Drought

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction have issued a report finding that in the past 50 years, 11,000 droughts, storms, extreme temperature and other extreme weather events have accounted for 50 percent of all disasters and three-fourths of known economic losses, totaling $3.64 […]

Climate Crisis

Crazy like a Fox: Spreading false meme of “Flamer” birds killed by Solar Plant is Louie Gohmert’s way of Dividing Environmentalists

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Mark Twain observed, “All Congresses and Parliaments have a kindly feeling for idiots, and a compassion for them, on account of personal experience and heredity.” Texas Representative Louie Gohmert isn’t quite ancient enough to have been the object of Twains’ wrath, but he exemplifies the idiocy in public life of […]

Climate Crisis

Top 5 Environmental Impacts of Bipartisan Infastructure Bill, from Electric Vehicles to Electric Grid

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Although the the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by the senate on Tuesday has been criticized by environmentalists for not doing enough for green energy and the environment, it should be pointed out that it is the largest investment in those issues ever in U.S. history. It is to […]

Acidification of Oceans

IPCC – Carbon Dioxide concentrations highest in 2 mn years, Provoking ever more Extreme Weather

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued its sixth assessment report. The product of vast international cooperation, the report reflects the scientific community’s certitude that the globe’s climate is rapidly changing as a direct result of humanity burning coal, gasoline and natural gas, putting tens of billions of tons […]

Climate Crisis

3 Lessons of Climate-induced Dixie Wildfire as it Destroys Historic Gold Rush Towns

The Conversation

By Bart Johnson and David Hulse | – A wildfire burning in hot, dry mountain forest swept through the Gold Rush town of Greenville, California, on Aug. 4, reducing neighborhoods and the historic downtown to charred rubble. Hours earlier, the sheriff had warned Greenville’s remaining residents to get out immediately as strong, gusty winds drove […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Crisis Grips Iran with Water Shortages, Provoking Protests, Clashes in Southwest

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan region, the center of its petroleum industry, has been wracked with protests for a week, in part over water shortages. Rallies have erupted in the towns of Mahshahr, Izeh, Ahvaz, Kut-e Abdollah, Susangerd, Aligoudarz and Shoushtar, according to Amnesty International The Iranian government has sometimes replied to […]

Climate Crisis

The Fires This Time: A Climate View from California

Rebecca Gordon

( Tomdispatch.com) – In San Francisco, we’re finally starting to put away our masks. With 74% of the city’s residents over 12 fully vaccinated, for the first time in more than a year we’re enjoying walking, shopping, and eating out, our faces naked. So I was startled when my partner reminded me that we need […]

Climate Crisis

By phasing out coal-fired plants — Now! — we can save millions of lives

Sustainability Times

( Sustainability Times ) – Emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are driving climate change, which imperils the health of life on the planet and so harms us all. Yet the burning of fossil fuels also harms us directly by contributing to a variety of diseases, many of them life-threatening. “Long-term exposure to ambient […]

Climate Crisis

Yellowstone is losing its snow as the climate warms, and that means widespread problems for water and wildlife – a new report details the changes

The Conversation

By Bryan Shuman | – When you picture Yellowstone National Park and its neighbor, Grand Teton, the snowcapped peaks and Old Faithful Geyser almost certainly come to mind. Climate change threatens all of these iconic scenes, and its impact reaches far beyond the parks’ borders. A new assessment of climate change in the two national […]