Extreme Weather

Climate Crisis: Greece’s Record Rainfall, Flooding, are part of a Mediterranean trend to more Dangerous Weather

By Ioanna Stamataki, University of Greenwich | – Recent images of the devastating flash floods caused by Storm Daniel in Greece hit close to home literally and figuratively. As a Greek who has completed a PhD and worked for the past eight years on flash floods, the scenes unfolding across my homeland are painfully real: […]

Climate Crisis

Global Subsidies for Fossil Fuels Skyrocket to $7 trillion per Year, as 2023 Promises to be Hottest on Record

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Imagine a bunch of people who are kidnapped and tortured by being put in a hot room, and their tormentors keep turning up the thermostat. So the prisoners stage a revolt and grab control of the thermostat. But they turn it up on themselves, making the room even hotter, and […]

Acidification of Oceans

Coral Reefs: How Human-caused Climate Change poses a dire Threat to the hidden Diversity of aquatic Ecosystems

The Conversation

By Samuel Starko, The University of Western Australia and Julia K. Baum, University of Victoria | – Like the heat waves on land we have all grown familiar with, marine heat waves are being amplified by climate change. These extreme warm water events have ushered in some of the most catastrophic impacts of climate change […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Change is now throwing at us Every Weapon in its Arsenal, from Heat Domes to Massive Wildfires, to Mega-Hurricanes

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – For the most part, the earth is heating up just in the way that climate change models from a decade ago had predicted if we went on spewing 35 billion tons of carbon pollution into the atmosphere every year. And we have. The frightening thing is that unfolding climate events […]

Batteries

In 2023, 86% of New Power Capacity in US will come from Renewables, with a Majority of it Solar

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Department of Energy has announced that that in 2023, 82% of new additions to electricity generation capacity in the United States will come from wind, solar and battery, and 86% in total will come from non-fossil fuel sources. Of fossil fuels, only fossil gas will provide new capacity, but […]

Climate Crisis

As Climate Crisis increases Rainfall, We need “Sponge Cities” with Stormwater Drains and Floodable Parks

The Conversation

By Timothy Welch, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, University of Auckland ( The Conversation) -Tune into news from about any part of the planet, and there will likely be a headline about extreme weather. While these stories will be specific to the location, they all tend to include the amplifying effects of climate change. This […]

Climate Crisis

Oceans Hit Hottest Average Temperature ever Recorded, endangering Ecosystems on which We Depend

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The world’s oceans hit an average temperature of 20.96°C (69.728°F ) this week, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. It is the highest average ocean temperature ever recorded, beating a previous record from 2016. So reports Rosie Frost at Euronews. Climate scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change […]

Climate Crisis

City of Berlin adopts $5.2 bilion Climate Protection Fund to Reduce Fossil Fuel Dependency

Clean Energy Wire

By Jennifer Collins | – Clean Energy Wire / Tagesspiegel / RBB ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Berlin’s Senate has adopted a five-billion-euro climate protection fund to flow into mobility, energy efficiency in buildings, power supply and the economy. The goal of the fund, which could be doubled to 10 billion euros by 2026, […]

Archaeology

416,000 Years Ago, All Greenland’s Ice Melted and Raised Sea Levels 5-20 Feet: A Warning from the Past

The Conversation

By Paul Bierman, University of Vermont, and Tammy Rittenour, Utah State University | – About 400,000 years ago, large parts of Greenland were ice-free. Scrubby tundra basked in the Sun’s rays on the island’s northwest highlands. Evidence suggests that a forest of spruce trees, buzzing with insects, covered the southern part of Greenland. Global sea […]