Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Starved sea lions washing up on California beaches

Jane Kay, Chronicle Environment Writer Fluctuating ocean conditions may be depleting the food supply of young sea lions that are turning up skinny and ill on California beaches, mirroring the fate of Brandt’s cormorants earlier this spring. The animal strandings are so numerous that the newly expanded Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito can’t keep up. […]

Graph of the Day: Sea Level Change, 1970-2008

By Adam Morton The ocean is warming about 50 per cent faster than reported two years ago, according to an update of the latest climate science. A report compiling research presented at a science congress in Copenhagen in March says recent observations are near the worst-case predictions of the 2007 report by the United Nations’ […]

Federal studies show polar bear, walrus populations in trouble

  ANCHORAGE, Alaska— Today, responding to a court-ordered deadline, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released long-overdue reports documenting the status of polar bears and Pacific walrus in Alaska. The reports confirm that polar bears in Alaska are declining and that Pacific walrus are under threat. Both species are imperiled due to the loss of […]

NOAA predicts large dead zone in Gulf of Mexico this summer

(NOAA Headquarters) NOAA-supported scientists from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, Louisiana State University, and the University of Michigan are forecasting that the "dead zone" off the coast of Louisiana and Texas in the Gulf of Mexico this summer could be one of the largest on record. Scientists are predicting the area could measure between 7,450 […]

Pollution drives Mekong dolphins to brink of extinction

Pollution in the Mekong river has pushed freshwater dolphins in Cambodia and Laos to the brink of extinction, the conservation group WWF has said. Only 64 to 76 Irrawaddy dolphins remain in the Mekong, it says, and calls for a cross-border plan to help the dolphins. Toxic levels of pesticides, mercury and other pollutants have […]

Antibacterial chemical found in dolphin blood

By Karen Kidd For the first time, the popular antibacterial agent triclosan is found in the blood of a marine mammal. A bacteria-killing chemical widely used in an array of consumer products has made its way down kitchen and bathroom sinks and into dolphins living in US coastal waters. Researchers report for the first time […]

Mercury in Mackenzie River delta dramatically higher than previously believed

Edmonton—University of Alberta researchers conducting a water study in the Mackenzie River Delta have found a dramatically higher delivery of mercury from the Mackenzie River to the Arctic Ocean than determined in previous studies. Researcher Jennifer Graydon analyzed water in the Mackenzie River as it flowed north into the Beaufort Sea. She collected samples for […]

Definancialisation, deglobalisation, relocalisation

Dmitry Orlov brings his A-game: This talk was presented at The New Emergency Conference in Dublin, on June 11, 2009. Good morning. The title of this talk is a bit of a mouthful, but what I want to say can be summed up in simpler words: we all have to prepare for life without much […]

As Iraq runs dry, a plague of snakes is unleashed

An unprecedented fall in the water levels of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers has left the rural population at the mercy of heat, drought – and displaced wildlife. Patrick Cockburn reports Swarms of snakes are attacking people and cattle in southern Iraq as the Euphrates and Tigris rivers dry up and the reptiles lose their […]

Graph of the Day: Capacity Utilization, 1967-2009

From Calculated Risk: This graph shows Capacity Utilization. This series is at another record low (the series starts in 1967). In addition to the weakness in industrial production, there is little reason for investment in new production facilities until capacity utilization recovers. … Industrial Production Declines, Capacity Utilization at Record Low Technorati Tags: financial collapse

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