Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Hurricane Alex damages oil spill barrier erected at Perdido Pass

Published: Thursday, July 01, 2010, 5:09 PM  Six-foot waves from Hurricane Alex have damaged a new, $4.6 million system meant to prevent oil from flowing into Perdido Bay. The structure is composed of more than 3,000 feet of long steel pipes that are strung together in Perdido Pass between dozens of pilings in Orange Beach […]

High tides in Cameron, Louisiana destroy sand wall barrier erected against Gulf oil spill

Published: Thursday, July 01, 2010, 3:18 PM  High tides from Hurricane Alex destroyed 1,000 feet of a sand wall the Louisiana National Guard built in Cameron Parish as a barrier against oil from the BP well. A tide 3 feet above normal seeped through the barriers Wednesday and washed the sand away, according to a […]

Indonesia’s last glacier will melt within years — ‘These glaciers are dying’

By ROBIN McDOWELLThe Associated PressThursday, July 1, 2010; 3:49 AM JAKARTA, Indonesia — Lonnie Thompson spent years preparing for his expedition to the remote, mist-shrouded mountains of eastern Indonesia, hoping to chronicle the affect of global warming on the last remaining glacier in the Pacific. He’s worried he got there too late. Even as he […]

The coming shortage of helium

LINDAU, Germany—Quick: What do MRI machines, rockets, fiber optics, LCDs, food production and welding have in common? They all require the inert, or noble, gas helium for their use or at some stage of their production. And that helium essentially could be gone in less than three decades, Robert C. Richardson, winner, along with Douglas […]

NOAA count confirms critical status of endangered right whale: About 30 remain in the eastern Pacific Ocean

After more than a decade of monitoring the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska, scientists have released the first count of one of the world’s most endangered group of whales. Approximately thirty right whales inhabit the eastern Pacific Ocean, they reported on Tuesday — slightly more than previously thought. Whether enough remain to prevent […]

First ever footage from inside a purse seine tuna net — ‘Seeing death on this scale has quite an impact on the team’

About 5 minutes into the video above, a film crew dives in the South Pacific waters and films for what is probably the first time ever (that’s what they claim, anyway) the inside of a gigantic purse seine tuna net. You really have to see it to believe the scale of this kind of commercial […]

Environmental toxins affect the body’s hormone systems

ScienceDaily (July 1, 2010) — Marianne Kraugerud’s doctoral research has led to the discovery that individual variants of the environmental pollutants PCB and PFC can affect several of the body’s hormone systems in a more complex way than previously supposed. Humans and animals are constantly exposed to these toxins through the food they eat and […]

Emissions of greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide underestimated

  ScienceDaily (July 1, 2010) — The emission of the greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide has been structurally underestimated, as a result of the measuring methods used. This is the conclusion of the scientist Petra Kroon, who carried out research for the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) and Delft University of Technology […]

Oil spill’s toll on birds set to soar drastically

  By Steve Gorman and Ernest Scheyder, Editing by Sandra MalerLOS ANGELES/FORT JACKSONThu Jul 1, 2010 3:01am EDT LOS ANGELES/FORT JACKSON, Louisiana (Reuters) – Despite the images of oil-soaked pelicans flooding the media in recent weeks, wildlife experts say the toll on sea birds from BP’s Gulf Coast oil spill is smaller than was anticipated, […]

Britain’s driest first six months in 80 years

Britain has experienced the driest first six months of the year for more than 80 years. Met Office figures showed the average rainfall across the country was 356.8mm, making it the driest start to the year since 1929 and the second driest in a century. The long-term average for January to June is 511.7 mm. […]

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