Environment

By Jack McGovan | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Germany has added 50 percent more new wind power capacity in the first nine months of 2023 than in the same time period last year, reports news agency dpa in an article published by the Stuttgarter Zeitung. Preliminary figures seen by dpa show that […]

Climate Crisis

We can still avoid “Catastrophic Inundation” if we Slash Carbon Pollution – Michael E. Mann’s “Our Fragile Moment”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Informed Comment is pleased to present below an interview with climate scientist Michael E. Mann, Presidential Distinguished Professor of Earth & Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He is one of my heroes. As a young scholar, he co-authored a key paper in which he and his colleagues presented […]

Climate Crisis

“We all just evaporate:” Extreme Heat Overwhelms Phoenix’s Unhoused Community

Cronkite News Arizona PBS

Deanna Pistono/Cronkite News ( Cronkite News ) – PHOENIX – Near the intersection of S. 11th Avenue and W. Jefferson Street in Phoenix, the heat is intense. For those who live along the street in tents and makeshift shelters, this heat can become fatal. “My friend … in the street over here, from heat exhaustion.… […]

Climate Crisis

Getting Mad and Getting Even: Is California’s Climate Lawsuit against Big Oil a Gamechanger?

Juan Cole

Reprinted from Tomdispatch.com : See the original site for Tom Engelhardt’s crucial introduction. ( Tomdispatch.com ) – The depths of depravity into which unvarnished capitalism can plunge mortal souls is incalculable. It should come as no surprise then that oil company executives and the officials of petrostates like Saudi Arabia have so assiduously lied to […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Crisis: Recent Evidence suggests Economists have severely underestimated the Financial Hit

The Conversation

By Timothy Neal, UNSW Sydney | – Scientists say severe climate change is now the greatest threat to humanity. Extreme weather is expected to upend lives and livelihoods, intensifying wildfires and pushing ecosystems towards collapse as ocean heatwaves savage coral reefs. The threats are far-reaching and widespread. So what effect would you expect this to […]

Climate Crisis

Top 6 Reasons why Global Temperatures are Breaking all the Records

The Conversation

By Andrew King, The University of Melbourne | – The world is very warm right now. We’re not only seeing record temperatures, but the records are being broken by record-wide margins. Take the preliminary September global-average temperature anomaly of 1.7°C above pre-industrial levels, for example. It’s an incredible 0.5°C above the previous record. So why […]

Climate Crisis

Made in America: How Biden’s Climate Package is Fuelling the Global Drive to Net Zero

The Conversation

By Alan Finkel, The University of Queensland | – (The Conversation) – Just over a year since US President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law, it’s becoming clear this strangely named piece of legislation could have a powerful impact in spurring the global transition to net zero emissions by 2050. But […]

Climate Crisis

Frankenstein’s Monster of a Climate Emergency: Dangerous Global September Heat Spike

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The data from scientific institutions around the world is pouring in here in the beginning of October, regarding September, 2023, and the consensus is that it was freakishly hot, unprecedentedly torrid, off-the-charts sweltering. It was the Frankenstein’s monster of months. Much of the extra heat came from human-caused climate change, […]

Climate Crisis

Arizona Dems Finally end GOP Sweetheart Deal for Saudis to exploit Arizona Water to Feed the Kingdom’s Cattle

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Arizona state government of Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs and Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes are terminating the license of a Saudi company, Fondomonte, owned by Almirai, which had essentially given the company carte blanche to pump scarce Arizona water to grow alfalfa, which it then exported to Saudi Arabia […]