Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

From Cairo to the Cape, climate change takes hold of Africa – ‘A new and harsh reality’

By John Vidal, environment editor, www.guardian.co.uk  1 December 2011 We are right on the equator, and Speke, Moebius, Elena, Savoia, and Moore, the five great glaciers of the the Rwenzori, the Mountains of the Moon, glint in the bright Ugandan sun. Usually lost in the mists that cloak these peaks up to 5,100 metres high, […]

Cardinal: Failure to address climate change is ‘moral apartheid’ – ‘Don’t we realize that the climate is out of control?’

December 5 (Catholic World News) – As the Durban Climate Change Conference reached its midway point, the president of the Church’s confederation of relief and development agencies compared current environmental policies to apartheid. Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, president of Caritas Internationalis, said that “just as South Africa’s apartheid era policies sought divisions along race lines, […]

BP says Halliburton destroyed Gulf oil spill evidence

By Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Gary Hill5 December 2011 (Reuters) – BP Plc accused Halliburton Co of destroying evidence that the oilfield services company did inadequate cement work on the Gulf of Mexico oil well that blew out last year, and asked a federal judge to punish Halliburton. The accusation, in a […]

Preparation for climate displacement too slow, experts say

By Laurie Goering5 December 2011  DURBAN, South Africa (AlertNet) – Climate impacts such as worsening droughts, flooding, storm surges and sea level rise could displace tens of millions of people by mid-century, scientists predict. But national and international rules governing resettlement of forced environmental migrants, and how they will be treated under the law, remain […]

Simultaneous ice melt in Antarctic and Arctic – Sea levels will rise much faster than previously predicted

Contact: Dr. Gerhard Kuhn (tel.: +49 (0)471 4831-1204; e-mail: Gerhard.Kuhn(at)awi.de) and in the press office Ralf Röchert (tel.: +49 (0)471 4831-1680; e-mail: Ralf.Roechert(at)awi.de)1 December 2011 Bremerhaven – The end of the last ice age and the processes that led to the melting of the northern and southern ice sheets supply basic information on changes in […]

Inuit hunter takes climate-change message to Durban conference

By Geoffrey York 5 December 2011 DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA — From Monday’s Globe and Mail It took 30 hours of flying, but Inuit hunter Jordan Konek has arrived in the land of surfers and palm trees with a message for the world’s politicians: Climate change is real, and it could devastate Canada’s Arctic people. At […]

At least 45 tons of highly radioactive water leaks to ocean from Fukushima purification facility

By HIROKO TABUCHI and MARTIN FACKLER4 December 2011 TOKYO — At least 45 tons of highly radioactive water have leaked from a purification facility at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, and some of it may have reached the Pacific Ocean, the plant’s operator said Sunday. Nearly nine months after Fukushima Daiichi was ravaged by […]

Former negotiator says Canada blocking Durban climate talks

By Mike De Souza, Postmedia News 4 December 2011 DURBAN, South Africa – A retired Canadian government negotiator who worked on one of the world’s most successful environmental treaties says that Canada’s negotiating tactics at international climate change talks are impeding progress, while protecting the interests of a single industry. “I’m not so sure the […]

Fury as UK minister delays marine protection

By Lewis Smith15 November 2011 The government has been accused of failing the environment after announcing delays to the creation of marine reserves. Conservation groups responded angrily to the announcement by environment minister Richard Benyon that the internationally agreed deadline for creating marine protected areas will be missed. They accused the government of changing the […]

Graph of the Day: World Energy Consumption by Fuel Type, 1990-2035

In the long-term, the Reference case projects increased world consumption of marketed energy from all fuel sources through 2035. Fossil fuels are expected to continue supplying much of the energy used worldwide. Although liquid fuels—mostly petroleum based—remain the largest source of energy, the liquids share of world marketed energy consumption falls from 34 percent in […]

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