Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Black rhinos airlifted out of Zululand to undisclosed location

By Rhishja Larson, Published on September 17th, 2009 Nine black rhino from Zululand game reserves are being airlifted to a new home as part of a range expansion project for the critically endangered species. In an effort to ensure the survival of critically endangered black rhino, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife […]

Scores of walrus carcasses found on Arctic coast

By DAN JOLING, The Associated Press Up to 200 dead walruses have been spotted on the shore of Chukchi Sea on Alaska’s northwest coast. Federal wildlife researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey on their way to a walrus tagging project spotted 100 to 200 carcasses near Icy Cape about 140 miles southwest of Barrow. They […]

Chandeleur Islands, 2001-2005

The islands have been generally shrinking and migrating landward since the late 1800s. A survey in the 1980s estimated that they would be in existence for about three more centuries. Before 1996, the seaward front of the islands lost about 20-30 feet of land each year, mostly replaced at the rear. From 1996 to 2004, […]

Timor Sea oil spill may worsen, Australia conservationists say

By Ben Sharples Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) — An oil spill from a leaking well off Western Australia that has polluted the Timor Sea with 1,200 metric tons of oil may worsen and is a “major ecological disaster in the making,” a conservation group says. “This is a disaster that risks blowing out further in terms […]

Bangladesh fears climate change will swallow a third of its land

Millions face loss of homes as sea levels rise By Helene Franchineau, THE WASHINGTON TIMES Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni warned Thursday that rising oceans from climate change could swallow up to a third of her low-lying country and urged other nations to take action at an upcoming environmental summit to mitigate the damage. “We […]

Oxfam: Diverting aid for climate change mitigation threatens children

By Alex Morales Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) — Diverting overseas aid from economic development to fight global warming may threaten the lives of at least 4.5 million children in the poorest nations, the anti-poverty group Oxfam said. Pledges made by the 27-nation European Union and various donors to help the developing world adapt to higher sea […]

Kenya cattle buried in mass grave

Pictures of hundreds of cow carcasses being tipped into a mass grave near Nairobi highlight the scale of the natural disaster By Xan Rice in Nairobi guardian.co.uk, Thursday 17 September 2009 The devastating drought sweeping across Kenya is causing widespread hunger, thirst and, in the case of cattle, death. Pictures of hundreds of cow carcasses […]

Malaysian police tear down Penan tribe's anti-logging blockades

Kuala Lumpur (AFP) Sept 16, 2009 – Malaysian police said Wednesday they had dismantled blockades constructed in the Borneo jungles by Penan tribespeople protesting against logging and plantations on their ancestral land. In a separate move police also arrested 17 people, including Penan and other indigenous groups, for mounting a demonstration against a proposed dam […]

Introduced Japanese white-eyes threatens Hawaii's native and endangered birds

ScienceDaily (Sep. 18, 2009) — In the late 1920s, people intentionally introduced birds known as Japanese white-eyes into Hawaiian agricultural lands and gardens for purposes of bug control. Now, that decision has come back to bite us. A recent increase in the numbers of white-eyes that live in old-growth forests is leaving native bird species […]

New Orleans wetlands ‘fastest-disappearing land mass on earth’

By Kim Chipman Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) — Carlton Dufrechou can fly 10 minutes from New Orleans and be over the open waters of the Mississippi Sound. Two decades earlier, before erosion took its toll, he would have looked down on lush wetlands. The destruction accelerated four years ago last month, when Hurricane Katrina struck. The […]

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