Climate Change

One last Time, Trump lies to the International Community about the Climate Emergency and Green Energy

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – DW gives a clip of Trump’s unhinged video rant to the G20 summit against the Paris Climate Accord on Sunday, which is being held virtually this year. Trump said, according to Kevin Liptak at CNN, “The Paris accord was not designed to save the environment, it was designed to kill […]

Climate Crisis

We only need $1.5 Trillion to meet Paris climate goals, a fraction of what Gov’ts are spending on Pandemic Relief

The Conversation

By David L. McCollum | – As of late summer, governments around the world had pledged US$12.2 trillion of relief in response to the coronavirus pandemic. That’s around 15% of global GDP, three times larger than government spending put forward during and after the 2008-2009 global financial crisis and enough for every adult in the […]

Climate Crisis

Why do People reject the Science of Climate Crisis, and can their Minds be Changed?

The Conversation

By Peter Ellerton | – Why do humans instinctively reject evidence contrary to their beliefs? Do we understand why and how people change their mind about climate change? Is there anything we can do to engage people? These are three very significant questions. They could be answered separately but, in the context of climate science, […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Change Will Make Parts of the U.S. Uninhabitable; but Americans Are Still Moving There (ProPublica Video)

Juan Cole

( ProPublica) – Over the past year, the advent of a professional economy powered by people working from home has quickened the conversation about where to live, particularly among millennials. “Is now the right time to buy property in Minnesota?” “Is Buffalo the new place to be?” How important is proximity to fresh water? Should […]

Climate Crisis

Georgia’s Embattled Sen. Perdue Protects own Beach-Front Mansion from Climate Emergency, while voting to Burn more Fossil Fuels

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Republican Senator David Perdue of Georgia, facing a run-off against Jon Ossof, has an opulent six-room beach-front mansion that has been protected with newly built, pricey jetties and sea walls against sea level rise, storm surges and coastal erosion. Why, it is as if Perdue thinks the climate emergency is […]

Climate Crisis

UN Report: Human Environmental, Climate Destruction could unleash 800k Animal Viruses on Us

The Conversation

By Katie Woolaston and Judith Lorraine Fisher | – Human damage to biodiversity is leading us into a pandemic era. The virus that causes COVID-19, for example, is linked to similar viruses in bats, which may have been passed to humans via pangolins or another species. Environmental destruction such as land clearing, deforestation, climate change, […]

Acidification of Oceans

The Black Hole of Depressions: Doing nothing about Climate Emergency could cost more than all the Wealth in the World

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A study in Nature Communications has found that if you add in variability to calculations of the impact of climate change, the upper range of the damage it could do to property is $563 trillion.* That is in the worst case scenario where the world does virtually nothing to stop […]

Climate Crisis

With UN’s Climate summit postponed until 2021, Grassroots Activists Step in to Maintain Momentum in cutting CO2

Waging Nonviolence

By Andrea(s) Speck | – ( Waging Nonviolence) – Not just another civil society statement on climate change, the Glasgow Agreement is a ‘people’s climate commitment’ to take decisive action on greenhouse gas emissions. After more than 40 years since the first UN conference on climate change in 1979 — and after more than 25 […]

Democratic Party

At Townhall, Biden Promises Big Green Infrastructure and Jobs: Spain’s Example Suggests he is Right

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In his townhall on Thursday evening, Joe Biden pointed to the way infrastructural investments in green energy will help the economy. He said, according to the ABC transcript, “For example, we’re going to invest a great deal of that money into infrastructure. And into green infrastructure. We’re going to put […]