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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from

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Species Collapse:	(2)
Plague/Virus:	()
Climate Chaos:	(8)
Resource Depletion:	(1)
Biology Breach:	(6)
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This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
global warming ~ anthropogenic change ~ health impacts ~ contamination ~ carbon emissions ~ koyaanisqatsi ~ deniers ~ drought ~ water issues ~ unintended consequences ~ death spiral

ApocaDocuments (18) gathered this week:
Sun, Jun 12, 2011 from AP, via PhysOrg: More than 600 sickened by lead poisoning in China More than 600 people, including 103 children, have been sickened in China's latest case of mass lead poisoning, state media reported Sunday. China has suffered widespread problems in recent years from heavy metal contamination, with thousands of children affected by lead poisoning in several provinces in 2009 and 2010 because they lived near metal smelters or battery factories. The victims in the latest case were workers and their children in 25 family-run tinfoil processing workshops in Yangxunqiao town in Zhejiang province in eastern China, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.... Last month, 74 people were detained and production was suspended at hundreds of battery factories in the same province after dozens of people were sickened by lead and cadmium poisoning. ...	The free market works in mysterious ways. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Jun 12, 2011 from Guardian: Explosion in jellyfish numbers may lead to ecological disaster, warn scientists Global warming has long been blamed for the huge rise in the world's jellyfish population. But new research suggests that they, in turn, may be worsening the problem by producing more carbon than the oceans can cope with.... The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that while bacteria are capable of absorbing the constituent carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other chemicals given off by most fish when they die, they cannot do the same with jellyfish. The invertebrates, populating the seas in ever-increasing numbers, break down into biomass with especially high levels of carbon, which the bacteria cannot absorb well. Instead of using it to grow, the bacteria breathe it out as carbon dioxide. This means more of the gas is released into the atmosphere.... Condon's research also found that the spike in jellyfish numbers is also turning the marine food cycle on its head. The creatures devour huge quantities of plankton, thus depriving small fish of the food they need. "This restricts the transfer of energy up the food chain because jellyfish are not readily consumed by other predators," said Condon. ...	There's a Nobel for whoever figures out how to turn jellyfish into oil. ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Jun 11, 2011 from New York Times: 1,000-Year Record Shows Unusual Snowpack Declines in Recent Decades -- Study While record-sized snowpack and attendant flooding in the Rocky Mountains have made headlines this spring, the long-term trend for snowpack levels in the Rockies tells quite a different story, according to climate scientists. Snowpack has in fact been declining in recent decades, and a new U.S. Geological Survey-led study shows the decrease since the 1980s is more significant than at any other time in the past 1,000 years.... After analyzing hundreds of thousands of tree rings, the researchers found only two instances of sustained low snowpack in the northern Rockies comparable to the 20th century from about 1300 to 1330 and about 1511 to 1530. However, those dips were not as severe as current declines. "You have a pretty severe early 20th century and especially a post-1980s decline that is really isn't matched most anywhere in the paleo-climate record," Pederson said. ...	It suspiciously corresponds with the rise of snowboarding! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Jun 11, 2011 from FAO, from DesdemonaDespair: Climate change to have major impacts on water for farming An acceleration of the world's hydrological cycle is anticipated as rising temperatures increase the rate of evaporation from land and sea. Rainfall will increase in the tropics and higher latitudes, but decrease in already dry semi-arid to mid-arid latitudes and in the interior of large continents. A greater frequency in droughts and floods will need to be planned for but already, water scarce areas of the world are expected to become drier and hotter. Even though estimates of groundwater recharge under climate change cannot be made with any certainty, the increasing frequency of drought can be expected to encourage further development of available groundwater to buffer the production risk for farmers.... Increased temperatures will lengthen the growing season in northern temperate zones but will reduce the length almost everywhere else. Coupled with increased rates of evapotranspiration this will cause the yield potential and water productivity of crops to decline. "Both the livelihoods of rural communities as well as the food security of city populations are at risk," said FAO Assistant Director General for Natural Resources, Alexander Mueller. "But the rural poor, who are the most vulnerable, are likely to be disproportionately affected." ...	C'mon. All you have do is drill a few more wells, right? ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Jun 11, 2011 from Huffington Post: Flooding Mississippi May Have Spread Invasive Asian Carp While scientists have been battling to keep a ravenous, invasive fish species out of the Great Lakes, some worry that spring floods along the Mississippi River may be spreading the Asian carp downstream.... They can weigh up to 100 pounds, grow 4 feet long and live for 25 years. They could be crowding out food sources of native species for decades.... "We may now be finding them in lakes, ponds, bayous, anywhere the river water went. Those things will be full of carp now."... Most freshwater species cannot survive in a salty environment. But the carp can. "Asian carp unfortunately are the exception that can do fairly well in high-salinity water," Chapman said. How far the fish may spread because of the flood won't be known for some time, he said. ...	Isn't "carp" just the letters of "crap" trasnposed? ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jun 10, 2011 from BBC: Global warming since 1995 'now significant' By widespread convention, scientists use a minimum threshold of 95 percent to assess whether a trend is likely to be down to an underlying cause, rather than emerging by chance. If a trend meets the 95 percent threshold, it basically means that the odds of it being down to chance are less than one in 20. Last year's analysis, which went to 2009, did not reach this threshold; but adding data for 2010 takes it over the line. "The trend over the period 1995-2009 was significant at the 90 percent level, but wasn't significant at the standard 95 percent level that people use," Professor Jones told BBC News. "Basically what's changed is one more year [of data]. That period 1995-2009 was just 15 years - and because of the uncertainty in estimating trends over short periods, an extra year has made that trend significant at the 95 percent level which is the traditional threshold that statisticians have used for many years. "It just shows the difficulty of achieving significance with a short time series, and that's why longer series - 20 or 30 years - would be a much better way of estimating trends and getting significance on a consistent basis." ...	Now they tell us. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jun 10, 2011 from Reuters: Rising forest density offsets climate change: study Rising forest density in many countries is helping to offset climate change caused by deforestation from the Amazon basin to Indonesia, a study showed on Sunday. The report indicated that the size of trees in a forest -- rather than just the area covered -- needed to be taken into account more in U.N.-led efforts to put a price on forests as part of a nascent market to slow global warming. "Higher density means world forests are capturing more carbon," experts in Finland and the United States said of the study in the online journal PLoS One, issued on June 5 which is World Environment Day in the U.N. calendar.... And in Africa and South America, the total amount of carbon stored in forests fell at a slower rate than the loss of area, indicating that they had grown denser. And some countries still had big losses of carbon, including Indonesia and Argentina. The study did not try to estimate the overall trend, saying there was not yet enough data. ...	See? Proof that we can grow our way out of trouble. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jun 10, 2011 from Financial Times, on DesdemonaDespair: Danube river level falls to 100-year low, Europe's drought continues While southern Europe experienced a rather damp spring, much of northern Europe is in the midst of a drought. In France, the months of March and May were the hottest for more than a century, while England and Wales had their second-driest spring since 1910. Between January and April, "severe" rain deficits were recorded in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Hungary and Austria, according to the European Commission. ... It is France's worst drought in more than 30 years, according to Bruno Le Maire, agriculture minister, with rainfall at barely 45 per cent of the average between 1971 and 2000. Restrictions on water use are already in place in nearly two-thirds of France's 96 mainland "departments".... Christian Steindl, managing director of the Ennshafen port on the Danube, says that, while low water levels are not unheard of, it is the timing that is unusual. "In August this can happen, but not in May." ...	Where's Strauss when you need him? ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jun 9, 2011 from Taipei Times: Banned chemical found in antibiotic Major hospitals yesterday temporarily suspended use of the prescription antibiotic Augmentin, which is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline PLC, following reports that tests had confirmed the presence of a banned chemical. The news came after a TV news station recently sent samples of the antibiotic, which is produced and packaged in the UK, for laboratory testing, where it was discovered that the medicine tested positive for diisodecyl phthalate, or DIDP, at levels of between 14.8 parts per million (ppm) and 18.1ppm. ...	Guess the Augmentin was too augmented. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jun 9, 2011 from Los Angeles Times: Former Interior secretary calls out Obama on the environment President Obama has failed to answer Republican attacks on environmental safeguards "forcefully and persuasively" and to articulate his own vision for conserving American wilderness and water, former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt charged Tuesday. Babbitt, who served under President Clinton, said in an interview that he would lay out his concerns about the Republican environmental agenda and the Obama administration's response in a speech in Washington on Wednesday. ...	Babbitt, Run ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jun 9, 2011 from Associated Press: EPA plans to ban some rodent poisons The government is moving to ban the sale of some popular rat and mouse poisons such as D-Con and Hot Shot in an effort to protect children and pets. The Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday it is taking the step to reduce the thousands of accidental exposures of children that occur every year from rodent-control products. ...	That hissing sound you hear is celebrating rats. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jun 9, 2011 from TIME: The Bacterium That Ate a Continent: What E. Coli Is Doing to the E.U. No one yet knows what vegetable or fruit is the ultimate source of the outbreak of a deadly form of E. coli in Europe. Nor do officials know at what point the contamination occurred: on the farm, as agricultural workers handled the produce, as a result of packaging, in the midst of transport or at some other point in the chain of supply? What is clear is that, even after the health hazards are contained, questions will have to be asked about how well the E.U.'s food-safety system works. ...	It's sorta nice to know the U.S. isn't the only food fuck-up. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jun 8, 2011 from London Guardian: Australian climate scientists receive death threats A number of Australia's leading climate scientists have been moved into safer accommodation after receiving death threats, in a further escalation of the country's increasingly febrile carbon price debate. The revelation of the death threats follows a week of bitter exchanges between the government and the opposition in the wake of a pro-carbon price TV advert featuring actor Cate Blanchett. The Australia National University (ANU) in Canberra said that it has moved a number of its climate scientists to a secure facility after they received a large number of threatening emails and phone calls. ...	The planet has been receiving death threats from us all for some time. 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!
Wed, Jun 8, 2011 from Associated Press: China Acid Spill Knocks Out Water to Half Million A toxic chemical spilled into a river that supplies drinking water to the scenic city of Hangzhou in eastern China, knocking out supplies to more than half a million people and creating a run on bottled water. A tanker truck carrying 20 tons of carbolic acid overturned late Saturday night. The chemical, also known as phenol, was washed by rain into the Xin'an River about 150 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Hangzhou, the city said in a report on its website. ...	Think if the tanker had run into a truck full of chickens, too! ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jun 8, 2011 from New York Times: In Update on Sperm, Data Show No Decline It is one of the most fraught topics in environmental health. Are men becoming less fertile, with declining sperm counts and diminishing sperm quality? If they are, then sperm might be an early warning sign of environmental dangers. And the prime suspects have been substances like plastics and pesticides that can have weak estrogenlike effects on cells. But now 15 years of data from 18-year-old Danish men taking their military physicals show no decline in sperm counts, after all. ...	Danes? They studied Danes?? Danes' sperm is indestructible! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jun 7, 2011 from Sydney Australian: Warming sceptic has frosty reception PARLIAMENTARIANS from Julia Gillard down appear ready to give the cold shoulder to Czech President Vaclav Klaus, an outspoken climate change sceptic, when he visits Australia next month. Mr Klaus, a critic of the theory of human-caused global warming, will attend a series of seminars organised by the Institute of Public Affairs think tank. ...	They ought to thumb their noses at him, too! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jun 7, 2011 from Stanford University via ScienceDaily: Climate Scientists Forecast Permanently Hotter Summers The tropics and much of the Northern Hemisphere are likely to experience an irreversible rise in summer temperatures within the next 20 to 60 years if atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations continue to increase, according to a new climate study by Stanford University scientists... "According to our projections, large areas of the globe are likely to warm up so quickly that, by the middle of this century, even the coolest summers will be hotter than the hottest summers of the past 50 years," said the study's lead author, Noah Diffenbaugh... ...	Just so the winters are bone-chillin' frigid! ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jun 7, 2011 from Associated Press: Greenhouse gas emissions hitting record highs Despite 20 years of effort, greenhouse gas emissions are going up instead of down, hitting record highs as climate negotiators gather to debate a new global warming accord. The new report by the International Energy Agency showing high emissions from fossil fuels is one of several pieces of bad news facing delegates from about 180 countries heading to Bonn, Germany, for two weeks of talks beginning Monday...The figures are "a serious setback" to hopes of limiting the rise in the Earth's average temperature to 2 degrees Celsius (3.8 F) above preindustrial levels, he said. Any rise beyond that, scientists believe, could lead to catastrophic climate shifts affecting water supplies and global agriculture, setting off more frequent and fierce storms and causing a rise in sea levels that would endanger coastlines. ...	Sounds eerily like what's happening now. ApocaDoc permalink