Climate Change

By Cyrus Sinai and Rob Fetter | – There’s hope that some industrialised countries will achieve near-universal vaccination against COVID-19 in the coming months. Yet the effort to vaccinate even the most essential workers in developing countries has only just begun. By current estimates, achieving herd immunity (to current strains) will require at least 75% […]

Australasia

Seriously ugly: here’s how Australia will look if the world heats by 3°C [5.4°F] this century

The Conversation

By Ove Hoegh-Guldberg and Lesley Hughes | – Imagine, for a moment, a different kind of Australia. One where bushfires on the catastrophic scale of Black Summer happen almost every year. One where 50℃ days in Sydney and Melbourne are common. Where storms and flooding have violently reshaped our coastlines, and unique ecosystems have been […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Change is making Sea levels rise fastest in big cities – here’s why

The Conversation

By Sally Brown and Robert James Nicholls | – It is well known that climate-induced sea level rise is a major threat. What is less well know is the threat of sinking land. And in many of the most populated coastal areas, the land is sinking even faster than the sea is rising. Parts of […]

Education

A Green New Deal: Arkansas School District goes Solar, Gives Teachers $1000s in Bonuses with Savings

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Climate Wire reported last fall on a remarkable story about the way renewable energy not only saves the earth from the destructive climate emergency but can at the same time improve our lives and those of our children. Our hero is Michael Hester, who some years ago became the superintendent […]

Climate Crisis

German Scientists: Without Drastic Climate Action, World could be headed to Dangerous 7.2° F. extra Heating

Benjamin Wehrmann

By Benjamin Wehrmann | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Current emissions reduction efforts around the world are insufficient to limit global warming to up to 2 degrees Celsius in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, Germany’s Meteorological Service (DWD) has said. Despite globally reduced mobility and depressed industrial production due to the coronavirus […]

Green Energy

Defeating Climate Denialism by showing People how they will Win by Greening Society

The Conversation

By Sarah Sharma and Matthew Hoffmann | – Canada and the United States are suddenly steeped in policy proposals to aggressively cut carbon emissions. In the face of a climate emergency and on the heels of numerous climate disasters, this is welcome news indeed. In the U.S., the newly minted Biden administration has unleashed a […]

Mass Extinction

A common soil pesticide cut wild bee reproduction by 89% – here’s why scientists are worried

The Conversation

By Philip Donkersley | – When you think of bees, a hive humming with activity probably comes to mind. But most of the world’s 20,000 bee species don’t call a hive home. These wild species lead solitary lives instead, and around 70% of them build nests underground where they raise their offspring on the nectar […]

Climate Crisis

Decline of Coal shows Gov’t Policy, Renewables crucial to Reducing Carbon Emissions: The Market isn’t Enough

The Conversation

By David Drake and Jeffrey York | – The big idea People often point to plunging natural gas prices as the reason U.S. coal-fired power plants have been shutting down at a faster pace in recent years. However, new research shows two other forces had a much larger effect: federal regulation and a well-funded activist […]

Acidification of Oceans

Saving the Planet: Why a net-zero future depends on the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon

The Conversation

By Anya M. Waite, Brad deYoung, Chris Milley, and Ian G. Stewart | – Most of us growing up along Canada’s East Coast never worried about hurricane season. Except for those working at sea, we viewed hurricanes as extreme events in remote tropical regions, seen only through blurred footage of flailing palm trees on the […]