Environment

(By Juan Cole) When President Obama looked us in the eye and said that the US is not engaged in electronic surveillance for economic reasons, but only for the sake of security and anti-terrorism, he was lying through his teeth. He should be careful. His approval ratings have tanked in some large part because he […]

Climate Change

The Future of Cool: Electric Muscle Cars at the Detroit Auto Show

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) I dropped by the Detroit Auto Show this weekend (its last this year) at Cobo Center as it was wrapping up. Regular readers know that I am a big fan of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, so I had a lot of fun window shopping and fantasizing. I have a Chevy Volt […]

China

China Installed More Solar Power in 2013 than the US has in its Whole History

contributors

(By Joshua S. Hill) China’s Solar Market Beat All Expectations For 2013 (via Clean Technica) Despite predictions all through 2013 suggesting that Japan would walk away the dominant solar PV market, Bloomberg New Energy Finance has revealed that China “outstripped even the most optimistic forecasts” to install a record 12 GW of photovoltaic… ——- […]

Climate Change

Top Ten Ways GOP could avoid “War on Women” Label

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Mike Huckabee objects to the charge that the Republican Party is waging a war on women. The GOP obviously is increasingly a party of angry white men. It suffers from a significant gender gap, which helped elect Barack Obama twice. Huckabee wants to just wish all these realities away. But in the […]

Climate Change

World was Hot Again in 2013; Australia, others, Hottest on Record

Juan Cole

NEW YORK, New York, January 21, 2014 (ENS) – The year 2013 tied with 2009 and 2006 for the seventh warmest year since recordkeeping began in 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures, NASA scientists said today. NASA’s Goddard…

Africa

Climate Change is real, and Endangers East African Food Security

Juan Cole

By Kieran Cooke, Climate News Network LONDON – The report, East African Agriculture and Climate Change, published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), looks at threats to food supplies in 11 countries in East and Central…

Climate Change

The GOP’s War on Science Endangering America: Climate Change, Evolution, Regulation

Juan Cole

The Republican Party is increasingly emerging as an anti-science party. Since American greatness was built on its science and technology (and not on the odd cult of biblical inerrancy), this development is a danger to the republic, and, indeed, to the world. The US used to be about solving problems, about a can-do spirit, not […]

Climate Change

Pension Managers should divest from Fossil Fuels: UN Official

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, told investors at a conference on Wednesday that they should move pension funds out of fossil fuels. After all, she pointed out, pension funds are for retirement, and future retirees won’t get to enjoy their golden years if the average […]

Climate Change

Giant Rhubarb Battery may save the World (Really!)

contributors

(By Tina Casey) Hook Up Your Solar Panels To A Giant Rhubarb Battery (via Clean Technica) Yes, all you rhubarb fans take note. A new energy storage breakthrough is under way at Harvard University, and it is based on a common little molecule that is almost exactly the same as one found in rhubarb. The […]