Posted on 1 September 2024 by BaerbelW, Doug Bostrom, John Hartz

Story of the week

After another crammed week of climate news including updates on climate tipping points, increasing threats from rising seas, burgeoning disease threats and tropical storms juiced by too much warmth, Our Story of the Week is about root cause and excacerbator for all of the above.

Writing for Jacobin, former Rhode Island state representative Aaron Regenburg delivers a critique and rebuttal of a previous essay in the same publication. Regenburg's target is a sincerely delivered but incorrect argument that climate disinformation is not a matter of priority when talking to the general public about solving our climate mishap, an ill-conceived premise that we should save our words by ignoring climate disinformation and instead forcus on climate solutions.

As Regenburg points  out, choosing a single frame in this way is a false choice, a misindentification of mutual exclusivity. Following this advice would only prolong the disastrous outcome we're now living. After all, the problems listed in this edition of Climate News of the Week are much worse thanks to a decades long, concerted, pervasive and well-funded campaign of disinformaton on behalf of the fossil fuel industry.

Downplaying or ignoring intentional deceit delivered on an industrial scale is a bit like thinking that wishing hard enough to stay dry is as good as an umbrella when encountering a rainstorm. Climate remedy will happen via effective public policy, public policy is an outcome of politics and hence systematic climate mitigation is an inherently political matter. Electorates confused by disinformation into flaccid support for or even hostile reactions against useful climate policy cut the legs from beneath our ability to confront and solve our climate problem. 

Writes Regenburg, "The climate movement can walk and chew gum at the same time." Perfectly true, and it's equally true that people can be told and understand both how they're being misled and what they can do to help fix our problem. Doubt and uncertainty over the very existence of climate change as a matter of concern clearly preempts impetus to act, so if there were an attention or communications resource shortage, we'd better be looking to first clear up climate confusion. In reality there is no inherent dilemma or condundrum in simultaneous delivery, and it's even arguably a bit insulting to suggest that average people can't cope with full information. 

Stories we promoted this week, by publication date:

Before August 25

• Scientists closely watching these 3 disastrous climate change scenarios, Nation, USA TODAY, Doyle Rice.
• This chart of ocean heat is terrifying, Climate, Vox, Benji Jones. "The Gulf’s looming hurricane problem, explained in a simple graph."
• The need for pluralism in climate modelling, RealClimate, Guest post by Marina Baldissera Pacchetti, Julie Jebeile and Erica Thompson. How should we allocate resources for climate modelling if the goal is to improve climate-related decisions? Higher resolution, machine learning and/or storylines? A call for a deeper discussion on how we should develop the climate modelling toolbox.
• China and India are so big. Do my country`s climate actions even matter?, Yale Climate Connections, Dana Nuccitelli. Though some countries contribute more to climate change than others, the crisis can only be averted if every major polluter does its part.
• The Tipping Points of Climate Change — and Where We Stand, TED on Youtube, Johan Rochström.

August 25

• 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #34, Skeptical Science, Bärbel Winkler, Doug Bostrom & John Hartz. A listing of 30 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, August 18, 2024 thru Sat, August 24, 2024.
• Caribbean islands hope UN court will end `debt cycle` caused by climate crisis, The Guardian, Natricia Duncan. Countries hope big emitters will take more financial responsibility for emergency relief and damage claims
• Coating clothes with this simple material could cool your body by up to 8 degrees, Climate, CNN, Billy Stockwell,.
• Hone strengthens into a hurricane as it threatens Hawaii with fire and floods, Weather, CNN, Mary Gilbert & Robert Shackelford.

August 26

• Revising the cost of climate change, The Harvard Gazette, Christy DeSmith. "New study of economic toll yields projections ‘six times larger than previous estimates’ "
• ‘Twisters’: Hollywood’s weird spin on tornadoes and climate change, Yale Climate Collections, Review by Michael Svoboda,. "By ignoring a major issue of our time, the film sends a misleading message."
• Will A.I. Ruin the Planet or Save the Planet?, Ask NYT Climate, New York Times, Steve Lohr. "It’s a notorious energy hog. But artificial intelligence can also foster innovation and discovery, and it could speed the global transition to cleaner power.4
• Pacific Islands Climate Risk Growing as Sea Level Rise Accelerates, Inside Climate News, Bob Berwyn. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warns that the climate crisis will leave many people stranded “without a lifeboat.”
• Canada`s New Greenwashing Law Hasn`t Stopped Politicians` CCS Claims, DeSmog, Taylor Noakes. Major companies have scrubbed references to carbon capture. Yet government officials continue to promote it.
• Scientific consensus can strengthen pro-climate attitudes in society, Science Daily, Staff. A new study confirms that communicating the scientific consensus about climate change can clear up misperceptions and strengthen beliefs about the existence and the causes of climate change.
• The overlooked climate plans of Project 2025, HEATED, Emily Atkin. Over the next couple of weeks HEATED will be be publishing a multi-part series on some of the overlooked climate plans of Project 2025.
• Typhoon Shanshan strengthens en route to Japan, Eye on the Storm, Yale Climate Connection, Jeff Masters & Bob Henson. "The Cat 2 storm is expected to top out as a Cat 3 Tuesday, then weaken to a Cat 1 before making landfall on Japan’s Kyushu Island on Thursday."

August 27

• ‘The ocean is overflowing’: UN chief issues global SOS as new reports warn Pacific sea-level rise outstrips global average, Climate, CNN, Helen Regan.
• Where are the hurricanes? The Atlantic’s late-August nap may lead into a stormy September, Eye on the Storm, Yale Climate Connections, Bob Henson & Jeff Masters. "Signals are mounting for a ramp-up in tropical activity after Labor Day."
• Explainer: Why is climate change causing ‘record-shattering’ extreme heat?, Science, Carbon Brief, Daisy Dunne, Science .

August 28

• Big Oil Is the Winner From Dutch Carbon Capture Subsidies, DeSmog, Michael Buchsbaum. A flagship climate scheme will cost taxpayers billions, with no guarantee of a meaningful impact on emissions.
• Canada’s Wildfires Were a Top Global Emitter Last Year, Study Says, New York Times , Manuela Andreoni. "The blazes produced more planet-warming carbon than almost any country, researchers found. That could upend key calculations on the pace of global warming."

August 29

• How Exxon chases billions in US subsidies for a `climate solution` that helps it drill more oil, The Guardian, Andy Rowell and Nina Lakhani. Climate experts raise red flags as oil giant spends millions lobbying while touting ‘underperforming’ carbon capture
• `Hyper-violent` Typhoon Gaemi was made fiercer by climate crisis, say scientists, The Guardian, Damian Carrington. Researchers warn Asia will become an increasingly dangerous place to live until fossil fuels are replaced
• Global warming, explained for everyone: a coffee-time guide to its reality and causes, Climate Crises, The Irish Times, Cormac O'Raifeartaigh. "Amid ongoing scepticism, here is a layman’s summary of why scientists are convinced that global warming is both real and human-caused"
• The US Appetite for Electricity Grew Massively in the First Half of 2024, and Solar Power Rose to the Occasion, Inside Clean Energy, Inside Climate Change, Dan Gearino.
• Climate Change Comes to the Tetons, NYT Climate and Environment, David Gelles. In one of North America’s most stunning mountain ranges, melting glaciers and warmer temperatures are raising fears of ecological tipping points.
• Fighting Climate Disinformation Is an Urgent Priority, Jacobin, Aaron Regunberg. The fossil fuel industry runs a sprawling, lavishly funded operation spreading lies about the climate crisis. Pushing back against that disinformation needs to be a priority for the climate movement.
• Skeptical Science New Research for Week #35 2024, Skeptical Science, Doug Bostrom & Marc Kodack . Skeptical Science's weekly survey of a torrent of research into climate change, climate mitigation, and climate adaptation.

August 30

• How climate change is expanding the reach of a rare and deadly mosquito-borne illness, Grist, Zoya Teirstein. Eastern equine encephalitis, a mosquito-borne disease with a high mortality rate, has been spreading in the Northeast as temperatures rise.
• Biden Administration Backs Plastic as Coal Replacement to Make Steel. One Critic Asks: ‘Have They Lost Their Minds?’, Inside Fuels, Inside Climate News, James Bruggers. "After a Pennsylvania business scored $182.6 million in loan guarantees with promises the project would fight climate change, environmentalists called on Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to change course."
• Fossil fuel transition back in draft pact for UN Summit of the Future after outcry, Climate Home News, Matteo Civillini. "The new text of a UN pact for the high-level event brings back a mention of the headline COP28 agreement"
• Alarm as Australia records ‘gobsmacking’ hot August temperatures  "Heat building up in country’s centre and driving south-east is causing ‘really unusual’ heatwave that is breaking winter records" by Graham Readfearn, Australia News, The Guardian , Aug 30, 2024

August 31

• Fact brief - Is recent global warming part of a natural cycle?, Skeptical Science, Sue Bin Park & John Mason.