Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Graph of the Day: U.S. Unemployment Rates by County, Jan 2007 – Sep 2009

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are more than 31 million people currently unemployed – that’s including those involuntarily working part-time and those who want a job, but have given up on trying to find one. In the face of the worst economic upheaval since the Great Depression, millions […]

Inferno on Earth: Wildfires spreading as temperatures rise

“Future firefighters have their work cut out for them.,” says Janet Larsen, Director of Research for the Earth Policy Institute, in a recent release, “Inferno on Earth: Wildfires Spreading as Temperatures Rise“. Perhaps nowhere does this hit home harder than in Australia, where in early 2009 a persistent drought, high winds, and record high temperatures […]

'Conspiracy of silence' over climate migrants: UN official

By Staff WritersBarcelona, Spain (AFP) Nov 5, 2009 A “conspiracy of silence” is stifling debate over the future of people who become displaced through climate change, a top UN official for refugees says. In an interview with AFP at the UN climate talks in Barcelona, Jean-Francois Durieux, in charge of climate change at the UN […]

Global warming a growing threat to Arctic reindeer

  By Staff WritersJarfjord, Norway (AFP) Nov 13, 2009 On Norway’s border with Russia, the consequences of climate change are affecting the reindeer population as rising temperatures hit food stocks and industry growth eats into vital grazing land. “Over the past three years, I’ve had to give some hay to my 800 reindeer during the […]

Floods and droughts: How climate change is impacting Africa

By CHRISTOPHER THOMPSON / KALOTUM Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009 When one enters the northern Kenyan village of Kalotum, the overwhelming impression is one of things missing. There are a dozen conical thatched huts and a clutch of spindly thorn trees. But there are no crops, animals or water. A quick look around reveals no men, […]

Destruction of Indonesia peatlands wreaks as much damage as all the vehicles in the U.S.

TARUNA JAYA, Indonesia – Across a patch of pineapples shrouded in smoke, Idris Hadrianyani battled a menace that has left his family sleepless and sick — and has wrought as much damage on the planet as has exhaust from all the cars and trucks in the United States. Against the advancing flames, he waved a […]

Graph of the Day: Sea Level Rise at Australia coastline, Early 1990s – June 2009

The net relative sea level trend in mm/year after subtracting the effects of the vertical movement of the platform and the inverse barometric pressure effect utilising all the data collected since the start of the project up to the end of June 2009. Australia National Tidal Centre, Bureau of Meteorology, The Australian Baseline Sea Level […]

Australia temperature records fall and fires burn

By DEBORAH SMITH SCIENCE EDITORNovember 20, 2009 FIVE major fires are burning in NSW as the state swelters in a heatwave that has seen decades-old records fall. The state has experienced both its hottest November day and hottest November night since observations began. The mercury soared to 46.4 degrees at Tibooburra in the north-west of […]

Using fish as livestock feed threatens global fisheries

By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.com, November 18, 2009 Fish doesn’t just feed humans. Millions of tons of fish are fed every year to chickens, pigs, and even farmed fish even in the midst of rising concerns over fish stocks collapses around the world. Finding an alternative to fish as livestock feed would go a long way […]

Physicians for Social Responsibility: Coal's Assault on Human Health

Physicians for Social Responsibility has released a groundbreaking medical report, “Coal’s Assault on Human Health,” which takes a new look at the devastating impacts of coal on the human body. Coal combustion releases mercury, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and dozens of other substances known to be hazardous to human health. This report looks […]

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