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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from

View By Scenario:
Species Collapse:	(4)
Plague/Virus:	(2)
Climate Chaos:	(12)
Resource Depletion:	(4)
Biology Breach:	(4)
Recovery:	(2)

This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
climate impacts ~ global warming ~ ecosystem interrelationships ~ carbon emissions ~ alternative energy ~ water issues ~ stupid humans ~ renewable energy ~ bad policy ~ rising sea level ~ faster than expected

ApocaDocuments (28) gathered this week:
Sun, Jul 12, 2009 from London Independent: The planet's future: Climate change 'will cause civilisation to collapse' An effort on the scale of the Apollo mission that sent men to the Moon is needed if humanity is to have a fighting chance of surviving the ravages of climate change. The stakes are high, as, without sustainable growth, "billions of people will be condemned to poverty and much of civilisation will collapse". This is the stark warning from the biggest single report to look at the future of the planet -- obtained by The Independent on Sunday ahead of its official publication next month. Backed by a diverse range of leading organisations such as Unesco, the World Bank, the US army and the Rockefeller Foundation, the 2009 State of the Future report runs to 6,700 pages and draws on contributions from 2,700 experts around the globe. Its findings are described by Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the UN, as providing "invaluable insights into the future for the United Nations, its member states, and civil society". ...	Can I get the ApocaCliffsNotes version, please? ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Jul 12, 2009 from via ScienceDaily: Potato famine disease striking home gardens in U.S. Late blight, which caused the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s and 1850s, is killing potato and tomato plants in home gardens from Maine to Ohio and threatening commercial and organic farms, U.S. plant scientists said on Friday. "Late blight has never occurred this early and this widespread in the United States," said Meg McGrath, a plant pathologist at Cornell University's extension center in Riverhead, New York. She said the fungal disease, spread by spores carried in the air, has made its way into the garden centers of large retail chains in the Northeastern United States. "Wal-mart, Home Depot, Sears, Kmart and Lowe's..." ...	Just so they don't charge extra for the spores. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Jul 12, 2009 from European Space Agency via ScienceDaily: Declining Aral Sea: Satellite Images Highlight Dramatic Retreat New Envisat images highlight the dramatic retreat of the Aral Sea's shoreline from 2006 to 2009. The Aral Sea was once the world's fourth-largest inland body of water, but it has been steadily shrinking over the past 50 years since the rivers that fed it were diverted for irrigation projects. As the Aral Sea evaporated, it left behind a 40 000 sq km zone of dry, white salt terrain now called the Aral Karakum Desert. Each year violent sandstorms pick up at least 150 000 tonnes of salt and sand from the Aral Karakum and transport it across hundreds of km, causing severe health problems for the local population and making regional winters colder and summers hotter. In an attempt to mitigate these effects, vegetation that thrives in dry, saline conditions is being planted in the former seabed. ...	This "salt and sand" stuff makes me parched! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Jul 11, 2009 from New York Times: Survey Shows Gap Between Scientists and the Public When it comes to climate change, the teaching of evolution and the state of the nation's research enterprise, there is a large gap between what scientists think and the views of ordinary Americans, a new survey has found... while almost all of the scientists surveyed accept that human beings evolved by natural processes and that human activity, chiefly the burning of fossil fuels, is causing global warming, general public is far less sure. Almost a third of ordinary Americans say human beings have existed in their current form since the beginning of time, a view held by only 2 percent of the scientists. Only about half of the public agrees that people are behind climate change, and 11 percent does not believe there is any warming at all. ...	This is evadense our public edjucation system are flawed. ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Jul 11, 2009 from CNN: Greening the Internet: How much CO2 does this article produce? Twenty milligrams; that's the average amount of carbon emissions generated from the time it took you to read the first two words of this article. Now, depending on how quickly you read, around 80, perhaps even 100 milligrams of C02 have been released. And in the several minutes it will take you to get to the end of this story, the number of milligrams of greenhouse gas emitted could be several thousand, if not more.... every second someone spends browsing a simple web site generates roughly 20 milligrams of C02. Whether downloading a song, sending an email or streaming a video, almost every single activity that takes place in the virtual environment has an impact on the real one. As millions more go online each year some researchers say the need to create a green Internet ecosystem is not only imperative but also urgent. ...	Turnabout's fair play! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Jul 11, 2009 from Portland Oregonian: Oregon opens the tap wider for recycling gray water as demand grows, supplies wane Oregonians have long recycled bottles, paper and cans. But now water? Yes, the estimated 40 gallons a day per person that drains from the shower, kitchen sink, washing machine. It is known as gray water, and all of it could water the lawn, the vegetable garden -- or go into the toilet tank for a "free" flush. That's if Oregon, which faces a population surge in a time of uncertain water supplies, follows the example of water-starved cities such as Tucson, Ariz., which requires many new structures to be plumbed to make use of gray water. ...	If only there was a more poetic term for "gray water"... muted silver water? smoky slate water? ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jul 10, 2009 from BBC: Concern over Ebola virus in pigs A form of Ebola virus has been detected in pigs for the first time, raising concerns it could mutate and pose a new risk to humans. Ebola-Reston virus (REBOV) has only previously been seen in monkeys and humans -- and has not caused illness. But researchers are concerned that pigs might provide a melting pot where the virus could mutate into something more menacing for humans.... "REBOV infection in domestic swine raises concern about the potential for emerging disease in humans and a wider range of livestock. "There is concern that its passage through swine may allow REBOV to diverge and shift its potential for pathogenicity." ...	That would make H1N1 look like... well, a couple of letters and numbers. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jul 10, 2009 from Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, via EurekAlert: Between the devil and the deep blue sea Many Megacities such as Tokyo (pop. 36.000.000), New York (22.000.000) and London (12.000.000) are found in the coastal zone. Coastal protection measures give a sense of false security and require increasingly expensive infrastructure. The treatment and cure of these coastal syndromes includes renewable energy, recycled water and solid waste, sourcing locally grown foods and attention to social equity issues, especially in education and healthcare.... Up to now, governments at all scales, from local to international, have largely failed to seriously implement integrated management in coastal zones.... These are the conclusions of 40 international experts from wide ranging disciplines including economics, social sciences and natural sciences who met for an intensive, 5 day workshop near Oslo, Norway. ...	Governments have failed to respond to long-term issues? When did this start? ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jul 10, 2009 from Los Angeles Times: Despite Obama's pledge, G-8 makes little headway on global warming Reporting from Washington and L'Aquila, Italy -- Addressing leaders of the world's most important economies early Thursday, President Obama wasted no time in proclaiming a new day for U.S. policy on climate change. "I know that in the past, the United States has sometimes fallen short of meeting our responsibilities," he said. "So let me be clear: Those days are over." But by the end of the day, when the Group of 8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, wrapped up its deliberations on climate, Obama found himself stymied by many of the same roadblocks that plagued previous efforts to tackle global warming. Leaders of the most developed nations again declined to commit themselves to any specific actions now or in the immediate future to curb the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming -- actions that would require increasing energy prices, raising taxes or imposing other unpopular economic measures on their people. Instead, they embraced the high-sounding goal of reducing their own emissions by 80 percent and worldwide emissions by 50 percent by 2050 -- without pledging to take any specific steps to get there. ...	Our leaders need to get the lead out! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jul 9, 2009 from New Scientist: Swine flu sweeps the southern hemisphere Meanwhile, in the southern hemisphere, in the midst of its winter flu season, swine H1N1 virus seems to be replacing the seasonal flu viruses that circulated till now -- classic pandemic behaviour. This raises concerns that seasonal flu vaccine, which some companies are still making, may be useless when the northern hemisphere's flu season arrives later this year.... In Australia, the state of Victoria, the hardest hit so far, reported this week that swine H1N1 now accounts for 99 per cent of all flu cases. It is a similar story in South America. In Chile, swine H1N1 is also outrunning the seasonal virus. "Ninety-eight per cent of the flu cases we have now are caused by H1N1," Chile's under-secretary of public health, Jeanette Vega, told a pandemic summit in Cancun, Mexico, last week. "The seasonal vaccine is useless." ...	H1N1 is just so bossy, pushing out those other flus like it does. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jul 9, 2009 from Bloomberg News: Arctic Ocean's Ice Layer Thins 'Dramatically,' Study Concludes The layer of ice over the Arctic Ocean has thinned "dramatically" this decade, with its thin seasonal blanket for the first time making up a bigger portion of the total ice than the thicker, older coat, a study said. Scientists from NASA and the University of Washington in Seattle surveyed the ocean's ice sheet from 2003 through 2008 using observations from the Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite, or ICESat, to make the first estimate of its thickness and volume.... The researchers found that the Arctic Ocean's ice layer thinned by about 2.2 feet over four winters, or about 7 inches a year, while the area covered by older, thicker ice shrank by about 42 percent, or 595,000 square miles -- almost the land area of Alaska. In 2003, 62 percent of the ocean's ice cover was older, thicker ice, with 38 percent in seasonal layers, the researchers found. Five years later, 68 percent of the ice cap was made up of seasonal ice. ...	Good thing that it's natural variation, and that we're not responsible. What a coincidence that unprecedented change is happening at this time in history! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jul 9, 2009 from Common Dreams: Forget Shorter Showers: Why Personal Change Does Not Equal Political Change Would any sane person think dumpster diving would have stopped Hitler, or that composting would have ended slavery or brought about the eight-hour workday, or that chopping wood and carrying water would have gotten people out of Tsarist prisons, or that dancing naked around a fire would have helped put in place the Voting Rights Act of 1957 or the Civil Rights Act of 1964? Then why now, with all the world at stake, do so many people retreat into these entirely personal "solutions"? Part of the problem is that we've been victims of a campaign of systematic misdirection. Consumer culture and the capitalist mindset have taught us to substitute acts of personal consumption (or enlightenment) for organized political resistance. An Inconvenient Truth helped raise consciousness about global warming. But did you notice that all of the solutions presented had to do with personal consumption -- changing light bulbs, inflating tires, driving half as much -- and had nothing to do with shifting power away from corporations, or stopping the growth economy that is destroying the planet? ...	I don't want big corporations to get mad at me! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jul 9, 2009 from Associated Press: H2-WHOA! Australian town bans bottled water sales SYDNEY -- Residents of a rural Australian town hoping to protect the earth and their wallets have voted to ban the sale of bottled water, the first community in the country -- and possibly the world -- to take such a drastic step in the growing backlash against the industry. Residents of Bundanoon cheered after their near-unanimous approval of the measure at a town meeting Wednesday. It was the second blow to Australia's beverage industry in one day: Hours earlier, the New South Wales state premier banned all state departments and agencies from buying bottled water, calling it a waste of money and natural resources. ...	Cheers, mate! 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!
Thu, Jul 9, 2009 from New Scientist: Disease runs riot as species disappear Could biodiversity protect humans from disease? Conservationists have long suspected it might, and now they have the evidence to back this up. Keeping complex ecosystems intact is thought to pay big dividends, by preserving natural balances among species that keep animal diseases in check. These include zoonoses -- animal diseases that affect humans. Rodents in the Americas carry hantaviruses, which can be lethal to people who inhale them from dried droppings. Some 500 people a year in the US die after being infected with the "sin nombre" hantavirus (SNV) from the common deer mouse. Laurie Dizney and colleagues at Portland State University in Oregon put four different kinds of live traps in five parks around Portland over four years. In each park, they found variation in both the number of mammal species and the proportion of deer mice with SNV. The less mammal diversity there was, the more deer mice were infected.... In the park with the lowest diversity, infection levels were sky-high. ...	Zoonoses? That's what we get when we visit the monkey house. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jul 9, 2009 from BusinessGreen: New reports debunk wind energy myths Several of the most long-standing arguments against the expansion of wind power in the UK were comprehensively debunked today, with the release of two new reports arguing that wind intermittency will not undermine grid reliability and that small scale turbines have the potential to power over 800,000 homes.... [The first report] argues that the National Grid is already designed to manage variable inputs from wind farms and will be able to cope even as the amount of wind capacity increases to around 40 per cent of the UK's energy mix. It also states that far from reducing grid reliability an increase in wind capacity will improve grid resilience, noting that "thermal plant breakdowns generally pose more of a threat to the stability of electricity networks than the relatively benign variations in the output of wind plant."... The second report from the Energy Saving Trust is based on its trial of 57 small scale and micro wind turbines installed at different locations around the UK. It concludes that while turbines located in urban locations perform poorly there are significantly more suitable locations available for domestic turbines than has been previously thought. The study identifies 450,000 suitable domestic locations and calculates that well positioned small scale turbines with outputs of between 500W to 6kW could provide over three per cent of the UK's energy requirements, resulting in around two million tonnes in carbon emission savings. ...	Yeah, but what about all those coals in Newcastle? ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jul 8, 2009 from Nature: Adapt and die? The ability to adapt to a new environment may not always be beneficial for long-term success -- in flour beetles at least. Beetles that were offered and ate a novel food, even with their ancestral food all around them, suffered over multiple generations, according to a study presented last month at the Evolution 2009 meetings in Moscow, Idaho. The work provides some of the first empirical data for whether behavioural plasticity -- the ability to adapt immediately to changing environments -- helps or hinders the evolutionary success of organisms. "We saw that these beetles have a massive degree of behavioural plasticity, but that their evolutionary success was hindered due to their adaptability," says Deepa Agashe, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University... ...	And the pigheaded shall inherit the earth. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jul 8, 2009 from London Guardian: Texas tycoon Pickens scraps $10bn windfarm plan The billionaire energy tycoon T Boone Pickens has scrapped a $10bn plan to build the world's largest windfarm in the panhandle of Texas, dealing a setback to a broader effort to wean the US off its dependence on foreign oil. Pickens blamed technical problems in transporting power between the proposed site of the system, which was to be in agricultural land hundreds of miles north-west of Dallas, and major population centres... Pickens, who built his fortune in the oil and gas industry, has spent the last year vigorously promoting a self-proclaimed "Pickens plan" which aims to make the US independent of foreign sources of oil by switching to domestic natural gas and wind generation. ...	Call it the Slim Pickens Plan! ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jul 8, 2009 from Oregon State University, via EurekAlert: US-Mexico border wall could threaten wildlife species A 700-mile security wall under construction along the United States' border with Mexico could significantly alter the movement and "connectivity" of wildlife, biologists say, and the animals' potential isolation is a threat to populations of some species. However, technology and alterations to the design could dramatically improve the potential for animals to move more freely between the two countries, the scientists added.... "The biggest concern is that this barrier will break small populations of animals into even smaller pieces that will result in fewer animals interacting," said Clinton Epps, a wildlife biologist at Oregon State University and co-author on the study. "A major barrier such as this could lead to significant degradation of connectivity for many different species, ultimately threatening their populations." ...	All we need to do is effectively explain national sovereignty to the wildlife! ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jul 8, 2009 from Washington Bureau: The Pentagon's War on America: The Office of the Secretary of Defense ...the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has spent years debating whether to set an enforceable regulatory standard for perchlorate... When asked why he challenged EPA's health research on perchlorate during his tenure -- initiating a lengthy review process that continues to this day -- Ray DuBois, the Bush-era Pentagon's top environmental official for more than three years, said he depended on the advice of his chemical policy expert, Shannon Cunniff. In his telling, her analysis of "conflicting science" led him to reject a draft EPA assessment showing that health and environmental limits for perchlorate might need to be tightened. During an extensive interview with DCBureau.org, he often highlighted her role in the process, emphasizing that no one else on his staff had a chemical policy background. The problem with this account is that Cunniff says none of it is true. Indeed, as the timeline shows, DuBois only hired her after the decision to challenge the studies was already made. ...	Sounds like Cunniff was his invisible fwend! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jul 7, 2009 from Belfast Telegraph: Have U2 created a monster with massive carbon footprint of 360 tour? U2 and Bono's long-held commitment to "save the planet" has come into question after it emerged they have a carbon footprint big enough to fly the band to Mars and back.... according to an environmentalists' website, the band's 100-date 18-month world tour will see the multi-millionaires clock up an incredible 70,000 air miles in their fuel-guzzling private jet... U2's CO2 emissions are the equivalent of the waste created by 6,500 average British or Irish people in an entire year, or equal to leaving a standard 100 watt lightbulb on for 159,000 years. ...	Achtung, baby! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jul 7, 2009 from Reuters: Reefs could perish by end of century, experts warn Increasingly acidic oceans and warming water temperatures due to carbon dioxide emissions could kill off the world's ocean reefs by the end of this century, scientists warned on Monday. The experts told a meeting in London the predicted pace of emissions means a level of 450 parts per million of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere will be reached by 2050, putting corals on a path to extinction in the following decades.... "The kitchen is on fire and it's spreading around the house," Alex Rogers of the Zoological Society of London and the International Program on the State of the Ocean, said in a statement. ...	Maybe... just maybe... the right metaphor will be the turning point. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jul 7, 2009 from London Guardian: Costa Rica is world's greenest, happiest country Costa Rica is the greenest and happiest country in the world, according to a new list that ranks nations by combining measures of their ecological footprint with the happiness of their citizens. Britain is only halfway up the Happy Planet Index (HPI), calculated by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), in 74th place of 143 nations surveyed. The United States features in the 114th slot in the table. The top 10 is dominated by countries from Latin America, while African countries bulk out the bottom of the table. The HPI measures how much of the Earth's resources nations use and how long and happy a life their citizens enjoy as a result. ...	Scoring high on this list is the quickest way to ruin a country. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jul 7, 2009 from University of Michigan, via EurekAlert: Phthalates may play a role in pre-term births A new study of expectant mothers suggests that a group of common environmental contaminants called phthalates, which are present in many industrial and consumer products including everyday personal care items, may contribute to the country's alarming rise in premature births. Researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health found that women who deliver prematurely have, on average, up to three times the phthalate level in their urine compared to women who carry to term.... Phthalates are commonly used compounds in plastics, personal care products, home furnishings (vinyl flooring, carpeting, paints, etc.) and many other consumer and industrial products. The toxicity varies by specific phthalates or their breakdown products, but past studies show that several phthalates cause reproductive and developmental toxicity in animals. ...	I just learned how to spell phthalates, and now you're saying it's bad? ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jul 7, 2009 from Christian Science Monitor: Will we empty the oceans? Early European explorers to the Americas encountered an astounding abundance of marine life. White beluga whales, now limited to the arctic, swam as far south as Boston Bay. Cod off Newfoundland were so plentiful that fishermen could catch them with nothing more than a weighted basket lowered into the water. As late as the mid-19th century, river herring ran so thick in the eastern United States that wading across certain waterways meant treading on fish. And everywhere sharks were so numerous that, after hauling in their catches, fishers often found them stripped to the bone. So how did we get from that world, where the oceans teemed with marine life, to the growing aquatic wasteland we see today? The answer: One catch at a time. ...	Miles-long driftnets, factory fishing, and trawlers might have had something to do with it. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Jul 6, 2009 from Lifespan, via EurekAlert: Possible link between environmental nitrates and Alzheimer's, diabetes A new study by researchers at Rhode Island Hospital have found a substantial link between increased levels of nitrates in our environment and food with increased deaths from diseases, including Alzheimer's, diabetes mellitus and Parkinson's.... "We have become a 'nitrosamine generation.' In essence, we have moved to a diet that is rich in amines and nitrates, which lead to increased nitrosamine production. We receive increased exposure through the abundant use of nitrate-containing fertilizers for agriculture." She continues, "Not only do we consume them in processed foods, but they get into our food supply by leeching from the soil and contaminating water supplies used for crop irrigation, food processing and drinking."... The findings indicate that while nitrogen-containing fertilizer consumption increased by 230 percent between 1955 and 2005, its usage doubled between 1960 and 1980, which just precedes the insulin-resistant epidemics the researchers found. They also found that sales from the fast food chain and the meat processing company increased more than 8-fold from 1970 to 2005, and grain consumption increased 5-fold. ...	Or, plastic wrapping. Or, heavy metals. Or, organochlorides. Or... um... what was I saying? ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Jul 6, 2009 from BusinessGreen: Report warns reliance on wind will drive power price volatility The expansion in wind energy capacity across the British Isles will result in huge electricity price volatility unless major reforms are undertaken to grid management in the UK and Ireland. That is the conclusion of a study released last week by research firm Poyry Energy Consulting, which warns that significant investment in grid technologies will be required to ensure that the intermittent nature of wind energy does not undermine the reliability of electricity supplies. The study is based on more than 2.5 million pieces of data taken from 36 locations in the UK and Ireland between 2000 and 2007.... The study found that even at an annual level, wind generation output varied by almost 25 per cent in the Irish market and 13 per cent in the British market. It also warned that both markets were affected by the fact that electricity demand is high on frosty nights when there is virtually no wind and low energy output. In contrast, electricity demand tends to fall when strong south westerlies blow across the British Isles, bringing with them warmer air. ...	Y'know, decreasing life volatility may be worth increasing price volatility. 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, Jul 6, 2009 from Guardian (UK): Just add lime (to the sea) -- the latest plan to cut CO2 emissions Putting lime into the oceans could stop or even reverse the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere, according to proposals unveiled at a conference on climate change solutions in Manchester today. According to its advocates, the same technique could help fix one of the most dangerous side effects of man-made CO2 emissions: rising ocean acidity. The project, known as Cquestrate, is the brainchild of Tim Kruger, a former management consultant. "This is an idea that can not only stop the clock on carbon dioxide, it can turn it back," he said, although he conceded that tipping large quantities of lime into the sea would currently be illegal.... Kruger admits there are challenges to overcome: the world would need to mine and process about 10 cubic kilometres of limestone each year to soak up all the emissions the world produces, and the plan would only make sense if the CO2 resulting from lime production could be captured and buried at source. ...	Management consultants make recommendations, and make up catchy branding. They rarely analyze unintended consequences. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Jul 6, 2009 from 3news (New Zealand): Antarctica melting faster than expected Antarctica is melting faster than expected, a conference was told earlier this week. Professor Peter Barrett of Victoria University's Antarctic Research Centre told the Annual Antarctic Conference in Auckland that the rate of ice loss was up 75 percent since 1996, and was increasing quickly.... Research centre director Professor Tim Naish, led a team of researchers who drilled deep into the Antarctic rock and discovered ancient records from the last time atmospheric CO2 reached the level it was now approaching. They found that 3 million to 5 million years ago, seas were warm enough to melt a large chunk of Antarctica's ice when atmospheric CO2 was only slightly higher than today. ...	Surely Antarctica would be the antithesis of what the Arctic is doing, right? ApocaDoc permalink