Ice Melt

By Alek Petty and Linette Boisvert | – September marks the end of the summer sea ice melt season and the Arctic sea ice minimum, when sea ice over the Northern Hemisphere ocean reaches its lowest extent of the year. For ship captains hoping to navigate across the Arctic, this is typically their best chance […]

Climate Crisis

UN: Earth heading to 16% Increase in Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2030, Risking Climate Instability

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A United Nations study of the greenhouse gas reduction targets announced by the 191 signatories to the Paris Convention has come up with an alarming result. If countries follow through on their stated plans, greenhouse gas emissions will actually rise. In 2025, they will be 15.8% higher than in 2010 […]

Flooding

IPCC: Ocean has risen more than in any century in at least 3,000 years, and in worst case could rise 7 feet in next 80 Years

The Conversation

By Robert Kopp | – ( The Conversation) – Humans are unequivocally warming the planet, and that’s triggering rapid changes in the atmosphere, oceans and polar regions, and increasing extreme weather around the world, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns in a new report. The IPCC released the first part of its much anticipated […]

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

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 […]

Climate Crisis

Climate explained: why is the frozen Arctic heating up faster than other parts of the world?

The Conversation

By Steve Turton | – What is Arctic amplification? Do we know what is causing this phenomenon? What effects is it having, both in the region and for the world? Is Antarctica experiencing the same thing? Human civilisation and agriculture first emerged about 12,000 years ago in the early Holocene. Our ancestors benefited from a […]

Climate Crisis

Antarctica is headed for a climate tipping point by 2060, with catastrophic melting if carbon emissions aren’t cut quickly

The Conversation

By Julie Brigham-Grette and Andrea Dutton | – While U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken draws attention to climate change in the Arctic at meetings with other national officials this week in Iceland, an even greater threat looms on the other side of the planet. New research shows it is Antarctica that may force a […]

Climate Crisis

Surging of Dangerous Greenhouse Gas Methane endangers our Planet: Why we Have to Stop It

The Conversation

By Drew Shindell | – Methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, is a larger climate problem than the world anticipates, and cutting its emissions will be crucial to slow global warming, a new United Nations report warns. The greenhouse gas is many times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the planet, and its […]

Climate Crisis

“Unimaginable Amounts of Water”: Human-Made Global Heating in Danger of “Uncorking” Massive Antarctic Glaciers, causing Sea Level Rise

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new article in Geophysical Research Letters found that four times as much of the Antarctic ices shelves would melt under a scenario where we heat the earth by 7.2 degrees F. (4 degrees C.) as opposed to the current Paris Climate Treaty goals of 1.5 degrees C. or at […]