Back to the Future: 2 Degrees C is Safe for Whom?
There are many, many tens of millions of us in the global North who accept the reality of climate change science. Were we to take meaningful action both personally and politically it would reduce CO2 emissions significantly and shake the political foundations of our societies to the core.
Ethical Oil: A truth that’s told with bad intent
Of the many contradictions and hypocrisies in the Ethical Oil Campaign, one of the most ironic is the fact that while the abuses of human rights and the environment cited by the EOC are permitted by the countries in question, many of the abuses are actually committed by the very oil companies EOC is working on behalf of.
Cohabit Eaarth: We are the 99.999%
Staggering as it may be to imagine that so much wealth is concentrated in the hands of a mere 1% of the population, remember that it refers to 1% of the human population in the United States and/or the Industrialized world. When we recognize that those deserving a fair share must include the entire human population, and that this “wealth” comes at the expense of the natural world on which we all depend, then the inequity and absurdity (insanity?) becomes all the more glaring.
Human Species at Risk Because of Climate Change Denial
Two new articles, “Inaction on Climate Change Putting Decades of Human Progress at Risk” and “Is climate science disinformation a crime against humanity?”
Melting Arctic Will Cause “Bad Hot Days” For California
The warming contributed by CO2 and methane from Arctic tundra ecosystems will lead to warming in CA, with hotter days in LA and contribute to the loss of the snowpack in the Sierra and water problems.
Pakistan and the Politics of Weather
Pakistan and other under-aided countries under the stress of environmental calamities can breed widespread problems that are also expensive and threatening to the international community. The alternative to humanitarian aid is closed borders and rising military spending, strategies that make the world less safe, less wealthy and less humane.
Dangerous Climate Change and Food Riots Linked in Mozambique
Extreme weather this year has caused grain fires in Russia, increasing world hunger and sparking food rebellions, especially in Mozambique.
As Global Temperature Rises, So Do Food Prices
As concerns mount over extreme weather hitting global food systems this year, governments are no closer to forging a pact to fight climate change. The effects of extreme weather on crops are only beginning to be understood.
For decades scientists studied the effect of global warming on crops by simply raising temperatures and carbon dioxide levels in greenhouses. They did not take into account the effects of floods and droughts, or reduced yields that result from higher temperatures.
Dramatic Depletion of World Food Production Linked to Wildfires
World climate events these past days have been so extreme and have caused so much destruction and loss of life, you might think you’re sitting through a bad disaster movie. But as tragic as the terrible flooding in Pakistan, China and Eastern Europe has been, the heat and wildfires in Russia will have a very serious long-term effect, that of drastically increasing atmospheric CO2 and Methane concentrations and thereby increasing the risk of drought and wildfires in many parts of the world.
Another long-term effect will be that of severely depleting world grain supply, already at a low level. Gwynne Dyer explains the implications of this in his disturbing article for Straight.com, “Gwynne Dyer: Russian response to wildfires gives an early glimpse of climate change impact.”
Russia Burning: The View From Above and at Ground Level
Note from Dorothy: As of today – Sunday, August 8 – there are 554 fires burning in Russia, in 190,000 hectares. On Friday, the air temperature in Moscow reached 37.3 C, beating the previous 1920 record by nearly 2 C. According to BBC World News, carbon monoxide was at six times the danger level. There [...]
