Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Graph of the Day: Water well density in Alberta, Canada, 1950-2010

4 March 2014 (Alberta ESRD) – Why is this indicator important? Water wells are used to supply groundwater to domestic, agricultural, municipal, industrial and other users in the province. Water wells were first drilled in Alberta in the late 1800s; since then over 220,000 water wells have been drilled and reported. More than 90 per […]

Ecuador indigenous leader murdered days before planned Lima protest – ‘His body was beaten, bones were broken’

By Jonathan Watts and Dan Collyns6 December 2014 LIMA, Peru (The Guardian) – The body of an indigenous leader who was opposed to a major mining project in Ecuador has been found bound and buried, days before he planned to take his campaign to climate talks in Lima. The killing highlights the violence and harassment […]

Homes flattened as typhoon roars through Philippines – 1.2 million people evacuated

By Rosemarie Francisco, Manuel Mogato, and Alister Doyle7 Deember 2014 MANILA (Reuters) – A powerful, slow-moving typhoon ripped through the central Philippines on Sunday, bringing howling winds that flattened houses and toppled trees and power lines in areas still scarred from a deadly super-storm just over a year ago. In the coastal villages of Dolores, […]

Half of Americans think climate change is a sign of the Apocalypse, up from 44 percent in 2011

21 November 2014 (PRRI) – Americans rank climate change last on a list of important issues. Only five percent of Americans say climate change is the most important issue facing the U.S. today. The issue of climate change ranks behind the lack of jobs (22%), the increasing gap between rich and poor (18%), health care […]

Steps taken on climate change in 2014

By Michael E. Mann5 December 2014 As the mercury rose in 2014, so did reasons to be thankful. Climate change is the kind of thing that makes you feel plenty of emotions, but usually gratitude is not one of them. This year, though, something is different. Though there have been plenty of record-hot months this […]

First week of Lima climate talks end with no breakthrough, but hope still remains – ‘We have heard a lot about pledges. That is why the theme of the Lima conference is ‘action’.’

By Liang Junqian; Editing by Mioh Song7 December 2014   LIMA (Xinhua) – This year’s global climate conference wrapped up its first week in the Peruvian capital with no breakthrough, thus leaving heavy workload to next week’s high-level negotiations to be attended by government ministers. The 20th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to […]

‘Superbugs’ kill India’s babies and pose an overseas threat – ‘Close to 100 percent of the babies referred to us have multidrug resistant infections. It’s scary.’

By GARDINER HARRIS3 December 2014 AMRAVATI, India (The New York Times) – A deadly epidemic that could have global implications is quietly sweeping India, and among its many victims are tens of thousands of newborns dying because once-miraculous cures no longer work. These infants are born with bacterial infections that are resistant to most known […]

Typhoon tears down homes in disaster-weary Philippines – ‘Typhoon Hagupit is triggering one of the largest evacuations we have ever seen in peacetime’

6 December 2014 (AFP) – Typhoon Hagupit tore apart homes and sent waves crashing through coastal communities across the eastern Philippines on Sunday, creating more misery for millions following a barrage of deadly disasters. The typhoon roared in from the Pacific Ocean and crashed into remote fishing communities of Samar island on Saturday night with […]

Graph of the Day: Number of natural disasters, 1900-2012

(UNDP) – More frequent and intense environmental disasters are destroying lives, livelihoods, physical infrastructure and fragile ecosystems. They can impair human capabilities and threaten human development in all countries— especially in the poorest and most vulnerable. Higher income and socioeconomic status are associated with greater ability to absorb losses and higher resilience. Women, people with […]

Super Typhoon Hagupit closes in on the Philippines – Half a million Filipinos flee, one-third of the country to be affected

By Dr. Jeff Masters   5 December 2014 (wunderground.com) – Heavy rains and huge waves are already pounding the Philippines and over half a million people have been evacuated as Super Typhoon Hagupit closes in on the storm-weary islands. Hagupit briefly fell below the 150 mph wind threshold needed to maintain its “Super Typhoon” designation on […]

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