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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from

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Species Collapse:	(4)
Plague/Virus:	(1)
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This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
ecosystem interrelationships ~ anthropogenic change ~ climate impacts ~ contamination ~ economic myopia ~ faster than expected ~ toxic water ~ deniers ~ massive die-off ~ carbon emissions ~ corporate farming

ApocaDocuments (35) gathered this week:
Sun, Apr 25, 2010 from BBC: Scientists investigate Ecuador's receding glaciers ...A study to be published this year by Ecuadorean glaciologist Bolivar Caceres suggests that the country's glaciers lost more than 40 percent of their surface area between 1956 and 2006. For example, the Cotopaxi mountain with its famous volcanic cone has lost 40 percent of its glacial cap since 1976.... The gradual disappearance of the glaciers is not just a matter of aesthetic regret. Several Andean cities are thought to be dependent on the melting glaciers for part of their drinking supply, particularly in the dry season. ...	The German word for "nostalgia for lost glaciers" is heimglagefyhlput. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Apr 25, 2010 from Minnesota Public Radio: Study finds levels of pharmaceuticals in wastewater widespread In the most comprehensive study of a variety of chemical compounds coming from municipal sewage plants, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency confirmed widespread, but low concentrations of water contamination from human medications and antibiotics... The study reinforced what earlier researchers learned, that pharmaceutical compounds used by people are very common in rivers and lakes across the state. Researchers also found another class of chemical compounds in their water samples -- endocrine disruptors proven to alter fish reproduction. The compounds researchers found most often include carbamazapine, a drug used to treat attention deficit disorder. They also found various antibiotics and diphenhydramine, a common antihistamine. ...	Dude. We are all so on drugs. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Apr 25, 2010 from Sacramento Bee: Bee exclusive: Livestock waste found to foul Sierra waters ...parts of the high Sierra are not nearly as pristine as they look. Nowhere is the water dirtier, [Robert Derlet] discovered, than on U.S. Forest Service land, including wilderness areas, where beef cattle and commercial pack stock - horses and mules - graze during the summer months. There, bacterial contamination was easily high enough to sicken hikers with Giardia, E. coli and other diseases. In places, slimy, pea-green algae also blossomed in the bacteria-laden water. That contrast has prompted Derlet and Charles Goldman, director of the UC Davis Tahoe Research Center, to mount a publicity campaign calling for dramatic management change in the Sierra. Cattle, they say, should be moved to lower elevations. And Forest Service areas where they now graze should be turned into national parks. "At one time, cattle were important for developing civilization here," said Derlet. "But now, with 40 million people in California, the Sierra is not for cattle. It's for water. We need water more than Big Macs." ...	I call that... McWisdom. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Apr 25, 2010 from : Full Godwin, complicity, and consumption 'Doc Michael muses on the Weltanschauung of the Germans during the Nazi period, the worldview of pride and certainty, economic expansion, and a belief in natural hierarchy, and finds parallels with our current worldview of human dominance, economic expansion, and pride and certainty. The parallels aren't pretty. "In the mid-1930s, after a deep depresion, the German economy was rolling again. The Nazi programs had brought them out of their depression, and they were riding high. A hundred thousand upper-middle-class careers were entwined with the worldview.... It created a framework of it-must-be-so, of organizations and commissions and businesses and offices and departments, each with territory to protect, and a mission to further the cause. The Weltanshauung produced a set of legal government policies that were intrinsically self-justifying, and a set of business rules that were self-rational. The bureaucracy then mobilized to manifest and profit from the policies implicit in their laws and rules." ...	It's the complicity, stupid. ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Apr 24, 2010 from Max-Planck-Gesellschaft via ScienceDaily: Long-Distance Journeys out of Fashion? Global Warming May Be Causing Evolutionary Changes in Bird Migration The results of genetic studies on migratory birds substantiate the theory that in the case of a continued global warming, and within only a few generations, migratory birds will -- subject to strong selection and microevolution -- at first begin to fly shorter distances and at a later stage, stop migrating, and will thus become so-called "residents." ...	Then they better start paying property taxes. ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Apr 24, 2010 from Los Angeles Times: Global warming ballot initiative: Teamsters and cities weigh in The California Teamsters, one of the state's most powerful unions, Friday joined opponents of a proposed ballot initiative to delay enforcement of the Global Warming Solutions Act. The Teamsters, representing more than 250,000 union members in California, is the first major union to officially oppose the measure, which is backed by a group of oil companies, Republican legislators and conservative activists. The group is gathering signatures to place the initiative on the November ballot. "We must reject efforts to move backwards on protection of the environment," said Randy Cammack, co-chair of the Teamster's Public Affairs Council, which voted against the ballot measure. "Our members are citizens and neighbors as well as workers. We breathe the same air, drink the same water, and live on the same planet with every other human being. ...	And as we know, there is no "I" in team! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Apr 24, 2010 from Living on Earth: Carp Cuisine Roughly 600 million invasive Asian Carp have made themselves at home in Midwestern Rivers. As officials struggle to keep them out of the Great Lakes, one local company has a solution. It's started to ship the carp back to China as food, where they're considered a delicacy... HARONO: Absolutely. Asian carp is viewed as a delicacy in Asia. The bones don't create a problem because we're used to eating with chopsticks and we spit the bones out. It's just sort of an educated mouth and tongue in how to eat these fish. And they're very tasty, so that there is a tremendous demand for this fish in Asia.... part of the marketing strategy is that we're marketing it as a natural fish grown wild in the Mississippi River and Illinois River that jumps out it has so much energy, so when you eat it you'll get some of that energy also. ...	Perhaps they could take our zebra and quagga mussels as well! ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Apr 23, 2010 from London Guardian: Climate scientist sues newspaper for 'poisoning' global warming debate One of the world's leading climate scientists has launched a libel lawsuit against a Canadian newspaper for publishing articles that he says "poison" the debate on global warming. In a case with potentially huge consequences for online publishers, lawyers acting for Andrew Weaver, a climate modeller at the University of Victoria, Canada, have demanded the National Post removes the articles not only from its own websites, but also from the numerous blogs and sites where they were reposted. Weaver says the articles, published at the height of several recent controversies over the reliability of climate science in recent months, contain "grossly irresponsible falsehoods". He said he filed the suit after the newspaper refused to retract the articles. Weaver said: "If I sit back and do nothing to clear my name, these libels will stay on the internet forever. They'll poison the factual record, misleading people who are looking for reliable scientific information about global warming." ...	Give it a try, Andrew, but even burning on earth won't change these skeptics' minds. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Apr 23, 2010 from McClatchy Newspapers: Report: Ocean acidification rising at unprecedented rate With the oceans absorbing more than 1 million tons of carbon dioxide an hour, a National Research Council study released Thursday found that the level of acid in the oceans is increasing at an unprecedented rate and threatening to change marine ecosystems. The council said the oceans were 30 percent more acidic than they were before the Industrial Revolution started roughly 200 years ago, and the oceans absorb one-third of today's carbon dioxide emissions. Unless emissions are reined in, ocean acidity could increase by 200 percent by the end of the century and even more in the next century, said James Barry, a senior scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California and one of the study's authors... Also testifying was actress Sigourney Weaver, who made passing references to her roles in "Alien" and "Avatar" while urging Congress to pass global climate change legislation. ...	She did not, however, make any reference to her role in Tadpole. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Apr 23, 2010 from Los Angeles Times: Flaming oil rig sinks in Gulf of Mexico As the odds of survival for 11 missing workers diminished Thursday, officials warned that the dramatic explosion and fire that sank an oil rig off the Louisiana coast may pose a serious environmental threat if oil is leaking thousands of feet below the surface. "It certainly has the potential to be a major spill," said Dave Rainey, vice president of Gulf of Mexico exploration for the oil company BP, which leased the Deepwater Horizon, the $600-million mobile offshore rig that vanished underwater Thursday morning. ...	Spill, baby, spill! ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Apr 23, 2010 from London Daily Telegraph: Mobile phones, cancer and Alzheimer's disease: the ultimate study is launched More than 250,000 people in five different countries will take part in the research which is expected to last more than 30 years and cost millions of pounds. Experts hope the investigation will help settle once and for all the ongoing debate about the safety of mobile phones. Dr Mireille Toledano, one of the principal investigators from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said: "This is the largest study to date worldwide on mobile phones and health and will be monitoring a large number of mobile phone users over a long time. "It will be the gold standard." Unlike earlier studies which relied on people who develop illnesses recalling their mobile phone usage, the study will pick up diseases and symptoms as they arise. Between 90,000 and 100,000 people are expected to participate in the UK, with others joining from Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark. ...	30 years??? The 1200 or so people still left on the planet will find the results of this study quite edifying. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Apr 22, 2010 from London Guardian: 'Toxic stew' of chemicals causing male fish to carry eggs in testes More than 80 percent of the male bass fish in Washington's major river are now exhibiting female traits such as egg production because of a "toxic stew" of pollutants, scientists and campaigners reported yesterday. Intersex fish probably result from drugs, such as the contraceptive pill, and other chemicals being flushed into the water and have been found right across the US. The Potomac Conservancy, which focuses on Washington DC's river, called for new research to determine what was causing male smallmouth bass to carry immature eggs in their testes. "We have not been able to identify one particular chemical or one particular source," said Vicki Blazer, a fish biologist with the US geological survey. "We are still trying to get a handle on what chemicals are important." But she said early evidence pointed to a mix of chemicals -- commonly used at home as well as those used in large-scale farming operations -- causing the deformities. The suspect chemicals mimic natural hormones and disrupt the endocrine system, with young fish being particularly susceptible. ...	These days it seems men have to do everything! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Apr 22, 2010 from Science News: Rural ozone can be fed by feed (as in silage) Livestock operations take a lot of flak for polluting. Manure lagoons not only irritate neighbors' noses but also leak nitrogen -- sometimes fostering dead zones up to 1,000 miles downstream. And ruminants can release copious amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas. Researchers are now linking ozone to livestock as well. But this time the pollution source is not what comes out the back end of an animal but what's destined to go in the front... o they began investigating animal feed, Howard says -- especially silage, grain "which has been [deliberately] fermented" and as such comes laced with a lot of alcohol... "Ethanol and especially larger alcohol species account for more than 50 percent of the ozone formation for most types of feed," Howard and his colleagues now report online, ahead of print, in Environmental Science & Technology. ...	Aren't our lives secondary to our livestock? 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, Apr 22, 2010 from The Charleston Gazette: Study links stream pollution to higher cancer rates West Virginians who live near streams polluted by coal mining are more likely to die of cancer, according to a first-of-its kind study published by researchers at West Virginia University and Virginia Tech. The study provides the first peer-reviewed look at the relationship between the biological health of Appalachian streams and public health of coalfield residents. Published in the scientific journal EcoHealth, the paper compares cancer death rates to population figures, coal production figures and a new index of how far people live to various types of coal-mining operations. "We've known for years that stream organisms can be sentinels of environmental quality," said study co-author Nathaniel Hitt, a Virginia Tech stream ecologist who now works for the U.S. Geological Survey. "What we have now shown is that these organisms are also indicators of public health." ...	Aren't our lives secondary to our livelihoods? ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Apr 22, 2010 from BBC: 'Paltry' Copenhagen carbon pledges point to 3 degree C rise Pledges made at December's UN summit in Copenhagen are unlikely to keep global warming below 2C, a study concludes. Writing in the journal Nature, analysts at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impacts Research in Germany say a rise of at least 3C by 2100 is likely.... "There's a big mismatch between the ambitious goal, which is 2C... and the emissions reductions," said Potsdam's Malte Meinshausen. "The pledged emissions reductions are in most cases very unambitious," he told BBC News. In their Nature article, the team uses stronger language, describing the pledges as "paltry".... "In an ideal world, if you pull off every possible emission reduction from the year 2021 onwards, you can still get to get to 2C if you're lucky," said Dr Meinshausen. "But it is like racing towards the cliff and hoping you stop just before it." They argue that positive analyses may "lull decision-makers into a false sense of security". ...	Let's see if anti-masculine epithets get some action: they're "wimpy," "hapless," "impotent" pledges. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Apr 21, 2010 from Associated Press: Oil rig explodes off Louisiana coast; 11 missing Rescuers in helicopters and boats searched the Gulf of Mexico for 11 missing workers Wednesday after a thunderous explosion rocked a huge oil drilling platform and lit up the night sky with a pillar of flame. Seventeen people were injured, four critically. The blast Tuesday night aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig 50 miles off the Louisiana coast could prove to be one of the nation's deadliest offshore drilling accidents of the past half-century...The rig was tilting as much as 10 degrees after the blast, but earlier fears that it might topple over appeared unfounded. Coast Guard environmental teams were on standby, though officials said the damage to the environment appeared minimal so far. ...	Apparently, the air itself isn't part of the environment. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Apr 21, 2010 from CBC: Tuna mercury levels vary by species Despite their findings about grocery store tuna, the researchers say their study shows that all species exceed or approach levels permissible by Canada, the EU, Japan, the U.S., and the World Health Organization. Mercury is a naturally occurring element and a serious health hazard. Chronic exposure can damage the brain, spinal cord, kidneys, liver and developing fetus. Exposure in the womb can lead to neuro-developmental problems in children. In general, mercury levels are significantly higher in lean fish because it has an affinity for muscle and not fatty tissue. That means higher levels in bluefin akami (sushi from lean, dark red tuna) and all bigeye tuna than in bluefin toro (sushi from fatty tuna) and yellowfin tuna akami. The researchers caution that there seem to be other factors involved. Although yellowfin tuna is very lean, it tends to have less mercury, likely because the fish are typically smaller than other tuna and are harvested at a younger age. In addition, yellowfin are tropical and don't need to eat as much as warm-blooded bigeye tuna and bluefin tuna to maintain their energy level. That could mean yellowfin tuna don't increase their level of toxins as quickly as other species. ...	When did heavy metals in our food become the new normal? ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Apr 21, 2010 from Scientific American (per DesdemonaDespair): Antarctica ice sheets: 'Our models may be dramatically underestimating' danger Withered by summer heat, Arctic sea ice has shrunk to record low coverage several times since 2005, only to rebound to within 95 percent of its long-term average extent this winter. By comparison, Antarctica, with some 90 percent of the world's glacial reserves, has generally shed ice in more stately fashion. However, emerging evidence from an Antarctic geological research drilling program known as ANDRILL suggests that the southernmost continent has had a much more dynamic history than previously suspected--one that could signal an abrupt shrinkage of its ice sheets at some unknown greenhouse gas threshold, possibly starting in this century. Especially troubling, scientists see evidence in the geological data that could mean the vast East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which holds at least four-fifths of the continent's ice, is less resistant to melting than previously thought.... According to the simulation, the East ice sheet melts only when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are at least eight times higher than preindustrial levels. The ice sheet's so-called hysteresis, or resistance to change, is now in doubt. Modeler and geologist Robert DeConto of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, says the policy implications are grim. "Our models may be dramatically underestimating how much worse it's going to get," he says, noting that many population centers worldwide are within a few meters of sea level. Looking at signs of meltwater in the early Miocene, DeConto says, "we're seeing ice retreat faster and more dramatically than any model predicts." ...	Hysteresical. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Apr 21, 2010 from Great Falls Tribune: FWP: Monsanto knew paint was harmful Property owners are teaming with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks to try to force Monsanto Chemical Co. to pay millions to clean up chemicals contaminating a blue-ribbon trout stream here, but the company says the contamination is FWP's fault. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, a long-lasting pollutant, have tainted waters downstream from the Big Spring Trout Hatchery five miles south of here. The PCBs were contained in the paint FWP used since the 1960s to paint raceways at the hatchery. Paint chips eventually made it into the creek, contaminating fish downstream. The hatchery's raceways are concrete, rectangular-shaped pools where fish are reared... Monsanto attorney Thomas Carney disputed Oaas' allegations. He also said Monsanto "didn't have anything to do with putting paint chips in to the creek." ...	We call that The Monsanto Clause. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Apr 21, 2010 from Associated Press: International Court of Justice backs paper mill, says Uruguay and Argentina must cooperate A U.N. court rejected Argentina's claims Tuesday that a Uruguayan pulp mill is pumping dangerous pollution into the river on their mutual border, angering Argentine protesters who have waged a three-year campaign against the mill. The dispute over the mills has soured normally friendly relations between the countries, with Argentine protesters blockading a key bridge over the river. Uruguayans hoped that the court ruling would lead quickly to the reopening of the international bridge between Guayleguachu, Argentina, and Fray Bentos, Uruguay. But activists blocking the bridge Tuesday reacted angrily to the verdict and vowed not to give up their fight, raising the possibility of a violent confrontation if Argentine police intervene. Watching on a big screen beside their roadblock, many shouted and cried, complaining that the court let them down. ...	Father, why have you forsaken us? ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Apr 20, 2010 from Dayton Daily News: $44M in crops threatened by high honeybee deaths through winter Think the 2009-10 winter was tough on you? Consider the state's honeybees. An estimated 50 to 70 percent of hives kept by beekeepers died, said Cindy Kalis, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Agriculture. The losses are in keeping with heavy fatality rates experienced since 2006 -- a year when 600,000 bee colonies in the U.S. mysteriously fled their homes and disappeared, said James Tew, Ohio State University's state honeybee specialist. "The average person should care," he said. "Bees of all species are fundamental to the operation of our ecosystem." ...	Then as an above average person, I should care a lot! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Apr 20, 2010 from Hartford Courant: Deadly Bat Fungus Appears To Be Spreading It's the grim news that wildlife biologists have dreaded all winter: Officials from the state Department of Environmental Protection will confirm this morning that population counts of hibernating bats show that they continue to be decimated by the disease known as white-nose syndrome, and that some species might even be threatened with extinction... in one Litchfield County cave from 2007 to 2009, the population of little brown bats plummeted from 2,320 to 108, results that are expected to be even more ominous when the DEP announces its cave counts today... Bats are one of nature's most efficient filters. Individual bats can consume as many as 1,200 mosquitoes and flies an hour as they flit around at night, making them a vital insect-control species. Some species -- such as Connecticut's big brown bat -- also are critical to agriculture because they consume large hatches of insects and moths that swarm upon crops. ...	I'm buyin' stock in bug zappers! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Apr 20, 2010 from Los Angeles Times: Foes of California's global warming law pour money into a campaign to delay it Oil companies and conservative activists poured nearly $1 million last week into their campaign to place an initiative on the November ballot that would delay enforcement of California's global warming law. The effort, which also sought to enlist "tea party" activists, came as organizers failed to meet their original goal of gathering the 433,000 necessary signatures by Friday. But with the infusion of $930,000 to pay signature gatherers, bringing the total to $1.9 million, "We will all do what it takes to win," said Assemblyman Dan Logue (R-Marysville), an initiative backer. "This will be an epic battle like no other between environmental extremism and job growth." ...	This makes me feel all logey. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Apr 20, 2010 from KTVU: Climate Damage Confirmed To Be Serious, Extensive Internationally respected Mbari ocean chemist Peter Brewer says 85 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from automobiles and fossil fuel power plants, their output equaling a million tons of carbon dioxide every hour dissolving into the ocean. "In the long term future, where there'll be a huge swath of ocean, that will be inhospitable to marine life," said Brewer. Research published Friday suggested that deep oceans are hiding heat that will likely accelerate global warming, spawn repeated El Nino's and quicken ocean catastrophes.... The net effect experts say, is greenhouse gas levels are greater now and rising faster than at any time humans have been on earth "We're putting so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that the biosphere just can't catch up," said Baldocchi.... But scientists like Brewer and Baldocchi are pessimistic, saying climate change is happening too fast. "I think we're going to have these changes, I wish we didn't, we better work hard to try and undo them, but right now there's not a good path for doing that," said Brewer. "Sure we'll live, we'll survive, it just might not be a very nice world.," said Baldocchi. ...	I ain't fallin' for it. I demand a 145,322nd opinion. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Apr 20, 2010 from KIRO TV (Seattle): Researchers Say Dead Gray Whale Filled With Garbage Researchers said a dead gray whale discovered on West Seattle's Arroyo Beach last Wednesday was filled with a variety of debris, reported KIRO 7 Eyewitness News. Cascadia Research Collective, which has performed hundreds of whale necropsies, said it has never seen so much debris in the stomach of a gray whale. Researchers said items found inside the gray whale included small towels, sweatpants, plastic bags, surgical gloves, a golf ball and small bits of plastic. Though the volume of junk was unusual, scientists said the debris was probably not what killed the whale. The cause of the whale's death is still being investigated. ...	I bet it was the sweatpants. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Apr 20, 2010 from Telegraph.co.uk: Frogs threatened by climate change Scientists looked at records of frogspawn over the last decade recorded by thousands of people in Britain, including viewers of BBC's Springwatch. The record of 50,000 sightings of frogspawn showed that the amphibians lay their eggs earlier as the temperature warms. Frogs in the south often spawn more than a week earlier to make sure their young have the best chance. But this sensitivity to the local environment makes frogs particularly vulnerable to climate change. Even modest predictions for Britain, that will see temperatures rise by around 2C (3.6F) over the next 50 years, will be too much for the frogs to cope with. "For frog populations to keep in step with medial projections of climate change for 2050-2070, they may need to spawn about 30 days earlier. Their current flexibility, however, may only enable them to spawn seven days earlier," he said. "It's unlikely that frogs will be able to evolve sufficiently rapidly." ...	The studly junior-high frogs won't mind that at all. 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, Apr 20, 2010 from Greenwire: Iconic Status Can't Spare Grand Canyon From Myriad Threats From the rim, the Grand Canyon, 15 miles wide at its most expansive and a mile deep, looks like one of the wildest, most timeless places on earth... But a closer look reveals a canyon ecosystem that has been deeply altered by human forces. And today, the park is facing an unprecedented convergence of threats, the long-term effects of which are largely unknown... But as more and more people have followed Roosevelt's advice -- about 4.5 million tourists visit the Grand Canyon each year, compared to about 44,000 in 1918, the year Congress elevated the monument to national park status -- pressures on the unique environment have increased in ways Roosevelt likely could not have foreseen. A major upstream dam now regulates the Colorado River's flow through the park and has rendered the river unnaturally clear and cool. And invasive species like salt cedar and trout are crowding out native species such as willow and the endangered humpback chub. ...	Tourists: the most invasive species of all. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Apr 20, 2010 from Folio: The Atlantic, Mother Jones, Others Collaborate on Environmental Editorial Project A major partnership that has been in the works since last year has come to fruition. The Atlantic, Mother Jones and Wired, along with Slate, Grist, the Center for Investigative Reporting and PBS current-affairs program "Need to Know," have teamed up to launch Climate Desk, a project dedicated to exploring the impact of climate change. Hoping to tap into a combined online audience of more than 25 million monthly unique visitors, 1.5 million print readers and an anticipated TV audience of 1.5 million, the group will begin by publishing a series of articles exploring how American businesses are adapting to the liabilities, risks and opportunities surrounding climate change. During the final two weeks of April, two dozen stories on the topic will be posted to partner Web sites as well as to theclimatedesk.org. ...	It takes a village ... of media outlets. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Apr 19, 2010 from Public Radio International: Outbreak of rare disease in the Netherlands Q-fever, a bacterial infection transmitted by goats, moves from farms to larger population in the Netherlands.... [it] has now infected hundreds of people who have no contact with farms. Most people who contract the illness come down with flu-like symptoms or pneumonia for a few weeks, but some are sick for months and a handful have died.... "It's always been an occupational disease of farmers, slaughter house personnel and veterinarians," said Jos van de Sande, an infectious disease expert at the public health department in the Dutch province of Brabant. But recently, many who have no connection to farms are coming down with Q-fever and the number of patients is growing. Three years ago the Netherlands had fewer than 200 cases. Last year, it had more than 2,000, and at least nine people have died. It's not clear why the disease is spreading. Jos van de Sande says the bacteria may have mutated. "And now Q-fever is spread by the wind, and the whole population can get it." ...	Q-fever is going trip-trap, trip-trap over the winds. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Apr 19, 2010 from NUVO Newsweekly: Bill McKibben's must-read "Eaarth" Bill McKibben, the writer who first brought the reality of global warming to the mainstream reader 20 years ago with The End of Nature, is understandably feeling a little dark. Well, not a little dark, a lot dark. And who can blame him. The past twenty years have created more carbons, more methane, and more pain. Progress is hard to find; hope even harder. And so he intentionally misspells our planet's name to make a point: that we no longer live on the same planet. McKibben describes this old planet in this way. "For the ten thousand years that constitute human civilization, we've existed in the sweetest of sweet spots." This "sweet spot" has turned sour, and the first half of Eaarth is a relentless, panoramic accounting of just how bad it's gotten, worldwide, from artic melt to extreme weather to the growth of dengue fever. This litany of global woe, he says, "Should come as body blows, as mortar barrages, as sickening thuds... Name a major feature of the earth's surface and you'll find massive change." ...	Me? I'm building a rocketship to Maars. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Apr 19, 2010 from BBC: Bolivian villagers want compensation as glaciers melt An idea has taken root there - that those who have caused the snow to retreat and the waters to slow should be brought before an international court.... What they want is an international court of environmental justice, an idea that is being pushed by Evo Morales, Bolivia's president. "We are very worried because we have no water. Half the people of this community have already left. Those who remain are struggling with the lack of water," says Max, an elderly Aymara Indian who chews coca leaves as he speaks in heavily-accented Spanish.... "The weather has drastically changed and it is now two or three times hotter than it was. We cannot water our crops and the sun and the heat are very strong. Our crops are dry now, our animals are dying; we want to cry," Max says, before asking their Andean goddess, Pachamama or Mother Earth, for help. ...	I completely understand! But please don't tax my consumer habits. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Apr 19, 2010 from Gannnett: "Polluter pays" tax sought to fund cleanup of Superfund sites A former dye-making plant in Toms River is still on a list of highly contaminated Superfund sites, even after decades of cleanup work. But it's not the only Superfund site in New Jersey where cleanup has been complex and drawn out. Of the 112 New Jersey sites on the Superfund environmental cleanup program's National Priorities List, 50 have been on the list since 1983. Sen. Frank Lautenberg and Rep. Frank J. Pallone Jr., both D-N.J., have introduced a bill to reinstate a controversial "polluter pays" tax on the chemical and petroleum industries to finance Superfund cleanups nationwide. Supporters of the proposal say reviving the tax, which expired in 1995, would pay to hasten cleanups of "orphan" sites whose former owners can't be located or have gone bankrupt. ...	The moribund Superfund may have found its superheroes! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Apr 19, 2010 from Environmental Research Web: Where has all the heat gone? In a commentary in today's issue of Science, Kevin Trenberth and John Fasullo of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, US, identify a large and growing amount of solar energy that appears to have been absorbed by the Earth - but has yet to turn up in terrestrial measurements.... Trenberth told physicsworld.com that the discrepancy probably lies in the environment's largest heat reservoir. "I would say that the missing heat is mainly in the ocean," he argues.... Scientists already know the Southern Oscillation involves the absorption of solar energy by the Pacific Ocean during "La Nina" years and its release into the atmosphere during "El Nino" years - leading to significant changes in weather patterns in the Americas. An El Nino began in 2009 and looks set to continue in 2010. Trenberth believes that it might result in much of the missing energy resurfacing - but adds that current data gathering and analysis techniques mean that it could be a year or two before we know. "One can argue that we should develop a system to do this in closer to real time as part of the new climate services," he said. ...	There go those scientists -- theorizing again! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Apr 19, 2010 from SciDev.net: Modified plant clears up deadly cyanobacteria water toxin A team at St George's Medical School, part of the UK-based University of London, has modified tobacco plants to secrete antibodies from the roots that then bind to microcystin-LR -- the most common cyanobacteria toxin in water -- rendering it harmless. "A toxin that is bound to antibodies should be easier to remove from the environment and also is likely to be less harmful," said Pascal Drake, a biotechnology researcher at St George's Centre for Infection. The antibodies could also be used in simple and cheap tests to see if toxins are present in water supplies, he said. Tobacco plants, grown hydroponically in the lab, were chosen for the first phase of this research, reported last month (March) in The FASEB Journal, because "they are easy to work with and genetically engineer", said Drake. The next step will be to try and modify aquatic plants, which will be more suitable for large-scale treatment of water. Drake anticipated that this "wouldn't be too problematic". ...	Antibody beautiful. Or just Anti-Body, depending. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Apr 19, 2010 from BBC: UK water use 'worsening global crisis,' 'unsustainable.' The amount of water used to produce food and goods imported by developed countries is worsening water shortages in the developing world, a report says. The report, focusing on the UK, says two-thirds of the water used to make UK imports is used outside its borders.... "We must take account of how our water footprint is impacting on the rest of the world," said Professor Roger Falconer, director of the Hydro-Environmental Research Centre at Cardiff University and a member of the report's steering committee.... Embedded in a pint of beer, for example, is about 130 pints (74 litres) of water - the total amount needed to grow the ingredients and run all the processes that make the pint of beer. A cup of coffee embeds about 140 litres (246 pints) of water, a cotton T-shirt about 2,000 litres, and a kilogram of steak 15,000 litres. ...	I didn't know you could concentrate water. ApocaDoc permalink