Extreme Heat

By Julian Wettengel | – Clean Energy Wire ) – The damaging effects of climate change are set to hit economic growth severely across most countries, said researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). With the climate change that is already locked-in through past and “plausible” future emissions, income will be 19 […]

Climate Crisis

Playing Russian Roulette with our Only Planet: Middle East Gets Failing Grades on Climate Action

Juan Cole

This is my latest column for Tomdispatch.com. Do check in over there for Tom Engelhardt’s essential introduction. ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Last September witnessed what used to be a truly rare weather phenomenon: a Mediterranean hurricane, or “medicane.” Once upon a time, the Mediterranean Sea simply didn’t get hot enough to produce hurricanes more than […]

Batteries

Climate Victory: Texas Solar Power Growing so Rapidly, it is Reducing demand for Fossil Gas

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The far right Texas legislature, dominated by Republicans in the back pocket of the fossil fuel industry, has done what it could to promote fossil gas as a power source for electricity generation. Just last summer, it passed a bill that offered companies bonuses for connecting new gas plants to […]

Climate Crisis

Germany produced Record 175 TWh Energy with Wind, Solar in Past Year, as Wind Farms Surge

Clean Energy Wire

By Julian Wettengel | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) The year 2023 was the windiest in Germany in more than 15 years, providing excellent conditions for wind electricity generation, said Germany’s National Meteorological Service (DWD). In 2023, the average wind speed across Germany at a height of 100 metres [yards] – a typical hub […]

Climate Crisis

A Slow-Motion World War III? Imperial decline in the Age of Climate Change

Tom Engelhardt

( Tomdispatch.com ) – I’ve been describing this world of ours, such as it is, for almost 23 years at TomDispatch. I’ve written my way through three-and-a-half presidencies — god save us, it could be four in November! I’ve viewed from a grave (and I mean that word!) distance America’s endlessly disastrous wars of this […]

Africa

Climate Crisis could drive 200 million Africans to Extreme Hunger by 2050

The Conversation

By Philip Kofi Adom, University of the Witwatersrand | – (The Conversation) – African countries will suffer significant economic loss after 2050 if global warming is not limited to below 2°C, a new study by the Center for Global Development has found. Environment and energy economist Philip Kofi Adom is the author of the report. […]

Climate Crisis

If trees could talk: Tree rings show recent decades warmest in 500 years

Cronkite News Arizona PBS

By Alex Hager/KUNC ( Cronkite News ) The current Western megadrought is unlike any other dry period the region has experienced over the past 500 years. That’s according to a new study in which scientists looked at tree rings to track changing temperatures going back to 1553. Researchers found that human-fueled climate change is driving […]

Agriculture

America’s Red Snow: Hottest Winter on Record, Largest Wildfires in Texas History

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency announced Friday that the winter of 2023-24 was the hottest on record in U.S. history. Global records have been kept since about 1850, with the widespread use of mercury thermometers. The average surface temperature of the US this past winter was 37.6°, which is […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Crisis: Record Low 3% Great Lakes Ice Coverage during Usual Peak Period

Michigan Advance

By: Kyle Davidson – As much of the Great Lakes region experiences its warmest winter on record, and more record high temperatures are expected in Michigan, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has reported record low levels of ice coverage on the Great Lakes, amid a steady, decades-long decrease in coverage. Lake Michigan in […]