Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

How do we know that humans are responsible for global warming?

By Michael E. Mann, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor, Pennsylvania State University[Text excerpted from chapter 2 of The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars, by Michael E. Mann, Columbia University Press, New York, 2012, 395pp] (wunderground.com) – By the mid-1990s, it was possible to investigate the causal mechanisms behind changes in Earth’s climate using relatively sophisticated mathematical […]

Belief in free market economics predicts rejection of science

By Eric W. Dolan20 April 2013 (PsyPost) – A strong belief in a hands off approach to economics is tightly linked to the rejection of scientific facts such as climate change, according to research published in Psychological Science in late March [NASA Faked the Moon Landing—Therefore, (Climate) Science Is a Hoax]. “The conspiracist ideation that […]

Borneo elephants poisoned by unidentified toxin

Jeremy Hance18  April 2013 (mongabay.com) – After three months, officials still don’t know for certain what killed at least 14 Bornean elephants (Elephas maximus borneensis) in the Malaysian state of Sabah. However tests do indicate that the herd perished from a “caustic intoxicant,” possibly ingested accidentally or just as easily intentionally poisoned. A distinct subspecies, […]

Libertarian Koch Brothers in bid to buy biggest U.S. newspapers

By AMY CHOZICK20 April 2013 (The New York Times) – Three years ago, Charles and David Koch, the billionaire industrialists and supporters of libertarian causes, held a seminar of like-minded, wealthy political donors at the St. Regis Resort in Aspen, Colo. They laid out a three-pronged, 10-year strategy to shift the country toward a smaller […]

Global warming increases costs for American taxpayers – ‘Climate change is fundamentally changing the United States, and American taxpayers are paying a huge price for it’

BOSTON, 15 Apr 2013 (Ceres) – A growing chunk of American tax dollars is footing the bill for increasing floods, fires, droughts and other climate related changes taking place in the country, according to new figures compiled by Ceres, a nonprofit organization mobilizing business leadership on climate change. “Climate change is fundamentally changing the United […]

Raiding the dark animal underbelly of wildlife trafficking – ‘4-star generals kept tigers in cages in their living rooms, bears were behind most restaurants waiting for their paws to be cut off’

[Part 1: ‘Skull is removed, brains eaten alive’: Like the drug trade, wildlife trafficking is big business in Asia] By Jerrie Demasi19 April 2013 (Sydney Morning Herald) – “Mum, you need to be more patient,” says nine year old Cambodian Bo Pa. Her adoptive mother sits across the table of a red-and-gold-clad Chinese Restaurant in […]

Video: J. Michael Fay talks about massive gold mining operations in British Columbia that will devastate the region

  21 April 2013 (Talking Stick TV) – Interview with J. Michael Fay, Wildlife Conservation Society scientist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, about his recent investigation of mining impacts in British Columbia. For more info: http://unukriverpost.org/ Technorati Tags: Canada,North America,pollution,deforestation,habitat loss,ecosystem disruption,fish decline

Morality of global warming: Faith leaders look beyond science, politics – ‘This is about the well-being of the entire communion of life’

By JUDY FAHYS21 April 2013   (The Salt Lake Tribune) – Rob Gillies and his team gather data on Nepal’s changing climate for a research project. They log temperatures, raindrops and snow. They pump the numbers into powerful computers and read the trend lines the computers spit out. Gillies sees the numbers in human terms, too. […]

U.S. Supreme Court asked to hear EPA greenhouse gas challenge – Virginia Supreme Court revives epic suit against Massey Coal

By Valerie Volcovici; editing by Xavier Briand19 April 2013 WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Top industry groups and a dozen states have asked the Supreme Court to review a lower court decision upholding the Obama administration’s plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions generated by power plants and vehicles. The parties, which had until Friday to submit petitions […]

Yangtze porpoise down to 1,000 animals, with population cut in half in just 6 years – ‘The Yangtze River is one of the world’s most damaged, degraded habitats, and it is extremely depressing to carry out conservation projects there’

By Jeremy Hance16 April 2013 (mongabay.com) – A survey late last year found that the Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) population has been cut in half in just six years. During a 44-day survey, experts estimated 1,000 river porpoises inhabited the river and adjoining lakes, down from around 2,000 in 2006. The ecology of […]

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