Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Texas counties see worst drought on record

At least nine counties see driest times in more than a century DALLAS – The most parched areas of Texas have been wilting in the blistering heat for two years, but only now is it now official: This is their worst drought in recorded history. Texas state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said Friday that at least […]

Australia prepares for worst fire season ever

  By Mex Cooper The CFA chief heavily criticised for his handling of Black Saturday will be responsible for keeping Victoria safe as it faces its worst-ever fire season, Premier John Brumby has said. Mr Brumby warned Victorians that 13 years of drought will make the coming fire season, less than 10 weeks away, potentially […]

Australia Environment Minister concedes extinction inevitable

By Tom Arup, Environment Correspondent THE Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, has warned that money to save endangered wildlife is limited and some species may have to be abandoned when funding decisions are made. In one of the strongest speeches of his ministerial career he told an international conference of ecologists in Brisbane that the Government […]

Texas drought produces long, busy fire season

By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY GRANBURY, Texas — Firefighters assigned to the Texas Forest Service this year have grown accustomed to living away from wives and husbands, skipping family gatherings, missing anniversaries. PHOTOS: Texas battles wildfires They check in daily to the Forest Service’s command center in this north-central Texas town, no days off, waiting […]

India faces drought but economists upbeat

New Delhi (AFP) Aug 16, 2009 – Crops are shrivelling as India faces the spectre of drought but economists say they are still upbeat about the country’s economic prospects. They are banking that a strong industrial performance will help offset the impact of the worst monsoon in years in Asia’s third largest economy. Analysts have […]

Climate change driving Texas wildlife northward

By ANNA M. TINSLEY As the hot days in Texas get even hotter, it may just be too much for some birds and fish. From the American goldfinch to the gray snapper, some species have been moving north for years, searching for cooler ground. And their quest may someday lead them to migrate out of […]

Arctic permafrost collapsing as thermokarsts proliferate

Features formed by melting permafrost provide clues to a changing Arctic landscape and climate By Lisa Jarvis There is a profound quietude north of Alaska’s Brooks Range, the string of mountains separating the boreal forest from the Arctic tundra. Traveling along the Dalton Highway, the one road to the Arctic Ocean, one sees little visible […]

Teton glaciers recede

By Mead Gruver, Associated Press Writer Cheyenne, Wyo. » Glaciers on the iconic Teton Range are shrinking, researchers say, joining a growing list of glaciers in North America and beyond that are losing their surface area and potentially reducing the water supply for nearby regions. Two of the Tetons’ biggest glaciers have lost more than […]

Graph of the Day: India Rain Distribution, June-August 2009

by Rahul Goswami The first reports of drought-related suicides have begun filtering in from the district press. Farmers in the eastern coastal state of Andhra Pradesh are taking their own lives – the toll is said to be 20 farmers over the last 40 days. The state is one amongst many which has so far […]

Early agricultural methods may have altered global climate

(University of Virginia) Massive burning of forests for agriculture thousands of years ago may have increased atmospheric carbon dioxide enough to alter global climate and usher in a warming trend that continues today, according to a new study that appears online Aug. 17 in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews. Researchers at the University of Virginia […]

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