Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Stream water study detects thawing permafrost

ScienceDaily (May 6, 2010) — Among the worrisome environmental effects of global warming is the thawing of Arctic permafrost — soil that normally remains at or below the freezing point for at least a two-year period and often much longer. Monitoring changes in permafrost is difficult with current methods, but a study by University of […]

Corrupt foresters clear out indigenous Kenya trees

By Alex Kiprotich Published on 08/05/2010 Despite raising the alarm more than a year ago on wanton destruction of the152,000-acre Lembus forest in Koibatek District nothing has been done. The destruction of indigenous Podo and Mutarakwa trees is horrifying, especially in the Chemususu forest station where a multi-billion shilling dam is being constructed. The locals […]

Media helicopters force Gulf birds to abandon nests

By Justin Nobel05/08/2010 Birds in the Gulf of Mexico have a new enemy: the press. Media aircraft have been conducting illegal flights and disturbing birds over Breton National Wildlife Refuge, an Important Bird Area off the east coast of Louisiana where oil from the leaking BP wellhead has been washing ashore. “We’ve done all this […]

Tar balls reported on Dauphin Island

By NOAKI SCHWARTZ and HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press Writers Published : Saturday, 08 May 2010, 4:00 PM CDT ON THE GULF OF MEXICO (AP) – A Coast Guard official says tar balls that are believed to be from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill are washing up on an Alabama island. Coast Guard chief […]

Graph of the Day: Projected Oil Spill Path to 11 May 2010

The unified command reports that more than 8,500 responders are working on the incident, and approximately 1.89 million gallons of oily liquid have been recovered. Overflight and shoreline surveys have found emulsified oil within the Breton National Wildlife Refuge. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service closed the Refuge today to allow personnel conducting cleanup operations […]

Image of the Day: RADARSAT Image of Gulf Oil Spill, 8 May 2010

Our friends at CSTARS just posted this stunning image. Taken by the Canadian-operated radar satellite, RADARSAT-2, it clearly shows oil slicks and sheen spread across a wide area in the Gulf of Mexico early this morning (May 8): We’ve added some analysis to help you armchair interpreters. Oil slicks look dark on radar images because […]

BP oil containment chamber clogged, removed from leaking Gulf well

By David Wethe May 8 (Bloomberg) — BP Plc said gas hydrates like ice crystals formed inside the steel chamber it’s trying to use to capture leaking oil from a Gulf of Mexico well, forcing the company to move the structure aside while working on ways to stanch the flow of crude. The hydrates clogged […]

Video: Burning the oil off the water

The Coast Guard conducts more controlled burns of oil slicks from the Gulf of Mexico, 8 May 2010. Associated Press. Raw Video: Burning the Oil Off the Water   DeepwaterHorizonJIC  —  May 08, 2010  — GULF OF MEXICO – The U.S. Coast Guard, working in partnership with BP PLC, local residents, and other federal agencies, […]

How much oil has leaked into the Gulf of Mexico?

By: Chris Amico Last updated 12:30pm ET on May 6. Nobody knows for certain how much oil has leaked into the Gulf of Mexico since last month’s oil rig explosion. What we do have are estimates — from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, from outside experts, from British Petroleum — of how fast crude […]

Tainted nuclear plant water reaches major New Jersey aquifer

By WAYNE PARRYAssociated Press Writerupdated 1:42 p.m. PT, Fri., May 7, 2010 LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. – Radioactive water that leaked from the nation’s oldest nuclear power plant has now reached a major underground aquifer that supplies drinking water to much of southern New Jersey, the state’s environmental chief said Friday. The state Department of Environmental […]

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