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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from

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This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
carbon emissions ~ global warming ~ economic myopia ~ governmental idiocy ~ water issues ~ stupid humans ~ climate impacts ~ death spiral ~ bad policy ~ bisphenol A ~ arctic meltdown

ApocaDocuments (32) gathered this week:
Sun, Oct 11, 2009 from ChemicalWatch: American Chemical Council reacts to study linking maternal BPA exposure to female infant behaviour A study published by US researchers has found a link between maternal exposure to the plastics intermediate bisphenol A (BPA) in early pregnancy and the behaviour of female children up to the age of two years. The study measured BPA levels taken from urine samples from 249 women at 16 and 26 weeks' gestation, and then assessed their children's behaviour up to two years.... Reacting to the study, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) warned that there was a risk that it would be misconstrued given [the study's] many limitations. Before its conclusions could be relied upon, the council said there was a need to replicate the small-scale study with a larger more robust version. ...	Sure -- why not another five years of possible harm? ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Oct 11, 2009 from Reuters: Russian climate goal weak as 'methane bomb' ticks The snows are late in coming on the Arctic Yamal peninsula where moist, dark permafrost entombed for 10,000 years crumbles into the sea at the top of the world. Western scientists and environmentalists say collapsed river banks, rising tide waters and warmer winters in northwest Russia are clear signs of climate change, but they add Russia is in denial, ignoring a potentially disastrous "methane bomb". "We are appealing to world leaders as this issue is overlooked in Russia... there is a carbon, or methane bomb embedded in our earth," Vladimir Chuprov, head of the Russian energy unit at environmental group Greenpeace, told Reuters. He added that Russia -- which has permafrost covering 60 percent of its land -- most likely holds the world's biggest methane threat. By 2050, vast amounts of methane will "explode into the air" from Russia's melting permafrost, Chuprov said. ...	There's something Strangelovian about this time bomb. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Oct 11, 2009 from Glen Falls Post-Star (NY): Mystery in the darkness The cave near the western shore of Lake George in the town of Hague has long been one of the biggest winter homes to little brown bats in North America. A count of bats in the mid-1990s led to the conclusion that 185,000 of the tiny mammals hibernated there, and state wildlife officials believe that number likely topped 200,000 a few years later. Last winter, when biologists from the state Department of Environmental Conservation visited the cave, they concluded there were somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 left, said Alan Hicks, a DEC wildlife biologist. Another cave near Paradox Lake in Essex County has been similarly devastated by a mysterious disease that kills the bats as they hibernate during the winter. "There's not a (bat) population in the Adirondacks that hasn't been affected," said Alan Hicks, a DEC wildlife biologist who is heading the state's efforts to investigate. "I’m not looking forward to this winter." ...	Hope those 2000-3,000 left are ornery survivors. And routinely bear twins. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Oct 11, 2009 from Albany Times-Union: Lake George hits 23rd 'dead zone' summer With new rules to protect Lake George's streams still to be unveiled, this summer marked the 23rd in a row in which a pollution-fueled "dead zone" formed in deep water at the southernmost end of the lake. From the village of Lake George toward Tea Island, oxygen levels at the bottom of the lake drop during the summer as a mix of nutrients from fertilizers, storm runoff and septic leakage fuels microbial activity. The microbes consume increasing amounts of oxygen, which leaves too little for fish and other aquatic life to survive. Bauer's group has been pushing for the creation of new rules to limit building and other development around 150 streams that feed the lake. Those streams are the source of much of the pollution that reaches the lake. ...	It had such promise as a teenager. Now the dead zone is a slacker. ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Oct 10, 2009 from ChemicalWatch: German institute stresses safety of bisphenol A in baby bottles and binkies In response to recent questions concerning the safety of giving babies dummies that may contain bisphenol A, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) has issued an updated FAQ paper to give its latest assessment of the concerns. In it, the BfR stands by the European Food Safety Authority assessment's recommended tolerable daily intake limits for bisphenol A and concludes: "BfR comes to the conclusion in its scientific assessment that the normal use of polycarbonate bottles does not lead to a health risk from bisphenol A for infants and small children". ...	Except for that... gender thing. ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Oct 10, 2009 from CleanTechnica: 90 percent of Coal Plant CO2 Captured in 12-Month Test One year ago the French company Alstrom began a year-long US test of capturing CO2 from the water+carbon-dioxide mix created using their chilled-ammonia technology, in the smokestack of the Pleasant Prairie Power Plant in Wisconsin. This week the year's results were announced. The years average CO2 capture rate was 90 percent, according to a joint announcement from the EPRI, We Energies and Alstrom to the Society of Environmental Journalists.... The 12-month test was just completed after running 24 hours a day on a small sectioned-off portion of the smokestack; working on just 5 percent of the plants total emissions. But the test is scalable, and the Electric Power Research Institute, the R&D arm of the utility industry, is optimistic that chilled-ammonia technology will work on a larger scale. It is one of several carbon-capture technologies under consideration as we move to a carbon constrained world. ...	I think we need another few years of study, don't you? ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Oct 10, 2009 from DOE, via EurekAlert: Nitrogen cycle now in climate models, refines global predictions For the first time, climate scientists from across the country have successfully incorporated the nitrogen cycle into global simulations for climate change, questioning previous assumptions regarding carbon feedback and potentially helping to refine model forecasts about global warming.... In this case, scientists found that the rate of climate change over the next century could be higher than previously anticipated when the requirement of plant nutrients are included in the climate model.... But by taking the natural demand for nutrients into account, the authors have shown that the stimulation of plant growth over the coming century may be two to three times smaller than previously predicted. Since less growth implies less CO2 absorbed by vegetation, the CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere are expected to increase. ...	Will you guys stop refining your models, already? ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Oct 10, 2009 from BBC (UK): 'Scary' climate message from past A new historical record of carbon dioxide levels suggests current political targets on climate may be "playing with fire", scientists say. Researchers used ocean sediments to plot CO2 levels back 20 million years. Levels similar to those now commonly regarded as adequate to tackle climate change were associated with sea levels 25-40m (80-130 ft) higher than today.... In the intervening millennia, CO2 concentrations have been much lower; in the last few million years they cycled between 180ppm and 280ppm in rhythm with the sequence of ice ages and warmer interglacial periods. Now, humanity's emissions of greenhouse gases are pushing towards the 400ppm range, which will very likely be reached within a decade.... "This is yet another paper that makes the future look more scary than previously thought by many," said the University of Arizona scientist. ...	Lucky for me, I just watch television, where there are no papers to read. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Oct 9, 2009 from BusinessGreen: Norway First Rich Nation to Pledge 40 percent Reductions Norway yesterday became the first country to pledge to cut carbon emissions in line with climate scientists' most demanding recommendations, committing to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 40 per cent on their 1990 level by 2020. Prime minister Jens Stoltenberg, who was re-elected last month, said the government was prepared to meet demands from developing nations for the rich world to take the lead in tackling climate change and would upgrade its existing 30 per cent target to 40 per cent.... The row continued to bubble away for a second day after the US yesterday said it would not sign up to any deal based on the Kyoto Protocol and called for a complete reworking of the draft Copenhagen Treaty based on countries setting their own emissions targets. ...	Showoffs. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Oct 9, 2009 from National Geographic News: Giant, Mucus-Like Sea Blobs on the Rise, Pose Danger As sea temperatures have risen in recent decades, enormous sheets of a mucus-like material have begun forming more often, oozing into new regions, and lasting longer, a new Mediterranean Sea study says... Up to 124 miles (200 kilometers) long, the mucilages appear naturally, usually near Mediterranean coasts in summer. The season's warm weather makes seawater more stable, which facilitates the bonding of the organic matter that makes up the blobs.... Now, due to warmer temperatures, the mucilages are forming in winter too -- and lasting for months.... But the new study found that Mediterranean mucilages harbor bacteria and viruses, including potentially deadly E. coli, Danovaro said. ...	Might the mucilage blobs compete with the jellyfish swarms? ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Oct 9, 2009 from New Scientist: Melting glaciers bring 1980s pollution revival The flow of pollutants into the lake peaked in the 1970s, mainly due to the production of plastics, electronics, pesticides and fragrances. The levels declined during the 1980s and 1990s when people realised that these compounds were toxic and they were banned. However, they found that banned chemicals, such as pesticides that have been linked with Parkinson's disease, have been pouring into the lake at an increasing rate since the 1990s.... Bogdal reckons that a glacier feeding the lake has been storing these chemicals for decades, and is releasing them as it melts. This process could be dramatically sped up by global warming, he warns. The problem isn't limited to Alpine glaciers. Since these chemicals would have been transported great distances via the atmosphere before they were frozen into ice, many other glaciers around the world may be contaminated. Toxic chemicals have previously been found in polar regions -- putting arctic wildlife at risk. ...	Reruns from the seventies and eighties should only be on Hulu. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Oct 9, 2009 from New York Times: Report on Future Fish Catches: everything will be okay, just different Global warming will not necessarily change the amount of fish caught half a century from now, but it will shift catches away from the tropics toward the poles, researchers reported. The researchers, from the University of British Columbia and elsewhere, used a computer model including environmental factors and data on 1,066 fish species ranging from sharks to shrimplike creatures at the bottom of the food chain. Together those species accounted for most of the world's catch from 2000 to 2004. The findings were reported in the journal Global Change Biology. By 2055, the scientists predicted, countries like China, Chile, Indonesia and the United States (excepting Alaska and Hawaii) will see catches decline, while catches off Alaska, Greenland, Norway and Russia will rise. ...	Make that two orders of shark-fin soup! ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Oct 9, 2009 from UCLA, via EurekAlert: Last time carbon dioxide levels were this high: 15 million years ago, scientists report "The last time carbon dioxide levels were apparently as high as they are today -- and were sustained at those levels -- global temperatures were 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit higher than they are today, the sea level was approximately 75 to 120 feet higher than today, there was no permanent sea ice cap in the Arctic and very little ice on Antarctica and Greenland," said the paper's lead author, Aradhna Tripati, a UCLA assistant professor in the department of Earth and space sciences and the department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences.... Levels of carbon dioxide have varied only between 180 and 300 parts per million over the last 800,000 years -- until recent decades, said Tripati, who is also a member of UCLA's Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics. It has been known that modern-day levels of carbon dioxide are unprecedented over the last 800,000 years, but the finding that modern levels have not been reached in the last 15 million years is new. ...	What an unfair coincidence -- just as we, the pinnacle of evolution, arrives on the scene. ApocaDoc permalink
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Thu, Oct 8, 2009 from COP15: Cost of climate change: Pay now, or pay a lot more later "As the news keeps sounding worse and worse, what we're talking about is not that the cost of doing something has changed -- the cost of doing nothing is really what's escalating." says Frank Ackerman, an economist at the Stockholm Environment Institute and Tufts University and lead author of the report "The Benefits and Costs of Climate Stabilization". The report was released this week by Economics for Equity and the Environment, a network of 200 economists that is a project of Portland-based Ecotrust. The economists estimate that it will cost around 2.5 percent of the gross world product to change the way we live and work, but such radical action would create jobs and could hurry technological advances just as the Cold War did in the 1950s and 1960s, The Oregonian reports. The study looks at what it would take to meet the recommendations of climate scientists who call for reducing atmospheric carbon concentrations from their current level of 387 parts per million to 350 parts per million -- compared to pre-industrial levels of 275. ...	Let's just pay the bill with our credit card! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Oct 8, 2009 from PhysOrg.com: BPA linked to aggressive behavior in young girls, research suggests The findings, which are preliminary and call for more study, are the first to connect behavior problems in humans with the chemical bisphenol A, which is a key component of plastic bottles, the liners inside canned goods and medical devices. The chemical leaches from plastic and is detectable at some level in nearly everyone's system. Scientists began to raise concerns about BPA because of its tendency to mimic estrogen -- a hormone that plays a crucial role in establishing the sex differences in the brains of developing fetuses. Studies in mice have shown fetal BPA exposure can abolish or reverse inherent behavioral differences between the sexes -- specifically, females act more aggressive -- and those studies prompted questions about what the chemical does to humans.... They found that women who had the highest concentrations of BPA at 16 weeks of pregnancy were inclined to have more aggressive, hyperactive 2-year-old daughters. There was no statistically significant change of behavior among the boys, although there was some evidence of heightened anxiety and depression. ...	What's next, playground fights where manly-girls bully the girly-men? ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Oct 8, 2009 from BusinessGreen: Is the sun setting on oil supplies? There is a "significant risk" that global oil supplies could peak within the next decade, according to a major new report which warns that increased oil price volatility and dwindling supplies will impact businesses far sooner than officially suggested.... It also warns that the UK government is not alone in being unprepared for this scenario, which would result in rising oil prices and increased price volatility. "In our view, forecasts which delay a peak in conventional oil production until after 2030 are at best optimistic and at worst implausible," said the report's chief author Steve Sorrell. "And given the world's overwhelming dependence upon oil and the time required to develop alternatives, 2030 isn't far away." The report downplays the implications of recent big oil discoveries, such as those announced in the Gulf of Mexico, arguing that with oil demand currently running at 80 million barrels a day even big finds would only delay a peak in supplies by a few days or weeks. ...	Hmmm... that commute is a little daunting, by bicycle. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Oct 7, 2009 from Financial Times: Shopping habits of China's 'suddenly wealthy' And while China's nouveaux riches share many of the tastes of their counterparts in any other part of the world, there are also a number of customs and cultural legacies that have created new markets for products that have little value elsewhere. This has encouraged global companies to invest an increasing amount of time and money in understanding what makes the Chinese customer special and how best to market or customise products. In some cases, traditional Chinese tastes, combined with the explosion in wealth during the past decade, have created a rapacious and unsustainable call for the body parts of endangered species. The manufacture of traditional delicacies, ornaments and medicinal ingredients has helped to cut swathes through populations of sharks, elephants, seahorses and other species across the world -- and that demand is only expected to increase. ...	The new evolutionary imperative: Consumer Demand. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Oct 7, 2009 from Mother Jones: Inside the 'Chamber of Carbon' Apple Computer's announcement Monday that it was quitting the US Chamber of Commerce was just the latest high profile defection from the country's most powerful business lobby—and one of the most prominent opponents of climate change legislation. In the preceding two weeks, three major electric utilities and Nike also said they'd be leaving the Chamber's board of directors or dropping out altogether to protest its antiregulation stand....went beyond a simple policy disagreement, describing a lack of transparency and accountability that conflicted with the organization's own supposedly democratic principles and suggested the outsized influence of a few Chamber members in setting its climate stance.... Several Chamber members representing USCAP recently met with president Tom Donohue to request that he alter the group's climate stance, according to the spokesman. "They were totally rebuffed," he says. Donohue "said that they should continue the dialogue, but offered no methods or avenues for changing the Chamber's position." ... At least 49 of 118 board members represent oil and gas companies, chemical companies, utilities, transportation companies, the construction industry, or companies that build machines that burn large amounts of petroleum. ...	The Chamber is beating a dead horse & buggy. Hello? Twenty-first century? ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Oct 7, 2009 from Journal of San Juans, in DesdemonaDespair: Derelict fishing nets in Puget Sound kill 30,000 marine birds, 110,000 fish and 2 million invertebrates a year "Lost" gill nets are never really lost. Fishing boat operators cut loose snagged nets and get their boats free and head for port. The derelict nets remain where they were snagged -- often for decades -- catching and killing marine life.... Since 2001, the foundation's Derelict Net Survey and Removal Project has removed 1,300 gill nets covering 280 acres through June of this year. The effort was stalling for lack of money. ...	Let's just call them "static micro-ecosystems" and be done with it. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Oct 7, 2009 from Dick Jones Communication, via EurekAlert: Water scarcity will create global security concerns "Up to 1.2 billion people in Asia, 250 million Africans and 81 million Latin Americans will be exposed to increased water stress by 2020," Pachauri says. Water shortages have an enormous impact of human health, including malnutrition, pathogen or chemical loading, infectious disease from water contamination, and uncontrolled water reuse.... "A technological society has two choices," Pachauri says. "It can wait until catastrophic failures expose systemic deficiencies, distortion and self-deceptions, or the culture can provide social checks and balances to correct for systemic distortion prior to catastrophic failures."... "A major mitigation would only postpone growth domestic product growth by one year at most over the medium term. That's not a high price to pay for the world." ...	Before implementing "major mitigation," you have to believe in the "theory of science." Oh, and have political will. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Oct 7, 2009 from BusinessGreen: Rich nations' carbon targets condemn planet, report warns The study analysed the carbon targets proposed by the European Union, Japan, Russia, New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Belarus, Ukraine and Canada as well as those set out in the US Waxman-Markey climate bill, which has yet to be passed. It found that the combined pledges equate to cuts of between 10 and 24 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020, depending on various assumptions regarding inclusion or exclusion of land use, land-use change and forestry data and whether countries opt for the lower or upper end of their targets. For example, the EU has said it will upgrade its goal of cutting emissions 20 per cent by 2020 to 30 per cent if other industrialised countries agree to similar targets.... Large emerging economies such as China and India are refusing to adopt their own binding emission targets until rich nations agree to targets that are in line with that recommended by climate scientists. In response, industrialised nations have been reluctant to sign up to more demanding goals, fearing an economic advantage for those emerging economies that face less demanding emission targets. ...	Can we at least compromise to equalized future misery instead of fatal collapse? ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Oct 6, 2009 from London Guardian: UN's forest protection scheme at risk from organised crime, experts warn A revolutionary UN scheme to cut carbon emissions by paying poorer countries to preserve their forests is a recipe for corruption and will be hijacked by organised crime without safeguards, a Guardian investigation has found. The UN, the World Bank, the UK and individuals including Prince Charles have strongly backed UN plans to expand the global carbon market to allow countries to trade the carbon stored in forests. If, as expected, this is agreed at crucial UN climate change talks taking place in Bangkok this week and concluding in Copenhagen in December, up to $30bn a year could be transferred from rich countries to the owners of endangered forests. ...	I'd like to get in on a little action myself. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Oct 6, 2009 from Telegraph.co.uk: Most people in denial over climate change, according to psychologists He compared the situation to the psychology of the British and German populations before the Second World War and said the only way to make people change their behaviour is to "ramp up the fear factor." Prof Hamilton applied traditional psychological reactions to the threat of future risk. In a paper presented to an Oxford University conference this week, he said people react in three different ways to a frightening situation: denial, apathy or action. In the case of climate change, he said a minority of people in Britain are in complete denial and refuse to believe man-made greenhouse gases are causing the temperatures to rise. He said a smaller minority are taking action by lobbying Government and adapting their lifestyles through driving less, not eating meat and generally living a low carbon lifestyle. ...	I don't see any denial going on. About what? ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Oct 6, 2009 from London Guardian: China leads accusation that rich nations are trying to sabotage climate treaty The US and other developed countries are attempting to "fundamentally sabotage" the Kyoto protocol and all-important international negotiations over its next phase, according to coordinated statements by China and 130 developing countries at UN climate talks in Bangkok today. As 180 countries started a second week of talks, the developing countries showed their deep frustration at the slow pace of the negotiations on a global climate deal, which are planned to be concluded in two months' time in Copenhagen. "The reason why we are not making progress is the lack of political will by Annex 1 [industrialised] countries. There is a concerted effort to fundamentally sabotage the Kyoto protocol," said ambassador Yu Qingtai China's special representative on climate talks. "We now hear statements that would lead to the termination of the protocol. They are introducing new rules, new formats. That's not the way to conduct negotiations," said Yu. ...	Copenhagen... is going to be one giant bitchfest! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Oct 6, 2009 from Telegraph.co.uk: Is the Arctic ready to give up its treasures? For all the talk among world leaders of the perils of climate change, many are scenting an opportunity. As the Arctic ice retreats, surrounding nations are looking to plunder those natural resources under the surface, estimated by the US Geological Survey to constitute as much as 13 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil and 30 per cent of its undiscovered natural gas -- as well as precious metals including iron ore, gold, zinc and nickel. There is the prospect of a dramatic new shortcut between Europe and Asia, slashing journey times by as much as a third. Last month, two German ships completed their journey along the Russian coast from South Korea to Bremen without any icebreaker escort. There are also hopes that Canada's Northwest Passage could offer a viable alternative to the Suez and Panama canals. The claim-staking and posturing has started: last year, Russia sent a submarine to plant its flag beneath the North Pole; next spring, it plans to drop paratroopers there. ...	It's not climate collapse -- it's an opportunity! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Oct 6, 2009 from BBC: Egypt oasis risks becoming mirage ...Siwa is a nine-hour drive from Cairo, across some of the most barren desert anywhere on the planet. It sits 18 metres below sea level, the main oasis surrounded by green desert islands where water naturally springs to the surface. Beneath the sandstone is the Nubian aquifer an enormous - yet finite - supply of fossilised water that has flowed for thousands of years... In the past 20 years the water, that once flowed naturally from beneath the rocks, has been sucked at alarming rate from hundreds of man-made wells....And some believe without a more concerted effort by all parties, these green dots in the desert might suddenly and irrevocably disappear from the map. ...	Sounds like the story of earth itself: from oasis to mirage... ApocaDoc permalink
You're still reading! Good for you! You really should read our short, funny, frightening book FREE online (or buy a print copy): Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! We've been quipping this stuff for more than 30 months! Every day! Which might explain why we don't get invited to parties anymore.
Mon, Oct 5, 2009 from Mother Jones: Chamber: Global Warming is Good for You After losing several high-profile members over its climate policy, the US Chamber of Commerce spent much of this week attempting to convince the public that it does believe global warming is a serious concern that Congress should act upon. But in comments recently submitted by the group to the Environmental Protection Agency, the group advanced a very different view. In its submission, the Chamber questioned the science behind the phenomenon of climate change, suggested that humans are now less vulnerable to rising temperatures because of the growing use of air conditioners -- and theorized that even if the planet is getting warmer, that might be a good thing. ...	A Chamber of fools. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Oct 5, 2009 from BusinessGreen: Copenhagen on a knife edge as US plays down climate bill expectations The ongoing Copenhagen negotiations received a dual blow on Friday, as the White House admitted for the first time that it was unlikely to pass a US climate bill this year and the UN's top climate change official expressed disappointment at the pace of the current talks in Bangkok. Speaking as the Bangkok conference enters its second week, Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, told reporters that efforts to trim the 180-page draft negotiating text were still moving too slowly. "Progress toward high industrialised-world emissions cuts remains disappointing during these talks. We're not seeing real advances there," he said. "Movement on the ways and means and institutions to raise, manage and deploy financing support for the developing world's climate action also remains slow." ...	Carbon footprint-dragging. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Oct 5, 2009 from Reuters: Unstoppable sea level rise A rise of at least two metres in the world's sea levels is now almost unstoppable, experts told a climate conference at Oxford University on Tuesday. "The crux of the sea level issue is that it starts very slowly but once it gets going it is practically unstoppable," said Stefan Rahmstorf, a scientist at Germany's Potsdam Institute and a widely recognised sea level expert. "There is no way I can see to stop this rise, even if we have gone to zero emissions..." Rahmstorf estimated that if the world limited warming to 1.5 degrees then it would still see two metres sea level rise over centuries, which would see some island nations disappear. His best guess was a one metre rise this century, assuming three degrees warming, and up to five metres over the next 300 years. ...	Think of all the great goodbye parties for islands! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Oct 5, 2009 from POLITICO: Big business pushes for climate action Two coalitions of top U.S. corporations are using Washington visits and more than $1 million in advertising to prod the Senate and White House to accelerate work on an energy and climate bill. Executives from the groups tell POLITICO that they will argue they need certainty to plan for the future. And although some companies disagree, these executives contend that many businesses, and the overall economy, would eventually benefit from the new law.... in a new open letter to President Barack Obama and the U.S. Senate, two dozen major brands -- ranging from eBay to HP to Gap to PG&E -- declare: "We are business leaders from companies of all sizes and many sectors calling for your leadership. We call on you to enact comprehensive legislation. ... Now it's time for the United States Senate to act." ...	Now if we can just get the little people on board. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Oct 5, 2009 from The Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Nestle Waters bottling plant draws fire Sacramento banned bottled water from its City Council meetings last year, but over the summer it welcomed a Nestle Waters plant that would churn out millions of those bottles every week. With California in its third year of drought and Sacramentans facing watering restrictions, Councilman Kevin McCarty thinks the plant needs a closer look.... Nestle signed a lease on an industrial building in July. Mayor Kevin Johnson and the Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization both lauded the project, which the company says will employ 40 people....the plant is likely to draw 30 million gallons of water in 2010 from the city water system. That includes water to be filtered, disinfected and remineralized to produce the company's Pure Life brand, as well as other water needed for plant operations. ...	Pure Life... pure profit... ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Oct 5, 2009 from The Salt Lake Tribune: Condor advocates ask hunters to ditch lead bullets Many of the 75 rare California condors that inhabit northern Arizona and southern Utah forage on the remains of deer and elk left by hunters. But some of the carrion contains fragments of lead bullets so toxic that at least 12 condors have died in recent years from lead poisoning. "Being intelligent birds like ravens and turkey vultures, they have figured out when the hunting season is," said Kathy Sullivan, condor program coordinator for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, which has begun a voluntary program to get big game hunters to use non-lead ammunition. "They key in on fall hunting season because they know there will be gut piles in the field from these deer hunts." ...	Hunters: Get the lead out! ApocaDoc permalink