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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from

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Species Collapse:	(1)
Plague/Virus:	()
Climate Chaos:	(7)
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This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
global warming ~ carbon emissions ~ ecosystem interrelationships ~ governmental idiocy ~ coal issues ~ efficiency increase ~ people rise up ~ corporate farming ~ health impacts ~ unintended consequences ~ contamination

ApocaDocuments (23) gathered this week:
Sun, Oct 3, 2010 from ACS, via EurekAlert: A painless way to achieve huge energy savings: Stop wasting food Scientists have identified a way that the United States could immediately save the energy equivalent of about 350 million barrels of oil a year -- without spending a penny or putting a ding in the quality of life: Just stop wasting food.... people in the U.S. waste about 27 percent of their food. The scientists realized that the waste might represent a largely unrecognized opportunity to conserve energy and help control global warming.... That represents about 2 percent of annual energy consumption in the U.S. ...	But just think of the lost agribusiness profits! ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Oct 3, 2010 from Huffington Post: EPA Seeks To Regulate Toxic Chemical, Perchlorate, Under Safe Drinking Water Act, Reversing Bush Administration Decision The Environmental Protection Agency wants to regulate a toxic chemical used in rocket fuel that has contaminated drinking water supplies, reversing a decision made under the Bush administration. A government official briefed by the EPA told The Associated Press on Thursday night that the agency has proposed that the chemical, perchlorate, be regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The official, who did not want to be named because a final decision has not been made, said the plan is now under interagency review. Perchlorate has been found in drinking water in at least 35 states at levels high enough to interfere with thyroid function and pose developmental problems in humans, particularly for babies and fetuses. The Defense Department used perchlorate for decades in testing rockets and missiles, and most perchlorate contamination stems from defense and aerospace activities. In 2008, under President George W. Bush, the EPA decided against regulating the chemical, saying that setting a federal standard would do little to reduce risks to public health. That decision angered environmentalists and Democratic lawmakers. ...	If we remove all the drinking water contaminants, what will motivate us to sustain the bottled-water economy? ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Oct 1, 2010 from Reuters: Analysis: Soaring Chinese Economy At Odds With Climate Goals Just last year experts at the International Energy Agency proposed a target for China's carbon emissions to peak in 2020 before declining if the world were to be saved from devastating climate change. Too late now. Figures from energy firm BP showed earlier this year that Chinese emissions will steamroll through the Paris-based IEA's 2020 peak target next year, nearly a decade early, with no sign of slowing down. China, which hosts U.N. climate talks next week for the first time, is promoting what it calls ambitious plans to boost energy efficiency and curb emissions. But its supercharged growth means even with rapid efficiency gains it cancels out other global efforts to combat climate change. China already emits a quarter of the world's CO2, the main gas contributing to global warming, making it the world's top emitter ahead of the United States. Its emissions have more than doubled since 2000. ...	There is no stopping this bull in the china shop called earth. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Oct 1, 2010 from Washington Post: FCC changes cellphone safety guidance The Federal Communications Commission has changed its guidance to cellphone users worried about the health effects of wireless devices, dropping a long-standing recommendation that concerned consumers purchase phones with lower levels of radiation emissions... In its revised guidance, the FCC said that data on a phone's radiation emissions is not a useful gauge of the risk posed by any device. The updated language omitted a previous suggestion that users buy phones with lower specific absorption rates, a measure of the rate of radio-frequency energy absorbed by the human body. The FCC now says that any phone approved by the FCC has passed its absorption tests and is safe.... "The FCC requires that cell phone manufacturers conduct their SAR testing to include the most severe, worst-case (and highest power) operating conditions for all the frequency bands used in the USA for that cell phone," the agency wrote on its consumer and governmental affairs section of its Web site on Sept. 20. ...	FCC you! ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Oct 1, 2010 from Addison County Independent: Groups gear up for global climate work day On Sunday, Oct. 10, Bill McKibben is hosting a party, and everyone is invited. But don't expect to find finger foods or karaoke at this shindig -- party games will include building a solar panel out of soda cans, planting a community garden or even converting cars to run on vegetable oil. The "10/10/10 Global Work Party" is a way for McKibben and 350.org, the international organization devoted to solving climate crisis, to encourage people, worldwide, to get busy and get to work in their own communities on solving the global warming issue. ...	We're gettin' busy, jokin' it up at ApocaDocs. Click on the 350 logo and start quipping! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Sep 30, 2010 from Climatewire: Obama Promises to Push Climate Policies 'in Chunks' Next Year President Obama's newest pledge to resume an "urgent priority" on climate change next year could mark a new direction by Democrats that veers away from the politically hazardous effort to cut the bulk of national carbon emissions in one sprawling measure... "We may end up having to do it in chunks, as opposed to some sort of comprehensive omnibus legislation," he added. "But we're going to stay on this because it is good for our economy, it's good for our national security, and, ultimately, it's good for our environment." ...	This approach makes me want to contribute my own chunks. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Sep 30, 2010 from NUVO Newsweekly: A ringside seat at the end of the world: Get your hands dirty For those of you have seen a couple of my columns, you might get the impression I'm just sitting around in my ringside seat, passively consuming news stories and grousing about the end of the world (as we know it). Nay, no. This year, I volunteered as head of the Trash Committee for my annual neighborhood festival that benefits our community association. It's a big deal for my sweet little neighborhood: hundreds of people show up, thousands of bucks are generated. Though we have our political and cultural disagreements, we come together for the larger benefit of the community, which is the way life should be. So. First thing I did as head of the Trash Committee was to change the name to the Waste Committee. It's a slight but significant shift in nomenclature. Trash is one thing. Waste is another. ...	This is my new column... and you can save the planet by reading it! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Sep 30, 2010 from Wall Street Journal: Report Criticizes Coal Mine Regulators The Labor Department's inspector general found that federal regulators failed over the past three decades to enact tougher oversight at coal mines with a history of serious safety violations. In a blistering report, the inspector general said the Mine Safety and Health Administration didn't use its full authority to police mines granted in the 1977 Mine Act. The report found that between 1990 and 2007, the agency didn't place a single mine on a list as having a pattern of violations that would trigger stiffer enforcement, even though many mines had hundreds of serious violations. The mine-safety agency was "hampered by a lack of leadership...across various administrations" that allowed the rule-making process to stall as it fell victim to "the competing interests of the industry, the operators, and the unions representing the miners," wrote Elliot P. Lewis, the Labor Department's assistant inspector general, in his report to the head of the mine-safety agency, Joseph A. Main. ...	Sad truth is, due to coal's erosive impact on the planet, we are all canaries! ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Sep 29, 2010 from Associated Press: Could 'Goldilocks' planet be just right for life? Astronomers say they have for the first time spotted a planet beyond our own in what is sometimes called the Goldilocks zone for life: Not too hot, not too cold. Juuuust right. Not too far from its star, not too close. So it could contain liquid water. The planet itself is neither too big nor too small for the proper surface, gravity and atmosphere. It's just right. Just like Earth. "This really is the first Goldilocks planet," said co-discoverer R. Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The new planet sits smack in the middle of what astronomers refer to as the habitable zone, unlike any of the nearly 500 other planets astronomers have found outside our solar system. And it is in our galactic neighborhood, suggesting that plenty of Earth-like planets circle other stars. ...	When we're done with this planet we can go mess up another! ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Sep 29, 2010 from SPX: Wildfires: A Symptom Of Climate Change This summer, wildfires swept across some 22 regions of Russia, blanketing the country with dense smoke and in some cases destroying entire villages. In the foothills of Boulder, Colo., this month, wildfires exacted a similar toll on a smaller scale. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Thousands of wildfires large and small are underway at any given time across the globe. Beyond the obvious immediate health effects, this "biomass" burning is part of the equation for global warming. In northern latitudes, wildfires actually are a symptom of the Earth's warming. ...	"Global burning" is so much more dramatic a term than "global warming." ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Sep 29, 2010 from London Guardian: One in five plant species face extinction One in five of the world's plant species - the basis of all life on earth - are at risk of extinction, according to a landmark study published today. At first glance, the 20 percent figure looks far better than the previous official estimate of almost three-quarters, but the announcement is being greeted with deep concern. The previous estimate that 70 percent of plants were either critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable was based on what scientists universally acknowledged were studies heavily biased towards species already thought to be under threat. Today the first ever comprehensive assessment of plants, from giant tropical rainforests to the rarest of delicate orchids, concludes the real figure is at least 22 percent. It could well be higher because hundreds of species being discovered by scientists each year are likely to be in the "at risk" category. ...	If only that 22 percent was comprised solely of kudzu. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Sep 29, 2010 from Stanford University via ScienceDaily: Solar Cells Thinner Than Wavelengths of Light Hold Huge Power Potential Ultra-thin solar cells can absorb sunlight more efficiently than the thicker, more expensive-to-make silicon cells used today, because light behaves differently at scales around a nanometer (a billionth of a meter), say Stanford engineers. They calculate that by properly configuring the thicknesses of several thin layers of films, an organic polymer thin film could absorb as much as 10 times more energy from sunlight than was thought possible. ...	Less is always more. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Sep 28, 2010 from WBAL-TV Baltimore: What Is Energy Star? What Gets Certified? Greg Kutz, a managing director of forensic audits and special investigations for the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress... and his team put the Energy Star certification program to the test by setting up four bogus companies. They gave the bogus companies creative names, such as Tropical Thunder, Spartan Digital Electronics, Cool Rapport and Futurizon Solar Innovations. Over a period of several months, the made-up companies submitted bogus products in an effort to get the coveted Energy Star certification. "We started with basic things like computer monitors, refrigerators, dishwashers," Kutz said. "Once we saw how easily those where being certified, we went to more egregious things like the gas-powered alarm clock." ...	Now that's what I call a real wake-up call. 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!
Tue, Sep 28, 2010 from Associated Press: Peabody looks to expand southern Ill. coal mine Peabody Energy Corp. said Monday it expects to spend $175 million to expand one of its southern Illinois coal mines by 40 percent, extending by 16 years the life of a site that environmental critics believe has no business getting bigger... "We are expanding Gateway [Mine] to serve one of the fastest-growing markets in the United States," said Gregory Boyce, chairman and chief executive at Peabody, which fuels roughly one-tenth of all U.S. electricity generation and more than 2 percent worldwide. The Sierra Club's Illinois chapter worries that broadening Gateway could fan pollution of the area's water and air. But the group's Joyce Blumenshine said challenging Peabody's push beyond just a public hearing could be a David-vs.-Goliath scenario the cost-conscious agency may not be able to afford. ...	Wait a minute. Doesn't David win? ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Sep 28, 2010 from 350.org: Philippines Kicking Off 10 Action Plans Leading Towards 10/10/10! I [350.org's Abe Woo] just got a email update from our great organizer, Marjorie from the Philippines. Marj and her group of youth leaders are busy and getting to work now with their 10 action plans leading towards 10/10/10 Global Work Party. Here is an update of their event: It's still two weeks before 10/10/10 but the everywhere around the globe, people are already busy doing actions for the climate, not to mention the preparations for actual day of the Global Work Party. Here in the Philippines, Agham Youth initiated the build-up activity for 10/10/10 through the gREen Thumbs for the Climate. This signature campaign that will run from September 22-30 aims to raise awareness on the effects of coal on our climate. It is also designed provide information on the vast renewable energy resources of the Philippines that can be utilized to help reach 350ppm. The signatures supporting the use of carbon-free renewable energy resources in the Philippines as alternative to coal were made in the form of green thumb marks on the leaf-less trees. As the supporters increased, so did the leaves of the trees, symbolizing the rehabilitation of our environment through the organized efforts of the people to save our planet. ...	And you can join our 10/10/10 action by joking it up with us! Let's get to work/play! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Sep 28, 2010 from London Independent: GM maize 'has polluted rivers across the United States' An insecticide used in genetically modified (GM) crops grown extensively in the United States and other parts of the world has leached into the water of the surrounding environment. The insecticide is the product of a bacterial gene inserted into GM maize and other cereal crops to protect them against insects such as the European corn borer beetle. Scientists have detected the insecticide in a significant number of streams draining the great corn belt of the American mid-West. The researchers detected the bacterial protein in the plant detritus that was washed off the corn fields into streams up to 500 metres away. They are not yet able to determine how significant this is in terms of the risk to either human health or the wider environment. ...	We will never find a way out of our polluted labyrinth. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Sep 27, 2010 from New York Times: Move Over, Bedbugs: Stink Bugs Have Landed ...Damage to fruit and vegetable crops from stink bugs in Middle Atlantic states has reached critical levels, according to a government report. That is in addition to the headaches the bugs are giving homeowners who cannot keep them out of their living rooms -- especially the people who unwittingly step on them. When stink bugs are crushed or become irritated, they emit a pungent odor that is sometimes described as skunklike. Suddenly, the bedbug has competition for pest of the year. Farmers in Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other states are battling a pest whose appetite has left dry boreholes in everything from apples and grapes to tomatoes and soybeans. Stink bugs have made their mark on 20 percent of the apple crop at Mr. Masser's Scenic View Orchards here. Other farmers report far worse damage. ...	We can only hope the stink bugs won't get into bed with the bedbugs. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Sep 27, 2010 from Newcastle Herald: Activists shut down Newcastle coal exports Climate activists brought Newcastle's billion-dollar coal-loaders to a grinding halt yesterday, suspending themselves midair to effectively shut down the world's largest coal export operation. Police arrested 41 members of the Rising Tide group, which launched a simultaneous protest at three coal-loader sites at dawn yesterday. The group said it was staging an "emergency intervention" into the main cause of global warming in Australia. Nine protesters dressed in high-visibility work clothing, similar to employees at the loaders, breached security at the Carrington and Kooragang Island sites about 5am. Five of the group used climbing equipment to scale coal-loaders and suspend themselves in midair, unveiling banners and forcing the immediate shutdown of machinery. ...	They sound like angels! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Sep 27, 2010 from AolNews: Diesel Dangers: Mining Companies Get First Look at Government Cancer Study A long-delayed government epidemiological study of possible ties between diesel exhaust and lung cancer in miners may finally be published this fall -- but only after a mining industry group, represented by the Washington lobbying powerhouse Patton Boggs, finishes a pre-publication review of the study's drafts. Eighteen years in the making and eagerly awaited by public health officials, the cancer study evaluates more than 12,000 current and former workers from eight mines that produce commodities other than coal. Its goal is to determine whether ultrafine diesel particulate matter -- a component of exhaust from diesel-powered machinery -- poses a serious hazard to miners in confined spaces. ...	They just want to dot a few "i" and cross a few "t"s! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Sep 27, 2010 from Telegraph.co.uk: Consumer backlash against 'super dairies' could create new label for 'free range milk' But he warned of a "consumer backlash" that could lead to a demand for "free range milk". "They [super dairies] will fill a market for milk that is produced in vast quantities and is cheap to collect but there will be a backlash from consumers so maybe they will be best selling their milk into processing rather than into liquid markets," he told the Farmers Guardian. "It is probably good news for organic farmers because one of the organic standards is that cattle have to graze. Anything that raises consumer awareness of organic farming is good. "I think it could also open the door to a free range milk brand as well, something which is probably long overdue."... But it is common to keep thousands of animals indoors in the US and the Continent where robots milk the cows and the animals only have limited time outside.... She said even the limited time outside is unlikely to be 'green pasture' because the animals are bred to need constant feeding and milking. ...	Thousands of meat objects attached all day to robotic milkers? What's to object to? The quarterly earnings are great! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Sep 27, 2010 from Technische Universitaet Muenchen, via EurekAlert: Rapid test to save Indian vultures from extinction Diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory agent, has been deployed successfully in human medicine for decades. In most EU countries medication containing Diclofenac is only approved for treatment of humans. In India, Pakistan and Nepal it has been deployed in veterinary medicine as well since the 90s, in particular for livestock. When vultures feed on cattle carcasses, they too ingest the drug. As a result, the populations of three species of these birds of prey - the Indian vulture, the Oriental white-backed vulture and the slender-billed vulture - have shrunk to a mere three percent of their original number. In light of this situation, the governments of the affected countries banned the use of Diclofenac in veterinary medicine in 2006. Furthermore, centers for breeding and subsequent re-introduction of vultures into the wild have been set up and are enjoying considerable support from the British Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). However, it will take at least ten years before the first birds can be released back into the wild.... Raising the bird offspring with Diclofenac-free food, necessitates testing meat for possible traces of the drug. This calls for analytical detection methods that can be administered in remote breeding centers by staff with little or no professional training. The scientists of the Chair for Analytical Chemistry at the Institute for Hydrochemistry and Chemical Balneology at the TU Muenchen have now developed just such a method. ...	Vultures shall once again pick at our decaying carcasses! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Sep 27, 2010 from Food Safety News: Ag Secretary Vilsack Asked to Clarify Position on Antibiotics Overuse U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) have asked the Obama administration to clarify its position on antibiotic use in food animals.... Responding to a question about legislation Slaughter and Feinstein have proposed, Vilsack reportedly said the use of antibiotics in livestock production cannot be banned, adding "USDA's public position is, and always has been, that antibiotics need to be used judiciously, and we believe they already are."... Those draft FDA recommendations, released for public comment in June, were immediately questioned by industry groups. But some say FDA's proposed guidelines do not go far enough.... According to estimates by the Union of Concerned Scientists, some 50 million pounds -- 70 percent of antibiotics used in the United States each year -- are mixed into animal feed or drinking water to promote growth or compensate for crowded conditions. Meanwhile, there is growing evidence that the antibiotics in meat have led to antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria and have already made some drugs ineffective. ...	Not to worry. We'll just designate antibiotics as a "nutritional supplement." Problem solved. ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Sep 27, 2010 from EnvironmentalResearchWeb: Geoengineering: nanoparticles could beat sulphates Most geoengineering research today considers the effects of adding sulphate particles to the atmosphere. But David Keith of Canada's University of Calgary reckons that nanoparticles could overcome at least some of the problems such a solution would bring.... "Engineered nanoparticles would first need to be tested in laboratories, with only short-lived particles initially deployed in the atmosphere so any effects could be easily reversible," said Keith. In his paper Keith considers the geoengineering potential of a 50 nm-thick disk with a radius of roughly 5 microns.... While Keith believes that it is worth researching the potential of such nanoparticles, he says their use would create more unknowns than sulphate particles, which volcanoes have already released into the atmosphere. "We lack the direct natural analogue provided by volcanic injection of sulphur dioxide," he writes in PNAS. "This lack of analogue means that we should be more concerned about unexpected side effects, unknown unknowns, and consider how a careful progression from testing to monitored subscale deployment could constrain the risks."... According to Keith, geoengineering cannot offset the risks that come from increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. "If we don't halt man-made carbon dioxide emissions, no amount of climate engineering can eliminate the problems - massive emissions reductions are still necessary," he said. ...	A geoengineer with humility? What's up with that? ApocaDoc permalink