Climate Change

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – How plague came to Europe around 1347 has long been debated by historians. Scientists have located the origin of the primary reservoir of the disease in today’s Kyrgyzstan, and it has long been thought somehow to have come west with the Mongol invasions of the fourteenth century. One colorful tale […]

Climate Crisis

Rate of Global Heating in the Arab World is Twice the Global Average

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The World Meteorological Organization has issued its annual report on the 22 countries of the Arab world, covering last year, and presents alarming conclusions about human-driven climate change in that region. 2024 was the hottest year on record in the Middle East, around 1º Celsius (1.8º F.) hotter than the […]

Brazil

Accelerating Climate Change and Global Inequality: Indigenous People were the Heroes of COP30

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Contradictions pervaded the latest UN climate conference (COP30) held in Belem, Brazil. Progressive President Lula da Silva of Brazil proclaimed it would a positive turning point in progress, while he authorized his state-owned oil producer to do exploratory drilling for oil near the Great Amazon Reef System. […]

Climate Crisis

The Hot Tub of Death? Bill Gates, Hurricane Melissa, and a Civilization Under Threat

Juan Cole

Here is my essay for this week’s Tomdispatch.com. Don’t miss Tom Engelhardt’s canny introduction, in which he points to Donald Trump’s climate denialism as a context for that of his “billionaire buddies.” And by the way, it has now been shown that Hurricane Melissa clocked a wind gust of a mind-boggling 252 mph shortly before […]

Climate Crisis

The COP30 Climate Meet had One Job, and Totally Crashed and Burned

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – COP30 in Belém, Brazil, has ended without an agreement by member states to reaffirm the phasing out of fossil fuels, which is the only way to avert rolling climate catastrophes. COP28 at Dubai had included such language. The vague advice to countries to cut down on their carbon dioxide emissions […]

Climate Crisis

Trump’s Assault on Green Energy could Kill 1.3 million in Climate Disasters

ProPublica

Most of the people expected to suffer these temperature-related deaths live in poor countries in Africa and South Asia that are least prepared to cope with the increasing heat from climate change. By Sharon Lerner ( ProPublica ) – New advances in environmental science are providing a detailed understanding of the human costs of the […]

Climate Crisis

Trump Luxuriates in Golden Ballroom Plans as Americans Scrimp By

Tom Engelhardt

( Tomdispatch.com ) – When I began TomDispatch in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and the invasion of Afghanistan, believe me, the world did not look good. But I guarantee you one thing: if you had told me then that, almost a quarter of a century later, the president of the United States would […]

Caribbean

Hurricane Melissa was 33% more Destructive in Jamaica because of People-Caused Climate Breakdown

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Hurricane Melissa is the most devastating storm to hit Jamaica in recorded history, CNN reports. It rapidly intensified over the past few days, with its winds reaching 185 miles per hour at the time of landfall. This intensification is a feature of hot water, and the Caribbean in that area […]