Fossil Fuels

By Michael Klare | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – The war in Ukraine has already caused massive death and destruction, with more undoubtedly to come as the fighting intensifies in the country’s east and south. Many thousands of soldiers and civilians have already been killed or wounded, some 13 million Ukrainians have been forced from […]

Climate Crisis

Busan, S. Korea, constructing Solar-Powered Artificial Biorock Island to replace Coastal land lost to Sea Level Rise

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – UN Habitat, the municipality of Busan in South Korea, and the company OCEANIX are responding to the challenge of sea-level rise by building an artificial floating city off the coast of the country’s second-largest city. A prototype is expected to be in the water as early as 2025. Although a […]

Climate Crisis

Climate-Driven Drought has risen 29% this Century, will create 216 mn. Refugees by 2050: UN

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The UN Convention to Combat Desertification issued a new report, “Drought in Numbers 2022 on Friday, warning of the dangers of the climate emergency for further desertification and wildfires and massive loss of human life. “The report warns that The number and duration of droughts has increased by 29 percent […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Change isn’t just making Cyclones worse, it’s making the Floods they cause worse too

The Conversation

By Laurence Hawker, University of Bristol; Dann Mitchell, University of Bristol; and Natalie Lord, University of Bristol | – Super cyclones, known as hurricanes or typhoons in different parts of the world, are among the most destructive weather events on our planet. Although wind speeds within these storms can reach 270 km/h, the largest loss […]

Climate Crisis

How treaties protecting fossil fuel investors could jeopardize global efforts to save the climate – and cost countries billions

The Conversation

By Rachel Thrasher, Boston University; Blake Alexander Simmons, Colorado State University; and Kyla Tienhaara, Queen’s University, Ontario | – Fossil fuel companies have access to an obscure legal tool that could jeopardize worldwide efforts to protect the climate, and they’re starting to use it. The result could cost countries that press ahead with those efforts […]

Climate Crisis

Extinction Rebellion Climate Scientists: why we glued Ourselves to a Government Building

The Conversation

By Charlie Gardner, University of Kent; Emily Cox, Cardiff University: and Stuart Capstick, Cardiff University | – One recent Wednesday, while most scientists around the world were carrying out their research, we stepped away from our day jobs to engage in a more direct form of communication. Along with more than 20 others from Scientists […]

Authoritarianism

How Big Oil fuels both Rising Authoritarianism and worsening Climate Crisis

The Conversation

By Eve Darian-Smith, University of California, Irvine | – Around the world, many countries are becoming less democratic. This backsliding on democracy and “creeping authoritarianism,” as the U.S. State Department puts it, is often supported by the same industries that are escalating climate change. In my new book, “Global Burning: Rising Antidemocracy and the Climate […]

Batteries

California Briefly Runs on 97% Renewable Energy, Showing a Future in which Oil and Gas Dictators like Putin are defunded

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – California’s energy mix was powered 97% by renewable energy on Sunday, April 3 at 3:39 p.m., the highest contribution of renewables to the state’s grid on record, according to David Knowles at Yahoo News. Although the milestone lasted only for a brief time, it points to a future in which […]

Climate Crisis

France’s Macron: “I am combating the Project of the extreme Right … which is to put an End to Renewable Energy”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The two frontrunners in France’s presidential election who now face a run-off election against one another, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, have diametrically opposed stances on the climate emergency and renewable energy. Le Pen, the far right demagogue known for ugly hate speech and having a soft corner for […]