Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Coral larvae production drops by 90 percent after marine heat waves – “We used to think that the Great Barrier Reef was too big to fail – until now”

4 April 2019 (James Cook University) – The damage caused to the Great Barrier Reef by global warming has compromised the capacity of its corals to recover, according to new research published today in Nature. “Dead corals don’t make babies,” said lead author Professor Terry Hughes, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University (JCU). […]

Putin outlines ambitious Arctic expansion program – “We need to make the Northern sea route safe and commercially feasible”

By Vladimir Isachenkov and Irina Titova 9 April 2019 ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) – President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday put forward an ambitious program to secure Russia’s foothold in the Arctic, including efforts to build new ports and other infrastructure facilities and expand an icebreaker fleet. Speaking at the Arctic forum in St. Petersburg attended by […]

Newly disclosed meetings with industry create ethics questions for U.S. Interior Secretary – Bernhardt met with fossil fuel, timber, and mining representatives

By Jacob Holzman 8 April 2019 (Roll Call) – Recently posted versions of acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s daily schedules contain at least 260 differences from his original schedules, with the newest records showing meetings previously described as “external” or “internal” were actually with representatives of fossil fuel, timber, mining, and other industries, according to […]

Sea turtles are being born mostly female due to warming – “I can’t deny it: seeing those results scared the crap out of me”

By Craig Welch 4 April 2019 (National Geographic) – She started out studying tree-climbing marsupials, but only after she applied what she knew to marine reptiles did Camryn Allen actually get worried. Allen, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Hawaii, had spent her early career using hormones to track koala bear […]

Big cities, bright lights and up to 1 billion bird collisions each year in the U.S.

By Lindsey Feingold 7 April 2019 (NPR) – Up to 1 billion birds die from building collisions each year in the United States, and according to a new study, bright lights in big cities are making the problem worse. The study, published this month in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, examined two-decades […]

Survivors of Hurricane Michael in the Florida Panhandle fear they have been forgotten

By Patricia Sullivan and Joel Achenbach 6 April 2019 MEXICO BEACH, Florida (The Washington Post) – The towering debris piles that lined Highway 98 are gone now, six months after the 16-foot storm surge from Hurricane Michael pulverized this town. But smaller berms of waste remain: concrete blocks, rebar, pipes and planks, mounded like artificial […]

Cyclone Idai’s death toll rises to 847, hundreds of thousands displaced – “The harvest for this season is gone, and the chances for next season are minimal at best”

BEIRA, Mozambique, 7 April 2019 (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of people are in need of food, water and shelter after Cyclone Idai battered Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. As of Sunday, at least 847 people had been reported killed by the storm, the flooding it caused and heavy rains before it hit. Following is an […]

Creeping floodwaters threaten Washington’s cherry blossoms – “The infrastructure is breaking down because of the daily flooding”

By Ashraf Khalil 3 April 2019 WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) – Washington’s cherry blossom season has gone well this year, thanks to warm weather that has coincided perfectly with the annual blooming that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each spring. But officials are claiming that Washington’s iconic trees are under a looming threat that requires […]

Canada warming at twice the global rate, government report finds – “Northern Canada has warmed and will continue to warm at more than double the global rate”

1 April 2019 (CBC News) – Canada is, on average, experiencing warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world, with Northern Canada heating up at almost three times the global average, according to a new government report. The study — Canada’s Changing Climate Report (CCCR) — was commissioned by Environment and Climate […]

Iran hit with 3rd major flood in 2 weeks – “The water has risen by as much as three meters in parts”

TEHRAN, 1 April 2019 (Agence France-Presse) – The authorities on Monday ordered the immediate evacuation of flood-stricken cities in western Iran as rivers burst banks, dams overflowed and vast areas were cut off from communication. The highest level of alert was declared in Lorestan Province with four or five cities “completely critical,” state television reported […]

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