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Climate News | February 2020

Links from news outlets and science journals sourced during January 2020

Newspaper and web articles

ABC News

 

How does dry lightning spark fires, and why is it so dangerous? - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

Omnicide: Who is responsible for the gravest of all crimes? - ABC Religion & Ethics

Ross Garnaut's climate change prediction is coming true and it's going to cost Australia billions, experts warn - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Telco, NBN failures during bushfire crisis reveals cracks in regional, rural crisis coverage - ABC Rural - ABC News

 

NSW bushfires sparks mass fish kill at Macleay River on Mid-North Coast - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

Mitigation or adaptation? When it comes to climate change, it's not a case of either/or - Science News - ABC News

 

The Amazon's lost tribes are inspiring Colombia's cocaine farmers to become conservationists - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

Bushfire experts say it's time to revisit Black Saturday recommendations and stop people rebuilding in highly dangerous areas - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

Regional Australians will need to be our ground troops in the climate war — so stop neglecting us - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

Climate change splits the public into six groups. Understanding them is key to future action - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

 

AFR

 

Australia is no longer the lucky country

 

 

Al Jazeera

 

India suffers hottest decade on record | India News | Al Jazeera

 

Anthropocene

 

Colombia's hippo population is a fascinating ecological conundrum | Anthropocene

 

Meat isn't always the biggest driver of dietary carbon emissions | Anthropocene

 

 

 

Australian Academy of Sciences

 

Statement regarding Australian bushfires | Australian Academy of Science

 

 

Axios

 

Big Tech data centers probably aren't a climate change time bomb - Axios

 

The limits of BlackRock's new climate strategy - Axios

 

How Michael Bloomberg would decarbonize transportation - Axios

 

 

 

BBC

 

Space mission to reveal 'Truths' about climate change - BBC News

 

Rolls-Royce plans mini nuclear reactors by 2029 - BBC News

 

 

 

Belfast Telegraph

Scores of countries signal more ambitious climate plans in 2020 - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

 

Reductions in Arctic sea ice cannot be rapidly reversed, scientists say - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

 

 

 

Bloomberg NEF

 

Energy, Vehicles, Sustainability – 10 Predictions for 2020 | BloombergNEF

 

 

 

Business Green

 

Reports: Cement sector facing 'dramatic' cost rise as climate pressure intensifies

 

 

 

Buzzfeed News

 

Davos Global Elites Solve Climate Crisis By Planting Trees

 

 

 

Carbon Brief

 

Video: Why studying Thwaites glacier is vital for forecasting sea level rise | Carbon Brief

 

In-depth: Understanding the impacts of changing Arctic storms | Carbon Brief

 

Explainer: How 'Atlantification' is making the Arctic Ocean saltier and warmer | Carbon Brief

 

State of the climate: How the world warmed in 2019 | Carbon Brief

 

Tropical forests losing ability to absorb CO2, study says | Carbon Brief

 

 

 

CIFOR

 

Defining ecological restoration of peatlands in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

 

Tenure challenges to implementing forest landscape restoration in northwestern Madagascar

 

 

 

Climate Change News

 

China-backed coal plants on EU’s doorstep hide huge carbon costs

 

Erosion crisis swallows homes and livelihoods in Nigeria

 

 

CNBC

 

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink says climate change will soon reshape markets

 

 

Counterpunch

 

The Rumbling Methane Enigma - CounterPunch.org

 

 

Cryosphere-Discuss

 

TCD - The future sea-level contribution of the Greenland ice sheet: a multi-model ensemble study of ISMIP6

 

 

Daily Mail

 

Ozone damage could have made up half of Arctic warming in 50 years since the 1950s, says scientists | Daily Mail Online

 

 

Eco-Business

 

Self-driving cars will not fix our transportation woes | Opinion | Eco-Business | Asia Pacific

 

Following bushfires, expect cyclones, floods and heatwaves | Opinion | Eco-Business | Asia Pacific

 

What locally led climate resilience looks like in the Philippines | Opinion | Eco-Business | Asia Pacific

 

Rising eco-anxiety means addressing mental health alongside food security | Opinion | Eco-Business | Asia Pacific

 

Deforestation moves swiftly once ‘tipping point’ reached: scientists | News | Eco-Business | Asia Pacific

 

Giant Floating Solar Farms Could Make Fuel and Help Solve the Climate Crisis, Says Study - EcoWatch

 

Rotting feral pig carcasses teach scientists what happens when tonnes of animals die all at once, as in Australia’s bushfires | Opinion | Eco-Business | Asia Pacific

 

Meet the Eco-Business A-Listers: Janice Lao, hospitality trailblazer | News | Eco-Business | Asia Pacific

 

Will blood be shed over water? A new early warning tool predicts water-related conflict a year in advance | News | Eco-Business | Asia Pacific

 

Beijing’s food vision: quality and quantity | News | Eco-Business | Asia Pacific

 

Indigenous lands hold more than one third of remaining intact forest landscapes | News | Eco-Business | Asia Pacific

 

Wildfire-hit countries in need of new strategies to tame burning threat | News | Eco-Business | Asia Pacific

 

Want to really hold businesses to account? Look at their supply chains | Opinion | Eco-Business | Asia Pacific

 

Drought, deluge, disease: How should the natural rubber industry respond to climate change? | News | Eco-Business | Asia Pacific

 

 

 

Economist

 

Schumpeter - Big Oil has a do-or-die decade ahead because of climate change | Business | The Economist

 

 

 

Ecowatch

 

Cancun Businesses Take Out Insurance Policy on a Coral Reef - EcoWatch

 

Joaquin Phoenix, Martin Sheen Arrested at Jane Fonda's Final DC Fire Drill Fridays Protest - EcoWatch

 

Madacascar Is Planting 60 Million Trees in Ambitious Drive Inspired by Its President - EcoWatch

 

 

 

EENews

 

SCIENCE: NOAA gets go-ahead to study climate Plan B: Geoengineering -- Thursday, January 23, 2020 -- www.eenews.net

 

 

El Pais

 

Renewable energy in Spain: Greenhouse gas emissions drop in Spain as power plants ditch coal | In English | EL PAÍS

 

 

Euractiv

 

Massive rise in EV charging points needed to reach EU climate goals, analysis finds – EURACTIV.com

 

 

Euronews

 

Think you're more eco-friendly than your friends? This study says you're wrong. | Living

 

Foreign Policy

 

How Climate Change Has Supercharged Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and the Left in the United States and Europe

 

 

Foresight

 

Will gains outweigh the risks of an accelerated energy transition? - FORESIGHT

 

 

Forest Trends

 

Demand-side Regulation and Forest Risk Commodities - Forest Trends

 

 

 

Fortune

 

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Puts Climate Change at Center of Megafund’s Investment Strategy | Fortune

 

 

 

France 24

 

French cities and NGOs sue oil giant Total over 'climate inaction'

 

 

 

Guardian

 

2019 was Australia's hottest year on record – 1.5C above average temperature | Australia news | The Guardian

 

Germany cuts fares for long-distance rail travel in response to climate crisis | World news | The Guardian

 

We are seeing the very worst of our scientific predictions come to pass in these bushfires | Joëlle Gergis | Opinion | The Guardian

 

We are seeing the very worst of our scientific predictions come to pass in these bushfires | Joëlle Gergis | Opinion | The Guardian

 

Explainer: how effective is bushfire hazard reduction on Australia's fires? | Australia news | The Guardian

 

Russia announces plan to ‘use the advantages’ of climate change | World news | The Guardian

 

Shutdown of US coal power facilities saved over 26,000 lives, study finds | Environment | The Guardian

 

Why Irish data centre boom is complicating climate efforts | Environment | The Guardian

 

Jakarta floods: cloud seeding planes try to break up heavy rain | Environment | The Guardian

 

We must tackle global energy inequality before it’s too late | Business | The Guardian

 

Australian bushfire smoke affecting South America, UN reports | Australia news | The Guardian

 

New Zealand bushfires flare amid fears country becoming more ‘flammable’ | World news | The Guardian

 

How the oil industry has spent billions to control the climate change conversation | Business | The Guardian

 

Australia's bushfires mean New Zealand has become the land of the long pink cloud | Jim Salinger | World news | The Guardian

 

One year to save the planet: a simple guide to fighting the climate crisis in 2020 | Environment | The Guardian

 

Australia records worst December fire conditions after its hottest, driest year | Australia news | The Guardian

 

Most conservatives know prevention is better than cure – except when it comes to climate change | Richard Denniss | Australia news | The Guardian

 

Bushfires threaten drinking water – and the consequences could last for decades | Stuart Khan for the Conversation | Australia news | The Guardian

 

On the frontline of the climate emergency, Bangladesh adapts | World news | The Guardian

 

Grass growing around Mount Everest as global heating intensifies | Environment | The Guardian

 

Terror, hope, anger, kindness: the complexity of life as we face the new normal | Australia news | The Guardian

 

Quorn to be first major brand to introduce carbon labelling | Environment | The Guardian

 

Explainer: what are the underlying causes of Australia's shocking bushfire season? | Environment | The Guardian

 

How scientists are coping with ‘ecological grief’ | Science | The Guardian

 

Explainer: what are the underlying causes of Australia's shocking bushfire season? | Environment | The Guardian

 

Ocean temperatures hit record high as rate of heating accelerates | Environment | The Guardian

 

Even as an air pollution expert, these months of bushfire smoke have been a shock | Nancy Cushing for the Conversation | Opinion | The Guardian

 

New Zealand schools to teach students about climate crisis, activism and 'eco anxiety' | World news | The Guardian

 

Revealed: US listed climate activist group as ‘extremists’ alongside mass killers | Environment | The Guardian

 

Oceans are as hot as humans have known them and we’re to blame | Environment | The Guardian

 

Why do record ocean temperatures matter? | Environment | The Guardian

 

The case for ... never demolishing another building | Cities | The Guardian

 

James Murdoch criticises father's news outlets for climate crisis denial | Media | The Guardian

 

Australian fiction is already challenging the idea that catastrophic bushfire is normal | Rachel Fetherston | Books | The Guardian

 

Australia fires are harbinger of planet’s future, say scientists | Australia news | The Guardian

 

Driving into a city should become as antisocial as smoking | Gaby Hinsliff | Opinion | The Guardian

 

Climate crisis fills top five places of World Economic Forum’s risks report | Business | The Guardian

 

The case for ... making low-tech 'dumb' cities instead of 'smart' ones | Cities | The Guardian

 

Climate crisis likely to increase violent deaths of young people – report | Environment | The Guardian

 

Grief, frustration, guilt: the bushfires show the far-reaching mental health impacts of climate change | Fiona Charlson | Opinion | The Guardian

 

Hundreds of thousands of fish dead in NSW as bushfire ash washed into river | World news | The Guardian

 

'This is not how sequoias die. It’s supposed to stand for another 500 years' | Environment | The Guardian

Climate refugees can't be returned home, says landmark UN human rights ruling | World news | The Guardian

 

IMF: climate crisis threatens global economic recovery | Business | The Guardian

 

The five: changes in animal behaviour due to global heating | Science | The Guardian

 

I tried to warn Scott Morrison about the bushfire disaster. Adapting to climate change isn’t enough | Greg Mullins | Opinion | The Guardian

 

Study finds shock rise in levels of potent greenhouse gas | Environment | The Guardian

 

World’s consumption of materials hits record 100bn tonnes a year | Environment | The Guardian

 

Lloyds set to halve carbon emissions it finances in 10 years | Business | The Guardian

 

Lonely Planet launches carbon-neutral tours | Travel | The Guardian

 

Fiji calls for urgent action on climate crisis as second cyclone hits in three weeks | World news | The Guardian

 

‘Blatant manipulation’: Trump administration exploited wildfire science to promote logging | Environment | The Guardian

 

'Food prices shot up': floods spark a scramble for survival in east Africa | Global development | The Guardian

 

'Kids are taking the streets': climate activists plan avalanche of events as 2020 election looms | Environment | The Guardian

 

How the 'Venice of Africa' is losing its battle against the rising ocean | Environment | The Guardian

 

Zero-carbon hydrogen injected into gas grid for first time in groundbreaking UK trial | Environment | The Guardian

 

Let's abandon climate targets, and do something completely different | George Monbiot | Opinion | The Guardian

 

Huffpost Australia

 

Number Of Animals Feared Dead In Australia’s Wildfires Soars To Over 1 Billion | HuffPost Australia

 

 

Irish Times

 

Winter of 2018/2019 warmest since records began in 1900

 

 

Lighthouse

 

Eco-anxiety climbs as fires, smoke and animal deaths trigger fear and trauma | The Lighthouse

 

 

 

Los Angeles Times

 

An artist set out to paint climate change. She ended up on a journey through grief - Los Angeles Times

 

What's tangling up the humpback whales? A food chain snarled by climate change - Los Angeles Times

 

 

 

Manoahnow

 

Art exhibit ‘Inundation’ opens at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Art Gallery | News | manoanow.org

 

 

Medium

 

SOLVING CLIMATE CHANGE WITH A LOAN - The Otherlab Blog - Medium

 

 

 

MIT

 

Australia’s fires have pumped out more emissions than 100 nations combined - MIT Technology Review

 

 

Mongabay

 

Irrigation linked to reduced rainfall in northern India

 

Two storytellers unmask the human face of climate change

 

 

 

Mother Jones

 

Australia’s Wildfire Catastrophe Isn’t the “New Normal.” It’s Much Worse Than That. – Mother Jones

 

 

 

NASA

 

Study Confirms Climate Models are Getting Future Warming Projections Right – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet

 

 

 

Nature

 

Ozone-depleting gases might have driven extreme Arctic warming

 

Paris taught me how to do what is necessary to combat climate change

 

Australia: show the world what climate action looks like

 

 

 

New Scientist

 

Our current food system can feed only 3.4 billion people sustainably | New Scientist

 

 

New York Magazine

 

New South Wales Fires In Australia: The World’s Response

 

 

 

Newsweek

 

Bears in Ukraine Aren't Hibernating Because It's Too Warm, Have Started Suffering From 'Insomnia'

 

When It Comes to the Australian Bushfires, Rupert Murdoch is an Arsonist | Opinion

 

 

 

NOAA

 

A visit to the zoo: climate patterns that can precede ENSO | NOAA Climate.gov

 

Teaching Global Climate Change in Your Classroom | NOAA Climate.gov

 

2010-2019: A landmark decade of U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters | NOAA Climate.gov

 

 

 

PhysOrg

 

Can solar geoengineering mitigate both climate change and income inequality?

 

 

Physics World

 

Crops at risk from changing climate – Physics World

 

 

Politico

 

Merkel: Tackling climate change a matter of ‘survival’ – POLITICO

 

 

 

Renew Economy

 

New Zealand passes historic zero carbon bill with near unanimous bipartisan support | RenewEconomy

 

Greens in Austria secure zero carbon target in unlikely alliance with right wing populists | RenewEconomy

 

 

Reuters

 

Australia strengthens bushfire defenses as economic, environmental costs mount - Reuters

 

Years of drought threaten South Africa's wildlife industry - Reuters

 

Australia bushfires: Visualizing the scale of Australia's bushfires

 

Soaring SUV sales keep carmakers on collision course with climate policy - Reuters

 

Australia's massive fires could become routine, climate scientists warn - Reuters

 

EU sets out trillion euro plan to avert 'climate crash' - Reuters

 

'We can't close our eyes' to climate change, says Marshall Isles ex-president - Reuters

 

Sports need to do more to combat climate change: lobby group - Reuters

 

Central banks can't save the world from climate change, BIS says - Reuters

 

Climate change pushes investors to take their temperature - Reuters

 

Last decade most expensive for natural disasters - report - Reuters

 

Exclusive: BP's Looney goes all-in on climate goals and explores overhaul - Reuters

 

Oil and gas sector keeps faith in low-carbon energy: survey - Reuters

 

Priority status for EU fossil fuel projects raises green hackles - Reuters

 

EU's 'Green Deal' guru detects hints of U.S. climate shift - Reuters

 

Global carbon trading turnover at record $214 billion last year: research - Reuters

 

Huge hydroelectric project to help Portugal eliminate coal: PM - Reuters

 

 

 

SBS

 

First scientist to link bushfires to climate change 30 years ago says he’s ‘horrified’ to see his findings come true

 

 

Scientific American

 

Get Ready for More Volcanic Eruptions as the Planet Warms - Scientific American

 

What Climate Change Tells Us about Being Human - Scientific American Blog Network

 

 

 

Scotsman

 

Coastal erosion in Scotland is immediate threat - and worse than predicted - The Scotsman

 

 

Sydney Morning Herald

 

NSW fires: Penrith in Sydney's west approaches 50 degrees

 

NSW fires: Australia's first climate change refugees

 

An 'absolutely seminal moment': climate change opinion shifting in face of fires

 

Institutional investors increasingly taking their own climate action

 

NSW Fires: RFS firefighters, NPWS save famous Wollemi pines from Gospers Mountain fire in secret mission

Climate refugees cannot be forced back home

 

 

 

Technology Review

 

“A Trillion Trees” is a great idea—that could become a dangerous climate distraction

 

 

 

Telegraph

 

Italy to become first country to make studying climate change compulsory in schools

 

Extinction Rebellion activists embroiled in row over whether flying is ever acceptable

 

 

 

The Conversation

 

6 things to ask yourself before you share a bushfire map on social media

 

Why we should be wary of blaming 'overpopulation' for the climate crisis

 

 

 

The Times

 

Warmer seas force turtles to travel twice as far for food | News | The Times

 

Potent greenhouse gas HFC-23 rises to record levels despite ban | News | The Times

 

 

 

Thomson Reuters Foundation

 

World risks 'disaster' as reuse of natural resources ...

 

 

 

Time

 

Why Fossil Fuel Companies Are Reckoning With Climate Change | Time

 

Report: YouTube Has Been Promoting Climate Denialism Videos | Time

 

 

 

Tortoise Media

 

Can tax save the planet?

 

 

 

Undark

 

In India, Indigenous Tribes Clash With the Government Over Trees

 

 

 

Vox

 

1.5 degrees Celsius: the sad truth about our boldest climate change target - Vox

 

 

 

Voice of America

 

2019 Was Hottest Year on Record for Russia | Voice of America - English

 

 

 

Washington Post

 

Daily weather now bears the fingerprints of global warming - The Washington Post

 

The Trump administration plans to tell federal agencies not to consider climate change when assessing the environmental impact of a project - The Washington Post

 

Climate change is playing havoc with Mexico’s monarch butterfly migration - The Washington Post

 

Australia’s apocalyptic fires are a warning to the world - The Washington Post

 

Climate change: Earth has its second-hottest year on record to close out the hottest decade - The Washington Post

 

Animals killed in Australia fires: Species could go extinct, scientists warn - The Washington Post

 

Particles lofted from Australia bush fires will circle the globe - The Washington Post

 

‘We’re building an army’: Jane Fonda caps off weeks of climate protest in D.C. - The Washington Post

 

Firenadoes, ember attacks and megafires: Australia is seeing sci-fi weather - The Washington Post

 

2019 capped the hottest decade on record, say NASA and NOAA - The Washington Post

 

MOSAiC, the biggest North Pole expedition in history, is threatened by melting ice at the Arctic - The Washington Post

 

Australia’s catastrophic fires are a moment of reckoning for Murdoch’s media empire - The Washington Post

 

Newfoundland blizzard breaks snow records, buries cars and homes - The Washington Post

 

George P. Shultz and Ted Halstead: Carbon pricing is the winning Republican climate answer - The Washington Post

 

How planting trees can help in the fight against climate change - Washington Post

 

What does ‘dangerous’ climate change really mean? - The Washington Post

 

In Australia; fires stoke environmental movement - The Washington Post

 

How China’s Belt and Road initiative is choking the Mekong River - Washington Post

 

 

 

Weather Underground

 

Highest Atmospheric Pressure in More than 300 Years of London Recordkeeping | Weather Underground

 

 

 

World Economic Forum

 

This chart shows the global fatalities of extreme weather events | World Economic Forum

 

Illegal logging has to be stopped - here's how | World Economic Forum

 

 

 

World Resources Institute

 

2020 Could Be the Year Carbon Removal Takes Off | World Resources Institute

 

10 Big Changes for Forests Over the Last Decade | World Resources Institute

 

 

Yale Climate Connections

 

Cancun businesses take out insurance policy on a coral reef » Yale Climate Connections

 

Large HVAC manufacturers could play huge role in cutting carbon pollution » Yale Climate Connections

 

New York City spends billions on flood protection » Yale Climate Connections

 

Mountain snowpack grows less reliable as the world warms » Yale Climate Connections

 

Laws in New York City and beyond take aim at carbon pollution caused by buildings » Yale Climate Connections

 

'The Climate Trail': Survival game pits players against climate catastrophe » Yale Climate Connections

 

Residents of Midlothian, Illinois, fight back against 'terrifying' floods » Yale Climate Connections

 

Cities and towns can't solve climate change on their own » Yale Climate Connections

 

 

 

Yale E360

 

As Climate Risks Worsen, U.S. Flood Buyouts Fail to Meet the Need - Yale E360

Academic articles

American Meteorological Society – Journal of Climate

 

An Investigation of the Ocean’s Role in Atlantic Multidecadal Variability: Journal of Climate: Early Online Release

 

Copernicus – Climate of the Past

 

CP - Distorted Pacific–North American teleconnection at the Last Glacial Maximum

 

 

IOP Science

 

Emissions in the stream: estimating the greenhouse gas impacts of an oil and gas boom - IOPscience

 

Global warming to increase violent crime in the United States - IOPscience

 

What is important for achieving 2 °C? UNFCCC and IPCC expert perceptions on obstacles and response options for climate change mitigation - IOPscience

 

Nature

 

Ocean acidification does not impair the behaviour of coral reef fishes | Nature

 

Two-million-year-old snapshots of atmospheric gases from Antarctic ice | Nature

 

Nature Climate Change

 

Natural halogens buffer tropospheric ozone in a changing climate | Nature Climate Change

 

Divergent consensuses on Arctic amplification influence on midlatitude severe winter weather | Nature Climate Change

 

Human fingerprint in global weather | Nature Climate Change

 

Global and regional impacts differ between transient and equilibrium warmer worlds | Nature Climate Change

 

 

Nature Food

 

Shifts in national land use and food production in Great Britain after a climate tipping point | Nature Food

 

 

Nature Geoscience

 

Importance of wind and meltwater for observed chemical and physical changes in the Southern Ocean | Nature Geoscience

 

Global ocean heat content in the Last Interglacial | Nature Geoscience

 

Complex evolving patterns of mass loss from Antarctica’s largest glacier | Nature Geoscience

 

 

Nature Medicine

 

Anomalously warm temperatures are associated with increased injury deaths | Nature Medicine

 

 

Nature Sustainability

 

Feeding ten billion people is possible within four terrestrial planetary boundaries | Nature Sustainability

 

 

 

Nature Communications

 

Paris Climate Agreement passes the cost-benefit test | Nature Communications

 

 

 

PNAS

 

Water level changes, subsidence, and sea level rise in the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna delta | PNAS

 

Climate change and the opportunity cost of conflict | PNAS

 

Influence of Arctic sea-ice variability on Pacific trade winds | PNAS

 

 

Regional Studies Association – Climate and Development

 

Mixed manifestations of climate change in high mountains: insights from a farming