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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from
View By Scenario:
Species Collapse:(2)
Plague/Virus:()
Climate Chaos:(13)
Resource Depletion: (4)
Biology Breach:(13)
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This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
climate impacts  ~ global warming  ~ contamination  ~ economic myopia  ~ airborne pollutants  ~ stupid humans  ~ toxic buildup  ~ smart policy  ~ efficiency increase  ~ water issues  ~ technical cleverness  



ApocaDocuments (4) matching "airborne pollutants" from this week
[see full week] ~ [see all stories tagged "airborne pollutants"]
Fri, Apr 10, 2009
from Agence France-Presse:
Algae genomes key to regulating carbon emissions
Scientists have decoded genomes of two strains of green algae, highlighting genes that allow them to capture carbon emissions and maintain the oceans' chemical balance, a study said Thursday. The strains' productivity as a significant source of marine food and their ability to capture carbon means the algae can influence the carbon flux and have an impact on climate change, according to the study published in Friday's edition of the journal Science. An international team of researchers sampled two isolates of Microminas, one of the smallest known eukaryotic algae -- complex cellular structures containing a nucleus and enclosed within a membrane. ...


Algae is our PAL-gae!

ApocaDoc
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Fri, Apr 10, 2009
from London Guardian:
Health risks of shipping pollution have been underestimated
Britain and other European governments have been accused of underestimating the health risks from shipping pollution following research which shows that one giant container ship can emit almost the same amount of cancer and asthma-causing chemicals as 50 million cars. Confidential data from maritime industry insiders based on engine size and the quality of fuel typically used by ships and cars shows that just 15 of the world's biggest ships may now emit as much pollution as all the world's 760 million cars. Low-grade ship bunker fuel (or fuel oil) has up to 2,000 times the sulphur content of diesel fuel used in US and European automobiles....pollution from the world's 90,000 cargo ships leads to 60,000 deaths a year in the US alone and costs up to $330 billion per year in health costs from lung and heart diseases. ...


Looks to me like it's time to give these cargo ships das boot!

ApocaDoc
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Thu, Apr 9, 2009
from NASA, via EurekAlert:
Aerosols may drive a significant portion of arctic warming
Though greenhouse gases are invariably at the center of discussions about global climate change, new NASA research suggests that much of the atmospheric warming observed in the Arctic since 1976 may be due to changes in tiny airborne particles called aerosols.... Though there are several varieties of aerosols, previous research has shown that two types -- sulfates and black carbon -- play an especially critical role in regulating climate change. Both are products of human activity. Sulfates, which come primarily from the burning of coal and oil, scatter incoming solar radiation and have a net cooling effect on climate. Over the past three decades, the United States and European countries have passed a series of laws that have reduced sulfate emissions by 50 percent. While improving air quality and aiding public health, the result has been less atmospheric cooling from sulfates. At the same time, black carbon emissions have steadily risen, largely because of increasing emissions from Asia. Black carbon -- small, soot-like particles produced by industrial processes and the combustion of diesel and biofuels -- absorb incoming solar radiation and have a strong warming influence on the atmosphere. ...


We take with our black carbon hand, and give with our sulfate hand. Can't we just shake?

ApocaDoc
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Mon, Apr 6, 2009
from The Calcutta Telegraph:
Foul air hits below the belt
Calcutta's male population is losing the power to procreate with every breath of foul air, according to an Indo-American study of infertility patterns in the city over two decades. Toxic fumes belched out by vehicles are not only responsible for sore throats and damaged lungs and hearts but also "a significant decline" in male fertility since the 80s, says the report on the basis of laboratory studies of sperm samples collected more than 20 years apart. ...


Predictably, Vasectomies "R" Us is going out of business.

ApocaDoc
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