Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Wild weather: Extreme is the new normal

18 January 2013 (New Scientist) – All eyes have been on Australia in recent weeks as a blistering heatwave triggered huge wildfires. The result has been a slew of amazing stories, including a family escaping by jumping into the sea and meteorologists adding new colours to heat maps. But Australia’s fires are just the most […]

No relief in sight for drought-stricken Plains – U.S. declares Wheat Belt a natural disaster area

By Sam Nelson, with additional reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City; Editing by Dale Hudson18 January 2013 CHICAGO (Reuters) – Dry weather should continue through at least the end of January in the drought-stricken U.S. Plains and a blast of Arctic cold air in the Midwest early next week poses a threat to unprotected […]

Sydney endures hottest day ever recorded – Emergency services council warns government of worse to come

By Ilya Gridneff, Tom Arup, and Jacob Saulwick19 January 2013 SYDNEY, Australia (SMH) – Sydney endured its hottest ever day on Friday, with records smashed across the city and thousands of people suffering from the heat. The mercury topped 45.8 at Sydney’s Observatory Hill at 2.55pm, breaking the previous record set in 1939 by half […]

Dietary shifts driving up phosphorus use – World phosphorus footprint increased 38 percent since 1960s

Contact: Chris Chipello  Organization: Media Relations OfficeOffice Phone: 514-398-4201   Mobile Phone: 514-717-4201  17 January 2013 (mcgill.ca) – Dietary changes since the early 1960s have fueled a sharp increase in the amount of mined phosphorus used to produce the food consumed by the average person over the course of a year, according to a new study […]

Gillard visits charred ‘moonscape’ of Coonabarabran – ‘Flames at the height of the observatory tower – it was an amazing firestorm’

By Tim Barlass17 January 2013 Prime Minister Julia Gillard flew into Coonabarabran on Thursday to witness first-hand the devastating effects of the bushfire that claimed at least 49 homes. At a press conference, the Prime Minister announced financial support for those who had lost homes or been evacuated. Ms Gillard drove through the Timor Road […]

Wit’s End: The withering of all woods is drawing near

And it may well be that that time is drawing near at last.  For if Sauron of old destroyed the gardens, the Enemy today seems likely to wither all the woods. ~ Treebeard, Chapter 4, The Twin Towers January 2012, Maidstone, England By Gail Zawacki13 January 2013 I don’t think of myself as lacking imagination, […]

Fewer than 10 environment reporters left at top 5 U.S. newspapers

By Katherine Bagley17 January 2013 (InsideClimate News) – The news last week that the New York Times is dismantling its environment desk and reassigning the reporters throughout the newsroom provoked an outpouring of reaction, much of it suggesting that now isn’t the time to take risks that could diminish the coverage of climate change. In […]

Floods paralyze Jakarta, heavy rains continue – ‘In 30 years of my life here it has never flooded, ever. This is the very first time.’

By Fergus Jensen and Rieka Rahadiana, with additional reporting by Michael Taylor and Janeman Latul; Writing by Jonathan Thatcher; Editing by Robert Birsel17 January 2013 JAKARTA (Reuters) – Heavy monsoon rain triggered severe flooding in large swathes of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on Thursday, bringing the city to a halt with many government offices and […]

Australia town virtually blown off the map after a freak storm – ‘I’ve never been in anything like it before, it was very scary’

16 January 2013 (AAP) – The tiny West Australian town of Karlgarin has been virtually blown off the map after a freak storm blasted through it.  The State Emergency Service (SES) and Volunteer Emergency Service (VES) volunteers said they were working to help people in the Wheatbelt town after destructive storms caused damage to up […]

The year ahead in the Eurozone: lower risks, same problems

By Nouriel Roubini  14 January 2013  Financial conditions in the eurozone have significantly improved since the summer, when eurozone risks peaked because of German policymakers’ open consideration of a Greek exit, and the sovereign spreads of Italy and Spain reached new heights. The day before European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s famous speech in London […]

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