Climate Crisis

( 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 These are territories where more than 25% of the available freshwater resources are withdrawn for human use each year.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 […]

Climate Crisis

Did Netflix Really fulfill its Pledge to Be Carbon Neutral by 2022?

Clean Energy Wire

By Christine Ro | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Netflix styles itself as a climate action leader, but the world’s most popular video streaming service is far from eliminating all of its emissions, despite a 2022 net zero target. The US company with more than 220 million subscribers is taking many steps to […]

Climate Crisis

Past 8 Years have been Hottest on Record, probably Hottest since Time of Christ

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The past 8 years are the hottest on record. So concludes The UN’s World Meteorological Organization. In 2022, the average surface temperature of the earth was 1.15 degrees C. [2.07 degrees F.] higher than the average surface temperature of the earth in 1850-1900. So this is the eighth year in […]

Climate Crisis

With Electric Vehicles, 90% of Americans would see Transportation Costs, CO2 Emissions Plummet

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new University of Michigan study has shown that today, 90% of Americans would see lower transportation costs and lower CO2 emissions if they switched from a car with an Internal Combustion Engine or ICE to an electric vehicle (EV). They were only looking at the cost of running a […]