Story of the week

Our story of the week is about adults in the room setting terms and conditions of good behavior. Here it’s not parents telling children what to do but instead the widely adopted, mutually agreed system of coercive behavior modification we call “rule of law.” Legislators providing courts of justice with laws to apply are how we formalize overcoming widely harmful selfish actions— or negligent inactions. These are our proxy adults telling us what we can’t do or must do— our aspirations for better nature given teeth. We could wish that we were all so perfect as to never need grownup guidance of a kind leading to fines or imprisonment, but if anything can serve to illustrate how this isn’t realistic it’s our failure to confront accountability for fossil fuels and what happens when nobody is willing to say “no.”

Belatedly, in step our appointed adults— in this case the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Three articles we shared this week covered an important decision handed down by this court with respect to Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland. The court finds that Switzerland is negligent in pursuing climate mitigation plans and hence is harming human rights protected by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This is an extremely important precedent, an overdue acknowledgement of human rights being climate-connected. But the outcome is all the more remarkable given the ECtHR‘s previous agility in reasoning its way to tossing applicants’ cases centered on human rights as they pertain to climate matters. Notably, the court has also just rendered unfavorable judgments  on two other climate-connected cases, in ways that sometimes seemed to defy common sense. The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides a short article providing context helping us to understand this single verdict as a sea change, in its introduction to a symposium on the topic.

Stories we promoted this week, by publication date:

Before April 7

Scientists confirm record highs for three most important heat-trapping gases, The Guardian, Oliver Milman. Global concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide climbed to unseen levels in 2023, underlining climate crisis
‘Simply mind-boggling’: world record temperature jump in Antarctic raises fears of catastrophe, Environment, The Observer/The Gurdian, Robin McKie. “An unprecedented leap of 38.5C in the coldest place on Earth is a harbinger of a disaster for humans and the local ecosystem”
Climate Adam: Is Global Warming Speeding Up?, ClimateAdam on Youtube, Adam Levy.
Skeptical Science New Research for Week #14 2024, Skeptical Science, Doug Bostrom & Marc Kodack. Skeptical Science’s weekly compendium of climate research.
The Power List: Sophia Mathur, MacLean’s, Katie Underwood. Governments are dragging their heels on emissions cuts. In Ontario, this 17-year-old activist is suing over it. She’s our No. 1 climate crusader.

April 7

2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #14, Skeptical Science, Baerbel Winkler, Doug Bostrom and John Hartz. Another batch of 34 articles shared in the week from March 31 to April 6, 2024
Zambians Feel the Personal Consequences of Climate Change-and Dream of a Sustainable Future, Inside Climate News, Georgina Gustin. Lede: Zambia, like its southern African neighbors, depends on rain for its food, energy and economy. But it hasn’t gotten enough this year, and likely won’t in the future, a victim of a climate crisis it didn’t cause.
Top Europe rights court to issue landmark climate verdicts, Phys.org, Antoine Pollez (AfP).

April 8

How Nigeria is reeling from extreme heat fuelled by climate change, Carbon Brief, Solomon Elusoji. Since the start of this year, Africa’s most populous nation Nigeria has faced prolonged stretches of severe heat.
Coastal wetlands can`t keep pace with sea-level rise, and infrastructure is leaving them nowhere to go, The Conversation – Articles (US), Randall W. Parkinson, Research Associate Professor in Coastal Geology, Florida International University.
Climate-warming gases being smuggled into Europe, investigation says, Business, Reuters, David Stanway.
Feeling depleted? So is the planet. Here’s how to move from exhaustion to empowerment, Environment, The Conversaion UK, Tom Oliver.

April 9

Banks Made Big Climate Promises. A New Study Doubts They Work., NYT > Climate and Environment, Eshe Nelson. Using European Central Bank lending data, researchers said there was not evidence that voluntary commitments were effective in reducing emissions.
Tenth consecutive monthly heat record alarms and confounds climate scientists, The Guardian, Jonathan Watts. If the anomaly does not stabilise by August, ‘the world will be in uncharted territory’, says climate expert
Retired teachers return to Colorado classrooms to teach students about climate change, Yale Climate Connections, YCC Team. They’re helping students take action in their communities.
The Transformation of European Climate Change Litigation: Introduction to the Blog Symposium, Climate Law Blog, Maria Antonia Tigre and Maxim Bönnemann.
At a glance – The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is not causing global warming, Skeptical Science, John Mason. Rebuttal #60 to be updated with the at-a-glance section

April 10

EGU2024 – Picking and chosing sessions to attend virtually, Skeptical Science, Bärbel Winkler. The upcoming General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) is a good opportunity to showcase our various resources giving facts a fighting chance against misinformation!
Guest post: How climate change could reverse progress in global inequality, Carbon Brief, Carbon Brief Staff. Lede: According to most metrics, economic inequalities across the world have been declining since the late 1980s.
Carbon Removal’s $100 Billion Conundrum, Climate, Heatmap, Emily Pontecorvo. “That’s how much the U.S. should be spending per year by 2050 to achieve net zero, according to a new Rhodium Group report.”
UN climate chief calls for “quantum leap in climate finance”, Climate Home News, Joe Lo. Simon Stiell says far more money is required for developing countries to submit bold new climate plans, which would benefit all economies
By the numbers, The Crucial Years, Bill McKibben. Sometimes we need to stop and take stock

April 11

In-depth Q&A: How does climate change drive human migration?, Carbon Brief, Ayesha Tandon. The once-stable climate that people have lived in for millennia is now rapidly shifting.
One of the world’s highest cities starts rationing water for 9 million people, Climate, CNN, Stefano Pozzebon.
NASA’s PACE data on ocean, atmosphere, climate now available, Phys.org, Erica McNamee, NASA. NASA is now publicly distributing science-quality data from its newest Earth-observing satellite, providing first-of-their-kind measurements of ocean health, air quality, and the effects of a changing climate.
Taking CO2 out of the air would be an absurdly expensive way to fight climate change, The Verge – Science Posts, Justine Calma. New technologies that attempt to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere would need hundreds of billions of dollars of government support, a new report says.
Skeptical Science New Research for Week #15 2024, Skeptical Science, Doug Bostrom & Marc Kodack. Skeptical Science keeps you up to date with the latest academic and other research on human-caused climate change.

April 12

Earth just had its warmest March on record, Yale Climate Connections, Jeff Masters. March 2024 was the planet’s 10th consecutive warmest month on record. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef suffered its worst coral bleaching in history.
A Group of Women Took Switzerland to Court Over Climate Inaction-and Won, Inside Climate News, Kiley Price.

April 13

Fact Brief – Did global warming stop in 1998?, Skeptical Science, SkS-Team & Sue Bin Park. The next fact brief published in collaboration with Gigafact!
Strasbourg court`s Swiss climate ruling could have global impact, say experts, The Guardian, Isabella Kaminski. Decision by European court of human rights around vulnerability of older women to heatwaves marks significant shift

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!