Climate Crisis

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Gustavo Petro doesn’t just want to transform his own country; he wants to change the world. The new leader of Colombia, who took office last August, is targeting what he calls his nation’s “economy of death.” That means pivoting away from oil, natural gas, coal, and narcotics toward more sustainable economic […]

Climate Crisis

As Tax Day Approaches: Is the Federal Budget Moral or Immoral?

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment) – April, the month tax filings are due, prompts us to ponder what our income taxes pay for. Are they used to provide all citizens sufficient resources and public goods for human security and well-being – the core of our national security? How much of our taxes pay […]

Climate Crisis

Red State Divorce: Republican State Politicians are waging all-out War against Companies that don’t Kowtow to Big Oil

Tomdispatch

By Stan Cox | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – The demise of Silicon Valley Bank last month triggered plenty of angst among solar energy developers. Before it collapsed, SBV claimed it had “financed or helped finance 62 percent of community solar projects in America,” according to Washington Post business reporter Evan Halper. At first, it […]

Climate Crisis

Scotland’s Renewables soar by 28%, as new Muslim Leader pledges Net Zero and Just Climate Transition

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Neil Pooran and Peter A Walker at Business Insider report that 28% more renewable electricity was generated in Scotland in 2022 than in the previous year. The impressive increase was largely driven by onshore wind farms. Scotland’s green energy generation capacity is expected to soar further as big offshore wind […]

Arab World

Egypt’s Nile Delta is badly polluted by Heavy Metals

Sustainability Times

( Sustainability Times ) – The Nile is one of the world’s most iconic rivers and in ancient times it gave rise to a unique cilvilization that lasted for several millennia. Yet its delta, once the heartland of Lower Egypt, could soon be no more in any recognizable form, scientists are warning. “Large-scale heavy metal […]

Climate Crisis

IPCC: The World faces a Climate Emergency, but with a Huge Global Effort we can Avoid the Worst

The Conversation

By Frank Jotzo, Australian National University and Mark Howden, Australian National University | – The world is in deep trouble on climate change, but if we really put our shoulder to the wheel we can turn things around. Loosely, that’s the essence of today’s report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC […]

Climate Crisis

Germany’s Heat Pump Boom Causes its Biggest Chip Maker to Expand

Clean Energy Wire

By Edgar Meza | – Handelsblatt ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Germany’s shift away from Russian gas, coupled with government plans to phase out fossil fuel heating systems, has led to a massive heat pump boom that is forcing the country’s biggest semiconductor producer, Infineon, to expand capacity, business daily Handelsblatt reports. Computer chips […]

Climate Crisis

Solar and Wind to Supply 16% of US Electricity this Year, But some States are in the Vanguard

Minnesota Reformer

By: By Robert Zullo – Despite supply-chain problems amid the lingering effects of the pandemic, 2022 saw major increases in solar and wind power in the United States, though that growth varied by state, according to a report released last month by a nonprofit focused on climate change. Nationally, electricity generated from solar and […]

Climate Crisis

Game-Changer: Tiny Islands of Vanuatu Convince UN to seek Int’l Court Ruling on Harms of Climate Emergency

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Vanuatu, a set of South Pacific islands, is not what you would call a prominent international player. The small country of a little over 300,000 people has nevertheless made history, according to UN News. It presented a resolution to the UN General Assembly asking the UN’s International Court of Justice […]