Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Trump thinks scientists are split on climate change – So do most Americans – But studies show that more than 90 percent of climate scientists agree that humans cause global warming

By Dana Nuccitelli 22 October 2018 (The Guardian) – When queried about the most recent IPCC report, Republican lawmakers delivered a consistent, false message – that climate scientists are still debating whether humans are responsible. The previous IPCC report was quite clear on this, attributing 100% of the global warming since 1950 to human activities. […]

What migrants displaced by the Dust Bowl and climate events can teach us

By Francesca Paris 20 October 2018 (NPR) – The World Bank predicts climate change could create as many as 143 million “climate migrants” by 2050. The result would be a mass migration twice as large as the number of refugees in the world today.Though the size of potential displacement is unprecedented, the relationship between migration […]

Paul Volcker, at 91, sees “a hell of a mess in every direction” – “How can you run a democracy when nobody believes in the leadership of the country?”

By Andrew Ross Sorkin 23 October 2018 (The New York Times) – Paul Volcker, wearing a blue sweatsuit and black dress socks, stretched out on a recliner in the den of his Upper East Side apartment on a Sunday afternoon. His lanky 6-foot-7 frame extended beyond the end of the chair’s leg rest. He added […]

Climate change: European Commission and Bill Gates-led Breakthrough Energy launch €100 million clean energy investment fund

BRUSSELS, 17 October 2018 (EC) – Today the European Commission and Breakthrough Energy have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish Breakthrough Energy Europe (BEE) – a joint investment fund to help innovative European companies develop and bring radically new clean energy technologies to the market. With this initiative, the Commission takes action to continue […]

Remote Hawaiian Island erased by Hurricane Walaka – Breeding ground for green sea turtles wiped out

By Nathan Eagle 23 October 2018 (Honolulu Civil Beat) – Hurricane Walaka, one of the most powerful Pacific storms ever recorded, has erased an ecologically important remote northwestern island from the Hawaiian archipelago.Using satellite imagery, federal scientists confirmed Monday that East Island, a critical habitat for endangered Hawaiian monk seals and green sea turtles, was […]

Impoverished farm town is left behind in California – “We’re in the Appalachians of the West”

By Brian Melley 19 October 2018 HURON, California (AP) – A rooster signals the start of the day as workers wearing sombreros and ball caps emerge from the shadows and shuffle past boarded-up businesses in this tiny farm town. They converge on a dimly lit dirt lot outside Panaderia de Dios, a bakery sweetening the […]

Mexicans shower the migrant caravan with kindness, tarps, tortillas, and medicine – “Today it’s them. Tomorrow it could be us.”

By Joshua Partlow 26 October 2018 PIJIJIAPAN, Mexico – Everything Pedro Osmin Ulloa was wearing, from the black felt shoes with the gold buckles to the shimmery blue button-down, was as new to him as he was to Mexico.The 30-year-old Honduran corn farmer and dogged sojourner in the migrant caravan was dressed head-to-toe in donated […]

Opioid crisis: Incalculable pain and a $1 trillion hit to the U.S.

By Irina Ivanova 24 October 2018 (CBS News) – President Donald Trump is set Wednesday to sign another bill that aims to stem America’s opioid crisis. It comes as overdose deaths from the drugs have continued to surge. Roughly 70,000 people died from overdoses last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, […]

Global warming exacerbates world conflicts, says Red Cross president – “It’s very obvious that some of the violence that we are observing is directly linked to the impact of climate change and changing rainfall patterns”

By Helen Davidson 21 October 2018 (The Guardian) – Climate change is already exacerbating domestic and international conflicts, and governments must take steps to ensure it does not get worse, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross has said. Peter Maurer told Guardian Australia it was already making an impact and humanitarian […]

Why the world’s recycling system stopped working – “If the recycling industry is good, why do America, Europe, Korea, and Japan have to export to other countries?”

By Leslie Hook and John Reed 24 October 2018 (Financial Times) – As Robert Reed examines a mountain of trash piled three storeys high, a thin white plastic bag catches his eye. He fishes it out and holds it up. “That is a problem plastic,” he says gravely. “These get stuck in the machines, and […]

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