Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

In Montana, ranchers line up against coal – ‘They call us radical environmentalists because we want the laws enforced’

[cf. Cities and tribes in Washington State: No coal port, no coal trains here] By Kim Murphy26 April 2013 COLSTRIP, Montana (Los Angeles Times) – Out in these windy stretches of cottonwood and prairie grass, not far from where Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer ran into problems at Little Bighorn, a new battle is unfolding […]

Empty nets in Louisiana three years after the spill – ‘Looks like somebody poured motor oil all over the marsh there’

By Matt Smith27 April 2013 Yscloskey, Louisiana (CNN) – On his dock along the banks of Bayou Yscloskey, Darren Stander makes the pelicans dance. More than a dozen of the birds have landed or hopped onto the dock, where Stander takes in crabs and oysters from the fishermen who work the bayou and Lake Borgne […]

Fukushima groundwater contaminated with leaking radioactive water – Japan reconstruction minister to visit Chernobyl site

27 April 2013 (JIJI) – Samples of groundwater taken from monitoring holes around the sunken reservoirs at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant are proving radioactive, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Saturday. Strontium and other radioactive elements were detected in samples taken from 13 of the 22 observation holes dug around the reservoirs, which were […]

Sea level rise panel won’t require ‘future flood’ disclosure for Delaware home sellers

By Molly Murray 26 April 2013 (The News Journal) – A state advisory panel on sea level rise on Friday backed away from a proposal to require sellers to disclose a home’s vulnerability to future flooding. Instead, they informally agreed to focus on education and steps that will make it easier for buyers to find […]

Oil sands country: Remote region at the heart of the Keystone controversy

By Anne Thompson, chief environmental correspondent26 April 2013 (NBC News) – While the possible construction of the Keystone XL pipeline has made for contentious disagreements from the halls of Congress to ranches in Nebraska, the real environmental debate begins in a place most Americans have never heard of. Nearly 700 miles north of the U.S.-Canada […]

Scientist says pollution from China is killing a Japanese island’s endangered trees – ‘This is proof that when such a big country industrializes, its effect will spread everywhere’

By MARTIN FACKLER24 April 2013       YAKUSHIMA, Japan (The New York Times) – A mysterious pestilence has befallen this island’s primeval forests, leaving behind the bleached, skeletal remains of dead trees that now dot the dark green mountainsides. Osamu Nagafuchi, an environmental engineer with a passion for the island and its rugged terrain, believes he […]

Elephant meat sold openly amid ‘extensive’ slaughter in Central African Republic

By Ian Johnston26 April 2013 (NBC News) – An “extensive” slaughter of elephants appears to be underway in the Central African Republic with reports of their meat being sold openly in markets, according to activists. Rebel fighters pushed into Bangui, the capital of the impoverished but mineral-rich country, in March and ousted President Francois Bozize. […]

7 charged with smuggling bladders of endangered fish to China

By Elliot Spagat24 April 2013 SAN DIEGO (AP) – Seven people have been charged with smuggling bladders from an endangered fish in what authorities said Wednesday may be a growing international practice in which the bladders are sold for up to $20,000 each to be used in a highly desired soup. U.S. border inspectors in […]

Record floods hit U.S. Midwest – ‘We have seen some of the worst flooding damage to neighborhoods and homes across our state in Illinois history’

By Doyle Rice23 April 2013 (USA TODAY) – A rainy Tuesday added to flooding misery in the Midwest, as bloated rivers and streams continued to rise across the region. Floodwaters rose to record levels along the Illinois River in central Illinois on Tuesday, while in Missouri, six levees north of St. Louis were overtopped by […]

Nation starting to realize new era of American innovation never gonna happen

WASHINGTON, 22 April 2013 (The Onion) – After nearly a decade of promises that the nation was on the brink of a technological, economic, and scientific golden age, citizens across the country confirmed Monday they are now realizing a bold new era of American innovation is just flat-out not gonna happen. Citing the fragile economy […]

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