Super Storms

Biden in Hanoi: Climate Change Exceeding 1.5° C. is more of an Existential Threat than even Nuclear War

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As I pointed out on Sunday, the Big Oil and Big Coal countries in the G20 — Russia, Saudi Arabia, India and China — prevented the New Delhi summit’s joint communique from making any specific commitments to reduce carbon pollution. At his news conference in Hanoi, President Biden was pressed […]

Batteries

How Nevada just became the Saudi Arabia of Lithium, as World’s Largest Deposit is discovered at Thacker Pass

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In the scientific journal Science Advances, Thomas R. Benton and his colleagues published a paper last month showing that a volcanic crater, the McDermitt Caldera, stretching across the Nevada and Oregon border may have doubled the world’s accessible lithium deposits. There are an estimated 88 million tons of lithium reserves […]

Climate Crisis

Latino Futurism and Puerto Rico’s Solar Insurrection: Panels, Batteries and going Off-Grid after Hurricane Maria

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis thinks that the future of Puerto Rico is solar panels plus battery storage. It points out, moreover, that $12 billion in federal funding has been set aside for the promotion of renewables in the islands, most of it yet to be used. […]

Climate Crisis

Past three Months Hottest on Record, as UN SecGen Warns “Climate Breakdown has begun.”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The World Meteorological Organization reports the results of a study by the European Union-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), which found that the past three months were the hottest 90-day period in recorded history. UN Secretary-General António Guterres responded to the report by saying, “Our planet has just endured a […]

Climate Crisis

How Recycling could solve the Shortage of Minerals essential to Clean Energy

The Conversation

By Serasu Duran, University of Calgary; Atalay Atasu, INSEAD; and Clara Carrera, INSEAD | – (The Conversation) – What do silver, silicon and gallium have in common? These expensive raw materials are essential components of our various solar energy technologies. What about neodymium, praseodymium and dysprosium? These rare earth metals are used to build the […]

Climate Crisis

Evidence that Gas and Oil are Bad for Our and the Planet’s Health is Piling Up, but Governments turn a Blind Eye

The Conversation

By Melissa Haswell, University of Sydney; David Shearman, University of Adelaide; Jacob Hegedus, University of Sydney; and Lisa Jackson Pulver, University of Sydney | – (The Conversation) – We are seeing deadly heat and fires circle the world. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns we are fast running out of time to secure a […]

Climate Crisis

Idalia: DeSantis may not want to “politicize” Climate Change, but Climate Change is determined to Politicize DeSantis

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, on being asked about human-caused climate change, said he did not want to “politicize the weather.” Of course, it is not the weather that is at issue but climate, which is long-term and repeated weather patterns. DeSantis ducked the question because Koch Industries and ExxonMobil etc. […]

Children

Climate Change Threatens the Rights of Children: The UN Mandates States to Protect Them

The Conversation

By Noam Peleg, UNSW Sydney | – (The Conversation) – Climate change is not just an environmental crisis, it’s a human rights crisis. And the humans to be most affected by climate catastrophe are the youngest ones: children. We have seen children directly impacted in the Northern Hemisphere’s unprecedented heatwaves this year. In Greece, 1,200 […]

Climate Crisis

Global Subsidies for Fossil Fuels Skyrocket to $7 trillion per Year, as 2023 Promises to be Hottest on Record

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Imagine a bunch of people who are kidnapped and tortured by being put in a hot room, and their tormentors keep turning up the thermostat. So the prisoners stage a revolt and grab control of the thermostat. But they turn it up on themselves, making the room even hotter, and […]