Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

EPA: Toxic chemicals in freshwater fish widespread

By DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press Writer – Tue Nov 10, 7:31 pm ET WASHINGTON – Nearly half of lakes and reservoirs nationwide contain fish with potentially harmful levels of the toxic metal mercury, according to a federal study released Tuesday. The Environmental Protection Agency found mercury — a pollutant primarily released from coal-fired power plants […]

Graph of the Day: IEA Forecast of Global Oil Production, 1990-2030

By Terry Macalisterwww.guardian.co.uk, Monday 9 November 2009 21.30 GMT The world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit, according to a whistleblower at the International Energy Agency who claims it has been deliberately underplaying a looming shortage for fear of triggering panic buying. The senior official claims the US has […]

Kenya: Security forces move to evict millions of settlers in Mau Forest

  Nairobi — The government will start evicting millions of squatters in Mau Forest any time from Wednesday. Hundreds of security officers have been sent to South Western Mau, the first part of the 400,000 hectare forest to be cleared of settlers. The government had given the settlers a deadline of Tuesday to leave peacefully. […]

Timor Sea oil leak 'threatens Indonesian coast'

By FRAN RIMRODNovember 11, 2009 – 10:40AM There are fears the oil that spewed from a leaking well off the West Australian coast has polluted a stretch of the Indonesian coastline, jeopardising the local fishing industry. The Greens are calling on operator PTTEP Australasia to compensate West Timorese fishing communities in West Timor if reports […]

Warmest month on record in Darwin, Australia

Darwin has just experienced its warmest month on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Darwin has recorded the hottest ever month of daytime temperatures at the official observing site at Darwin Airport. Darwin Airport has been recording weather observations since 1941. “The average maximum temperature in October was 34.8°C” , Darwin climatologist Dr Shaik […]

W Australia sea level rising fast

By Phil MercerBBC News, Sydney New figures have revealed that sea levels along the coast of Western Australia are rising at a rate double that of the world average. Statistics from Australia’s National Tidal Centre show levels have increased by 8.6mm a year off the coast of the state capital Perth. That compares to a […]

Cave study links climate change to California mega-droughts

(University of California – Davis) California experienced centuries-long droughts in the past 20,000 years that coincided with the thawing of ice caps in the Arctic, according to a new study by UC Davis doctoral student Jessica Oster and geology professor Isabel Montañez. The finding, which comes from analyzing stalagmites from Moaning Cavern in the central […]

Koalas face extinction within 30 years

  Researchers Deborah Tabart and Hugh Possingham on the demise of koalas Australia’s koalas could be wiped out within 30 years unless urgent action is taken to halt a decline in population, according to researchers. They say development, climate change and bushfires have all combined to send the numbers of wild koalas plummeting. The Australian […]

Pesticide killing Kenya lions and birds by the 'truckloads'

By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.com, November 10, 2009 On Monday October 26th a three-year-old girl mistakenly ate the pesticide Furadan (also known as carbofuran) in western Kenya. Her father, a teacher at a primary school, said that he had no knowledge of how dangerous the pesticide was, which he had purchased to kill pests in his […]

Commercial fishing gear kills one albatross every five minutes

Scientists call for new measures to protect the seabirds as experts warn one albatross drowns every five minutes after becoming entangled in fishing gear Press Association guardian.co.uk, Monday 9 November 2009 11.31 GMT Albatrosses and other birds are facing extinction as they become tangled in commercial fishing gear, conservation organisations warned today. Thirty-seven species of […]

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