I happen to be in a somewhat unusual position geographically—I’m between the Limerick and Peach Bottom nuclear plants, so a significant portion of my electricity comes from nuclear generation. I’m not particularly pro-nuclear because it takes far too long to build new plants, and the construction itself (especially the enormous amount of concrete and steel) […]
Category Archives: Energy
How Is Your Electric Made?
The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt: Climate Change and the Rise of a Record-Breaking Ocean Regime Shift
by Daniel Brouse What many beachgoers describe as a “bad seaweed year” is actually evidence of a much larger transformation occurring across the Atlantic Ocean. Florida is experiencing another massive influx of Sargassum, and scientists monitoring the phenomenon report that the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt remains near record size. Rather than an isolated event, this […]
Ring of Fire Thunderstorm Feedbacks
Introduction In meteorology, a Ring of Fire describes a recurring pattern in which clusters of powerful thunderstorms repeatedly develop and travel around the outer edge of a large, stationary high-pressure system. These storms form where extremely hot, dry air beneath the heat dome collides with cooler, moisture-rich air circulating around its perimeter. The pattern becomes […]
New Data Center Designs and the Evolving Environmental Footprint of AI Infrastructure
by Daniel Brouse New data center designs are dramatically reducing—or in some cases eliminating—direct freshwater consumption by replacing traditional, water-intensive cooling towers with advanced thermal management technologies. Major technology companies and hardware manufacturers are rapidly deploying infrastructure designed to minimize strain on local water supplies while supporting rapidly growing computational demand. One of the most […]
Climate Responsibility and Accountability
Addendum to: Solutions to the Fossil Fuel Economy and the Myths Accelerating Climate and Economic Collapse http://membrane.com/global_warming/Basic-Economics.html Climate Responsibility and Accountability Introduction The original purpose of Solutions to the Fossil Fuel Economy and the Myths Accelerating Climate and Economic Collapse was to focus on practical solutions rather than assigning blame. Since its publication, however, many […]
Transpiration, Atmospheric Moisture Recycling, and Climate-Driven Heat Stress in a Warming World
by Daniel Brouse What is Transpiration? Transpiration is the biological process by which plants move water from the soil through their roots and vascular system and release it into the atmosphere as water vapor. This release occurs through microscopic pores on leaves called stomata, which also regulate carbon dioxide intake for photosynthesis. In simple terms, […]
The Evolution of Climate Change: From Linear Warming to Nonlinear Earth-System Acceleration
By Daniel Brouse and Sidd Mukherjee During the 1980s, I worked primarily as an economist specializing in risk management. By the early 1990s, however, it had become clear that the greatest systemic risk facing civilization was not financial—it was climate change. Working with physicist Sidd Mukherjee, we began developing what we called the Nonlinear Acceleration […]
Climate Tipping Points and Cascading Feedbacks
Climate Tipping Points and Cascading Feedbacks: Assessing the Current State of Earth’s Critical Climate Systems (2026 Review) Daniel Brouse and Sidd Mukherjee June 2026 Abstract Climate change is no longer characterized solely by gradual increases in global temperature. A growing body of observational evidence demonstrates that multiple components of the Earth system are approaching—or in […]
Tipping Point Status
Tipped Tipping Points, Feedback Loops, and the Domino Effect Feedback Loops → Tipping Points → Acceleration → Domino EffectFeedback loops amplify climate change and can push interconnected Earth systems past critical tipping points. As tipping points are crossed, they can trigger additional feedback loops and destabilize other climate systems. This cascading “Domino Effect” compresses timescales, accelerates change, and increases the risk […]
The Full Economic Burden of Climate Change in the United States
Beyond Point Estimates: An Ensemble-Based Probabilistic Framework for Estimating the Full Economic Burden of Climate Change in the United States Daniel Brouse and Sidd Mukherjee Abstract Traditional estimates of climate damages generally report single-value estimates or narrow ranges that fail to capture the cascading uncertainty inherent in coupled human-natural systems. Climate change is not a […]