Posted on 31 March 2024 by BaerbelW, Doug Bostrom, John Hartz

Story of the week

When it comes to polar sea ice appearances can be deceptive, trends may be obvious but the year-by-year evolution of our warming climate is full of noise, and circumstances can change rapidly. That's how our Story of the Week might be synopsized. Carbon Brief's journalist Ayesha Tandon's Antarctic sea ice `behaving strangely` as Arctic reaches `below-average` winter peak updates us on the annual evolution of ice melt and ice advance at each pole of the planet at 2024's vernal equinox. Antarctica's sea ice continues to track at near record low levels, continuing a sharp reversal from "everything looks fine!" starting a few years ago and now behaving “completely outside the bounds of normality” according to experts. At the same time, while Arctic sea ice superficially looks better than in recent years despite being buffeted by challenging weather a closer look reveals parlous conditions— and literal thin ice. NOAA GFDL scientist Zach Labe reports: “Total Arctic sea-ice volume ended up as the third lowest on record for the month of February due to the wide coverage of this thinner ice.”

Stories we promoted this week, by publication date:

Before March 24

• California`s Climate Leaders Vow to Hold Fossil Fuel Companies to Account, Inside Climate News, Liza Gross. “For way too long, frontline communities have been paying for our climate crisis,” Assemblymember Isaac Bryan said. “We’ve got to change that.”
• You don’t have to admit there’s a climate crisis to be fighting climate change, Politics, CNN, Zachary B. Wolf.
• Skeptical Science New Research for Week #13 2024, Skeptical Science, Doug Bostrom & Marc Kodack . Skeptical Science's weekly connection to the ultimate in ''primary sources'' of Earth climate systems knowledge.
• Higher temperatures mean higher food and other prices. A new study links climate shocks to inflation, Climate, AP NEWS, Seth Borenstein.
• Is Science Museum’s green power gallery tainted by fossil-fuel cash?, Science, The Observer, The Gusardian, Robin McKie. "Museum’s funding by Indian energy group sparks controversy – with activists calling for boycott of ‘tainted’ partnership but others in full support."
• Remember That Time the EPA Killed the Sedan?, The New Republic , Kate Arnoff. How one quick trick in 2012 changed the way America drives—and undermined its climate rules

March 24

• 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #12, Skeptical Science, Baerbel Winkler, Doug Bostrom & John Hartz. News and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024
• Israeli researchers want to build a space parasol to cool Earth, mitigate global warmingRozen and his team say scientists already have "all the pieces needed" to return to pre-Industrial Revolution temperatures., Business & Innovation, The Jerusalem Post, Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman. "Rozen and his team say scientists already have "all the pieces needed" to return to pre-Industrial Revolution temperatures."

March 25

• Want clean electricity? These are the overlooked elected officials who get to decide., Skeptical Science, Emily Jones (Grist). As the Georgia Public Service Commission writes, "Very few governmental agencies have as much impact on people's lives."
• In a surprise vote, major European climate protection plan shelved following farmer protests, The Independent News, Raf Casert. A European Union plan to fight climate change and better protect nature in the 27-nation bloc has been indefinitely postponed, underscoring how farmers’ protests sweeping the continent influence politics ahead of the June EU parliamentary elections
• Antarctic sea ice near historic lows: Arctic ice continues decline, Phys.org, James Riordon.
• Court Rules 2022 Wyoming Oil and Gas Lease Sale Was Illegal, Common Dreams, Newswire Editor. Wyoming sale was one of the largest oil and gas lease sales held on public lands
• 2023 the hottest year on record, and other nature and climate stories you need to read this week, Climate Change, World Economic Forum, Meg Jones & Joe Myers.
• More people care about climate change than you think, Our World in Data, Hannah Ritchie. The majority of people in every country support action on climate, but the public consistently underestimates this

March 26

• New warning system could save lives during wildfires, Yale Climate Connections, Bob Henson. The system got its biggest test yet in February 2024 as a million-acre blaze ripped through the Texas Panhandle.
• At a glance - Human fingerprints on climate change rule out natural cycles, Skeptical Science, John Mason. The 58th updated rebuttal now featuring the at-a-glance section.
• Antarctic sea ice `behaving strangely` as Arctic reaches `below-average` winter peak, Carbon Brief, Ayesha Tandon. Antarctic sea ice is “behaving strangely” and might have entered a “new regime”, the director of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) tells Carbon Brief.
• Climate change puts global semiconductor manufacturing at risk. Can the industry cope?, The Conversation, Josh Lepawsky. The chip manufacturing industry of the 21st century is the most significant industry, geopolitically speaking, as oil was in the 20th century.
• `Tone-deaf` fossil gas growth in Europe is speeding climate crisis, say activists, The Guardian, Ajit Niranjan. Just 2% of continent’s gas capacity has planned retirement date despite pledges to decarbonise, study shows

March 27

• `Everybody has a breaking point`: how the climate crisis affects our brains, The Guardian, Clayton Page Aldern. Are growing rates of anxiety, depression, ADHD, PTSD, Alzheimer’s and motor neurone disease related to rising temperatures and other extreme environmental changes?
• Project 2025 tells us what a second Trump term could mean for climate policy. It isn’t pretty, Cognoscenti, WBUR Radio, Commentary by Frederick Hewett.
• As climate change threatens cultural treasures, museums get creative to conserve both energy and artifacts, Grist, Claire Elise Thompson. Museums are reckoning with their own carbon footprints as they work to safeguard their collections from heat and storms.
• Extreme heat summit to urge leaders to act on threat from rising temperatures, The Guardian, Jonathan Watts. IFRC and USAid staging conference to draw attention to risks and share best practice in disaster alerts and response
• ‘Humbling, and a bit worrying’: Scientists fail to fully explain record global heat, LA Times, Hayley Smitz.
• How Climate Change Is Making Allergy Season Worse, The Atlantic Daily, Atlantic Magazine, Lora Kelly. "A conversation with Yasmin Tayag about rising pollen counts and the allergy apocalypse"
• Sinking Coastal Lands Will Exacerbate the Flooding from Sea Level Rise in 24 US Cities, New Research Shows In the affected cities, as many as 500,000, Science, Inside Climate News, Moriah McDonald. In the affected cities, as many as 500,000 people and one in every 35 properties could be impacted by the flooding, and communities of color face disproportionate effects.

March 28

• Yes, even most temperate landscapes in the US can and will burn, Climate, Vox, Kylie Mohr. "Wildfire risk is increasing everywhere, especially in the East and South. Here’s a major reason why."
• Cancellation of UN climate weeks removes platform for worst-hit communities, Climate Home News, Dulce Marrumbe. Lede: The UNFCCC has said it will not hold regional climate weeks in 2024 due to a funding shortfall – which means less inclusion for developing-country voices
• Climate change could affect timekeeping, study says, BBC News, AFP. Climate change is affecting the speed of the Earth's rotation and could impact how we keep time, a study says.
• Skeptical Science New Research for Week #13 2024, Skeptical Science, Doug Bostrom & Marc Kodack. Our own weekly roundup of academic climate research.
• Surge of new US-led oil and gas activity threatens to wreck Paris climate goals, Environment, The Guardian , Oliver Milman. World’s fossil-fuel producers on track to nearly quadruple output from newly approved projects by decade’s end, report finds

March 29

• Copernicus online portal offers terrifying view of climate emergency, Environment The Guardian, Paul Brown. Looking at the mass of information, there is only one conclusion: we are running out of time
• Book review: `Saving Ourselves` author says we can`t wait on global leaders to save the climate, Yale Climate Connections, Michael Svoboda. A new book by sociologist Dana Fisher argues that global climate negotiations have proven ineffective. So it’s time for regular people to get organized and take back power from fossil fuel companies.
• Study says since 1979 climate change has made heat waves last longer, spike hotter, hurt more people, The Independent News, Seth Borenstein. A new study says climate change is making giant heat waves crawl slower across the globe and they are baking more people for a longer time with higher temperatures over larger areas

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!