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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from

View By Scenario:
Species Collapse:	(7)
Plague/Virus:	(2)
Climate Chaos:	(11)
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This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
efficiency increase ~ alternative energy ~ ecosystem interrelationships ~ overfishing ~ smart policy ~ corporate malfeasance ~ technological innovation ~ unintended consequences ~ contamination ~ faster than expected ~ ocean warming

ApocaDocuments (46) gathered this week:
Mon, Jul 27, 2009 from BBC (UK): Threatened whale found wedged dead on cruise ship bow A rare whale was discovered wedged on to the bow of a cruise ship when it docked in a Canadian port. The 70ft fin whale, a threatened species in Canada, was found when the Sapphire Princess docked at the Port of Vancouver, the cruise company said. It said it had "strict whale avoidance" measures and it was unclear where, when or how the whale became stuck. Tourists looked on as the dead whale was examined by fisheries department staff. ...	Ooops. We had been calling out "watch out, whales" but it didn't work. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Jul 26, 2009 from London Observer: Revealed: the secret evidence of global warming Bush tried to hide Graphic images that reveal the devastating impact of global warming in the Arctic have been released by the US military. The photographs, taken by spy satellites over the past decade, confirm that in recent years vast areas in high latitudes have lost their ice cover in summer months. The pictures, kept secret by Washington during the presidency of George W Bush, were declassified by the White House last week. President Barack Obama is currently trying to galvanise Congress and the American public to take action to halt catastrophic climate change caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere... The photographs demonstrate starkly how global warming is changing the Arctic. More than a million square kilometres of sea ice - a record loss - were missing in the summer of 2007 compared with the previous year. Nor has this loss shown any sign of recovery. Ice cover for 2008 was almost as bad as for 2007, and this year levels look equally sparse. ...	While Bush fiddled, Rome melted. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Jul 26, 2009 from Denver Post: Organic goes down a slippery road Here's the sad news: Even as the demand for organic food continues to explode, organic farmers in America are getting thrown under the very beet cart they helped build. The Chinese are taking over market share, especially of vegetables and agricultural commodities like soy, thanks to several American-based multinational food corporations that have hijacked the organic bandwagon they only recently jumped onto. When mega-corporation Dean Foods acquired Silk soy milk -- which I used to drink as if it were the staff of life -- the prospects looked good for American organic soy farmers. Silk had always been committed to supporting domestic organic farmers, and with the new might of Dean Foods behind it, I assumed that Silk would likely grow. Silk did grow, but it also dropped its commitment to domestic soy. When Midwestern farmers and farmer cooperatives in the heart of American soy country were told by Silk they had to match the rock-bottom cost of Chinese organic soybeans, they found it was a price they simply could not meet. Organic agriculture is labor-intensive, and China's edge comes largely from its abundance of cheap labor. ...	Globalganic trade, anyone? ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Jul 26, 2009 from Infection Control Today: Antimicrobial Effectiveness Of Medical-Grade Honey in Topical Wound Care According to a recent paper published in the European Journal of Clinical Microbiological Infectious Diseases, a certain kind of honey can be an effective agent in topical wound care, particularly where antibiotic resistance is an issue. The irony is that this most exciting new treatment has been around since the dawn of history -- honey was first used as a first aid treatment 4,000 years ago in Egypt. The paper, "The unusual antibacterial activity of medical-grade Leptospermum honey: antibacterial spectrum, resistance and transcriptome analysis," describes the palliative effects of Leptospermum honey, a particular kind of honey indigenous to New Zealand and Australia. Leptospermum honey has been shown to possess unique plant derived components that make it an ideal wound dressing, including novel antimicrobial and immune-modulatory compounds. In addition, the honey has several properties that also aid in wound healing. ...	Sweet! This kind of story is likely to start a buzz. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Jul 26, 2009 from Macedonian International News Agency: India not buying Global Warming story India rejected key scientific findings on global warming, while the European Union called for more action by developing states on greenhouse gas emissions. Jairam Ramesh, the Indian environment minister, accused the developed world of needlessly raising alarm over melting Himalayan glaciers. He dismissed scientists' predictions that Himalayan glaciers might disappear within 40 years as a result of global warming. "We have to get out of the preconceived notion, which is based on western media, and invest our scientific research and other capacities to study Himalayan atmosphere," he said. "Science has its limitation. You cannot substitute the knowledge that has been gained by the people living in cold deserts through everyday experience." ...	When did Inhofe get over to India? And how did he get to be environmental minister? ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Jul 26, 2009 from Environmental Research Web: Groundwater crisis could hit India as climate changes Traditionally India has relied on surface storage and gravity flow to water crops but in recent years it has come to depend heavily on groundwater to irrigate crops and to cope with dry spells. Today the number of irrigation wells equipped with diesel or electric pumps in the country stands at more than 19 million, compared with just 150,000 in 1950. This dependence is only likely to increase in the future as more and more rural farmers scavenge this water using small mechanical pumps and private tubewells. The practice has a large carbon footprint and groundwater pumping using electricity and diesel accounts for an estimated 16�25 million metric tonnes of carbon emissions or up to 6 percent of the total carbon dioxide produced by India. ...	Hey, no worries! We've been doing this for decades in the Midwest! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Jul 25, 2009 from TED talk, 2009: Seth Godin: The Tribes We Lead, and Leading Tribes We almost didn't view this TED video -- 'Doc Michael was talking about online "tribes" back in 1996 (http://www.nap.edu/staff/mjensen/tech6.htm), but we clicked anyway. As a consequence, we were illuminated: he is talking about operationalizing the tribe for a purpose. We were inspired. Because that is what, ideally, we ApocaDocs can do. Internally, we are setting our goals for 2012. Either society will have woken up and begun radically shifting gears, or it's Road Warrior time, ahead. 2009 through 2010 need to be the holyshit period -- the time when we as a society grapple with what we've been doing to ourselves. *2011 needs to be the "why the hell* aren't we fixing it faster era. And finally, 2012 needs to be the breakthrough year.�We don't know what that breakthrough will be, but we need to do all we can to build to breakthrough*. The ApocaDocs, in three days, will have reached 3,000 stories identified, considered, recorded, and be-quipped, from the last 18 months. We have the data to help scare the hell out of people, in the next* 18 months, if we have your help. We are beginning to Twitter our stories (twitter.com/apocadocs), and have had fits and starts with Facebook. The problem is, we both have more-than-fulltime jobs. We want to get the ideas out into the world as fast as we can, to catalyze the change that is required to have a livable world for our grandchildren. Over the next six months, we'll apply more tools for community, for outreach, for participation. But for now, if you're as panicked as we are, please follow us on Twitter and ReTweet or Facebook as much as you can, to your own networks. Add your own stories, and lead your tribe, so others can ReTweet and expand the tribe who understands what's going on. As you probably know, most everything is happening faster than expected. We need to react just as fast. ...	Tribe? That sounds so primative. Oh, it's actually fundamental? ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Jul 25, 2009 from London Guardian: Dragonflies in danger of extinction seek sanctuary at new rescue centre Dragonflies may have hovered and hunted across the planet for the last 325m years, but their modern relatives are staring extinction in the face. Experts warn that one-third of British species are now under threat, a plight that today sees the opening of the UK's first ever dragonfly centre to celebrate and protect one of the country's most fascinating insects. Located at Wicken Fen nature reserve in Cambridgeshire, the new centre hopes to reverse the decline of the 42 species found regularly in the UK. Conservationists blame the decline on the loss of wetlands, and pesticides and insecticides drifting from farmland. ...	Here NOT be dragons! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Jul 25, 2009 from Los Angeles Times: Swine flu could kill hundreds of thousands in U.S. if vaccine fails, CDC says Hundreds of thousands of Americans could die over the next two years if the vaccine and other control measures for the new H1N1 influenza are not effective, and, at the pandemic's peak, as much as 40 percent of the workforce could be affected, according to new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is admittedly a worst-case scenario that the federal agency says it doesn't expect to occur. ...	Sure is fun to think about, tho! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Jul 25, 2009 from TED talk, 2009: Ray Kurzweil: Exponential solar Our favorite part of this TED talk (which is worth watching in its entirety), is the exponential photovoltaic efficiency increase (starting around 5:43), "eight doublings away from providing 100 percent of our energy needs." Currently PV is doubling in efficiency:price every two years; now that nanotechnology is being applied, doubling could increase dramatically, he implies. Would it not be fabulous if this is true? We could then have the energy to de-carbonize and de-methanize our atmosphere and possibly de-acidify the ocean with floating solar-powered smartboats. Eight to sixteen years? If, as Kurzweil posits, the other developments in computing, nanotechnology, information interpretation, and general progress grows exponentially..., then in eight years, a radically different world awaits. And how will we make it? ...	And what will be left? ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Jul 25, 2009 from National Geographic News: Alien-Wasp Swarms Devouring Birds, Bugs in Hawaii Attacking from nests as big as pickup-truck beds, invasive western yellowjacket wasps in Hawaii are munching their way through an "astonishing diversity" of creatures, from caterpillars to pheasants, a new study says. Adult yellowjackets consume only nectar. But they kill or scavenge prey to deliver needed protein to their growing broods.... "They basically just carry it in their mandibles -- you see them flying with their balls of meat," said lead study author Erin Wilson, who just finished her Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego. In their native habitat in the western U.S., the wasps die off in winter. But in Hawaii the wasps survive the winter, possibly due to mild year-round temperatures or subtle genetic changes. ...	Wait a minute -- I'm meat! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Jul 25, 2009 from Times Online (UK): Murky past of company accused of shipping toxic waste emerges Doubts about Britain's recycling industry were growing last night as it emerged that a company suspected of shipping hazardous waste to Brazil was supplied with recyclable plastics by a business with previous convictions for pollution.... Worldwide Biorecyclables benefited from a loophole in the Environment Protection Act 1990 which allows waste management companies to avoid Environment Agency scrutiny by registering their businesses as "low-risk" operations. The company was granted a "simple exemption" from seeking an environmental work permit when treating waste for the purpose of recovery and storing waste in a secure place.... Up to 7,000 sites, including supermarkets and department stores, handle low-risk waste, according to the Environment Agency. The watchdog admits it lacks the resources to ensure they are all adhering to the exemptions rules. It acts on tip-offs from the public and other sources. ...	Self-definitions work great in a self-police state. ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Jul 25, 2009 from New York Times: An Amazon Culture Withers as Food Dries Up Deforestation and, some scientists contend, global climate change are making the Amazon region drier and hotter, decimating fish stocks in this area and imperiling the Kamayura's very existence. Like other small indigenous cultures around the world with little money or capacity to move, they are struggling to adapt to the changes.... Chief Kotok, who like all of the Kamayura people goes by only one name, said that men can now fish all night without a bite in streams where fish used to be abundant; they safely swim in lakes previously teeming with piranhas. Responsible for 3 wives, 24 children and hundreds of other tribe members, he said his once-idyllic existence had turned into a kind of bad dream. "I'm stressed and anxious -- this has all changed so quickly, and life has become very hard," he said in Portuguese, speaking through an interpreter. "As a chief, I have to have vision and look down the road, but I don't know what will happen to my children and grandchildren." ...	Hey, downturns happen. AMZN stock will rise -- just sell more books! 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, Jul 24, 2009 from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, via EurekAlert: 1 in 6 public health workers unlikely to respond in pandemic flu emergency Approximately 1 in 6 public health workers said they would not report to work during a pandemic flu emergency regardless of its severity, according to a survey led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The findings are a significant improvement over a 2005 study conducted by the same research team, in which more than 40 percent of public health employees said they were unlikely to report to work during a pandemic emergency. The new study suggests ways for improving the response of the public health workforce.... According to the survey, public health workers who were both "concerned" about the threat posed by a pandemic, and who were "confident" that they could fulfill their response roles and that their roles would have a meaningful impact on the situation, were 31 times more likely to respond to work in an emergency than those who perceived the threat low and had low levels of confidence. Workers whose perception of the threat was "low" but who strongly believed in the efficacy of their job were 18 times more likely to say they would respond compared to those in the "low threat/low efficacy" group. ...	2 out of 2 of the ApocaDocs would show up! ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jul 24, 2009 from VOA News: Report: 85 Percent of World's Oyster Reefs Have Been Lost A recent study by environmental organizations found that nearly 85 percent of the oyster reefs worldwide have been lost. But beyond providing food around the world, oyster reefs play a key role in the oceans.... "The issue is that oysters face a multitude of stresses in coastal environments; from water quality to algae blooms, to high sediment loads and some of the places are too far gone," he said. Oysters are ecosystem engineers that filter water and remove pollution and excess nutrients that can spark algae blooms. But, Luckenback says, their capacity has a limit and research shows that oysters expose to a variety of toxins have been shown to be more susceptible to diseases and death. ...	Then what will we cast before swine? ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jul 24, 2009 from Newsweek: Climate-Change Calculus: Why it's even worse than we feared. Among the phrases you really, really do not want to hear from climate scientists are: "that really shocked us," "we had no idea how bad it was," and "reality is well ahead of the climate models." Yet in speaking to researchers who focus on the Arctic, you hear comments like these so regularly they begin to sound like the thumping refrain from Jaws: annoying harbingers of something that you really, really wish would go away.... The loss of Arctic sea ice "is well ahead of" what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecast, largely because emissions of carbon dioxide have topped what the panel�which foolishly expected nations to care enough about global warming to do something about it�projected. "The models just aren't keeping up" with the reality of CO2 emissions, says the IPY's David Carlson. Although policymakers hoped climate models would prove to be alarmist, the opposite is true, particularly in the Arctic.... But estimates of how much carbon is locked into Arctic permafrost were, it turns out, woefully off. "It's about three times as much as was thought, about 1.6 trillion metric tons, which has surprised a lot of people," says Edward Schuur of the University of Florida. ...	Stop it! Hasn't Brangelina done something recently? ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jul 24, 2009 from via Guardian (UK): One (video) Minute to Save the World A short film competition on climate change, open to the world and for the world to watch. The story of climate change will be told by the people it is affecting -- you. We hope that your shared perspectives and creative responses will help us all understand, adapt and take action in response to a rapidly changing world. We want the world to see your 1 minute film.... We're asking you to use whatever means you have to film your short and use your minute to speak up and make the world listen. It's time to get personal and we need your help! We hope you will feel inspired to add your creative voice to this global climate campaign. ...	Isn't this perilously close to mobilization? ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jul 24, 2009 from BBC: Clouds in climate 'vicious cycle' Clouds over the North-East Pacific dissipate as the ocean warms, according to a study in the journal Science. Researchers have described this as a "vicious cycle" of warming, as reduced cloud cover allows more of the Sun's rays to heat the Earth. They say warming could gradually reduce the low-level cloud cover that is thought to help cool the globe. But the team stressed that it was not yet possible to quantify how much this might impact on global temperatures. They said that accurate simulations of these cloud effects would improve the models scientists use to predict future climate change patterns. The accuracy of these models has been hampered by the uncertain influence of clouds on the global climate system. The low-level clouds studied here are of particular interest, as they have been shown to have a net cooling effect on the Earth, by reflecting the Sun's rays. ...	Can't we just invent something to fix this? ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jul 24, 2009 from New York Times: Slow, Costly and Often Dangerous Road to Wind Power As demand for clean energy grows, towns around the country are finding their traffic patterns roiled as convoys carrying disassembled towers that will reach more than 250 feet in height, as well as motors, blades and other parts roll through. Escorted by patrol cars and gawked at by pedestrians, the equipment must often travel hundreds of miles from ports or factories to the remote, windy destinations where the turbines are erected. In Belfast, officials have worked hard to keep the nuisance to a minimum, but about 200 trucks are passing through this year on their way to western Maine, carrying parts that have been shipped from Denmark and Vietnam. Plenty can go wrong despite months of planning. In Idaho and Texas, trucks laden with tall turbine parts have slammed into interstate overpasses, requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs. In Minnesota last year, a truck carrying a tubular tower section got stuck at a railroad crossing; an approaching train stopped just in time. Also in Minnesota, a woman was killed last September when her car, driven by her husband, collided at an intersection with a truck carrying a wind turbine. (After a police investigation, local officials found that the truck driver was not at fault.) ...	I'm not sure we can get there from here. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jul 23, 2009 from New Scientist: US vehicle efficiency hardly changed since Model T The average fuel efficiency of the US vehicle fleet has risen by just 3 miles per gallon since the days of the Ford Model T, and has barely shifted at all since 1991. Those are the conclusions reached by Michael Sivak and Omer Tsimhoni at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute in Ann Arbor. They analysed the fuel efficiency of the entire US vehicle fleet of cars, motorcycles, trucks and buses from 1923 to 2006.... Progress has stalled since then, though, despite growing environmental concerns. From 1991 to 2006 the average efficiency improved by only 1.8 per cent to 17.2 mpg (7.31 km/l). "We were in a period of complacency [during the 1990s]. There were no external prods to improve fuel economy," says DeCicco. ...	Where's that ol' American ingenuity been? ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jul 23, 2009 from CleanTechnica: Giant Solar-Powered Flowers Sprout in U.S. Cities, Provide Wi-Fi Solar-powered "flower stations" are appearing across major U.S. cities providing free Wi-Fi and electricity for charging laptops, cell phones and other devices. The flowers are part of Toyota's national marketing campaign for the third generation Prius launch in 2010. Aside from providing clean electricity and a dandy place to rest, the flowers are also adorned with "leaves" which showcase advertisements and short informationals about the new Prius. They are designed to represent the Prius theme of "Harmony between Man, Nature, and Machine." Standing at a height of 18 feet, solar panels on the backs of the petals power 110-volt outlets found on the benches, which can seat up to 10 people.... Currently, the flower-power stations can be found in Boston, but they will also be making rounds in New York, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. ...	Now that's marketing I can plug into! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jul 23, 2009 from Fast Company: Why the Microgrid Could Be the Answer to Our Energy Crisis ...if many of us see this moment as a defining one, a key opportunity to reassess how we create and use energy across the country, the federal government seems content to leave the owners of the old energy world in charge of designing the new one. Big utilities are pushing hard to do what they do best -- getting the government to subsidize construction of multi-billion-dollar, far-flung, supersize solar and wind farms covering millions of acres, all connected via outsize transmission lines.... The evidence is growing that privately owned, consumer-driven, small-scale, geographically distributed renewables could deliver a 100 percent green-energy future faster and cheaper than big power projects alone. Companies like GE and IBM are talking in terms of up to half of American homes generating their own electricity, renewably, within a decade. But distributed power -- call it the "microgrid" -- poses an existential threat to the business model the utilities have happily depended on for more than a century. No wonder so many of them are fighting the microgrid every step of the way. ...	Microgrids give them nausea. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jul 23, 2009 from Guardian (UK): Meet Belchatow, Europe's biggest carbon polluter The biggest single producer of carbon emissions in the European Union has been named -- and it is about to get even bigger. The appropriately titled Elektrownia Belchatow -- a massive coal-fired power station -- belched out 30,862,792 tonnes of CO2 last year and by 2010 the whole generating facility will have grown by 20 percent.... Elektrownia Belchatow is raising coal-fired capacity from 4,400 megawatts to 5,258 from next year. The facility, which burns the most polluting lignite "brown" coal from its own mine next door, is earmarked for a full carbon capture and storage prototype, but only by 2015 at the earliest.... New coal stations are being planned in big numbers in the US and China but the EU has been arguing that all countries should proceed only if they use CCS to turn them into "clean" coal projects. ...	What's Polish for "you are building our future hell," I wonder? ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jul 23, 2009 from Times Online (UK): Wind turbine protesters continue sit in as police accused of blocking food A handful of men -- tired, hungry and soon to be unemployed -- stood cheering on the balcony of a wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight, in what has become an unlikely front line of a clash over the future of Britain's green economy. About 25 workers were last night still inside the Vestas plant outside Newport, three days into a sit-in which has grown increasingly bitter. The occupiers of Britain's only significant wind farm factory have accused managers of trying to starve them out and yesterday three people were arrested as protesters outside tried to deliver food supplies. Last week The Times revealed that the factory was closing down its production line within hours of the Government pledging a five-fold increase in the number of wind turbines in Britain. More than 600 people are due to be made redundant on July 30 -- 525 in Newport and 100 at a related facility in Southampton. ...	Workers of the Wind -- UNITE! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jul 23, 2009 from BBC (UK): Scientists 'kept at arm's length' The government is keeping scientists at "arm's length" and treating science as "a peripheral policy concern," a group of MPs has said. The Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills committee says knowledge from experts is not being properly used to make informed policy decisions. Instead of being sidelined, scientists should be able to communicate directly with the prime minister, it argues. Former chief scientist Sir David King said reform was "critical".... "The state of knowledge developed by people in our institutes and universities on very complex matters is now quite remarkable, but there is a still a big gap between decision-making and the use of that knowledge base," he said. ...	Well of course. Teh sciencetists, they use teh big wurds. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jul 23, 2009 from CBC (Canada): Cod expert: Don't boost harvest yet Newfoundland and Labrador's leading expert on cod said Tuesday that while there are strong signs northern cod is starting to make a comeback, fishermen should still leave it alone. Inshore fishermen have noticed an increase in the number of cod, and say there should be an increase in the amount they're allowed catch. George Rose, a former federal fisheries scientist and the research chair in fisheries science at Memorial University, said there has been a big turnaround recently in the fish's population -- a big change from even three or four years ago. "Nowhere near back to what they were historically, but they're starting to look better and better each year. So there's been some amazing changes in the last couple of years," he said. Rose linked some of the change to the recent reappearance of caplin, the main food for cod at this time of the year. However when it comes to increased catch allowances, Rose argued that if ever there was a time for caution, it's now. "We are at a critical time, and we're not at all certain that with an increase [in] the fishery that's substantial, we couldn't knock this back down," he said. ...	That crazy not fishing idea -- it just might work! 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.
Wed, Jul 22, 2009 from Socialist Worker Online: Windpower Manufacturer Vestas workers occupy: 'A fight for jobs and the planet' Workers at Vestas, the UK's only wind turbine manufacturer, occupied their factory in Newport, Isle of Wight on Monday evening against plans to close it. Dave is one of the �occupying workers: "We�ve occupied our factory to save our jobs -- and to save the planet. Six hundred people work here. That many jobs going will have a devastating effect. But there's even more to it than that. We need renewable energy if we're going to stop global warming. When the government says it wants green energy and green jobs, it's criminal that it's closing Vestas. I've worked here for a year and a half but some people have worked here for eight or nine years. We had a meeting on Monday where we talked about what to do. We decided we were going to go for it. People thought, "It's now or never". We went in as two teams, from both sides of the factory. All of the doors were locked -- apart from the front door! ... ...	Someone's closing? A wind power plant? What planet is this? ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jul 22, 2009 from EnergyBoom.com, via HuffPost: New Technology Produces Hydrogen from Urine Until now, producing, storing and transporting hydrogen has been a costly process. Urea, a major component of urine, contains four hydrogen atoms per molecule, which are bonded to two atoms of nitrogen. The new technology uses electrolysis to break down the molecule using 0.37 volts which is applied across the cell. In comparison, extracting hydrogen from water uses large amounts of electricity; specifically, 1.23V is needed to split H20 molecules. Botte's method uses less energy than it takes to extract hydrogen from water. Simply put: by placing the inexpensive electrode into urine and applying current, hydrogen is released. Tests were performed using both synthetic urine, made from dissolved urea, and human urine. The device is also small enough to be used in vehicles. Botte estimates a fuel cell urine-powered vehicle could potentially travel up to 90 miles per gallon. The current prototype, which measures about 3 x 3 x 1 inches, can produce up to 500 milliwatts of power. The team is working on creating larger scale versions of the electrolyzer. The report was published in the Royal Society of Chemistry Chemical Communications. ...	I'd love to pee-power my Prius! ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jul 22, 2009 from West Virginia Gazette: Carbon capture for coal costly, study finds Harvard University researchers have issued a new report that confirms what many experts already feared: Stopping greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants is going to cost a lot of money.... Electricity costs could double at a first-generation plant that captures and stores carbon dioxide emissions, according to the report from energy researchers at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center. Costs would drop as the technology matures, but could still amount to an increase of 22 to 55 percent, according to the report, "Realistic Costs of Carbon Capture," issued this week.... In the U.S., coal provides half of the nation's electricity. Many experts believe that, because of vast supplies, coal will continue to generate much of the nation's power for many years to come. ...	OMG!! You mean we might have to almost pay the true cost of coal?? ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jul 22, 2009 from University of British Columbia, via EurekAlert: Modest fisheries reduction could protect vast coastal ecosystems: UBC research A reduction of as little as five per cent in fisheries catch could result in as much as 30 per cent of the British Columbia coastal ecosystems being protected from overfishing, according to a new study from the UBC Fisheries Centre.... Using B.C.'s coastal waters as a test case, the study affirms that small cuts in fishing -- if they happen in the right places -- could result in very large unfished areas. For example, a two per cent cut could result in unfished areas covering 20 per cent of the B.C. coast, offered real conservation gains.... "With the current rates of progress, there is no chance of meeting our 2012 targets," says Ban. "Given that fishers recognize the problem of overfishing but often regard marine protected areas as serving only to constrain them, another approach must be found. That's why we undertook this study." ...	Presuming, of course, that there are fish left to catch.... ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jul 22, 2009 from Guardian (UK): Mountaintop mining legacy: Destroying Appalachian streams When mountains are demolished with explosives to harvest their coal seams, the millions of tons of crushed shale, sandstone, and coal detritus have to go somewhere, and the most convenient spots are nearby valleys. Mining operations clear-cut the hillsides and literally "fill" mountain hollows to the brim -- and sometimes higher -- with rocky debris. At the mouth of the hollow, the outer edge of the fill is typically engineered into a towering wall resembling a dam.... Of all the environmental problems caused by mountaintop projects -- decapitated peaks, deforestation, the significant carbon footprint -- scientists have found that valley fills do the most damage because they destroy headwater streams and surrounding forests, which are crucial to the workings of mountain ecosystems. "There used to be pine trees, and it was a very pretty shaded area. There was a nice trail that went up the hollow and I used to take my granddaughter up there and we'd go ginsenging [harvesting ginseng roots, an Appalachian custom] on up the hill," says Miller, whose grandfather built the family homestead in 1920. "She really misses not being able to do that. She said, 'Can't we go someplace else? There's no hills to climb there.'" ...	The Appalachian Trail will soon be a jogging track. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jul 22, 2009 from Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette: Mosquitoes 1, Bats 0 Already on the list of endangered species, the Indiana bat is one of the six species of bats threatened by the deadly syndrome that has killed hundreds of thousands of bats in the Northeastern states. And while some may find it difficult to muster sympathy over the demise of "sky rats," they should be concerned. Bats serve the beneficial purpose of acting as nature's insecticide. If the bats die off, insect populations will skyrocket and decimate food crops. Farmers will be forced to increase the use of pesticides leading to an increase in agricultural pollution. The demise of bats means less money in farmers' pockets, less food and more environmental pollution.... According to Parham, one bat can eat between 600 and 1,000 mosquitoes and other insect pests in just one hour. ...	If only they were sky rats, they'd be able to reproduce faster than one pup per year. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jul 22, 2009 from SouthCoast Today: NOAA's chief poses 'grand' ocean challenge "In our fisheries, the rich biodiversity of life swimming in and flying above the oceans, and our own well being all depend upon the actions we take this year and this decade," said Lubchenco, a marine ecologist who taught at Oregon State University before President Barack Obama appointed her as head of NOAA. "Too much is at stake to continue on our present path," she said. "Too much is at risk if we ignore either oceans or climate change."... Changes in ocean temperature could cause fish species to migrate northward and could throw current predator-prey relationships out of balance. Ocean acidification related to the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could make it difficult for scallops, oysters, mussels, clams, lobsters and other shellfish to produce and maintain hard shells or skeletons. "This is a relatively recently uncovered problem," she said. "And we don't yet know how every single species will respond. But for most species it will be increasingly challenging for them." ...	You're saying "our present path" is unsustainable? Haven't you heard that "the American way of life is non-negotiable"? ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jul 22, 2009 from Sea Around Us, via DesdemonaDespair: Ocean Biomass Depletion, 1900-2000 This frightening graphic (http://www.seaaroundus.org/flash/NorthAtlanticTrends.htm) demonstrates the "high trophic-level" biomass depletion of the last century. Most estimates are between 80 to 90 percent loss, and the rate of continuing depletion between three and four times faster than are reborn. Note: "high trophic-level" means they are fish-eating fish, not plankton-eating fish, nor bottom-feeding fish -- which have also suffered dramatic declines. [The 'Docs] ...	Biomass? We don't need no stinkin' biomass. We need fish! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jul 21, 2009 from American Meteorological Society, via EurekAlert: Geoengineering climate requires more research, cautious consideration and appropriate restrictions Geoengineering -- deliberately manipulating physical, chemical, or biological aspects of the Earth system to confront climate change -- could contribute to a comprehensive risk management strategy to slow climate change but could also create considerable new risks, according to a policy statement released by the American Meteorological Society (AMS) today. According to the Society, geoengineering will not substitute for either aggressive emissions reduction or efforts to adapt to climate change, but it could help lower greenhouse gas concentrations, provide options for reducing specific climate impacts, or offer strategies of last resort if abrupt, catastrophic, or otherwise unacceptable climate-change impacts become unavoidable by other means. However, AMS scientists caution that research to date has not determined whether there are large-scale geoengineering approaches that would produce significant benefits, or whether those benefits would substantially outweigh the detriments. ...	Why would meteorologists say this kind of thing? Don't they control the weather? ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jul 21, 2009 from IRIN News (UN): IPCC to help prepare for short-term climate extremes In a significant move, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international body of climate change experts, is set to produce a "how to" manual for policy-makers and disaster officials on managing the risks of extreme weather events and bolstering resilience, to promote adaptation to global warming.... The panel has now acknowledged that measures and policies identified as adaptation in their previous reports had not taken into account the full range of activities that need to be undertaken to reduce the risks of extreme events and disasters. The special IPCC report, Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation, will provide methods and tools to manage climate risks.... The report is expected to be released in 2011. ...	"Adaptation" may translate into "doing squat-all about the underlying causes." ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jul 21, 2009 from Mongabay: Global ocean temperatures at warmest level since 1880 Global ocean temperatures rose to the warmest on record, according to data released last week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The combined average global land and ocean surface temperature for June was second-warmest since global recording-keeping began in 1880.... Worldwide sea surface temperatures were 62.56 F (16.99 C), or 1.06 degrees F (0.59 C) above the 20th century average of 61.5 F (16.4 C).... The combined global land and ocean surface temperature for June 2009 was the second warmest on record after 2005... ...	Just mere coincidence that this is happening now. Move along. Nothing to see here. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jul 21, 2009 from Telegraph.co.uk, via DesdemonaDespair: Giant jellyfish bloom hits Sea of Japan "The arrival is inevitable," Professor Shinichi Ue, from Hiroshima University, told the Yomiuri newspaper. "A huge jellyfish typhoon will hit the country." The vicious creatures, which would not be out of place in a sci-fi adventure, poison fish, sting humans and have even been known to disabling nuclear power stations by blocking the seawater pumps used to cool the reactors. Nomura's jellyfish first arrived in Japanese waters in 2005 when fisherman out looking for anchovies, salmon and yellowtail began finding large numbers of the gelatinous creatures in their nets. The larger specimens would destroy the nets while the fish caught alongside them would be left slimy and inedible.... Scientists believe the influx could be caused by overfishing, pollution or rising ocean temperatures which have depleted the kinds of fish that normally prey on Nomura's jellyfish at the polyp stage, thereby keeping down numbers. Another theory suggests that seas heated by global warming are better suited for breeding, multiplying the creature's numbers. ...	What an ugly canary! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jul 21, 2009 from Saanich News: Bees are back as scientists uncover cause of colony collapse disorder By the time it started to make headlines three years ago, colony collapse disorder had already wiped out thousands of hives across North America and Europe. Beekeepers and biologists were confounded as to a possible cause. Theories ranged from man-made disruptions, like cell phone radiation or pesticides, to natural causes such as solar flares, parasites or viruses.... While the science isn�t completely settled, it�s increasingly pointing to a single-celled parasite, Nosema ceranae, as the prime cause... ...	'Least my cellphone is off the hook. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jul 21, 2009 from London Guardian: Food products should carry 'water footprint' information, says report Food and drink products should carry a new label to give consumers more information about their "water footprint" -- the hidden amount of water used in the manufacturing process -- two health and food lobby groups will recommend this week. More transparency is needed about the huge volumes of water used to produce food, which most consumers are unaware of, said the joint report by the Food Ethics Council (FEC) and the health and food group Sustain. It is calling for the proposed new label to reflect good practice, by taking into account the extent to which some companies and manufacturers are already working to use water in ways that are fair and environmentally sustainable. ...	Who's gonna wanna drink that water once your foot's been in it?! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Jul 20, 2009 from YouTube, et al.: 'Doc Michael lets loose the dogs of fear In June of 2009, I gave what I consider my most important speech to date, at the Association of American University Presses' annual meeting. It was the last presentation in the last Plenary session of the meeting, and allowed me to talk about the two issues that matter most to me: saving scholarly publishing, and saving civilization. In 16 minutes. My friend Paul Murphy, of RAND Publishing, took guerrilla video footage of most of the speech, and then edited my Powerpoint in, bless his heart. It is available below, via YouTube. (Thanks, Paul!)... "But CO2 does something much worse. While we bicker with global-warming deniers, the ocean is getting more acidic. Excess CO2 plus ocean produces carbonic acid. Ocean acidification is a clear and present danger. A slight rise in acidity dramatically affects calcium-carbonate-based lifeforms, like most plankton, shellfish, and coral, the cornerstones of the ocean biosphere.... If, over the next decade, humans continue doing what we have done for the last fifty years, then we will construct our own hell, and our grandchildren will curse our names." ...	Does a speech count as news, even from the heart, if it happens at a conference? Of scholarly publishers? ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Jul 20, 2009 from Telegraph.co.uk: Just 1000 tigers left in India A century ago, India had about 40,000 tigers. By 1988, as a result of extensive hunting and poaching, there were just 4,500 left. Now the true figure is probably 1,000.... The decline is said to be largely down to poachers serving an insatiable demand for tiger bones, claws and skin in China, Taiwan and Korea, where they are used in traditional medicine. Other factors include electric fences erected by farmers, illegal logging and fights between male tigers over diminishing territory.... Just before my visit a gang had been caught with seven tiger skins. I was told that the men involved were from Tamil Nadu in the south and that they had struck -- with local help -- on the orders of a Nepalese-based gang. ...	A whole thousand? That's practically metric! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Jul 20, 2009 from USDA/Agricultural Research Service via ScienceDaily: Controlling Kudzu With Naturally Occurring Fungus Kudzu, "The Vine that Ate the South," could meet its match in a naturally occurring fungus that Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have formulated as a biologically based herbicide.... ARS plant pathologist Doug Boyette and colleagues are testing a fungus named Myrothecium verrucaria, which infects kudzu with an astonishing speed of its own. In fact, the fungus works so quickly that kudzu plants sprayed with it in the morning start showing signs of damage by mid-afternoon... ...	And by evening, the kudzu has mutated again! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Jul 20, 2009 from London Financial Times: How to end America's deadly coal addiction Converting rapidly from coal-generated energy to gas is President Barack Obama's most obvious first step towards saving our planet and jump-starting our economy. A revolution in natural gas production over the past two years has left America awash with natural gas and has made it possible to eliminate most of our dependence on deadly, destructive coal practically overnight -- and without the expense of building new power plants... By changing the dispatch rule nationally to require that whenever coal and gas plants are competing head-to-head, gas generation must be utilised first, we could quickly reduce coal generation and achieve massive emissions reductions. In an instant, this simple change could eliminate three-quarters of America's coal-burning generators and save a fortune in energy costs. Around 920 US coal plants -- 78 per cent of the total -- are small (generating less than half a gigawatt), antiquated and horrendously inefficient. Their average age is 45 years, with many over 75. They tend to be located amidst dense populations and in poor neighbourhoods to lethal effect. ...	Something tells me this idea is gonna get the coal industry steaming. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Jul 20, 2009 from Washington Post: Chemicals That Eased One Woe Worsen Another This is not the funny kind of irony: Scientists say the chemicals that helped solve the last global environmental crisis -- the hole in the ozone layer -- are making the current one worse. The chemicals, called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), were introduced widely in the 1990s to replace ozone-depleting gases used in air conditioners, refrigerators and insulating foam. They worked: The earth's protective shield seems to be recovering. But researchers say what's good for ozone is bad for climate change. In the atmosphere, these replacement chemicals act like "super" greenhouse gases, with a heat-trapping power that can be 4,470 times that of carbon dioxide. ...	Maybe we should just do nothing. Oh wait, we tried that. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Jul 20, 2009 from Associated Press: Study links kids' lower IQ scores to prenatal pollution exposure Researchers for the first time have linked air pollution exposure before birth with lower IQ scores in childhood, bolstering evidence that smog may harm the developing brain. The results are in a study of 249 children of New York City women who wore backpack air monitors for 48 hours during the last few months of pregnancy. They lived in mostly low-income neighborhoods in northern Manhattan and the South Bronx. They had varying levels of exposure to typical kinds of urban air pollution, mostly from car, bus and truck exhaust. At age 5, before starting school, the children were given IQ tests. Those exposed to the most pollution before birth scored on average four to five points lower than children with less exposure. ...	Maybe it's the backpack air monitors that are the culprit! ApocaDoc permalink