Extreme Heat

How 3 Gigawatts of Battery Power Plus Solar Saved California from Electricity Blackouts during the Heat Dome this Month

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In August 2020, California consumers suffered through a severe heat wave, responding by blasting their air conditioners. California had put in so much solar that by then that 34% of the state’s power came from wind and solar, and another 13.9% came from hydro. Nuclear still provided around 10% of […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Emergency Caused our Scorching Summer, but Inequality meant it hit Workers Hardest

Sam Pizzigati

( Inequality.org ) – The heat. Never been hotter in our lifetimes. This past spring the mercury nearly hit 124 in the Pakistani city of Jacobabad, “just below,” notes science writer David Wallace-Wells, “the conventional estimate for the threshold of human survival.” This summer’s U.S. daily high temperatures are continuing our torrid global pace. America’s […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Emergency’s Knock-on Effects: How Europe’s Drought is making Britain’s energy Crisis worse

The Conversation

Simon Waldman, University of Hull | – (The Conversation) – Along the River Elbe, in Germany and the Czech Republic, is a series of rocks that are submerged in all but the lowest water conditions. The locals call them “hunger stones” because they are warnings: if the stone is visible, then famine will follow. Carvings […]

Agriculture

As Colorado River Dries Up, the U.S. Teeters on the Brink of Larger Water Crisis

ProPublica

By Abrahm Lustgarten | – ( ProPublica) – The western United States is, famously, in the grips of its worst megadrought in a millennium. The Colorado River, which supplies water to more than 40 million Americans and supports food production for the rest of the country, is in imminent peril. The levels in the nation’s […]

Climate Crisis

Why defusing ‘Carbon Bombs’ offers a promising new Agenda for tackling Climate Change

The Conversation

By Kjell Kühne, University of Leeds | – A carbon bomb is a fossil fuel extraction project, such as a coal mine, that can cause over a gigatonne of CO₂ emissions during its lifetime. That’s a billion tonnes – more than twice the UK’s annual emissions from a single project. In our latest research, my […]

Climate Crisis

Netherlands innovates with Floating Solar Panels in Sea, Locally-owned Wind Farm Cooperative

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Netherlands was long a laggard regarding the green energy revolution and combating the climate emergency, perhaps in part because it is a fossil gas-producing country. Even so, the Netherlands is now making strides toward an energy switch with some innovative approaches. It is still a little behind the European […]

Climate Crisis

The White House Meets the Creature from the Black Lagoon: How Trump turned the American Dream into the American Scream

Tom Engelhardt

( Tomdispatch.com) – Honestly, if you had described this America to me more than half a century ago, I would have laughed in your face. Donald Trump becoming president? You must be kidding! If you want a bizarre image, just imagine him in the company of Abraham Lincoln. I mean, really, what’s happened to us? […]

Agriculture

Climate Emergency Hits German Farms as Harvests Remain Meager

Clean Energy Wire

By Edgar Meza | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – The ongoing drought in Germany is expected to have dire effects on this year’s harvest, which is already estimated to be below the average of previous years, said the German Farmers’ Association (DBV). “The prolonged drought in many regions of the country shows once […]

Climate Crisis

Pakistan: Climate Emergency-Driven, biblical Floods affect 33 million People Leave Millions Homeless

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Heavy flooding in southern Pakistan has destroyed or damaged 670,000 homes, according to Reliefweb. During an ordinary monsoon season in Pakistan beginning in June and ending in September, there would be four waves of precipitation. There have been eight such waves since June. Households in that country have an average […]