Climate Crisis

Ray Bailey ( Waging Nonviolence ) – On a cool, clear April morning just past 8 a.m., the sprawling corporate campus of the world’s second largest asset manager was suddenly roused from its suburban Philadelphia calm. While about 20 activists broke into song, unfurled banners, stepped into the road and began blockading Vanguard’s entrances, around […]

Afghanistan

The Water Wars Begin: Did Climate Change contribute to Saturday’s Deadly Iran-Afghan Border Clash over Helmand River?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reports that on Saturday deadly clashes broke out between Iranian border guards in the Zabul district of Sistan and Baluchistant Province and their opposite numbers on the Afghanistan side in the Keng District of Nimruz Province. Tasnim wrote, “Conscript “Mehdi Ahmadi” was martyred while guarding the […]

Authoritarianism

United Nations calls for Protection of Climate Activists’ Civil Disobedience after German Crackdown on ‘Last Generation’ as ‘Criminal’

Clean Energy Wire

By Sören Amelang | – dpa / Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The UN has highlighted the importance of climate activists and their right to hold demonstrations following a crackdown on a street-blocking group in Germany. “Climate activists – led by the moral voice of young people – have continued to pursue their goals even in the […]

Climate Crisis

“Politicizing the Weather:” Florida’s DeSantis doesn’t Understand that Carbon Emissions make Hurricanes more Intense, not More Frequent

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – After his historic meltdown of a presidential campaign announcement with notorious internet troll Elon Musk on a glitchy “Twitter Spaces,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis went on to have a conversation with former congressman Trey Gowdy, a kooky climate change denialist, on Fox “News” Wednesday night. In response to Gowdy’s question […]

Climate Crisis

Global Heating could make it too Hot for a Third of Humanity by 2080 – 2100

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A lot of studies have focused on the economic cost of global heating, caused by humans burning fossil fuels. A new study in Nature Sustainability “Quantifying the human cost of global warming,” by Timothy M. Lenton et al. instead concentrates on what heating will mean for the lives of human […]

Climate Crisis

The Market Won’t Save Us: How to Rapidly Reduce Deadly Fossil Fuel Use

John Feffer

( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – The burning of fossil fuels—oil, coal, natural gas—is responsible for nearly 90 percent of global carbon emissions. Despite almost-universal recognition of the need to reduce the use of those fossil fuels, the industrialized world is having the hardest time breaking its addiction. The economic rebound from the COVID-19 […]

Climate Crisis

More than two dozen Cities and States are suing Big Oil over Climate Change – they just got a Boost from the US Supreme Court

The Conversation

By Patrick Parenteau, Vermont Law & Graduate School and John Dernbach, Widener University | – Honolulu has lost more than 5 miles of its famous beaches to sea level rise and storm surges. Sunny-day flooding during high tides makes many city roads impassable, and water mains for the public drinking water system are corroding from […]

China

China’s Solar Power Installations Skyrocket by 36.6%, may install 100 Gigs of New Solar this Year

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In the first four months of 2023, China’s solar power installations increased by an incredible 36.6 percent year over year, to a total of 440 gigawatts.And no wonder. China’s major power firms’ investments in solar energy skyrocketed by 156.3% over those four months in the previous year, to $10.6 billion. […]

Climate Crisis

Spain Runs entirely on Green Energy for 9 Hours for First time, in Harbinger of Green Future

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Spain, the world’s 15th largest economy and the fourth-largest in Europe, recently ran for 9 hours entirely on wind, solar and hydro. It is not the first time the renewables supplied all of the country’s domestic electricity needs on the peninsula, but it is the first time they did so […]