Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

The three-degree world: the cities that will be drowned by global warming – “We are not doing nearly enough to save hundreds of millions of people from a miserable future”

By Josh Holder, Niko Kommenda, and Jonathan Watts 3 November 2017(The Guardian) – When UN climate negotiators meet for summit talks this month, there will be a new figure on the table: 3C. Until now, global efforts such as the Paris climate agreement have tried to limit global warming to 2C above pre-industrial levels. However, […]

At least 19 dead as Typhoon Damrey sweeps into Vietnam – Damrey is strongest typhoon to make landfall in southern Vietnam in 16 years

By Mai Nguyen 4 November 2017 HANOI (Reuters) – Typhoon Damrey killed at least 19 people in central and southern Vietnam on Saturday, the government said, after the storm swept into the country just days ahead of the APEC summit of Asia-Pacific leaders. Damrey reached land at 4 a.m. local time (2100 GMT on Friday) […]

Puerto Rico leaders don’t know who has power, and CNN tried to find out – “It’s been an extreme challenge based on the devastation that Hurricane Maria brought”

By Leyla Santiago, Khushbu Shah, and Rachel Clarke 4 November 2017 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (CNN) – Towns and communities across Puerto Rico are entirely without power, more than six weeks after Hurricane Maria.The island’s leadership is touting restoration figures that show nearly 40% of electricity generation has resumed — but it doesn’t say how […]

Smuggled, beaten and drugged: The illicit global ape trade – “What we’re looking at is endgame conservation”

By Jeffery Gettleman 4 November 2017 MBANDAKA, Democratic Republic of Congo (The New York Times) – The sting began, as so many things do these days, on social media. Daniel Stiles, a self-styled ape trafficking detective in Kenya, had been scouring Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp for weeks, looking for pictures of gorillas, chimps or orangutans. […]

EPA names industry, state officials to advisory boards

By Timothy Cama 3 November 2017 (The Hill) – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) overhauled its external advisory boards Friday with new members representing various regulated industries and states, among other entities.Among the dozens of new members to the Science Advisory Board, Clean Air Safety Advisory Committee and Board of Scientific Counselors are representatives of […]

U.S. withdraws from extractive industries anti-corruption effort– “It sends such a terrible signal overseas for what we stand for”

By Julia Simon; Editing by Tom Brown 2 November 2017 NEW YORK (Reuters) – The United States has withdrawn as an implementing country from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), an international effort to fight corruption in managing revenues from oil, gas, and mineral extraction. There had been doubts about continued U.S. participation in the […]

UN climate conference to maintain ambition one year after Paris accord’s entry into force – “We are running out of time to turn things around.”

3 November 2017 – One year after the entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Bonn Conference, which opens on 6 November in Germany, will be an opportunity for nations around the world to show their ambition for climate action and their determination to keep their promises.“While Paris represented one of […]

Trump administration allows release of dire climate report that contradicts views of Trump officials– “This is a federal government report whose contents completely undercut their policies, completely undercuts the statements made by senior members of the administration”

By Chris Mooney, Juliet Eilperin, and Brady Dennis 3 November 2017 (The Washington Post) – The Trump administration released a dire scientific report Friday detailing the growing threats of climate change. The report stands in stark contrast to the administration’s efforts to downplay humans’ role in global warming, withdraw from an international climate accord and […]

Trump to auction off a vast swath of the Gulf of Mexico to oil companies – Gulf is now “a sacrifice zone for the oil and gas industry”

By Darryl Fears 24 October 2017 (The Washington Post) – The Trump administration made history Tuesday in proposing that nearly 77 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico be made available for companies wanting to purchase federal oil and gas leases — the largest offering ever in the United States.In announcing the sale, the Interior […]

Visiting the remote headquarters of Whitefish Energy, recipient of controversial Puerto Rico contract

27 October 2017 (CBS News) – The Trump administration denied Friday that political connections had anything to do with restoring electrical connections in Puerto Rico.A contract worth $300 million was awarded to a tiny company called Whitefish Energy in Whitefish, Montana, hometown of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Zinke said Friday he had nothing to do […]

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