Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

World hunger is increasing thanks to wars and global warming

By Leah Samberg 17 October 2017 (The Conversation) – Around the globe, about 815 million people – 11 percent of the world’s population – went hungry in 2016, according to the latest data from the United Nations. This was the first increase in more than 15 years.Between 1990 and 2015, due largely to a set […]

These volunteer nurses in Puerto Rico fear FEMA is failing – “These people are going to die. The help is not really there for them.”

By Jennifer Bendery 12 October 2017 WASHINGTON (Huffington Post) – Water is rationed. Scabies is spreading. Grocery stores are lined with empty shelves, if they’re open at all. People are fainting as they wait in lines for hours in sweltering heat, because they have to check into a FEMA hub to get small amounts of […]

Inventing a vocabulary to help Inuit people talk about global warming

By Laura Poppick 17 October 2017 (Smithsonian) – Canada’s Northwest Territories comprise one of the fastest-warming regions of the Arctic. Here, residents see spring arrive weeks earlier than it used to, while the ground beneath their homes thaws and slumps. Yet while much of the world talks about solar power, wind energy and other sustainable […]

Poorest countries suffer most from global warming

By Martin Wolf 18 October 2017 (The Irish Times) – Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”This sentence from the History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides is the philosophy of Donald Trump’s administration. Thus, […]

At least 118 indigenous people assassinated in Brazil in 2016 – Indigenous groups clash with police in Congress

5 October 2017 (Telesur) – Brazil’s Indigenous Missionary Council, CIMI, says at least 118 Indigenous people were killed in the country last year. “One of the focal points of the political setbacks that are pounding most of Brazilians has been the appropriation of the ancestral lands belonging to indigenous peoples,” stated the organization. The 2016 […]

Global pollution kills 9 million people per year and threatens survival of human societies – “We fear that we are pushing the envelope on the amount of pollution the Earth can carry”

By Damian Carrington 20 October 2017 (The Guardian) – Pollution kills at least nine million people and costs trillions of dollars every year, according to the most comprehensive global analysis to date, which warns the crisis “threatens the continuing survival of human societies”.Toxic air, water, soils and workplaces are responsible for the diseases that kill […]

New fire danger threatens to worsen most disastrous wildfire season in California history

Dr. Jeff Masters and Bob Henson 20 October 2017 (Weather Underground) – A record-breaking heat wave will build over Southern California over the weekend and peak on Tuesday, bringing triple-digit temperatures that could set marks for the hottest temperatures ever recorded so late in the year in the Los Angeles area. Accompanying the heat will […]

Trump’s EPA scrubs “climate change” from another climate website – “I think it’s very alarming. These are the kind of resources it has taken years to develop across the federal family.”

By Toly Rinberg 20 October 2017 (EDGI) – In the first example of returned content since the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began overhauling its climate change website on 28 April 2017, a new website providing content about energy policy for state, local and tribal governments has replaced a previous website, which hosted both climate and […]

Microbes dictate regime shifts causing anoxia in lakes and seas – “Hysteresis loops and tipping points are a common feature of oxic-anoxic transitions, causing rapid drops in oxygen levels that are not easily reversed”

6 October 2017 (UvA News) – Gradual environmental changes due to eutrophication and global warming can cause a rapid depletion of oxygen levels in lakes and coastal waters. A new study led by professors Jef Huisman and Gerard Muyzer of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) shows that microorganisms play a key role in these disastrous […]

Global Early Warning – Early Action System report on food security and agriculture, October – December 2017

October 2017 (FAO) – The Global Early Warning – Early Action System (EWEA) report on food security and agriculture is developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through its EWEA. The system aims to translate forecasts and early warnings into anticipatory action.This report specifically highlights: HIGH RISK Yemen (risk of […]

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