Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Thirsty camels lay siege to Australian Outback town – ‘a plague of biblical proportions’

Docker River, an Australian Outback town, is under siege from 6,000 wild camels which have laid waste to the area in search of water. By Murray WardropPublished: 4:20PM GMT 26 Nov 2009 Residents in the Northern Territory settlement have been left cowering in their homes after the animals trampled fences, smashed through water mains and […]

Global fresh water demand by 2030 will be 40 per cent higher than current supplies

NEW DELHI – INDIA’S water needs are set to double by 2030, which could dry up its river basins, according to new research released on Tuesday that paints a grim picture for supplies across the emerging world. Global fresh water demand by 2030 will be 40 per cent higher than current supplies and agriculture is […]

Azeri fishermen lament vanished shrimp

By Idrak Abbasov PIRALLAHI ISLAND, Azerbaijan, November 24, 2009 (ENS) – The fishermen perched on the beached boats on the Azerbaijan coast watched Faiq Balayev as he threw out his net, drew it in and trudged back to the shore. They need not have bothered, since he had once again failed to catch any shrimps. […]

Kenya tea output falls 7.4% in October on drought

By Eric Ombok Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) — Kenya’s tea production fell 7.4 percent in October to 32.7 million kilograms (719.4 million pounds), compared with the same month a year earlier because of a drought. The country, the world’s biggest exporter of black tea, shipped 27.1 million kilograms of the leaves during the month, the Tea […]

Africa: Don't cry tears lest they ask for water

Safiel Kulei’s simple statement goes to the heart of the plight of many of his neighbors hit by consecutive years of drought in Kenya. “I had 88 cows. I sold 50. The rest died. I have nothing at the moment. I have since moved to town,” said Kulei, a farmer who is an evangelist with […]

Devastating drought alters life for Kenya nomads

By KATHARINE HOURELD (AP) – Nov 1, 2009 DELA, Kenya — When 64-year-old Jimale Irobe was a young man, he guided his herds of cows and camels through knee-high grass. These days the scrubby blades barely reach his ankles even in the rainy season, and there is never enough grass to go around. The cattle […]

Image of the Day: Taxis in Chongqing queue for gas

Taxis queue up to fill their tanks on an overpass in Chongqing, China, Wednesday, November 18, 2009. Central and eastern Chinese provinces faced the worst natural gas shortage in years as supplies were diverted to snowstorm-hit northern China, while producers lacked incentives to expand output because of poor margins. Photo by Imaginechina: AP China has […]

Dead Sea surface level plunging one meter per year

The Dead Sea may soon shrink to a lifeless pond as Middle East political strife blocks vital measures needed to halt the decay of the world’s lowest and saltiest body of water, experts say. The surface level is plunging by a metre (three feet) a year and nothing has yet been done to reverse the […]

Graph of the Day: Negative Equity by State, Nov 2009

By RUTH SIMON and JAMES R. HAGERTY The proportion of U.S. homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than the properties are worth has swelled to about 23%, threatening prospects for a sustained housing recovery. Nearly 10.7 million households had negative equity in their homes in the third quarter, according to First American CoreLogic, a […]

Rising sea levels: A tale of two cities

By Michael Hirst in Rotterdam and Kate McGeown in Maputo When people talk about the impact of rising sea levels, they often think of small island states that risk being submerged if global warming continues unchecked. But it’s not only those on low-lying islands who are in danger. Millions of people live by the sea […]

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