Climate Change

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – When running for office, Joe Biden pledged that the federal government would not ban hydraulic fracturing or fracking. This environmentally disastrous method of extracting petroleum and natural gas from shale rock beneath the earth involves pumping water down there under enormous pressure to break up the rocks and release the […]

Climate Crisis

Is Global Heating Triggering a Mass Extinction Event in Oceans? Marine life is fleeing the equator to cooler waters

The Conversation

By Anthony Richardson, Chhaya Chaudhary, David Schoeman and Mark John Costello | – The tropical water at the equator is renowned for having the richest diversity of marine life on Earth, with vibrant coral reefs and large aggregations of tunas, sea turtles, manta rays and whale sharks. The number of marine species naturally tapers off […]

Germany

Greentech is 15% of German Economy, and its Market Volume will Double in 10 Years to $1 Trillion

Clean Energy Wire

By Kerstine Appunn | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Experts from Germany’s environment ministry expect the global market for environmental technologies to grow by more than seven percent annually in the next ten years. The German sector is developing even more dynamically with average annual growth of more than eight percent, the environment […]

Climate Crisis

How climate insecurity could trigger more conflict in Somalia and the Horn of Africa

The Conversation

By Andrew E. Yaw Tchie | – Climate change effects such as droughts, flash floods, erratic rainfall, disruption to the monsoon seasons, strong winds, cyclones, sandstorms, dust storms and increased temperature are being experienced across Somalia. These effects are affecting livelihoods, and contributing to local grievances and community tensions. Some of these insights and conclusions […]

Climate Crisis

A big Effing Deal: On Eve of Climate Summit, news that Biden will cut US C02 Emissions 50% by 2030

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – ( Matthew Daly at the Associated Press reports that President Biden will announce at Thursday’s virtual international Climate Summit that the US will commit to reducing its annual carbon dioxide emissions by half of the 2005 peak by 2030. Joe Biden famously used an expletive to describe the passage of […]

China

Despite Hawks Seeking new Cold War, the US and China can only Confront Climate Emergency by Cooperating

Juan Cole

( China Dialogue ) – They say don’t mess with Texas, but Mother Nature didn’t get the memo. A surprise winter storm killed at least 111 people in March, when rolling blackouts left several million Texans without power for several freezing days. Their misery came just a few years after Hurricane Harvey put a US$125 […]

Climate Crisis

“Unimaginable Amounts of Water”: Human-Made Global Heating in Danger of “Uncorking” Massive Antarctic Glaciers, causing Sea Level Rise

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new article in Geophysical Research Letters found that four times as much of the Antarctic ices shelves would melt under a scenario where we heat the earth by 7.2 degrees F. (4 degrees C.) as opposed to the current Paris Climate Treaty goals of 1.5 degrees C. or at […]

Climate Crisis

Why Activists have Launched a Fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty

China Dialogue

By Isabella Kaminski | – ( China Dialogue ) A fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty (FFNPT) initiative was formally launched last September by a coalition of academics, lawyers and activists. It’s modelled on the landmark UN Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons agreed in the 1960s, and is built around the same three pillars: non-proliferation, […]

Climate Crisis

Antarctica’s ice shelves are trembling as Earth heats, threatening Sea Level Rise unless we Act Now

The Conversation

By Ella Gilbert | – Images of colossal chunks of ice plunging into the sea accompany almost every news story about climate change. It can often make the problem seem remote, as if the effects of rising global temperatures are playing out elsewhere. But the break-up of the world’s vast reservoirs of frozen water – […]