Oceans

“Niagara Falls becoming Horizontal:” NOAA warns of nearly 1 foot Sea Level Rise in 30 years, “Common” High Tide Floods

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The sea level along the US coastline in the lower 48 will rise as much in just the next 30 years as it had the century before our own moment (1920-2020), which is to say, nearly a foot or a third of a meter. That is the takeaway from the […]

Coal

How poisonous mercury gets from coal-fired power plants into the fish you eat

The Conversation

By Gabriel Filippelli | – People fishing along the banks of the White River as it winds through Indianapolis sometimes pass by ominous signs warning about eating the fish they catch. One of the risks they have faced is mercury poisoning. Mercury is a neurotoxic metal that can cause irreparable harm to human health – […]

Climate Crisis

If We heat the World 1.5°C (2.7° F.), Essential Coral Reefs are all but Doomed

The Conversation

By Adele Dixon, Maria Beger, Peter Kalmus, and Scott F. Heron | – Coral reefs have long been regarded as one of the earliest and most significant ecological casualties of global warming. In new research published in the journal PLOS Climate, we found that the future of these tropical ecosystems – thought to harbour more […]

Climate Crisis

‘Huge Climate Victory’ as Judge Blocks Biden’s Oil Lease Sale in Gulf of Mexico

Common Dreams

By Jake Johnson | – A federal judge late Thursday blocked the Biden administration’s massive oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, a significant win for environmentalists as they work to prevent the Interior Department from handing public lands and waters over to the fossil fuel industry. In his 68-page decision (pdf), […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Emergency Parable: Mammoth Iceberg that broke free from Antarctica Dumps 168 billion tons of Water in South Atlantic

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Anne Braakmann-Folgmann et al. in an article for Remote Sensing of the Environment observed by satellite the now-disintegrated Iceberg A68A over its 3.5-year life since it hived off the Larsen-C Ice Shelf in Antarctica in 2017, and found that it dumped 168 billion tons of fresh water into the ocean […]

Climate Crisis

Ocean Heat is at Record Levels, with Major Consequences

The Conversation

By Kevin Trenberth | – The world witnessed record-breaking climate and weather disasters in 2021, from destructive flash floods that swept through mountain towns in Europe and inundated subway systems in China and the U.S., to heat waves and wildfires. Typhoon Rai killed over 400 people in the Philippines; Hurricane Ida caused an estimated US$74 […]

Climate Crisis

Antarctica’s ‘doomsday’ Glacier: how its Collapse could trigger global Floods and swallow Islands

The Conversation

By Ella Gilbert | – The massive Thwaites glacier in West Antarctica contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by 65cm if it were to completely collapse. And, worryingly, recent research suggests that its long-term stability is doubtful as the glacier haemorrhages more and more ice. Adding 65cm to global sea levels would be […]

Climate Crisis

A Rise of average world Temperatures by 2.3° C. (4.2° F.) will degrade the quality of life in every country on Earth

Alfred W. McCoy

By Alfred McCoy | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – When midnight strikes on New Year’s Day of 2050, there will be little cause for celebration. There will, of course, be the usual toasts with fine wines in the climate-controlled compounds of the wealthy few. But for most of humanity, it’ll just be another day of adversity […]

Climate Crisis

Alarming Loss of Sea Ice diminishes the Arctic’s ability to cool the Global Climate

The Conversation

By Matthew Druckenmiller, Rick Thoman, and Twila Moon | – The Arctic has long been portrayed as a distant end-of-the-Earth place, disconnected from everyday common experience. But as the planet rapidly warms, what happens in this icy region, where temperatures are rising twice as fast as the rest of the globe, increasingly affects lives around […]