Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Historical nautical maps show coral loss more extensive than previously believed – “The magnitude of change is much greater than anyone thought”

By Mike Gaworecki 20 September 2017 (Mongabay) – A team of researchers based in Australia and the United States have used historical nautical maps to determine that coral reef loss in the Florida Keys is much more extensive than previously understood.The British empire began mapping its overseas territories in the 18th century, and coral reefs […]

Prime Minister of hurricane-hit Dominica: “To deny climate change is to deny a truth we have just lived”

23 September 2017 (United Nations) – Pleading with all countries in the United Nations General Assembly – large and small, rich and poor – to come together to save our planet, the Prime Minister of Dominica, where the landscape, ravaged by back-to-back hurricanes “resembles a warzone,” said his and other islands in the Caribbean need […]

Puerto Rico’s mayors describe widespread devastation from Hurricane Maria – “There is horror in the streets”

By Samantha Schmidt and Daniel Cassady 23 September 2017 SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO (The Washington Post) – In the northern Puerto Rican town of Vega Baja, the floodwaters reached more than 10 feet. Stranded residents screamed “save me, save me,” using the lights in their cellphones to help rescue teams find them in the darkness, […]

FEMA teams try to get arms around Maria disaster in Puerto Rico – “This disaster is as big as this island, end to end. There is no safe haven.”

By Rick Jervis 23 September 2017 TOA BAJA, Puerto Rico (USA TODAY) – People in this storm-torn town waded though muddy water, swept thick mud out of living rooms or drove through thigh-high water crossings in cars that sputtered, stalled, and started again. Nearby, a  FEMA response team, with specialists from Indiana, California, Florida and […]

New book warns global warming is making us sick – “There soon may be much more environmental chaos and human suffering”

By Tracie White 21 September 2017(Stanford Medicine) – In 2008, Jay Lemery, MD, an emergency physician in Colorado, read a commentary about the effects of global climate change on human health. The author was Paul Auerbach, MD, professor of emergency medicine at Stanford and one of the world’s leading authorities on wilderness medicine.Published in the […]

After Hurricane Irma, a once-lush gem in the U.S. Virgin Islands reduced to battered wasteland

By Anthony Faiola 12 September 2017 CRUZ BAY, U.S. Virgin Islands (The Washington Post) – The Asolare restaurant is gone, practically blown off its cliff, along with its world-famous carrot ginger soup. The facade of Margarita Phil’s is a junkyard of yellow and vermilion planks. Multimillion-dollar homes and aluminum huts alike lie in ruins.On the […]

Why it’s unclear when Puerto Rico will get power back – “The devastation of the island is really breathtaking”

By Jon Schuppe 23 September 2017 (NBC News) – A team of New York electricity-transmission workers and a pair of drone operators arrived in San Juan Friday to help the reeling government of Puerto Rico begin to measure the damage to the U.S. territory’s power grid. The entire island remained without electricity into the weekend, […]

Mining in the Amazon rainforest unleashed by Brazil president

By Philip Fearnside 15 September 2017 (Mongabay) – On 23 August 2017, Brazil’s president Michel Temer issued a decree revoking the RENCA (National Reserve of Copper and Associated Minerals), an area the size of Switzerland on the northern side of the Amazon River straddling the states of Pará and Amapá. The Ministry of Environment had […]

Climate change’s Southern salvo – “The southern U.S. is basically ground zero for climate change”

By Seth Cline 22 September 2017 (US News) – To some, climate change is a vague idea, a hazy future. In parts of the South, it’s become a devastating reality. “When you drive down the street there’s piles and piles of furniture, clothing, shoes, sound systems, just about anything you find inside a home,” Hilton […]

Seattle experienced warmest and driest summer ever recorded in 2017

By Christine Clarridge 22 September 2017 (The Seattle Times) – This summer in Seattle was the warmest and driest ever recorded.For those of us living in the Puget Sound region, it might not come as a surprise. In fact, it’s been a year full of extremes, with numerous daytime high records broken, one of the […]

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