Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Germany sets 2038 deadline to end coal use

By Kirsten Grieshaber 27 January 2019 BERLIN (AP) – In a pioneering move, a German government-appointed panel has recommended that Germany stop burning coal to generate electricity by 2038 at the latest, as part of efforts to curb climate change. The Coal Commission reached a deal early Saturday following months of wrangling that were closely […]

Climate tipping point could be coming sooner than we think – “Should the land reach a maximum carbon uptake rate, global warming could accelerate”

By Holly Evarts 23 January 2019 New York, NY (Columbia University) – Global carbon emissions reached a record high in 2018, rising by an estimated 3.4 percent in the U.S. alone. This trend is making scientists, government officials, and industry leaders more anxious than ever about the future of our planet. As United Nations Secretary General […]

“To their faces,” 16-year-old Greta Thunberg tells Davos elite that climate crisis their fault – “I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.”

By Andrea Germanos25 January 2019 (Common Dreams) – Sixteen-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg just told a group of the elite gathered in Davos for the World Economic Forum—as they were seated just feet away from her—that they are among those directly responsible for the climate crisis. Speaking Thursday before a panel that included U2 frontman […]

Miners, environmentalists protest outside German coal talks

By Frank Jordans25 January 2019 BERLIN (AP) – Miners’ unions and environmentalists held competing protests Friday outside the German government building where experts were holding crunch talks on plans to end the country’s use of coal. Unions oppose Germany quitting coal quickly and are demanding assurances from the government that jobs will be protected. Green […]

Earth’s 39 billion-dollar weather disasters of 2018: 4th-costliest on record

By Dr. Jeff Masters23 January 2019 (Weather Underground) – Earth was besieged by 39 billion-dollar weather disasters in 2018, the fourth-highest inflation-adjusted number of billion-dollar weather events on record, said insurance broker Aon (formerly called Aon Benfield) in their annual report issued 22 January 2019. Only 2011, with 44 billion-dollar weather disasters, and 2010 and […]

Image of the Day: Mass death of feral horses at dried-up waterhole in record Australia heatwave – “I just couldn’t believe something like that happened out here, first time it happened like that”

By Matt Garrick22 January 2019(ABC News) – A mass feral horse death at the base of a dry waterhole in Central Australia has been blamed on an extreme heatwave in the region. Around two dozen brumbies in various stages of decomposition have been discovered strewn along a 100-metre stretch of a swimming spot called Deep […]

Brazil’s government may push the Amazon to destruction

By Rodrigo de Oliveira Andrade24 January 2019 SÃO PAULO (SciDev.Net) – Brazil’s new government, led by President Jair Bolsonaro, has quickly taken steps to loosen environmental law enforcement. Now a review paper shows that the deforestation that could result may have terrible consequences for the Amazon rainforest, including dramatic biodiversity loss, intensified dry seasons, droughts, […]

Electric cars will not stop rising oil demand, says energy agency chief

By Natalie Sauer22 January 2019 (Climate Home News) – Electric car use may be growing exponentially, but they are doing little to curb rising carbon emissions and oil demand, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday. “To say that electric cars are the end of oil is definitely misleading,” economist Fatih […]

Study finds aerosol cooling effect on climate nearly two times higher than previously thought – “The warming effect of the greenhouse gases has also been larger than we thought, enabling greenhouse-gas emissions to overcome the cooling effect of aerosols”

20 January 2019 (ISRAEL21c) – The world’s scientific community has known for a long time that global warming is caused by manmade emissions in the form of greenhouse gases, while global cooling is caused by air pollution in the form of aerosols. In a new study published in the journal Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem […]

Public health emergency declared over measles in anti-vax hotspot near Portland, Oregon

23 January 2019 (CBS News) – A public health emergency has been declared in Clark County, Washington, as a result of an ongoing measles outbreak. According to the latest update from the county’s Department of Health, 23 cases of measles have been confirmed and health officials are investigating two more suspected cases. The majority of […]

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