Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

As world population hits 7 billion, megacities pose growing risks

By Lord Julian Hunt and Professor Yuguo Li Oct 31, 2011 08:41 EDT The world population has officially reached seven billion, according to the UN.  This historic landmark reminds us of the massive challenges, including here in Europe, created by an ever-increasing number of humans on the planet. Growing populations are also driving another mega […]

Video: Children’s health issues and Fukushima radiation

  By arevamirpal::laprimavera30 OCtober 2011 […] ContAct, did an interview with Mika Noro, which was webcasted on July 14, 2011. Ms. Noro has been active in helping children in areas affected by the Chernobyl nuke plant accident, and after the Fukushima accident her organization has been setting up free medical consultations for mothers and children […]

World to be hit by more weather disasters, scientists say – Some locations will become ‘increasingly marginal as places to live’

By SETH BORENSTEIN1 November 2011 WASHINGTON – Freakish weather disasters — from the sudden October snowstorm in the Northeast U.S. to the record floods in Thailand — are striking more often. And global warming is likely to spawn more similar weather extremes at a huge cost, says a draft summary of an international climate report […]

Graph of the Day: Cesium-137 Concentrations in Ocean Sediments Near Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Plant, 21 April – 18 October 2011

[Translated from French] This graph shows the evolution of sampled cesium-137 concentration and the respective distance from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Concentrations vary typically from 1 to 10,000 Bq/kg, with an increasing trend over time. This evolution may be the result of the kinetics of cesium transfer to sedimentary particles and particle deposition processes […]

World population tops 7 billion

Estimated world population at 7:00AM Pacific Time, 31 October 2011.   LUCKNOW, India, Oct. 31 (UPI) – India Monday marked the arrival of girl named Nargis as the world’s symbolic 7 billionth citizen, the Plan India child rights group said. [Des: Not this Nargis] The United Nations had estimated that Oct. 31 would mark the […]

Life in drought: Parched Texas town seeks emergency fix – Remaining water ‘tastes ugly and it stinks’

By Kiah Collier; Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Greg McCune29 October 2011 ROBERT LEE, Texas (Reuters) – No one drinks the tap water, which is unbearably briny as the lake dries up. After one of the hottest summers on record, the lake that is the lone water supply and main recreational draw in this tiny […]

30 years to decommission Fukushima nuclear plant

TOKYO, October 29 (Xinhua) – Decommissioning the stricken reactors at the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant is likely to take 30 years or more, the government’s Japan Atomic Energy Commission said in a provisional report released on Friday. The commission said that as the situation at the Fukushima plant is more complicated than the process […]

Central Bangkok flood defenses hold off peak coastal tides – Flooding spreads in city’s outskirts

By THANYARAT DOKSONE and TODD PITMAN, Associated Press29 October 2011 BANGKOK (AP) – Defenses shielding the center of Thailand’s capital from the nation’s worst floods in nearly 60 years mostly held at critical peak tides Saturday, as the waters began to recede after killing almost 400 people. But the threat to central Bangkok was not […]

Faster retreat of Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier predicted

By IB Times Staff Reporter26 October 2011 Scientists are closely watching Antarctica’s fast-flowing Thwaites Glacier, as they say its retreat is expected to speed up within 20 years when it separates from an underwater ridge that is presently holding it back. Columbia University researchers said scientists are keeping a keen eye on Thwaites Glacier, which […]

Stocks running out in Pakistan’s flood-hit areas as winter closes in

Editor: Wang Guanqun, english.news.cn  29 October 2011 ISLAMABAD, October 29 (Xinhua) – The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Saturday that needs of flood-hit Pakistani people are rising as winter approaches and reported outbreaks of waterborne diseases. Heavy monsoon rains in August caused floods in southern Sindh province and affected […]

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