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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from

View By Scenario:
Species Collapse:	(4)
Plague/Virus:	(2)
Climate Chaos:	(10)
Resource Depletion:	(4)
Biology Breach:	(9)
Recovery:	(3)

This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
climate impacts ~ global warming ~ economic myopia ~ governmental idiocy ~ contamination ~ ecosystem interrelationships ~ water issues ~ food crisis ~ pandemic ~ heavy metals ~ anthropogenic change

ApocaDocuments (32) gathered this week:
Sun, May 17, 2009 from Associated Press: UN: Growth of slums boosting natural disaster risk The rampant growth of urban slums around the world and weather extremes linked to climate change have sharply increased the risks from "megadisasters" such as devastating floods and cyclones, a U.N. report said Sunday. The study — which examines natural disaster trends and strategies to reduce potential catastrophes — also noted that millions of people in rural areas are at higher risk from disasters such as landslides where forests have been stripped away or crippling droughts blamed on shifting rainfall patterns. Much of nearly 200-page report restates warnings from previous studies about unchecked urban growth and shortsighted rural planning. But it also seeks to sharpen the apparent link between climate change and the severity and frequency of major natural disasters including severe droughts and epic storms. ...	These slumdogs are our canaries in the catastrophic coal mine. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, May 17, 2009 from National Geographic: The Global Food Crisis It is the simplest, most natural of acts, akin to breathing and walking upright. We sit down at the dinner table, pick up a fork, and take a juicy bite, oblivious to the double helping of global ramifications on our plate. Our beef comes from Iowa, fed by Nebraska corn. Our grapes come from Chile, our bananas from Honduras, our olive oil from Sicily, our apple juice—not from Washington State but all the way from China. Modern society has relieved us of the burden of growing, harvesting, even preparing our daily bread, in exchange for the burden of simply paying for it. Only when prices rise do we take notice. And the consequences of our inattention are profound....High prices are the ultimate signal that demand is outstripping supply, that there is simply not enough food to go around. Such agflation hits the poorest billion people on the planet the hardest, since they typically spend 50 to 70 percent of their income on food. Even though prices have fallen with the imploding world economy, they are still near record highs, and the underlying problems of low stockpiles, rising population, and flattening yield growth remain. Climate change -- with its hotter growing seasons and increasing water scarcity -- is projected to reduce future harvests in much of the world, raising the specter of what some scientists are now calling a perpetual food crisis. ...	Sounds like it's time to stock up on the Poptarts! ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, May 17, 2009 from Newark Star-Ledger: With no other ship in sight, a common crime spoils sea ...the amount of oil illegally dumped by oceangoing ships has a far greater impact on the environment than accidental spills. Some estimates... put shipboard waste-dumping at more than 88 million gallons a year -- some eight times the amount of crude oil spilled when the Exxon Valdez hit a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound 20 years ago. Sludge filtered out from the low-grade fuel burned by many ships is particularly bad for the environment. It is supposed to be incinerated or off-loaded in port... One study has estimated 300,000 seabirds are killed annually along Canada's Atlantic coast from the type of routine discharge of oily waste, federal officials said. A chemical "oil fingerprint" analysis conducted by the Coast Guard found the bilge waste from one ship charged with environmental crimes was consistent with oil found on nearby beaches. ...	Perhaps we should just go take a leak on their shoes! ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, May 17, 2009 from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: FDA relied heavily on BPA lobby As federal regulators hold fast to their claim that a chemical in baby bottles is safe, e-mails obtained by the Journal Sentinel show that they relied on chemical industry lobbyists to examine bisphenol A's risks, track legislation to ban it and even monitor press coverage. In one instance, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's deputy director sought information from the BPA industry's chief lobbyist to discredit a Japanese study that found it caused miscarriages in workers who were exposed to it. This was before government scientists even had a chance to review the study.... The FDA relied on two studies - both paid for by chemical makers - to form the framework of its draft review declaring BPA to be safe. ...	Government in bed with industry...? Sounds SEXY! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, May 16, 2009 from Greenwire: DOJ nominee's industry experience a worry for some The corporate background of President Obama's pick for the nation's top environmental litigator has spurred concerns that she is ill-suited to lead the office charged with tackling corporate polluters. Obama announced plans earlier this week to nominate Ignacia Moreno, counsel of corporate environmental programs at General Electric Corp., to serve as assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division... [Alex] Matthiessen, whose group focuses on cleaning up pollution in the Hudson River, said he was particularly troubled by Moreno's tenure as counsel to GE, whose plants discharged as much as 1.3 million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the Hudson River... ...	Isn't this yet another case of getting a fox to watch the FOXhouse? ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, May 16, 2009 from Inter Press Service: Deep CO2 Cuts May Be Last Hope for Acid Oceans Ocean acidification offers the clearest evidence of dangers of climate change. And yet the indisputable fact that burning fossil fuels is slowly turning the oceans into an acid bath has been largely ignored by industrialised countries and their climate treaty negotiators, concluded delegates from 76 countries at the World Oceans Conference in Manado, Indonesia. Oceans and coastal areas must be on the agenda at the crucial climate talks in Copenhagen in December, they wrote in a declaration. "We must come to the rescue of the oceans," declared Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the opening of high-level government talks on Thursday in the northern city of Manado.... Each day, the oceans absorb 30 million tonnes of CO2, gradually and inevitably increasing their acidity. There is no controversy about this basic chemistry. ...	"No controversy"??? Come on, skeptics! Quit yer slackin'! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, May 16, 2009 from Charleston Gazette: Obama's EPA clears 42 of 48 new mountaintop removal mining permits The Obama administration has cleared more than three-dozen new mountaintop removal permits for issuance by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, drawing quick criticism from environmental groups who had hoped the new president would halt the controversial practice. In a surprise announcement Friday, Rep. Nick J. Rahall said 42 of the 48 permits already examined by the U.S. Environmental Protection had been approved by EPA for issuance by the corps. "It is unfortunate that, when EPA once again began reviewing proposed coal mining permits earlier this year, alarmists claimed that a moratorium on permit issuance was being proposed," Rahall said in a telephone news conference. "That was not that case then, and it is not the case now." The West Virginia Democrat is chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, which oversees the federal strip mining law, and represents a district that includes most of the state's southern coal counties. ...	Sometimes "hope" can cut both ways. ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, May 16, 2009 from Associated Press: Obama wants to pump $475M into Great Lakes cleanup A budget proposal from the Obama administration would spend $475 million on beach cleanups, wetlands restoration and removal of toxic sediments from river bottoms around the Great Lakes. The spending represents a first step toward a multiyear campaign to repair decades of damage to the battered ecosystem. It also seeks to ward off new threats by preventing exotic species invasions and cutting down on erosion and runoff. Obama's 2010 budget released in February requested the $475 million for a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, focusing on the region's most pressing environmental problems. When added to existing programs such as sewer system upgrades, it would push annual federal spending on the lakes past $1 billion. ...	Isn't "pumping" crap into the Great Lakes what got us into this trouble in the first place? ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, May 15, 2009 from Greenwire: Climate change, water shortages conspire to create 21st century Dust Bowl Dust storms accelerated by a warming climate have covered the Rocky Mountains with dirt whose heat-trapping properties have caused snowpacks to melt weeks earlier than normal, worrying officials in Colorado about drastic water shortages by late summer. Snowpacks from the San Juan Mountains to the Front Range have either completely melted or will be gone within the next two weeks... The rapid melting is linked to a spate of intense dust storms that kick up dirt and sand that in turn are deposited on snow-topped mountains. The dust darkens the snow, allowing the surface to absorb more heat from the sun. This warms the snow -- and the air above it -- significantly, studies show. ...	Here comes a whole new flood of Okies. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, May 15, 2009 from Inter Press Service: West Bank Becomes Waste Land Israel has found a cheap and easy way to get rid of its waste, much of it hazardous: dump it into the West Bank. A few Palestinians can be bought, the rest are in no position to complain... "Israel has been dumping waste, including hazardous and toxic waste, into the West Bank for years as a cheaper and easier alternative to processing it properly in Israel at appropriate hazardous waste management sites," Palestinian Environmental Authority (PEA) deputy director Jamil Mtoor told IPS. Shuqbah, a village of 5,000, lies near the border of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, not far from Ramallah. Israeli companies have been using land owned by a Palestinian middleman in the village to dump tonnes of garbage for as little as 30 dollars per tonne, significantly cheaper than dumping it at Israeli waste sites. ...	Great. Let's just call it the Waste Bank. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, May 15, 2009 from London Guardian: Barack Obama's climate change bill is weakened, but still intact Barack Obama's plans to move America towards a cleaner energy economy have survived – but not unscathed. Democratic leaders in Congress said late yesterday they were confident of getting enough support from about a dozen Democratic hold-outs – conservatives, and members from oil and coal producing states – to move forward on a climate change bill. But the ambitious global warming and energy agenda introduced to Congress six weeks ago, has been weakened in a number of key areas by the compromises with the Democratic hold-outs... and it now seems clear that the US will come nowhere close to European targets... ...	Always lagging behind the Europeans... Sheesh! ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, May 15, 2009 from Associated Press: Enviros sue EPA over ocean acidification An environmental group is suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, seeking to have Washington coastal waters listed as impaired because carbon dioxide is making the ocean more acidic. The Center for Biological Diversity said the EPA has failed to consider how ocean acidification is adversely affecting water quality and marine animals. The complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Seattle alleges the EPA violated the federal Clean Water Act by not listing Washington ocean waters as impaired, even though the group says research shows carbon dioxide in seawater is threatening marine ecosystems. ...	You know you're in trouble when ya gotta sue somebody into doing their job! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, May 14, 2009 from BBC: Birds at risk reach record high A record number of bird species are now listed as threatened with extinction, a global assessment has revealed. The IUCN Red List evaluation considered 1,227, or 12 percent, of all known bird species to be at risk, with 192 species described as Critically Endangered. The main threats affecting bird numbers continued to be agriculture, logging and invasive species, the report said. However, it added that where conservation measures had been put in place, bird populations had recovered. ...	Without birds, worms will take over the planet! ApocaDoc permalink
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Thu, May 14, 2009 from Edinburgh Scotsman: Hospital closes wards after superbug deaths A SCOTTISH health board was accused last night of covering up an outbreak of a potentially fatal hospital superbug that has been linked to the deaths of two patients. A total of 14 patients at Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin, Moray, have been diagnosed as suffering from Clostridium difficile since the beginning of April. One frail elderly patient died at the hospital last month as a direct result of contracting the infection and C diff has been listed as a contributory cause in the death of another patient who also died in April. ...	Great! This takes my mind off swine flu! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, May 14, 2009 from Toronto Star: High food prices pushing world to tipping point Food riots undermining poor countries' governments. Millions of starving refugees fleeing war zones. Droughts of dangerous proportions overtaking already hungry people. At a time of sharp economic downturn, the world's poorest have been hit with a triple whammy. The head of the global agency that feeds the hungriest says problems are escalating because of a spike in food prices unaffected by the crash in the cost of commodities. "For the first time in human history one out of every six people on the planet is going to bed hungry," said Josette Sheeran, executive director of the $5 billion annual United Nations World Food Program. The largely silent humanitarian crisis, Sheeran says, is often caused by local markets that have created dire shortages. "Over the past five years when food prices were going up, national (food) purchase budgets were not. That drew down the stocks, and they became dangerously low around the world." ...	Please stop the sound of stomachs growling! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, May 14, 2009 from London Times: Professor Anthony Costello: climate change biggest threat to humans Climate change poses the biggest threat to human health in the 21st century but its full impact is not being grasped by the healthcare community or policymakers, a medical report concludes. The report, compiled by a commission of academics from University College London and published in The Lancet, warns that climate change risks huge death tolls caused by disease, food and water shortages and poor sanitation. The authors said that the NHS would face serious incremental pressures from heat and hygiene-related illnesses because of increasingly hot summers, greater pathogen spread with warmer temperatures, and the heightened risk of flooding. ...	An even bigger threat... than Godzilla?! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, May 14, 2009 from Shanghai Daily: Mystery gas poisons more than 1,000 MORE than 1,000 workers at a chemical company in northeast China's Jilin Province have fallen ill after being poisoned by a mystery gas which apparently leaked from a neighboring factory. Yesterday, more than 700 workers from the Jilin Chemical Fiber Group in Jilin's capital Jilin City went to the group's hospital, doctors told China National Radio Station. Doctors suspect they have been poisoned by inhaling a gas as most of the workers are suffering from dizziness, vomiting, lethargy and sore throats. Workers believe the leak could come from a neighboring factory that makes aniline. Aniline, an organic compound, is an important aromatic amine. It smells like rotting fish and has a burning aromatic taste. It is a highly-acrid poison used in the manufacture of foam and dyes. ...	Boy, the stuff in dyes can 'bout kill ya! ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, May 13, 2009 from Wall Street Journal: EPA Chief Says CO2 Finding May Not 'Mean Regulation' The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday a finding that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are a public health danger won't necessarily lead to government regulation of emissions, an apparent about-face for the Obama administration. The comments follow revelations of an administration document warning the EPA of potential economically harmful consequences from an agency finding last month that proposes declaring greenhouse gases a danger to the public. The document represents comments from various federal agencies, prepared by the Office of Management and Budget for EPA rule-making. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson previously has said that such a decision "will indeed trigger the beginning of regulation of CO2," echoing similar remarks by White House climate czar Carol Browner. But speaking before the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Ms. Jackson said Tuesday: "The endangerment finding is a scientific finding mandated by law...It does not mean regulation." ...	What's already "economically harmful" is having health insurance I can't afford for illnesses that were caused by a toxic planet! ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, May 13, 2009 from Associated Press: Teflon lawsuit against DuPont dismissed A lawsuit against DuPont Co. claiming its nonstick Teflon cookware coating could pose health risks to users has been dropped. The lawsuit included 22 cases from about 15 states. All had been consolidated to be heard in U.S. District Court in Des Moines, Iowa. The lawsuit has been in the courts for four years. U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Longstaff signed a dismissal order on May 1. The case was dropped because if failed to convince the court it deserved class-action status. ...	So you're saying ... the Teflon suit... didn't stick? ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, May 13, 2009 from London Daily Mail: Gender-bending chemical timebomb fear for boys' fertility Chemicals in food, cosmetics and cleaning products are 'feminising' unborn boys and raising their risk of cancer and infertility later in life, an expert warns today. Professor Richard Sharpe, one of Britain's leading reproductive biologists, says everyday substances are linked to soaring rates of birth defects and testicular cancer, and to falling sperm counts. The government adviser's report published today is the most detailed yet into the threat posed to baby boys by chemicals that block the action of the male sex hormone testosterone, or mimic the female sex hormone oestrogen...In repeated experiments, testosterone-disrupting chemicals found in pesticides, drugs, plastics and household products created symptoms of TDS [Testicular Dysgenesis Syndrome] in laboratory animals. Some of the experiments showed that the chemicals work in combination - causing problems at doses where the individual chemicals should be harmless. ...	Like the old song says: I enJOY being a girl!!! ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, May 13, 2009 from The Nation: Tennessee Spill: The Dredge Report The Tennessee Valley Authority's efforts to clean tons of toxic coal ash are set to cause a "major toxic event" that could kill entire fish species and send a human health threat slinking up the food chain, according to scientists... A handful of scientists are saying that the river-clearing operation will unleash a deadly pulse of selenium, an element found in coal ash that's good for humans in small doses but toxic to people, fish and wildlife at high levels... The EPA's hazard summary cites long-term studies showing that exposure to high levels of selenium in food and water have led to discoloration of the skin, loss of nails and hair, excessive tooth decay and discoloration, listlessness and lack of mental alertness. ...	Given my listlessness and lack of mental alertness I have nothing useful to say! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, May 12, 2009 from Times of India: The mad rush for water KANPUR: The Khuranas leave bed early in the morning everyday at 5.00 this May, not to jog and gym, but to fill water as this is the only time it is easily available. Ravi Khurana, head of family and a banker said, "The water supply has a steady flow in early morning hours so we wake up early to store enough water for our daily requirements." Water has become a priced and elusive commodity in the concrete desert of this city and everybody can feel its shortage. The problem increases in high-rise buildings. Along with rising mercury, family budgets too are rising with a new entrant in their household items -- water cans. Talking to TOI, Anupam Shukla, a resident of Swaroopnagar said, "Motor pumps are proving to be incapable of supplying water to our sixth floor apartment. Hence, we are forced to buy water cans of 20 litre capacity to store drinking water." He added, "We do not use the water supplied directly for drinking purpose, rather using it for performing other household chores and for bathing etc." ...	Can't someone just invent a way to make water? C'mon, innovators! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, May 12, 2009 from New Scientist: World frog trade spreading killer diseases Millions of frogs are shifted around the world each year for sale as pets and food. Now research shows, for the first time, that this global trade is spreading two severe diseases -- one of which is blamed for driving amphibians towards extinction.... "Considering the devastating impact Bd has had on global amphibian populations and the millions of animals being traded on an annual basis, this number is especially alarming," says Lisa Schloegel of the Wildlife Trust who led the work. "We may never completely know the extent to which trade has contributed to the global spread of amphibian diseases, but it does appear to be a major contributing factor." ...	Perhaps the thinking went: "If we spread the diseases thinly enough, over a long enough time, they'll lose their strength." ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, May 12, 2009 from CBC (Canada): Federal predictions of greenhouse gas reductions are exaggerated: watchdog The federal government has overstated greenhouse gas reductions expected as a result of its climate change plans and is failing to count the actual reductions to see if they match with predictions, according to a report tabled in Parliament. "Without a system to count real emission reductions that result from its measures, the government will not be able to inform Parliament whether the measures are working," Scott Vaughan, commissioner of the environment and sustainable development, said Tuesday in the text of a prepared statement.... "A recurring flaw ... is the lack of transparency on the part of the government as to how forecast reductions are calculated," the report said. It noted that the potential effect of factors such as energy prices and economic conditions are not included. ...	Did the entire Bush administration just move north? ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, May 12, 2009 from University of Washington, via EurekAlert: Any way you slice it, warming climate is affecting Cascades snowpack There has been sharp disagreement in recent years about how much, or even whether, winter snowpack has declined in the Cascade Mountains of Washington and Oregon during the last half-century. But new research leaves little doubt that a warmer climate has a significant effect on the snowpack, as measured by water content on April 1, even if other factors keep year-to-year measurements close to normal for a period of years.... The new research used four different methods to examine decades-long records of water contained in Cascades snowpack in the central Puget Sound basin on April 1 of each year. Scientists used simple geometry to estimate temperature sensitivity of snowpack, made detailed analysis of seasonal snowpack and temperature data, used a hydrological model to examine the data, and analyzed daily temperature and precipitation measurements to estimate water content of snowpack on April 1.... "If you assume precipitation is the same every year and look at the effects of temperature alone, all the ways we examined the data converge at about a 20 percent decline in snowpack for each degree Celsius of temperature increase," said Casola. ...	What kind of April fools are they? ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, May 11, 2009 from London Times: River Jordan, the site of Jesus' baptism, a 'sewage pipe' If Pope Benedict hoped to immerse himself yesterday in the waters of the River Jordan, where Jesus was said to have been baptised by his cousin John, he will have been disappointed: the river is now such a polluted, denuded shadow of its former self that bathing is prohibited in its sluggish, brown waters. A United Nations report described the biblical waterway as a "sewage pipe" made filthy by pollution from farming in Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley, by poorly managed sewage disposal from Palestinian cities in the West Bank and by waste water from Jordan and Syria. ...	Bet you could get a good craptism there. 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.
Mon, May 11, 2009 from Associated Press: Former coal lobbyist takes state post A former coal industry lobbyist has been named to a top post with Indiana's environmental agency, an appointment that environmental activists say raises questions about whether he can be objective in his new job. David Joest, a former registered lobbyist for Peabody Coal Co., became the Indiana Department of Environmental Management's assistant commissioner for the Office of Legal Counsel in April. That post puts him in charge of civil enforcement and criminal investigations of the state's biggest polluters. IDEM spokesman Barry Sneed said the agency "is fortunate to have someone of his caliber and experience." But environmentalists say they're baffled by his appointment, which comes as his former employer, Peabody Energy, seeks to start new mines in Indiana. ...	That's kind of like the fox watching the fox house. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, May 11, 2009 from New Scientist: Brazil's other big forest in dire straits The ongoing degradation of the Amazon rainforest has obscured the plight of its smaller sibling: the Atlantic forest in Brazil, which is a biodiversity hotspot. Once covering about 1.5 million square kilometres, the rainforest has been reduced to about one-tenth of its original area in the past 500 years, a new study has shown. The Atlantic forest supports more than 20,000 species of plants, 260 mammals, 700 birds, 200 reptiles, 280 amphibians and hundreds of unnamed species. Unless the damage is halted, monkeys and birds unique to the region will go extinct, including iconic species such as the golden lion tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia) and the northern woolly spider monkey (Brachyteles hypoxanthus), both among the most endangered of all the world's monkeys. "Unfortunately, the forest is in very bad shape," says Jean Paul Metzger at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. "Species extinctions will occur more rapidly and, since 30 per cent of the species are endemic to the region, they will disappear forever." ...	That Amazon "spare" is flat? ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, May 11, 2009 from Wall Street Journal: Pig Boom Raises Health Issues The recent emergence of A/H1N1 flu highlights a wider concern among scientists: Pig and other animal populations are growing too rapidly, raising the odds of disease outbreaks and other environmental problems. The world's pig population has surged in recent years, to about one billion animals from less than 750 million 30 years ago, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Agricultural economists believe the number of hogs and other livestock will keep rocketing higher in the long term, as developing-world incomes rise and meat demand booms. Pigs provide a relatively cheap source of protein. But like chickens and cows, they also present enormous health and environmental challenges... ...	Pigs are hogging the planet! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, May 11, 2009 from Mongabay: As wolves face the gun, flawed science taints decision to remove species from ESA On Monday the gray wolf was removed from the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in Idaho and Montana, two states that have protected the wolf for decades. According to the federal government the decision to remove those wolf populations was based on sound conservation science -- a fact greatly disputed in conservation circles. For unlike the bald eagle, whose population is still rising after being delisted in 1995, when the wolf is removed from the ESA it will face guns blazing and an inevitable decline. Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar decided to delist the wolves in March after meeting with scientists from the Fish and Wildlife Service. This followed a decision in January 2008, when former President George W. Bush decided to take the gray wolf off the ESA in the Rockies, namely Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. The removal angered conservation organizations, who argued that wolf populations were not yet large enough to sustain the hunt that would follow. Subsequent months proved them right. Removed in March of 2008, wolf hunting commenced in Wyoming until July -- five months later -- when a judge agreed with environmentalists and placed an immediate halt to the hunts. In those five months Wyoming lost at least a quarter of its wolves. ...	I better get my wolfskin while the gettin' is good! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, May 11, 2009 from BBC (UK): Whaling peace talks 'fall short' Moves to make a peace deal between pro and anti-whaling nations have stalled, with no chance of agreement this year. Countries have been talking for nearly a year in an attempt to hammer out an accord by this year's International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting.... A source close to the talks blamed Japan, saying it had not offered big enough cuts in its Antarctic hunt, conducted in the name of research. Earlier meetings had raised the possibility that Japan might countenance annual reductions in its catch over the next five years, perhaps down to zero. However, the source said that at a meeting held last month in San Francisco, Japan had offered to cut the haul to 650 minke whales per year, only 29 fewer than were caught last season. ...	Killing intelligent mammals "in the name of research." Didn't Mengele do that? ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, May 11, 2009 from ARC, via EurekAlert: Rules proposed to save the world's coral reefs An international team of scientists has proposed a set of basic rules to help save the world's imperiled coral reefs from ultimate destruction.... The key to saving threatened coral ecosystems is to maintain the links (connectivity) between reefs allowing larvae to flow between them and re-stock depleted areas, the team led by Pew Fellow Dr Laurence McCook of Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) argues. "Ecological connectivity is critically important to the resilience of coral reefs and other ecosystems to which they are linked," says Dr McCook. "The ability of reefs to recover after disturbances or resist new stresses depends critically on the supply of larvae available to reseed populations of key organisms, such as fish and corals. For reefs to survive and prosper they must in turn be linked with other healthy reefs." ...	Wonder what the acidifying ocean will have to say about this? ApocaDoc permalink