Extreme Heat

By Tiff-Annie Kenny, Malaya Bishop and Mélanie Lemire | – Humans have a deep and complex relationship with the sea. It provides food and essential nutrients, medicine and renewable energy. People swim, surf and scuba dive in this “blue gym.” It’s even an important part of therapeutic recreation, like surf therapy for war veterans and […]

Climate Crisis

Extreme heat waves in a warming world don’t just break records – they shatter them

The Conversation

By Scott Denning | – ( The Conversation) – Summer isn’t even half over, and we’ve seen heat waves in the Pacific Northwest and Canada with temperatures that would be hot for Death Valley, enormous fires that have sent smoke across North America, and lethal floods of biblical proportions in Germany and China. Scientists have […]

Climate Crisis

Living on a Newly Unrecognizable Planet

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Germany is a wealthy nation. Its business and political leaders accept the reality of climate change and have made at least modest progress to prepare for and mitigate its effects. How then to respond to such events as a family moving to the roof of their house […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Crisis Grips Iran with Water Shortages, Provoking Protests, Clashes in Southwest

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan region, the center of its petroleum industry, has been wracked with protests for a week, in part over water shortages. Rallies have erupted in the towns of Mahshahr, Izeh, Ahvaz, Kut-e Abdollah, Susangerd, Aligoudarz and Shoushtar, according to Amnesty International The Iranian government has sometimes replied to […]

Climate Crisis

Migrant deaths in the desert at record levels as heat wave pounds West

Cronkite News Arizona PBS

By Alyssa Marksz | – ( Cronkite News ) – WASHINGTON – The number of migrant deaths recorded in the Arizona desert so far this year is on pace to break the record set just last year, as migrants attempt the crossing in the face of a record-breaking heat wave. Humane Borders and the Pima […]

Climate Crisis

The Fires This Time: A Climate View from California

Rebecca Gordon

( Tomdispatch.com) – In San Francisco, we’re finally starting to put away our masks. With 74% of the city’s residents over 12 fully vaccinated, for the first time in more than a year we’re enjoying walking, shopping, and eating out, our faces naked. So I was startled when my partner reminded me that we need […]

Climate Crisis

Gasoline and Coal’s Climate Freak Show: Fire-nado, 1 Billion Dead Marine Animals, and Earth’s All-Time Record Heat

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Gasoline demand in the U.S. rebounded vigorously in the week leading up to the 4th of July, to an average of 9.6 million barrels a day, the highest rate seen since September, 2019, well before the pandemic. This is bad. During the 2020 pandemic year, global carbon dioxide emissions plummeted […]

Climate Crisis

Ship Explosion Rocks Dubai, Mideast’s Largest Commercial Zone, Possibly as a Result of Extreme Heat

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Alarabiya reports from Dubai on the massive explosion on the deck of a ship that was coming in to dock at the Jebel Ali port there, which could be heard for miles and shook the city’s skyscrapers. Since the explosion was on the ship, it appears not to have done […]

Climate Change

Kuwait is the Hottest Place on Earth; Lytton, Canada was Right Behind it, and then it Burned Down; This is not Normal

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Mohammed Haddad at Al Jazeera English reports that in June, at least 23 countries experienced at least 122° F. (50° C.). Haddad’s article kindly provides several graphics under a Creative Commons licence, reproduced below. The earth is heating up because we burn gasoline in our cars and burn coal for […]