Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Chief of U.S. Pacific forces calls climate change biggest worry – ‘You could have millions of people displaced, and security will start to crumble pretty quickly’

By Bryan Bender9 March 2013 CAMBRIDGE (Boston Globe) – America’s top military officer in charge of monitoring hostile actions by North Korea, escalating tensions between China and Japan, and a spike in computer attacks traced to China provides an unexpected answer when asked what is the biggest long-term security threat in the Pacific region: climate […]

Rising sea levels threaten historic Jamestown, marine geologist says island’s future is grim – ‘You can only fight nature for so long, because she will win’

JAMESTOWN, Virginia, 10 March 2013 (Associated Press) – Rising sea levels are threatening Jamestown, the site of the first permanent English settlement in North America. Jamestown Island, where most of Jamestown is located, lies 3 feet or less above the tidal James River. Scientists project that it will be underwater by 2100, but flooding will […]

Canada losing its seasons – ‘We are changing seasonality. The north is becoming like the south, losing its sharp contrasts between the four seasons.’

By Stephen Leahy11 March 2013 UXBRIDGE, Canada (IPS) – “Canada is not a country, it’s winter,” Canadians say with pride. But the nation’s long, fearsome winters will live only in memory and song for Canadian children born this decade. Winters are already significantly warmer and shorter than just 30 years ago. The temperature regimes and […]

‘Melbourne on the Murray’ as city bakes in record heat – ‘It’s stunning. That heat is just not going anywhere.’

By Peter Hannam, Carbon economy editor11 March 2013 (Sydney Morning Herald) — Melbourne’s heatwave has set more records as city dwellers endure temperatures more usually felt much further inland. The mercury touched 30 degrees late morning and peaked at 37.1 just after 4pm, exceeding the forecast high of 36. Melbourne has only posted eight consecutive […]

Recent global heat spike unlike anything in 11,000 years – ‘We’ve never seen something this rapid. Even in the ice age the global temperature never changed this quickly.’

By SETH BORENSTEIN8 March 2013 WASHINGTON (AP) – A new study looking at 11,000 years of climate temperatures shows the world in the middle of a dramatic U-turn, lurching from near-record cooling to a heat spike. Research released Thursday in the journal Science uses fossils of tiny marine organisms to reconstruct global temperatures back to […]

Fukushima school in limbo, two years after nuclear disaster – ‘The school exists in name alone’

By AKIKO FUJITA10 March 2013 NAMIE, Japan (ABC News) – Michie Niikawa struggles to define her role as school principal. Two years since taking over at Ukedo Elementary School in the town of Namie, the 54-year-old has yet to welcome her first class of students, greet teachers, or visit classrooms. Most days, she works in […]

Graph of the Day: Global shark landing trends, 1950-2010

ABSTRACT: Adequate conservation and management of shark populations is becoming increasingly important on a global scale, especially because many species are exceptionally vulnerable to overfishing. Yet, reported catch statistics for sharks are incomplete, and mortality estimates have not been available for sharks as a group. Here, the global catch and mortality of sharks from reported […]

George Shultz presses Congress to act on climate change – ‘Good work on conservation and the environment is in the Republican gene’

By Ashley Southall8 March 2013 (The New York Times) – George P. Shultz, a former Republican cabinet secretary, seems an unlikely figure to fight for climate change, which is largely the political turf of Democrats. But climate change was exactly why Mr. Shultz, who is best remembered as Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state, came to […]

Investors embrace climate change, chase hotter profits – ‘The climate is changing. Sea level is rising. That’s quite obvious. Cities close to the waterline continue to grow and need more protection. It’s almost a natural growth market.’

By Matthew Campbell and Chris V. Nicholson 7 March 2013 (Bloomberg) – Investing in climate change used to mean financing the fight against global warming. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and other firms took stakes in wind farms and tidal-energy projects, and set up carbon-trading desks. Then, as efforts to curb greenhouse-gas emissions faltered, […]

World rejects new protections for polar bears – ‘It’s a sad day for one of the world’s most iconic creatures’

By Brad Lendon8 March 2013 (CNN) – A U.S. plan to give new protection to polar bears was voted down Thursday at an international conference on endangered species. The American delegation at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, had sought a ban on […]

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