Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Alpine glacier retreat pushing Europe closer to water crisis

By Ray Smith for IPS, part of the Guardian Environment Network, www.guardian.co.uk22 July 2011 Even though their ice is called ‘eternal’, many alpine glaciers’ lives may come to an end within this century. For 150 years, most of them have been more or less constantly retreating, and since the eighties, their shrinkage has visibly increased. […]

Midwest turns dry as drought worsens in Plains – ‘It’s just overwhelming the whole United States now’

By Julie Ingwersen, with additional reporting by Bob Burgdorfer and Meredith Davis; editing by Jim Marshall21 July 2011 CHICAGO (Reuters) – A historic drought in the southern Plains intensified in the last week and contributed to dry conditions emerging in the heart of the Midwest crop belt, a weekly climatologists’ report said Thursday. The weekly […]

Book review: Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence

By ARTHUR WESTING 14 July 2011 Some 200 years ago Benjamin Franklin noted that nothing is certain except for death and taxes. Today Franklin could readily have been additionally certain of the inevitability of two further events of sad note, namely armed conflicts and global warming. In his latest book, impassioned investigative journalist and courageous […]

U.N. deadlock on addressing climate change

By Neil MacFARQUHAR20 July 2011 UNITED NATIONS — The persistent inability of the United Nations to forge international consensus on climate change issues was on display Wednesday, as Security Council members disagreed over whether they should address possible instability provoked by problems like rising sea levels or competition over water resources. Western powers like the […]

Kenya burns five tons of poached elephant tusks

July 20 (KWS) – Lusaka Agreement Task Force and Kenya Wildlife Service officials started piling up ivory weighing about 5 tonnes in readiness for historic burning 20 July 2011. An elaborate pile of the elephant tusks with kerosene jets and a grill to hasten the process of burning is being prepared at the site in […]

Graph of the Day: Countries’ Actions and Commitments on Climate Change

The Smith School at Oxford has rated each country’s actions and commitments on climate change. Dark green is ‘Very good’, dark orange is ‘Very poor’, and gray is ‘Not participating in the UNFCCC process’. Update: Thanks to a reader we have the source document from the Smith School: International climate change negotiations: Key lessons and […]

Mountaineers see dramatic climate changes in the Himalaya region

By Meena MenonJuly 17, 2011 MUMBAI (The Hindu) – It was in 1985 that Apa Sherpa, who scaled Mount Everest for the 21st time in May 2011, came face to face with climate change. His entire village Thame was washed away in a massive glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) of the Dig Tsho (Tsho-lake), in […]

Ethiopia: Great trek for water in the south – ‘We don’t know what will become of us’

BORENA (OROMIYA REGION), 19 July 2011 (IRIN) – For many people, access to water is a mere turn of the tap away; for Abdha Aso, a 20-year-old mother of five, it involves a four-hour round trip to a muddy pond. Only a year ago, she could reach a nearby stream in 20 minutes but it […]

Thousands line up, stampede to get on wait list for housing vouchers in Texas

By KIM HORNER14 July 2011 Before the sun came out Thursday morning, thousands of people had gathered around the Jesse Owens Memorial Complex in the Red Bird area. The reward: a spot on a waiting list for Dallas County housing vouchers to help them pay the rent. When, at 6 a.m., officials said it was […]

Whitebark pine tree faces extinction threat from ‘dramatic and catastrophic’ climate change

By Juliet Eilperin18 July 2011 The Fish and Wildlife Service determined Monday that whitebark pine, a tree found atop mountains across the American West, faces an “imminent” risk of extinction because of factors including climate change. The decision is significant because it marks the first time the federal government has identified climate change as one […]

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