Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Northern fur seal pup decline: lowest birth rate since 1916

  Researchers have marked another decline in northern fur seal pup births in the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea, where most of the world’s population of northern fur seals gather in the summer to rest and breed. “We started seeing an over-all decline in the abundance of fur seals on the Pribilof Islands around […]

The worst of times: Bush's environmental legacy examined

With four days to go until president-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated, history is documenting George Bush’s environmental record at home and abroad. By Suzanne Goldenberg, guardian.co.uk   …"He has undone decades if not a century of progress on the environment," said Josh Dorner, a spokesman for the Sierra Club, one of America’s largest environmental groups. […]

Once-plentiful abalone put on endangered list

By Zeke Barlow   The black abalone that were once thick in the waters off the California coast earned a dubious distinction today when biologists took the final steps in putting the mollusk on the Endangered Species List.  … The wording in the listing of the abalone brings up how global warming may affect the […]

Birds flee Tehran's toxic air and unregulated development

Exodus of the resilient black crow follows flight of other wildlife from Iranian capital Robert Tait, guardian.co.uk Tehran’s notoriously bad air pollution has long been a health hazard for its 12 million people, but now the toxic mix of fumes has sent a different set of residents fleeing – the city’s black crows. Environmentalists say […]

New invasive fish spreads through the Ebro delta; 80% of native species threatened

    Biologists have researched and described for the first time in Europe the spread of the invasive dojo loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) fish species. The fish comes from East Asia and was first discovered in the Ebro delta in 2001. Since then, it has occupied various parts of the river during its lightning spread, and […]

Coastal acidification by rivers: A new threat to shellfish?

Via Ocean Acidification: Increasing atmospheric CO2 is likely to cause a corresponding increase in oceanic acidity by lowering pH by 0.2-0.5 pH units by the end of the 21st century [Royal Society, 2005]. In light of increasing acidity, there are growing concerns about the future health of a variety of marine organisms, particularly shellfish, which […]

White Nose Disease driving bats from caves

By Beth Daley, Globe Staff Massachusetts and Vermont wildlife officials are asking for the public’s help to identify bats affected by the mysterious white nose syndrome. Bats are normally in deep hibernation this time of year in ice-encrusted caves and abandoned mines across the Northeast. But researchers say they are beginning to get calls of […]

Once reducers of CO2, Canada's trees now contribute to global warming

In an alarming, yet little noticed series of recent studies, scientists have determined that Canada’s 1.2 million square miles of forests have become so stressed from damage caused by global warming, insect infestations and persistent fires that they have crossed an ominous line and now pump out more carbon dioxide than they take in. The […]

Zimbabwe troops 'eat elephants'

Zimbabwean soldiers are being given elephant meat for their rations, a wildlife campaigner has told the BBC. Jonny Rodrigues from the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said that several soldiers had complained to him that was the only meat they were given. … Mr Rodrigues said that the use of elephant meat began last June but […]

Most US job losses since 1945

Jobless rate jumps to 7.2 percent in Dec. Caps year with most annual job losses in the post-World War II era   WASHINGTON – The U.S. unemployment rate bolted to 7.2 percent in December, the highest level in 16 years, as nervous employers slashed 524,000 jobs. The labor market is expected to remain weak as […]

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