Environment

By Jennifer Botha | – The end-Permian mass extinction is considered to be the most devastating biotic event in the history of life on Earth – it caused dramatic losses in global biodiversity, both in water and on land. About 90% of marine and 70% of terrestrial (land) species went extinct. This event may have […]

Climate Crisis

Methane Emissions Crisis and Rapid Global Heating: It is all Fossil Fuel Drilling and Fracking

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Many policy and scientific questions have the form of a Whodunnit. In what Umberto Eco called the “closed” mystery, the aftermath of a crime is described by the novelist but the identity and the motives of the killer are not known. A big mystery is where all the methane in […]

Climate Crisis

The unexpected link between the ozone hole and Arctic warming

The Conversation

By Karen Smith | – One of the earliest climate model predictions of how human-made climate change would affect our planet showed that the Arctic would warm about two to three times more than the global average. Forty years later, this “Arctic amplification” has been observed firsthand. Record-breaking Arctic warming and the dramatic decline of […]

Climate Crisis

Countering climate denialism requires taking on right-wing populism. Here’s how

The Conversation

By Richard Calland | – History may in due course record 2019 as the year in which the penny finally dropped about the climate emergency humanity faces. A sense of urgency was triggered last year by both Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg’s courage in challenging world leaders to take the crisis seriously, and the […]

Climate Crisis

The Contribution of Indigenous People to Fighting Climate Change is Hanging by a Thread in Bolivia

The Conversation

By Iokiñe Rodríguez and Mirna Inturias | – Earth’s forests oxygenate the atmosphere and store vast quantities of planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO₂). But research suggests that the health of these vast ecosystems in large part depends on the work of indigenous people. Indigenous territories and protected areas cover 52% of the Amazon forest and store […]

Climate Crisis

Ancient Antarctic ice melt caused extreme sea level rise 129,000 years ago – and it could happen again

The Conversation

By Chris Fogwill, Chris Turney, and Zoë Thomas | – Rising global temperatures and warming ocean waters are causing one of the world’s coldest places to melt. While we know that human activity is causing climate change and driving rapid changes in Antarctica, the potential impacts that a warmer world would have on this region […]

Denialism

How Louisiana Lawmakers Stop Residents’ Efforts to Fight Big Oil and Gas

ProPublica

Louisiana has pioneered ways for other states to discourage environmental protests around “critical infrastructure” projects. Much of it can be traced back to efforts by corporate lobbyists.

Bangladesh

Rich v. Poor: New York faces Climate Crisis, But Bangladesh Faces Climate Apocalypse

The Conversation

By Saleh Ahmed | – Unpredictable weather and climate patterns recently prompted New York Times columnist Paul Krugman to proclaim in January 2020 that “Apocalypse will become the new normal.” Extreme storms, tides and other awful surprises the world has experienced in recent years suggest that Krugman could be right. July 2019 registered the hottest […]

Climate Crisis

Congress Needs to Step up on Climate Emergency, Support Clean Energy and cut Big Oil Subsidies

Amanda Millstein

The climate crisis is here. It is real and it is hurting our health. As physicians in Northern California, my colleagues and I see how climate change is making our patients sicker every day. We see infants and children with worsening asthma due to wildfire smoke exposure. We see adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease […]