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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from

View By Scenario:
Species Collapse:	(4)
Plague/Virus:	(4)
Climate Chaos:	(9)
Resource Depletion:	(7)
Biology Breach:	(14)
Recovery:	(4)

This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
climate impacts ~ contamination ~ ecosystem interrelationships ~ carbon emissions ~ water issues ~ ocean warming ~ pandemic ~ toxic water ~ invasive species ~ capitalist greed ~ airborne pollutants

ApocaDocuments (42) gathered this week:
Sun, Aug 16, 2009 from BusinessGreen: UN climate change chief: If we continue at this rate, we won't make it Yvo de Boer, the UN's top climate change official, has today closed the latest round of talks in Bonn with the stark warning that a deal will not be reached at the Copenhagen meeting this December unless the pace of negotiations increases significantly.... He said that negotiators could not afford to lose sight of the scale of the challenge that they faced, reminding them that they needed to recognise that "serious climate change is equal to game over". De Boer also offered a stinging rebuke to those critics arguing action on climate change could be delayed, saying that Copenhagen offered the last best chance of avoiding catastrophe. "As Copenhagen approaches, I keep hearing those who say we can delay action on climate change, that we can survive a rise of more than two degrees in temperature, that we can safely cut costs and safely cut corners, and that there are other priorities that we need to be focusing on," he said. "I believe this is a way to a global disaster. A climate change deal in Copenhagen this year is simply an unequivocal requirement to stop climate change slipping out of control." ...	Do we then get to push "restart" on this game? ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Aug 16, 2009 from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: UW linked to ghostwriting As fears were growing about the link between hormone therapy and breast cancer, a drug company paid the University of Wisconsin to sponsor ghostwritten medical education articles that downplayed the risks, records obtained by the Journal Sentinel show. The five articles were funded by Wyeth, the company that made the top-selling hormone therapy products. The articles, published in 2001, appeared under the names of doctors who specialized in diseases common to menopausal women, but actually were written by professional writers paid by the company. The articles came shortly before a long-term $1.5 million arrangement between Wyeth and UW to educate doctors and patients around the country about hormone therapy. The initiative promoted the benefits and softened the risks of drugs that produced sales of more than $1 billion a year. The five articles alone reached up to 128,000 doctors and other clinicians who could get medical education credit by reading the reports and taking a quiz. ...	A twist on the Cyrano de Bergerac story. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Aug 16, 2009 from Newsweek: Birds vs. Environmentalists? ... a growing number of species are finding themselves at the epicenter of a new battle being waged by environmentalists and developers... The encroachers aren't the usual suspects -- say, a sprawling McMansion community developer -- but the environmentally friendly wind-energy industry.. Critics charge that wind-energy development can cause habitat fragmentation -- a displacement of a species that can eventually reduce its numbers -- as well as the deaths of birds and bats (a species that is especially vulnerable due to its low reproductive rates) that collide with the wind turbines' massive rotor blades. A 2007 study by the National Academy of Sciences puts the number of birds killed each year at about 20,000 to 30,000. That's a low estimate, says Michael Fry of the American Bird Conservancy. According to his group, turbines kill three to 11 birds per megawatt of wind energy they produce. ...	If only dead birds could be turned into biofuels... ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Aug 16, 2009 from San Francisco Chronicle: Geothermal power search holds promise, threat On a high ridge in the Mayacamas Mountains, a drill slowly bores into the earth to test a new way to generate electricity. The test, by a Bay Area company called AltaRock Energy, could give the world another source of renewable energy, a valuable weapon in the fight against global warming. It could also trigger earthquakes in a corner of California that already shakes most every day, a prospect that is jangling the nerves of some nearby homeowners... AltaRock will drill below the steam pockets, burrowing into deep rocks hotter than 500 degrees Fahrenheit. The company, based in Sausalito, will fracture those rocks with high-pressure water, creating a network of cracks. AltaRock will then pump more water into the cracks, using the rocks to heat the water and create steam. Geologists monitoring the $17 million project say it will create earthquakes, but most will be too small to notice. ...	Say, could earthquakes be a renewable energy source? ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Aug 16, 2009 from Sydney Morning Herald: Study links drought with rising emissions DROUGHT experts have for the first time proven a link between rising levels of greenhouse gases and a decline in rainfall. A three-year collaboration between the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO has confirmed that the drought is not just a natural dry stretch but a shift related to climate change. Scientists working on the $7 million South Eastern Australian Climate Initiative said the rain had dropped away because the subtropical ridge - a band of high pressure systems that sits over the country's south - had strengthened over the past 13 years. ...	The rain was full of acid anyway. ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Aug 15, 2009 from Telegraph.co.uk: Chinese villagers dying from chemical factory's illegal pollution Underfoot, the earth has been poisoned to a depth of 20cm (8in). The water in the wells is undrinkable. The plight of Shuangqiao ... where three people have died and 509 are sick from poisoning by the heavy metals cadmium and indium, produced by a nearby factory, has drawn widespread attention since residents took to the internet to air their grievances. "We wouldn't be here today if the Government had paid attention to us in 2006 when we first told them the factory in our village was spreading pollution," said one villager, who gave his name only as Li, for fear of official retribution. "Now it's the responsibility of the factory and the Government that ignored us to help us." ... Waste water and earth from the processing of the heavy metals have been dumped into a narrow valley at the back of the plant. The stream runs into a river 500m away that feeds into the main Xiang River, which provides drinking water for 20 million people. The factory was supposed to produce the feed additive zinc sulphate. Instead, it illegally processed ore from zinc production to extract cadmium and rare indium, a key material in liquid crystal display screens and solar panels. The price of indium soared from less than $600 (�360) a kilogram in 2003 to $1,000 by 2006. China now meets 30 per cent of world demand and at its peak the Xianghe factory produced 300kg of indium a month. ...	LALALALALA... I need to go watch that Discovery special on solar panels, on my hi-def TV. ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Aug 15, 2009 from Discovery News: Air Pollution Travels, Kills Thousands Annually Unseen and odorless, microscopic particles of air pollution wafting overseas and across continents kill some 380,000 people each year, according to a new study. Exhaust from diesel engines, sulfur from coal-fired power plants, and desert dust swirl into an insidious cocktail of of tiny particles that can spend weeks airborne. The most harmful are the smallest, less than 2.5 microns in diameter; when inhaled they can irritate the lungs or pass directly into the bloodstream and damage arteries. ...	Well, at least it doesn't smell bad. ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Aug 15, 2009 from Canwest News: Experts: Arctic ice experiencing severe summer retreat As Prime Minister Stephen Harper heads north next week for what's become his annual summer visit to the Arctic, he will encounter a world scientists believe is in the midst of an unprecedented and irreversible transformation, where retreating sea ice and related environmental changes are radically reshaping the region's future.... In the upcoming days, researchers from around the world will reassess the state of the Arctic Ocean ice cover and gauge whether this summer's retreat -- already viewed as another "extreme" thaw -- will surpass the 2007 meltdown that shocked even veteran observers of the polar realm.... [T]he biggest floes now jamming the fabled Arctic shipping corridor are southward-floating, orphaned chunks of the thickest, oldest "multi-year" ice mass that has been steadily disintegrating -- in North America, Europe and Asia -- along the edges of the central Arctic Ocean.... The region is, Howell told Canwest News Service, "past the 'tipping-point,'" when increasing expanses of darker, open water absorb ever more heat and the diminished ice cover -- normally able to reflect sunlight because of its lighter surface -- melts more quickly. ...	It's freakin' chemistry and physics, you idiot deniers! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Aug 15, 2009 from Telegraph.co.uk: Species Discoved, Species Extinguished We are in the middle of a golden age for discovering new wildlife around the globe. And, at the same time, we are bringing about the greatest toll of extinctions in some 65 million years. Not since the death of the dinosaurs have so many species been dying out so fast. Scientists increasingly believe � as Lord May, the former president of the Royal Society, has put it -- that "we are on the breaking tip of a sixth great wave of extinction in the history of life on Earth". And yet scientific collections and reference volumes are bulging as never before, as more and more species are found, described and named.... And just this week, WWF (formerly the World Wildlife Fund) announced that 100 new animal and 250 plant species had been identified over the last decade in the eastern Himalayas alone. Yet the scientists excitedly adding to our knowledge are merely trying to hobble up a downward escalator that is rapidly accelerating: we are losing species infinitely faster than we are finding them.... And for every new discovery ... hundreds of species perish before they are ever found. Like the death toll, the consequences are incalculable. ...	One step forward, a hundred steps back? ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Aug 14, 2009 from Treehugger.com: US Has Gotten More New Energy from Efficiency Improvements Than All Supply Side Expansion Combined: Obama Science Advisor John Holdren: "[T]he cleanest, fastest, cheapest, safest, surest energy supply option continues to be increasing the efficiency of energy end use -- more efficient cars, more efficient buildings, more efficient industrial processes, more efficient airplanes. We have gotten more new energy out of energy efficiency improvements in the last 35 years than we've gotten out of all supply side expansion put together in the United States. That's even without trying all that hard. For most of that period, we haven't had anything that you could call a really coherent set of energy policies supporting increasing energy efficiency." ...	Surely a more efficient title could have been used for this story. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Aug 14, 2009 from Reuters: California meat company recalls hamburger patties California meat company Sterling Pacific Meat Co has recalled about 3,500 pounds of hamburger patties that may be contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7, the U.S. Agriculture Department said. The patties were made on May 18 and distributed to wholesale food service companies, who sold the meat to restaurants in California and Arizona, according to USDA. The problem was discovered by the agency during a review of the meat plant's records, and USDA said it has not received any reports that the hamburger made people ill. ...	Recalled yes, but not too fondly remembered. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Aug 14, 2009 from University of Leeds, via EurekAlert: Antarctic glacier thinning at alarming rate The thinning of a gigantic glacier in Antarctica is accelerating, scientists warned today. The Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica, which is around twice the size of Scotland, is losing ice four times as fast as it was a decade ago. The research, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, also reveals that ice thinning is now occurring much further inland. At this rate scientists estimate that the main section of the glacier will have disappeared in just 100 years, six times sooner than was previously thought.... "Because the Pine Island Glacier contains enough ice to almost double the IPCC's best estimate of 21st century sea level rise, the manner in which the glacier will respond to the accelerated thinning is a matter of great concern," says Professor Shepherd. ...	"Great concern" is only one of the things I'm feeling! ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Aug 14, 2009 from Reuters: Millions of salmon disappear from Canadian river Millions of sockeye salmon have disappeared mysteriously from a river on Canada's Pacific Coast that was once known as the world's most fertile spawning ground for sockeye. Up to 10.6 million bright-red sockeye salmon were expected to return to spawn this summer on the Fraser River, which empties into the Pacific ocean near Vancouver, British Columbia. The latest estimates say fewer than 1 million have returned. The Canadian government has closed the river to commercial and recreational sockeye fishing for the third straight year, hitting the livelihood of nearby Indian reserves. "It's quite the shocking drop," said Stan Proboszcz, fisheries biologist at the Watershed Watch Salmon Society. "No one's exactly sure what happened to these fish." ...	That's the very definition of "decimation"! ApocaDoc permalink
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Fri, Aug 14, 2009 from National Oceanographic Centre, via EurekAlert: Nitrogen fixation and phytoplankton blooms in the southwest Indian Ocean Nitrogen-fixing bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen into nitrogen compounds that organisms can then use as food. This process is thought to be important in areas of the ocean where nitrogen-based nutrients are otherwise in short supply, and the researchers confirm that this is indeed the case in the region south of Madagascar. But there were some surprises. Previously, it has been thought that the large-scale autumn bloom that develops in this region is driven by nitrogen-fixing blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, called Trichodesmium, colonies of which the researchers found to be abundant. However, the 2005 bloom was dominated by a diatom -- a type of phytoplankton -- the cells of which play host to another nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium called Richella intracellularis, with [the blue-green algae] Trichodesmium apparently playing second fiddle.... Diatoms have relatively large cells, and when they die they sink down the water column, carrying with them carbon that is ultimately derived from carbon dioxide drawn from the atmosphere though the process of photosynthesis. ...	Diatoms to the rescue? ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Aug 14, 2009 from University of Alaska Fairbanks via EurekAlert: New findings show increased ocean acidification in Alaska waters The same things that make Alaska's marine waters among the most productive in the world may also make them the most vulnerable to ocean acidification. According to new findings by a University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist, Alaska's oceans are becoming increasingly acidic, which could damage Alaska's king crab and salmon fisheries.... When he tested the samples' acidity in his lab, the results were higher than expected. They show that ocean acidification is likely more severe and is happening more rapidly in Alaska than in tropical waters. The results also matched his recent findings in the Chukchi and Bering Seas.... Ocean acidification makes it more difficult to build shells, and in some cases the water can become acidic enough to break down existing shells. Mathis' recent research in the Gulf of Alaska uncovered multiple sites where the concentrations of shell-building minerals were so low that shellfish and other organisms in the region would be unable to build strong shells. "It seems like everywhere we look in Alaska's coastal oceans, we see signs of increased ocean acidification," said Mathis. ...	pHrankly, I find these pHindings pHenomenally pHrightening. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Aug 13, 2009 from Christian Science Monitor: Argentina: Farming crisis batters world food provider ...Argentina is facing its worst farming crisis since becoming one of the most prolific food providers in the world. A devastating drought, the most severe in more than 50 years, has dried up grassland and left cattle with nothing to graze... For cattle-raising regions, like San Miguel del Monte, south of Buenos Aires, the drought has cut deeply. Here, the lakes have dried; pastures are so barren that cattle graze by the roads. On a recent day, local producer Lorena del Rio looked at two dozen cows feeding on corn from a special plastic trough, an expensive alternative to pasture. Her family has lost eight of their 600 cows, and many cows are too weak to get pregnant. "It is horrible not to be able to feed your animals," Ms. Del Rio says. ...	Don't moooooo for me. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Aug 13, 2009 from Miller-McCune: Playing Chicken With Antibiotic Resistance ...Citing concerns that injecting eggs with antibiotics "presents a risk to the public health," the FDA issued a rule in July 2008 that severely limited antibiotic use in hatcheries. The aim, the FDA said in a carefully reasoned statement backed by government studies from the U.S., Canada and Europe, was to restrict use of a class of antibiotics due to fears that misuse on farms reduced the antibiotics' effectiveness for humans � a concern long voiced by the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization and public health agencies in numerous countries. Coming from a federal agency with sweeping legal powers and powerful law-enforcement capabilities, the FDA's rule was tough stuff � or so it seemed at first. But that was before the powerful U.S. chicken lobby � sometimes dubbed "Big Chicken" � stepped in. Within weeks of the FDA's antibiotic prohibition, a barn burner of a fight, pitting scientists against farmers and physicians against veterinarians, ignited across the continent. Then, three weeks before the ban was to go into effect, FDA policymakers � mindful of an earlier ban on antibiotic use in poultry that was won only after years of litigation � suddenly abandoned their own ruling. ...	As long as we can ALL agree the sky is falling. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Aug 13, 2009 from Sacramento Bee: Sacramento judge tentatively rules against bid to list styrene as carcinogenic A Sacramento judge sided with the styrene industry and against state environmental officials on Wednesday in ruling that the chemical doesn't have to be listed under Proposition 65 as a cause of cancer. Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne W.L. Chang said the listing would have had a "devastating effect" on a $28 billion industry that uses the product widely in food packaging, as well as in thousands of plastic items ranging from bicycle helmets to synthetic marble... "The court agrees with plaintiff that the designation of a product as a carcinogen, particularly associated with food, could have a devastating effect on that product's use," Chang wrote. "Such a designation would likely have the intended 'stigmatizing' effect.'" ...	Sounds like styrene is just too big to fail... ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Aug 13, 2009 from Telegraph.co.uk: Thumbnail Explanations of Current Carbon Markets Companies and governments are turning to emissions trading as a weapon to fight climate change in a carbon market worth $125 billion last year. Here are some of the proposed plans and existing schemes. Carbon markets allow polluters to buy rights to emit greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Under cap and trade schemes, companies or countries face a carbon limit. If they exceed their limit they can buy allowances from others. Alternatively, they can buy carbon offsets from projects which avoid greenhouse gas emissions outside the scheme, often in developing countries.... [Thumbnail overviews of Kyoto, EU, NE US, Japan, Australia, US, US & Canada, New Zealand's carbon markets.] ...	Milk-toast insufficient solutions soppy with special interest juice. I'll have mine with despair sauce, please. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Aug 12, 2009 from BBC: Killer whales and 'social clubs' Killer whales create and visit social clubs just like people do, scientists have discovered.... But no-one knew why the whales form these huge superpods, when they normally live in smaller groups. Now scientists report in the Journal of Ethology that these groups act as clubs in which the killer whales form and maintain social ties. Fish-eating killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the Avacha Gulf live in stable groups called pods that contain an average of ten individuals and up to 20 in the largest pods. But researchers have seen up to eight of these pods coming together to form large groups of up to 100 animals.... "As far as the eye can see, in every direction you see groupings of two to six killer whales surfacing, spouting then dipping below the surface." "Each grouping has a focal mother figure surrounded by her offspring, some of whom may be full grown males with up to 2m dorsal fins that tower over the females," he says.... "The superpods are like big social clubs," says Hoyt. "These clubs could help them stay acquainted, could be part of the courting process but could have other functions that we need to learn about." Maintaining social bonds is crucial for many social mammals which live and hunt together. ...	Let's just agree that we never again kill any animal whose family will miss it. How about that for a simple rule? ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Aug 12, 2009 from Penn State, via EurekAlert: Harbingers of increased Atlantic hurricane activity identified Mann, working with [others,] reconstructed the past 1,500 years of hurricanes using two independent methods. They report their results in today's (Aug. 13) issue of Nature. One estimate of hurricane numbers is based on sediment deposited during landfall hurricanes.... The other method used a previously developed statistical model for predicting hurricane activity based on climate variables.... Both hurricane reconstructions indicate similar overall patterns and both indicate a high period of hurricane activity during the Medieval Climate Anomaly around AD 900 to 1100. "We are at levels now that are about as high as anything we have seen in the past 1,000 years," said Mann.... "It seems that the paleodata support the contention that greenhouse warming may increase the frequency of Atlantic tropical storms," said Mann. "It may not be just that the storms are stronger, but that there are there may be more of them as well." ...	As if the past was any predictor of the future. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Aug 12, 2009 from New Scientist: Swine flu: How experts are preparing their families As the swine flu pandemic continues to sweep the world, what do public health officials, epidemiologists and flu researchers think will happen in the coming months? When New Scientist asked 60 of them, it turned out that half are concerned enough about the possibility of a virulent swine flu outbreak to take precautions such as acquiring a supply of Tamiflu for their families. Though most do not think it likely that a nastier strain will emerge, many are worried that if it did, their local hospitals and other parts of the health infrastructure could not cope.... How likely is it that a more virulent strain will emerge? The majority of respondents did not rule it out: two thirds said they thought that higher virulence was "possible". Only a small proportion said it was "likely" (see table). One respondent, Laurence Tiley, a molecular virologist at the University of Cambridge, says there is no reason to expect that the virus will become substantially more virulent. There have been too few pandemics to make any concrete predictions, he explains. ...	I guess I'm half terrified, too. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Aug 12, 2009 from AFP, via Mongabay: After a hundred years, salmon swim by the Eiffel tower again Atlantic salmon have returned to the Seine river reports the AFP. Absent for nearly a century, the salmon have returned entirely of their own volition: no reintroduction efforts were undertaken. "There are more and more fish swimming up the Seine," said Bernard Breton, a top official at France's National Federation for Fishing, told AFP. "This year the numbers have exceeded anything we could have imagined: I would not be surprised if we had passed the 1,000 mark." Atlantic salmon used to be plentiful in the Seine, but disappeared in the early 20th Century due to dams and chemical pollution. The reason for the salmon's return is that Seine is cleaner. In the late 1990s France began a large-scale effort to clean-up the Seine, including a new water purification plant. ...	"Saumons dans le Seine" bruits tellement tres poetiques. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Aug 12, 2009 from New Scientist: Stowaway insects imperil Darwin's finches The famous Galapagos finches could be among the first casualties of mosquitoes that are stowing away on aircraft, potentially bringing fatal viruses to the islands. Live mosquitoes captured in the holds of aircraft arriving on the Galapagos from mainland Ecuador were found to survive and breed on the islands. Although none of the captured mosquitoes carried lethal viruses such as the West Nile virus (WNV) -- which decimated bird populations in the US after arriving in New York in 1999 -- they have the potential to do so.... Goodman and his colleagues found 74 live insects after searching the holds of 93 aircraft landing on Baltra Island in the Galapagos. *Of these, six were Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes, which transmit WNV and the parasite that causes bird malaria.* Two more were caught in aircraft that landed on nearby San Cristobal. "The consequences for wildlife could be severe," says Marm Kilpatrick of the University of California, Santa Cruz. The findings are probably an underestimate of the true numbers of mosquitoes arriving, he says. ...	Maybe those mosquitoes will evolve different beaks! ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Aug 12, 2009 from University of Minnesota, via EnvironmentalResearchWeb: University of Minnesota researchers discover high levels of estrogens in some industrial wastewater In a groundbreaking study, civil engineering researchers in the University of Minnesota's Institute of Technology have discovered that certain industries may be a significant source of plant-based estrogens, called phytoestrogens, in surface water. They also revealed that some of these phytoestrogens can be removed through standard wastewater treatment, but in some cases, the compounds remain at levels that may be damaging to fish.... They found very high concentrations of these hormone-mimicking phytoestrogens -- up to 250 times higher than the level at which feminization of fish has been seen in other research -- in the wastewater discharged from eight industrial sites, including biodiesel plants, a soy milk factory, a barbecue meat processing facility and a dairy. They also detected high concentrations of phytoestrogens in the water discharged by some municipal wastewater treatment plants. The good news is that the researchers revealed that phytoestrogens can be removed from water as it goes through standard treatment. In fact, they saw more than 90 percent removal of these compounds from the water. Unfortunately, sometimes 99 percent removal is needed to reach levels that are considered harmless to fish. ...	Oh, poor Alex... um, Alexandra.... uh, Sasha! ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Aug 12, 2009 from New York Times: China's Incinerators Loom as a Global Hazard After surpassing the United States as the world's largest producer of household garbage, China has embarked on a vast program to build incinerators as landfills run out of space. But these incinerators have become a growing source of toxic emissions, from dioxin to mercury, that can damage the body�s nervous system. And these pollutants, particularly long-lasting substances like dioxin and mercury, are dangerous not only in China, a growing body of atmospheric research based on satellite observations suggests. They float on air currents across the Pacific to American shores.... [However, at] the other end of Shenzhen from Longgang, no smoke is visible from the towering smokestack of the Baoan incinerator... Government tests show that it emits virtually no dioxin and other pollutants. But the Baoan incinerator cost 10 times as much as the Longgang incinerators, per ton of trash-burning capacity. The difference between the Baoan and Longgang incinerators lies at the center of a growing controversy in China. ...	As if heavy metals could float on air! ApocaDoc permalink
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Wed, Aug 12, 2009 from Environment Canada: Canada moves towards ban on tributyltins Given the hazardous properties, as well as the potential for persistence and biocaccumulation and the continuing uses of tributyltins and tetrabutyltin, it is recommended that these substances be added to the Schedule I of CEPA 1999. As such, a proposed order to add tributyltins and tetrabutyltins to the List of Toxic substances (Schedule I of CEPA 1999) will be released for a 60-day public comment period.... [from Environment Canada: "The pesticide tributyltin (TBT) is a highly toxic chemical used as a general lumber preservative and slimicide (a chemical toxic to bacteria and fungi). However, the use of tributyltin in antifouling paints on the hulls of ships and boats poses one of the greatest environmental concerns, leading to regulatory aftion in a number of countries, including Canada."] ...	Pesticide and slimicide? How about just calling it a "Gaiacide"? ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Aug 11, 2009 from BBC: Flu drugs 'unhelpful' in children Research has cast doubt on the policy of giving antiviral drugs to children for swine flu. Work in the British Medical Journal shows Tamiflu and Relenza rarely prevent complications in children with seasonal flu, yet carry side effects. Although they did not test this in the current swine flu pandemic, the authors say these drugs are unlikely to help children who catch the H1N1 virus. The government has stuck by its policy of offering them to anyone infected. ...	Can't we count on the placebo effect? ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Aug 11, 2009 from Science: India's Groundwater Disappearing at Alarming Rate Farming is a thirsty business on the Indian subcontinent. But how thirsty, exactly? For the first time, satellite remote sensing of a 2000-kilometer swath running from eastern Pakistan across northern India and into Bangladesh has put a solid number on how quickly the region is depleting its groundwater. The number "is big," says hydrologist James Famiglietti of the University of California, Irvine--big as in 54 cubic kilometers of groundwater lost per year from the world's most intensively irrigated region hosting 600 million people. "I don't think anybody knew how quickly it was being depleted over that large an area." ...	Thank goodness there are so few people living in India. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Aug 11, 2009 from Environmental Health News: Germ-killing chemical from soaps, toothpaste building up in dolphins Dolphins are swimming in waters tainted with germ-killing soaps, but they aren't winding up squeaky clean. Triclosan, an antibacterial chemical found in everyday bathroom and kitchen products, is accumulating in dolphins at concentrations known to disrupt the hormones and growth and development of other animals. Scientists have found that one-third of the bottlenose dolphins tested off South Carolina and almost one-quarter of those tested off Florida carried traces of triclosan in their blood. It is the first time the chemical has been reported in a wild marine mammal � a worrisome finding, researchers say, because it shows it is building up in the ocean�s food web. Triclosan is the germ-killing chemical of choice in hundreds of products, including liquid hand soaps, toothpaste, deodorants and cutting boards. Now some scientists are calling for its removal from consumer products. ...	I prefer my dolphins minty fresh! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Aug 11, 2009 from Than Nien News (Vietnam): Slaps on the wrist as old hands pollute waters In Dong Nai, the Tan Phat Tai Private Company in Bien Hoa Town, not far from HCMC, was last year caught twice by Dong Nai police discharging harmful waste including paint and oil into the land of nearby residents. The company was fined VND15 million (US$842). Again on June 12 this year, the footwear company was caught releasing waste into a residential plot in Long Thanh District. It was fined VND10 million on July 3 only to be caught dumping around three cubic meters of wastewater from a tanker in Vinh Cuu District just four days later. Since the company's license for transporting, treating and destroying waste was granted by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, authorities in Dong Nai said they can only impose cash penalties upon the polluter.... "The wastewater is black and smells like weed killer," a local resident had said in July, adding that she could hardly breathe when standing near the dumping site. Test results later showed that the effluent contained cyanide, phenol, lead and other heavy metals. Le Quang Thang, who drove the tanker that dumped the waste, said he had been doing so for two months, getting paid VND2 million for each trip. Thang said he was told where to throw the waste, and that he made three such trips a day. ...	Fines of about twice what the truck driver was paid that day. Ouch! That's gotta hurt! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Aug 11, 2009 from Globe and Mail: Crown of Thorns starfish destroying Asian reefs The predator starfish feeds on corals by spreading its stomach over them and using digestive enzymes to liquefy tissue. The researchers found large numbers of them in Halmahera, Indonesia, which lies at the heart of the Coral Triangle. During a research trip in December, they saw a stretch of reef measuring 10 kilometres in circumference completely wiped out. "It's quite a stark sight. The crown of thorns choose to eat some species, like staghorn corals, the branching corals disappear and you are left with just a rubble pit," Andrew Baird [said].... Dr. Baird said the outbreak was caused by poor water quality and could be an early warning of widespread reef decline. "Humans are exacerbating the problem because we put too many nutrients in the water," he said, referring to water pollution caused by sewerage and agriculture fertilizers. "There are lots of micro-algae and the larvae of the crown of thorns feed on the algae," said Dr. Baird, who was involved in the study. ...	The larvae know not what they do. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Aug 11, 2009 from Environmental Research Web: Scientists expect wildfires to increase as climate warms in the coming decades In their pioneering work, Logan and her collaborators investigated the consequences of climate change on future forest fires and on air quality in the western United States. Previous studies have probed the links between climate change and fire severity in the West and elsewhere. The Harvard study represents the first attempt to quantify the impact of future wildfires on the air we breathe. "Warmer temperatures can dry out underbrush, leading to a more serious conflagration once a fire is started by lightening or human activity," says Logan. "Because smoke and other particles from fires adversely affect air quality, an increase in wildfires could have large impacts on human health." ... Using a series of models, the scientists predict that the geographic area typically burned by wildfires in the western United States could increase by about 50 percent by the 2050s due mainly to rising temperatures. The greatest increases in area burned (75�175 percent) would occur in the forests of the Pacific Northwest and the Rocky Mountains. ...	If you can't stand the heat, get out of... um... ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Aug 11, 2009 from CBC: Acid rain falling on Saskatchewan from Alberta oilsands, says lobby The Saskatchewan Environmental Society issued a news release Monday to say that data, obtained by the society from the Saskatchewan environment ministry, reveals that rain falling in the La Loche area of the province's far north has a pH level that falls under the definition for acid rain. The generally accepted threshold for normal rain is a pH of 5.6. Environment Canada has determined any value less than five may be termed acid rain. Ann Coxworth, a spokeswoman for the environmental society, said data from the Saskatchewan government shows the average pH level for rain and snow in the La Loche area is 4.96. "We have now a combination of that region being the most sensitive forest soil in Canada, most sensitive to damage by acid precipitation and an increase in the acidity of the precipitation," Coxworth told CBC News on Monday. "So it seems to us that is a situation that really needs to be attended to." ...	In Canada, such politeness might get results! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Aug 11, 2009 from ARC Center, via ScienceDaily: Humans 'Damaging The Oceans' In Profound Ways Man-made carbon emissions "are affecting marine biological processes from genes to ecosystems over scales from rock pools to ocean basins, impacting ecosystem services and threatening human food security," ... rates of physical change in the oceans are unprecedented in some cases, and change in ocean life is likely to be equally quick. These include changes in the areas fish and other sea species can inhabit, invasions, extinctions and major shifts in marine ecosystems.... Man-made carbon emissions are now above the 'worst case' scenario envisioned by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), causing the most rapid global warming seen since the peak of the last Ice Age. At the same time the carbon is acidifying the oceans, with harmful consequences for certain plankton and shellfish. ...	Whoops. Our bad. How do you hit Restart on this game? ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Aug 10, 2009 from BBC (UK): Greenpeace in anti-trawling move Greenpeace has begun sinking boulders in EU-protected cod fishing grounds to prevent what it says are destructive forms of fishing in the area. The environmental group says it will drop 180 boulders off the Swedish and Danish coasts to prevent fishing boats from dragging nets along the sea bed. Greenpeace says the bottom-trawling fishing method destroys both the sea bed and the marine environment. Sweden's government described the group's action as "unnecessary".... The Greenpeace project highlights the ongoing debate over the environmental damage caused by over-fishing, in which the size of catches is not the only concern for campaigners. The environmental impact of different methods of fishing is also a major issue, correspondents say. ...	Wait -- you mean there are ecosystems at the bottom of the ocean? I thought it was just food. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Aug 10, 2009 from Appleton Post-Crescent: Relentless Japanese beetle invades Fox Cities The Japanese beetle, an invasive bug that has caused gardeners grief for years in parts of Wisconsin and elsewhere in the country, is emerging in pockets of the Valley and spreading across Green Bay. About two years ago, the beetle was discovered near Riverview Country Club in Appleton, said David Bayer, a horticulture agent with the Outagamie County University of Wisconsin-Extension office. It's also been spotted in other areas of the Fox Valley. The invasive beetles attack more than 300 species of plants, killing grass, eating roses and turning tree leaves to lace. Vijai Pandian, a horticulture educator with the Brown County UW-Extension office, said the beetles are especially common on the city's west side. He said 25 traps placed last year netted 76,000 beetles. ...	76,000! Methinks we could use them as a bio-fuel. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Aug 10, 2009 from Living on Earth: Rock Snot Algae blooms are usually problems for warm waters laden with excess nutrients. But they're now popping up in waters considered icons of environmental health � cold, clear, trout and salmon streams. The alga didymo is spreading quickly, -- it's better known by its nickname -- rock snot.... If the name rock snot is not bad enough, consider its appearance. It's often described as looking like a sewage spill with wet toilet paper streaming in the water... Amy Smagula, a biologist with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, walks to the river to pick up samples of the invader. ...	Excuse me, but doesn't "Smagula" sorta sound like a Latin term for "rock snot"? ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Aug 10, 2009 from American Thoracic Society, via EurekAlert: Misuse of common antibiotic is creating resistant TB Use of a common antibiotic may be undercutting its utility as a first-line defense against drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). Fluoroquinolones are the most commonly prescribed class of antibiotics in the U.S. and are used to fight a number of different infections such as sinusitis and pneumonia. They are also an effective first line of defense against TB infections that show drug resistance. New research shows, however, that widespread general use of fluoroquinolones may be creating a strain of fluoroquinolone-resistant TB.... Overall, patients who had used fluoroquinolones within 12 months of diagnosis were almost five times as likely to have a fluoroquinolone-resistant strain of TB than those who had not used fluoroquinolones, and there was a linear association between length of fluoroquinolone use and fluoroquinolone resistance. ...	Do we always have to come out with the big guns blazing, no matter the adversary? ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Aug 10, 2009 from Gas 2.0: Hybrid Vehicles Failing to Produce Environmental Benefits The study finds that hybrid sales have not replaced gas guzzling SUVS, but rather have replaced small, relatively fuel-efficient, conventional cars. Too bad, considering SUVS, trucks and vans produce substantially greater carbon emissions.... "Our estimates indicate that two-thirds of people who buy hybrids were going to buy them anyway," said Chandra. "So for the majority, rebates are not changing behavior -- they are subsidizing planned purchases."... The study finds that Canadian provinces that offer rebates have spent an average of $195 per tonne of carbon saved or, equivalently, $0.43 for every litre of gasoline that a vehicle consumes over its 15 year average life expectancy.... Chandra claims that governments could garner greater environmental benefits by purchasing carbon offsets (currently priced between $3 and $40 per tonne on carbon markets) or investing in green jobs and technologies. ...	Rational policy is just too hard to explain. We like happy policy. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Aug 10, 2009 from New York Times Op-Ed: You say tomato, I say environmental disaster But this year is turning out to be different -- quite different, according to farmers and plant scientists. For one thing, the disease appeared much earlier than usual. Late blight usually comes, well, late in the growing season, as fungal spores spread from plant to plant. So its early arrival caught just about everyone off guard. And then there's the perniciousness of the 2009 blight. The pace of the disease (it covered the Northeast in just a few days) and its strength (topical copper sprays, a convenient organic preventive, have been much less effective than in past years) have shocked even hardened Hudson Valley farmers.... According to plant pathologists, this killer round of blight began with a widespread infiltration of the disease in tomato starter plants. Large retailers like Home Depot, Kmart, Lowe's and Wal-Mart bought starter plants from industrial breeding operations in the South and distributed them throughout the Northeast. ...	At least we have big retailers to blame! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Aug 10, 2009 from Telegraph.co.uk: Ban Ki-moon warns of catastrophe without world deal on climate change Climate change is "simply the greatest collective challenge we face as a human family", Mr Ban said in a speech on Monday in Seoul. He urged international leaders to reach a deal to limit their countries' carbon emissions at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December.... "The world has less than 10 years to halt the global rise in greenhouse gas emissions if we are to avoid catastrophic consequences for people and the planet." He called on governments to "seal the deal in the name of humankind" through a "renewed multilateralism, a compassionate multilateralism."... John Prescott, the former deputy Prime Minister, who helped broker the Kyoto deal, warned rich nations would have to make more sacrifices.... "Copenhagen is a much more difficult nut to crack than Kyoto," Mr Prescott warned, adding rich countries faced having to make a "fundamental change" to their economies. ...	Hmmm... fundamental change by choice now, or fundamental change forced upon us by reality later? ApocaDoc permalink