Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Palestinian authorities are increasingly concerned about what they see as an increase in emigration by young Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli siege since 2007. They cite lack of jobs, a poor economy, high prices, and frequent electricity outages, according to the Palestinian Arab Front. This […]
Libyan Dam Collapse and Flooding that Killed 20,000 was made 50 Times more likely by Climate Change
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The World Weather Attribution site, run by professional European climate scientists, estimated that “An event as extreme as the one observed over Libya has become up to 50 times more likely and up to 50% more intense compared to a 1.2C cooler climate.” They mean that in the eighteenth century, […]
Arabic Press: Saudi Arabia breaking off Talks with Israel out of Despair that Far Right Gov’t will make any concessions to Palestinians
Post-script: Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman denied this report 4 days after it appeared and maintained that the negotiations with Israel are continuing, with the two sides getting closer. Either the Israeli source was misinformed or was leaking to put pressure on the Crown Prince; if the latter it appears to have succeeded. Ann Arbor […]
Libya’s Climate Disaster Shows we Can’t afford Erratic leaders Like Trump and Haftar any More
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – For the past two weeks the Mediterranean has been reeling from the massive devastation wrought regionally by Hurricane Daniel, the “Medicane” that has visited more damage on this region than any storm in recorded history. In the east thirteen days ago, Daniel struck Greece, flooding the fertile valleys where a […]
Biden in Hanoi: Climate Change Exceeding 1.5° C. is more of an Existential Threat than even Nuclear War
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As I pointed out on Sunday, the Big Oil and Big Coal countries in the G20 — Russia, Saudi Arabia, India and China — prevented the New Delhi summit’s joint communique from making any specific commitments to reduce carbon pollution. At his news conference in Hanoi, President Biden was pressed […]
How Nevada just became the Saudi Arabia of Lithium, as World’s Largest Deposit is discovered at Thacker Pass
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In the scientific journal Science Advances, Thomas R. Benton and his colleagues published a paper last month showing that a volcanic crater, the McDermitt Caldera, stretching across the Nevada and Oregon border may have doubled the world’s accessible lithium deposits. There are an estimated 88 million tons of lithium reserves […]
Big Oil and Big Coal countries Block meaningful G20 Climate Pledge, in wake of World’s Hottest Summer on Record
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Shivam Patel at Reuters reports that the G20 summit in New Delhi made no specific, agreed-upon statement on climate and energy goals. The 20 richest countries in the world agreed to triple renewable energy by 2030 and to cut way back on coal, but did not set out specifics. They […]
Latino Futurism and Puerto Rico’s Solar Insurrection: Panels, Batteries and going Off-Grid after Hurricane Maria
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis thinks that the future of Puerto Rico is solar panels plus battery storage. It points out, moreover, that $12 billion in federal funding has been set aside for the promotion of renewables in the islands, most of it yet to be used. […]
Past three Months Hottest on Record, as UN SecGen Warns “Climate Breakdown has begun.”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The World Meteorological Organization reports the results of a study by the European Union-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), which found that the past three months were the hottest 90-day period in recorded history. UN Secretary-General António Guterres responded to the report by saying, “Our planet has just endured a […]
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