Climate Change

How Modern Human-Driven Climate Change began with European colonisation, mass slavery and the ‘great dying’ of the 16th century

By Mark Maslin and Simon Lewis | – The toppling of statues at Black Lives Matter protests has powerfully articulated that the roots of modern racism lie in European colonisation and slavery. Racism will be more forcefully opposed once we acknowledge this history and learn from it. Geographers and geologists can help contribute to this […]

Climate Crisis

The other Pandemic: Siberia hits over 100° F, hotter than Miami, 80 Years Early, because Coal and Gasoline

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As if the coronavirus pandemic, depression-era unemployment, and a mad President in the White House were not enough, Mother Nature has decided to remind us what the Big Kahuna really is. It is the climate emergency. May was not only the hottest May since 1880, it was 18° F. (10° […]

Climate Crisis

The Other Pandemic: We haven’t Even begun to Flatten the Curve on the Climate Crisis

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment) – We are living with two life-threatening crises: Covid-19 and the climate crisis. They pose a common stark fate for us – the risk of illness in the case of Covid, and injury and destruction of our environment in the case of climate; both are harbingers of death for […]

Climate Crisis

Heat the Earth more than 3.6° F. and Rain Forests will Release Hundreds of Billions of Tons of CO2

The Conversation

By Aida Cuní Sanchez and Martin Sullivan | – As they photosynthesise and grow, tropical forests remove enormous amounts of carbon from the atmosphere, reducing global warming. However, forests are also themselves affected by this warming. If it gets too hot or too dry, trees will grow less and may start to die faster, decomposing […]

Bangladesh

Double Whammy of Climate-Driven Monster Cyclone and Coronavirus hits Thousands in India, Bangladesh

Juan Cole

Don’t get complacent: North America is also Vulnerable

Climate Crisis

Global warming now pushing heat into territory humans cannot tolerate

The Conversation

By Tom Matthews and Colin Raymond | – The explosive growth and success of human society over the past 10,000 years has been underpinned by a distinct range of climate conditions. But the range of weather humans can encounter on Earth – the “climate envelope” – is shifting as the planet warms, and conditions entirely […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Social Distancing: As sea levels rise, are we ready to live behind giant walls?

The Conversation

By Hannah Cloke | – Climate change, it’s fair to say, is complicated. And it’s big. One of the main challenges of responding effectively is simply getting your head around the scale of the problem. This is not unique in the study of the physical world, of course. Scientists and economists spend a lot of […]

Climate Crisis

Anti-Immigrant Trump promotes Burning Fossil Fuels that will displace Millions toward US

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences presents findings that shocked the authors themselves. If the world (by which I mean you and me, dear reader) does not swing into prompt action to deal with the climate emergency, some 3.5 billion people are going to […]

Climate Crisis

Unless we Halt Trump’s War on the Environment, the next Pandemic is coming for Us

Foreign Policy in Focus

( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Congress is already thinking about how to prevent the next pandemic. See how quickly Cory Booker (D-NJ) has teamed up with Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to write a letter calling for a global ban on “wet markets.” The current pandemic is reputed to have originated in a wet market […]