Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Alaska’s permafrost is thawing – “It’s sobering to think of this magnificent landscape and how fundamentally it can change over a relatively short time period”

By Henry Fountain 23 August 2017 YUKON DELTA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Alaska (The New York Times) – The Arctic is warming about twice as fast as other parts of the planet, and even here in sub-Arctic Alaska the rate of warming is high. Sea ice and wildlife habitat are disappearing; higher sea levels threaten coastal […]

US energy agency asked scientists to scrub references to climate change – “If that’s what it takes to keep science going for a couple of years, we will I guess play along”

By Jeff Tollefson and Amy Maxmen 25 August 2017 (Nature) – Multiple researchers who received grants from the US Department of Energy (DOE) say that they have been asked to remove references to “climate change” and “global warming” from the descriptions of their projects, they say. In one case, a lab official at the DOE’s […]

Methane from tundra, ocean floor didn’t spike during previous natural warming period – “A greater percentage of the methane in the atmosphere today is due to human activities, including oil drilling, and the extraction and transport of natural gas”

By Mark Floyd 23 August 2017CORVALLIS, Oregon (OSU) – Scientists concerned that global warming may release huge stores of methane from reservoirs beneath Arctic tundra and deposits of marine hydrates – a theory known as the “clathrate gun” hypothesis – have turned to geologic history to search for evidence of significant methane release during past […]

Harvey is what climate change looks like – Harvey is the third 500-year flood to hit the Houston area in the past three years

By Eric Holthaus 28 August 2017 (Politico) – In all of U.S. history, there’s never been a storm like Hurricane Harvey. That fact is increasingly clear, even though the rains are still falling and the water levels in Houston are still rising. But there’s an uncomfortable point that, so far, everyone is skating around: We […]

Monsoon flooding brings Mumbai to a standstill after 11 inches of rainfall

By Rajendra Jadhav and Swati Bhat 29 August 2017 MUMBAI (Reuters) – Heavy monsoon rains brought India’s financial capital to a halt on Tuesday, with authorities struggling to evacuate people with the scheduled high tide adding to the chaos. Incessant rain flooded several parts of Mumbai and paralyzed train services used by millions of commuters […]

Global warming turns Bolivia village into a ghost town

By Ben Walker 25 August 2017 SANTIAGO K, Bolivia (InsideClimate News) – Someone’s nearly always lived in Santiago K. Cupped in the Bolivian highlands that border Chile, the small village is littered by centuries of conquest and expansion: from the pre-Incas, who ringed the surrounding hills with protective fortresses, to the gold-hungry Spanish conquistadors drawn […]

Houston levees overflow, residents south of Houston urged to flee – “Get out now!”

29 August 2017 (WPBF) – Another levee has breached in Texas, just south of Houston.Brazoria County officials said the levee at Columbia Lakes had breached and told residents to “Get out Now!!” County officials also expected widespread flooding of the Brazos River. County spokeswoman Sharon Trower said about 90% of flooding in the central and […]

Trump reversed regulations to protect infrastructure against flooding just days before Hurricane Harvey – “We will rebuild things that should not be rebuilt”

By Eliza Relman 28 August 2017 (Business Insider) – Just 10 days before Hurricane Harvey descended upon Texas on Friday, wreaking havoc and widespread flooding, President Donald Trump signed an executive order revoking a set of regulations that would have made federally-funded infrastructure less vulnerable to flooding.The Obama-era rules, which had not yet gone into […]

B.C. premier, forests minister tour wildfire-affected regions – Record 10,600 square kilometres burned so far in 2017

KAMLOOPS, B.C., 28 August 2017 (The Canadian Press) – British Columbia’s premier spent Monday touring some communities affected by this year’s unprecedented wildfire season, promising financial assistance but cautioning it will take more than cheques to help with the recovery. John Horgan said it will take years for ranchers, tourism operators and communities to recover […]

Snopes: Did the Department of Energy ask a scientist to remove the words “climate change” from a grant proposal? “Hey American Scientists, this should send a chill down your spine”

By Alex Kasprak 25 August 2017 (Snopes) – On 24 August 2017, Jennifer Bowen, an Ecology professor at Northeastern University, claimed that the Department of Energy wrote to ask her to remove the term “climate change” from her already-approved grant proposal. Bowen posted an email that appeared to be from the DOE asking her to […]

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