Kim Stanley Robinson opens his climate fiction opus, “The Ministry for the Future,” in the year 2025 with a brutal heat wave spreading across India. Heat and humidity approach the survival limit for humans. Then, the grid goes down across…
Tag Archive for climate change
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Reasons for a Dividend-Based Carbon Tax – Part 2: Sea Level Rise
by William Rau • • Comments Off on Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Reasons for a Dividend-Based Carbon Tax – Part 2: Sea Level Rise
Why a dividend-based carbon tax? Because of spectacular, fossil-fueled increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide spell great danger. CO2 emissions, Englander notes, are “increasing 55 times faster than anytime over the last 500 million years.” Fossil-fueled emissions exploded after World War…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | The No. 1 priority if Biden-Harris get one shot at major climate legislation
by Community Word Staff • • Comments Off on Heat Waves — In Red and Black | The No. 1 priority if Biden-Harris get one shot at major climate legislation
What might be Biden-Harris’ strategic entry into climate legislation? What is the must-win bill Biden should want delivered to the Resolute Desk? Without exception, bill No. 1 must reduce greenhouse gas emissions at least 50% by 2030. Only large, fast…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Universities’ Roles in the Climate Crisis
by William Rau • • Comments Off on Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Universities’ Roles in the Climate Crisis
Illinois universities help fuel the climate crisis. First, no Prairie State university has dumped fossil fuel investments. These money-losing, risky holdings serve primarily to legitimize a planet-destroying industry. Second, as large fossil fuel burners, universities are major carbon emitters. Illinois…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Will Illinois State University’s Reggie Redbird Get a Green Vest?
by William Rau • • Comments Off on Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Will Illinois State University’s Reggie Redbird Get a Green Vest?
As climate wildfires rage and the world burns, we ask: who is rising to the challenges of the multiplying climate catastrophes? Illinois State University (ISU) has not. Instead, ISU has retreated from past climate commitments. The retreat begins in earnest…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | How not to treat heat stroke during an intense heat wave
by William Rau • • Comments Off on Heat Waves — In Red and Black | How not to treat heat stroke during an intense heat wave
I know three people who collapsed from heat stroke. Doctors told frantic parents of two kids to immerse them in a cold-water bath. The third, a high school runner who collapsed during a race, attended a school where the athletics…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Coronavirus Climate Crisis Crosswalk: COVID Surges, Heat Stroke Explosions
by William Rau • • Comments Off on Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Coronavirus Climate Crisis Crosswalk: COVID Surges, Heat Stroke Explosions
In April, some hospitals in the New York region were almost overwhelmed as a wave of COVID patients swept into emergency rooms. By mid- to late-March, foresight of the cresting wave guided the hasty creation of surge capacity and recruitment…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Coronavirus Climate Crisis Crosswalk, Part 1. The Heat Resistant City
by William Rau • • Comments Off on Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Coronavirus Climate Crisis Crosswalk, Part 1. The Heat Resistant City
Let me open with a question. Do we want vibrant street life and festivals, hallmarks of healthy cities, to survive as global warming turns urban heat islands into frying pans? Who will saunter down streets radiating oppressive heat? Very few,…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Coronavirus and climate crisis: a crosswalk
by William Rau • • Comments Off on Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Coronavirus and climate crisis: a crosswalk
Parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis are spooky. The surge of COVID patients pushed hospitals to the breaking point in New York and required refrigerated meat trucks to store bodies. It may yet overwhelm hospitals in states…
Environmental collapse triggers pandemics
by Clare Howard • • Comments Off on Environmental collapse triggers pandemics
Nature is shouting out warnings of pandemic tsunamis barreling down upon us, but repeated warnings are repeatedly ignored. Angelo Capparella listens to frogs for warnings. Jen Walling reads warnings in ongoing dismantling of environmental regulations. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema sees loss…