Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

How cities drive plants extinct

By Matt Walker, Editor, Earth News How towns and cities cause the extinction of local plants has been revealed for the first time. An international team of botanists has compared extinction rates of plants within 22 cities around the world. Both Singapore and New York City in the US now contain less than one-tenth of […]

Graph of the Day: Change in Fisheries Catch Potential, 2005-2055

Change in maximum catch potential from 2005 to 2055 under doubling of greenhouse gas concentration by the year 2100. Cheung, W.W.L., Lam, V.W.Y., Sarmiento, J. L., Kearney, K., Watson, R., Zeller, D. and Pauly, D., Large-scale redistribution of maximum fisheries catch potential in the global ocean under climate change. Global Change Biology. OCTOBER 2009. Summarized […]

Tropical regions to be hardest hit by fisheries shifts caused by climate change

Major shifts in fisheries distribution due to climate change will affect food security in tropical regions most adversely, according to a study [pdf] led by the Sea Around Us Project at The University of British Columbia. In the first major study to examine the effects of climate change on ocean fisheries, a team of researchers […]

9 ways climate change has animals running (and flying and swimming) for their lives

From TreeHugger:   From the Arctic to the Rockies to the Mediterranean, species large and small are changing their migratory patterns and seeking more hospitable homes. Why? Climate change affects weather conditions, hunting grounds, and the availability of water and favored food supplies. Those that can up and move are the lucky ones–for now–but each […]

Alaska polar bear sightings on land quadruple

By Yereth Rosen ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – Oil companies scouring the coastline of Alaska’s North Slope for new production sites are converging on the same territory as hungry polar bears trying to escape shrinking and thinning sea ice. Polar bears have not attacked any workers recently, but oil companies are reporting four times as many […]

Graph of the Day: Consumer Credit, 1969-2009

From Calculated Risk: This graph shows the year-over-year (YoY) change in consumer credit. Consumer credit is off 4.4% over the last 12 months. The previous record YoY decline was 1.9% in 1991. Here is the Fed report: Consumer Credit Consumer credit decreased at an annual rate of 5-3/4 percent in August 2009. Revolving credit decreased […]

Endangered Alaska beluga whales declining

By MARY PEMBERTON, Associated Press Writer ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A government study found that a group of endangered beluga whales in Alaska is declining, raising concern that bolstered protection for the animals is not coming quickly enough. The downward trend comes after two years where numbers for the Cook Inlet belugas appeared to have stabilized. […]

Wetlands loss caused by Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas pipelines

By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-PicayuneOctober 05, 2009, 9:46PM A new study [pdf] for the federal Minerals Management Service concludes that the construction of pipelines related to oil and gas production in the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico “can cause locally intense habitat changes, thereby contributing to the loss of critically important land […]

Judge again rules against Georgia in water fight

By Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution The judge overseeing the tri-state water wars case on Monday again ruled against Georgia and all but told the state it should stop litigating claims to Lake Lanier water rights and settle the case once and for all. In a three-page order, Senior U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson frowned […]

Graph of the Day: Net Gain in U.S. Employment by Firm Size, 1992-2009

From Calculated Risk: This graph breaks down net job gains and losses by firm size since 1992. During the current employment recession, small firms have accounted for about 45% of the job losses – much higher than during the 2001 recession. Small Business and Employment Technorati Tags: financial collapse

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