Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Postcards from the future: Illustrators imagine how London could be affected by climate change

A display of photomontages imagining how London could be affected by climate change is on display at the Museum of London from 1 October 2010 to 6 March 2011. The display and events form part of the Mayor’s Story of London festival and the events are funded by Renaissance London. Like postcards from the future, […]

Joint initiative lays out physical effects of climate change on Canada

Contact: Brian Laghi, laghib@nrtee-trnee.ca October 5, 2010 The physical effects of climate change on Canada in the next century could touch everything from human health and community infrastructure to water resources and even tourism and recreation activities, according to a newly-compiled presentation of scientific research published today. Called Degrees of Change, the diagram is the […]

Graph of the Day: August Water Volume in Lake Mead, 1941-2010

By Michael Carlowicz23 September 2010 In August 2010, Lake Mead reached its lowest level since 1956. The largest reservoir in the United States was straining from persistent drought and increasing human demand. Two images from the Thematic Mapper on the Landsat 5 satellite show some of the stark changes on the eastern end of the […]

Bangladesh monsoon rains ‘lowest since 1994’

AFP6 October 2010 DHAKA — Bangladesh has experienced its driest monsoon season for more than a decade despite heavy rains in neighbouring India and Pakistan that caused flooding, officials said Wednesday. Bangladesh received 139.5 centimeters (55 inches) of rain this monsoon, which runs from June to September, nearly 20 percent less than predicted by the […]

Fish near coal-fired power plants have lower levels of mercury due to selenium pollution

Contact: Matt Shipman, matt_shipman@ncsu.edu6 October 2010 A new study from North Carolina State University finds that fish located near coal-fired power plants have lower levels of mercury than fish that live much further away. The surprising finding appears to be linked to high levels of another chemical, selenium, found near such facilities, which unfortunately poses […]

Loss of old growth forest accelerates sharply since 2005

By Rhett A. Butler, www.mongabay.comOctober 06, 2010 A new global assessment of forest stocks by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows a sharp acceleration of primary forest loss since 2005 despite gains in the extent of protected areas. FAO’s Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 reveals some 13 million hectares of forest were cleared […]

Critically endangered Kenya bird: Population estimated at 60-130 individuals

By John Platt Oct 5, 2010 04:00 PM One of the world’s most critically endangered birds, Kenya’s taita apalis (Apalis fuscigularis), has suddenly and inexplicably become much, much rarer, according to BirdLife International. The organization, which has funded research into the species through its Preventing Extinctions Program, says that field work conducted in 2009 and […]

Birds could signal mass extinction – UK extinction rate may be ten times higher than thought

(PhysOrg.com) — The first detailed measurements of current extinction rates for a specific region have shown that birds are the best group to use to track the losses. The study also reveals Britain may be losing species over ten times faster than records suggest, and the speed of loss is probably increasing: the losses from […]

Global warming drives alarming increase in flow of water into oceans

Irvine, Calif., October 04, 2010 — Freshwater is flowing into Earth’s oceans in greater amounts every year, a team of researchers has found, thanks to more frequent and extreme storms linked to global warming. All told, 18 percent more water fed into the world’s oceans from rivers and melting polar ice sheets in 2006 than […]

Pakistan floodwaters welcomed along Indus delta

Flooding that caused destruction elsewhere, brings joy and hope to those at the bottom of the Indus river By Declan Walsh in Keti Bunder, www.guardian.co.uk Tuesday 5 October 2010 09.43 BST Ali Hussain’s sun-beaten face cracked into a broad smile, revealing a set of ferociously rotten, red-stained teeth corroded by years of chewing tobacco and […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial