Environment

Climate Change has deep historical Roots – Amitav Ghosh explores how Capitalism and Colonialism fit in

By Julia Taylor, University of the Witwatersrand and Imraan Valodia, University of the Witwatersrand | – (The Conversation) – Amitav Ghosh is an internationally celebrated author of 20 historical fiction and non-fiction books. The Indian thinker and writer has written extensively on the legacies of colonialism, violence and extractivism. His most famous works explore migration, […]

Climate Crisis

Tim Walz took Minnesota to 54% Clean Electricty and Annual Reductions of Carbon; Can he do it for the USA?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Democratic National Convention on Wednesday evening introduce Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, to the American public. It was a touching scene, with the enthusiasm of Walz’s family on full display, and his own folksy demeanor and common sense, along with a wry sense of humor, clearly wowed the […]

Climate Crisis

The overshoot Myth: you can’t keep burning Fossil Fuels and expect Scientists of the Future to get us back to 1.5°C

The Conversation

By James Dyke, University of Exeter; Robert Watson, University of East Anglia and Wolfgang Knorr, Lund University | – The Conversation – Record breaking fossil fuel production, all time high greenhouse gas emissions and extreme temperatures. Like the proverbial frog in the heating pan of water, we refuse to respond to the climate and ecological […]

Climate Crisis

There’s only One Issue in the 2024 Election: The Survival of a Habitable Earth

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In mid-July, Nature Climate Change published a global survey of over 9,000 scientists. Its findings should be like the sirens for a 5-alarm fire to our ears. Scientists are trained to be cautious and to base anything they assert on firm empirical evidence and close analytical reasoning. They want to […]

Climate Crisis

CO2-Driven Global Heating is a Silent Killer, Stalking the Vulnerable

The Conversation

By Myles David Sergeant, McMaster University | – (The Conversation) – Extreme heat is a silent killer. From time to time, we hear about shocking cases of football players and other athletes who die suddenly while exerting themselves on hot days. Those deaths are certainly tragic, but statistically they are very rare. Most deaths from […]

CO2

How Exporting Fossil Fuels undermines Climate Targets

The Conversation

By Bill Hare, Murdoch University | – (The Conversation) – Australia is one of the world’s largest exporters of fossil fuels. While this coal and gas is burned beyond our borders, the climate-warming carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions affect us all. My colleagues and I at global research and policy institute Climate Analytics were commissioned to […]

Climate Crisis

The Rate of Global Heating varies, but Temperatures will rise over Time until we Halt CO2 Emissions

The Conversation

By Christopher Merchant, University of Reading | – A 13-month streak of record-breaking global warmth has ended. From June 2023 until June 2024, air and ocean surface water temperatures averaged a quarter of a degree Celsius higher than records set only a few years previously. Air temperatures in July 2024 were slightly cooler than the […]

China

Over half of new Car sales in China in July were EVs, as America faces threat of Falling Behind

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In July, China reached an unprecedented inflection point for an industrialized society, with more electric cars purchased than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. William Gavin at Quartz points out that 3 years ago, only 7% of cars sold in China were EVs. Just this year, EV sales are up 37%. […]

Climate Crisis

On the Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, Carbon Colonialism yet Reigns

Aviva Chomsky

By Aviva Chomsky ( Tomdispatch.com ) – On August 9, 2001, in Colombia, riot police and private security forces from the Cerrejón coal mine — one of the largest open-pit coal mines in the world — surrounded the remote community of Tabaco. They then dragged residents out of their homes and bulldozed what remained of […]