Climate Change

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A United Nations study of the greenhouse gas reduction targets announced by the 191 signatories to the Paris Convention has come up with an alarming result. If countries follow through on their stated plans, greenhouse gas emissions will actually rise. In 2025, they will be 15.8% higher than in 2010 […]

Mass Extinction

Human Activity is Threatening 1/3 of Tree Species with Extinction

The Conversation

By Adrian Newton | One in three of the world’s tree species are at risk of becoming extinct, according to a recent report by the Global Tree Assessment – the first attempt to estimate the conservation status of all of Earth’s trees. Well-known species, including magnolias, oaks and maples are among those at risk. More […]

Climate Crisis

Western fires are burning higher in the mountains and at unprecedented rates as we heat the climate

The Conversation

By Mojtaba Sadegh, John Abatzoglou and Mohammad Reza Alizadeh | – The Western U.S. is experiencing another severe fire season, and a recent study shows that even high mountain areas once considered too wet to burn are at increasing risk as the climate warms. With more than 5 million acres already burned by early September, […]

Climate Crisis

Zombie Wars v. Climate Cooperation

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – New York’s new governor, Kathy Hochul – forced to deal with every political leader’s nightmare, a weather disaster, after just one week in office – called the rain “far more than anyone expected.” In fact, despite many residents getting caught unaware, the potential for high-end flooding was […]

Climate Crisis

“That night, I became a climate Refugee:” The Dixie Fire and our Hot Future

Tomdispatch

ByJane Braxton Little | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – GREENVILLE, CA — At 10 a.m. on July 22nd, I interviewed a New York University professor about using autonomous robots, drones, and other unmanned devices to suppress structural and wildland fires. I sent the interview to an online transcription service, walked down the steps of my second-floor […]

Flooding

After Hurricane Ida, mutual aid provides safety and survival in New Orleans

Waging Nonviolence

By Jordan Flaherty | – ( Waging Nonviolence) | – In the aftermath of disasters, those most in need are also who the state often leaves behind. Into this vacuum, communities come together for mutual aid. While charity rarely challenges the root causes behind disasters, and often divides recipients into worthy and unworthy, mutual aid […]

Climate Crisis

After Ida, Joe Biden calls Code Red on Climate Emergency, Ridicules ‘Free Enterprise’ argument for Living under Flood Waters

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden is a late and incomplete convert to the immediate and extreme dangers of the climate emergency. Originally a fan of Big Oil who rejected a federal ban on high-carbon hydraulic fracturing, Biden more recently backed the demand by the Democratic Party’s left wing for really big federal […]

Climate Crisis

Top 5 Health Dangers of Climate Emergency that are far more Pressing than Covid Pandemic (- 230 Top Medical Journals)

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Some 230 medical journals carried an editorial on Sunday, “Call for Emergency Action to Limit Global Temperature Increases, Restore Biodiversity, and Protect Health.” In my view, the editorial buried the lead by putting this sentence two-thirds of the way down and by not giving it its own paragraph: “Rises above […]

Climate Change

Hurricane Ida shows the increasing impact of climate crisis since Katrina

The Conversation

By Jack L. Rozdilsky | – Sixteen years to the day that Hurricane Katrina made landfall, Hurricane Ida struck at Port Fourchon, La., on Aug. 29, as a Category 4 hurricane with 240 kilometres per hour winds. Given the date and location of the area affected, Katrina and Ida comparisons are being made. While no […]