Environment

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump came to power in part because of weird conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton, and he is still at it. This pollution of our information system with ridiculous charges against the Clintons, or the Obamas, or any number of other bêtes noires, is a form of misdirection, a technique used […]

Climate Change

To Avoid Boiling the Earth, we Need a New Agriculture: Farming emits 1/3 of Greenhouse Gases

The Conversation

By Mark Howden | – We can’t achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement without managing emissions from land use, according to a special report released today by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Emissions from land use, largely agriculture, forestry and land clearing, make up some 22% of the world’s greenhouse gas […]

Climate Change

Humanity hasn’t experienced a Month as Hot as July in all the Time since Millard Fillmore was President

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – July was the hottest month ever recorded, i.e. the hottest since about 1850 when scientific records began being kept around the world using modern thermometers. So writes Chelsea Harvey at Climate Wire via The Scientific American. July was more than 1 degree Fahrenheit warmer than the late 20th century average. […]

Climate Change

Next: The Climate Crisis is Coming for Your Food

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The sources of the climate emergency are often framed with regard to electricity generation and transportation, while the impact of global heating through burning of fossil fuels is of discussed with regard to extreme weather and sea level rise. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has just issued A […]

Climate Change

Environment or Jobs? The Green New Deal can Boost Both

Aviva Chomsky

( Tomdispatch.com ) – When it comes to heat, extreme weather, wildfires, and melting glaciers, the planet is now in what the media increasingly refers to as “record” territory, as climate change’s momentum outpaces predictions. In such a situation, in a country whose president and administration seem hell-bent on doing everything they conceivably can to […]

Climate Change

Green Technology alone Won’t Save us: We need an Economic Revolution To Stop Climate Crisis

The Conversation

By Christine Corlet Walker | – You may have missed it, but a recent report declared that the main strategy of world leaders for tackling climate change won’t work. It’s called green growth, and it’s favoured by some of the largest and most influential organisations in the world, including the United Nations and the World […]

Climate Change

Be Afraid, Very Afraid: Greenland Ice Sheets Cascading into Ocean 50 Years Ahead of Schedule

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Amid the European heat wave, Ruth Mottram of the Danish Meteorological Institute set off a panic this week when she observed that Greenland lost 11 billion tons of ice on August 1, the most in recorded history, and half the ice sheet was experiencing some level of melting. She added […]

Climate Change

Combatting the Climate Emergency: The Chinese Path or the Green New Deal?

John Feffer

(Tomdispatch.com ) – At its best, the earth was once likened to a spaceship that sails through the heavens with a crew working together for the common good. Thanks to climate change, this metaphor no longer works. Our planet is now more like a lifeboat that’s sprung a major leak. People onboard are beginning to […]

Climate Change

The Climate Emergency comes for the Democrats

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Despite the reluctance of corporate America, its cable news channels and its favorite candidates to tackle the looming menace of our climate crisis, it came for the Democrats big time in the second CNN debate. Credit where credit is due; the governor of Washington state, Jay Inslee, was the primary […]