Climate Change

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Sen. Bernie Sanders’ breathtaking Green New Deal, with an advertised price tag of $16.3 trillion, is aimed at nothing less than saving the planet from the worst consequences of global heating. The plan aims to create 20 million new, well-paying jobs. It should be noted that one possible outcome of […]

Climate Change

Raging wildfires threaten to turn Northern Hemisphere’s forests from vital carbon stores into climate heaters

The Conversation

By Stefan H Doerr, Chuanyu Gao, and Cristina Santin | – In 2014, we travelled to the northern boreal forests of Canada to set experimental fires that would help us understand the effect of wildfires on the global carbon cycle. Sadly, we never got the chance to set those fires, because the firefighters enlisted to […]

Brazil

Climate Crisis: Panic as 74,000 Amazon Wildfires Plunge Sao Paulo into Darkness, Can be Seen from Space

Juan Cole

Rain forests aren’t supposed to be on fire

Climate Change

New research shows that Antarctica’s largest floating ice shelf is highly sensitive to warming of the ocean

The Conversation

By Dan Lowry | – Scientists have long been concerned about the potential collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and its contribution to global sea level rise. Much of West Antarctica’s ice lies below sea level, and warming ocean temperatures may lead to runaway ice sheet retreat. Since the last ice age, the ice […]

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 […]

Climate Change

Humanity hasn’t experienced a Month as Hot as July in all the Time since Millard Fillmore was President

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – July was the hottest month ever recorded, i.e. the hottest since about 1850 when scientific records began being kept around the world using modern thermometers. So writes Chelsea Harvey at Climate Wire via The Scientific American. July was more than 1 degree Fahrenheit warmer than the late 20th century average. […]

Climate Change

Next: The Climate Crisis is Coming for Your Food

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The sources of the climate emergency are often framed with regard to electricity generation and transportation, while the impact of global heating through burning of fossil fuels is of discussed with regard to extreme weather and sea level rise. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has just issued A […]

Climate Change

Environment or Jobs? The Green New Deal can Boost Both

Aviva Chomsky

( Tomdispatch.com ) – When it comes to heat, extreme weather, wildfires, and melting glaciers, the planet is now in what the media increasingly refers to as “record” territory, as climate change’s momentum outpaces predictions. In such a situation, in a country whose president and administration seem hell-bent on doing everything they conceivably can to […]