Climate Change

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Pick up any US liberal newspaper today and there are reams of columns speculating on the fate of our country. What will happen and how quickly to our country with Trump as president and a cabinet of billionaires as they destroy an already shredded social safety net? […]

Climate Crisis

The Worst News from 2024: CO2 Went up again, as Tundra starts to Emit Carbon

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The wars in Ukraine, Gaza, Israel, Lebanon, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo made 2024 a hard year to bear for anyone following them, and unfortunately it was all too easy to spend the year doomscrolling through the horrid video feeds that testified to humanity’s inhumanity. The fate […]

Climate Crisis

In 2025, let’s make it Game On – not Game Over – for our precious natural World

The Conversation

By Darcy Watchorn, Deakin University and Marissa Parrott, The University of Melbourne It’s just past midnight in the cool, ancient forests of Tasmania. We’ve spent a long day and night surveying endangered Tasmanian devils. All around, small animals scurry through bushes. A devil calls in the darkness. Microbats swoop and swirl as a spotted-tailed quoll […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Change is making Plants less Nutritious − that could already be hurting Animals that are Grazers

The Conversation

By Ellen Welti, Smithsonian Institution (The Conversation) -More than one-third of all animals on Earth, from beetles to cows to elephants, depend on plant-based diets. Plants are a low-calorie food source, so it can be challenging for animals to consume enough energy to meet their needs. Now climate change is reducing the nutritional value of […]

Climate Crisis

Climate, Migration and Conflict mix to create ‘deadly’ intense Tropical Storms like Chido

The Conversation

By Liz Stephens, University of Reading; Dan Green, University of Bristol, and Luis Artur, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (The Conversation) – Cyclone Chido was an “intense tropical cyclone”, equivalent to a category 4 hurricane in the Atlantic. It made landfall in Mayotte, a small island lying to the north-west of Madagascar on December 14, generating wind […]

Climate Crisis

Scientists: Cyclone Chido, which Devastated Indian Ocean Island of Mayotte, was 40% more likely to be a Cat 4 because of Climate Change

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Cyclone Chido devastated the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, destroying an estimated 20,000 homes and wiping out entire shantytown neighborhoods. The island has about 65,000 households, so a third may be flattened. Godzilla-sized waves measured as high as 22 feet. About half the population still lacks electricity, and ironically water […]

Climate Crisis

Rising Desertification shows we can’t keep Farming with Fossil Fuels; 3/4s of Earth’s Land is Drier

The Conversation

By Jack Marley, The Conversation Three-quarters of Earth’s land has become drier since 1990. Droughts come and go – more often and more extreme with the incessant rise of greenhouse gas emissions over the last three decades – but burning fossil fuels is transforming our blue planet. A new report from scientists convened by the […]

Climate Crisis

As COP 29 convenes, Human-Caused Climate Change Menaces the Middle East Across Borders

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The European Centre for Development Policy Management has issued a new report on the threats of human-caused climate change to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, concentrating on cross-border dangers that affect more than one country. Heat and drought would rank high on this list. The Middle East […]

Climate Crisis

Extreme Weather has already cost Vulnerable Island Nations $141 Billion

The Conversation

Emily Wilkinson, ODI Global; Ilan Noy, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; Matt Bishop, University of Sheffield, and Vikrant Panwar, ODI Global (The Conversation) – Two years ago, when the curtain fell on the COP27 summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, developing nations on the frontline of climate change had something meaningful to […]