Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

New satellite data reveal true decline of world’s mangrove forests

Loss rate for mangrove forests is higher than the loss of inland tropical forests and coral reefs By Ben Norman, Lifesciencenews@wiley.com 18-Aug-2010 New satellite imagery has given scientists the most comprehensive and exact data on the distribution and decline of mangrove forests from across the world. The research, carried out by scientists from the U.S […]

Desperation grows over Pakistan flood damage

By WAQAR GILLANIPublished: August 17, 2010 LAHORE, Pakistan — With disastrous flooding spreading yet more widely in Pakistan, reports of looting and protests over food on Tuesday deepened the sense of desperation across Punjab Province, the country’s most populous region and its agricultural hub. Flood survivors told stories of taking the search for aid upon […]

Sea otter numbers take a turn for the worse

By Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff WriterMonday, August 16, 2010 (08-16) 12:22 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — The California sea otter – which fought back from near extinction after a century or so of wholesale slaughter – appears to again be hitting the skids, and nobody can figure out the reason. It is the second consecutive year […]

Scientists: Toxic organisms, oil found on Gulf floor – Dispersed oil entering critical fish habitats

John Paul says, at first, he couldn’t believe his own scientific data showing toxic microscopic marine organisms in the Gulf of Mexico. He repeated the field test. A colleague did his own test. All the results came back the same: toxic. It was the first time Paul and other University of South Florida scientists had […]

Heat probably killed thousands in Moscow

By Dmitry SolovyovTue Aug 17, 2010 10:50am EDT MOSCOW (Reuters) – Several thousand Muscovites are thought to have died in July alone from this year’s unprecedented heatwave and August could add more fatalities to the grim statistics, a Russian scientist said on Tuesday. Moscow, a metropolis of over 10 million people, suffered from intense heat […]

Niger poachers target rare West African Giraffe

By Staff WritersNiamey (AFP) Aug 16, 2010 Poachers in Niger killed two baby West African Giraffes, the first attack on the endangered species in the country for 20 years, an environment official said on Monday. “In less than a month, we have recorded two giraffe deaths linked to poaching,” Colonel Malam Issa, who heads Niger’s […]

Misery for ‘doomed orphans’ of Pakistan floods

By Sajjad Tarakzai (AFP)16 August 2010 NOWSHEHRA, Pakistan — Six million children are suffering from Pakistan’s devastating floods: lost, orphaned or stricken with diarrhoea, they are the most vulnerable victims of the nation’s worst-ever natural disaster. At relief camps in government schools and colleges, and in tent villages on the edge of towns and by […]

60 percent of species recovery plans identify global warming as extinction threat

TUCSON, Ariz.— A scientific review of federal endangered species recovery plans finds that scientists are increasingly identifying global warming as an extinction threat but government agencies have yet to respond with any national strategy. The lack of recovery plan guidance from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has led to inconsistent efforts to save species […]

Scientists say as much as 79 percent of oil remains in Gulf of Mexico

By Kim Chipman Aug 16, 2010 8:51 PM PT A group of scientists says as much as 79 percent of BP Plc’s leaked oil remains in the Gulf of Mexico, challenging an Obama administration assessment that the crude is largely gone or rapidly disappearing. Most of the oil that leaked from BP’s Macondo well from […]

Area the size of Greece lost to desertification each year

By Staff WritersAug 16, 2010 Fortaleza, Brazil (AFP) – The United Nations Monday launched a campaign to save the planet from deserts that are threatening a third of the planet along with the livelihoods of more than a billion people. The decade-long initiative aims to “reverse and prevent desertification” and to soften the effects of […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial