Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Krugman: America Goes Dark

By PAUL KRUGMANAugust 8, 2010 The lights are going out all over America — literally. Colorado Springs has made headlines with its desperate attempt to save money by turning off a third of its streetlights, but similar things are either happening or being contemplated across the nation, from Philadelphia to Fresno. Meanwhile, a country that […]

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals suspected as more girls experience early puberty

By DENISE GRADYPublished: August 9, 2010 A new study finds that girls are more likely today than in the past to start developing breasts by age 7 or 8. The research is just the latest in a flood of reports over the last decade that have led to concern and heated debate about whether girls […]

Pakistan floods threaten key barrage in southern Sindh

BBC9 August 2010 Waters have exceeded the danger level at a key flood barrier in Pakistan’s southern province of Sindh. The Sukkur Barrage flooding means Sindh faces as much devastation as that seen further north in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces, say experts. Enraged survivors have been physically attacking government officials in flood-hit areas, amid […]

Graph of the Day: Temperature Anomalies for the Russian Federation, 20-27 July 2010

Caption by Michon ScottAugust 9, 2010 In the summer of 2010, the Russian Federation had to contend with multiple natural hazards: drought in the southern part of the country, and raging fires in western Russia and eastern Siberia. The events all occurred against the backdrop of unusual warmth. Bloomberg reported that temperatures in parts of […]

Crabs provide evidence oil tainting Gulf food web

By JOHN FLESHER, AP Environmental Writer Mon Aug 9, 5:33 am ET BARATARIA, La. – To assess how heavy a blow the BP oil spill has dealt the Gulf of Mexico, researchers are closely watching a staple of the seafood industry and primary indicator of the ecosystem’s health: the blue crab. Weeks ago, before engineers […]

Fungus on track to extinguish bats in Northeast US — ‘Quickly becoming a continental-scale problem’

By ANDREW C. REVKINAugust 5, 2010, 4:50 pm A research team organized by Thomas Kunz of Boston University has concluded in a new paper that a common, beneficial bat species is likely to be completely wiped out across much of the Northeastern United States within 20 years due to a spreading fungal infection. The basics […]

Officials point to Russia drought and Asia deluge as consistent with climate change

  By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.com August 08, 2010 Government officials are pointing to the drought and wildfires in Russia, and the floods across Central and East Asia as consistent with climate change predictions. While climatologists say that a single weather event cannot be linked directly to a warming planet, patterns of worsening storms, severer droughts, […]

Death rate doubles in Moscow’s smoke, heat crisis

By Nastassia Astrasheuskaya and Alexei Anishchuk; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Paul TaylorMon Aug 9, 2010 9:36am EDT (Reuters) – Scorching heat and acrid smoke have nearly doubled death rates in Moscow, a city official said Monday, as a shroud of smog from raging forest and peat fires beset Russia’s capital for a third week. […]

Booms fail again: Oil penetrates previously pristine Mississippi marsh

By Ben Raines, Press-Register Monday, August 09, 2010, 5:00 AM HORN ISLAND, Miss. — Weeks after BP capped its runaway well, a greasy band of oil appeared on the grasses fringing Garden Pond, a previously pristine interior marsh. Glops of deep brown oil floated on the surface of the saltwater pond Saturday and appeared to […]

Pesticides linked to bee decline, say environmental groups

From the Ecologist, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkFriday 6 August 2010 09.49 BST Environmental groups including the Soil Association and Buglife are making a renewed call for an end to the use of neonicotinoid pesticides, which are among the most commonly used pesticides worldwide, after a new study linked them to a decline in […]

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