Climate Crisis

By Noah Kaufman, Columbia University;Chris Bataille, Columbia University; Gautam Jain, Columbia University; and Sagatom Saha, Columbia University | – Rising trade tensions between the U.S. and the European Union, two of the most important global leaders when it comes to climate policy, could undermine key climate initiatives of both governments and make it harder for […]

Climate Crisis

Why gas stoves matter to the climate – and the gas industry: Keeping them means homes will use gas for heating too

The Conversation

By Daniel Cohan, Rice University | Gas stoves are a leading source of hazardous indoor air pollution, but they emit only a tiny share of the greenhouse gases that warm the climate. Why, then, have they assumed such a heated role in climate politics? This debate reignited on Jan. 9, 2023, when Richard Trumka Jr., […]

China

Climate Change will Supersede Everything: The Pentagon’s Massive Intelligence Failure on China

Michael T. Klare

( Tomdispatch.com) – Given the secrecy typically accorded to the military and the inclination of government officials to skew data to satisfy the preferences of those in power, intelligence failures are anything but unusual in this country’s security affairs. In 2003, for instance, President George W. Bush invaded Iraq based on claims — later found […]

Climate Crisis

Economic Growth is killing the Planet. How do we Engineer an Alternative?

John Feffer

( Foreign Policy in Focus) – In 1972, the Club of Rome released a report called The Limits to Growth that laid out the damage to the planet and to human beings of unrestrained increases in economic production and population. It was a straightforward extrapolation from then-current trends that took into account limited resources like […]

Climate Crisis

Desalination could give the Middle East Water without damaging marine Life – but it must be managed carefully

The Conversation

By Jonathan Chenoweth, University of Surrey and Raya A. Al-Masr, University of Surrey | – (The Conversation) – More than 2 billion people live in “water stressed” countries. These are territories where more than 25% of the available freshwater resources are withdrawn for human use each year. Desalination – the process of removing salt from […]

Climate Crisis

Nearly 20% of New Vehicles in California Last Year were Zero-Emission, as Peak Oil nears

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) The office of California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced that nearly 1 in 5 of new vehicles purchased in that state in 2022 were zero emission (ZEVs). Nationwide, nearly 6 percent of new vehicle registrations were electric. This statistic of 18.8% ZEVs did not represent business as usual for California. The […]

Climate Crisis

EU, IEA: Next 10 Years will See Greatest Industrial Transformation of our Times

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Six million workers are employed globally in the $217 billion green energy industry today. But in only 8 years, they will more than double to 14 million. Half of those jobs would be connected to “electric vehicles, solar PV, wind and heat pumps.” And the size of the industry will […]

Climate Crisis

Top 6 Ways 2023 could be a Pivotal Year for Climate Action

The Conversation

By Wesley Morgan, Griffith University | – (The Conversation) – Many people think of the annual UN climate talks as talkfests which achieve only incremental change, at best. Activist Greta Thunberg has described them as “blah blah blah” moments – grossly inadequate and too often hijacked by fossil fuel producers who would like the world […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Crisis: Oceans heating up as though we were Constantly Blowing up Atomic Bombs in them

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has released talking points for its report on 2022, warning that the oceans are getting alarmingly hotter every year. The full survey will be out this spring. It turns out of all the extra heat on earth caused by humans putting greenhouse gases into […]