Climate Change

(By Tina Casey) Hook Up Your Solar Panels To A Giant Rhubarb Battery (via Clean Technica) Yes, all you rhubarb fans take note. A new energy storage breakthrough is under way at Harvard University, and it is based on a common little molecule that is almost exactly the same as one found in rhubarb. The […]

Climate Change

Fossil Fuels causing Antarctic Glacier to Melt Irreversibly, raise Sea Levels

contributors

(By AFP) Giant Antarctic glacier beyond point of no return (via AFP) Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier, one of the biggest single contributors to world sea-level rise, is melting irreversibly and could add as much as a centimetre (0.4 inches) to ocean levels in 20 years, a study said Sunday. The glacier “has started a… […]

Climate Change

Ban Coal: Coal Industry Chemical Threatens 300,000 in West Virginia

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Some 300,000 West Virginians are at risk from their tap water after a company making MCHM spilled it into the river, turning it a little purple and making it smell like liquorice. MCHM can be fatal if imbibed, and otherwise it can make you vomit your guts out. It is used to […]

Climate Change

Peak or no Peak, Oil is Unsafe at any Price

contributors

(By Michael Klare) Among the big energy stories of 2013, “peak oil” — the once-popular notion that worldwide oil production would soon reach a maximum level and begin an irreversible decline — was thoroughly discredited. The explosive development of shale oil and other unconventional fuels in the United States helped put it in its grave. […]

Climate Change

60 Minutes goes Benghazi on Cleantech & Gets that Wrong Too

contributors

(By Joe Romm) 60 Minutes Ignores The Facts In Clean Energy Segment (via Clean Technica) Originally published on ClimateProgressby Joe Romm Clean technology is booming by every key indicator — but you would never know that from Sunday’s absurd 60 Minutes piece touting an imaginary “Cleantech Crash.” As documented in the recent Department… —— […]

Climate Change

Daily Show on Global Warming Confusion (Video of the Day)

Juan Cole

Jon Stewart of the Daily Show reviews the silly things climate change denialists are saying about the cold snap, inasmuch as they confuse weather events with long-term climate trends. For more see “Note to GOP: Yes, the Polar Vortex can be Global Warming

Climate Change

Note to GOP: Yes, the Polar Vortex Could be Global Warming

contributors

(By Peter Spotts) How frigid ‘polar vortex’ could be result of global warming (via The Christian Science Monitor) A bitter Arctic blast spanning the central and eastern US has propelled the phrase “polar vortex” from the pages of dense scientific papers to headline status as frigid temperatures and strong winds close schools and businesses and […]

art and photography

A Bridge of Boats across Frozen Tigris River, Mosul, 1903

Juan Cole

The authors say locals in Mosul told them that the last time the river froze was 1750. That freezing became more rare after that date is significant, since 1750 marks the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and increased coal burning for energy. The period 1250-1850 or the medieval cooling period (often incorrectly called the ‘little […]

Climate Change

Spain, Portugal show that 50%, even 70% Power from Renewables is Possible Right now

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) The miserable record of the United States in tackling its deadly carbon dioxide emissions (5 billion metric tons a year) sometimes obscures how very possible it is for industrial economies to go green. Spain, a country of 47 million, was nearly at 50% renewables for electricity generation in 2013. That 50% from […]