Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Economists foretell of U.S. decline, China’s ascension – ‘The age of American predominance is over’

By Mark Felsenthal; editing by Maureen BavdekDENVER | Sun Jan 9, 2011 12:32pm EST (Reuters) – To hear a number of prominent economists tell it, it doesn’t look good for the U.S. economy, not this year, not in 10 years. Leading thinkers in the dismal science speaking at an annual convention offered varying visions of […]

Image of the Day: Flooding in Brisbane Suburbs Viewed from Orbit

Caption by William L. Stefanov, NASA-JSCJanuary 18, 2011 This detailed astronaut photograph illustrates flooding in suburbs of the Brisbane, Australia metropolitan region. The Brisbane area experienced catastrophic flooding following unusually heavy rainfall on January 10, 2011. With surficial soils already saturated from previous rainfall events, eastward-draining surface flow caused the Brisbane River to flood—inundating an […]

Australia floods: Why were we so surprised?

Meteorologists warned Australians six months ago to prepare for a soaking. And nobody did a thing … By Germaine Greer, The GuardianSaturday 15 January 2011 What’s going on in Australia is rain. British people might think that they’re rain experts. Truth is that they hardly know what rain is. The kind of cold angel sweat […]

Incessant rain causing Indonesia crop failures

By Anthony Deutsch in CianjurJanuary 16 2011 20:44 Indonesian farmer Ujang Majudin pointed to rows of rotting chilli peppers, tomatoes and egg plants as clouds gathered again over his fields, already water-logged by incessant rain. With sharply declining yields and revenue, he faces the toughest season since taking over the family farm 15 years ago. […]

Rising seas threaten North Carolina coast

By Bruce Henderson, Charlotte ObserverJanuary 16, 2011 MANNS HARBOR, N.C. — The sea that sculpted North Carolina’s coast, from its arc of barrier islands to the vast, nurturing sounds, is reshaping it once again. Water is rising three times faster on the N.C. coast than it did a century ago as warming oceans expand and […]

California begins ‘managed retreat’ from rising ocean

Higher ocean levels force Ventura officials to move facilities inland, an action that is expected to recur along the coast as the ocean rises over the next century. By Tony Barboza, Los Angeles TimesJanuary 16, 2011 At Surfers Point in Ventura, California is beginning its retreat from the ocean. Construction crews are removing a crumbling […]

‘Mood of despair’ as self-immolations spread across N. Africa

Al Jazeera and Agencies Last Modified: 05 Jan 2011 20:56 GMT A 26-year-old Tunisian man who set off a wave of protests after attempting to commit suicide by setting himself on fire last month has died of third-degree burns in hospital, his relatives and human rights groups have said. Mohamed Bouazizi died at 5:30 pm […]

Melting Arctic reflects ever less solar energy back into space

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent; editing by David StampOSLO | Sun Jan 16, 2011 8:45pm GMT (Reuters) – Shrinking ice and snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere is reflecting ever less sunshine back into space in a previously underestimated mechanism that could add to global warming, a study showed. Satellite data indicated that Arctic sea […]

Nicholas Stern warns of greater climate costs

RedOrbit Staff & Wire ReportsSaturday, 15 January 2011, 07:00 CST The price of fighting climate change is even higher than what was estimated in a 2006 study, said British economist Nicholas Stern, who earned an estimated 500,000-dollar Spanish award on Friday for his work. Stern won the BBVA Foundation award for measuring the economic cost […]

Sunrise arrives two days early in Greenland as global warming melts the horizon

By Jonathan HarwoodJanuary 14, 2011 Scientists have discovered more evidence of global warming after the sun rose two days early in Greenland, apparently because melting glaciers have lowered the horizon. The polar night usually ends on January 13, but this year residents of Ilulissat, the third largest settlement in Greenland, were surprised to see dawn […]

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