Climate Crisis

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction have issued a report finding that in the past 50 years, 11,000 droughts, storms, extreme temperature and other extreme weather events have accounted for 50 percent of all disasters and three-fourths of known economic losses, totaling $3.64 […]

Climate Crisis

Why Ida Dumped Unprecedented Floodwaters on NYC, Northeast: It was Global Heating from Burning Fossil Fuels

The Conversation

By Russ Schumacher | – Record downpours from Hurricane Ida overwhelmed cities across the Northeast on Sept. 1, 2021, hitting some with more than 3 inches of rain an hour. Water poured into subway stations in New York and Boston. Streets flooded up to the rooftops of cars in Philadelphia. The storm had already wreaked […]

Climate Crisis

Why We Need Electric Cars: Climate-driven Hurricane Ida Knocked out Gulf Oil Production, 1/5 of US Refinery Capacity

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Louisiana’s petroleum refineries are out of action in the wake of Hurricane Ida. Refineries run on electricity, and electricity has been knocked out in New Orleans and environs, perhaps for another couple of weeks. Here’s the kicker: Louisiana refineries account for nearly 1/5 of America’s refining capacity. Raw crude oil […]

Afghanistan

Ida: The Climate Emergency and Fossil Fuels, not Afghan terrorists, just Knocked out Power to America’s 4th-Largest Port

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The two big stories on Sunday, of the continued evacuation effort at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, and the landfall of Hurricane Ida on the coast of Louisiana have something in common. Both are about potential threats to the United States. America’s national security elites and arms manufacturers […]

Climate Crisis

Are Coal Plants even Legal, given dire Climate Impact? German Court rules Planners Must Consider Alternatives

Clean Energy Wire

German court rules against coal-fired Datteln 4 plant

China

The Drawbacks of a Cold War with China in a Hot World

Michael T. Klare

( Tomdispatch.com ) – In recent months, Washington has had a lot to say about China’s ever-expanding air, naval, and missile power. But when Pentagon officials address the topic, they generally speak less about that country’s current capabilities, which remain vastly inferior to those of the U.S., than the world they foresee in the 2030s […]

Afghanistan

Climate Emergency v. Afghanistan: Why do TV Cable News, Pols ignore the greatest Terror Threat to the US in History?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – American cable TV news has been on an Afghanistan jag since the Taliban rapidly advanced in the country, with wall to wall coverage and expressions of dismay and umbrage directed at President Biden not just on Fox but also CNN and even MSNBC. Afghanistan is an important story, to be […]

Climate Crisis

Climate change: why government failure to act isn’t the problem

The Conversation

By Nick Bernards | – ( The Conversation) – The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report underscored the dire state of the climate crisis, concluding that “immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions” are needed to limit global warming even to 1.5°C or 2°C. The report renewed calls for urgent action […]

Climate Crisis

How Can US Corporations address the Climate Emergency if their Stock Buy-backs even Interfere with their Ordinary Business?

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – The international panel of climate science experts presents the challenge in the starkest terms. A panel of leading scientists convened by the United Nations issued a comprehensive report Monday that contains a stark warning for humanity: The climate crisis is here, some of its most destructive consequences […]