Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Rapid rise of toxins in Mackenzie River fish caused by warming Arctic

By Martin Mittelstaedt From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail Published on Tuesday, Feb. 09, 2010 10:11PM EST Last updated on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010 3:11AM EST Scientists studying burbot in the Mackenzie River, one of the country’s most pristine rivers, have been surprised to discover that mercury, PCBs and DDT in the fish are rising rapidly, […]

Kenya rounds up prey for starving lions

By Staff Writers Soysambu Conservancy, Kenya (AFP) Feb 10, 2010 Kenyan game rangers on Wednesday began rounding up thousands of zebras to be moved to a reserve where starving lions have been attacking livestock. … “Some herders lost as high as 80 percent of their stock due to the drought and the few that were […]

Heavy rain boosts farmers' morale, but drought not over

February 11, 2010 – 1:55PM (AAP) Heavy rainfall has brought much relief to drought affected areas across NSW, providing a morale boost for those living on the land, the government says. New figures show 65.7 per cent of NSW is drought affected – a 16 per cent drop since last month. “As we approach the […]

Graph of the Day: Climate Anti-Science Activities, 1989-2010

A long history of climate anti-science, with frequent peaks whenever it seems that someone might actually take effective action. The early years showed efforts by relatively few people. A major expansion occurred starting in 1998, as the Kyoto Protocol occurred. A real crescendo of activity is visible in the last few years. This is given […]

Organized crime pays Malaysian indigenous people to poach endangered tigers

KUALA LUMPUR: Tribesmen in Malaysia are being paid by syndicates to trap wildlife, including critically endangered tigers, to meet insatiabledemand from China, a conservationist said Wednesday. “Local tribesmen are being used by the middlemen to collect the forest products as they are familiar with the jungle,” said Dionysius Sharma, executive director with WWF-Malaysia. “The demand […]

Global warming desynchronizing biological cycles in Britain

By David Adam, environment correspondentThe Guardian, Tuesday 9 February 2010 As snow flurries continued to cause disruption across the country today, spring may feel further away than ever. But recent winters have been ending earlier than ever before, according to a new assessment of Britain’s wildlife that reveals global warming could be disrupting the delicate […]

Thirty-eight percent of world's surface in danger of desertification

ScienceDaily (Feb. 10, 2010) — Researchers have measured the degradation of the planet’s soil using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), a scientific methodology that analyses the environmental impact of human activities, and which now for the first time includes indicators on desertification. The results show that 38 percent of the world is made up of […]

Syria faces ‘catastrophe’ from historic drought and free-market policies

By Phil Sands, Foreign Correspondent psands@thenational.ae Last Updated: February 10. 2010 12:20AM UAE / February 9. 2010 8:20PM GMT DAMASCUS // Free market economic reforms have helped create a “catastrophe” in eastern regions of Syria, greatly exacerbating the effects of a devastating drought, according to leading critics of government policy. Speaking at a weekly meeting […]

Climate change impact of soil underestimated: study

HELSINKI (AFP) — Finnish researchers called for a revision of climate change estimates Monday after their findings showed emissions from soil would contribute more to climate warming than previously thought. “A Finnish research group has proved that the present standard measurements underestimate the effect of climate warming on emissions from the soil,” the Finnish Environment […]

Seaweed beds, the 'cradle of the sea,' vanishing

BY HITOSHI TANOHATA AND ERINA ITO, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN Fisherman Hideo Kawamura recalls how the Suruga Bay seabed full of kelp and other sea grasses gave him an eerie feeling as a novice abalone catcher. “I went down to find grasses dancing as if they were the long hairs of a woman. It was scary,” […]

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