Environment

Sarah Sanbar Iraq Researcher, Middle East and North Africa Division ( Human Rights Watch ) – By any metric, Iraq’s environment is under severe pressure. Lakes, rivers, and marshlands are shrinking, and in some cases entirely disappearing. Sandstorms are increasing in frequency and severity, resulting in hospitalizations and the grounding of flights. Decades of conflict-related […]

Climate Crisis

Shamash! “Night Flight”

Juan Cole

Panel #40 Previous panels : >

plastic

Microplastics Hinder Plants’ Photosynthesis, threatening Massive Crop and Seafood Losses

The Conversation

By Jack Marley, The Conversation (The Conversation) – A graph I saw in high school appeared to show the Earth breathing. It was a graph that plotted carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the course of the 20th century and into the 21st. CO₂ had risen steadily, and then more rapidly, but it hadn’t gone […]

CO2

CO2 in Atmosphere Higher than in 2 Million Years, with 2024 the Hottest Year Ever Recorded

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The annual report of the World Meteorological Organization concludes that in 2023, the latest year for which a complete analysis has been carried out, the amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere reached its highest level ever recorded —- about 420 parts per million (ppm). That’s 151% higher than […]

Climate Crisis

The Heat and the Fury: On the Frontlines of Climate Violence

Marc Martorell Junyent

Review of Peter Schwartzstein, The Heat and the Fury: On the Frontlines of Climate Violence (London: Footnote Press, 2024). Munich, Germany (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) –– Although climate change does not directly cause conflict, it makes violence more likely to occur and to be more intense. The effects of climate change act as ‘threat […]

Eurasia

Can the Caspian Sea be Saved from turning into an environmental Disaster?

Global Voices

Written byNurbek Bekmurzaev ( Global Voices ) – The Caspian Sea, the largest enclosed body of water in the world, faces a grim future in the form of significant desiccation, loss of flora and fauna, and large-scale pollution. All these processes have already started and their further deterioration poses immense risks for the economies and […]

Climate Crisis

Shamash! “The Threat”

Juan Cole

Panel #39 Previous panels : >

Antarctica

Melting Antarctic Ice will slow the World’s strongest Ocean Current – and the global Consequences are Profound

The Conversation

By Taimoor Sohail, The University of Melbourne and Bishakhdatta Gayen, The University of Melbourne Flowing clockwise around Antarctica, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current is the strongest ocean current on the planet. It’s five times stronger than the Gulf Stream and more than 100 times stronger than the Amazon River. It forms part of the global ocean […]

Climate Crisis

Who Should Pay for Climate Disasters?

Sonali Kolhatkar

By Sonali Kolhatkar | ( Otherwords.org ) – Rebuilding from California’s recent wildfires will cost more than a quarter of a trillion dollars — an unprecedented amount. The estimated damage from Hurricane Helene in the Southeast is almost as much, on the order of $250 billion. Who will pay for that damage? It’s a question […]