Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

As carbon dioxide levels climb, millions at risk of nutritional deficiencies – “We cannot disrupt most of the biophysical conditions to which we have adapted over millions of years without unanticipated impacts on our own health and wellbeing”

BOSTON, Massachusetts, 27 August 2018 (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health) – Rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) from human activity are making staple crops such as rice and wheat less nutritious and could result in 175 million people becoming zinc deficient and 122 million people becoming protein deficient by 2050, according to new […]

Study ranks marine mammals’ risks from Arctic shipping – “Even going right over the North Pole may be passable within a matter of decades”

By Heather McFarland 2 July 2018 (UAF News) – Bowhead whales are the marine mammals most vulnerable to disruption from increased ship traffic in waters off Alaska, a new study has concluded. Across the Arctic, narwhals are the most vulnerable.The study is the first to assess the vulnerability of the seven marine mammal species that […]

About 300 endangered sea turtles found dead off Mexican coast, trapped in fishing nets

By Jose Cortes, Ana Isabel Martinez, and Julia Love; Editing by Sandra Maler 28 August 2018 SANTA MARIA COLOTEPEC, Mexico (Reuters) – About 300 endangered sea turtles were found dead off the southern coast of Mexico on Tuesday, trapped in fishing nets, shortly after more than 100 dead turtles were recovered.Fishermen in the southern state […]

Amazon rainforest degradation in Brazil up 224 percent in July 2018

By Stefania Costa 24 August 2018(Imazon) – SAD detected an increase of 39 percent deforestation and 224 percent degradation in one year in the Amazon rainforest (August 2017 to July 2018 compared to August 2016 and July 2017).In July 2018, SAD detected 778 square kilometers of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. In this bulletin, the […]

Largest king penguin colony has shrunk nearly 90 percent since 1982

30 July 2018 (CNRS) – The world’s biggest colony of king penguins is found in the National Nature Reserve of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF). Using high-resolution satellite images, researchers from the Chizé Centre for Biological Studies (CNRS / University of La Rochelle)1 have detected a massive 88% reduction in the size of […]

Arctic’s strongest sea ice breaks up for first time on record

By Jonathan Watts 21 August 2018 (The Guardian) – The oldest and thickest sea ice in the Arctic has started to break up, opening waters north of Greenland that are normally frozen, even in summer.This phenomenon – which has never been recorded before – has occurred twice this year due to warm winds and a […]

Philippine strongman Rodrigo Duterte accused of murder in new filing at International Criminal Court – Complaint charges Duterte with “crimes against humanity committed through acts of murder for the extrajudicial killings of thousands of Filipinos”

By Felipe Villamor 28 August 2018 MANILA (The New York Times) – Relatives of eight people killed by Philippine police officers during President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs have accused the president of murder in a complaint filed with the International Criminal Court, their lawyer said on Tuesday.The complaint is the second brought at the […]

Puerto Rico government raises death toll from Hurricane Maria to nearly 3,000 – “The federal response to the hurricanes was disastrously inadequate, and thousands of our fellow American citizens lost their lives”

By Danica Coto 28 August 2018 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Puerto Rico’s governor raised the island’s official death toll from Hurricane Maria from 64 to 2,975 on Tuesday after an independent study found that the number of people who succumbed in the desperate, sweltering months after the storm had been severely undercounted. The […]

Climate change will be deadlier, more destructive and costlier for California than previously believed, state warns – “In California, facts and science still matter”

By Tony Barboza , Bettina Boxall, and Rosanna Xia 27 August 2018(Los Angeles Times) – Heat waves will grow more severe and persistent, shortening the lives of thousands of Californians. Wildfires will burn more of the state’s forests. The ocean will rise higher and faster, exposing California to billions in damage along the coast.These are […]

More than 1,000 dead fish at Malibu Lagoon may be tied to record-warm ocean temperatures

By Hannah Fry and Alejandra Reyes-Velarde 27 August 2018 (Los Angeles Times) – Authorities made the grim discovery last week: More than 1,000 dead fish floating at Malibu Lagoon. California State Parks scientists are running tests to determine the cause, but officials suspect higher-than-normal water temperatures played a role. The die-off comes amid a summer […]

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