Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Scientists worry that warming seas may be harming the endangered right whale

By Peter Brannen30 April 2012 Provincetown, Mass. – Normally for a few days in spring, beachgoers on this hook of land stretching into Cape Cod Bay witness one of the rarest scenes in the animal kingdom: dozens of surface-skimming North Atlantic right whales, lumbering just a few hundred yards from shore. But that rite of […]

Video: Record rains flood Peru and Colombia

23 April 2012 – Flooding hit rural areas in Colombia and Peru on Sunday, driving hundreds from their homes, flooding crops and taking at least three lives in the Boyaca province. In the Colombian town of La Parada, southwest of the capital Bogota, the Tachira River overflowed its banks and flooded some 200 homes. Water […]

Graph of the Day: Record Amazon River Level in Iquitos, 22 April 2012

The Amazon has reached record breadth, width, and height this rainy season. According to Peru’s Health Ministry, the river has grown at least 6.5 feet during the floods, with the Marañón River, which feeds the Amazon, increasing some 13 feet. Neither river has swelled this much since the 1970s, when a similar flood affected the […]

International Energy Agency: World progress too slow on controlling carbon emissions

London, 25 April 2012 (IEA) – While progress is being made on renewable energy, most clean energy technologies are not being deployed quickly enough, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today in an annual progress report presented to ministers and representatives of nations that together account for four-fifths of global energy demand. The report, Tracking […]

Video: Mass dolphin and pelican die-offs in Peru

By Marilia Brocchetto, CNN30 April 2012 (CNN) – Authorities in Peru are investigating the death of over 538 pelicans, along with other birds, on the northern coast of the country, the Peruvian ministry of production said Sunday. The new environmental investigation comes on the heels of an incident earlier in April when 877 dolphins washed […]

Photo gallery: Images from space track relentless spread of humanity

Produced by Mairi Mackay, CNN and George Webster, for CNN, Built by Matt Barringer, CNN The past century has been defined by an epic migration of people from rural areas to the city. In 2008, for the first time in history, more of the Earth’s population was living in cities than in the countryside. The […]

10 most polluted U.S. cities

By Les Christie 25 April 2012 The U.S. has significantly reduced its air pollution, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. These 10 cities had the highest levels of year-round particle pollution, according to the American Lung Association’s 2012 rankings. 10. Philadelphia Population: 6,533,683Cardiovascular cases: 1,660,434Rank in most ozone-polluted cities: 16 The […]

U.S. ‘dirty oil’ imports set to triple

By Steve Hargreaves30 April 2012 NEW YORK (CNNMoney) – U.S. imports of what environmentalists are calling “dirty oil” are set to triple over the next decade, raising concerns over the environmental impact of extracting it and whether pipelines can safely transport this Canadian oil. The United States currently imports over half a million barrels a […]

Sea change in salinity heralds shift in rainfall as Earth warms

By David Fogarty; Editing by Ed Davies26 April 2012 SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Scientists have detected a clear change in salinity of the world’s oceans and have found that the cycle that drives rainfall and evaporation has intensified more than thought because of global warming. The finding published on Friday helps refine estimates of how different […]

Salp clogging water intakes at Diablo Canyon nuclear reactor

By Steve Chawkins, Los Angeles Times26 April 2012 Strange, jellyfish-like creatures swarming a coastal nuclear power plant: It might sound like the premise of a cult horror flick, but the invasion has prompted officials at the Diablo Canyon facility in San Luis Obispo to curtail operations for at least a few days. The plant’s operator, […]

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