Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Floodwaters rushed around the Rapidan Dam on the Blue Earth River in Minnesota on 24 June 2024, washing away an electrical substation. Photo: Ben Brewer / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Breached Minnesota dam at risk of failure still standing amid “historic” flooding

By Kyle Stokes and Torey Van Oot 25 June 2024 (Axios) – “Historic” flooding across the state will likely require a federal disaster declaration, Gov. Tim Walz said Monday. Threat level: Recent heavy rain, including a foot-and-a-half in southern Minnesota, has already closed roads, caused serious damage, and left some communities under feet of water. The latest: A breached […]

Ensemble mean surface temperature anomaly forecast for 2024-2028. The global mean near-surface temperature for each year between 2024 and 2028 is predicted to be between 1.1°C and 1.9°C higher than the 1850-1900 baseline. Graphic: WMO

WMO: Global temperature is likely to exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial level temporarily in next 5 years – “We are playing Russian roulette with our planet”

5 June 2024 (WMO) – There is an 80 percent likelihood that the annual average global temperature will temporarily exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for at least one of the next five years, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). This is a stark warning that we are getting ever closer […]

Number of unique book titles challenged in the U.S., 2000-2023. The number of titles targeted for censorship surged 65 percent in 2023 compared to 2022, reaching the highest levels ever documented by the American Library Association (ALA). The numbers show efforts to censor 4,240 unique book titles in schools and libraries. This tops the previous high from 2022, when 2,571 unique titles were targeted for censorship. Graphic: American Library Association

American Library Association reports record number of unique book titles challenged in 2023 – Public libraries saw 92 percent increase in number of titles targeted for censorship over the previous year – “Every challenge to a library book is an attack on our freedom to read”

CHICAGO, 14 March 2024 (ALA) – The number of titles targeted for censorship surged 65 percent in 2023 compared to 2022, reaching the highest levels ever documented by the American Library Association (ALA). The new numbers released today show efforts to censor 4,240 unique book titles* in schools and libraries. This tops the previous high from 2022, […]

Fitted straight lines describe a linear regression fitted using ordinary least squares of daily total misinformation retweeted standardized (y-axis) on days (x-axis) before January 6th and after January 12th. Shaded areas around the fitted line are 95 percent confidence intervals. Graphic: McCabe, et al., 2024 / Nature

Twitter’s post-Jan. 6 deplatforming reduced misinfo, study finds – “It wasn’t just a reduction from the de-platformed users themselves, but it reduced circulation on the platform as a whole”

By Will Oremus 6 June 2024 (The Washington Post) – In the week after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, Twitter suspended some 70,000 accounts associated with the right-wing QAnon radicalized movement, citing their role in spreading misinformation that was fueling real-world violence. A new study finds the move had an immediate and widespread impact on the overall spread […]

Global surface air temperature anomalies compared with 1850-1900 mean, 1940-2024. May 2024 was the 12th consecutive month to set a monthly global average temperature record, and exceed the key Paris Agreement temperature target of 1.5°C. Data: ERA5. Graphic: Tory Lysik / Axios Visuals

Global heat record broken for 12th straight month in May 2024

By Andrew Freedman 5 June 2024 (Axios) – May 2024 was the 12th consecutive month to set a monthly global average temperature record, and exceed a key Paris Agreement temperature target. Why it matters: The new data comes amid a slew of findings from climate monitoring groups released Wednesday, timed to coincide with a speech in New York […]

Global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions in GTCO2e, 1990-2023. In 2023, global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions exceeded 40 gigatonnes for the first time ever. Graphic: Energy Institute

World energy report reveals 2023 was a year of record highs in an energy-hungry world – “In a year where we have seen the contribution of renewables reaching a new record high, ever increasing global energy demand means the share coming from fossil fuels has remained virtually unchanged at just over 80 percent for yet another year”

20 June 2024 (Energy Institute) – The Energy Institute (EI) and co-authors KPMG and Kearney today released the 73rd annual edition of the Statistical Review of World Energy, presenting for the first time full global energy data for 2023. Five key stories emerge from the 2023 data: EI President Juliet Davenport OBE HonFEI said: “Energy is central […]

Aerial view of researchers for the Dutch startup company, Arctic Reflections, as they pump 900 gallons per minute of water for hours at a time to create a layer of ice on the Arctic sea ice. Photo: The Wall Street Journal

Scientists working on desperate plan to refreeze Arctic

By Sharon Adarlo 8 June 2024 (Futurism) – It sounds pretty out-there: to save the snowy Arctic from melting away due to global warming, some scientific experts have been working on plans to hack the entire region’s climate. This doesn’t entail popping the North Pole into an unfathomably large deep freezer like so much ground […]

A man sits on a bench during a heatwave in New Orleans on Tuesday, 8 August 2023. Photo: David Grunfeld / The Times-Picayune / NOLA.com

“It’s unbearable”: in ever-hotter US cities, air conditioning is no longer enough – “The types of cooling systems that we sold 10 years ago are not able to keep up with the weather we have”

By Delaney Nolan 11 Jun 2024 (The Guardian) – Gloria Gellot, 79, takes a careful seat in a kitchen chair in front of her only air-conditioning unit, massaging her knees. She’s hung a sheet in the doorway to keep the cool air in the kitchen, and drawn shades to keep the sun – already blazing […]

Aerial view of “catastrophic flooding” in Rock Valley, Iowa, 23 June 2024. Photo: KTIV / CNN

“Catastrophic flooding” in Upper Midwest U.S. prompts evacuations as record-breaking heat wave broils the West and mid-Atlantic – “The river rose to historic levels that we’ve never seen here before”

By Dalia Faheid 23 June 2024 (CNN) – Millions of people across the US are still trudging through a record-setting heat wave that is shifting to the Mid-Atlantic, while many Americans – including in New Mexico, Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota – contend with “catastrophic” flash flooding this weekend. Here’s the latest: Flooding threat in northern […]

A man affected by the scorching heat on Sunday, 16 June 2024 is helped by a member of the Saudi security forces during the Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca. Photo: Fadel Senna / AFP / Getty Images

More than 1,000 hajj pilgrims die amid temperatures approaching 52°C (125.6°F) in Mecca

20 June 2024 (AFP) – The death toll from this year’s hajj has exceeded 1,000, with more than half of the victims unregistered worshippers who performed the pilgrimage in extreme heat in Saudi Arabia. The new deaths reported on Thursday included 58 from Egypt, according to an Arab diplomat who provided a breakdown showing that […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial