A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook page during the past week.
Editor's Pick
Mass starvation is humanity’s fate if we keep flogging the land to death
The Earth cannot accommodate our need and greed for food. We must change our diet before it’s too late
Illustration: Thomas Pullin
Brexit; the crushing of democracy by billionaires; the next financial crash; a rogue US president: none of them keeps me awake at night. This is not because I don’t care – I care very much. It’s only because I have a bigger question on my mind. Where is all the food going to come from?
By the middle of this century there will be two or three billion more people on Earth. Any one of the issues I am about to list could help precipitate mass starvation. And this is before you consider how they might interact.
The trouble begins where everything begins: with soil. The UN’s famous projection that, at current rates of soil loss, the world has 60 years of harvests left, appears to be supported by a new set of figures. Partly as a result of soil degradation, yields are already declining on 20% of the world’s croplands.
Mass starvation is humanity’s fate if we keep flogging the land to death, Opinion by George Monbiot, Guardian, Dec 11, 2017
Links posted on Facebook
Sun Dec 10, 2017
- How to Help My Daughter Face Climate Change With an Open Heart, Book Review by Chris Moore-Backman, Yes! Magazine, Dec 4, 2017
- Most Dire Climate Change Predictions, Warns New Study, Are Also the Most Accurate by Julia Conley, Common Dreams, Dec 7, 2017
- California Governor Says Trump Is Courting The ‘Wrath Of God’ By Ignoring Climate ost, hange by Mary Papenfuss, HuffPost, Dec 8, 2017
- A Spectacle At The Coliseum — US To Hold Public Climate Change Debate As Soon As January, EPA Head Says by James Ayre, Clean Technica, Dec 8, 2017
- Climate change: Global warming victims seek justice, on the street and in courts, AFP/Hindustan Times, Dec 10, 2017
- UK could cut food emissions by 17% by sticking to a healthy diet by Daisy Dunne, Carbon Brief, Dec 4, 2017
- Alaska just reported one of the most extreme snowfall rates on record: 10 inches per hour by Jon Hopewell, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, Dec 7, 2017
- California wildfires: Governor brands fires 'new normal', BBC News, Dec 10, 2017
Mon Dec 11, 2017
- Summer's first big heatwave to send mercury, fire risks soaring by Peter Hannam, Sydney Morning Herald, Dec 11, 2017
- Australia's greenhouse gas emissions highest on record by Michael Slezak, Guardian, Dec 10, 2017
- Is gas a bridge to nowhere for UK climate policy?, Guest Post by Steve Pye, Carbon Brief, Dec 5, 2017
- California wildfires now larger than New York City and Boston combined by Joe Sutton & Susannah Cullinane, CNN, Dec 11, 2017
- Scott Pruitt, E.P.A. Chief, Says Agency Scientists Are Free to Discuss Their Work by Lisa Friedman, New York Times, Dec 6, 2017
- Climate change is making wind energy worse at fighting climate change by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Dec 11, 2017
- Will Changing Cloud Cover Accelerate Global Warming? by Kate Marvel, Scientific American, Dec Print Issue
- California's hellish fires: a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Future by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Dec 11, 2017
Tue Dec 12, 2017
- We're building the equivalent of Paris every week. That's a problem. by Brian Bienkowski, The Daily Climate, Dec 11, 2017
- Power Failure: How utilities across the U.S. changed the rules to make big bets with your money by Tony Bartelme, The Post & Courier, Dec 10, 2017
- U.S. government calls for teens' climate change lawsuit to be halted by Tina Bellon, Reuters, Dec 11, 2017
- A moment of truth arrives for Rick Perry’s widely hated coal bailout by David Roberts, Energy & Environment, Vox, Dec 11, 2017
- Macron awards US scientists grants to move to France in defiance of Trump, AP/Guardian, Dec 11, 2017
- Theresa May puts tackling climate change back on Tory agenda by Rowena Mason, Guardian, Dec 11, 2017
- A Landmark California Climate Program Is in Jeopardy, Opinion by Justin Gillis & Chris Busch, New York Times, Dec 12, 2017
- Showing Conservatives The Scientific Consensus On Climate Change Can Shift Their Views On The Issue by Tom Jacobs, Pacific Standard, Dec 11, 2017
Wed Dec 13, 2017
- The future of faith and science by Ed Langlois, Catholic Sentinel, Dec 11, 2017
- World Bank to end financial support for oil and gas exploration by Larry Elliott, Guardian, Dec 12, 2017
- How big oil is tightening its grip on Donald Trump's White House by Jie Jenny Zou, Center for Public Integrity/ Guardian, Dec 12, 2017
- Exxon Agrees to Disclose Climate Risks Under Pressure from Investors by John H Cushman Jr & David Hasmyer, InsideClimate News, Dec 12, 2017
- Global warming made Hurricane Harvey deadly rains three times more likely, research reveals by Damian Carrington, Guardian, Dec 13, 2017
- World leaders and investors ramp up efforts to fight global warming at climate summit by Angela Charlton & Sylvie Corbet, Christian Science Monitor, Dec 12, 2017
- Presenting facts as ‘consensus’ bridges conservative-liberal divide over climate change by Fred Lewsey, University of Cambridge, Dec 11, 2017
- Antarctic Modeling Pushes Up Sea-Level Rise Projections, Research Report by Climate Central, Dec 13, 2017
Thu Dec 14, 2017
- Three Surprises on Climate Change from Economist Michael Grubb by Lynne Paramorre, Institute for New Economic Thinking, Dec 12, 2017
- Introducing DeSmog UK’s Climate Disinformation Database by Mat Hope & Kyla Mandel, DeSmog UK, Dec 11, 2017
- Germans most worried about climate change, analysis shows by Jocelyn Timperley, Carbon Brief, Dec 12, 2017
- One Planet Summit: Finance Commitments Fire-Up Higher Momentum for Paris Climate Change Agreement, UN Climate Change News, Dec 12, 2017
- Wildfires and climate are related – are Americans connecting the dots? by Jennifer Marlon & Abigail Cheskis, Yale Program on Climate Change Communications, Dec 11, 2017
- 2016’s Record Heat Not Possible Without Global Warming, Study Says by Nicholas Kusnetz, InsideClimate News, Dec 13, 2017
- Research shows that certain facts can still change conservatives’ minds by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Dec 11, 2017
Fri Dec 15, 2017
- Bastard child': Review of controversial emissions fund finds 'significant risk' by Peter Hannam, Sydney Morning Herald, Dec 11, 2017
- World is losing the battle against climate change, says Macron by Richard Lough & Michel Rose, Reuters, Dec 12, 2017
- Why Snow in the South Doesn’t Mean Climate Change is a Hoax by Sydney Pereira, Newsweek, Dec 12, 2017
- Why scientists think 100% of global warming is due to humans, Analysis by Zeke Hausfather, Carbon Brief, Dec 13, 2017
- Smoke from wildfires may be surprisingly deadly, scientists report by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Dec 15, 2017
- The US is penny wise and pound foolish on the climate by John Abraham, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian, Dec 13, 2017
- Mass starvation is humanity’s fate if we keep flogging the land to death, Opinion by George Monbiot, Guardian, Dec 11, 2017
- How Bill McKibben’s radical idea of fossil-fuel divestment transformed the climate debate by Todd Schifeling & Andrew J. Hoffman, The Conversation US, Dec 11, 2017
Sat Dec 16, 2017
- Trump seeks pro-coal alliance as global push against fuel grows by Karl Mathiesen, Climate Home, Dec 12, 2017
- The EPA Hired a Major Republican Opposition Research Firm to Track Press Activity by Rebecca Leber, Andy Kroll & Russ Choma, Mother Jones, Dec 15, 2017
- Through global warming, we're now creating new types of extreme weather events, with dire results by Andrew Freedman, Mashable, Dec 14, 2017
- Climate science debate 'on hold' after White House meeting by Robin Bravender, Climatewire, Dec 15, 2017
- How to Talk to a Science Denier without Arguing, Opinion by Gleb Tsipursky, Scientific American, Dec 11, 2017
- Meet the microgrid, the technology poised to transform electricity by David Roberts and Alvin Chang, Energy & Environment, Vox, Dec 15, 2017
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