More Procrastination

Two reports published in the past few days consider spread of deserts, intensification of the harshness of their environments, and the consequences for the half-billion (currently) people in these regions. One is the "Global Deserts Outlook" report by the United Nations Environment Programme, and the second (first, chronologically) is an article in Science on the widening of the tropics by 140 miles since 1979 as observed in satellite measurements of jet-stream position (not solar angle). My rough survey of press coverage of these two reports in the online news I read routinely is as follows (as of 5 June, noon in Alsace).

While I take some comfort in knowing that, thanks to the Internet, if I browse enough I'll learn of these reports, I am disappointed that the news media of the "only superpower" haven't considered these reports important enough to mention.

• The Guardian
  1. Desert cities are living on borrowed time, UN warns

     · Climate change threatens conditions for 500 million
     · But report points to huge solar energy potential
     John Vidal, environment editor--Monday June 5, 2006

  2. a passing mention in an article on In our publish-or-perish climate of scientific research, what future is there for slow, painstaking study, asks Tim Radford (Friday May 26, 2006 )
• The Independent (UK)
  1. Desert life threatened by climate change and human exploitation. By Steve Connor, Science Editor--Published: 05 June 2006
  2. Widening tropics 'will drive deserts into Europe'

     Alarming new satellite evidence of the effects of global warming comes as forecasters predict more severe hurricanes
     By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor--Published: 04 June 2006

• LEMONDE.FR
  1. 
     L'ONU s'inquiète de la menace qui pèse sur les déserts | 05.06.06
  2. Les jet-streams tropicaux repoussés vers les pôles. Article paru dans l'édition du 27.05.06
     

, but nothing on "Global Deserts Outlook" or "satellite or tropics" that I could find in

• The New York Times
• the Los Angeles Times
• Liberation

---

Tags: climate | deserts | tropics | journalism |