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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from

View By Scenario:
Species Collapse:	(2)
Plague/Virus:	(1)
Climate Chaos:	(8)
Resource Depletion:	(1)
Biology Breach:	(12)
Recovery:	(12)

This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
climate impacts ~ contamination ~ global warming ~ stupid humans ~ smart policy ~ ecosystem interrelationships ~ anthropogenic change ~ unintended consequences ~ ocean warming ~ governmental idiocy ~ carbon emissions

ApocaDocuments (36) gathered this week:
Sun, Sep 20, 2009 from London Observer: Grizzly bear decline alarms conservationists in Canada First it was the giant panda, then the polar bear, now it seems that the grizzly bear is the latest species to face impending disaster. A furious row has erupted in Canada with conservationists desperately lobbying the government to suspend the annual bear-hunting season following reports of a sudden drop in the numbers of wild bears spotted on salmon streams and key coastal areas where they would normally be feeding. The government has promised to order a count of bears, but not until after this year's autumn trophy hunts have taken place. It has enraged ecology groups which say that a dearth of salmon stocks may be responsible for many bears starving in their dens during hibernation. The female grizzlies have their cubs during winter after gorging themselves in September on the fish fats that sustain them through the following months. ...	It will make it easier to count them. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Sep 20, 2009 from New York Times: No Climate Change Leader as Nations Meet Economists point to powerhouse countries like India to illustrate the hurdles facing some 100 world leaders due to gather in New York this Tuesday for the highest level summit meeting on climate change ever convened... While virtually all of the largest developed and developing nations have made domestic commitments toward creating more efficient, renewable sources of energy to cut emissions, none want to take the lead in fighting for significant international emissions reduction targets, lest they be accused at home of selling out future jobs and economic growth... “The mood in the negotiations has been that I should do as little as possible as late as possible and let the other person go first,” said Kim Carstensen, the director of the Global Climate Initiative of the World Wildlife Fund. ...	If such a leader existed, s/he would probably be the antichrist! ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Sep 20, 2009 from University of Exeter via ScienceDaily: Impact Of Renewable Energy On Our Oceans Must Be Investigated, Say Scientists Scientists from the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth are calling for urgent research to understand the impact of renewable energy developments on marine life. The study, now published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, highlights potential environmental benefits and threats resulting from marine renewable energy, such as off-shore wind farms and wave and tidal energy conversion devices. The research highlights the capacity for marine renewable energy devices to boost local biodiversity and benefit the wider marine environment. Man-made structures on the sea bed attract many marine organisms and sometimes become 'artificial reefs', for example, supporting a wide variety of fish. The study also points out that such devices could have negative environmental impacts, resulting from habitat loss, collision risks, noise and electromagnetic fields. ...	I presume a simple "Keep Out" sign is out of the question. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Sep 20, 2009 from New York Times: Belatedly, Egypt Spots Flaws in Wiping Out Pigs CAIRO — It is unlikely anyone has ever come to this city and commented on how clean the streets are. But this litter-strewn metropolis is now wrestling with a garbage problem so severe it has managed to incite its weary residents and command the attention of the president... When the government killed all the pigs in Egypt this spring — in what public health experts said was a misguided attempt to combat swine flu — it was warned the city would be overwhelmed with trash. The pigs used to eat tons of organic waste. Now the pigs are gone and the rotting food piles up on the streets of middle-class neighborhoods like Heliopolis and in the poor streets of communities like Imbaba. ...	This pig in a poke went to hell in a handcart. ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Sep 19, 2009 from Agence France-Presse: Car sales spike in Beijing, capital nears 4 million auto mark Sales of new cars in Beijing have spiked to about 2,000 a day, a trend that will put up to four million vehicles on the streets of China's capital by year's end, state media said Friday. About 60,100 cars were sold in the month of August in Beijing -- the largest number of auto purchases this year and nearly double the amount of vehicles sold in the same month in 2008, the China Daily said....an increase of one million cars in just two years. ...	It's the Carpocalypse! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Sep 19, 2009 from Christian Science Monitor: Severe drought affects 1.3 million in Syria The acute drought that has driven an estimated 300,000 Syrian farmers, herders, and their families to abandon home for makeshift urban camps may not be the worst in the region's history; the Fertile Crescent has often experienced cycles of drought. But now climate change, an exploitation of water resources, and higher food prices brought about by the global financial crisis have all severely sharpened the impact of this dry spell, now in its fourth year. The numbers of Syrians affected – an estimated 1.3 million, 803,000 of whom have entirely lost their livelihoods – point to a serious humanitarian crisis. With Syria's population expected to triple by 2025, the severity of the drought presents yet another challenge for a leadership isolated internationally and struggling at home to maintain a broken state system while slowly introducing capitalism. ...	Perhaps they should rethink that whole "tripling the population" plan, eh? ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Sep 19, 2009 from Washington Post: Left in the Flat-Screen Dust ...America's unquenchable craving, even in a recession, for the latest and greatest in electronics, and the nation's switch to digital television broadcasting in June, have combined to send consumers racing for flat-screen TVs -- and has made them anxious to rid their homes of their tube-based relics... nobody will take their old TVs, not even for free, and local governments are scrambling to stop the rejects, laden with lead, from being dumped in landfills or poor Asian countries.... As new TVs enter the home, many people hide the old ones in basements, garages or closets. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 99 million TVs were stored this way two years ago. But many TVs are simply tossed. In 2007, 27 million units were discarded, and 77 percent of them were tossed out with the trash (most of the rest are recycled). ...	I know! Let's turn the TVs into aquariums — to replace our collapsing ocean and lake ecosystems! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Sep 19, 2009 from The Denver Post: Chemicals fuel ailment debate Meggan Smoler buries her face in her hands and collapses into the back seat of the Subaru she has called home for the past four months... Smoler is crippled, she says, by encounters with routine chemicals such as pesticides, perfume, paint, air fresheners and car exhaust. She is joined by as much as 16 percent of the U.S. population who describe ailments that remain a medical mystery. Sufferers call their disease multiple chemical sensitivity, or MCS. While many doctors and scientists call their physical symptoms an eruption of psychological stress, some research is uncovering scientific underpinnings to MCS. Japan, Germany, Canada, Austria and Great Britain have acknowledged the disease as real and eligible for insurance coverage. Colorado has even given MCS its own special month. "I literally exist to prove to the world how toxic it is getting," says Smoler, who thinks her big problems started five years ago in a moldy house. "I am the canary in the coal mine." ...	Multiple ComPLAINer Syndrome, more like. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Sep 18, 2009 from Associated Press: Scores of walrus carcasses found on Arctic coast Up to 200 dead walruses have been spotted on the shore of Chukchi Sea on Alaska's northwest coast... Environmental groups calling for measures to slow greenhouse gas emissions say walruses on shore are evidence that global warming is altering the Arctic and forcing major changes in wildlife behavior. The Center for Biological Diversity has petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service to list walruses as a threatened or endangered species because of the threat from sea ice loss, and the agency has opened a 60-day public comment period. Retreating sea ice might have taken away some of the platforms walrus use to hunt and rest, pushing to walrus to shore. ...	The canaries just keep getting bigger and bigger... ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Sep 18, 2009 from London Times: India challenges US by agreeing to impose limits on carbon emissions India wrong-footed the United States and other rich nations yesterday by agreeing for the first time to set numerical targets for curbing its greenhouse gas emissions. The move added to pressure on the Obama Administration to deliver on its own climate change pledges even as senior Democrats warned that US legislation may face severe delays. Jairam Ramesh, the Indian Environment Minister, told The Times that legislation was being drafted in Delhi to limit India's carbon footprint and in the process repair his country's reputation for intransigence on climate change before the crucial UN conference in Copenhagen in December. ...	If India can do it, then yes we can too! ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Sep 18, 2009 from London Independent: Call for murder charges to be brought over toxic dumping Trafigura, the oil-trading company at the centre of the scandal caused by the dumping of tons of toxic waste in one of the world's poorest countries, could be prosecuted for murder after a dossier of evidence was submitted to a court in the Netherlands yesterday, alleging that the sludge caused deaths and serious injuries. A complaint filed by Greenpeace Netherlands calls for a Dutch prosecution arising from Trafigura's actions in July 2006 â€” when a chartered tanker carrying the contaminated waste arrived in Amsterdam â€” to be widened to include events in Ivory Coast a month later which caused thousands of people to fall ill after tons of the foul-smelling slurry was dumped in the port of Abidjan.... A United Nations report this week stated that there seemed to be "prima facie evidence" that up to a dozen deaths in Abidjan were linked to the sludge. ...	If this works, I've got a list a mile long... ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Sep 18, 2009 from New York Times: Health Ills Abound as Farm Runoff Fouls Wells ...Agricultural runoff is the single largest source of water pollution in the nation's rivers and streams, according to the E.P.A. An estimated 19.5 million Americans fall ill each year from waterborne parasites, viruses or bacteria, including those stemming from human and animal waste, according to a study published last year in the scientific journal Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology...In Brown County [Wisconsin], part of one of the nation's largest milk-producing regions, agriculture brings in $3 billion a year. But the dairies collectively also create as much as a million gallons of waste each day. Many cows are fed a high-protein diet, which creates a more liquid manure that is easier to spray on fields. ...	They put the "brown" in Brown County. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Sep 17, 2009 from Environmental Science and Technology: Greenhouse gas leaking from Arctic Ocean floor Scientists have reported the presence of previously unknown sources of methane—a greenhouse gas some 25 times more powerful than CO2 at trapping heat—bubbling up from the Arctic Ocean seafloor north of Norway. Gradual warming of a regional current has caused temperature-sensitive methane hydrate below the seabed to break down and discharge the gas, the researchers say... Over the past couple of decades, as the tools for oceanographic exploration have grown more sophisticated, researchers have documented about Previously, International Polar Year (2007) surveys of the East Siberian Arctic shelf uncovered abundant methane seeps and measured record-breaking summertime concentrations of the gas in northern polar waters. ...	Bring on the giant caulkgun! ApocaDoc permalink
Want more context? Try reading our book FREE online: Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! More fun than a barrel of jellyfish!
Thu, Sep 17, 2009 from Reuters: Chemical Pollutants Linked to Fewer Female Births High exposure to certain now-banned industrial chemicals may lead to fewer female births, a new study suggests. The findings, reported in the journal Environmental Health, add to evidence that the two groups of related chemicals -- polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) -- may affect human reproduction... For the current study, researchers used data from a group of Michigan residents who, in the early 1970s, had been inadvertently exposed to high levels of PBBs; the chemicals had been accidentally mixed into animal feed, leading to human exposure through contaminated meat, eggs and milk. The researchers observed that, from 1975 to 1988, women in the study group had a higher-than-average rate of male births, relative to the national average. There was also a suggestion of increased odds of a male birth when both parents' combined PBB exposure was particularly high -- above the midpoint for the study group -- compared with couples whose PBB exposure was lower. Similarly, couples with high PCB levels had a higher rate of male births. ...	Since pollution is feminizing males won't it all even out soooooo nicely! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Sep 17, 2009 from Associated Press: EPA scraps Bush-era smog rule and will start over The Obama administration signaled Wednesday that it would scrap a controversial Bush-era rule that set stricter limits for smog but fell short of scientific recommendations. In a notice filed Wednesday in a federal appeals court, the Justice Department says there are concerns that the revision made by the Bush administration does not adhere to federal air pollution law. The Environmental Protection Agency will propose revised smog standards to protect health and the environment in late December. "This is one of the most important protection measures we can take to safeguard our health and our environment," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson in a statement. "Reconsidering these standards and ensuring acceptable levels of ground-level ozone could cut health care costs and make our cities healthier, safer places to live, work and play." Smog is a respiratory irritant that can aggravate asthma and has been linked to heart attacks. ...	What's the hurry? ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Sep 17, 2009 from BBC: Warming Arctic 'halts migration' of sea goose Milder winters in the Arctic region have led to fewer Pacific brants, a species of sea goose, migrating southwards, say researchers. A study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) found that as many as 30 percent of the birds were overwintering in Alaska rather than migrating to Mexico. Until recently, more than 90 percent of the species were estimated to head south. Writing in the journal Arctic, the team said the shift coincides with warming in the North Pacific and Bering Sea. "This suggests that environmental conditions have changed for one of the northernmost wintering populations of geese," said lead author David Ward, a USGS researcher at the Alaska Science Center. ...	More food for those grolar bears! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Sep 17, 2009 from SolveClimate: US Policy Breakthrough on Super Greenhouse Gases, But Obstacles Remain The U.S. State Department issued an international proposal jointly with the governments of Canada and Mexico this week to phase down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) starting as early as 2011. The move represents a welcome breakthrough for the administration, whose HFC policy has been delayed since May when interagency disagreements stalled U.S. action on the super greenhouse gases. HFCs, found in small amounts in air-conditioning and refrigeration systems, have a climate warming impact many thousands of times greater than CO2.... It would be the first time that the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, recognized as a very successful treaty that has stopped the global use of more than 90 ozone-destroying substances in its 20 years, would be deployed to control climate warming gases. ...	Jobs. Air conditioning more expensive. Theory. Economy. Socialism. Don't tread on me. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Sep 16, 2009 from AP, via PhysOrg.com: World's oceans warmest on record this summer Ocean temperatures averaged 62.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the June-August period, 1.04 degree higher than normal for the period. And for August the world sea-surface average was 62.4 degrees, 1.03 higher than usual, also the warmest for August on record, NOAA's National Climatic Data Center said. The report is based on data back to 1880. The combined land and water temperature worldwide was 61.2 degrees, third warmest on record for the three-month period. For August it was 58.2 degrees, fourth warmest. Climate change has been raising the planet's average temperature steadily in recent decades. All of the 10 hottest years on record have occurred since 1997. ...	We're so lucky that global warming is just a theory. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Sep 16, 2009 from Paul Gilding, in ClimateProgress: In its place we are entering a period of consequences Some days my head hurts, as I shift between what feels like two parallel universes in the climate change debate.... They tell me the science says it is almost certain the impacts will be serious and destabilising for our society and our economy. The science also describes a lower level of risk -- which they find hard to quantify but generally say between 10 percent and 50 percent -- that the impacts of climate change will be catastrophic, perhaps even civilisation threatening. This could include widespread famine, war and economic collapse. Not certain, but a reasonable possibility.... Then I shift into the parallel universe. I spend time in corporate boardrooms and listen to the analysis of business executives who explain how we mustn't damage the economy by "over-reacting."... But they still fall for the easy way out, the path of denial and avoidance. Not because they’re bad people, but because they're not thinking clearly and courageously. My message on this topic is clear and direct. We are at a crucial moment in human history. 2009 is to climate change what 1939 was to WWII. Poland has been invaded -- the Arctic is melting, the bushfires are burning, the droughts are strengthening and the floods are sweeping away communities. There is only one question you have to ask yourself: "what will I tell my children?" ...	I'm resolved to be irresolute. Dithering is so much more pleasant. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Sep 16, 2009 from New York Times: Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering Tests show that their tap water contains arsenic, barium, lead, manganese and other chemicals at concentrations federal regulators say could contribute to cancer and damage the kidneys and nervous system. "How can we get digital cable and Internet in our homes, but not clean water?" said Mrs. Hall-Massey, a senior accountant at one of the state's largest banks.... When Mrs. Hall-Massey and 264 neighbors sued nine nearby coal companies, accusing them of putting dangerous waste into local water supplies, their lawyer did not have to look far for evidence. As required by state law, some of the companies had disclosed in reports to regulators that they were pumping into the ground illegal concentrations of chemicals -- the same pollutants that flowed from residents' taps. But state regulators never fined or punished those companies for breaking those pollution laws. ...	What's a few heavy metals, between friends? ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Sep 16, 2009 from New Scientist: Hungry polar bears run riot as ice melts As climate change causes sea ice to shrink, the number of "problem" polar bears appears to be increasing. "Hungry bears don't just lie down -- they go looking for an alternate food source," says zoologist Ian Stirling at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. "In many cases this brings them into human settlements and hunting camps." Stirling's team found that around the town of Churchill on the shores of Hudson Bay –- the "polar bear capital of the world" –- the number of bears reported as attacking humans, homes and hunting camps more than tripled between 1970 and 2005, from 20 to 90 per year. The shorter the sea ice season, the greater the reports of problem bear activity. This increase in problem bears comes despite a 22 per cent decline in the west Hudson Bay polar bear population since the late 1980s. Sea ice in Hudson Bay now melts three weeks earlier than it did in the 1970s. ...	I know! Let's just cover the Hudson Bay with white plastic fake-ice platforms! ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Sep 16, 2009 from COP15: EU climate change unit warns against geoengineering Rockets that release dust particles into the stratosphere, plans to fertilize oceans, or huge mirrors that reflect the sun's radiation may sound like handy shortcuts to cool the earth. "It's a temporary cure and doesn't solve anything, and the second thing is that we don't know the earth system enough to start playing with it," says Frank Raes, head of the climate change unit at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre in an interview with EurActiv.... "We have to stay very careful about how to use afforestation and deforestation so that we really have a benefit for the climate," Raes says. Instead, he is advocating for geo-renovating. "It is about discussing very sophisticated ways of solving the problems of climate change and air pollution rather than resorting to hard geo-engineering," Frank Raes says in the interview. ...	But without geoengineering, how will we use our surplus wealth to further enrich big corporations? ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Sep 16, 2009 from American Chemical Society, via EurekAlert: Biofuel production could undercut efforts to shrink Gulf 'Dead Zone' Scientists in Pennsylvania report that boosting production of crops used to make biofuels could make a difficult task to shrink a vast, oxygen-depleted "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico more difficult. The zone, which reached the size of Massachusetts in 2008, forms in summer and threatens marine life and jobs in the region.... the zone forms when fertilizers wash off farm fields throughout the Mississippi River basin and into the Gulf of Mexico. The fertilizers cause the growth of algae, which eventually depletes oxygen in the water and kills marine life. Government officials hope to reduce fertilizer runoff and shrink the zone to the size of Delaware by 2015. But that goal could be more difficult to reach due to federally-mandated efforts to increase annual biofuel production to 36 billion gallons by 2022, the study says. ...	Our "dead zone" is still smaller than that Texas-sized plastic gyre in the Pacific -- how embarrassing, to be #2. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Sep 16, 2009 from National Geographic News: Sea Levels Rose Two Feet This Summer in U.S. East The immediate cause of the unexpected rise has now been solved, U.S. officials say in a new report (hint: it wasn't global warming). But the underlying reason remains a mystery.... NOAA's phones began ringing this summer when East Coast residents reported higher than predicted water levels, much like those associated with short-term weather events like tropical storms. But these high seas persisted for weeks, throughout June and July. The startling rise caused only minor coastal flooding -- but major head scratching among scientists.... But this summer, for reasons unknown, "the Gulf Stream slowed down," Edwing said, sending water toward the coasts -- and sea levels shooting upward. Adding to the sustained surge, autumn winds from the northeastern Atlantic arrived a few months early, pushing even more water coastward. ...	It's not global warming, hooray! Instead, it's the Gulf stream slowing mysteriously! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Sep 15, 2009 from Washington Post: When It Comes to Pollution, Less (Kids) May Be More To heck with carbon dioxide. A new study performed by the London School of Economics suggests that, to fight climate change, governments should focus on another pollutant: us. As in babies. New people. Every new life, the report says, is a guarantee of new greenhouse gases, spewed out over decades of driving and electricity use. Seen in that light, we might be our own worst emissions. The activist group that sponsored the report says birth control could be one of the world's best tools for fighting climate change. By preventing the creation of new polluters, the group says, contraceptives are a far cheaper solution than windmills and solar plants. ...	As long as people don't leave those dang rubbers lying around everywhere! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Sep 15, 2009 from Washington Post: Male bass in many US rivers feminized, study finds Government scientists figure that one out of five male black bass in American river basins have egg cells growing inside their sexual organs, a sign of how widespread fish feminizing has become. The findings come from the U.S. Geological Survey in its first comprehensive examination of intersex fish in America, a problem linked to women's birth control pills and other hormone treatments that seep into rivers. Sporadic reports of feminized fish have been reported for a few years. The agency looked at past data from nine river basins - covering about two-thirds of the country - and found that about 6 percent of the nearly 1,500 male fish had a bit of female in them. The study looked at 16 different species, with most not affected. ...	Given this, we might consider changing their name from bass to tenor. ApocaDoc permalink
You're still reading! Good for you! You really should read our short, funny, frightening book FREE online (or buy a print copy): Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! We've been quipping this stuff for more than 30 months! Every day! Which might explain why we don't get invited to parties anymore.
Tue, Sep 15, 2009 from Yale Environment 360: Green Intelligence: Toward True Ecological Transparency Wal-Mart has handed the environmental movement a new tool for ameliorating the human footprint: using an emerging generation of information systems to create market pressures to upgrade the ecological performance of commerce and industry. This strategy entails making life-cycle-assessment data for products transparent -- that is, labeling them with a sound, independent rating so shoppers can easily take the ecological impacts into account as they decide what to buy. Indeed, the Wal-Mart announcement has thrust what once seemed merely an intriguing idea into a market reality companies will have to deal with -- not just in tomorrow's strategic plans, but in today's logistics and operations. Wal-Mart's 100,000-plus suppliers (and the likes of Procter & Gamble counts as just one) will be required to reveal their products' ecological impacts or have them dropped from the retailer's stores worldwide. ...	Just as long as they keep using the smiley face, I'm okay with it. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Sep 15, 2009 from Science News: Cell phones: Feds probing health impacts For cell phone users -- all 4 billion worldwide -- a Senate hearing today elicited some observations that should give pause. Such as that the risk of certain brain tumors may increase among people who have been heavy cell-phone users for a decade or more. Or that the type of radiation emitted by cell phones can, at least in cellular studies, damage DNA. Or that children have become major users of cell phones and that the radiation emitted by those devices penetrates further into their brains than into their parents'.... For his part, [National Toxicology Program's John] Bucher said research on the issue was moving ahead as well as might be expected, based on its limited funding. He described a host of federally financed programs now underway. Chief among them, new rodent studies at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. They're using 21 chambers, each the size of a walk-in closet, to expose unrestrained animals to cell-radiation frequencies for up to 20 hours a day and throughout periods of up to two years. ...	Wouldn't it be simpler -- and more viable -- to simply give the rodents little cellphones? ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Sep 14, 2009 from : From the ApocaDesk As a film, The Age of Stupid is a strange brew, a combination science fiction drama and present-day documentary. The premise of the narrative makes it work: An archivist in the year 2050 sits atop the now permanently melted Arctic in a structure that houses all the great art and books and media of the history of humanity. The Archivist, played by Pete Postlethwaite (In the Name of the Father, The Usual Suspects), muses aloud about the imminent destruction of the habitat, as he sifts through the footage of the past, trying to figure out the answer to an essential question. Why didn't we try and save ourselves? The story is a pastiche of snippets of CNN and Fox broadcasters and other media moments, but six main narratives are threaded together, tied more or less loosely by the idea of oil. These are real people, and they represent a broad cross-section of age and geographical location, from the New Orleans-based Alvin Duvernay to 8 year old Jamila, an Iraqi refugee living, homeless, in Jordan. A third main thread of the story -- in addition to the archivist and the real humans -- are numerous animated pieces that info-graphically and entertainingly tell the story of how mass consumerism and obsession with oil combined to lead to the ruination of the planet. *Three-fold, these elements of The Age of Stupid* hold together, anchored by the sweet sad face of The Archivist*. Director Franny Armstrong tackled one facet of consumerism in McLibel* and now she's grappling with a larger -- well, the largest == canvas. It was four years in the making, and funded by a "crowd" - i.e. numerous smaller investors, and her film is an entertaining and harrowing look at now through eyes of later. According to the filmmakers, the documentary started off as a Soderbergh Traffic-style narrative, weaving the six real folks into one complex story called Crude. Knowing that may help you view the film; for me, giant issues of habitat collapse are missing from The Age of Stupid -- most notably the erosive effects of corporate farming, and the potential for potential pandemic plague to be cooked up its cauldrons. Then there's over-population, only slightly brushed against in the film. But understanding that Armstrong and company were hoping to stay on message with oil helps focus an otherwise potentially overwhelming subject. So as a film, The Age of Stupid works, and as a piece of persuasion... well, you had me at stupid. The title is fun to say, and can morph into any number of entertaining phrases: "Have you seen 'Stupid' yet?" "I thought 'Stupid' was brilliant." "Hey, I'll join the 'Stupid' team!" The Age of Stupid is going its own way in hopes of building a team of Stupids to help. On Monday, Sept. 21 at 7:30 (Eastern time), a New York-based live presentation of the film will feature the movie, followed by a panel discussion between the filmmakers, scientists and environmental leaders, with Radiohead's Thom Yorke wrapping up the event with an acoustic performance of the film's title track. This gathering will be as green as green can be, from a carbon emission standpoint, and will tape-delay broadcast to more than 30 countries. Hey, we're all in this together, or, rather, all going down together if we don't take the film's message to heart. Ultimately, to rate this film, to recommend it, to criticize is absurd. On the brink of the December climate gathering in Copenhagen, on the precipice of disaster, shall we quibble about the entertainment value of a piece of culture like The Age of Stupid? The real question is: Does it contribute to the necessary awakening of humanity? Our stupid answer is: It sure does, stupid. For a complete list of screens -- there are more than 440 theaters involved -- go to www.FathomEvents.com. And please, carpool, bicycle or use public transportation. Because driving yourself, alone, to the theater would just be ... well, you know. For more info, go to www.ageofstupid.net. ...	It's the collapse of the habitat, stupid! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Sep 14, 2009 from Treehugger.com: Nanosolar Reaches Solar Cell Efficiency of 16.4 percent, Starts Mass Production of 'Printed' Solar Panels The first piece of news from Nanosolar concerns a solar panel factory in Germany with a capacity of 640MW/year. The fully-automated facility is located in Luckenwalde near Berlin, and its inauguration was attended by Germany's Minister of the Environment and the Governor of the State of Brandenburg, among others. The 640 megawatts per year number if reached when the factory is operated 24/7 at the rate of 1 solar panel every 10 seconds (!). Nanosolar has also announced that serial production in its San Jose, California, cell production factory commenced earlier this year and that production would be ramping up to meet the $4.1 billion in contracts that they already have.... ...	There might be a big market for inkjet cartridges that could print solar panels. Will you get on that? ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Sep 14, 2009 from USA Today: MRSA 'superbug' found in ocean, public beaches Public beaches may be one source of the surging prevalence of the superbug known as multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, researchers here said Saturday. A study by researchers at the University of Washington has for the first time identified methicillin-resistant Staph aureus (MRSA) in marine water and beach sand from seven public beaches on the Puget Sound. The researchers identified Staph bacteria on nine of 10 public beaches that they tested. Seven of 13 Staph aureus samples, found on five beaches, were multidrug resistant, says lead investigator Marilyn Roberts. ...	I saw one ... eating a hotdog! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Sep 14, 2009 from The Columbus Dispatch: Poisons found in debris landfills Ohio's 55 debris landfills offer a cheap, final resting place for the millions of tons of waste created at construction and demolition sites each year. But there's a price. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency found a lot more than old concrete, bricks and lumber at 30 landfills it inspected. The EPA says arsenic, benzene and vinyl chloride -- all suspected carcinogens -- and lead, which can damage the brain and nervous system, all are found in the water trickling through the rubble... At each of the surveyed landfills, including two in central Ohio, officials found as many as 29 pollutants at levels that exceed drinking-water health limits, pollution standards for streams, or both. ...	It's getting so a person can't even throw something away without somebody bitching! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Sep 14, 2009 from Guardian (UK): The last nomads: drought drives Kenya's herders to the brink The men, says 55-year-old Hawa, are a day behind the women with what remains of their livestock -- some camels and 18 goats out of the 40 they once owned. The rest perished through lack of water -- or were slaughtered for meat so her family could survive a few more days on their journey.... "We have no water," she explains, "and no food. We have left the pastures because we have lost so many goats. We had to come here to seek assistance. For the past two months we have talked and talked about making this decision. We waited because we thought there might be some rain."... "The way the climate is changing -- if it continues -- it will be very difficult to sustain the nomadic way of living. It is a very hard task. We fear that soon people will begin dying not just from the lack of food but from a lack of water." He believes that despite the terrible conditions visible already, the nomads are currently only at the beginning of what has become a disaster. ...	Vegetarianism might be an option -- if there were only vegetables. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Sep 14, 2009 from SciDev.net: Bangladesh to host centre for climate adaptation knowhow Bangladesh is set to host a new international centre for research and training in climate change adaptation activities. The International Centre for Climate Change and Development's official launch is planned for late November, at the end of its first course, Terry Cannon, the centre's visiting director of studies, told SciDev.Net.... "The idea is to bring together people from around the world who are working on community-based adaptation with vulnerable groups," explains Huq. Huq says that although several universities in industrialised countries around the world are developing climate change courses, the new centre can provide something more -- particularly for students from less developed countries, who will be able to experience first-hand the realities of climate change in Bangladesh and link them to the situation in their home countries. "Bangladesh is a living laboratory on climate change adaptation," he says. "We will take students out to see what is happening. It will be more than just a classroom exercise." ...	Hands-on learning with humankind's biggest uncontrolled experiment! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Sep 14, 2009 from Seattle Times: Bat experts watch health of Northwest colonies "We don't expect it to be here already," Ormsbee said. "But we need to start doing surveillance early." More than 1 million bats already have perished in what one expert described as the most precipitous decline in American wildlife in recorded history. Extinctions are likely if the white-nose disease continues to spread, and could lead to a population explosion of mosquitoes and other insect pests normally held in check by the winged predators.... First discovered in 2006 in a popular tourist cave in New York state, white-nose syndrome has spread to hundreds of sites in nine states. Marked by a powdery, white fungus on the bats' noses and wings, the infection can kill 95 percent or more of hibernating animals in a cave. "When I talk to colleagues back East, they tell me they go into these caves and they cry," said Greg Falxa, a bat biologist with Cascadia Research Collective in Olympia. "They can't walk without stepping on dead bats."... ...	Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's the ghost of the bats of yesteryear. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Sep 14, 2009 from Miller-McCune: Divining the Secret of Deformed Roadkill Hard as it is to be a voice in the wilderness, Judy Hoy has been sounding an alarm in southwestern Montana for more than 13 years. For years she's been documenting, through autopsies, photos, articles and scientific papers, changes -- mutations, really -- she's observed in various ungulate species in the valley. In particular, she's seen malformed genitalia among male white-tailed deer. Such observations are not unique. More and more scientists are documenting reproductive changes in male animals ranging from cricket frogs to polar bears. But the response from public health and governmental agencies has been underwhelming.... In 1996, the Hoys noticed something strange among the roadkill. "It started with Buck No. 9," Judy said. "We called him that because he was the ninth buck we had seen with malformed genitalia."... The next year, 25 of 49 males had anomalies in their genitals. Between 1998 and 2000, two-thirds of the bucks examined had abnormalities.... She described examining different endocrine-disrupting compounds, like a detective at a murder scene, eliminating suspects until she met up with chlorothalonil, a broad-spectrum fungicide. It had been the go-to fungicide in 1994 when neighboring farmers in Idaho were fighting potato blight. ...	Hmm... could endocrine disruptors could be used for good, rather than evil? ApocaDoc permalink