Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Brazil’s Chapada dos Veadeiros park ravaged by largest fire in its history

By Angela Boldrini 27 October 2017 (Folha de São Paulo) – More than a quarter of Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park has been consumed by the largest fire in its history. According to the latest report, on Tuesday (24th), 64,000 hectares (about 158,000 acres) of the Park’s 240,000 hectares (593,000 acres), were hit by the […]

Senate Republicans launch new attack on U.S. peer-review panels

By Jeffrey Mervis 19 October 2017 (Science) – Senate Republicans have launched a new attack on peer review by proposing changes to how the U.S. government funds basic research.New legislation introduced this week by Senator Rand Paul (R–KY) would fundamentally alter how grant proposals are reviewed at every federal agency by adding public members with […]

Puerto Rico’s uncounted hurricane deaths – “The numbers just don’t add up”

By John D. Sutter 27 October 2017 Arecibo, Puerto Rico (CNN) – You won’t hear about her death from officials investigating the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, but you should know her name and her story. She was Isabel Rivera González.Rivera was 80. She loved to dance, and was known in this hilly enclave of Puerto […]

Tar Sands pipeline that could rival Keystone XL quietly gets Trump approval

By Nicholas Kusnetz 20 October 2017 (Inside Climate News) – You’ve probably heard of the Keystone XL pipeline. But what about Line 67, also known as the Alberta Clipper?Nine years ago, both were controversial proposals to ship oil from Canada’s tar sands into the United States. But while Keystone XL is still awaiting approval and […]

Orcas headed to extinction unless we get them more chinook and quieter waters – “There is an urgency here that is not well-appreciated; they are certainly in jeopardy”

By Lynda V. Mapes 27 October 2017 (The Seattle Times) – Orca whales are on a path to extinction within a century unless they get a big increase of chinook salmon to eat, and significantly quieter seas in which to find their food, a new study has found.The research, published in the journal Scientific Reports, […]

Human exposure to glyphosate, a chemical found in weed killers, increased over 23 years – “Our exposure to these chemicals has increased significantly over the years but most people are unaware that they are consuming them through their diet”

By Yadira Galindo 24 October 2017 (UC San Diego) – Analyzing samples from a prospective study, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers found that human exposure to glyphosate, a chemical widely found in weed killers, has increased approximately 500 percent since the introduction of genetically modified crops.“The data compares excretion levels of […]

Record-melting fall heat wave bakes Southern California

By Bob Henson  24 October 2017 (Weather Underground) – It’s not every October 23 or 24 that millions of Americans are swathed in temperatures above 100°F. This week has done just that, bringing some of the toastiest weather ever observed in the United States during late October, and more pre-Halloween heat is on the way. […]

Puerto Rico needs your help: How to volunteer

By Carmela Rodriguez 2 October 2017 (AllTheRooms) – On 20 September 2017, Hurricane Maria, a powerful Category 4, hit the island of Puerto Rico causing catastrophic effects. It’s a humanitarian crisis that is very close to home — here at AllTheRooms, our CEO Joseph DiTomaso is half Puerto Rican.Over one week on from the hurricane, […]

E.P.A. cancels talk on climate change by agency scientists – “It’s definitely a blatant example of the scientific censorship we all suspected was going to start being enforced at E.P.A”

By Lisa Friedman 22 October 2017 WASHINGTON (The New York Times) – The Environmental Protection Agency has canceled the speaking appearance of three agency scientists who were scheduled to discuss climate change at a conference on Monday in Rhode Island, according to the agency and several people involved. John Konkus, an E.P.A. spokesman and a […]

Trump voters in storm-ravaged Texas county confront global warming

By Claire Galofaro 16 October 2017 PORT ARTHUR, Texas (Associated Press) – The church was empty, except for the piano too heavy for one man to move. It had been 21 days since the greatest storm Wayne Christopher had ever seen dumped a year’s worth of rain on his town, drowning this church where he […]

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