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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from

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Species Collapse:	(5)
Plague/Virus:	(2)
Climate Chaos:	(6)
Resource Depletion:	(7)
Biology Breach:	(8)
Recovery:	(8)

This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
global warming ~ anthropogenic change ~ endocrine disruptor ~ sustainability ~ renewable energy ~ contamination ~ ecosystem interrelationships ~ forests ~ carbon emissions ~ food crisis ~ climate impacts

ApocaDocuments (36) gathered this week:
Sun, Dec 7, 2008 from London Independent: Ancient skills 'could reverse global warming' Ancient techniques pioneered by pre-Columbian Amazonian Indians are about to be pressed into service in Britain and Central America in the most serious commercial attempt yet to reverse global warming. Trials are to be started in Sussex and Belize early in the new year, backed with venture capital from Silicon Valley, on techniques to take carbon from the atmosphere and bury it in the soil, where it should act as a powerful fertiliser....They aim to grow trees and plants to absorb CO2 and then trap the carbon by turning the resulting biomass into "biochar", a fine-grained form of charcoal that can be buried in the soil, keeping it safely locked up for thousands of years. ...	And you make biochar with fires started with my handy, ancient fire-bow drill! ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Dec 7, 2008 from New York Times: Groups Battle Exotic Species in Texas AUSTIN, Tex. (AP)-- There was a time when horned frogs were not confined to Texas Christian University. The real-life version of the university's mascot, actually a kind of lizard, roamed Texas by the thousands until imported red fire ants marauded through the state, displacing the ants that served as the lizard's food. Today, university researchers blame the fire ant invasion and pesticides for devastating the horned toad population. The fate of the lizard is part of a larger story about invasive species -- a rogues' gallery of weeds, grasses, insects, fish and animals that are reshaping and in many cases destroying the natural order in Texas, and in many parts of the country. ...	You mean them communistic ants are hurtin' my horny toads? ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Dec 7, 2008 from London Independent: It's official: Men really are the weaker sex The male gender is in danger, with incalculable consequences for both humans and wildlife, startling scientific research from around the world reveals. The research – to be detailed tomorrow in the most comprehensive report yet published – shows that a host of common chemicals is feminising males of every class of vertebrate animals, from fish to mammals, including people. Backed by some of the world's leading scientists, who say that it "waves a red flag" for humanity and shows that evolution itself is being disrupted, the report comes out at a particularly sensitive time for ministers. On Wednesday, Britain will lead opposition to proposed new European controls on pesticides, many of which have been found to have "gender-bending" effects. ...	This is why I enjoy being a girl! ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Dec 7, 2008 from London Guardian: The hidden cost of our growing taste for meat As the west's appetite for meat increases, so too does the demand for soya - used as animal feed by farmers. But the planting of huge tracts of land is causing deforestation and destroying eco-systems in developing countries... A report by campaign group Friends of the Earth is to be published on Tuesday to focus the attention of UK consumers and the government on the scale of this destruction. It will detail for the first time the cutting, burning and spraying that occurs as a consequence. The report, What's Feeding our Food?, will start a campaign urging the government to take action, ending subsidies and other policies that encourage intensive farming and making sure public money spent on food is not propping up damaging practices. ...	You mean... cheeseburgers grow on trees? ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Dec 6, 2008 from Science News: Honeybee CSI: Why dead bodies can't be found ...Beehives across North America continue to lose their workers for reasons not yet understood, a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder. But new tests suggest how a virus nicknamed IAPV might be to blame for one of the more puzzling aspects of the disorder—the impression that substantial numbers of bees vanish into thin air. In tests on hives in a greenhouse, bees infected with IAPV (short for Israeli acute paralytic virus) rarely died in the hive. Sick bees expired throughout the greenhouse, including near the greenhouse wall...Outdoors, the bees could scatter across the landscape where the occasional dead insect wouldn’t be easily noticed before scavengers found it. ...	If they'd listened to my idea -- fit each worker bee with a tiny GPS device -- they would have known this long ago. ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Dec 6, 2008 from San Antonio Express News: Starting to run on empty About 40 percent of the water used in Texas comes from the Ogallala, and almost all of that is poured onto farmland -- in staggering amounts. In a given year, more water is used to irrigate farms in each of a half-dozen Panhandle counties than is pumped out of the entire Edwards Aquifer, the primary water source for San Antonio and much of South-Central Texas. Rainfall can't keep pace with all that pumping, so the Ogallala's water table drops by an average of nearly 2 feet per year in this part of Texas. In places where corn production is especially intense, average annual declines have been found that exceed 8 feet.... Meanwhile, existing water supplies for the Panhandle are projected to decline by 40 percent by 2060. ...	Luckily, Peak Ogallala is decades off! Plenty of time! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Dec 6, 2008 from San Jose Mercury News: Bug off! Green pest control methods The seemingly endless bottles of pesticides that line the shelves of our nearest hardware store all contain warnings that the chemical compounds found within may be hazardous to our health. They advise us to avoid contact with eyes and skin and to keep out of reach of children and pets. These "precautions" do not exactly inspire confidence, but they are also studiously vague about the potential consequences of exposure. With this problem in mind, the Pesticide Action Network has created an online database rating 368,974 of the most common and uncommon pesticides, herbicides and fungicides according to the toxicity of their ingredients www.pesticideinfo.org. Searching the database for information about the toxic effects of many of the well-known brands is easy. For instance, according to the PAN database, Propoxur, one of the active ingredients in Raid, is known to be acutely toxic, neurotoxic and carcinogenic, as well as a groundwater contaminant. In other words, depending on the level of exposure, it can cause symptoms ranging from tremors, nausea and weakness to cancer, paralysis and death. That's not something I would like to unleash in my home. ...	Is knowledge power? ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Dec 6, 2008 from Telegraph.co.uk: 21 new species in danger of extinction, UN convention hears Twenty-one animal species, including the cheetah, three dolphin families and an Egyptian vulture, were added to the list of those in danger of extinction by a UN conference in Rome. Six other bird species as well as manatees have also been placed on the list of animals benefiting from increased protections, called list I. In addition, next year has been proclaimed the "Year of the Gorilla" to help the survival of threatened species.... Several species of sharks have been placed on the list of threatened species, including two families of Mako sharks in the Mediterranean whose population have fallen off by 96 per cent in recent years due to overfishing. ...	Not a one of them are natural declines. We know what species to blame: Austrolopithicus Africanus. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Dec 5, 2008 from Christian Science Monitor: Rice-powered stove ignites new hope for poor farmers Alexis Belonio’s obsession with rice husks began in 2003, when rising fuel prices and heavy dependence on foreign oil slammed his native Philippines with an energy crunch. "I saw rice mills throw husks into the rivers," says the agricultural engineer. "I started thinking about using them as fuel." Mr. Belonio was already an accomplished inventor, having designed over 30 devices ranging from paddy dryers to water pumps for poor Filipino farmers. So his thinking led him to the cooking stove, an item fraught with expense and danger in the developing world. More than a third of the world’s population can’t afford propane or other petroleum-based cooking fuels, relying instead on biomass such as wood or charcoal. Most biomass is burned in inefficient stoves that emit soot, smoke, and toxic fumes. Belonio envisioned a safer, cleaner, and less-expensive way to cook. Working largely in isolation and with little funding, he turned rice husks – an inedible byproduct of milling rice for food – into a bright blue flame. ...	New toy this Christmas: The Easy Bake Oven, fueled by rice husks! ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Dec 5, 2008 from Der Spiegel: Point of No Return for the Arctic Climate? ...A new study completed by a team of US, Norwegian and German researchers may now provide some clues. Published in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters in November, the study posits that a dramatic change in atmospheric circulation patterns has taken place since the beginning of the decade, with centers of high pressure in winter shifting toward the north-east....Behind the complex language and impenetrable calculations upon which the study is based, however, is a frightening possibility: climate change in the Arctic could already have reached the point of no return. ... "In the case of Arctic Sea ice, we have already reached the point of no return," says the prominent American climate researcher James Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at NASA. ...	The tipping point .... hath done toppled. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Dec 5, 2008 from Guardian (UK): 2008 will be coolest year of the decade The relatively chilly temperatures compared with recent years are not evidence that global warming is slowing however, say climate scientists at the Met Office. "Absolutely not," said Dr Peter Stott, the manager of understanding and attributing climate change at the Met Office's Hadley Centre. "If we are going to understand climate change we need to look at long-term trends." Prof Myles Allen at Oxford University who runs the climateprediction.net website, said he feared climate sceptics would overinterpret the figure. "You can bet your life there will be a lot of fuss about what a cold year it is. Actually no, it's not been that cold a year, but the human memory is not very long, we are used to warm years," he said, "Even in the 80s [this year] would have felt like a warm year." And 2008 would have been a scorcher in Charles Dickens's time -- without human-induced warming there would have been a one in a hundred chance of getting a year this hot. "For Dickens this would have been an extremely warm year," he said. On the flip side, in the current climate there is a roughly one in 10 chance of having a year this cool. ...	Dickens? He might have said "Please, sir, I want some more." ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Dec 5, 2008 from The Australian: Drought forces state to buy water or run dry FOR the first time in its history, South Australia will have to buy water to guarantee supplies for critical human needs next year, revealing the increasing severity of the nation's water crisis at the end of the Murray River. Necessary water supplies to Adelaide and towns across the state are at this stage not secured from July next year, which has forced the Rann Government on to the open water market. It has already bought 30 gigalitres from water resources shared with NSW and Victoria and admitted yesterday it had spent tens of millions of dollars to bolster the state's supplies. Authorities must have 201gigalitres in reserve to ensure the water needs of the nation's fifth-largest city and the rest of the state are able to be met. ...	Will there be water enough for my tears? ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Dec 5, 2008 from New York Times: Mountaintop Mining Rule Approved The White House on Tuesday approved a final rule that will make it easier for coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys. The rule is one of the most contentious of all the regulations emerging from the White House in President Bush's last weeks in office.... "This is unmistakably a fire sale of epic size for coal and the entire fossil fuel industry, with flagrant disregard for human health, the environment or the rule of law," said Vickie Patton, deputy general counsel of the Environmental Defense Fund. ...	Coming soon: the great West Virginia plateau. ApocaDoc permalink
Want more context? Try reading our book FREE online: Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! More fun than a barrel of jellyfish!
Fri, Dec 5, 2008 from New Richmond News: Invasive 'jumping carp' found in Mississippi River near La Crosse This is the first confirmed identification of a silver carp upstream of Clinton, Iowa, and the first identified in Wisconsin waters. Fisheries supervisor Ron Benjamin of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said a single silver carp was among three species of invasive Asian carp discovered late last week in a commercial fishing net deployed in the Mississippi River near La Crosse. It was not immediately identified. Two grass carp and one or two bighead carp were also pulled from the net.... "Aquatic invasive species are detrimental to native aquatic ecosystems." ...	Leapin' Liz... um... carp, Sandy! This is arfin' ridiculous! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Dec 4, 2008 from Associated Press: Solar car completes 1st ever round-the-world trip POZNAN, Poland (AP) — The first solar-powered car to travel around the world ended its journey at the U.N. climate talks Thursday, arriving with the message that clean technologies are available now to stop global warming. The small two-seater, hauling a trailer of solar cells and carrying chief U.N. climate official Yvo de Boer, glided up to a building in Poznan, Poland, where delegates from some 190 nations are working toward a new treaty to control climate change. "This is the first time in history that a solar-powered car has traveled all the way around the world without using a single drop of petrol," said Louis Palmer, the 36-year-old Swiss schoolteacher and adventurer who made the trip. "These new technologies are ready," he said. "It's ecological, it's economical, it is absolutely reliable. We can stop global warning." ...	But does it have cool cupholders? ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Dec 4, 2008 from Associated Press: Conservation group sues to protect walrus ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A conservation group went to court Wednesday to force the federal government to consider adding Pacific walrus to the list of threatened species. The Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne for failing to act on a petition seeking protection for walrus under the Endangered Species Act. Walrus are threatened by global warming that melts Arctic sea ice, according to the group, which was one of the parties that successfully petitioned to list polar bears as threatened. The group also has filed petitions to protect Arctic seals. ...	goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Dec 4, 2008 from Underwater Times: Study: One-third Of World's Fish Catches Are Being Wasted As Animal Feed; 'It Defies Reason' An alarming new study to be published in November in the Annual Review of Environment and Resources finds that one-third of the world's marine fish catches are ground up and fed to farm-raised fish, pigs, and poultry, squandering a precious food resource for humans and disregarding the serious overfishing crisis in our oceans.... "We need to stop using so many small ocean fish to feed farmed fish and other animals," Alder said. "These small, tasty fish could instead feed people. Society should demand that we stop wasting these fish on farmed fish, pigs, and poultry." Although feeds derived from soy and other land-based crops are available and are used, fishmeal and fish oil have skyrocketed in popularity because forage fish are easy to catch in large numbers, and hence, relatively inexpensive. ...	We're taking all the "forage fish" away from the foragers -- we may see a "forage riot" from the large marine animals before long. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Dec 4, 2008 from Reuters: Man-made noise in world's seas threatens wildlife ROME (Reuters) - Man-made noise in the world's seas and oceans is becoming an increasing threat to whales, dolphins and turtles who use sound to communicate, forage for food and find mates, wildlife experts said on Wednesday. Rumbling ship engines, seismic surveys by oil and gas companies, and intrusive military sonars are triggering an "acoustic fog and cacophony of sounds" underwater, scaring marine animals and affecting their behavior. "There is now evidence linking loud underwater noises with some major strandings of marine mammals, especially deep diving beaked whales," Mark Simmonds, Science Director of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, told a news conference in Rome... According to "Ocean Noise: Turn It Down," a new report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the distance over which blue whales can communicate has been cut by 90 percent as a result of higher noise levels. ...	eh? ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Dec 4, 2008 from Canwest News Service: Ice cleaners can make hockey players sick, doctor warns A Quebec public health doctor says hockey-loving communities across the country should be wary of air poisoning related to the use of ice-surfacing machines after dozens of people became ill after attending hockey games last Sunday. Some 35 people either checked into hospitals or saw doctors after suffering form symptoms of nitrogen poisoning related to a faulty ice-surfacing machine at Saint-Ubalde arena, west of Quebec City.... Participants of a garage league tournament Sunday evening started feeling ill hours after playing, said Dr. Henri Prud'homme of the Quebec City-area public health agency. One of the players was still reported to be in intensive care Wednesday. ...	Boned by the zamboni. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Dec 4, 2008 from New York Times: Proposal Ties Economic Stimulus to Energy Plan WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama and leaders in Congress are fashioning a plan to pour billions of dollars into a jobs program to jolt the economy and lay the groundwork for a more energy-efficient one. The details and cost of the so-called green-jobs program are still unclear, but a senior Obama aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a work in progress, said it would probably include the weatherizing of hundreds of thousands of homes, the installation of “smart meters” to monitor and reduce home energy use, and billions of dollars in grants to state and local governments for mass transit and infrastructure projects. ...	If not now... when? If not us, then who? ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Dec 4, 2008 from Environmental Science and Technology: EPA perchlorate decision flawed, say advisers The U.S. EPA’s preliminary decision not to regulate perchlorate in drinking water has elicited an outpouring of critical comments, including a plea from the agency’s own Science Advisory Board (SAB) for more scientific transparency and a stinging critique from the agency’s Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee (CHPAC). The committee faulted EPA for failing to take advantage of the best new science and for using a biological model that has not been peer-reviewed. The furor marks the latest episode in an almost decadelong controversy surrounding the potential health effects of long-term, low-level exposure to perchlorate. The latest round pits many state and federal environmental protection risk assessors, environmental groups, and thyroid patient advocates against U.S. Department of Defense risk assessors, assessment consultants, and many respected thyroid specialists. Perchlorate, a major component of rocket fuel, contaminates groundwater at many Department of Defense and NASA sites and those of their contractors. The chemical has also entered groundwater and the food chain in large quantities, in part through the past use of Chilean nitrate fertilizer. ...	I like perchlorate because it's my personal rocket fuel! ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Dec 3, 2008 from Mongabay: Agricultural firms cut incentives for Amazon deforestation As grain prices plummet and concerns over cash mount, agricultural giants are cutting loans to Brazilian farmers, reports the Wall Street Journal. Tighter farm credit may be contributing to a recent slowing in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, where agriculture is an increasingly important driver of forest clearing.... Now strapped for cash and facing rising risks in the credit markets, agricultural firms including Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., Bunge Ltd. and Cargill Inc., and equipment suppliers like Deere & Co. are reducing loans and advance cash payments to farmers at a time when production and borrowing costs are rising. "As the volatile commodities market and the global financial crisis have increased the risk and expense of doing business in Brazil, big grain companies are reining in lending," writes Etter. ...	You mean the invisible hand of the market might actually do something good? ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Dec 3, 2008 from Telegraph.co.uk: Farmland birds in Europe fall by half Farmland birds suffered the most, with numbers falling by half. Western Europe saw the most dramatic decline with a fall of more than 50 per cent because of intensive agriculture. However in Eastern Europe, where agriculture has retained more traditional practices, farmland birds fell by just over a third. In the UK, the population of farmland birds reached its lowest point in more than 30 years last year, according to the RSPB. Of the dozen most rapidly declining farmland birds in Europe, eight including the grey partridge, turtle dove, corn bunting, tree sparrow and starling have also declined rapidly in the UK.... EU leaders have pledged to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010, but Mr Madge said the decline in farmland birds showed that plants and animals are declining at such a rate that the target is unlikely to be met. ...	So what? What did farmland birds ever do for me? ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Dec 3, 2008 from Brisbane Courier-Mail: White possum said to be first victim of global warming The white lemuroid possum, a rare creature found only above 1000m in the mountain forests of far north Queensland, has not been seen for three years. Experts fear climate change is to blame for the disappearance of the highly vulnerable species thanks to a temperature rise of up to 0.8C. Researchers will mount a last-ditch expedition early next year deep into the untouched "cloud forests" of the Carbine range near Mt Lewis, three hours north of Cairns, in search of the tiny tree-dweller, dubbed the "Dodo of the Daintree"....Scientists believe some frog, bug and insects species have also been killed off by climate change. But this would be the first known loss of a mammal and the most significant since the extinction of the Dodo and the Tasmanian Tiger. ...	We may all be Dodos someday. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Dec 3, 2008 from Washington Post (US): EPA to Curb Medical Emissions The Environmental Protection Agency moved yesterday to curb pollution released by medical waste incinerators, ending an 11-year battle over how to best regulate the emissions. Environmentalists hailed the move as an important precedent for controlling toxic releases into the air, saying EPA based its calculations on the availability of technologies to significantly clean up incinerator pollution. The facilities can install fabric filters to trap toxic particles or scrubbers to capture gaseous releases. "This is the first time I've ever seen them do an air toxic rule right," said Jim Pew, a lawyer at Earthjustice... ...	The EPA ... actually protecting the environment? Maybe they're trying to reduce global warming by freezing over hell. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Dec 2, 2008 from AP News: Panel: Bio attack likely in next 5 years The report, which is scheduled to be publicly released on Wednesday, suggests that the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama should improve the capability of the United States to counter such an attack and to prepare if necessary for germ warfare. The report was written by the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism. Among other things, it concluded: "Our margin of safety is shrinking, not growing." ...	How do you counter a plague? Who do we bomb? ApocaDoc permalink
You're still reading! Good for you! You really should read our short, funny, frightening book FREE online (or buy a print copy): Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! We've been quipping this stuff for more than 30 months! Every day! Which might explain why we don't get invited to parties anymore.
Tue, Dec 2, 2008 from Inverness Courier: Chain reaction that stems from global warming The birds that are now in trouble feed mainly on sandeels, a small fish usually found in large shoals and forming a key element in the marine food chains. Sandeels are also part of a fishery. In the past, over-exploitation of the stocks was thought to have an impact on seabirds but now this is not reckoned to be the case.... [I]t seems clear that something other than over-fishing is affecting the sandeels and the birds that depend on them. The RSPB scientists have pointed to reports of significant declines in the biomass of plankton that forms the basis of almost all the marine food chains. The plant element, the phytoplankton, can be looked on as the grass of the ocean. Everything else depends on it, including the larvae of the sandeels. It is suspected that the higher winter sea-surface temperatures being recorded are somehow disrupting the food chain. ...	Where have all the plankton gone / long time passing... ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Dec 2, 2008 from New Scientist: Heat we emit could warm the Earth Even if we turn to clean energy to reduce carbon emissions, the planet might carry on warming anyway due to the heat released into the environment by our ever-increasing consumption of energy.... The energy we generate and consume ultimately ends up being dissipated into the environment as heat. This input is relatively small today but might become significant in the next century, Cowern and Ahn suggest. Their calculations show that if global energy use increases at about 1 per cent per year -- slower than in the recent past -- then by 2100, the heat dissipated could become significant enough to cancel out the benefits of cuts in emissions. ...	What, energy produces heat? Who woulda thunk? ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Dec 2, 2008 from Mongabay: Brazil to cut Amazon deforestation by 70 percent to fight global warming Brazil will aim to cut its deforestation rate by 70 percent by 2018 under its plan to reduce emissions from forest clearing, Environment Minister Carlos Minc. The plan will be financed by the country's Amazon Fund which relies on voluntary contributions from governments, corporations, and wealthy individuals. Norway has pledged up to a billion dollars to the fund depending on Brazil's effectiveness in reducing deforestation. Contributors are not eligible for carbon credits. ...	"Aims"? "Voluntary contributions"? "Plan"? "Reduce"? I'm not excited by weasel words. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Dec 2, 2008 from Guardian (UK): How changes in daily routine may become second nature Before going out you turn off the master switch for all your appliances. Then you climb into your electric car for the drive to work. The roads are noticeably quieter, and there have been studies showing asthma admissions are falling as petrol and diesel cars are replaced.... David Kennedy, the climate change committee's chief executive, said: "Let's not underestimate the energy efficiency that gives you more [savings] than lifestyle change, but there are things that can really make a difference, such as simply switching lights off when you leave the room and turning the thermostat down." There would likely be visible and audible changes: quieter streets, more wind turbines on the horizon, but also, as farmers use less fertiliser, more trout and salmon in rivers, while countryside bird populations should flourish. ...	You mean I can make a difference with my personal life!? ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Dec 2, 2008 from IFPRI, via EurekAlert: Food price crisis and financial crisis present double threat for poor people The combined impact of low economic growth and decreased investments in agriculture could cause major increases in malnutrition in developing countries, according to new analysis by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). The result could be 16 million more undernourished children in 2020.... "IFPRI recommends three priorities for action: (1) promote pro-poor agricultural growth, (2) reduce market volatility, and (3) expand social safety nets and child nutrition programs. "Ultimately, our measure of success should not be defined by the price of food, but by the provision of adequate healthy food for all," he said. ...	Whattarya, a communist?! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Dec 1, 2008 from Binghamton University, via EurekAlert: Foretelling a major meltdown By discovering the meaning of a rare mineral that can be used to track ancient climates, Binghamton University geologist Tim Lowenstein is helping climatologists and others better understand what we're probably in for over the next century or two as global warming begins to crank up the heat -- and, ultimately, to change life as we know it.... What Lowenstein and his colleague Robert Demicco at Binghamton University have discovered is that nahcolite, a rare, yellowish-green or brown carbonate mineral, only forms on earth under environmental conditions marked by very high atmospheric CO2 levels.... "If we assume that you and I are both in our 50s, the change in atmospheric CO2 in our lifetime is greater than the rate of any change in at least the last half million years," said Lowenstein, who is particularly concerned about unexpected changes... ...	Science... is... a wonderful... thing... ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Dec 1, 2008 from BBC: UN climate summit seeks clarity The talks, in the city of Poznan, mark the halfway point in a two-year process agreed at last year's UN conference. The meeting will not produce a new deal but is likely to clarify what countries are looking for on issues such as emission cuts and forest protection. The US will be represented by officials of the outgoing Bush administration. The two-year process which began at last December's talks in Bali is designed to conclude in a year's time with an agreement that can enter force in 2012 when the current emission cuts under the Kyoto Protocol expire. ...	They better get clarity and get it fast! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Dec 1, 2008 from Agence France-Presse: Cholera-hit Zimbabwe cuts water supplies to capital Zimbabwe has cut water supplies to the capital Harare, state media said Monday, as the health minister urged the public to stop shaking hands in a desperate bid to curb a deadly cholera epidemic. The city has suffered periodic water cuts for years as the crumbling economy has caused widespread power shortages that often leave pumps idle. But the city-wide cut appeared aimed at stopping the flow of untreated water around Harare, which is at the epicentre of the cholera epidemic that has claimed 425 lives since late August -- most in just the last month. ...	The people of Zimbabwe need to learn the Western-style fist bump. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Dec 1, 2008 from Mongabay: Amazon deforestation rises slightly to 4,600 square miles in 2008 Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased slightly for the August 2007-July 2008 period, reports the country's National Institute of Space Research (INPE). The rise is the first since 2004 when 27,379 square kilometers were destroyed, but is lower than forecast. The 2008 figure is the second-lowest annual loss since 1991.... Regional climate trends indicate that large swathes of the Amazon are increasingly susceptible to drought and fire. Coupled with continued deforestation, degradation, and fragmentation, some researchers say the Amazon is approaching a critical tipping point which could see more than half of the forest damaged or destroyed within a generation. ...	Luckily, we can just grow it back whenever we want! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Dec 1, 2008 from Bioscience, via EurekAlert: Persistent pollutant may promote obesity Tributyltin, a ubiquitous pollutant that has a potent effect on gene activity, could be promoting obesity, according to an article in the December issue of BioScience. The chemical is used in antifouling paints for boats, as a wood and textile preservative, and as a pesticide on high-value food crops, among many other applications.... The rise in obesity in humans over the past 40 years parallels the increased use of industrial chemicals over the same period. Iguchi and Katsu maintain that it is "plausible and provocative" to associate the obesity epidemic to chemical triggers present in the modern environment. Several other ubiquitous pollutants with strong biological effects, including environmental estrogens such as bisphenol A and nonylphenol, have been shown to stimulate the growth of fat storage cells in mice. The role that tributyltin and similar persistent pollutants may play in the obesity epidemic is now under scrutiny. ...	So it's not all that fast food and laziness? Whew! ApocaDoc permalink