Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

One-third of Shoshone Forest killed by bark beetles

By RUFFIN PREVOST Gazette Wyoming Bureau | Posted: Thursday, November 12, 2009 5:20 pm CODY — Dozens of popular camping spots on public land around Yellowstone National Park could be closed next summer as the U.S. Forest Service focuses regional spending priorities on the effects of widespread bark beetle infestations in Colorado and southern Wyoming. […]

Evictions in Mau a constant cycle

By GEORGE SAYAGIE and JOHN NGIRACHU Posted Friday, November 13 2009 at 22:00 One moment you are in, the next, you are out. For some of the people moving out of the south western part of the Mau Forest Complex, this has come to be a familiar pattern of their lives. It is not the […]

China's record debt has economists worried

The nation is taking on record levels of debt to keep its economy humming. Some say that can’t last. By Bill Powell, contributorLast Updated: November 11, 2009: 12:21 PM ET (Fortune Magazine) — In a world still awash in economic worry, China has stood apart as the one country that has come through the global […]

Graph of the Day: Vegetation Decline Due To Drought in California's Central Valley

By the end of July 2009, California was well into its third dry year in a row. On average, the state’s reservoirs were running low. In particular, the San Luis reservoir had reached only 18 percent of its capacity by July 28, said the Drought Operations Center for the State of California. The San Luis […]

Grist: We have met the deniers, and they are us

Via reader Gail: By Adam Sacks James Inhofe.Marc Morano.Richard Lindzen.Bjørn Lomborg.George W. Bush. Names of shame, ignominy, criminals against humanity, against planet Earth itself.  Agents of the lethal delays in our response to escalating, accelerating, catastrophic global warming. Yet, as deniers of climate change, they’re amateurs compared to us.  Us activists, environmentalists, scientists, and certainly […]

Argentina wheat harvest plunges on drought, locusts

By Rodrigo Orihuela Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) — Wheat output in Argentina’s biggest producing region will plunge 70 percent in the current harvest because of dry weather and locust swarms, an analyst at a local cereals exchange said. The south of Buenos Aires province, which produced about 30 percent of the country’s wheat in past years, […]

Hundreds of thousands of cattle perish in Argentina drought

From reader Gail: By Marcela Valente BUENOS AIRES, Nov 12 (IPS) – The persistent drought affecting some 90 percent of Argentine territory has slain cattle in the hundreds of thousands and caused forest fires, drastic restrictions on water use and local disputes over water. The area around Tostado, a town in the northeastern province of […]

Reader love: So long and thanks for all the fish

Via reader rpauli:   So Long and Thanks for All the Fish Written and produced by Joby Talbot So long and thanks for all the fishSo sad that it should come to thisWe tried to warn you all but oh dear You may not share our intellectWhich might explain your disrespectFor all the natural wonders […]

Desdemona at 1

13 November 2009 (Desdemona Despair) – When Zeus filled Pandora’s jar with the evils of the world, he saved Delusional Hope for last – to prevent humans from committing mass suicide as they were overcome by the other evils. A year of blogging Desdemona has helped me to overcome the curse of delusional hope. Hope […]

Glorious vision in Kenya's sky melts away

Mt. Kenya’s ice cap was so stunning that some began revering it as God’s home. But most of the shining glacier has now disappeared, robbing communities of water and leading to a crisis of faith. By Edmund Sanders, November 10, 2009 Reporting from Muranga, Kenya – From a tree-shaded plateau facing Mt. Kenya, the worshipers […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial