Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Scientists find dead zone in Chandeleur Sound off Louisiana, Mississippi coast

By Chris Kirkham, The Times-Picayune October 12, 2010, 4:21 PM The sprawling band of lifeless ocean water known as the “dead zone” that forms each summer in the Gulf of Mexico has been well-documented for decades, with teams of government and research scientists analyzing the ecological impacts every year. But much less is known about […]

Audubon Society: Gulf coast bird populations look OK, but oil found in many places

By Cain Burdeau, Associated PressThursday, October 14, 2010, 9:00 AM National Audubon Society experts say bird populations along Louisiana’s oil-tainted shores are doing surprisingly well nearly six months after the BP oil spill, but caution that oil continues to ooze out of the ground in many places and multiple threats remain. Bird experts with the […]

Hunger threatens Pakistan flood survivors as winter closes in

British Red CrossContact: Mark South, msouth@redcross.org.uk October 15 2010 14:53 Millions of people who lost homes, crops and food stores to the Pakistan floods are facing a winter of hunger unless more money is found. The Red Cross movement has already distributed emergency food parcels for more than 1.3m people, but with this year’s crops […]

Image of the Day: Toxic Sludge in Hungary Viewed from Orbit, 9 October 2010

Caption by Michon Scott12 October 2010 On October 4, 2010, an accident occurred at the Ajkai Timföldgyár alumina (aluminum oxide) plant in western Hungary. A corner wall of a waste-retaining pond broke, releasing a torrent of toxic red sludge down a local stream. Several nearby towns were inundated, including Kolontar and Devecser, where the sludge […]

British birds in danger

By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent15 Oct 2010 7:00AM BST Grey partridge, corn bunting and turtle doves have continued to fall in numbers in the last 16 years despite Government promises to halt the decline, according to new figures. The birds were identified as ‘priority species’ for conservation in 1994. Others on the list that have […]

Nature and humans leaving indelible mark on rivers, harming the intricate food webs they support

ScienceDaily (Oct. 14, 2010) — Rivers and streams supply the lifeblood of ecosystems across the globe, providing water for drinking and irrigation for humans as well as a wide array of life forms in rivers and streams from single-celled organisms all the way up to the fish humans eat. But humans and nature itself are […]

Graph of the Day: Annual Flows of the Colorado River, 1905-2005

Annual flows (in million cubic meters) of the Colorado River into the delta from 1905 to 2005 at the Southern International Border station. Note that, in most years after 1960, flows to the delta fell to zero as total withdrawals equaled total (or peak) renewable supply. The exceptions are extremely high-flow years when runoff exceeded […]

Encroaching sand dunes threaten Northern Nigeria

By Hir Joseph, LafiaThursday, 14 October 2010 04:45 A team of experts from Network of Nigerian Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST), one of the groups building Nigerians’ adaptation to the effects of climate change, has warned that sand dunes and the harsh arid climate in Sahel area Toshua in Yobe State of North-Eastern Nigeria, are another […]

‘Strong evidence’ climate change caused devastating Pakistan floods

  By Rob Crilly in IslamabadPublished Date: 14 October 2010 MAN-MADE climate change was a major cause of devastating floods in Pakistan this year, shifting monsoon rains away from flood defences and into areas of the country incapable of dealing with the deluge, according to Pakistani scientists. More than 1,700 people died and millions lost […]

Pollinator crisis shrinking vegetable production: scientists

New Delhi, Oct 10, (PTI): Vegetable production in India is shrinking over the years due to a decline in the population of pollinating insects like bees and butterflies, a new study has claimed. The study, carried out by researchers at the University of Calcutta, found a disturbing trend in the growth of yields of several […]

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