Climate Crisis

Tim Walz took Minnesota to 54% Clean Electricty and Annual Reductions of Carbon; Can he do it for the USA?

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Democratic National Convention on Wednesday evening introduce Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, to the American public. It was a touching scene, with the enthusiasm of Walz’s family on full display, and his own folksy demeanor and common sense, along with a wry sense of humor, clearly wowed the […]

Climate Crisis

The overshoot Myth: you can’t keep burning Fossil Fuels and expect Scientists of the Future to get us back to 1.5°C

The Conversation

By James Dyke, University of Exeter; Robert Watson, University of East Anglia and Wolfgang Knorr, Lund University | – The Conversation – Record breaking fossil fuel production, all time high greenhouse gas emissions and extreme temperatures. Like the proverbial frog in the heating pan of water, we refuse to respond to the climate and ecological […]

Climate Crisis

There’s only One Issue in the 2024 Election: The Survival of a Habitable Earth

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In mid-July, Nature Climate Change published a global survey of over 9,000 scientists. Its findings should be like the sirens for a 5-alarm fire to our ears. Scientists are trained to be cautious and to base anything they assert on firm empirical evidence and close analytical reasoning. They want to […]

Climate Crisis

CO2-Driven Global Heating is a Silent Killer, Stalking the Vulnerable

The Conversation

By Myles David Sergeant, McMaster University | – (The Conversation) – Extreme heat is a silent killer. From time to time, we hear about shocking cases of football players and other athletes who die suddenly while exerting themselves on hot days. Those deaths are certainly tragic, but statistically they are very rare. Most deaths from […]

Climate Crisis

The Rate of Global Heating varies, but Temperatures will rise over Time until we Halt CO2 Emissions

The Conversation

By Christopher Merchant, University of Reading | – A 13-month streak of record-breaking global warmth has ended. From June 2023 until June 2024, air and ocean surface water temperatures averaged a quarter of a degree Celsius higher than records set only a few years previously. Air temperatures in July 2024 were slightly cooler than the […]

Climate Crisis

On the Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, Carbon Colonialism yet Reigns

Aviva Chomsky

By Aviva Chomsky ( Tomdispatch.com ) – On August 9, 2001, in Colombia, riot police and private security forces from the Cerrejón coal mine — one of the largest open-pit coal mines in the world — surrounded the remote community of Tabaco. They then dragged residents out of their homes and bulldozed what remained of […]

Climate Crisis

Over half of Turkey’s Electricity now comes from Renewables as it seeks to Escape Energy Dependence on Russia

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Turkiye is finally making strides toward a renewable grid. In the first half of 2024, according to the energy think tank Ember, over half (53%) of Turkiye’s electricity was generated by renewables. In the first two quarters of the previous year, 2023, that figure was only 44%. Moreover, the percentage […]

Artificial Intelligence

A.I. may kill us All, but not the Way you Think

John Feffer

( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – The conventional Artificial Intelligence doomsday scenario runs like this. A robot acquires sentience and decides for some reason that it wants to rule the world. It hacks into computer systems to shut down everything from banking and hospitals to nuclear power. Or it takes over a factory to […]

Climate Crisis

New Labour Government in UK Unleashes Onshore Wind, with 61% of British Electricity now Low-Carbon

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The new Labour government in Britain last week took steps to remove the ban on onshore wind farms instituted by the Conservative government, which made it possible for such projects to be forestalled even by a single objection. Gavin McGuire at Reuters reported that for the first time this winter, […]