wildfires

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The earth’s atmosphere can make things wet or dry them out depending on the water vapor pressure. When there is a Vapor Pressure Deficit, it dries the earth out. VPD is defined as “a measure of atmospheric water demand defined as the difference between the amount of water vapor in […]

Climate Crisis

On Earth Day, 69% of Americans want Carbon Neutrality, with Minorities and Youth in the Vanguard

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Earth Day, 2023, big public events were held by activists across the US (and across the world). But activists you always have with you. I joined in picking up garbage along the road that led to our high school on April 22, 1970, the first earth day. The world […]

Climate Crisis

America’s Climate Refugees are Swelling, driven by Rising Seas, Wildfires and Extreme Heat

Sustainability Times

By Laureen Fagan ( Sustainability Times) – News of an accelerating sea level rise along the Gulf Coast of the United States has renewed attention on climate migration, and the degree to which people in the U.S. have begun to retreat from climate challenges due to flooding, wildfire and other impacts. The new study, […]

Climate Crisis

Peak Fossil Fuels? Wind, Solar advance 20% Globally, with World on Verge of CO2 Emissions Drop

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The energy analysis firm Ember reports its latest findings about global energy trends, and it is relatively optimistic. Wind and solar had provided 10% of the world’s electricity in 2021, but that went up to 12% in 2022, a 20% increase. If we look at each source in its own […]

Climate Crisis

IPCC’s Conservative Nature masks true Scale of Action needed to avert Catastrophic Climate Change

The Conversation

By Kevin Anderson, University of Manchester | – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) synthesis report recently landed with an authoritative thump, giving voice to hundreds of scientists endeavouring to understand the unfolding calamity of global heating. What’s changed since the last one in 2014? Well, we’ve dumped an additional third of a trillion […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Emergency: Extreme Heat Waves will increase 600% in Israel, Middle East, over 80 years, as 70% of Youth consider Emigrating

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ruth Schuster at Haaretz reports on a new study led by Assaf Hochmann at Hebrew University, finding that extreme heat waves in Israel will increase 600% over the next 80 years. Not only will this change strike Israel but also Egypt, Syria, Jordan and southern Turkiye, with the potential for […]

Climate Crisis

Is Turkey’s Prosecution of Shady Builders after 12,141 Structures Collapse in Earthquake a Model for going after Big Oil for Climate Disasters?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Turkish government has issued 100 arrest warrants for building contractors suspected of erecting structures that did not meet building code standards in the 10 provinces most affected by last week’s massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake, which has left at least 32,000 dead and perhaps twice that. Some of the contractors […]

Climate Crisis

“Some say the World will End in Fire, some say in Ice”: Life in a Climate-Destabilized California

Rebecca Gordon

( Tomdispatch.com ) – It was January 1983 and raining in San Francisco. The summer before, I’d moved here from Portland, Oregon, a city known for its perpetual gray drizzles and, on the 60-odd days a year when the sun deigns to shine, dazzling displays of greenery. My girlfriend had spent a year convincing me […]

Climate Crisis

Western Wildfires destroyed 246% more Homes and Buildings over the past Decade – Scientists explain Why

The Conversation

By Philip Higuera, University of Montana; Jennifer Balch, University of Colorado Boulder, Maxwell Cook, University of Colorado Boulder; and Natasha Stavros, University of Colorado Boulder | – (The Conversation) – It can be tempting to think that the recent wildfire disasters in communities across the West were unlucky, one-off events, but evidence is accumulating that […]