Climate Change

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – BloombergNEF reports that in 2021, a record-breaking $920 billion was invested globally in low-carbon technology, just short of $1 trillion. The report says that $755 billion was spent to implement low-carbon technologies, with $366 billion going into renewable energy and $273 billion into electrifying transportation. That $273 billion put into […]

Agriculture

With fewer animals to spread their seeds, plants could have trouble adapting to climate change

The Conversation

By Evan Fricke, Alejandro Ordonez, Haldre Rogers, and Jens-Christian Svenning | – Picture a mature, broad-branched tree like an oak, maple or fig. How does it reproduce so that its offspring don’t grow up in its shadow, fighting for light? The answer is seed dispersal. Plants have evolved many strategies for spreading their seeds away […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Emergency Parable: Mammoth Iceberg that broke free from Antarctica Dumps 168 billion tons of Water in South Atlantic

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Anne Braakmann-Folgmann et al. in an article for Remote Sensing of the Environment observed by satellite the now-disintegrated Iceberg A68A over its 3.5-year life since it hived off the Larsen-C Ice Shelf in Antarctica in 2017, and found that it dumped 168 billion tons of fresh water into the ocean […]

Climate Crisis

The Climate Emergency is Already Here: Deaths in Heat Waves are Increasing even in the Cool North

The Conversation

By Chloe Brimicombe | – When you take age out of the equation, temperature-related deaths are on the decline in England and Wales. That’s according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). But more people are going to hospital, compared with 20 years ago. It turns out, that’s not the only […]

Batteries

The Best Battery is Nature’s Own: How Pumped Hydro is the Future of Renewables

The Conversation

By Andrew Blakers,Bin Lu, and Matthew Stocks | – To cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half within a decade, the Biden administration’s goal, the U.S. is going to need a lot more solar and wind power generation, and lots of cheap energy storage. Wind and solar power vary over the course of a day, […]

Climate Crisis

Tonga’s Volcanic Tsunami floods Capital, foreshadowing effects of Glacier Melt from our CO2

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A massive eruption in an undersea volcano, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai, 40 miles north of the South Pacific island of Tongatapu on Saturday caused a low-level tsunami and flooding on the island, the most populous in the Tonga archipelago. The tsunami spread out from there, causing one- to three-foot waves […]

Climate Crisis

Raven releases the Sun: First Native American Interior Secretary moves to put in 100 GW Solar on Federal Land

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As part of a Biden Administration push to put in 27 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy on federal land by 2025, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management has just approved the third major solar farm in California, announcing that “the Bureau of Land Management has approved the Oberon Solar […]

Climate Crisis

Millions are on the Run from Global Heating – International Law must recognize Climate Refugees

The Conversation

By Daniel L. Huizenga | – When hurricanes Eta and Iota barrelled into Central America in November 2020, they flooded towns and cities, caused catastrophic losses in the agricultural sector and contributed to food insecurity. In all, 4.7 million Hondurans were affected, and tens of thousands decided to leave, forming migrant caravans in a desperate […]

Climate Crisis

Ocean Heat is at Record Levels, with Major Consequences

The Conversation

By Kevin Trenberth | – The world witnessed record-breaking climate and weather disasters in 2021, from destructive flash floods that swept through mountain towns in Europe and inundated subway systems in China and the U.S., to heat waves and wildfires. Typhoon Rai killed over 400 people in the Philippines; Hurricane Ida caused an estimated US$74 […]