Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Pakistan post-flood blues: Monsoon arrives while flood victims still recover

By PPI12 July 2011 ISLAMABAD: Nearly one year after devastating floods swamped vast tracts of land across Pakistan, affecting over 20 million people, many survivors are still struggling to rebuild their lives as this year’s monsoon season is about to start. “I have patched up my house the best I could, using what few resources […]

East Africa famine crisis of ‘unimaginable proportions’ looms – ‘My 3-year-old was the first in our group to die. We buried her and kept on walking.’

By Tom Parry in Dadaab, Kenya, Daily Mirror 12 July 2011 Hawa Muya cradles her baby boy while her daughter shelters from the sand and flies against her mum’s black robe. The 28-year-old is sitting patiently in a long line as she keeps a close eye on Hussein, who is 10 months, and Fatma, aged […]

Israelis prepare for a world without cheap oil

By David Sheen 8 July 2011 The neo-liberal global economic system is on its deathbed, and Israel may soon have to provide for all of its own food and fuel needs, instead of trading for them with other countries, says a senior Israel agronomist. Dr. Elaine Soloway of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at […]

Phosphate: A critical resource misused and now running low

By Fred Pearce7 Jul 2011 If you wanted to really mess with the world’s food production, a good place to start would be Bou Craa, located in the desert miles from anywhere in the Western Sahara. They don’t grow much here, but Bou Craa is a mine containing one of the world’s largest reserves of […]

In the Horn of Africa, drought threatens millions

By Aaron Maasho; Editing by George Obulutsa and Tim Pearce12 July 2011 BISLE, Ethiopia (Reuters) – Four-year-old Hussein Musa sits propped against his mother in a thatch-roofed hut, in a section cordoned off under a scorching sun to mark those with the worst symptoms. “They say he is severely malnourished. He is also suffering from […]

Italy’s elite are dismayed by vanishing beaches

By Tom Kington, The Observer10 July 2011 ROME – The high cost and exclusive nature of Italy’s best beaches cause regular disputes, but accelerating coastal erosion means some of them are now disappearing altogether. Italian actors, intellectuals and the titled rich setting off for the beach this summer have been shocked to find that one […]

Island off Alabama coast bursting with birds after oil spill, fishing ban credited

By Verna Gates; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Ellen Wulfhorst10 July 2011 BIRMINGHAM, Ala (Reuters) – Thousands of baby pelicans grunt and hiss at their parents in tightly packed nests on Gaillard Island, a feathered paradise situated off the coast of Alabama. The 1,300-acre, man-made island is hosting more than 50,000 birds this summer as […]

BP blowout preventer may have been fatally flawed – Other deepwater wells vulnerable to similar failure

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy 11 July 2011 The hydraulic system that powered the blowout preventer at BP’s failed Macondo well may never have had the capacity to stop last year’s Gulf of Mexico spill or any other such emergency, investigators say. But that possible deficiency — and other findings about the equipment used as a […]

Climate change could kill one in 10 species by end of the century

By Steve Conner, Science Editor12 July 2011 Climate change is speeding up the rate at which animals and plants are becoming extinct. By the end of the century, one in 10 species could be on the verge of extinction because of the effects of global warming, a study has found. The findings support the view […]

Drought spreads its pain across 14 U.S. states – ‘Likely to be a disastrous summer’

By KIM SEVERSON and KIRK JOHNSON 11 July 2011 COLQUITT, Ga. — The heat and the drought are so bad in this southwest corner of Georgia that hogs can barely eat. Corn, a lucrative crop with a notorious thirst, is burning up in fields. Cotton plants are too weak to punch through soil so dry […]

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