2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #44
Posted on 3 November 2024 by BaerbelW, Doug Bostrom, John Hartz
Topics covered this week
Repeating last week's experiment, we asked Google's Gemini again for help categorizing the articles we shared during the week. The result is the bullet list below and we'd like to know how useful that kind of generated summary is for you, so please let us know in the comments!
Climate Change Impacts
- Extreme Weather Events:
- Hurricanes and Floods (The Guardian, Inside Climate News, CNN, Yale Climate Connections)
- Heatwaves and Drought (The Guardian, Yale Climate Connections, CNN)
- Rising Sea Levels and Coastal Erosion (The Guardian, CNN)
- Global Warming and Temperature Rise:
- Record-breaking temperatures (The Guardian, Yale Climate Connections, Inside Climate News)
- Melting glaciers and permafrost (NASA, The Guardian)
- Ocean acidification and marine life
- Climate Migration and Displacement:
- Forced displacement due to climate-related disasters (The Guardian)
Climate Action and Policy
- Climate Policies and Regulations:
- US Climate Policies (Inside Climate News, New York Times, The Guardian)
- International Climate Agreements (Inside Climate News, The Guardian)
- Renewable Energy and Clean Technology:
- Electric vehicles (Inside Climate News, New York Times)
- Solar and wind energy (Skeptical Science)
- Climate Activism and Public Opinion:
- Youth climate activism (Inside Climate News)
- Public opinion on climate change (The Guardian, Grist)
Climate Science and Research
- Climate Modeling and Projections:
- Future climate scenarios (Yale Climate Connections, Inside Climate News)
- Climate History and Paleoclimatology:
- Past climate changes
Stories we promoted this week, by publication date:
Before October 27
- French PM presents report preparing for dramatic climate warming scenario, AFP/Le Monde, Staff. "Temperatures in mainland France are on track to increase by 4°C by 2100 due to global warming, the government warned Friday, urging coping strategies for a much hotter country."
- Climate change breaks heat records across Canada this summer, Climate & Environment, CTV News , Jerry Hull.
- Climate Extremes - At the Abyss?, Youtube, OoS Pictures.
- Lifting the Veil on Tens of Billions in Oil Company Payments to Governments, Fossil Fuels, Inside Climate News, Nicholas Kusnetz. "New reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission reveal payments around the globe. One takeaway? The U.S. government might be getting a bad deal."
- The Depths of Their Discontent: Young Americans Are Distraught Over Climate Change, Justice & Health. Inside Climate News, Nina Dietz. "A new study of 16,000 young people aged 16 to 25 found clear majorities across all regions and political affiliations deeply concerned about the impacts of a warming planet."
- October is aiming to smoke U.S. records for dryness and warmth, Eye on the Storm, Yale Climate Connections, Bob Henson. "Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Nashville may get their first-ever calendar month without a single raindrop or snowflake."
- Climate change reshapes cities, both environmentally and financially, Future America Series, The Hll, Oct, Saul nBein.
October 27
- 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #43, 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, October 20, 2024 thru Sat, October 26, 2024.
- Two hurricanes stir up voter backlash to Florida Republicans’ climate denialism, US News, The Guardian, Analysis by Richard Luscombe. "Destruction caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton bring climate crisis to top of mind, especially for young voters"
October 28
- 12 books to read about climate action ahead of the election, Review Article, Yale Climate Connections, Michael Svoboda. "These books provide insights and analysis about climate politics and the policies that can lead to change."
- Five ways a Trump presidency would be disastrous for the climate, Explainer, US News, The Guardian, Oliver Milman. "Second Trump term would restore climate denialism to an Oval Office efficiently dismantling protections"
- Planet-heating pollutants in atmosphere hit record levels in 2023, Environment, The Guardian, Ajit Niranjan. "Carbon dioxide concentration has increased by more than 10% in just two decades, reports World Meteorological Organization"
- New Reports Ahead of COP29 Show The World Is Spinning Its Wheels on Climate Action, Science, Inside Climate News, Bob Berwyn. "The currently projected warming of about 3 degrees Celsius is 'too hot to handle,' says Ko Barrett, a NOAA climate advisor and deputy secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization."
- Alarm call as world's trees slide towards extinction, Climate, BBC News, Helen Briggs.
October 29
- Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji has yet to see snow this winter, breaking a 130-year record, Travel, CNN, Helen Regan & Genta Takeda,.
- E.P.A., Just Rebounding From Trump Years, Faces an Uncertain Future, Climate, New York Times, Lisa Friedman. "Perhaps more than any other federal agency, the one responsible for protecting air, water and public health is a target for Donald Trump and his allies."
- NASA Helps Find Thawing Permafrost Adds to Near-Term Global Warming, News Release, JPL/NASA, Sally Younger. "Earth’s far northern reaches have locked carbon underground for millennia. New research paints a picture of a landscape in change."
October 30
- Competing Visions for U.S. Auto Industry Clash in Presidential Election, With the EV Future Pressing at the Border, Politics, Inside Climate News, Marianne Lavelle & Dan Gearino. "As Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD puts down roots in Mexico, Harris pledges 'the next generation of breakthroughs' will be built in the U.S. Trump promises gasoline vehicles 'for a long, long time'.”
- At least 95 people dead in Spain’s worst floods in three decades, World, The Guardian, Same Jones. "Soldiers aid search for dozens still missing as prime minister warns extreme weather may not be over"
- ‘Wicked problem’: five charts that show how the climate crisis is making Australia more dangerous, Environment, The Guardian, Graham Readfearn. "A report by BoM and CSIRO checks ‘vital signs of Australia’s climate’ – and shows temperature trends will only worsen"
- In Record-Hottest Year, U.S. Voters Will Decide Climate’s Path Forward, Scientific American, Andrea Thompson. "Global temperatures through September point to 2024 besting 2023 as the hottest year on record. How many future years set records depends in part on the outcome of the 2024 U.S. presidential election"
- ‘We were trapped like rats’: Spain’s floods bring devastation and despair, World, The Guardian, Sam Jones. "Residents describe impact of floods and downpours – with some places hit with a year’s worth of rain in just eight hours"
- Spain’s ‘monster’ floods expose Europe’s unpreparedness for climate change, Politico, Karl Mathiesen, Aitor Hernández-Morales & Zia Weise. "National government blamed local authorities after at least 92 people died as heavy rainfall swept through homes, shops and roadways."
- Clean Energy Is Booming in the U.S. The Election Could Change That., Climate, New York Times, Brad Plumer. "Trump has suggested he would dismantle the Inflation Reduction Act, which has reshaped America’s energy landscape. It won’t be easy."
October 31
- Typhoon Kong-rey: biggest storm in decades wreaks destruction in Taiwan, World, The Guardian, Helen Davidson. "People warned to stay inside because of high risk of storm surges, flooding and landslides as typhoon crosses island"
- Simon Clark: How I keep up to date with climate news, Youtube, Simon Clark.
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #44 2024, Skeptical Science, Doug Bostrom & Marc Kodack.
- Earth’s climate will keep changing long after humanity hits net-zero emissions. Our research shows why, Environment & Energy, Andrew King & Tilo Ziehn.
- Parts of Spain appear to merge with the sea after historic rain in before-and-after images, Weather, CNN, Mary Gilbert.
November 1
- Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles thanks to the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Skeptical Science, SkS Team.
- A November tropical storm in the Caribbean is now likely, Eye on the Storm, Yale Climate Connections, Jeff Masters . "The next name on the Atlantic list of names is Patty."
November 2
- Fact brief - Are most glaciers growing?, Skeptical Science, Sue Bin Park.
- Spain`s apocalyptic floods show undeniable truths: the climate crisis is getting worse and Big Oil is killing us | Jonathan Watts, The Guardian, Jonathan Watts. The devastating flooding should spur this month’s Cop29 climate conference to press for immediate action, not look away
- How climate voters could swing the presidential election, Elections, Grist, Sachi Kitajima Mulkey & Kate Yoder. "In battleground states like Georgia, tens of thousands of climate-conscious voters who didn't show up in 2020 have already cast their ballots."
- 9 Years After the Paris Agreement, the UN Confronts the World’s Failure to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Living on Earth/Inside Climate News,, Interview by Jenni Doering. "In one of three new reports on emissions, UN officials went as far as saying that the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius may be out of reach."
First a little thankyou to Sceptical Science for many years ago teaching me the science about Climate Change or as we called it then Global Warming. To also understand the extremes of the earths past climate cycles and their causes was fasinating.
Why we won't mitigate? It's really about the politics-the science was settled a long time ago.
I know I'm one of the lucky ones and also part of the problem. My island continent is liquifying the methane gas and digging up the "ores" at a faster and faster rate for the overseas sales.
Soon again with my adult children who will never afford to live my dream, we will all be hunkered down by candle or duracell light-lost power from a "rare" supercell thunderstorm. We tune in to the eveready powered radio for current news.
So I go to bed early or read for a while, looking at those " Twelve books to read about climate action before the election" highlighted above, I definitely like this one. What If We Get It Right? Visions of Climate Futures by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (One World 2024, 496 pages, $34.00) "Visionary farmers and financiers, architects and advocates, help us conjure a flourishing future, one worth the effort it will take". Leave off all the media when the power returns and just keep reading...