Weekend Climate Digest
Don’t just listen to the hype and respond
to scare tactics. Read the science.
The following links are provided as a service to those seeking to understand climate science at a deeper evidence-based level instead of trusting media hype. Having established that Big Science and Big Media lean strongly Woke Left (e.g., 20 Feb 2021, and search back issues for keyword “leftist”), critical thinking is essential to get at the truth, just as it is with one-sided media claims about evolution. As you read, don’t lose focus on three key questions:
- Is the current warming trend unique to our time?
- If so, is mankind responsible for it? How do they know?
- If #2 is also true, will suggested remedies do any good?
Expanding beaver pond distribution in Arctic Alaska, 1949 to 2019 (Nature Scientific Reports, 3 May 2022). Upshot: Beavers cause global warming.
Operating rooms are the climate change contributor no one’s talking about (University of Michigan, 28 April 2022). Operating rooms have an oversized carbon footprint, six times other health systems. Do your part to decrease your carbon footprint – postpone your cancer surgery.
Policymakers Underestimate Methane’s Climate and Air Quality Impacts (IASS Potsdam, 16 May 2022). What other underestimates or overestimates exist in climate models?
New measurements from Northern Sweden show less methane emissions than feared (University of Copenhagen, 23 May 2022). Methane is much more potent than CO2. Does anyone really have a handle on how much methane is produced naturally vs artificially?
Fjords may emit as much methane as all the deep oceans globally (Phys.org, 27 May 2022). Shift the blame for global warming to the Norwegians.
Use of ‘too hot’ climate models exaggerates impacts of global warming, (Science Insider, 4 May 2022). “U.N. report authors say researchers should avoid suspect models.” How does one know which models are suspect? Who watches the watchers?
Climate simulations: recognize the ‘hot model’ problem (Nature, 4 May 2022). Changing goalposts after decades of fear? What are “hot models” and why are they a problem? “The sixth and latest IPCC assessment weights climate models according to how well they reproduce other evidence. Now the rest of the community should do the same.”
New study offers hope that conservation can help nature adapt to climate change (Nottingham Trent University, 17 May 2022). Conservation actions can help some species adapt in time.
Butene Emissions From Coastal Ecosystems May Contribute to New Particle Formation (AGU Geophysical Research Letters, 9 May 2022). Another natural source of cloud-seeding particles found. “Our results indicate a potentially important role of butene emissions in marine particle formation that requires investigation in other regions.”
Rural land abandonment is too ephemeral to provide major benefits for biodiversity and climate (AAAS Science Advances, 25 May 2022). This one looks too subjective to prove.
Evolution of Earth’s tectonic carbon conveyor belt (Nature, 25 May 2022). Plate tectonics has done massive carbon cycling for “millions of years,” leading to hot periods and cold periods repeatedly. What do you know? The estimates in this paper are “challenging previous views and providing boundary conditions for future carbon cycle models.” That implies current models are flawed.
Mitigating climate disruption in time: A self-consistent approach for avoiding both near-term and long-term global warming (PNAS, 23 May 2022). More evidence that models do not include all the data: “the importance of non-CO2 pollutants, in particular short-lived climate pollutants, in climate mitigation has been underrepresented.”
The Effect of Ocean Salinity on Climate and Its Implications for Earth’s Habitability (AGU Geophysical Research Letters, 24 May 2022). Models have not taken into account the salinity of the oceans. Higher salinity might raise climate temperatures.
Salt may be the key to life on Earth and beyond (Purdue University, 2 June 2022). Is a warmer climate all bad? “saltier oceans tend to result in warmer climates and, therefore, can aid in a planet’s ability to host life.” But never build a case on a sample size of one.
Fossil imprints from oceans of the past (Science, 19 May 2022). Contrary to expectations, fossil coccolithophores seem to have weathered previous global warming periods just fine, “challenging the assumption that they had suffered ‘calcification crises’ under previous extreme ocean conditions.”
Sensitive Dependence of Global Climate to Continental Geometry (AGU Geophysical Research Letters, 27 May 2022). Read the abstract: never been studied… not well explained… patterns are complex, sensitive to detailed features…
Early-to-Late Winter 20th Century North Atlantic Multidecadal Atmospheric Variability in Observations, CMIP5 and CMIP6 (AGU Geophysical Research Letters, 27 May 2022). Is the IPCC feeding the public a bill of soft goods? “The strong multidecadal variability in North Atlantic (NA) winter atmospheric circulation is poorly understood and appears too weak in climate models.”
Hydrotrioxide (ROOOH) formation in the atmosphere (Science, 26 May 2022). Powerful oxidants in the atmosphere are discovered that were not considered in climate models. “This work draws attention to an important class of strong oxidizing agents previously disregarded in atmospheric kinetics models.” The University of Copenhagen (26 May) says these trioxide molecules constitute “an extremely oxidizing chemical compound that likely affects both human health and our global climate.” See also Space.com on this subject.
Downsides of Mitigation Efforts
Wind turbines operating without curtailment claim many victims among protected bat species in Germany (Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, 1 June 2022). No easy answer to slaughter of endangered bats due to wind turbines. Predictions are dire. “This is unacceptable for endangered species with declining populations such as the common noctule, especially as bats are strictly protected at national and EU levels.”
As the grid adds wind power, researchers have to reengineer recovery from blackouts (Iowa State University, 31 May 2022). A world stampeding to “green” energy still doesn’t have a way to keep the power on when the wind stops. The blackouts will continue until morale improves.
Death of bats at wind turbines interrupts natural food chains (Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, 7 June 2022). Thousands of dead bats are tragic enough, but this article says that the “numerous casualties of bats at wind turbines” are affecting the food chain for other creatures, too. In Germany alone, “more than ten bats per year die at each conventionally run wind turbine. This sums to a six-digit number of annual bat fatalities at the 30,000 wind turbines on the mainland in Germany.” At many places in the USA, too, turbines are so densely packed it would take Han Solo to navigate between them.
Fear Tactics Continue
Time running out on the ‘one opportunity’ for a climate bill (Phys.org, 19 May 2022). Hurry, do something! California Congressman screams, “This is the one opportunity. If we don’t do this now, if we don’t really begin to lower emissions, this planet has no chance. … We have a few years left and that’s it.”
Modeling suggests loss of biocrusts by 2070 could result in increase of 15% more dust emissions (Phys.org, 17 May 2022). Convenient to put the dire prediction far enough in the future so that most current listeners will be dead before they can verify it.
Vanuatu declares climate emergency (Phys.org, 28 May 2022). Believing that a devastating cyclone was caused by anthropogenic global warming, the new liberal foreign minister is pushing for radical policy changes after “a lost decade under conservative rule.” As usual, such hyped-up policies based on questionable science, sending $1.2 billion to support the Paris Climate Accord, hurt the poor the most.
Including all types of emissions shortens timeline to reach Paris Agreement temperature targets (University of Washington News, 6 June 2022). The march to doom just accelerated. Maybe readers should follow the money: look at the funding agencies.
42% chance of breaching 1.5°C goal even if all carbon emissions cease (New Scientist, 6 June 2022). Stopping all carbon emissions is clearly unrealistic. So what’s the use? Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.
Why is it so cold right now? And how long will it last? A climate scientist explains (The Conversation, 31 May 2022). Who are you going to believe, Aussies, the IPCC experts or your shivering timbers?
Feeling unsettled about the climate? You might be experiencing eco-anxiety (University of New South Wales, 7 June 2022). Freaked out by the news media’s incessant predictions of doom? Dr Suzanne Schweitzer, psychologist at UNSW, is there to help. Call her eco-anxiety hotline at 1-800-usu-cker for a five-minute cry fest with Greta. You’ll feel better because misery loves company. Better yet, read our 2 May 2022 entry, “Comfort for the climate panicked,” including the ending commentary.