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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from

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Species Collapse:	(3)
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This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
ecosystem interrelationships ~ deniers ~ climate impacts ~ contamination ~ economic myopia ~ global warming ~ airborne pollutants ~ unintended consequences ~ smart policy ~ overfishing ~ toxic water

ApocaDocuments (42) gathered this week:
Sun, Mar 7, 2010 from Charleston Gazette: EPA delays action on mountaintop removal plan The Obama administration has delayed action on a set of broad-ranging and specific measures to reduce the environmental impacts of mountaintop removal, after details of the plan were leaked to coal-state mining regulators...Agency officials are pushing for more stringent water pollution standards, tougher permit requirements and more extensive monitoring downstream from mining operations. Among the initiatives are initial steps toward tighter mining discharge limits on the toxic pollutant selenium and on electrical conductivity, which serves as a measure of harmful salts and metals and has been identified by scientists as an indicator of coal-mining water damage. An announcement had been planned for Wednesday, but has been delayed for at least several weeks. ...	If you've been to the mountaintop, then you know there is no more time to waste. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Mar 7, 2010 from Boston Post-Gazette: Can bats be saved? The bats appear to die of starvation during hibernation, but scientists still cannot confirm that the fungus is the primary cause of death. What they know: White-nose Syndrome is spreading fast, but not uniformly. It leapfrogs from affected areas to popular recreational caving sites, leading researchers to suspect that microscopic fungal spores get onto clothing worn by cavers, who unintentionally carry it to new sites. Some researchers speculate that European cavers may have innocently brought the spores to America, where native bats have no natural resistance. Others suspect spread of the fungus is more likely a naturally occurring anomaly. In three years since the onset of the outbreak, more than a million bats have died in the Northeast. They would have eaten 694 tons of insects, and scientists are worried about the impact of the sudden break in the food chain. "Our work here may save them farther west, but we are not going to be able to save the bats in Pennsylvania. What that means to us we don't know, but it can't be good." "You try not to over-interpret, but at the same time I won't sugarcoat it," Dr. Reeder said. "We're seeing 80, 90, 95 percent mortality in some of these caves. We come back the next year -- another 90 percent mortality. I mean, how long can that go on?" ...	I didn't think math could make me cry. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Mar 7, 2010 from PhysOrg.com: Melbourne cyclone, hailstones 'size of tennis balls', record floods "(It was) tennis ball size roughly," he said. "As far as we can tell, that's close to the biggest hail we've seen in Melbourne." As the city readied for further violent storms Sunday, once-in-a-century floods were peaking in the state of Queensland in the country's northeast, parts of which have been in drought for almost a decade.... Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said the cost of the flooding would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, as there had been major damage to highways and rail lines had been washed away. "This is a massive water event which has smashed all the records known here in the southwest," she told reporters Sunday as she toured St George. ...	I'll be convinced something is wrong only when hailstones are the size of pumpkins. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Mar 7, 2010 from Bard College, via Reuters and DesdemonaDespair: Arctic melt to cost up to $24 trillion by 2050: report Arctic ice melting could cost global agriculture, real estate and insurance anywhere from $2.4 trillion to $24 trillion by 2050 in damage from rising sea levels, floods and heat waves, according to a report released on Friday.... "The Arctic is the planet's air conditioner and it's starting to break down," he said. The loss of Arctic Sea ice and snow cover is already costing the world about $61 billion to $371 billion annually from costs associated with heat waves, flooding and other factors, the report said. The losses could grow as a warmer Arctic unlocks vast stores of methane in the permafrost. The gas has about 21 times the global warming impact of carbon dioxide. Melting of Arctic sea ice is already triggering a feedback of more warming as dark water revealed by the receding ice absorbs more of the sun's energy, he said. That could lead to more melting of glaciers on land and raise global sea levels. ...	Sorry, can't repair it -- I can't find anyone who carries the parts! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Mar 6, 2010 from Living on Earth: Climate Confusion For climate scientists, now is the winter of their discontent. Their major work, the 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, which won the Nobel Peace Prize, is now under attack. A sloppy paragraph wrongly projected how soon Himalayan glaciers might melt. Another section overestimated flood-prone areas in the Netherlands. Scientists say the mistakes are minor. But the errors came to light just as the heat was building around another matter: embarrassing revelations in thousands of emails by climate scientists that were hacked...[Penn State Professor Richard Alley]: ...what's come out doesn't shake the fundamentals of the science as we know it. One of the key things about science about the IPCC and all of us in general -- a big result which is put forward to the public can never be broken by one mistake, and so my suspicion is that we just have not done enough of a job of communicating this. ...	Scientists: get your geek on! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Mar 6, 2010 from Ceres, via BusinessGreen: Climate change shareholder actions hit record high The number of climate change-related shareholder actions has soared 40 per cent during the 2010 proxy season to a record 95 resolutions, according to new figures from sustainable investment lobby group Ceres. The flurry of shareholder resolutions, many of which call on companies to provide more detailed information on the risks they face as a result of climate change and imminent carbon regulations, are expected to increase further after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently released new guidance detailing how climate change can represent a material risk to a firm's operations that should be disclosed to investors. "We want our companies to closely look at the impact climate change legislation and regulation have on them, to realistically assess those risks, and to consider the indirect consequences of climate change-driven regulation and business trends on their activities," said Jack Ehnes, chief executive of CalSTRS, a pension fund which manages $131bn dollars in assets. "The SEC's interpretive guidance outlines exactly the kind of action we have been asking our portfolio companies to take with regards to the issues raised by climate change." ...	Sometimes, big money talks. ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Mar 6, 2010 from Associated Press: Disposal of spilled coal ash a long, winding trip More than a year after a Tennessee coal ash spill created one of the worst environmental disasters of its kind in U.S. history, the problem is seeping into several other states...After the spill, the TVA started sending as many as 17,000 rail carloads of ash almost 350 miles south to the landfill in Uniontown, Ala. At least 160 rail shipments have gone out from the cleanup site... The landfill operators first sent it to wastewater treatment plants -- a common way that landfills deal with excess liquid -- in two nearby Alabama cities, Marion and Demopolis. After what the EPA calls unrelated problems with ammonia in Marion, the landfill in January started using a commercial wastewater treatment plant in Mobile, Ala., 500 miles from the original spill. ...	Spreadin' the love... ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Mar 6, 2010 from Bombay Economic Times: Groundwater depleting at alarming rate: Report If current trends of acute groundwater use continue, 60 percent of all aquifers in India could run dry in 20 years or will be in a critical condition, a World Bank report launched on Friday said. It has urged priority action through higher investment in management of groundwater resources to reduce over exploitation, especially in view of the fact that there is major dependence by several sectors on the resources countrywide. Groundwater resources are being depleted at an alarming rate. Today, 29 percent of groundwater blocks are semi-critical, critical, or overexploited, and the situation is deteriorating rapidly. ...	Groundwater will contain more "fer" than "aqui." ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Mar 5, 2010 from MIT, via PhysOrg: Behavioral economics and the energy behavior The argument Sendhil and I make is that we have to compare across all of these classes and say, "What's cost-effective in terms of achieving our goals?" We use the results from recent large-scale energy conservation programs that were motivated by behavioral science to show that behavioral science R&D is an underexplored and potentially cost-effective approach.... There was an academic study by psychologist Bob Cialdini and co-authors that helped provide the proof-of-concept for the OPOWER program. In this study, the researchers left door-hangers at a group of households in California. Some of the door-hangers said, "Save money by saving energy," some of them said, "Save the environment," and some said, "Here's how much your neighbors are using." And the ones that said, "Here's how much your neighbors are using" had a much stronger impact on energy consumption. In the last couple of years that study in particular has had a lot of influence. ...	It takes a village to raise a meme. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Mar 5, 2010 from NUVO Newsweekly: Atmospheric scientist speaks at Butler On Thursday night, March 4, atmospheric scientist Katharine Heyhoe spoke to more than a hundred students, faculty and community members on the campus of Butler University... After her excellent presentation, the first question asked from the audience was about climategate. Heyhoe handled the questioner deftly, referring him to investigating the hacked emails himself, along with looking at the actual science of global warming, yet the man nattered on, until, having stolen too much speakspace, was asked to stop. He quickly left the room. Unfortunately, so did a number of students...a survey by the Yale Project on Climate Change and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change concluded that younger people, 18-34, are relatively "apathetic about the threat" of climate change. In fact, the survey found, nearly two thirds of younger Americans are "unsure whether global warming is real." ...	Maybe the young people, like, mean it's soooooooo UNreal it doesn't seem real. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Mar 5, 2010 from London Financial Times: Review says global warming is man-made The case for man-made global warming is even stronger than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change maintained in its official assessments, according to the first scientific review published since December's Copenhagen conference and subsequent attacks on the IPCC's credibility. An international research team led by the UK Met Office spent the past year analysing more than 100 recent scientific papers to update the last IPCC assessment, released in 2007. Although the review itself preceded the sceptics' assault on climate science over the past three months, its launch in London on Thursday marks a resumption of the campaign by mainstream scientists to show that man-made releases of greenhouse gases are causing potentially dangerous global warming. ...	More carbons burned to prove the obvious! ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Mar 5, 2010 from Freeport Tribune: 'Too great a risk for the Bahamas' The commercial fishing of Yellow-fin Tuna using purse seine nets in Bahamian waters poses too great a risk for the Bahamas, fisheries conservationist Dr David Philip warned. He is urging the government not to permit the use of this technique - in which, he says, large game fish, dolphins, sea turtles, and other species are likely to be caught and killed along with the tuna in the large nets. "This is a huge issue and the Bahamas should take leadership and stand to be leaders in this manner and say no to this kind of fishing," said Dr Philips, a representative of the Fisheries Conservation Foundation.... Craig Riker, president of the Grand Bahama Dive Association, says no one wins with purse seine fishing. "If you take the big fish out of the ocean, what fills its place is jellyfish. Jellyfish eat baby fish and fish eggs, and even if you leave some fish to breed they can't because the jellyfish get them. "Once that happens there is very little chance of getting fish back. It is a very dangerous slope to jump off," he said. ...	You want to take away my freedom to fish just to save the ecosystem? ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Mar 5, 2010 from Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Scientist: 'There's still time' to save the oceans "There's a great opportunity to take action to save what we can while we still can, but we first have to understand what is going on," Earle said in the Montana State University Friends of Stegner Lecture at the Ellen Theatre on Thursday evening. "What is going on," according to Earle, includes the deterioration of the world's coral reefs, the overfishing and poaching of important ocean carnivores like the blue fin tuna and increased pollution of the sea, largely a result of Western abundance and overindulgence. Due to industrialized nations' insatiable appetite for tuna, a 200-kilogram tuna can be sold for $100,000, Earle said, making it one of the most overfished species in the world.... "We take 100 million tons of wildlife out of the sea every year," she said, "and most of it is just bycatch," caught unintentionally by fishermen after the big-ticket fish.... "This is a moment in time, maybe a decade, when there's still a chance," she said. ...	Eminent scientists do great standup. 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, Mar 4, 2010 from National Geographic: Arctic Sea Belching Tons of Methane Arctic seabeds are belching massive quantities of methane, according to a new study that says ocean permafrost is a huge and largely overlooked source of the powerful greenhouse gas, which has been linked to global warming. Previous research had found methane bubbling out of melting permafrost -- frozen soil -- in Arctic wetlands and lakes. But the permafrost lining the deep, cold seas was thought to be staying frozen solid, holding in untold amounts of trapped methane. "It's not the case anymore," said study leader Natalia Shakhova, a biogeochemist at the University of Fairbanks, Alaska. "The permafrost is actually failing in its ability to preserve this leakage."... The scientists found that much of the seawater above the shelf is laden with methane, which in turn is being released into the atmosphere. What's more, the team found that current atmospheric methane levels in the Arctic are three times higher than those recorded across previous climate cycles going back 400,000 years. This phenomenon most likely isn't limited to the East Siberian Sea, the researchers note. If permafrost is melting in this part of the Arctic, all shallow areas along the Arctic shelf should be similarly affected. ...	Methane: the organic alternative to CO2! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Mar 4, 2010 from The ApocaDocs: Environmental Collapse's Funnier Side This small book [Converging Emergencies 2010-2020] is intended to be a fast, funny and frightening read, about things that matter. Sometimes we'll get a little, well, science-y. Sometimes we'll get a little silly, a little pedantic, a little too passionate, or too poetic.... But we guarantee that if you read it, you'll think about our world differently -- and laugh about it! ...	I don't think you're supposed to make fun of this stuff. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Mar 4, 2010 from Boston Globe: US backs ban on bluefin tuna trade The US government announced yesterday that it supports prohibiting international trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna, a move that could lead to the most sweeping trade restrictions ever imposed on the highly prized fish. Sushi aficionados in Japan and elsewhere have consumed bluefin for decades, causing the fish's population to plummet. In less than two weeks, representatives from 175 countries will convene in Doha, Qatar, to determine whether to restrict the trade of bluefin tuna -- valued for its rich, buttery taste -- and an array of other imperiled species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.... Japan, the world's largest bluefin consumer, opposes the idea of trade restrictions, while the European Union has yet to take a formal position.... Over the past 40 years, the adult population of eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna has declined 72 percent. In the western Atlantic, the population has dropped 82 percent. The declines occurred even though bluefin fishing was being governed by an international panel that sets catch quotas and is supposed to curtail illegal fishing. ...	I see "scientific bluefin fishing" in Japan's future. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Mar 4, 2010 from Yale 360: Younger Americans Disengaged On Global Warming, Survey Finds Although they have grown up during an era when global warming has emerged as a major issue, Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 are relatively apathetic about the threat, according to a new survey. And even when they do think about it, young Americans are just as divided as older Americans about whether global warming is real, according to results of the survey conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication. Adults under 35 are significantly less likely than older Americans to say they have thought about global warming, with 22 percent saying they have never thought about the issue. Only 38 percent of younger Americans say they had previously thought about global warming either "a lot" or "some," compared to 51 percent of those aged 35 to 59. And 54 percent of Americans aged 18 to 34 said they were not at all worried or not very worried about global warming. Sixty-one percent of younger Americans said that most of their friends were generally not taking actions to reduce global warming. And nearly two-thirds of younger Americans are unsure whether global warming is real, with 20 percent saying they didn't know enough to make a judgment and 40 percent saying that there is a lot of disagreement among scientists on the issue. ...	Ah youth. Wasted on the stupid. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Mar 4, 2010 from SciDev.net: Farmers and pesticide blamed in Thai rice pest invasion Thai farmers keen to exploit high rice prices have made an outbreak of a devastating pest worse by overplanting and using too much pesticide, according to ecologists. An outbreak of brown planthoppers has destroyed 368,000 hectares -- about four per cent of Thailand's rice paddies -- since August last year. The pests have periodically plagued Asian rice farming for decades, eating their way through rice crops and spreading viral diseases that can stunt growth and prevent rice grain formation.... To ensure good yields, farmers overuse fertilisers -- thought to increase the planthopper's fertility -- and pesticides such as synthetic pyrethroids, which have no effect on planthoppers but kill many of their natural enemies such as spiders. Golsalvitra said the problem remains unabated despite state efforts to control the situation and the pest is migrating south to the Central Plains -- the country's rice bowl, which is preparing for the next rice season in May.... He said the outbreaks are preventable and that the best way to deal with them is to restore biodiversity rather than destroy it. ...	We should have used cane toads!* ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Mar 4, 2010 from CBC: Alberta grizzly bears number less than 700 An Alberta grizzly bear count by an independent scientist pegs the population at 691, but the province has not stated if that's enough to list the species as threatened. Dr. Marco Festa-Bianchet, an expert on large mammals, noted in a report released Wednesday that some local grizzly bear populations may be declining. Cutting down on "human-caused mortality" such as vehicle collisions with bears and "motorized access to habitat" would help stabilize the number of grizzlies, according to the report. Environmental groups have been lobbying the Alberta government to declare the grizzly -- currently considered "may be at risk" -- as threatened, so that a current hunting ban becomes permanent and steps can be taken to protect their habitat. There were 841 bears in Alberta in 2000, according to a count done that year by the provincial government. ...	I can bearly believe it. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Mar 4, 2010 from AFP, via PhysOrg: Mexico detects first mutation of swine flu Mexican officials said Wednesday they have confirmed the first mutation of the A(H1N1) flu virus in a girl who survived the infection. Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova told Mexican journalists that the case was the first confirmed mutation of the swine flu virus, though there were 423 other suspected cases. He said the girl was treated two months ago at a hospital in Mexico City for a respiratory illness and then returned with a case of severe pneumonia, from which she recovered. Cordova called on anybody with risk factors that could make them more susceptible to the virus to be vaccinated against it, warning that "these viruses can mutate at any time" with serious consequences. ...	Theories like evolution don't have consequences, only facts do. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Mar 4, 2010 from New York Times: Darwin Foes Add Warming to Targets Critics of the teaching of evolution in the nation's classrooms are gaining ground in some states by linking the issue to global warming, arguing that dissenting views on both scientific subjects should be taught in public schools.... In Kentucky, a bill recently introduced in the Legislature would encourage teachers to discuss "the advantages and disadvantages of scientific theories," including "evolution, the origins of life, global warming and human cloning."... The linkage of evolution and global warming is partly a legal strategy: courts have found that singling out evolution for criticism in public schools is a violation of the separation of church and state. By insisting that global warming also be debated, deniers of evolution can argue that they are simply championing academic freedom in general. ...	Their evolving legal strategy is generating a lot of hot air. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Mar 4, 2010 from New York Times: Fuel Taxes Must Rise, Harvard Researchers Say To meet the Obama administration's targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, some researchers say, Americans may have to experience a sobering reality: gas at $7 a gallon. To reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the transportation sector 14 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, the cost of driving must simply increase, according to a forthcoming report by researchers at Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. The 14 percent target was set in the Environmental Protection Agency's budget for fiscal 2010. ...	Ivy League gassholes. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Mar 4, 2010 from Mother Jones: The Chamber of Commerce vs. Climate Science William Kovacs, the US Chamber of Commerce's vice president of environment, technology and regulatory affairs, last year famously called for a "Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century" on climate change. Kovacs was referencing the lightning-rod 1925 court case that made it illegal to teach anything other than divine creation in Tennessee public schools -- and he wanted a similar public hearing in which climate science would be put on the stand. The remark drew plenty of bad press, and Kovacs soon recanted his "inappropriate" analogy. But it looks like the chamber is angling for that monkey trial after all, by way of a lawsuit it's filed against the Environmental Protection Agency that could be the first wave of a big-business assault on greenhouse gas regulations. ...	We need a US Chamber of Climate. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Mar 3, 2010 from ACS, via EurekAlert: CFC replacements may cause warming and acid rain Chemicals that helped solve a global environmental crisis in the 1990s -- the hole in Earth's protective ozone layer -- may be making another problem -- acid rain -- worse, scientists are reporting.... [S]tudies later suggested the need for a replacement for the replacements, showing that HCFCs act like super greenhouse gases, 4,500 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The new study adds to those concerns, raising the possibility that HCFCs may break down in the atmosphere to form oxalic acid, one of the culprits in acid rain. They used a computer model to show how HCFCs could form oxalic acid via a series of chemical reactions high in the atmosphere. The model, they suggest, could have broader uses in helping to determine whether replacements for the replacements are as eco-friendly as they appear before manufacturers spend billions of dollars in marketing them. ...	Replacing the replacement... aren't we getting a little meta here? ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Mar 3, 2010 from The ApocaDocs: The ApocaDocs Write the JokeBook on EnviroCollapse 'Docs Jim and Michael have written a free book (http://www.apocadocs.com/book/) that we want to get into as many minds and hands as possible. Please: read Converging Emergencies, 2010-2020, and pass it on. Funny? Most people say so. Scary? Your eyes will widen. Hopeful? It has hope, though truthfully, hope is only in human revolution. If you like what we do, please take a look, and then pass it on. ...	Synthesis? for FREE? ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Mar 3, 2010 from Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases: Mountain Plover Responses to Plague in Montana We studied the effects of plague and colony spatial characteristics on the occupancy of 81 prairie dog colonies by nesting plovers in Phillips County, Montana, during a 13-year period (1995-2007).... A recent study using many of these same prairie dog colonies (Augustine et al. 2008) found that declines in prairie dog colony area as a result of plague corresponded to rapid (<2 years) declines in mountain plover nesting activity. This is presumably a response to vegetative (Hartley et al. 2009) and possibly other changes that negatively impact the plover.... In this study we further demonstrated negative effects of plague to the plover by examining how they depart and later recolonize colonies affected by plague.... ...	It's eerily as if it's all related. ApocaDoc permalink
You're still reading! Good for you! You really should read our short, funny, frightening book FREE online (or buy a print copy): Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! We've been quipping this stuff for more than 30 months! Every day! Which might explain why we don't get invited to parties anymore.
Wed, Mar 3, 2010 from LA Times: Woolly mammoths resurfacing in Siberia The beasts had long lain extinct and forgotten, embedded deep in the frozen turf, bodies swaddled in Earth's layers for thousands of years before Christ. Now, the Russian permafrost is offering up the bones and tusks of the woolly mammoths that once lumbered over the tundra. They are shaped into picture frames, chess sets, pendants. They are gathered and piled, carved and whittled, bought and sold on the Internet.... The mammoth finds have been growing steadily over the last three decades as Russia's vast sea of permafrost slowly thaws. Russian scientists disagree over whether global warming is responsible. Some say yes, others are skeptical. But nobody argues that the permafrost is dwindling -- and they're glad to have the bones and tusks, especially when the increased yields coincide with bans on elephant ivory. ...	Every methane cloud holds an ivory lining. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Mar 3, 2010 from Gatehouse News Service, via Winchester Star: Markey issues statement on safe drinking water U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Energy and Environment Subcommittee and the author of a bill to establish a federal ban on the chemical Bisphenol A in all food and beverage containers, issued the following statement recently at a hearing titled "Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in Drinking Water: Risks to Human Health and the Environment."... "Lately, not a day goes by where the public is not reminded of the presence of toxic chemicals in the air we breathe and the water we drink, and the potential harmful effects that these chemicals can have on public health and the environment. "Just last week a local newspaper warned that the Potomac River and other mid-Atlantic rivers are laced with toxins that may be responsible for bizarre deformities in fish, frogs and other wildlife that come in contact with the contaminated water. This includes male fish that have begun growing female sexual organs, and female fish that can no longer reproduce. "W.C. Fields once said, 'I never drink water because of the disgusting things fish do in it.'..." ...	A deformed little chickadee told me. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Mar 2, 2010 from Purdue, via EurekAlert: Popular nanoparticle causes toxicity in fish, study shows ... [N]anosilver suspended in solution proved toxic and even lethal to the minnows. When the nanosilver was allowed to settle, the solution became several times less toxic but still caused malformations in the minnows. "Silver nitrate is a lot more toxic than nanosilver, but when nanosilver was sonicated, or suspended, its toxicity increased tenfold," said Maria Sepulveda, an assistant professor of forestry and natural resources whose findings were published in the journal Ecotoxicology. "There is reason to be concerned."... "These nanosilver particles are so small they are able to cross the egg membranes and move into the fish embryos in less than a day," Sepulveda said. "They had a potentially high dose of silver in them." ...	Only a really tiny reason to be concerned! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Mar 2, 2010 from CalTech, via Technology Review: Material Traps Light on the Cheap A new photovoltaic material performs as well as the one found in today's best solar cells, but promises to be significantly cheaper. The material, created by researchers at Caltech, consists of a flexible array of light-absorbing silicon microwires and light-reflecting metal nanoparticles embedded in a polymer. Computational models suggest that the material could be used to make solar cells that would convert 15 to 20 percent of the energy in sunlight into electricity -- on par with existing high-performance silicon cells. But the material would require just 1 percent of the materials used today, potentially leading to a dramatic decrease in costs.... But the wires are treated with an antireflective coating and coated in a rubbery polymer mixed with highly reflective alumina nanoparticles. Once the polymer sets, the entire thing can be peeled off like a sticker. Over 90 percent of the resulting material is composed of the cheap polymer, and the template can be used again and again. "These materials are pliable, but they have the properties of a silicon wafer," says Atwater. When light hits the composite solar mats, it bounces around, reflecting off the alumina particles until it can be absorbed by a microwire. ...	Can we start pumping these out like paper, please? ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Mar 2, 2010 from New York Times: For Pennies, a Disposable Toilet That Could Help Grow Crops A Swedish entrepreneur is trying to market and sell a biodegradable plastic bag that acts as a single-use toilet for urban slums in the developing world. Once used, the bag can be knotted and buried, and a layer of urea crystals breaks down the waste into fertilizer, killing off disease-producing pathogens found in feces. The bag, called the Peepoo, is the brainchild of Anders Wilhelmson, an architect and professor in Stockholm. ...	The "pissshit" didn't go over so well. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Mar 2, 2010 from Sacramento Bee: Study of hospitals puts price tag on California's dirty air California's dirty air led to nearly $200 million in hospital spending over a three-year period -- including $9 million in Sacramento County -- because of asthma, pneumonia and other pollution-triggered ailments, according to a study released today. With its research, Rand Corp. attempts to put a price tag on the state's bad air. The study analyzed records from hospitals and air quality agencies from 2005 to 2007. As many as 30,000 people statewide sought relief in emergency rooms because of air pollution during that period, the report states...The study focused on pollution from ozone, most commonly derived from automobile tailpipe emissions, and fine particulate matter, such as soot from fireplaces and wood-burning stoves. ...	Sounds worth it to me! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Mar 2, 2010 from Environmental Research Web: Media play hockey with climate change Climate scientists around the world have been struggling to understand the public backlash against anthropogenic global warming over the last 12 months or so. In several panels at the recent American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting, leading scientists struggled with how best to respond to a rising tide of climate-change scepticism. "There is a good deal of difference between scepticism derived from evidence, which many of us are familiar with, and scepticism derived from ideology," said Boykoff. "It raises questions about who has authority. Who has expertise? Who has the authority to speak for the climate?" ... Freudenburg also said that there is strong pressure to publish results that surprise readers, both in the academic literature and the popular press. This inevitably leads to papers that lean towards hyperbole and ultimately cause laypeople to doubt the entire field, rather than individual papers. ...	Is there much evidence of hyperbole? ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Mar 2, 2010 from Mongabay: Madagascar traders ready $50m shipment of illegally logged rainforest timber Traders in Vohemar, a port in northeastern Madagascar, are preparing for to ship $54 million worth of timber illegally logged from the Indian Ocean island nation's rainforest parks, report local sources. Some 270 containers are being loaded with valuable hardwoods cut during a logging frenzy that ensued following a military coup nearly a year ago. Delmas, a French shipping company, was last week cleared by the "transition authority" army-based to pick up the timber. A local timber syndicate -- alleged allied with top advisers in the current regime -- has been pushing for resumption of shipments. The shipment is expected to escalate the already rampant logging of protected rainforests, especially Masoala National Park, a World Heritage site, since stocks of valuable timber trees have been largely exhausted in unprotected areas. ...	MORE. I want MORE. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Mar 2, 2010 from Greenwich Time: For frogs, and perhaps humans, there's something strange in the water Medications leaking into groundwater are producing strange effects on the frogs of Connecticut, effects that could be a harbinger of safety concerns for humans, too, researchers say. A team led by David Skelly, professor of ecology and associate dean for research at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University, has found that male frogs are developing eggs in their reproductive tracts... Skelly's team found that deformities were concentrated in suburban and urban areas, which was something of a surprise for the scientists because it was previously thought that chemicals used on the farm were mostly to blame, particularly the widely used cornfield herbicide atrazine. "But in agricultural areas, only 7 percent of the frogs show these deformities," he said. "In urban and suburban areas, it's about 20 percent." ...	These urban and suburban frogs are already metrosexual. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Mar 2, 2010 from Washington Post: Manure becomes pollutant as its volume grows unmanageable ...Animal manure, a byproduct as old as agriculture, has become an unlikely modern pollution problem, scientists and environmentalists say. The country simply has more dung than it can handle: Crowded together at a new breed of megafarms, livestock produce three times as much waste as people, more than can be recycled as fertilizer for nearby fields. That excess manure gives off air pollutants, and it is the country's fastest-growing large source of methane, a greenhouse gas. And it washes down with the rain, helping to cause the 230 oxygen-deprived "dead zones" that have proliferated along the U.S. coast. In the Chesapeake Bay, about one-fourth of the pollution that leads to dead zones can be traced to the back ends of cows, pigs, chickens and turkeys. ...	That is just a shitload of shit! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Mar 1, 2010 from UC Berkeley, via PhysOrg: Atrazine can turn male frogs into females Atrazine, one of the world's most widely used [weed killer], wreaks havoc with the sex lives of adult male frogs, emasculating three-quarters of them and turning one in 10 into females, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, biologists. The 75 percent that are chemically castrated are essentially "dead" because of their inability to reproduce in the wild, reports UC Berkeley's Tyrone B. Hayes, professor of integrative biology.... Though the experiments were performed on a common laboratory frog, the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis), field studies indicate that atrazine, a potent endocrine disruptor, similarly affects frogs in the wild, and could possibly be one of the causes of amphibian declines around the globe, Hayes said. ...	Ribbit. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Mar 1, 2010 from PhysOrg.com: Australian residents urged to flee 18-metre flames Some 166 firemen using dozens of fire engines and aircraft were battling the flames, which have already consumed 22,000 hectares (54,000 acres) of land. FESA could not say how many homes were at risk in the sparsely populated area but said it was mainly farmland. Western Australia, a giant state four times the size of Texas, has just sweltered through its hottest southern hemisphere summer with temperatures averaging nearly 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit). News of the blaze follows an announcement that Western Australia has sweated through its hottest ever summer, recording average temperatures just shy of 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit), officials have said. ...	Go East, young man -- and hurry! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Mar 1, 2010 from West Virginia Public Broadcasting: More bats infected with deadly disease found in WV cave An expedition into Hellhole cave in Pendleton County last month revealed that bats in one of the largest and most important bat hibernation caves in the state are infected with white-nose syndrome.... "We've had a constant stream of bats just flying out of the cave during the day, during snow, so they�re obviously very distressed and fleeing the site," he added.... Seth Perlman, who lives in New York, accompanied Youngbaer into Hellhole Cave. He hopes white-nose syndrome does not have the same effect in West Virginia that it's had in the North East. "We've seen up to 90 percent mortality in some of the bats and it's manifested in caves where there are just piles of dead bats," Perlman said. ...	Is that a cloud on the horizon, or an insect swarm? ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Mar 1, 2010 from Stanford, via EurekAlert: Discovery in legumes could reduce fertilizer use, aid environment: Stanford researchers "We have discovered a new biological process, by which leguminous plants control behavior of symbiotic bacteria," said molecular biologist Sharon Long. "These plants have a specialized protein processing system that generates specific protein signals. These were hitherto unknown, but it turns out they are critical to cause nitrogen fixation."... This special ability allows legumes to flourish in nitrogen-poor soils, whereas other plants require applications of manufactured nitrogen fertilizer to grow well. But even legumes can't flourish without the right symbiotic bacteria.... Costs aside, the production of chemical fertilizer also adds to the problem of global warming, both by way of the fossil fuels used in production of chemical fertilizer and through the impact of leftover fertilizer that degrades into nitrous oxide, a highly potent greenhouse gas. With the planet's ever-growing population, Long said there is going to be increased need to keep productivity going on lands that are starting to become marginal because of drought, temperature or salinity problems, among others. ...	Maybe we can "fix" this after all. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Mar 1, 2010 from Guardian: British firms face onslaught from tar sands campaigners British companies spearheading the drive to exploit the Canadian tar sands will come under renewed assault this week from an increasingly vocal group of shareholders and environmentalists who are planning to turn the forthcoming BP, Shell and Royal Bank of Scotland annual meetings into a referendum on these controversial operations.... There are signs the oil companies and the Canadian government are becoming increasingly concerned about the reputational damage that could be inflicted on them: a special "tar sands day of learning" was held at the headquarters of the Royal Bank of Canada in Toronto on 1 February to bolster the confidence of fellow bankers and investors. The Co-op's investor briefing, designed to rally further opposition, warns institutional investors with highly diversified portfolios that allowing BP and Shell to pursue their costly tar sands extraction could undermine their holdings in other areas of the economy. ...	So if one of my eggs can corrode all of my baskets.... ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Mar 1, 2010 from New York Times: Rulings Restrict Clean Water Act, Foiling EPA Thousands of the nation's largest water polluters are outside the Clean Water Act's reach because the Supreme Court has left uncertain which waterways are protected by that law, according to interviews with regulators. As a result, some businesses are declaring that the law no longer applies to them. And pollution rates are rising. Companies that have spilled oil, carcinogens and dangerous bacteria into lakes, rivers and other waters are not being prosecuted, according to Environmental Protection Agency regulators working on those cases, who estimate that more than 1,500 major pollution investigations have been discontinued or shelved in the last four years. ...	Supreme fiddling while Home turns. ApocaDoc permalink