Super Storms

Open Letter to Chancellor Merkel: Germany’s Mega-Floods are a Wake-Up Call that We need Radical Climate Action, Now

Prof. Dr. Eicke R. Weber 10625 Berlin An Bundeskanzlerin Dr. Angela Merkel Bundeskanzleramt Willi-Brandt-Straße 1 10557 Berlin July 25, 2021 Dear Chancellor Dr. Merkel, We are again in deep concern. We were very grateful that our first letter of March 2011, after the terrible Fukushima catastrophe (see attachment), may have helped to reach your quick […]

Climate Crisis

Living on a Newly Unrecognizable Planet

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Germany is a wealthy nation. Its business and political leaders accept the reality of climate change and have made at least modest progress to prepare for and mitigate its effects. How then to respond to such events as a family moving to the roof of their house […]

Climate Crisis

With Massive Flooding in Germany, Scientists worry Climate is increasingly out of Control

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Our burning of gasoline, coal and natural gas on a massive global scale, putting tens of billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere annually, is turning the earth into . . . well, a greenhouse. Greenhouses are closed up, keeping in heat and moisture. In a greenhouse, the […]

Climate Crisis

Extreme Rain and Snow Storms are being caused by Humans burning Coal, Oil: Global Evidence

The Conversation

By Gavin D. Madakumbura, Alex Hall, Chad Thackeray and Jesse Norris | – The big idea ( The Conversation ) – Human activities, such as burning fossil fuels for transportation and electricity, have worsened the intensity of extreme rainfall and snowfall over land in recent decades, not just in a few areas but on a […]

Climate Change

Kuwait is the Hottest Place on Earth; Lytton, Canada was Right Behind it, and then it Burned Down; This is not Normal

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Mohammed Haddad at Al Jazeera English reports that in June, at least 23 countries experienced at least 122° F. (50° C.). Haddad’s article kindly provides several graphics under a Creative Commons licence, reproduced below. The earth is heating up because we burn gasoline in our cars and burn coal for […]

Climate Crisis

By phasing out coal-fired plants — Now! — we can save millions of lives

Sustainability Times

( Sustainability Times ) – Emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are driving climate change, which imperils the health of life on the planet and so harms us all. Yet the burning of fossil fuels also harms us directly by contributing to a variety of diseases, many of them life-threatening. “Long-term exposure to ambient […]

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 […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Crisis: what would 7.1° F. ( 4°C) of global warming feel like?

The Conversation

By Robert Wilby | – Another year, another climate record broken. Globally, 2020 tied with 2016 as the warmest year ever recorded. This was all the more remarkable given that cool conditions in the Pacific Ocean – known as La Niña – began to emerge in the second half of the year. The Earth’s mean […]

Climate Crisis

“Never before in the History of Civilization have we had such Warming:” 2020 saw $210 billion in Natural Disasters

Clean Energy Wire

By Charlotte Nijhuis | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Latest data released by the Copernicus Climate Change Service show that globally 2020 was on par with the warmest year ever recorded (2016), marking the end of the warmest decade on record. Meanwhile, Europe saw its warmest year on record, 0.4°C [0.72° F.] warmer […]