Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Alaska continues to fry, as wildfires flare up

By Jason Samenow19 June 2013 (Washington Post) – After Monday’s record-breaking temperatures, it remains unseasonably warm in Alaska. And the heat may stick around – at least in the northern part of the state. Writes the NWS office serving Fairbanks: …REGARDLESS OF WHICH MODEL IS FOLLOWED…ALL OF THEM SPELL EXTREME HEAT FOR NORTHERN ALASKA ALL […]

U.S. coal exports have doubled during Obama’s so-called ‘war on coal’

By Carmel Lobello27 June 2013 (The Week) – In a speech on Tuesday, President Obama laid out a plan for reducing carbon emissions, directing the EPA to add new carbon limitations for coal plants that are already active — a move that opponents are likening to a “war on coal.” Coal, the largest source of […]

India floods called man-made disaster – 3,000 people still missing

DEHRADUN, June 30 (AFP) – Some 3,000 people remain missing in India’s flood-ravaged north two weeks after the tragedy, but it is unclear how many of those have been killed, a top state official said on Sunday. About 1,000 people, many of them pilgrims and tourists, are confirmed dead after flash floods and landslides caused […]

19 firefighters killed in Arizona blaze – ‘Our entire crew was lost’

‘ By Holly Yan1 July 2013 (CNN) – They were part of an elite squad who confronted wildfires up close, setting up barriers to stop their destructive spread. But the inferno blazing across central Arizona proved too much. The 19 firefighters were killed Sunday while fighting the Yarnell Hill fire, northwest of Phoenix. It was […]

Western United States swelters amid deadly heat – 72 percent of West now in drought

By Tim Gaynor, with additional reporting by Jane Sutton in Miami, Brad Poole in Tucson, Timothy Pratt in Las Vegas, and Marty Graham in San Diego; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Stacey Joyce30 June 2013 PHOENIX (Reuters) – A dangerous, record-breaking heat wave in the western United States contributed to the death of a Nevada […]

Graph of the Day: Global per capita capture fish production, 2000-2010

(FAO) – In 2010, capture fisheries and aquaculture supplied the world with 148 million tonnes of fish, crustaceans and molluscs. Of this, 128 million tonnes was used as human food, providing an estimated per capita food supply of about 19 kg (live weight equivalent). Globally, fish provides about 17 percent of the population’s average per […]

Food and climate are our greatest global challenges

30 June 2013 (Brisbane Times) – The world’s population is 7 billion. By 2050, it is forecast to be 9 billion. The pressures to feed and sustain this increase in people can only magnify in coming decades, unless world leaders can take meaningful and long-lasting action. There need to be aggressive moves on tackling climate […]

By century’s end, rising sea levels will turn Miami into an American Atlantis – ‘Miami, as we know it today, is doomed. It’s not a question of if. It’s a question of when.’

By Jeff Goodell20 June 2013 (Rolling Stone) – When the water receded after Hurricane Milo of 2030, there was a foot of sand covering the famous bow-tie floor in the lobby of the Fontaine­bleau hotel in Miami Beach. A dead manatee floated in the pool where Elvis had once swum. Most of the damage occurred […]

Video: Locust plague threatens to trigger severe food crisis in Madagascar – FAO expects that two-thirds of the country will be infested by locusts

  ROME, 26 June 2013 (FAO) – Madagascar is in the grips of a largely uncontrolled locust plague and risks a serious food crisis. A large-scale emergency control campaign urgently requires a minimum of  $22 million in funding to start in time for the next crop planting season in September. So far, FAO emergency appeals […]

Insurers welcome Obama climate initiative

28 June 2013 (Reactions) – Insurers and reinsurers have welcomed a new initiative to combat climate change, announced by President Obama early this week, which includes a proposal to convene an insurance sector group to focus on best practices and processes for assessing climate risk.  The insurance market has reacted positively to the news that […]

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