Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Photo gallery: Aerial views of Australia’s brutal drought

By Johnny Simon16 February 2019 (Quartz) – Australia is in the midst of a punishing drought that is kicking up massive dust storms and severely impacting the merino wool, wine and cattle industries. The state of Queensland was recently inundated with flood waters after the parched region received almost two weeks of rain. The flooding […]

The unique dangers of the Washington state measles outbreak – “It will take off like a wildfire”

By Lena H. Sun and Maureen O’Hagan 6 February 2019 VANCOUVER, Washington (The Washington Post) – Amber Gorrow is afraid to leave her house with her infant son because she lives at the epicenter of Washington state’s worst measles outbreak in more than two decades. Born eight weeks ago, Leon is too young to get […]

Mexican activist shot dead before vote on power project he opposed – Thousands protest murder of Samir Flores Soberanes in Mexico City

By David Agren20 February 2019 MEXICO CITY (The Guardian) – A Mexican environmental activist has been murdered before a referendum on a controversial thermal-electric plant and pipeline that he opposed. Samir Flores Soberanes, an indigenous Náhuatl, was killed in his home during the early hours of Wednesday in the town of Amilcingo in Morelos state, […]

Early spring rain boosts methane from thawing permafrost by 30 percent – “Permafrost regions are sensitive to the thermal effects of rain”

By Sarah McQuate4 February 2019 (UW News) – Arctic permafrost is thawing as the Earth warms due to climate change. In some cases, scientists predict that this thawing soil will release increasing amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, that is known to trap more heat in our planet’s atmosphere. Now a University of Washington-led […]

Europeans watch Brexit chaos in “disbelief and bewilderment” – “It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion and you can’t do anything to stop it”

By Rachel Elbaum 21 February 2019 BRUSSELS (NBC News) – Europeans in Brussels, the unofficial capital of the E.U., have some choice words to describe Britain’s attempt to leave the 28-country bloc. “Horrifying,” “chaotic” and “frustrating” are just a few of them. There are just 36 days left until Brexit, and lawmakers have been unable […]

Atlantic City is really going down this time

By Rebecca McCarthy 11 February 2019 (Longreads) – Atlantic City covers the northern third of Absecon Island, a barrier island made up of an alarming amount of sand. It is a bad town to die in — there are plenty of vacant lots but no cemeteries. In many places, if you dig down more than […]

A record 7 million Americans are 3 months behind on their car payments, a red flag for the economy

By Heather Long 12 February 2019 (The Washington Post) – A record 7 million Americans are 90 days or more behind on their auto loan payments, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported Tuesday, even more than during the wake of the financial crisis. Economists warn that this is a red flag. Despite the […]

UK posts hottest winter day on record at 20.3°C (68.5°F) – “The first time we’ve recorded over 20 degrees in winter”

25 February 2019 (Sky News) – The highest ever winter temperature has been recorded in the UK, the Met Office has said, reaching 20.3C (69F) in west Wales. It is “the first time we’ve recorded over 20 degrees in winter”, the Met Office added. It tweeted that the temperature “reached 20.3C at Trawsgoed, Ceredigion, making […]

Super Typhoon Wutip hits 160 mph, making it first Category 5 storm ever recorded in February

By Dr. Jeff Masters 25 February 2019 (Weather Underground) – Super Typhoon Wutip underwent an impressive burst of rapid intensification on Monday morning in the waters about 300 miles west of Guam, topping out as Category 5 super typhoon with a central pressure of 915 mb and sustained winds of 160 mph at 2 am […]

50M gallons of polluted water pours daily from U.S. mine sites

By Matthew Brown20 February 2019 RIMINI, Montana (AP) – Every day many millions of gallons of water loaded with arsenic, lead and other toxic metals flow from some of the most contaminated mining sites in the U.S. and into surrounding streams and ponds without being treated, The Associated Press has found. That torrent is poisoning […]

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