Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

What has Hurricane Harvey taught Trump and the Republicans? “Is there a chance that sitting in a control center in Austin is going to persuade Trump that climate change is not a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese?”

By Amy Davidson Sorkin 29 August 2017 (The New Yorker) – “You are special!” President Donald Trump said, to the thousand or so people who had gathered on Tuesday morning outside a firehouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, where he was meeting with officials, including Governor Greg Abbott, Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, and several […]

Hurricane Harvey did not cause climate deniers, but it certainly made them worse

By Sou 1 September 2017 (HotWhopper) – Science deniers were so put out by the deadly rains from Hurricane Harvey that they lost their sense of sight. Now we can’t say that Hurricane Harvey caused climate science deniers, they’ve existed since we changed climate in a big way. We can say that Hurricane Harvey hasn’t […]

Heat, smoke, and fire assault states across U.S. West – All-time temperature record set in California

By Bob Henson  3 September 2017 (Weather Underground) – The steamy, fiery summer of 2017 hit a new crescendo this weekend across the U.S. West, which is getting its hottest Labor Day weekend on record in many locations—and in some spots, the hottest weather ever observed. Overall, “this is the greatest statewide heat wave ever […]

Stronger science means more climate litigation risk for business and government

By James Thornton 28 August 2017(Earth and Water Group) – Governments and business may be increasingly at risk of litigation for failing to prevent foreseeable climate-related harm to people and infrastructure, as cutting-edge climate science improves.  This is the conclusion of a report published in Nature Geoscience today, which says event attribution studies are now […]

Monbiot: Why are the crucial questions about Hurricane Harvey not being asked? “By failing to make the obvious link and talk about climate breakdown, media organisations help push the world toward catastrophe”

By George Monbiot29 August 2017(The Guardian) – It is not only Donald Trump’s government that censors the discussion of climate change; it is the entire body of polite opinion. This is why, though the links are clear and obvious, most reports on Hurricane Harvey have made no mention of the human contribution to it.In 2016 […]

After a devastating hurricane, Trump still picks a climate science denier to head NASA

By Linda Stasi 2 September 2017 (New York Daily News) – Dear Donald, Hurricane Harvey could be your defining moment; the moment that changes your presidency from the chaotic mess of threats, bitterness and bilious paranoia to one of rationality and reasonableness. You, sir, could be the President that saves the planet. There is no […]

Trump names former coal executive David Zatezalo to top mining safety post – Company received “pattern of violations” letters while Zatezalo was chairman

By Jacqueline Thomsen 2 September 2017 (The Hill) – President Trump has nominated a former coal executive whose company clashed with federal officials over mining safety rules under President Obama to the top mining safety post in his administration.Trump on Friday named David Zatezalo, the former chairman of Rhino Resources, to be an assistant secretary […]

Raging wildfire north of downtown Los Angeles grows to one of the largest blazes in city history

By Ruben Vives, Andrea Castillo, and Alene Tchekmedyian 2 September 2017 (The Los Angeles Times) – A brush fire in the Verdugo Mountains north of downtown Los Angeles has burned more than 5,000 acres, making it one of the largest fires in the city’s history and one that officials warn could grow larger if erratic weather […]

Image of the Day: Satellite view of flood waters across Texas, 31 August 2017

By Mike Carlowicz 31 August 2017(NASA) – On 31 August 2017, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired natural-color images of extensive flooding along the Texas coast and around the Houston metropolitan area in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Note the tan and brown rivers and bays full of flood water […]

Trump’s Energy Secretary says climate change debate is “secondary” amid Harvey destruction

2 September 2017 (CBS News) – Energy Secretary Rick Perry, a former Texas governor, is still taken aback by Hurricane Harvey’s devastation, but said conversations about climate change can wait. “No one has ever seen flooding like this,” he told CBSN in an interview Friday, noting that parts of Texas had seen 50 inches of […]

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