Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Climate change biggest threat to human health

By Sam Lister, Health Editor Climate change poses the biggest threat to human health in the 21st century but its full impact is not being grasped by the healthcare community or policymakers, a medical report concludes. The report, compiled by a commission of academics from University College London and published in The Lancet, warns that […]

Changing climate increases lightning deaths in Cambodia

Phnom Penh (AFP) May 7, 2009 – Lightning strikes have killed about 50 Cambodians in the first four months of the year, a government official said Thursday. The number of such deaths was up from the same period last year, said a deputy head at the National Committee for Disaster Management, Ly Thuch, without giving […]

Graph of the Day: Residential Investment, New Single Family Structures, 1959-2009

From Calculated Risk: As everyone knows, investment in single family structures has fallen off a cliff. This is the component of RI that gets all the media attention – although usually from stories about single family starts and new home sales. … Home improvement is at 1.15% of GDP, off the high of 1.30% in […]

Climate change and humans are wiping out the grizzly bear in Yellowstone

 Yale Environment 360 currently has a piece which connects two subjects that TreeHugger has covered on a number of occasions, species getting de-listed as endangered species and climate change wiping out habitat. In this case it’s the grizzly bear and pine trees dying in and around Yellowstone National Park: Though the grizzly bear had been […]

Climate change, water shortages conspire to create 21st century Dust Bowl

By SCOTT STREATER, SPECIAL TO E&E, Greenwire Dust storms accelerated by a warming climate have covered the Rocky Mountains with dirt whose heat-trapping properties have caused snowpacks to melt weeks earlier than normal, worrying officials in Colorado about drastic water shortages by late summer. Snowpacks from the San Juan Mountains to the Front Range have […]

Chemical timebomb for male fertility

By David Derbyshire Chemicals in food, cosmetics and cleaning products are ‘feminising’ unborn boys and raising their risk of cancer and infertility later in life, an expert warns today. Professor Richard Sharpe, one of Britain’s leading reproductive biologists, says everyday substances are linked to soaring rates of birth defects and testicular cancer, and to falling […]

The most depressing places in America

Abandoned factories. Foreclosed homes. Crime. Poverty. Unemployment. Endless gridlock. The richest country in the world has it all in spades. In some places, you may not notice it too much. Conversely, some cities have taken on more than their fair share of misery. There are plenty of lists out there like  “cities with worst unemployment” […]

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, now 16% Below Peak Technorati Tags: financial collapse

Dying oceans 'life and death issue': Indonesia

MANADO, Indonesia (AFP) — The destruction of the world’s oceans due to climate change and overuse is a “life and death issue” for humanity, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Thursday. “We must come to the rescue of the oceans. We must save them from the ravages of abuse and over-exploitation by humankind, from the […]

Updated red-list: 192 bird species are critically endangered

In this year’s updated IUCN Red List on birds, six species were down-listed from Critically Endangered to Endangered, but eight species were up-listed to Critically Endangered, leading to the highest number of Critically Endangered birds ever on the list. In all 1,227 bird species (12 percent) are currently considered threatened with global extinction. … Updated […]

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