Climate Change

Liam Coates/Cronkite News ( Cronkite News) – WASHINGTON – Arizona governments could save almost $283 million over the next 10 years if roughly 20,000 gasoline-powered light-duty vehicles in their fleets that are due to be retired were replaced with electric vehicles, according a recent report. The 38-page report by the Public Interest Research Group […]

Climate Crisis

Why are so Many Climate Records breaking all at Once?

The Conversation

By Kimberley Reid, Monash University | – (The Conversation) – In the past few weeks, climate records have shattered across the globe. July 4 was the hottest global average day on record, breaking the new record set the previous day. Average sea surface temperatures have been the highest ever recorded and Antarctic sea ice extent […]

Climate Crisis

Average Earth Temperature this week was Highest in at least 120,000 Years, When Modern Homo Sapiens was a Young Species

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The earth is getting especially hot this year, as record after record falls. Seth Borenstein at AP reports that three times this past week, the average temperature of the earth topped anything ever recorded. Thursday’s average 62.9 °F. (17.18 °C.) broke the record yet again. You don’t break all those […]

Batteries

On this 4th of July we need to Declare a War of Independence from Fossil Fuels and Climate Change

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, kicked off the Revolutionary War in earnest, which the Continental Army only finally won seven years later, in 1882. The Revolutionary War was a rare conflict for the United States, in that it was fought on our own soil, such that every […]

Climate Change

Human Exposure to Wildfires has more than doubled in two Decades

The Conversation

By Mojtaba Sadegh, Boise State University | – Over the past two decades, a staggering 21.8 million Americans found themselves living within 3 miles (5 kilometers) of a large wildfire. Most of those residents would have had to evacuate, and many would have been exposed to smoke and emotional trauma from the fire. Nearly 600,000 […]

Climate Crisis

Global Heating and its Wildfires are Reshaping Canada’s Northern Forests and its Tundra

The Conversation

By Konrad Gajewski, University of Ottawa/ L’Université d’Ottawa | – (The Conversation) – Global warming is affecting the boreal forest — what happens will depend on the climate, vegetation and the frequency and intensity of wildfires. Changes in the north include increases or decreases in leaf growth, called Arctic greening and browning, more extensive growth […]

Climate Crisis

We Need to Decarbonize our Electricity, and Quickly — the Good News is that Green Energy is Practical and Brings Economic Benefits

The Conversation

By John Quiggin, The University of Queensland | – We use energy in everything we do, but few of us understand it properly. Much of the time this doesn’t matter. We can flick a light switch or turn the ignition key in a car, knowing the technology will work whether we understand it or not. […]

Arctic

Climate Crisis: Meltwater is Creating Millions of Hairline Cracks in Greenland’s Ice Sheet, Destabilizing it with a form of Hydro-Fracking

The Conversation

(The Conversation) – Alun Hubbard, University of Tromsø | – I’m striding along the steep bank of a raging white-water torrent, and even though the canyon is only about the width of a highway, the river’s flow is greater than that of London’s Thames. The deafening roar and rumble of the cascading water is incredible […]

Batteries

Wind and Solar are Saving Texas from Brownouts during deadly Heat Dome, but Republicans want to Abolish Them

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Kristoffer Tigue at Inside Climate News reports that climate change made the brutal heat wave assaulting Texas worse, but that the state’s renewable power sources have helped keep the air conditioners running. Temperatures are predicted to stay over 100°F this week, with a slight break owing to a thunderstorm system. […]