Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Leaking Australia oil well catches fire

An oil well at the centre of a massive spill in the Timor Sea off the north west coast of Australia is on fire. The company which runs the well, PTTEP Australasia, said the fire broke out as it made another attempt to plug a leak deep underwater at the West Atlas rig. Engineers have […]

European eel stocks below 10% of 1970s levels

By PAUL AMES, Wintam, Belgium …They may be slimy, snakelike and a distinct turn-off for many people, but eels have formed an integral part of European cuisine since the time of the ancient Greeks. Yet without urgent action, scientists fear this mysterious beast could disappear from the continent’s waterways and dinner tables for good. European […]

Kenya: after drought comes deluge of floods and destruction

By Standard Team Flooding has claimed three lives, displaced hundreds and cut off towns following heavy rainfall, even as meteorologists warn it would get worse. The most affected areas are Coast and North Eastern provinces, which have seen a sudden increase in rainfall in line with the Meteorological Department’s forecast in August that flooding, would […]

Fewer than 100 Florida panthers alive in the wild

Since the animals were first listed as endangered, the human population of Florida has more than tripled, and efforts to help the Florida’s state animal recover have had limited success By The Editors    One of more than 20 subspecies of cougar and native to the southeastern United States, the Florida Panther is most certainly still […]

Graph of the Day: Fannie Mae Serious Delinquency Rate, 1998 – August 2009

From Calculated Risk: Here is the monthly Fannie Mae hockey stick graph. Fannie Mae reported today that the rate of serious delinquencies – at least 90 days behind – for conventional loans in its single-family guarantee business increased to 4.45% in August, up from 4.17% in July – and up from 1.57% in August 2008. […]

Strategy to save koalas from extinction 'laughable'

By DARREN CARTWRIGHT, November 1, 2009 NEW Queensland Government planning laws to protect dwindling koala numbers in the state’s south-east are laughable, the Australian Koala Foundation says. Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Kate Jones yesterday announced measures to protect the marsupials’ habitats. The measures include spending $15 million to buy new habitats or rehabilitate existing […]

Australia oil spill: 'dolphins, emaciated and starving, unable to feed in the toxic waters'

By Channel 4 News , Updated on 23 October 2009 The West Atlas oil rig continues to leak crude oil into the ocean off the coast of Australia following a rupture nine weeks ago. Julian Rush reports. [Video]     It is thought the West Atlas oil platform leak could be a lot worse than […]

NASA Earth Observatory: Oil Slick in the Timor Sea

By Rebecca Lindsey, NASA’s Earth Observatory More than two months after a blowout at a newly dug oil well, crude oil and gas condensate continued to leak into the Timor Sea, between northwest Australia and Indonesia. According to news reports, the company responsible for the leaking well has tried to cap it three times without […]

Hundreds of whales and dolphins, thousands of sea birds feeding amid ‘enormous’ Australia oil spill

By MARIAN WILKINSON ENVIRONMENT EDITOR, October 31, 2009 LARGE numbers of whales, dolphins, turtles and sea birds are feeding in waters polluted by the massive oil spill off the West Australian coast and are likely to be at ”immediate risk”, a new report released by the federal Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, reveals. A leading ecologist, […]

Australia oil spill contaminates Indonesia fisheries

By Phil Mercer, Sydney, 20 October 2009 Australia’s worst oil slick since the mid-1980s is now tainting Indonesian waters. Fishermen in West Timor say contaminated fish are making villagers ill. Oil began leaking two months ago, following an accident on the West Atlas drilling platform, which lies about 200 kilometers off the coast of Western […]

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