Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Image of the Day: Phytoplankton Bloom in the Arabian Sea

By Rebecca Lindsey and Norman Kuring Phytoplankton swirled across the Arabian Sea on February 18, 2010, drawn into thin green ribbons by turbulent eddies. The bloom stretches from the shores of Pakistan (top) to the coast of Oman (lower left). The washed out appearance at the upper left of the image is due to sunglint, […]

Ocean dead zones contributing to climate change

ScienceDaily (Mar. 12, 2010) — The increased frequency and intensity of oxygen-deprived “dead zones” along the world’s coasts can negatively impact environmental conditions in far more than just local waters. In the March 12 edition of the journal Science, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science oceanographer Dr. Lou Codispoti explains that the increased amount […]

Australia climate snapshot reveals things are heating up

By TOM ARUPMarch 15, 2010 THE nation’s two leading scientific agencies will release a report today showing Australia has warmed up significantly over the past 50 years. It is a response to recent attacks on the science underpinning climate change. The State of the Climate snapshot, drawn together by the CSIRO and the Bureau of […]

Bat-killing fungus may have spread to Maryland

Signs of white nose syndrome found in Allegany cave March 11, 2010 | By Frank D. Roylance | Baltimore Sun reporter Biologists have found what they believe is the first evidence that Maryland bats are now infected with white nose syndrome, a deadly fungal disease that has killed more than a million hibernating bats since […]

Thousands of tons of illegal timber in Madagascar readied for export

By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.comMarch 13, 2010 As the President of France, Nicholas Sarkozy, argues in Paris that more funding is needed to stop deforestation and mitigate climate change, a shipment of illegal rosewood is being readied for export in Madagascar by a French company with the tacit approval of the French government. The shipment of […]

World's largest dead zone suffocating Baltic Sea

By James Owen in Stockholm, for National Geographic News Published March 5, 2010 This story is part of a special series that explores the global water crisis. For more clean water news, photos, and information, visit National Geographic’s Freshwater Web site. … An explosion of microscopic algae called phytoplankton has inundated the Baltic’s sensitive waters, […]

11 Siberian tigers starve to death in China zoo

March 12, 2010 (AP) – Eleven rare Siberian tigers kept in small cages and fed only chicken bones have died of malnutrition at a cash-strapped zoo in China’s frigid north-east, state media have said. A manager at the Shenyang Forest Wild Animal Zoo in Liaoning province, however, said the animals had died of disease. Siberian […]

Image of the Day: Wasting of the Aral Sea, 2000 – 2009

The Aral Sea, located in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in central Asia. Left: 2000. Middle: 2004. Right: 2009. Once one of the largest inland bodies of salty reservoirs in the world and the second largest sea in Asia, the Aral Sea has shrunk dramatically over the last 30 years. One of the main reasons why is […]

Climate change threatens migratory birds

By JAY ROOT, Associated Press Writer Jay Root, Associated Press Writer   – Thu Mar 11, 6:50 pm ET AUSTIN, Texas – Global climate change poses a significant threat to migratory bird populations, which are already stressed by the loss of habitat and environmental pollution, according to a report released Thursday. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar […]

Your Chilean Sea Bass dinner deprives killer whales

By Brandon Keim Email AuthorMarch 11, 2010 A one-of-a-kind killer whale population appears to be threatened by human appetites for Antarctic toothfish, better known to restaurant-goers as Chilean Sea Bass. As fishing fleets patrol their waters, catching what was their primary source of food, the whales are vanishing. It’s not certain whether they’ve only moved […]

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