Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

The logo of Mexican petroleum company Pemex is seen at a gas station in Mexico City, 28 August 2014. Edgard Garrido / REUTERS

Scientists detect second “vast” methane leak at Pemex oil field in Mexico – “It’s really alarming what is happening. Pemex should be stripped of its rights to operate it.”

MEXICO CITY, 2 September 2022 (Reuters) – Satellites recorded another large methane leak at an offshore platform belonging to Mexico’s Pemex in August, according to exclusive data shared with Reuters, even as pressure mounts on the state oil company to reduce these emissions. Three satellites recorded images of methane plumes at the Ku-Maloob-Zaap oil field […]

A British police officer stands guard on the beach of Dungeness, England, on 15 June 2022, as Royal National Lifeboat Institution's (RNLI) staff help migrants disembark from one of their lifeboats. Photo: Ben Stansall / AFP / Getty Images

Migrants crossing English Channel hit new 24-hour record – Nearly 1,300 people detected crossing from France in small boats in one day

 23 August 2022 (DW) – The British Defense Ministry has said nearly 1,300 people were detected crossing from France in small boats in a day. Nearly 23,000 people have made the crossing this year alone. The UK Defense Ministry has noted a substantial increase in the amount of people crossing the English Channel British authorities […]

A firefighting vehicle rolls through the burn zone of the Route fire near Castaic, California in August 2022. Photo: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Headlines for 3 September 2022 – China warns of “severe” threat to harvest after hottest summer on record – Dry pastures force Texas ranchers to slaughter ever more cows

3 September 2022 (Desdemona Despair) – The terrible summer of 2022 has overwhelmed Desdemona’s ability to track the climate disasters that are multiplying around the world. There’s no reason to expect the rate of environmental catastrophe to slow, so Des has decided that automation is necessary to keep this blog relevant and current. The idea […]

Aerial view of Lake Powell in Page, Arizona on 5 April 2022, showing water levels at a historic low. Photo: RJ Sangosti / MediaNews Group / The Denver Post / Getty Images

A shrinking Lake Powell heralds an even worse water crisis in the Southwest’s future – “These trends are on a tragic collision course, underscoring the urgency once again of concerted action on climate”

By Matthew Rozsa 29 August 2022 (Salon) – As climate change worsens, Americans who live in the Southwest will be hit very, very hard: experts predict that large cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas are going to be uninhabitable within decades, as will the surrounding metropolitan areas in their home states of Arizona and Nevada. Those regions […]

Data captured by the European Space Agency’s Copernicus satellite on 30 August 2022 was used to map the extent of flooding currently devastating Pakistan. Photo: ESA

Satellite images show one third of Pakistan underwater – “This is unprecedented in the history of Pakistan. In 22 years of my experience as a humanitarian aid worker, I never saw such destruction caused by floods.”

By Lizzy Davies 1 September 2022 (The Guardian) – Aid workers have appealed for urgent donations to fight the “absolutely devastating” impact of flooding in Pakistan, as new satellite images appeared to confirm that a third of the country is now underwater. As the UK’s Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) launched an appeal to raise funds for the 33 million […]

U.S. life expectancy at birth, 1900-2021. Data: CDC. Graphic: Datawrapper

U.S. life expectancy plunged again in 2021, down nearly a year – Last comparable decrease was during height of World War II – “It’s a dismal situation. It was bad before and it’s gotten worse.”

By Mike Stobbe 30 August 2022 NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. life expectancy dropped for the second consecutive year in 2021, falling by nearly a year from 2020, according to a government report being released Wednesday [Provisional Life Expectancy Estimates for 2021 –Des]. In the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the estimated American […]

(a) Annual mean temperature anomalies in the Arctic (66.5∘–90∘N) (dark colours) and globally (light colours) during 1950–2021 derived from the various observational datasets. Temperature anomalies have been calculated relative to the standard 30-year period of 1981–2010. Shown are also the linear temperature trends for 1979–2021. (b) Annual mean temperature trends for the period 1979–2021, derived from the average of the observational datasets. Areas without a statistically significant change are masked out. (c) Local amplification ratio calculated for the period 1979–2021, derived from the average of the observational datasets. The dashed line in (b) and (c) depicts the Arctic Circle (66.5∘N latitude). Graphic: Rantanen, et al., 2022 / Communications Earth and Environment

Arctic warming four times faster than rest of Earth – “Something is happening in the Arctic, and it will affect us all”

PARIS, 11 August 2022 (AFP) – The Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the rest of the planet over the last 40 years, according to research published Thursday that suggests climate models are underestimating the rate of polar heating. The United Nations’ climate science panel said in a special report in 2019 that […]

Firefighters embrace as they work to contain a fire in Saint-Magne, as wildfires continue to spread in the Gironde region of southwestern France, 11 August 2022. Stephane Mahe / REUTERS

Drought in England, fires rage in France as heatwave persists

By Stephane Mahe and Manuel Ausloos 13 August 2022 SAINT-MAGNE, France (Reuters) – Firefighters from across Europe came to France’s rescue on Friday to battle a massive wildfire, while fire also raged in Portugal and parts of England faced a severe drought, as successive heatwaves renewed the focus on climate change risks. Much of Europe […]

People spend time at the park at dusk during a summer heat wave, 21 July 2022, in Hoboken, N.J. The continental United States in July 2022 set a record for overnight warmth, providing little relief from the day’s sizzling heat for people, animals, plants and the electric grid, meteorologists said. Photo: Andres Kudacki / AP Photo

U.S. in July 2022 sets new record for overnight warmth

By Seth Borenstein 13 August 2022 (AP) – Talk about hot nights, America got some for the history books last month. The continental United States in July set a record for overnight warmth, providing little relief from the day’s sizzling heat for people, animals, plants, and the electric grid, meteorologists said. The average low temperature for the […]

In August 2022, Colliford Lake near Bodmin, Cornwall, England had dried up. Water levels at Cornwall’s largest reservoir on Bodmin Moor were only 40 percent full. Photo: Matt Cardy / Getty Images

Drought in England could carry on into new year, experts warn – “If this weather persists, we will need a winter far wetter than average to recover”

By Helena Horton and Fiona Harvey 14 August 2022 (The Guardian) – South-east England could be tipped into severe and devastating drought without above-average rainfall this winter, while current water use restrictions in London and surrounding areas are expected to last until the new year even if rainfall returns, ministers have been told. Severe drought […]

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