Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Hume Dam: Then and Now

The Hume Dam, located near Albury, Australia is the largest dam on the River Murray and is an important part of the Murray Darling Irrigation System. It is often referred to as the Hume Weir. Lake Hume is an artificial lake formed by the Hume Dam. Because of the historic ten-year drought, it currently holds […]

Graph of the Day: Deforestation in Paraguay, 1990-2000

Paraguay lost nearly 40 percent of its Atlantic Forest between 1990 and 2000 By Rebecca Lindsey. Sandwiched between Argentina to the southwest and Brazil to the northeast, landlocked Paraguay possesses remarkable ecological richness for its relatively small (about the size of California) area. The northwestern part of the country is occupied by the dry woodlands […]

2000-2010: A Decade of (Climate) Change

By John Roach for National Geographic News December 10, 2009 A decade ago, global climate change was largely considered a problem for the distant future. But it seems that future has come sooner than predicted. One of the most remarkable, and alarming, environmental changes to occur over the last decade is the melting of Antarctic […]

What caused killer algal blooms on the Washington coast?

The mysterious bird-killing algae that coated Washington’s ocean beaches this fall with slimy foam was the biggest and longest-lasting harmful algal bloom in Northwest history. Now the phenomenon that killed at least 10,000 seabird has scientists consumed by questions: Was it a rogue occurrence, rarely if ever to be repeated, or a sign of some […]

Climate change eroding Alaska coast at accelerating rate

By Tim BradnerAlaska Journal of Commerce Coastal erosion isn’t the only climate-related problem confronting rural communities. Health officials now are concerned about food and water safety in northern villages as warming temperatures thaw ice cellars and melting permafrost increases the organic content in rivers, creating problems in village water treatment plants. As for erosion, it […]

Inuit villages need cash for freezers in warming Arctic

  Reporting by Henriette Jacobsen; Writing by John Acher COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Inuit communities need funds to adapt to climate change in the Arctic, including measures to build communal deep freezers to store game because warming is reducing their hunting season, an Inuit leader said on Friday. The Inuit, the indigenous people of Greenland, Canada, […]

Rising seas threaten 20 million in Bangladesh

Reporting by Nizam Ahmed; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani, DHAKAFri Dec 11, 2009 8:49am EST DHAKA (Reuters) – Rising sea levels, triggered by global warming, will displace about 20 million people in low-lying Bangladesh, a study by a state-run think-tank said on Friday. “The sea level will rise at least by three meters (yards) submerging some […]

Climate change played key role in B.C. sockeye stocks collapse, say scientists

By Tamsyn Burgmann (CP) VANCOUVER, B.C. — Food-poor, predator-rich ocean waters caused by climate change likely played a significant role in decimating millions of sockeye salmon in British Columbia’s Fraser River ahead of what was supposed to be a bumper year, says a scientific think tank. A group of more than 20 ocean and ecology […]

Graph of the Day: Consumer Credit, 1969-2009

From Calculated Risk: The Federal Reserve reports: Consumer credit decreased at an annual rate of 3-1/4 percent in the third quarter of 2009. Revolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 7-1/4 percent, and non-revolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 1 percent. In October, consumer credit decreased at an annual rate of 1-3/4 […]

Mass poisoning to keep carp invaders from Great Lakes

By Phil McKenna, 10 December 2009   Sometimes the “few” are made to suffer to protect the many. Tens of thousands of fish were poisoned last week in a drastic attempt to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. Officials poured more than 8000 litres of the fish poison rotenone into a 9-kilometre stretch […]

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