Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Amazon forest degradation increased by 5,785 percent over May 2015 estimate

[Translation by Bing Translator.] By Antônio Fonseca, Marcelo Justino, Carlos Souza Jr., and Adalberto Veríssimo16 June 2016 (Imazon) – In May 2016, 34% of the forested area of the Amazon rainforest was covered by clouds, less coverage than May 2015 (39%). States with larger cloud coverage were Amapá (70%) and Roraima (61%). In the analyzed […]

Ranch crisis in Mexico: 45,000 cattle killed this year by severe drought and heat

[Translation by Google.] By Gerardo Sanchez Source25 June 2016 VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico (Televisa News) – The herd of Tabasco is undergoing one of its worst crises in recent years, severe drought and heat are killing animals. “If you do not have livestock water is consumed, is spent their energies, their body fat and muscle, there are […]

Great Barrier Reef mammal declared extinct due to global warming – ‘Significantly, this probably represents the first recorded mammalian extinction due to anthropogenic climate change’

[Many more to follow. –Des] 14 June 2016 (University of Queensland) –  University of Queensland and Queensland Government researchers have confirmed that the Bramble Cay melomys (Melomys rubicola) – the only mammal species endemic to the Great Barrier Reef – is the first mammal to go extinct due to human-induced climate change. In a newly […]

Another Amazon oil spill puts Peruvian communities at risk – ‘We don’t drink river water any more. It gives us diarrhea and stomachaches’

By Barbara Fraser and Milton López Tarabochia26 June 2016 (mongabay.com) – A new oil spill from the pipeline that carries crude oil from the northern Peruvian Amazon across the Andes Mountains to the Pacific coast has raised fears of yet more pollution of the water and fish on which indigenous villages and riverside communities depend. […]

Image of the Day: Satellite view of depleted Panchet reservoir in India, 12 June 2016

Landsat 8 satellite image of India’s Panchet reservoir on 10 June 2015. Landsat 8 satellite image of India’s Panchet reservoir on 12 June 2016. By Adam Voiland17 June 2016 (NASA) – Monsoon rains began arriving across India in early June 2016. For many Indians, it was not a moment too soon. After three underwhelming monsoon […]

Climate change could be even worse for Boston than previously thought

By David Abel 22 June 2016 (Boston Globe) – The consequences of climate change on Boston are expected to be far more calamitous than previous studies have suggested, a new report commissioned by the city says. In the worst-case scenario, sea levels could rise more than 10 feet by the end of the century — […]

Global warming opens ‘Gateway to the Underworld’ in Siberia

By Sarah Emerson14 June 2016 (Motherboard) – In the heart of Siberia’s boreal forest gapes a monstrous chasm local Yakutians call a “gateway to the underworld,” connecting this life to the next. The ominous crater, which looms a mile long and reaches depths of nearly 400 feet, appeared without warning some 25 years ago. According […]

Bad rains fall across globe: 700,000 evacuated in Japan deluge as worst flood in 100 years inundates West Virginia

By Robert Scribbler24 June 2016 (robertscribbler.com) – In Kyushu, Japan on Friday, government officials urged 700,000 residents to evacuate as record heavy rains and severe flooding inundated the city for the fifth day in a row. Half a world away in West Virginia, another unpredicted record deluge dumped 8.2 inches of rain, washed out roads, […]

Global warming is tipping scales toward more wildfires

23 June 2016 (Climate Central) – The 2016 wildfire season has barely begun and dozens of large wildfires have already raged through Western states, with hundreds of thousands of acres burned. This comes on the heels of a 2015 wildfire season that was the worst on record in the U.S., with more than 10 million […]

Climate scientist testimony outrageously misrepresented by U.S. conservative media – ‘Such an obvious distortion could arise only from a lack of the most primitive of reading comprehension skills’

  By Michael Mann27 June 2016 (Facebook) – As part of my testimony to the Democratic Party Platform drafting committee a week ago, I made the point, using slightly rhetorical language appropriate for the occasion, that the impacts of climate change are no longer subtle, we no longer need sophisticated signal-detection methods to see the […]

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