2019 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #31
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, July 28 through Sat, Aug 3, 2019
Editor's Pick
Pretend Underdogs: Inside a Climate Denier Conference at Trump Hotel
Photo by Joe McCarthy
I entered Trump International Hotel in Washington last Thursday with a three-person team to cover the Heartland Institute’s 13th International Conference on Climate Change. I left with two.
Despite the overwhelming scientific consensus that humans are causing climate change by burning fossil fuels, this free-market think tank, which has received large sums of fossil fuel money, continues to hawk various strains of climate change denial. And they weren’t happy that The Weather Channel had brought along George Mason University researcher John Cook, who tracks disinformation and climate change denialism professionally. About two hours into the conference, interim Heartland President and Director of Communications Jim Lakely pulled us aside. “You have two choices,” the stocky, spikey-haired man told us in a small conference room filled with empty cardboard boxes. “Either John leaves, or you all leave.”
(Cook was not on the press list, but was an official correspondent with The Weather Channel for the occasion. After the Heartland Institute failed to respond to multiple emails, Cook joined our reporting team, assuming there was no problem.)
This gesture — “He’s not welcome on principle,” Lakely said — set the tone for the next several hours, during which former NASA climate communications specialist Laura Faye Tenenbaum, sound recordist Rachel Falcone and I would listen to a cabal of policy wonks, contrarian scientists and communicators sounding a little too certain in their denial to deserve the title, “skeptics.”
(The visit to the conference was part of the reporting for a new investigative podcast series on climate denial and disinformation coming from The Weather Channel this fall.)
Pretend Underdogs: Inside a Climate Denier Conference at Trump Hotel by Joseph McCarthy, The Weather Channel, Aug 2, 2019
Links posted on Facebook
Sun July 28, 2019
- Research Highlight: Loss of Arctic's Reflective Sea Ice Will Advance Global Warming by 25 Years by Robert Monroe, Scripps News, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, July 22, 2019
- German Greens propose homeworking to beat the heatwave by Kate Connolly, World, Guardian, July 26, 2019
- Greta Thunberg: Neil Hamilton accused of 'personal attack' on child activist, BBC News, Wales, July 25, 2019
- Europe’s Greens are on fire... and it’s not just because of the sweltering heat, Opinion by James Dennison, Comment is Free, Guardian, July 28, 2019
- 108 degrees in Paris: Europe is shattering heat records this week by Umair Irfan, Energy & Environment, Vox, July 28, 2019
- Texas Now Gets More Power From Wind Than Coal by Joe McCarthy, Environment, Global Citizen, July 26, 2019
- Ohio just passed the worst energy bill of the 21st century by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, July 27, 2019
Mon July 29, 2019
- Major automakers strike climate deal with California, rebuffing Trump on proposed mileage freeze by Juliet Eilperin & Brady Dennis, Climate & Environment, Washington Post, July 25, 2019
- Cool Ideas to Clean up Pollution From Cars, Trucks, Ships and Planes by Marlene Cimons, Nexus Media, July 25, 2019
- 'People are dying': how the climate crisis has sparked an exodus to the US by Nina Lakhani, Running Dry, Environment, Guardian, July 29, 2019
- First Nations chiefs declare climate emergency on Day 1 of AFN annual assembly, CBC News, July 23, 2019
- Is Boris Johnson's Cabinet the Most Anti-Climate Action Ever? by Mat Hope & Richard Collett-White, DeSmog UK, July 25, 2019
- Frank Luntz, the GOP’s message master, calls for climate action by Kate Yoder, Grist, July 25, 2019
- To Deliver 'Fundamental Message' for 'Survival of Future Generations,' Greta Thunberg to Sail Atlantic for Americas by Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams, July 29, 2019
- What role will climate change play in the 2020 presidential election?, Commentary by Dana Nuccitelli, Yale Climate Connection, July 29, 2019
Tue July 30, 2019
- The Vital Next Step In Fighting Climate Change by Steve Denning, Forbes, July 28, 2019
- “Nuclear energy is never profitable”, new study slams nuclear power business case by Michael Mazengarb, RenewEconomy (AU), July 29, 2019
- A look at some of the world's scarcest resources by Irene Banos Ruiz, Environment, Deutsche Welle (DW), July 28, 2019
- Ethiopia 'breaks' tree-planting record to tackle climate change, World, BBC News, July 29, 2019
- MSNBC and CNN to host climate events for the presidential candidates by Zoya Teirstein, Grist, July 25, 2019
- The world’s climate emergency is getting harder to ignore, Analysis by Ishaan Tharoor, Today's World View, Washington Post, July 30, 2019
Wed July 31, 2019
- Prince Harry says he is only having two children "maximum" for the sake of the planet by Jack Guy, CNN, July 30, 2019
- Met Office: UK's 10 hottest years on record occurred since 2002 by Nicola Davis & Kevin Rawlinson, UK News, Guardian, July 31, 2019
- Russia’s army called in as Siberia wildfires engulf area nearly as big as Belgium by Rachael Kennedy, EuroNews, July 31, 2019
- Indonesia sends thousands of security personnel to combat forest fires by Agustinus Beo Da Costa, Reuters, July 31, 2019
- The Arctic Is on Fire, and It Might Be Creating a Vicious Climate 'Feedback Loop' by Madeleine Gregory, Motherboard, Vice, July 30, 2019
- Wait, 40 percent of white evangelicals support the Green New Deal? by Kate Yoder, Grist, July 29, 2019
- Climate Change Can’t Be Left to the Scientists by Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic Magazine, July 31, 2019
Thu Aug 1, 2019
- When climate change interferes with ability 'to listen to the earth' by Peter Hannam. Sydney Morning Herald, July 31, 2019
- How 2020 Democrats plan to fight climate change by Umair Irfan, David Roberts and Eliza Barclay, Energy & Environment, July 30, 2019
- Just 10% of fossil fuel subsidy cash 'could pay for green transition' by Damian Carrington, environment, Guardian, Aug 1, 2019
- EIB plans to cut all funding for fossil fuel projects by 2020 by Jillian Ambrose, Environment, Guardian, July 26, 2019
- A major river in Europe hit by drought could create economic havoc by Holly Ellyatt, CNBC, July 31, 2019
- Mekong River at its lowest in 100 years, threatening food supply by Stefan Lovgren, Environment, National Geographic, July 31, 2019
- The Greenland ice sheet poured 197 billion tons of water into the North Atlantic in July alone by Andrew Freedman & Jason Samenow, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, Aug 1, 2019
- Greta Thunberg hits back at Andrew Bolt for 'deeply disturbing' column by Amanda Meade, Guardian, Aug 1, 2019
Fri Aug 2, 2019
- I Went to a Climate Change Denial Conference. It Made Even Less Sense Than You’d Think. by Christine MacDonald, In These Times, July 26, 2019
- Brisbane, Ipswich, Gold Coast among locations recording hottest July by Talissa Siganto, ABC News (AU), Aug 1, 2019
- How to Radicalize Your Parents on Climate Change by Shayla Love, Vice News, July 31, 2019
- The Bizarre, Peaty Science of Arctic Wildfires by Matt Simon, Science, Wired, July 29, 2019
- SC built 1,200 houses in flood-prone coastal areas. And sea levels keep rising. by Sammy Fretwell, Environment, The State (Columbia, SC), Aug 2, 2019
- How Climate Change Could Trigger the Next Global Financial Crisis by Robinson Meyer, Science, The Atlantic Magazine, Aug 1, 2019
- Debate’s Attempt to Show Candidates Divided on Climate Change Finds Unity Instead by Marianne Lavelle, InsideClimate News, Aug 1, 2019
- Greta sets sail for Trump's America by Brendan Montague, Ecologist, July 30, 2019
Sat Aug 3, 2019
- Pretend Underdogs: Inside a Climate Denier Conference at Trump Hotel by Joseph McCarthy, The Weather Channel, Aug 2, 2019
- Migration and the climate crisis: the UN’s search for solutions, UN News, July 31, 2019
- Charred forests not growing back as expected in Pacific Northwest, researchers say by Jon Hernandez, Canada, CBC News, July 28, 2019
- Charleston residents are raising their homes to fight flooding, but many can’t afford it, Chloe Johnson & Stephen Hobbs, Post & Courier (Charleston, SC), Aug 2, 2019
- “No permanent friends, no permanent enemies”: inside the Sunrise Movement’s plan to save humanity, Ezra Klein Podcast, Vox, July 31, 2019
- China’s emissions ‘could peak 10 years earlier than Paris climate pledge’ by Josh Gabbatiss, Carbon Brief, July 29, 2019
- 2020 Democrats are getting more confrontational with the fossil fuel industry by Umair Irfan, Policy & Politics, Vox, July 31, 2019
- Climate change made Europe’s 2019 record heatwave up to ‘100 times more likely’ by Daisy Dunne, Attribution, Carbon Brief, Aug 2, 2019
Posted by John Hartz on Saturday, 3 August, 2019
