Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Indonesia carbon emissions to rise 50% by 2030

A report released by the Indonesian government shows the country is the world’s third largest greenhouse gas emitter, largely as a result of the destruction of rainforests and carbon-dense peatlands. Indonesia accounts for 8 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. The ‘National Council on Climate Change’ report reveals that degradation and destruction of peatlands (45 […]

Islands warn of extinction at UN climate week

New York (AFP) Sept 21, 2009 – As world leaders gather for key climate talks here, small island nations Monday warned they were running out of time with rising seas threatening to wipe them off the map. Spread across the Earth’s oceans, the planet’s tiniest members grouped together in the Alliance of Small Islands States […]

Somalia faces worst food crisis in 18 years: UN

Rome (AFP) Sept 21, 2009 – Drought, conflict and displacement are causing the worst humanitarian crisis in war-torn Somalia in 18 years, the UN food agency warned Monday. Some 3.6 million people, about half the Somali population, need emergency aid including 1.3 million people displaced by fighting in the Horn of Africa country, the Food […]

Graph of the Day: Population Change of Athabasca River Caribou, 1993-2004

Woodland caribou is one of the species likely to be extirpated from regions subjected to Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) development. Caribou declines across Alberta have been correlated with the level of industrial development within their ranges.43 In the past ten years, the East Side Athabasca River caribou herd, whose range overlaps much of the […]

Environmental impacts of oil sands development in Alberta

Posted by Nate Hagens at The Oil Drum …The liquid tailings, a by product of the oil sands mining process, contain naphthenic acids, unrecovered hydrocarbons and trace metals, making it toxic to aquatic organisms21 and mammals22. Operators are required to store tailings waste on site in large containment dykes because the water is too toxic […]

BBC zoologist: Let the panda die out 'with dignity'

By Philippe Naughton, From Times Online, September 22, 2009  The BBC wildlife expert Chris Packham has questioned the millions spent trying to save the giant panda from extinction and suggested that the bamboo-eating bear should be allowed to die out “with a degree of dignity”. The zoologist, who has replaced Bill Oddie as a presenter […]

Fish killed by algae bloom in Australia duck pond

By ARJUN RAMACHANDRAN, September 21, 2009 – 1:25PM Hundreds of fish have died and the lives of dozens of eels and turtles have been threatened apparently after an outbreak of algae in the duck pond at Centennial Park. Park patrons described as “tragic” the sight of hundreds of European carp lying on the surface of […]

Bark beetle invasion: Wyoming and Colorado forests ‘will never look the same again’

Global warming. Dwindling water. Massive wildfires. All are implications of the invasion. By Shauna Stephenson, sstephenson@wyomingnews.com   Slash piles surround the parking area on Pelton Creek Road in the Medicine Bow National Forest, southwest of Laramie near the Colorado border. Grant Frost, a terrestrial habitat biologist for Wyoming Game and Fish, inspects a tree, looking for […]

EU drops demand for ban on commercial bluefin tuna fishing

By Lewis Smith Attempts to save the bluefin tuna from extinction suffered a serious setback yesterday when the European Union dropped its demand for commercial fishing of the species to be banned. A rearguard action by Mediterranean fishing nations, including Spain, Italy and France, blocked moves to get the European Union to support a worldwide […]

Pesticide additive widespread in Canada groundwater

Another contaminant found in Canadian groundwater samples may join the list of environmental substances that could be harmful to humans and the environment, according to recent study results published in the September 2009 issue of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. The newest potential threat to human health and the environment is fluorochemicals known as perfluorinated phosphoric […]

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