Desertification

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | — The adoption of wind and solar for electricity generation around the world is happening at a growing pace, and the likelihood is that it will displace hydrocarbons in fifteen to twenty years (decades sooner than Big Coal, Big Oil and Big Gas expect). Here are some stories […]

Climate Change

Global Warming: G7’s Coal Plants are Weapons of Mass Destruction aimed at World’s Poor

contributors

By Sean Buchanan | (Inter Press Service) | – – LONDON, Jun 6 2015 (IPS) – As heads of state and government of the G7 states prepare for their Jun. 7-8 summit in Germany, Oxfam has released a new report titled Let Them Eat Coal which they may find hard to digest. According to the […]

Acidification of Oceans

It’s Getting hot in Here: There never was a Pause in Global Warming: Scientists

contributors

By Jay Lawrimore | (The Conversation) | – National and international studies have shown that the Earth is warming, and with this warming, other changes are occurring, such as an increasing incidence of heat waves, heavy downpours and rising sea levels. In its Fifth Assessment Report in 2013, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found […]

Banking

Warren Buffett betting big on Wind Energy in Nebraska, & other Planet-Saving News

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Wind power is on a roll in the US despite a fickle Congress and the machinations of Big Coal and Big Gas to keep all the subsidies for themselves. And one of the world’s most successful investors, Warren Buffett, has noticed. As of the end of the first […]

Acidification of Oceans

Anger Translation: Why Obama was Ranting against GOP Climate Policy at Press Dinner

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The Comedy Central show, Key and Peele, made famous a bit by Keegan-Michael Key on Obama called the “Luther, the anger translator,” which plays on the president’s laid back approach to controversial issues. But at the annual White House Correspondents’ dinner, Obama outdid “Luther” in ranting against climate […]

Acidification of Oceans

Fossil Fuels have to Stay in the Ground: But Renewables are anyway Cheaper

contributors

By Will Steffen and Martin Rice | (The Conversation) Ninety per cent of Australia’s current coal reserves will need to be left in the ground for Australia to play its role in limiting warming to no more than 2C. That’s according to a report released today by the Climate Council, “Unburnable Carbon: why we need […]

Acidification of Oceans

Top Ten ways to prove you Love the Earth on Earth Day

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – I was a junior in high school on April 22, 1970, on the first Earth Day, called for by Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D-Wi) (d. 1981). The road leading to our school had been littered with trash, and a group of us went out with black plastic bags and […]

Acidification of Oceans

If Climate Change ends Capitalism, what good are Climate Economists?

contributors

By David Ray Griffin | (Informed Comment) – Since the 1970s, when he essentially founded the economics of climate change, William Nordhaus had been considered its preeminent authority. According to a fellow economist, the optimal economic policy had for decades been simply “what Bill Nordhaus said." This view had been unquestioned, said a 2013 article, […]

Desertification

The Coming Water Wars

contributors

Jo Ankier and John Fenoglio | (TheLipTV) | – “Around 60% more food will be needed to feed the world’s growing population by 2050 and with the demand for water set to increase by 55% water supplies in less developed countries are under severe threat as agriculture tries to meet that demand, according to a […]