Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Nitrogen pollution worsens in Rockies lakes

By JUDITH KOHLER, Associated Press Writer Judith Kohler, Associated Press Writer   – Thu Nov 5, 4:51 pm ET DENVER – Airborne nitrogen pollution from vehicle exhaust and farm fertilizer is turning algae in the alpine lakes of Rocky Mountain National Park into junk food for fish, a study says. A similar phenomenon is occurring in […]

Graph of the Day: Employment-Population Ratio, 1960-2009

From Calculated Risk: The [un]employment report headline numbers were ugly, but the internals are even less encouraging… This graph shows the employment-population ratio; this is the ratio of employed Americans to the adult population. Note: the graph doesn’t start at zero to better show the change. The general upward trend from the early ’60s was […]

Coal company destroys last intact mountain in Coal River Valley

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.- A subsidiary of Massey Energy has begun mountaintop-removal coal-mining operations on Coal River Mountain in West Virginia, the only peak in Coal River Valley that hasn’t been blasted away for mining. Blasting for the mine is taking place 200 yards from the Brushy Fork coal slurry impoundment, which holds 8 billion gallons of […]

Graph of the Day: Total Ice Area on Kilimanjaro, 1912-2007

Outlines of the Kibo (Kilimanjaro) ice fields 1912, 1953, 1976, and 1989 (1), 2000 (2) and updated with Ohio State University aerial photographs taken October 15, 2007. (Inset) Areal extent (km2) versus time with a linear fit (R2 = 0.98). An ice cover map was produced by using the 2007 photos and combined with four […]

Global warming could create 150 million 'climate refugees' by 2050

Environmental Justice Foundation report says 10% of the global population is at risk of forced displacement due to climate change By John Vidal in Barcelona, guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 3 November 2009 00.05 GMT Global warming will force up to 150 million “climate refugees” to move to other countries in the next 40 years, a new report […]

Study finds vital peatlands neglected

By Gerard Wynn BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) – Draining and burning of the world’s peat bogs accounts for about 5.5 percent of global carbon emissions but are currently excluded from governments’ climate targets and U.N. talks, a study found on Wednesday. Peat stores around twice as much carbon as all the world’s trees, but compared with […]

Timor Sea oil rig blaze snuffed but ecosystem damage done

PERTH, Australia, November 3, 2009 (ENS) – PTTEP Australasia today confirmed it has killed a leaking oil well and stopped the main fire at the Montara well head platform and surrounding the West Atlas drilling rig in the Timor Sea off Australia’s north west Kimberley coast. Now the focus turns to investigating the cause of […]

Taiwan coral reefs need 100 years to recover

Taipei (AFP) Nov 3, 2009 – Coral reefs off Taiwan will need up to 100 years to recover from Typhoon Morakot, which lashed the island in early August killing more than 600 people, a scientist said Tuesday. Latest research shows the reefs, near volcanic Orchid Island southeast of Taiwan, have sustained even worse damage than […]

UNEP: Kenya’s Mau Forest under siege

The Mau Complex forms the largest closed-canopy forest ecosystem of Kenya, as large as the forests of Mt. Kenya and the Aberdare combined.  It is the single most important water catchment in Rift Valley and western Kenya. Through the ecological services provided by its forests, the Mau Complex is a natural asset of national importance […]

Graph of the Day: Office, Mall and Lodging Investment, 1959-2009

From Calculated Risk: Here is a graph of office, mall and lodging investment through Q3 2009 based on the underlying detail data released by the BEA … This graph shows investment in offices, lodging and malls as a percent of GDP. The recent boom in lodging investment has been stunning. Lodging investment peaked at 0.32% […]

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