• Loss and damage must be a focus of IPCC`s next reports, Climate Home News, John Lee Algo. Without proper interventions anchored on the latest and best available science, even more people would be vulnerable to disastrous impacts of tremendous economic and non-economic costs.
• DeBriefed 16 February 2024: Atlantic and Amazon `tipping points`; New `troika` for 1.5C; Global support for climate action `underestimated', Carbon Brief, Simon Evans. This is an online version of Carbon Brief's weekly DeBriefed email newsletter.

If you happen upon high quality climate-science and/or climate-myth busting articles from reliable sources while surfing the web, please feel free to submit them via this Google form so that we may share them widely. Thanks!