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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from

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This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
koyaanisqatsi ~ global warming ~ carbon emissions ~ climate impacts ~ toxic buildup ~ drought ~ contamination ~ ecosystem interrelationships ~ governmental idiocy ~ food crisis ~ anthropogenic change

ApocaDocuments (23) gathered this week:
Sun, Jun 19, 2011 from Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Are jellyfish a harbinger of dying seas? Jellyfish, common in the seas for eons, suck so up so much food -- and give back so little -- that a dramatic population increase would gravely threaten the future of oceans worldwide, according to a new study. Jellyfish could send once-productive seas, including the Gulf of Mexico, back to a more primitive state, if theories pointing to striking increases in the gelatinous creatures prove true. They assault the base of the food chain, creating conditions where little can survive but jellyfish and bacteria, new scientific findings published this month reveal.... The findings are a cause for concern because reports of jellyfish blooms are increasing, leading many scientists to speculate that water pollution, global warming and overfishing may be tipping the scales toward conditions more favorable for jellyfish. ...	I hate it when Nature sends us a message. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Jun 19, 2011 from Anchorage Daily News: Arctic warming even faster than predicted, scientists say Surface temperatures in the Arctic since 2005 have been higher than for any five-year period since record keeping began in 1880, according to a new report from the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, an international group within the Arctic Council that monitors the Arctic environment and provides advice on Arctic environmental protection. The rate of sea-ice decline has accelerated and the decline rate in the past 10 years has been higher than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted in 2007, the report says.... Temperatures in the Arctic permafrost have risen by up to 3.5 degrees in the past two to three decades, and the southern limit of the permafrost has been moving north, with the limit having retreated by 80 miles in the past 50 years in the Canadian province of Quebec, for example, the report says.... And, in terms of mitigation, deep and immediate cuts are required in the emission of the greenhouse gases that most scientists blame for the high, observed rate of global warming, the report says. ...	Like I've been saying for years, we've got Nature on the run! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Jun 18, 2011 from Guardian: Warning: extreme weather ahead Drought zones have been declared across much of England and Wales, yet Scotland has just registered its wettest-ever May. The warmest British spring in 100 years followed one of the coldest UK winters in 300 years. June in London has been colder than March. February was warm enough to strip on Snowdon, but last Saturday it snowed there. Welcome to the climate rollercoaster, or what is being coined the "new normal" of weather. What was, until quite recently, predictable, temperate, mild and equable British weather, guaranteed to be warmish and wettish, ensuring green lawns in August, now sees the seasons reversed and temperature and rainfall records broken almost every year. When Kent receives as much rain (4mm) in May as Timbuktu, Manchester has more sunshine than Marbella, and soils in southern England are drier than those in Egypt, something is happening. Sober government scientists at the centre for hydrology and ecology are openly using words like "remarkable", "unprecedented" and "shocking" to describe the recent physical state of Britain this year, but the extremes we are experiencing in 2011 are nothing to the scale of what has been taking place elsewhere recently.... Last month, Oxfam reported that while the number of "geo-physical" disasters - such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions - has remained more or less constant, those caused by flooding and storms have increased from around 133 a year in 1980s to more than 350 a year now. ...	There's something about that 350 number that rings a bell. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jun 17, 2011 from IRIN: FOOD: High prices do not mean a bigger supply Contrary to popular perception, the current high food prices will not see more money flowing into agriculture in the long term, warned a new forecast released ahead of a critical meeting of agriculture ministers in Paris on 22 and 23 June. "Input costs, including that of fuel and fertilizer, have risen significantly - we anticipate global agriculture production to slow down in the next decade," said Meritt Cluff, a senior economist at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and one of the authors of the Agricultural Outlook 2011-2020.... Besides the cost of agricultural inputs, pressure on resources such as water and land, and the higher risk of adverse weather are also contributing to the slow-down in food production.... "Throughout the world, but especially in low-income countries, the poor are overwhelmingly net food buyers, so poverty increases as food price levels rise - but losses due to food price volatility fall mainly on relatively better-off large farmers, Barrett said. "Perhaps not coincidentally, these same large farmers enjoy tremendous taxpayer-funded support programmes from G20 governments presently expressing concern about food price volatility." ...	Soylent Green is made by farmers!! ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jun 17, 2011 from iSupply: Historic $1-Per-Watt Solar Modules Just Months Away The photovoltaic (PV) industry appears set to achieve a major milestone with the selling prices of crystalline silicon (c-Si) modules projected to drop to $1 per watt by the first quarter of 2012, a significant benchmark level that could forestall a widely feared dip for solar installations next year and stimulate demand instead, according to new IHS iSuppli (NYSE: IHS) research.... "The recent price decline was quickened by top-tier module brands dropping prices to aggressively position themselves, in the face of fears that the industry could be headed toward a down market next year," said Henning Wicht, senior director and principal analyst, photovoltaics, at IHS. The drops in pricing were spurred by the recent price slide in cells and wafers, with wafers being quoted in the $2.30 per-piece range, down from $3.50 in March.... ...	This makes 100 percent cents. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jun 17, 2011 from ScienceDaily: Where Have All the Flowers Gone? High-Mountain Wildflower Season Reduced, Affecting Pollinators Like Bees, Hummingbirds It's summer wildflower season in the Rocky Mountains, a time when high-peaks meadows are dotted with riotous color. But for how long? Once, wildflower season in montane meadow ecosystems extended throughout the summer months. But now scientists have found a fall-off in wildflowers at mid-season.... "Some pollinators with short periods of activity may require only a single flower species," write the ecologists in their paper, "but pollinators active all season must have flowers available in sufficient numbers through the season." For example, bumblebees, important pollinators in many regions, need a pollen and nectar supply throughout the growing season to allow the queen bee to produce a colony. As mid-summer temperatures have warmed in places like the Elk Mountains of Colorado, the researchers have found that the mid-season decline in flowering totals is ecosystem-wide.... Such changes in seasonal flower availability across large areas, or in individual habitats, could have serious consequences for entire pollinator populations, says Inouye, which include not only bees, but hummingbirds and others that feed on pollen and nectar. ...	Going to graveyards, every one. When will we ever learn? ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jun 16, 2011 from Reuters: IEA: Nuclear retreat to increase CO2 growth 30 percent A halving of a global nuclear power expansion after Japan's Fukushima disaster would increase global growth in carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent through 2035, the IEA said on Wednesday. The International Energy Agency warned last month that a political goal to limit climate change to safer levels was barely achievable after global emissions rose by near 6 percent in 2010.... A halving of nuclear power growth would make the task even more difficult, said IEA chief economist Fatih Birol. "We believe this huge emissions increase plus the rather bleaker perspective for nuclear power put together make the 2 degrees target very, very difficult to achieve." ...	Some days it almost seems as if we've hit the limits to endless growth. Crazy, hunh? ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jun 16, 2011 from Chicago Tribune: Millions of Great Lakes fish killed in power plant intakes Despite decades of efforts to restore and protect the Great Lakes, dozens of old power plants still are allowed to kill hundreds of millions of fish each year by sucking in massive amounts of water to cool their equipment. Records obtained by the Tribune show that staggering numbers of fish die when pulled into the screens of water intake systems so powerful that most could fill an Olympic swimming pool in less than a minute. Billions more eggs, larvae and juvenile fish that are small enough to pass through the screens are cooked to death by intense heat and high pressure inside the coal, gas and nuclear plants. Then the water is pumped back into Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes up to 30 degrees hotter, encouraging the growth of oxygen-depleting algae that kills fish and fouls beaches. Known as "once-through" cooling, the process is banned at new power plants. But for nearly four decades, federal and state environmental regulators largely have ignored the issue at old plants, even as fish populations decline sharply throughout the lakes and states spend millions of taxpayer dollars to stock the waters with game fish.... Critics compare the outdated technology to the Bass-o-Matic, the fish-pureeing prop from an old "Saturday Night Live" sketch. ...	Just try to imagine a more brutally effective fish-killing machine! This technique is badass! ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jun 15, 2011 from Guardian: Leaked Documents: IPCC asks scientists to assess geo-engineering climate solutions Lighter-coloured crops, aerosols in the stratosphere and iron filings in the ocean are among the measures being considered by leading scientists for "geo-engineering" the Earth's climate, leaked documents from the UN climate science body show. In a move that suggests the UN and rich countries are despairing of reaching agreement by consensus at global climate talks, the US, British and other western scientists will outline a series of ideas to manipulate the world's climate to reduce carbon emissions. But they accept that even though the ideas could theoretically work, they might equally have unintended and even irreversible consequences. The papers, leaked from inside the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), ahead of a geo-engineering expert group meeting in Lima in Peru next week, show that around 60 scientists will propose or try to assess a range of radical measures.... "Asking a group of geo-engineering scientists if more research should be done is like asking bears if they would like honey," said the letter, signed by groups including Friends of the Earth International, Via Campesina and ETC.... "We are putting ourselves in a scenario where we will have to develop more powerful technologies to capture emissions out of the atmosphere", she said. "We are getting into very risky territory." ...	I do believe in tech. I do believe in tech. I do I do I do.... ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jun 15, 2011 from Guardian: British ladybug species struggling to compete with aliens More than one-fifth of native ladybird species are in decline across the British Isles as environmental changes and competition from voracious alien invaders take their toll on the insects' numbers. The grim outlook for 10 of the 47 ladybird species found in the UK and Ireland is revealed in the first comprehensive census compiled with help from tens of thousands of volunteer spotters.... Some native ladybirds are struggling to survive alongside species that have recently become established in Britain. A decline in the two-spot ladybird has been blamed on the arrival and spectacular rise of the Asian harlequin ladybird, which was introduced into Europe to control pests.... Helen Roy, of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) in Oxfordshire, and one of the authors of the Ladybird Atlas of Britain and Ireland, said: "What's quite striking is that in the same way as butterflies and moths have seen very common species going into decline, we're seeing the same happen with ladybirds. "What is particularly worrying about the declines is that many of these are common species, the ones people will be most familiar with in their gardens. We have not unravelled all the causes behind the declines, but a warming climate and changes in land use are expected to have an impact. "They are telling us there are changes going up through the food chain. Ladybirds can be used as indicators of wider changes in our environment," Roy said. ...	We should bring in some cane toads -- they're great on pests. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jun 15, 2011 from Guardian: UK ministers ignored 'peak oil' warnings, report shows The government was warned by its own civil servants two years ago that there could be "significant negative economic consequences" to the UK posed by near-term "peak oil" energy shortages. Ministers were told it was impossible to know exactly when production might fail to meet supply but when it did there could be global consequences, including "civil unrest." Yet ministers consistently played down the threat with the contemporaneous Wicks Review into energy security effectively dismissing peak oil as alarmist and irrelevant.... Civil servants from the department of energy and climate change argued that while global oil reserves were still plentiful, it is "clear" that existing fields are maturing and new production is being slowed by bottlenecks. Yet it concludes that "alternative technologies to oil will take a long time to develop and deploy at scale."... Meanwhile the US Military Joint Forces Command issued its own review in 2010 predicting surplus oil production could disappear as early as next year. And the University of Uppsala in Sweden argued in The Peak of the Oil Age report that oil production may already have passed its maximum. Energy academics there have repeatedly claimed that many governments and their watchdog, the International Energy Agency, have been playing down their fears for many years. ...	The real question: Are we at the Peak of peak-oil stories? ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jun 15, 2011 from Scientific American: Mississippi Floods Could Mean Record Gulf 'Dead Zone' This year's record Mississippi River floods are forecast to create the biggest Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" since systematic mapping began in 1985, U.S. scientists reported on Tuesday. Often created by farm chemical run-off carried to the Gulf by the Mississippi, the 2011 low-oxygen "dead zone" could measure 8,500 to 9,421 square miles (22,253 to 26,515 sq km), or an area roughly the size of New Hampshire, the U.S. Geological Survey said in a statement. This would be bigger than 2002's record-large hypoxic zone, which stretched over 8,400 square miles (21,750 sq km).... Excess nutrients from the farm chemicals in the water -- mostly nitrogen and phosphorous -- do the same thing in the Gulf that they do on agricultural fields: they encourage plant growth.... In the Gulf, they cause tiny marine plants called phytoplankton to bloom, decay, die and sink to the bottom, where bacteria eat their remains and use up oxygen in the water as they do so. ...	We need to give those nutrients a stern talking-to. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jun 15, 2011 from New York Times: Former Rep. Inglis to Launch Conservative Coalition to Address Climate Change A former Republican congressman who is an advocate for action to address climate change plans to launch a new conservative coalition this fall made up of Republicans who, like him, believe that human emissions are triggering global warming and that steps should be taken to stop it.... He said the view embraced by many Republicans that human emissions are not a major contributor to global warming is out of step with what it means to be a conservative, given that most scientists say the reverse is true. "Conservatives typically are people who try to be cognizant of risk and move to minimize risk. To be told of risk and to consciously decide to disregard it seems to be the opposite of conservative," Inglis said in a telephone interview. ...	In the sacred name of Dulcinea! ApocaDoc permalink
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Wed, Jun 15, 2011 from London Daily Telegraph: Cows are having fewer calves because of climate change Warmer springs are encouraging cows to breed earlier in the year so their calves are born in the middle of winter, when they have less chance of survival The changes have been observed in a herd of cattle in Chillingham, Northumberland, which were first studied by Charles Darwin, the biologist. Dr Sarah Burthe, of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, studied the change in breeding patterns over the last 60 years. She said: "Winter-born calves don't do very well and are more likely to die before they reach the age of one. This suggests that the cattle are responding to climate change but this is having a negative impact on them." ...	No worries; we can always clone 'em! ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jun 15, 2011 from Associated Press: Government lists formaldehyde as cancer causer The strong-smelling chemical formaldehyde causes cancer, while styrene, a second industrial chemical that's used worldwide in the manufacture of fiberglass and food containers, may cause cancer, the National Institutes of Health says. The NIH said Friday that people with higher measures of exposure to formaldehyde are at increased risk for certain types of rare cancers, including those affecting the upper part of the throat behind the nose. The chemical is widely used to make resins for household items, including paper product coatings, plastics and textile finishes. It also is commonly used as a preservative in medical laboratories, mortuaries and consumer products including some hair straightening products. ...	Why on earth would people want to straighten their hair? ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jun 15, 2011 from Reuters: U.S. EPA delays rollout of CO2 rule on power plants The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under pressure from Republicans and big utilities, said on Monday it had extended a deadline by two months on draft rules that would for the first time limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The EPA said it had moved the date for proposing the rule from July 26 to Sept. 30 after listening to businesses and states that will have to implement the regulation. The rule, known as a performance standard, would limit the amount of carbon dioxide that U.S. power plants may emit. ...	Sounds like the EPA is having performance anxiety. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jun 14, 2011 from New York Times: Europe Braces for Serious Crop Losses, Blackouts as Record Drought Persists One of the driest spring seasons on record in northern Europe has sucked soils dry and sharply reduced river levels to the point that governments are starting to fear crop losses and France, in particular, is bracing for blackouts as its river-cooled nuclear power plants may be forced to shut down. French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire warned this week that the warmest and driest spring in half a century could slash wheat yields and might even push up world prices despite the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's predicting a bumper global crop due to greater plantings.... And the French government has set up a committee to keep an eye on the country's electricity supply situation and monitor river levels, as 44 of the 58 nuclear reactors that supply 80 percent of France's electricity are cooled by river water. The problem appears to be not that the reactors might overheat because of the lack of water but that the depleted rivers might overheat, creating ecological havoc, when the water returns to them after cooling the reactors. ...	Old Man River is looking hot. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jun 14, 2011 from change.org: Calls Escalate for a US National Fracking Ban America's early fracking frenzy has subsided into a rolling boil of controversy in states where the controversial natural gas drilling technique now threatens to expand its reach. Seeing the disaster that fracking has become in places like Texas and Pennsylvania, citizens and environmentalists are pushing state legislatures and the U.S. Congress to stop it now. This doesn't mean wait-and-see. This doesn't mean letting drillers frack-up more rivers and aquifers, and then regulate later. This means, Ban fracking now. Food & Water Watch has launched a campaign on Change.org asking Congress to do just that. They are already gaining momentum around the country, and have released a report today making their case.... More than 1,000 cases of water contamination have already been reported near fracking sites, and in the past 18 months, at least 10 studies by scientists, Congress, investigative journalists and public interest groups have documented environmental problems with fracking, according to Food & Water Watch. ...	You can't tell us what to do. We own you. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jun 14, 2011 from London Guardian: Climate change should be excluded from curriculum, says adviser Climate change should not be included in the national curriculum, the government adviser in charge of overhauling the school syllabus in England has said. Tim Oates, whose wide-ranging review of the curriculum for five- to 16-year-olds will be published later this year, said it should be up to schools to decide whether - and how - to teach climate change, and other topics about the effect scientific processes have on our lives.... ...	It seems the tea party has made its way to England. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jun 14, 2011 from Associated Press: Dead Sea threatened both by shrinking and flooding The Dead Sea is dying, goes the conventional wisdom: The water level of the fabled salty lake is dropping nearly 4 feet a year. Less well known: Part of the lake is actually overflowing, threatening one of Israel's key tourism destinations. Israel is feverishly campaigning to have the Dead Sea -- the lowest point on earth and repository of precious minerals -- named one of the natural wonders of the world. At the same time, it's racing to stabilize what it calls "the world's largest natural spa" so hotels on its southern end aren't swamped and tourists can continue to soak in the lake's therapeutic waters. ...	I find this news story both upsetting and comforting. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jun 14, 2011 from USA Today: Apples top most pesticide-contaminated list Apples are at the top of the list of produce most contaminated with pesticides in a report published today by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a public health advocacy group. Its seventh annual report analyzed government data on 53 fruits and vegetables, identifying which have the most and least pesticides after washing and peeling. For produce found to be highest in pesticides, the group recommends buying organic. Apples moved up three spots from last year, replacing celery at the top of the most-contaminated list; 92 percent of apples contained two or more pesticides. ...	Living up to its tradition as the forbidden fruit! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Jun 13, 2011 from PNAS, via EnvironmentalResearchWeb: Mercury rising in endangered Pacific seabirds Using 120 years of feathers from natural history museums in the US, Harvard University researchers have been able to track increases in the neurotoxin methylmercury in the black-footed albatross (Phoebastria nigripes), an endangered seabird that forages extensively throughout the Pacific. The study shows that the observed increase in methylmercury levels, most likely from human-generated emissions, can be observed and tracked over broad time periods in organisms that live in the Pacific Ocean.... "Given both the high levels of methylmercury that we measured in our most recent samples and regional levels of emissions, mercury bioaccumulation and toxicity may undermine reproductive effort in this species and other long-lived, endangered seabirds."... "Methylmercury has no benefit to animal life and we are starting to find high levels in endangered and sensitive species across marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems, indicating that mercury pollution and its subsequent chemical reactions in the environment may be important factors in species population declines," says study co-author Michael Bank of Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). ...	What do feathers have to do with my thermometer? ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Jun 13, 2011 from CBC: Manitoba flooding linked to climate change: officials After four soggy years of flooded pastures and ruined crops, the Manitoba government is looking at how to help frustrated farmers cope with climate change in the province's Interlake region. The province has quietly issued a request for proposals for a study on how to deal with "excess moisture on agricultural lands" in the area sandwiched between Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg, north of the provincial capital.... Many frustrated farmers say the proposed study is too little, too late, but the province says it's an important part of coming up with a strategy to help beleaguered producers. Tony Szumigalski, a policy analyst with Manitoba Agriculture, said climate change appears to be causing greater extremes on the Prairies, from drought in Alberta to chronic flooding in Manitoba. "The Interlake has been under water for the last three or four years," he said. "It's been very difficult, especially for a lot of the livestock producers. Their hay fields have been flooded out so there have been issues getting enough hay. There have also been issues related to crops as well." ...	Can we build dikes out of deniers somehow? ApocaDoc permalink