In the Midst of the Sixth Extinction

Bob Bates — In May 2019, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), an international panel of more than 450 scientists from 109 nations, unanimously reported that the status of life on planet Earth is in grave jeopardy. Drawing upon 15,000 documents compiled by global environmental researchers, the panel noted that species loss has accelerated at a rate of tens to hundreds … Continue reading In the Midst of the Sixth Extinction

Modern Science: Counter-Intuition and Its Implications for Climate Change

Warren R. Johnson — A major challenge facing the survival of the planet is climate change. A recent assessment by the US Global Change Research Program, a team of 13 federal agencies, predicts that the most dire consequences of human-caused climate change will be upon us much sooner than expected. Yet, we are seemingly unable to deal with the dilemmas it presents. In my view, … Continue reading Modern Science: Counter-Intuition and Its Implications for Climate Change

Current Status of Global Warming and Climate Change

Bob Bates — In 1896, Swedish Nobel laureate Svante Arrhenius calculated that increases of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth’s atmosphere contributed to the “greenhouse effect” of trapping heat close to the planet’s surface. Based on this observation, he predicted incremental global warming proportional to the added amounts of CO2 above natural levels. Decades before, with the advent of the Industrial Age in the early … Continue reading Current Status of Global Warming and Climate Change

Climate Change and Nonviolent Resistance

Ron Berger — Last November Bill McKibben, a leading environmental activist, delivered the inaugural Jonathan Schell Lecture at the New School in New York City. The lecture, which was entitled “On the Fate of the Earth,” was co-sponsored by The Nation Institute and the Gould Family Foundation; and the text of the lecture was adapted for a December 2016 issue of The Nation magazine. McKibben … Continue reading Climate Change and Nonviolent Resistance