Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – My late friend Fernando Coronil once observed that in order to understand the people of the past we must also understand their own visions of the future. In the 2014 science fiction film Edge of Tomorrow, based on a Japanese young adult novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi […]
- Africa (146)
- Animals (1)
- Asia (841)
- Australasia (2)
- Australia (6)
- Authoritarianism (182)
- Canada (1)
- Cats (1)
- Culture (419)
- Dehydration (1)
- Democracy (247)
- Dissent (288)
- Economy (726)
- Education (75)
- Elderly (3)
- Energy (1,082)
- Environment (1,509)
- Europe (787)
- Featured (2,676)
- fiction (5)
- Food (8)
- G20 (1)
- Guns (9)
- Health (464)
- History (241)
- Human Rights (994)
- Immigration (17)
- International (606)
- Islamophobia (307)
- Juan Cole (268)
- Latin America (68)
- Latinos (3)
- leisure (21)
- media (375)
- Middle East (7,261)
- Arab World (4,621)
- Iran (912)
- Israel (703)
- Israel/ Palestine (1,946)
- Israel/Palestine (8)
- Kurds (264)
- Turkey (446)
- military (105)
- Modernism (1)
- nationalism (102)
- NATO (6)
- Natural Disasters (11)
- nuclear weapons (58)
- Patriarchy (2)
- Peace (74)
- Persian mythology (1)
- Pete Buttigieg (1)
- Popular Culture (24)
- Poverty (11)
- privacy (19)
- racism (346)
- Rape (5)
- religion (839)
- Rights (128)
- robots (1)
- Romance (1)
- science (117)
- Secular (West) (8)
- Secularism (25)
- Sexual Assault (2)
- South Pacific (1)
- Spirituality (21)
- Statelessness (14)
- Surveillance (259)
- Terrorism (1,035)
- Tolerance (4)
- Uncategorized (8,045)
- United Nations (80)
- Urbanization (3)
- US Foreign Policy (586)
- US politics (3,970)
- Anti-War Movement (6)
- Campaign Finance (27)
- Censors (21)
- Central Intelligence Agency (59)
- Civil Rights (83)
- Congress (38)
- Conspiracy Theories (6)
- Constitution (321)
- crime (5)
- Democratic Party (566)
- Democratic Socialists of America (14)
- Domestic Terrorism (16)
- Drone Warfare (26)
- Espionage (116)
- Ethnicities (284)
- Far Right (206)
- FBI (41)
- Foreign Policy (203)
- Gay Rights (14)
- Guns (64)
- Immigration (194)
- Israel Lobbies (83)
- Marijuana (1)
- Militarization (229)
- National Security State (383)
- Native Americans (26)
- Nuclear arsenal (6)
- penitentiaries (6)
- Pentagon (365)
- Police (34)
- prison reform (6)
- Private Prisons (1)
- Puerto Rico (25)
- Religious Right (1)
- Reproductive Choice (7)
- Republican Party (2,479)
- Supreme Court (60)
- Voter suppression (19)
- Whistleblowers (4)
- Xenophobia (8)
- Veterans (29)
- Voting Rights (4)
- War (277)
- Western Religion (376)
- White Supremacists (83)
- wikileaks (8)
- women (291)
- workers (146)
- Writing (5)
- Youth (121)
Environment
While COVID Distracted us, the global Climate Crisis went Extreme in 2020
By Chloe Brimicombe, Elliott Sainsbury, Gabrielle Powell and Wilson Chan | – The year 2020 will no doubt go down in history for other reasons, but it is also on target to be one of the warmest on record. And as the climate warms, natural hazards will happen more frequently – and be ever more […]
The Southwest once had 4000-year-long Droughts; Could Human-Caused Climate Emergency bring them Back?
By Judy Fahys ( InsideClimate News/ Cronkite News Creative Commons. —— Bonus Video added by Informed Comment: The Enigmatic Montezuma Castle and Well in Arizona, USA | Ancient Architects
With US AWOL on Climate Leadership, are EU Members like Holland Turning to China?
By Charlotte Nijhuis | – ( China Dialogue ) – Both countries have their work cut out to reach emissions-reduction goals, but China is already learning from Dutch expertise in offshore wind. With half of its territory below sea level, the Netherlands is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The country is a […]
Whodunnit?: Hundreds of Thousands of Birds fell out of the Sky in Southwest and now we Know Why
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1963 horror film, The Birds, our avian cousins abruptly and for no apparent reason turned hostile and began attacking humans. It is based on a story by Daphne du Maurier. I fear that in 2020, humans turned the tables on a vast scale. In August, masses […]
Deficit Hawks: Reducing environmental damage of greenhouse gases, pollutants saves billions
By Charlotte Nijhuis | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Reducing the environmental damages caused by greenhouse gases, nitrogen emissions, other pollutants and human activities can save Germany billions of euros, the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) writes. The agency has updated the cost rates of environmental impact to include those for nitrogen and […]
Climate activists mount utility strike to urge the shutdown of New England coal plant
By Barbara Peterson | – (Waging Nonviolence) – Santa is not the only one giving out coal this year. Climate activists like Johnny Sanchez and Sonja Birthisel in Portland, Maine, recently sent their utility company an envelope of coal instead of payment towards their electric bill. This symbolic act of defiance, organized by the No […]
The Caspian Sea, central to Iran & Russia, is set to fall by 9 Yards or more this century – an ecocide is imminent
By Frank Wesselingh and Matteo Lattuada | – Imagine you are on the coast, looking out to sea. In front of you lies 100 metres of barren sand that looks like a beach at low tide with gentle waves beyond. And yet there are no tides. This is what we found when we visited the […]
Young Muslim women are leading environmental movements grounded in their beliefs
Memona Hossain | – Weeks prior to the lockdowns and closures that came with the COVID-19 pandemic, UN Secretary General António Guterres said 2020 would be a “pivotal year for how we address climate change.” Revamped emission goals were expected from 196 countries, but with international meetings postponed due to the pandemic, the stark reality […]