Climate Crisis

Revised for 2019 By Juan Cole | — The popular story about Thanksgiving is an environmental parable that we would do well to remember today. It was a harvest festival in 1621, participated in by the 50 (out of 100) survivors at Plymouth Plantation and 90 Native Americans. Some of these latter, such as Squanto, […]

Climate Crisis

We’re not Serious about the Climate Emergency: There’s Still no ‘Green New Deal’ Bill in Congress

Arn Menconi

By Arn Menconi | – (Special to Consortium News) – Today there’s no climate bill to vote on, there’s no bill in the pipeline and it is unlikely that there will be one soon, warns Arn Menconi. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (center) speaking on the Green New Deal with Sen. Ed Markey (right) in February 2019. […]

Climate Crisis

Danger of Climate Feedback Loops: Lakes now Emit 1/4 of Global Carbon, but heating Could Double It

The Conversation

Andrew J Tanentzap | – Lakes and ponds are the final resting place for many of the Earth’s plants. Rivers collect much of the planet’s dead organic matter, transporting it to rest in calmer waters. But on a microscopic scale, lakes are anything but calm. An invisible metropolis of microbes feeds on these logs and […]

Climate Crisis

Germany’s Merkel: World is Heading toward Disastrous Heating unless Rich Countries Drastically Cut CO2

Clean Energy Wire

By Benjamin Wehrmann | – The earth’s surface temperature will rise by three degrees Celsius [5.4° F.] under current climate targets, meaning CO2 emissions targets especially of industrialised countries have to be adjusted, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel said at an event hosted by the country’s development cooperation ministry (BMZ) in Berlin. “Our targets are not […]

Climate Crisis

All Hell Breaking Loose: The Pentagon’s Perspective on Climate Change

Michael T. Klare

(Tomdispatch.com) – The Situation Room, October 2039: the president and vice president, senior generals and admirals, key cabinet members, and other top national security officers huddle around computer screens as aides speak tokey officials across the country. Some screens are focused on Hurricane Monica, continuing its catastrophic path through the Carolinas and Virginia; others are […]

Climate Crisis

Since Trump Dumped the Paris Climate Agreement, is it Game Over?

The Conversation

By Henrik Selin | – Editor’s note: On Nov. 4, the Trump administration formally notified the United Nations that it planned to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change, which 196 countries adopted in 2015. The pact is designed to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial […]

Climate Crisis

“Catastrophic” Wildfires Threaten Sydney, Australia as Gov’t Backs Coal

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Australians in New South Wales and part of Queensland face “catastrophic” wildfires today according to government authorities. Based on the latest forecast, we have mapped where fires on the north coast are likely to spread during tomorrow's dangerous weather. The red shows the predicted spread of fire. Check https://t.co/NXTTCbYtYQ for […]

Climate Crisis

Saudi Oil Giant Aramco’s $1.5 trillion IPO flies in the face of our Climate Crisis Reality

The Conversation

By Mark Shackleton | – The largest oil and gas producer, Saudi Aramco, is due to become the world’s most valuable publicly listed company. The Saudi government is planning to sell a small fraction of the firm’s shares on the Riyadh stock exchange before seeking a listing for 5% of the firm on an international […]

Climate Crisis

How Big Oil Committed the Greatest Scam in History and Smeared Climate Science

Tomdispatch

By Naomi Oreskes | – (Tomdispatch.com) – It’s a tale for all time. What might be the greatest scam in history or, at least, the one that threatens to take history down with it. Think of it as the climate-change scam that beat science, big time. Scientists have been seriously investigating the subject of human-made […]