Fossil Fuels

By Clare Cunningham, York St John University | – The environmental activist group Just Stop Oil has grasped public attention with a series of “art action” stunts targeting famous paintings and buildings with cans of soup and paint. They have climbed motorway gantries, blocking drivers on the M25. Their message has been loud, but has […]

Climate Crisis

COP27 flinched on phasing out ‘All Fossil Fuels’. What’s next for the Fight to keep them in the Ground?

The Conversation

By Fergus Green, UCL and Harro van Asselt, Stockholm Environment Institute | – (The Conversation) – The latest UN climate change summit (COP27) concluded, once again, with a tussle over the place of fossil fuels in the global economy. An agreement by the world’s governments to phase out all fossil fuels would have been a […]

Brazil

At COP27, Lula puts Brazil at Forefront of Climate Battle, vows to stop Destruction of Amazon Rainforest

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The president-elect of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, addressed the COP27 climate summit in Egypt on Wednesday, announcing that “Brazil is back.” He said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I am here today to say that Brazil is ready to join again in efforts to build a healthier planet, a fairer […]

Climate Crisis

As Biden Touts Progress at COP27, National Assessment warns that the Things Americans Love are Endangered by Climate Emergency

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden addressed the COP27 Climate in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt on Friday. He noted the ravages of the human-caused climate emergency on the African continent, including deadly drought in the Horn of Africa, floods that displaced over a million people in Nigeria, and the increasing potential for conflict […]

Climate Crisis

COP27: a year on from the Glasgow climate pact, the world is burning more fossil fuels than ever

The Conversation

By Mathieu Blondeel, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick | – The burning of fossil fuels caused 86% of all CO₂ emissions during the past ten years. Despite being the primary culprits of global heating, coal, oil and gas were barely mentioned in the official texts of previous UN climate change summits. That all changed […]

Batteries

IEA: Peak Fossil Fuels will come in 2025, as Renewables are Turbo-Charged by Russia-Ukraine War and Energy Crisis

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Fatih Birol, among the world’s foremost energy economists, has a new report at the International Energy Agency, which he directs. In it, he argues that recent developments such as the Ukraine War energy crisis are good news for low-carbon energy such as wind and solar and bad news for fossil […]

Climate Crisis

The Fossil Free Research Movement is taking Universities by Storm

Waging Nonviolence

By Nick Engelfried | – ( Waging Nonviolence ) – When over 40 Cambridge students and academics occupied the elite U.K. university’s BP Institute earlier this year, they were escalating one of the newest, fastest-growing campaigns focused on dissociating higher education institutions from fossil fuels. For just over an hour, activists from the grassroots initiative […]

Climate Crisis

The Second Great Dying: The Earth has lost 4/5s of Fresh Water and 7/10s of Wildlife Species’ Populations in 50 Years

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The 2022 Living Planet report is out and it does not bring good news. Since 1970, the scientists find that the population of fresh water species has plunged by 83%, and the population of wildlife species over all has fallen 69%. The researchers found a virtual extinction-level loss in Latin […]

Climate Crisis

Dear Gov. DeSantis: Ian isn’t a once-in-500-years Flooding event, it is the New Normal, and Your Policies are helping Cause it

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has abruptly been handed an honest-to-God crisis that may distract him from his usual antics of trolling Venezuelan asylum-seekers, firing elected prosecutors who disagree with him on coerced childbirth, and firing scientists who wouldn’t manipulate state COVID statistics for him. DeSantis called Hurricane Ian a once-in-a-500-year […]