Arguments
2025 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #16
Posted on 20 April 2025 by BaerbelW, Doug Bostrom, John Hartz
A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 13, 2025 thru Sat, April 19, 2025.
This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a bit different compared to previous weeks, though. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if you spot any clear misses and/or have suggestions for additional categories, please let us know in the comments. Thanks!
Stories we promoted this week, by category:
Climate Policy and Politics (13 articles)
- EPA plans target climate change initiatives Environmental law experts say rollbacks will reverse advances in recent decades Nation & World, Harvard Gazette, Alvin Powell, Apr 14, 2024.
- ‘Deep Change Theory’ Could Pull Us Out of a Global Climate and Pollution Crisis, Scientists Say A new U.N. report maps a path toward a more sustainable future and challenges society to question basic assumptions and values about the environment, consumption and waste. Science, Inside Climate News, Bob Berwyn, Apr 10, 2025.
- As NOAA Cuts Continue, Ocean Researchers Worry About Monitoring Programs A global network of buoys that measure sea surface temperatures could be vulnerable because the U.S. funds about half the program. Inside Climate News, Bob Berwyn, Apr 11, 2025.
- New Trump Administration Directives to Repeal Environmental Regulations En Masse Make ‘No Sense,’ Legal Experts Say Experts in environmental and energy law said the effort “reflects a complete lack of understanding of how government works.” Politics, Inside Climate News, Kiley Bense, Apr 12, 2025.
- Barrage of news shows climate change policy is rapidly shifting under Trump administration Spending cuts and directives questioning the reality and urgency of climate change have marked quick shifts in U.S. science policy., Dinah Voyles Pulver, Apr 12, 2025.
- Environmental Groups Sue the Trump Administration to Restore Web Tools Critical for Gauging Climate and Pollution Impacts The removal of websites designed to help disadvantaged communities will hurt those communities the most, lawyers argue. Justice, & Health, Inside Climate News, Georgina Gustin, Apr 14, 2025.
- The drafters of the Clean Air Act saw CO2 as a pollutant Climate change and carbon dioxide came up regularly in ‘60s-era Congressional hearings, a team of Harvard historians has found. Audio, Yale Climate Communications, YCC Team, Apr 14, 2025.
- ‘Five-alarm fire’: Read the Trump proposal that could decimate climate research Weather, The San Francisco Chronicle, Anthony Edwards, Apr 15, 2025.
- Green groups sue Trump administration over climate webpage removals The White House has pulled federal webpages tracking climate and environmental justice data The Guardian, Dharna Noor, Apr 15, 2025.
- Climate science isn't giving your kid anxiety Trump's newest argument for defunding climate science is that it's giving kids anxiety. But that's not really why kids are upset. HEATED, Emily Atkin, Apr 16, 2025.
- Trump Administration Halts Construction on New York Offshore Wind Project Empire Wind 1’s developer says it is considering its legal remedies. New York, meanwhile, needs renewable energy projects to meet its climate goals and to ensure the continued growth of green job opportunities in the city. Clean Energy, Inside Climate News, Lauren Dalban, Apr 18, 2025.
- Trump May Target Environmental Nonprofits in Executive Orders Expected on Earth Day Environmental groups say they are preparing for the worst—and preparing to fight back. Politics, Inside Climate News, Marianne Lavelle & Lee Hedgepeth, Apr 18, 2025.
- Nonprofits Work to Fill the Climate Information Gap Left by Trump Cuts Newsweek, Jeff Young, Apr 18, 2025.
Climate Change Impacts (4 articles)
- Climate crisis has tripled length of deadly ocean heatwaves, study finds Hotter seas supercharge storms and destroy critical ecosystems such as kelp forests and coral reefs The Guardian, Damian Carrington, Apr 14, 2025.
- Êurope’s climate is heating faster than any other DrGilbz on Youtube, Dr. Ella Gilbert, Apr 15, 2025.
- Half the World’s People Depend on Rice. New Research Says Climate Change Will Make it Toxic Warmer temperatures and more carbon dioxide will boost levels of arsenic, a dangerous heavy metal, in the staple crop. Justice & Health, Inside Climate News, Georgina Gustin, Apr 16, 2025.
- Surviving the Thaw: Greenland`s Inuit Grapple with Their Melting World The decline of the island’s ice and increasingly volatile weather have made it hard to maintain some Indigenous traditions. The effects of those changes and other impacts of the climate crisis on mental health can be harder to see. Inside Climate News, Maddy Keyes, Apr 19, 2025.
Climate Education and Communication (2 articles)
- EGU2025 - Picking and chosing sessions to attend on site in Vienna Skeptical Science, Bärbel Winkler, Apr 14, 2025.
- Most Americans fear global warming. Here's why few discuss it TheHill, Saul Elbein, Apr 17, 2025.
Health Aspects of Climate Change (2 articles)
- The world is heating up. How much can our bodies handle? Scientists put people in a heat chamber for nine hours. Here's what they learned. Health, Grist, Sachi Kitajima Mulkey, Apr 8, 2025.
- Not just the planet: The climate crisis is also affecting our minds While not officially classified as a mental illness, eco-anxiety manifests through symptoms such as helplessness, guilt, and distress. This form of anxiety is particularly prevalent among younger generations who are deeply concerned about the world they will inherit. Lifestyle, India Today, Tiasa Bhowal, Apr 14, 2025.
Miscellaneous (2 articles)
- 2025 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #15 A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 6, 2025 thru Sat, April 12, 2025. Skeptical Science, Bärbel Winkler, Doug Bostrom & John Hartz, Apr 13, 2025.
- Solar Could Lose Its Cost Advantage Over Gas Tariffs and the loss of Inflation Reduction Act incentives could realign new power pricing, according to Morgan Stanley. HEATMAP, Matthew Zeitlin, Apr 17, 2025.
Public Misunderstandings about Climate Science (2 articles)
- Fact brief - Is the sun responsible for global warming? Skeptical Science, Sue Bin Park, Apr 12, 2025.
- Fact brief - Is climate change a net benefit for society? No - Human-caused climate change has been a net detriment to society as measured by loss of life, economic harm and ecosystem damage. Skeptical Science, Sue Bin Park, Apr 19, 2025.
Public Misunderstandings about Climate Solutions (1 article)
- Is wind power too expensive? by Sabin Center, Skeptical Science, Apr 15, 2025
Climate Science and Research (1 article)
- Guest post: Exploring the risks of ‘cascading’ tipping points in a warming world Tipping elements within the Earth system are increasingly well understood. Guest Post, Carbon Brief, Dr Nico Wunderling & Thilo Körkel,, Apr 15, 2025.
Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation (1 article)
- Project to suck carbon out of sea begins in UK BBC News, John Fisher, Apr 18, 2025.
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!
Offsetting CO2 Emissions with Fish
Professor Oswald Schmitz is quoted in ‘New Scientist’ as saying: “Fish have a “tremendous” impact on carbon storage. “Part of it is in just the sheer biomass of these animals,” he says. But bony fish also fix carbon into insoluble minerals in their intestines as part of their way of dealing with constantly ingesting seawater. “It’s a sort of rock-like substance that they poop out and that sinks to the ocean bottom really quickly.” Collectively, marine fish account for the storage of a whopping 5.5 gigatonnes of carbon each year.” (Man produces 37.41 gigatonnes of CO2 a year.)
Using my method of preventing fish extinction can also, then, be a method for offsetting CO2 emissions.
A Practical Solution To Fish Stock Depletion
Fish in the wild are being over exploited, and whole fish species face extinction. But there is an easy way of preventing these extinctions. An international law should be passed which ensures that the gonads of all fish caught are liquidized and put into water containers, the fish are usually gutted anyway so this would not be a great hardship for the fishermen. Once liquidized, artificial fertilization takes place, and after twenty four hours the fertilized fish eggs can be released into the sea. Ensure that the water in your bucket is the temperature of the sea to avoid fish deaths. It does not matter where the eggs are put back because the fry of each species find their way back to the environment they originally come from.
In this way, the sea can be repopulated, and fishing can even become sustainable.
The Japanese were the first country to fish in this way, and had their Navy protect the massive shoal until the fish matured. I have only heard of it being done the once, though.
RedRoseAndy,
Your proposal would help achieve the required corrections of developed unsustainable fishing activity. It would be a little more work and would reduce the profitability of the currently developed fishing. But, as you correctly implied, the easier and more profitable fishing methods that have developed have no real future (and benefiting from burning non-renewable fossil fuels also has no future, even if it wasn’t causing harmful climate change impacts).
The assisted fertilization of eggs from ‘caught fish’ would be part of the actions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, specifically SDG 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
You should investigate the potential for your suggestion to be part of the SDG 14 related UN Event - Ocean Action Panel 10 : Enhancing the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources by implementing international law as reflected in the UNCLOS
However, I would like to know more about ‘how’ (considering all of the aspects in a holistic evaluation) an increased amount of fish will produce a reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere (more going on than carbon in fish poop falling into the depths). It seems intuitive that, like trees, more fish would result in reduced CO2 levels. If increasing the amount of fish in the seas will sustainably reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, then any actions that sustainably increase fish populations would help.
Regardless of the question about increased fish stocks reducing CO2, it would be helpful to increase fish stocks.
Hopefully all reasonable helpful actions will be pursued by leaders, in business and politics, to limit the harm done by human activities. Unfortunately, the focus will likely be on the easier, more profitable, and more easily popular actions rather than pursuing actually possible actions (not ‘hoped to be developed’ technological solutions) that are more helpful but are harder, more expensive, or less likely to be popular.