Blogging the End of the World™
4 January 2013 (The Asahi Shimbun) – Cleanup crews in Fukushima Prefecture have dumped soil and leaves contaminated with radioactive fallout into rivers. Water sprayed on contaminated buildings has been allowed to drain back into the environment. And supervisors have instructed workers to ignore rules on proper collection and disposal of the radioactive waste. Decontamination […]
By Nick Ralston and Saffron Howden6 January 2013 (Sydney Morning Herald) – NSW is facing its most dangerous bushfire threat in 12 years as the state swelters through a record-breaking heatwave and fire officials express concern about the public’s preparedness. Across the country, fire crews were battling more than 100 bushfires on Saturday. The NSW […]
By MALCOLM FOSTER4 January 2013 TOKYO (Associated Press) – A bluefin tuna sold for a record $1.76 million at a Tokyo auction Saturday, nearly three times the previous high set last year. In the year’s first auction at Tokyo’s sprawling Tsukiji fish market, a 222-kilogram (489-pound) tuna caught off northeastern Japan sold for 155.4 million […]
By Tom Bawden 4 January 2013 (The Independent) – Shell’s ill-fated attempt to tow an offshore oil rig from Alaska to Seattle in the final days of December was motivated by a desire to avoid $7m (£4.3m) of Alaskan state taxes, it emerged today. But the oil giant will instead suffer a multi-million dollar loss […]
By Andrew Darby and Nick Ralston5 January 2013 (Sydney Morning Herald) – AT LEAST 80 homes have been lost and one man is feared killed by a bushfire that swept down onto the Tasmanian town of Dunalley, less than 60 kilometres from Hobart, in catastrophic conditions. The bushfire sent hundreds fleeing and was on Friday […]
Hong Kong, 3 January 2013 (AFP) – Hong Kong conservationists expressed outrage Thursday after images emerged of a factory rooftop covered in thousands of freshly sliced shark fins, as they called for curbs on the “barbaric” trade. The southern Chinese city is one of the world’s biggest markets for shark fins, which are used to […]
By Jason Samenow3 January 2013 (Washington Post) – We await the inevitable “official” announcement from NOAA that 2012 was the warmest year on record in the Lower 48, by a huge margin. Recall, in mid-December Climate Central calculated there was 99.99999999 percent chance this feat would be achieved. In the mean time, it’s amazing to […]
Desdemona was busy over the holidays and is happy to report that the Desdemona Despair app is live in the Windows Store. If you’d like a convenient way to get fresh doom updates on your desktop, install Windows 8 and then search for “Desdemona Despair” in the store. Desdemona Despair app for Windows in the […]
By Peter Hannam, Carbon economy editor4 January 2013 (Sydney Morning Herald) – LONG-STANDING temperature records may be broken in coming days as a massive heatwave sizzles much of the country. A huge swath of central and south-eastern Australia is poised to swelter on Friday with temperatures expected to peak at 41 degrees in Melbourne, 44 […]
By JOHN ELIGON31 December 2012 ELKHART, Iowa (The New York Times) – Mike Wilson glared dejectedly through the mist on his silver-frame glasses at the soggy field of tall, dense brush, tilting the barrel of his 12-gauge shotgun toward the gray clouds. “All I want to do,” he said, “is see a bird at this […]
