Desertification

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – According to the BBC, NOAA, NASA and the UK Met Office have all certified that the decade of the 2010s was the hottest since global scientific records began being systematically kept in 1880. Last year, 2019, was 1.8 degrees F. (1 degree C.) hotter than the twentieth century average, so […]

Climate Crisis

“Get out Now!” Australia’s Climate-Driven Extreme Fire Danger forces 30,000 to Evacuate

The Watchers

By Teo Blašković | – (Via The Watchers ) – Authorities of the Australian state of Victoria have ordered more than 30 000 residents and tourists in East Gippsland to leave the region immediately as bushfires have reached an extreme danger level. Dangerous fire conditions are expected across the state today and tomorrow, BOM said, […]

Climate Crisis

Nine things you Love that are being Wrecked by the Climate Crisis

The Conversation

By Rod Lamberts | – There are so many stories flying around about the horrors already being wrought by climate change, you’re probably struggling to keep up. The warnings have been there for decades but still there are those who deny it. So perhaps it’s timely to look at how climate change is affecting you, […]

Brazil

Statistic of the decade: The massive deforestation of the Amazon

The Conversation

By Liberty Vittert | – This year, I was on the judging panel for the Royal Statistical Society’s International Statistic of the Decade. Much like Oxford English Dictionary’s “Word of the Year” competition, the international statistic is meant to capture the zeitgeist of this decade. The judging panel accepted nominations from the statistical community and […]

Climate Crisis

Now that Australian Wildfires are choking its Cities with Smoke, Can we Finally talk Climate Emergency?

The Conversation

By Blanche Verlie | – I moved to Sydney less than five weeks ago and the city has been shrouded in smoke haze on and off since then. I joke this is my “Sydney hazing” but it’s only now – having worked on climate change for over a decade – that I’m suddenly feeling burnt […]

Climate Crisis

“Catastrophic” Wildfires Threaten Sydney, Australia as Gov’t Backs Coal

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Australians in New South Wales and part of Queensland face “catastrophic” wildfires today according to government authorities. Based on the latest forecast, we have mapped where fires on the north coast are likely to spread during tomorrow's dangerous weather. The red shows the predicted spread of fire. Check https://t.co/NXTTCbYtYQ for […]

Climate Change

Horrific Amazon Wildfires: How do they Threaten Us, and how can we stop them?

Juan Cole

By Jos Barlow and Alexander C. Lees | – Imagine a rainforest at dawn – the tall canopy laden with dripping ferns and orchids, tree trunks covered in spongy mosses and lichens, and the morning mist only slowly burning away as the sun rises. While there is fuel everywhere, it seems unimaginable that such humid […]

Desertification

Rivers of Dust: The Future of Water and the Middle East

Conn M. Hallinan

Without international diplomacy, the Middle East is going to run out of water — and it won’t be alone.

Climate Change

To Avoid Boiling the Earth, we Need a New Agriculture: Farming emits 1/3 of Greenhouse Gases

The Conversation

By Mark Howden | – We can’t achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement without managing emissions from land use, according to a special report released today by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Emissions from land use, largely agriculture, forestry and land clearing, make up some 22% of the world’s greenhouse gas […]