Environment

By Stan Cox | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Several times in recent weeks I’ve heard people suggest that Mother Nature has been speaking to us through that smoke endlessly drifting south from the still-raging Canadian wildfires. She’s saying that she wants the coal, oil, and gas left in the ground, but I fear her […]

Corporations

Plastic Pollution: Campaigners around the World are using the Courts to Clean Up, but Manufacturers are Fighting Back

The Conversation

By Sam Varvastian, Cardiff University | – Plastic pollution has become such major problem that it’s threatening our human rights. That’s the view of two UN special rapporteurs (human rights advisers) who recently issued a joint statement, warning against the “overwhelming toxic tidal wave” of plastic endangering us and the environment “in a myriad of […]

Batteries

Wind and Solar are Saving Texas from Brownouts during deadly Heat Dome, but Republicans want to Abolish Them

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Kristoffer Tigue at Inside Climate News reports that climate change made the brutal heat wave assaulting Texas worse, but that the state’s renewable power sources have helped keep the air conditioners running. Temperatures are predicted to stay over 100°F this week, with a slight break owing to a thunderstorm system. […]

Climate Crisis

Is Climate Change outpacing our Ability to predict extreme Heatwaves?

The Conversation

By Damien Irving, CSIRO and James Risbey, CSIRO | – When an extreme weather event happens somewhere in the world these days, it’s common to read quotes from climate scientists explaining this is exactly the kind of event we expect to see more often as climate change progresses. Such events are often devastating, but not […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Crisis: Iranian City, hottest in World on Thursday, hits Record for late Spring Heat, at 50.8 °C [123.44 °F]

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) The Iranian city of Zabol in the northern part of the Sistan and Baluchistan province won the global high temperature sweepstakes on June 22, according to the Spanish meteorological site OGIMET , coming in at 50.8 °C [123.44 °F]. It is the first time in 60 years that a city in […]

Antarctica

Fractured Foundations: how Antarctica’s ‘landfast’ Ice is Dwindling and why that’s bad News

The Conversation

By Alexander Fraser, University of Tasmania; Christine Weldrick, University of Tasmania; Laura Dalman, University of Tasmania; Matthew Corkill, University of Tasmania and Pat Wongpan, University of Tasmania | – There’s more to Antarctic ice than meets the eye. Sea ice is not a uniform crust overlying the salty Southern Ocean. Our new research is the […]

Climate Crisis

Europe’s largest Heat Pump to heat Cologne Homes using Rhine River Water

Clean Energy Wire

By Sören Amelang | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Cologne energy supplier RheinEnergie is planning Europe’s largest heat pump that will use energy contained in Rhine river water to heat homes in the city centre. “RheinEnergie has awarded the general planning contract for a large-scale heat pump in a capacity class that does […]

Batteries

The Real Project for a New American Century: Ford Receives $9.2 Billion Loan for EV Battery Plants to Counter China

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – David Shepardson at Reuters reports that Ford Motor Co. and its partner SK of South Korea have received a $9.2 billion loan for 3 battery plants in Kentucky and Tennessee from the Department of Energy under the loan program called Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM). It is the biggest single […]

Biodiversity

Ecological Failure-Loops: Why Ecosystem Collapses may occur much sooner than Expected – New Research

The Conversation

By John Dearing, University of Southampton; Gregory Cooper, University of Sheffield; and Simon Willcock, Bangor University | – Across the world, rainforests are becoming savanna or farmland, savanna is drying out and turning into desert, and icy tundra is thawing. Indeed, scientific studies have now recorded “regime shifts” like these in more than 20 different […]