Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

60 Minutes: Puerto Rico still mostly without electricity – “There is no food. There is no water. There is no gasoline. There is no power. There is no running water … no banks … ATMs. There’s nothing.”

3 November 2017 (CBS News) – Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, the head of the Army Corps of Engineers, predicts it will be two or three months before most Puerto Ricans regain power in their homes. The vast majority of people in the U.S. territory have gone without it for over six weeks since Hurricane Maria […]

Madagascar environmental activist convicted, sentenced – and paroled

By Edward Carver 2 November 2017 ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (Mongabay) – Last week, an environmental activist in southeast Madagascar was convicted, sentenced to two years in prison — and immediately released on parole. This follows a recent pattern in the country in which activists are often given suspended sentences, seemingly as a way of keeping them […]

Demand drop could shut a quarter of global refining capacity in a 2⁰C world

2 November 2017 (Carbon Tracker) – A quarter of global refining capacity could become unviable and be forced to close by 2035 as a swelling tide of climate regulations and rapid advances in clean technologies cut oil demand, finds a report launched today by Carbon Tracker highlighting sector risks for investors.Falling oil demand in a […]

Trump/Russia: Big Carbon’s last monstrous grasp

By Peter Sinclair 1 November 2017 (Climate Denial Crock of the Week) – I’m not a huge Chris Mathews fan, but he’s the first “mainstream” journalist I’ve heard put his finger on what I’ve been saying since the election.  Caught Chris on Colbert’s late show last night. Last time I looked, the Russian mob-ocracy is […]

New Zealand considers creating climate change refugee visas

By Charles Anderson 31 October 2017 NELSON (The Guardian) – New Zealand’s new government is considering creating a visa category to help relocate Pacific peoples displaced by climate change. The new category would make official the Green party’s pre-election policy which promised 100 visas for those affected by climate change.As part of the new Labour-led […]

China says it still wants U.S. cooperation on climate change

BEIJING, 31 October 2017 (Associated Press) – A Chinese official said Tuesday that his country still wants to cooperate with the U.S. on climate change and hopes an upcoming meeting on the issue in Germany will produce a draft agreement on implementing the Paris climate accord. China’s Special Representative on Climate Change Xie Zhenhua told […]

Trump’s gang of climate deniers has grown into an army

By Emily Atkin 30 October 2017 (New Republic) – It became clear early in Donald Trump’s presidency that many of his top officials shared a common trait: They were climate deniers. Though “climate denial starts at the top,” the New York Times’ Coral Davenport wrote in March, it was trickling down into a variety of […]

FEMA had a plan for responding to a hurricane in Puerto Rico but doesn’t want you to see it

By Justin Elliott and Decca Muldowney 26 October 2017 (ProPublica) – The Federal Emergency Management Agency, citing unspecified “potentially sensitive information,” is declining to release a document it drafted several years ago that details how it would respond to a major hurricane in Puerto Rico. The plan, known as a hurricane annex, runs more than […]

In Trump Era, rising seas still a concern for Defense Department

By Dave Mayfield 29 October 2017 WILLIAMSBURG (The Virginian-Pilot) – Climate scientists in the federal government have been on the defensive since President Donald Trump took office in January. But military leaders will continue to address the risks that climate change poses to bases and national security, a senior Pentagon official said at conference Friday […]

Softwood trees in Canada’s Maritime provinces declining due to global warming – “By the end of the century, those species that industry relies on heavily won’t be performing as well as they are today”

By Michael Tutton 27 October 2017 HALIFAX (The Canadian Press) – A new federal study says climate change in the Maritimes may lead to a gradual reduction in the growth of softwood trees, which are crucial to the region’s pulp industry. Using computer models, the Natural Resources Canada study marks the first regionwide assessment of […]

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