Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Morwell coalmine fire: doctors warn residents face serious health risks from air pollution – Thousands affected by the fire, which has been burning for three weeks and may continue months

By Helen Davidson    3 March 2014 (theguardian.com) – Doctors have warned of serious health risks to people living around the Morwell coalmine fire, due to a carcinogenic air pollutant reaching levels up to 20 times the average level. The Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) group, which spoke to a rally of Morwell residents on […]

German village resists plans to strip it away for the coal underneath

By MELISSA EDDY18 February 2014 ATTERWASCH, Germany (The New York Times) – A grove of apple saplings grows on the lee side of Ulrich Schulz’s barn. He did not plant them for the fruit, he said, but as an act of rebellion against a nearby mining company that wants to raze his farm, which his […]

Global warming: No pause in the increase of hot temperature extremes

By Sonia I. Seneviratne, Markus G. Donat, Brigitte Mueller, and Lisa V. Alexander    26 February 2014 (Nature Climate Change) – Observational data show a continued increase of hot extremes over land during the so-called global warming hiatus. This tendency is greater for the most extreme events and thus more relevant for impacts than changes in […]

Europe flood losses to soar by 2050 – ‘Due to climate change and GDP growth, by 2050 a one-in-50-years-flood might be one in 30 years, so the frequency of such losses increases dramatically – almost doubling’

By Nina Chestney; Editing by Tom Heneghan2 March 2014 LONDON (Reuters) – Extreme floods like those swamping parts of Britain in recent months could become more frequent in Europe by 2050, more than quadrupling financial losses, if climate change worsens and more people live in vulnerable areas, research showed on Sunday. The study said instances […]

Australia developer withdraws from coal port expansion that threatens Great Barrier Reef

By Elisabeth Behrmann  25 February 2014 (Bloomberg News) – Lend Lease Group, Australia’s biggest listed property developer, won’t take part in a planned coal terminal expansion close to the Great Barrier Reef after a mandate for the project lapsed. Lend Lease is no longer part of the AP-X expansion at the port of Abbot Point, […]

Study links global warming to a Peruvian glacier’s retreat

By JUSTIN GILLISFEB25 February 2014 (The New York Times) – Sitting on a flat volcanic plain 18,000 feet above sea level, the great Quelccaya ice cap of Peru is the largest piece of ice in the tropics. In recent decades, as scientists have watched it melt at an accelerating pace, it has also become a […]

North Carolina ash spill shows how watchdog was defanged

By TRIP GABRIEL28 February 2014 RALEIGH, N.C. (The New York Times) – Last June, state employees in charge of stopping water pollution were given updated marching orders on behalf of North Carolina’s new Republican governor and conservative lawmakers. “The General Assembly doesn’t like you,” an official in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources told […]

Storm soaks California, but far from a drought-breaker – ‘The chances of getting back to average are vanishingly small because we’re simply too deep in the hole’

By Colin Atagi and Ian James 1 March 2014 (The Desert Sun) – A storm swirling in from the Pacific Ocean unleashed heavy rains across much of California on Friday, bringing the state a needed soaking but not nearly enough to significantly ease the drought. Snow blanketed peaks in the Sierra Nevada, while in parts […]

Graph of the Day: Arctic sea ice at record low for February

By Brian Kahn19 February 2014 (Climate Central) – Arctic sea ice growth has slowed dramatically in recent weeks, thanks in large part to abnormally warm air and water temperatures. Sea ice now sits at record low levels for mid-February. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, as of February 18, sea ice covered […]

Setting the record straight on misleading claims against climate scientist Michael Mann

25 February 2014 (Climate Science Watch) – Attempts to discredit Prof. Mann and confuse the facts about his defamation lawsuits keep popping up and circulating in the blogosphere. Here we comment on issues pertaining to the conclusions of the Muir Russell investigation, Mark Steyn’s response and counterclaims, and the status of the case in Canada […]

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