Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Historic Mexico drought causing food crisis

Crops are wilting in the countryside, and the capital’s water shortage has turned dire as Mexico grapples with its worst drought in more than half a century. By Ken Ellingwood, Reporting from Mexico City – In the parched Mexican countryside, the corn is wilting, the wheat stunted. And here in this vast and thirsty capital, […]

Endangered Madagascar lemur nears extinction from forest destruction

By Josia Razafindramanana, special to mongabay.com A small group of crowned sifaka lemurs Propithecus coronatus have been located in the corridor d’Amboloando-Dabolava, Miandrivazo district-Madagascar, but are immediately threatened with local extinction. The small, fragmented, and isolated forest shelters a group of only six adults and one baby. Interviews with local people revealed that once several […]

Pollution from California wildfires spreads across U.S.

ScienceDaily (Sep. 8, 2009) — Beginning August 26, 2009, and continuing into September 2009, a large wildfire in the Angeles National Forest north of Los Angeles known as the Station Fire burned more than 140,000 acres through September 3. Carbon monoxide in the smoke from this large fire was lofted as high as 8.3 kilometers […]

Graph of the Day: U.S. Consumer Credit, 1969-2009

From Calculated Risk: This graph shows the year-over-year (YoY) change in consumer credit. Consumer credit is off 4.2% over the last 12 months. The previous record YoY decline was 1.9% in 1991. Here is the Fed report: Consumer Credit. Consumer credit declined from $2,493.6 billion in June to $2,472.1 in July. Note: The Fed reports […]

Desperate effort to save Christmas Island bat species fails

By John Platt Well folks, it looks like this is it for the Christmas Island pipistrelle bat (Pipistrellus murrayi). This critically endangered species of microbat now appears to be doomed to impending extinction as last-gasp efforts to capture the few remaining bats and place them in a captive breeding program have failed. Eight scientists, along […]

Tiny Arctic town fights losing battle against changing climate

By CHARLES J. HANLEY, Associated Press TUKTOYAKTUK, Northwest Territories — Caught between rising seas and land melting beneath their mukluk-shod feet, the villagers of Tuktoyaktuk are doing what anyone would do on this windy Arctic coastline. They’re building windmills. That’s wind-power turbines, to be exact — a token first try at “getting rid of this […]

Turkey tells Iraq, Syria: No water

By Staff Writers, Ankara, Turkey (UPI) Turkey says it cannot give drought-stricken Iraq and Syria any more water from the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, claiming it’s short of water itself as it forges ahead with a mammoth dam-building program. The thirsty downstream states, witnessing their farmland turning into dustbowls and their people migrating to overcrowded […]

Nigeria vultures killed and sold as roasted chicken

By Rhishja Larson A disturbing incident in Eket, Nigeria reveals that unsuspecting roadside barbecue patrons may have been eating vulture meat instead of chicken. Hungry buyers tempted by the scrumptious sizzle of meat cooking over a charcoal fire may want to think twice before buying a snack from one of these outdoor roasting vendors. What […]

Algae bloom suspected in French death

French investigators are examining whether a lorry driver has become the first victim of a toxic seaweed that is clogging parts of the Brittany coast. The driver died in July after carrying three truckloads of sea lettuce away from the beaches where it has been decaying, releasing poisonous gas. His death was originally recorded as […]

Rising seas threaten 20 million people in Bangladesh

By David Shukman, BBC News, Bangladesh Up to 20 million people in low-lying Bangladesh are at risk from rising sea levels in the coming decades, according to new research. Scientists predict that salty water could reach far inland, making it hard to cultivate staple foods like rice. The research comes as the government appeals for […]

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