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DocWatch unintended consequences Twitterit? News stories about "unintended consequences," with punchlines: http://apocadocs.com/d.pl?unintended+consequences Related Scary Tags: ecosystem interrelationships  ~ contamination  ~ geoengineering  ~ health impacts  ~ toxic water  ~ anthropogenic change  ~ pesticide runoff  ~ carbon emissions  ~ invasive species  ~ climate impacts  ~ stupid humans   Tue, Jan 5, 2016 from E&E Publishing: Okla. shaking jumped 50 percent in 2015 The number of earthquakes in Oklahoma rose 50 percent last year, easily surpassing the record number that hit the state in 2014. Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS) data show that the state was shaken by 881 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or greater, or an average of 2.4 per day. That's up from 585 in 2014. U.S. Geological Survey data show that California had 128 such quakes in 2015. Scientists and state officials say the increase in earthquakes in Oklahoma likely has been caused by wastewater disposal from oil and gas operations. Oil production methods that yield unusually large volumes of water have combined with favorably aligned faults under the state to cause the unprecedented shaking. ... I feel the earth move under my feet I feel the sky tumbling down, tumbling down... ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 1, 2015 from BBC: Seabirds 'blighted by plastic waste' About 90 percent of seabirds have eaten plastic and are likely to retain some in their gut, a new analysis estimates. The study concludes that matters will only get worse until something is done to stem the flow of waste to oceans. Research co-author Erik Van Sebille says oceans are now filled with plastic and it is "virtually certain" that any dead seabird found in 2050 "will have a bit of plastic in its stomach".... To the foraging bird, a discarded plastic cigarette lighter or a shiny bottle top can look like a fish. If ingested, this litter may simply stay in the gut, unable to pass through, putting the animal's health at risk. As more and more plastic waste finds its way into the oceans - about eight million tonnes a year in one recent estimate - so the hazards to wildlife increase. ... No heartbeat. I'm pretty sure this is a disposable lighter. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jul 31, 2015 from Los Angeles Times: As a killer fungus looms, scientists call for a ban on salamander imports If it makes its way to our shores, a newly discovered fungus from Asia could wipe out large numbers of salamander species and spark a major North American biodiversity crisis, scientists are warning.... "This is an imminent threat, and a place where policy could have a very positive effect," Vance Vredenburg, a biologist at San Francisco State University and a coauthor of the piece in Science, said in a statement. "We actually have a decent chance of preventing a major catastrophe."... "This fungus is much worse," UC Berkeley biology professor David Wake, another of the report's coauthors, said in a statement. "Bsal is an acute infection that just turns them into little masses of slime in three to four days." ... Eww! Amphebola! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jan 3, 2015 from DesdemonaDespair: 50 Doomiest Graphs from 2014 Measured number of plastic items per square kilometer in the world's oceans... Velocities of retreating glaciers in West Antarctica ... Precipitation anomalies over South America during the active monsoon season, September 2012-May 2013... 1200 scenarios of future CO2 emissions, projected to 2100... World ecological footprint of human consumption... ... Des does doomy dramatically. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Nov 30, 2014 from Desmog.ca: Environment Canada Study Reveals Oilsands Tailings Ponds Emit Toxins to Atmosphere Five Times Higher Levels than Reported There are more than 176 square kilometres of tailings ponds holding waste from oilsands development in the area around Fort McMurray, Alberta. According to new research released from Environment Canada, those tailings ponds are emitting much higher levels of toxic and potentially cancer-causing contaminants into the air than previously reported. As the Canadian Press reports, Environment Canada scientist Elisabeth Galarneau is the first to conduct field studies in the region and her research confirms that previous estimates of chemical release into the air have been massively underestimated. "We found that there actually does appear to be a net flow of these compounds going from water to air," Galarneau told the Canadian Press. "It's just a bit under five times higher from the ponds than what's been reported." ... Almost five times as much? Let's attribute that to sampling error. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Nov 4, 2014 from David Suzuki: The New 'F' Word While dithering over neonicotinoids -- bee-killing pesticides banned in Europe -- Canadian regulators are poised to approve a closely-related poison called flupyradifurone. We call it the new "F"-word. Like neonics, flupyradifurone attacks the nervous system of insect pests. Both are systemic pesticides that are taken up by plants and move through their tissues into pollen, fruits and seeds. Both are also persistent, sticking around in the environment and, with repeated applications, building up over time. Health Canada says flupyradifurone may pose a risk to bees, birds, worms, spiders, small mammals and aquatic bugs -- familiar words to anyone following Canada's slow-motion review of neonics. Dust from corn seed treated with neonics is implicated in large-scale bee die-offs during planting season in Ontario and Quebec. Not only is this is alarming in its own right; the dead bees are the proverbial canaries in the coal mine, signalling broader ecological consequences. ... Flupyradifurone -- let's just call it "Fatal Flu." ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Oct 25, 2014 from Mother Jones: Climate Change Is Kicking the Insurance Industry's Butt Global warming is increasing the risk of damage to lives and property from natural disasters beyond what many insurers are willing to shoulder. And most insurance companies aren't taking adequate steps to change that trend, the survey found. That's a problem even if you don't live by the coast: When private insurers back out, the government is left to pick up much of the damage costs; already, the federal flood insurance program is one of the nation's largest fiscal liabilities. Ceres, an environmental nonprofit, evaluated the climate risk management policies of 330 large insurance companies operating in the United States. The results are worrying. Only nine companies, 3 percent of the total, earned the highest ranking.... ... It's strange, to imagine that somehow consequences could result from our actions. Aren't we protected from such craziness by the rules of the universe? ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Sep 27, 2014 from Yale360: Aral Sea Basin Dry for the First Time in Modern History, NASA images show For the first time in modern history, the eastern basin of the South Aral Sea has gone completely dry, as this NASA satellite image captured in late August shows. The Aral Sea is an inland body of water lying between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in central Asia. It was once one of the four largest lakes in the world, but it has been shrinking markedly and dividing into smaller lobes since the 1960s, after the government of the former Soviet Union diverted the region's two major rivers to irrigate farmland. One Aral Sea researcher suggested that it has likely been at least 600 years since the eastern basin entirely disappeared. Decreasing precipitation and snowpack in its watershed led to the drying this year, and huge withdrawals for irrigation exacerbated the problem. ... The early superstardom went to Aral's head, and now look at him. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Sep 5, 2014 from Common Dreams: Canadian Beekeepers Launch Class Action Suit Against Pesticide Makers Beekeepers in the Canadian province of Ontario have launched a class action lawsuit against makers of a class of pesticides linked to the decline of bees. The claim (pdf) filed Tuesday in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice seeks $450 million in damages going back to 2006 for the "chronic effects of the use of the Neonicotinoids [...] felt by Canada's Beekeepers annually."... "Beekeepers have suffered, and will continue to suffer, devastating economic hardships as a result of the continued use of Neonicotinoids," it states. The damages they say are caused by these pesticides, also known as neonics, include: bee deaths; impaired reproduction; immune suppression; behavioral abnormalities resulting in hive loss ; reduced honey production; impacts on the quality of honey; contamination of hive equipment; loss of Queen Bees; breeding stock; and difficulties fulfilling honey product or pollination contracts. ... The real question is, if the case is won, how do we shrink the currency so that it fits in their tiny little bee hands? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jul 25, 2014 from CBC: More than half of Ontario bees died during harsh winter About 58 per cent of Ontario bees died during what was an especially long winter, while other provinces lost on average about 19 per cent of their swarm, according to the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists survey. That means Ontario lost bees at a rate three times that of the other provinces. While the report fingers the weather -- this year's polar vortex -- as the main culprit for the bee deaths, acute and chronic pesticide damage or insufficient recovery from pesticide exposure last year have also been cited by hive-minders as contributing factors.... The Ontario bee group says nearly all corn seeds and about two-thirds of soy seeds sold in the province are pretreated with neonicotinoid coatings, though only a minority of the crops are at risk from pests the insecticide is meant to stop. It did its own winter survey earlier this year and found more than a quarter of beekeepers lost 75 to 100 per cent of their colonies. ... That's a better survival rate than my peaches and cherry trees. Toughen up, Apis mellifera! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jul 14, 2014 from TrueActivist.com: Forest, Trees; Choose Two In this fascinating video, UBC Professor Suzanne Simard explains how trees are much more complex than most of us ever imagined. Although Charles Darwin assumed trees are simply individual organisms competing for survival of the fittest, Simard demonstrates just how wrong he was. In fact, the opposite is true: trees survive through mutual co-operation and support, passing around essential nutrients "depending on who needs it". Nitrogen and carbon are shared through miles of underground fungi networks, ensuring that all trees in the forest eco-system give and receive just the right amount to keep them all healthy. This invisible web works in a very similar way to the networks of neurons in our brains, and when one tree is destroyed it has consequences for all. ... Now they'll declare forests a socialist threat. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jul 11, 2014 from Phys.org: Leading scientists express rising concern about 'microplastics' in the ocean Microplastics - microscopic particles of plastic debris - are of increasing concern because of their widespread presence in the oceans and the potential physical and toxicological risks they pose to organisms.... In an article published today in the journal Science, the two scientists have called for urgent action to "turn off the tap" and divert plastic waste away from the marine environment. Microplastics have now been documented in all five of the ocean's subtropical gyres - and have even been detected in Arctic sea ice - with some of the highest accumulations occurring thousands of miles from land. These plastic bits have been found in organisms ranging in size from small invertebrates to large mammals, and are known to concentrate toxic chemicals already present in seawater. This raises concern about the potential consequences to marine organisms.... ... I know -- let's make the ocean acidic, so we can dissolve the microplastics! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jun 27, 2014 from The Independent (UK): Neonicotinoid pesticides also affect other friendly organisms including birds and fish A group of 29 scientists from four continents found unequivocal evidence from hundreds of published studies to claim that "neonics" - the most widely used pesticides in the world - are having a dramatic impact on the ecosystems that support food production and wildlife. The independent researchers, who are also advisers to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), have concluded that the "systemic" pesticides such as the neonicotinoids pose as great a risk to the environment as the banned pesticide DDT, and other persistent organophosphates.... Key findings from the assessment found that neonics accumulate in the soil and persist for months and in some cases for years. The breakdown products are often as toxic - or more toxic - than the pesticide's active ingredients, which are designed to work as poisonous nerve agents. "If you use them every year they accumulate, they get into the soil water and hence into streams. So essentially we are contaminating the global environment with highly toxic, highly persistent chemicals," said David Goulson, professor of biology at Sussex University and one of the report's authors. ... Contaminating the environment with highly toxic, highly persistent chemicals sounds strangely familiar. 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! Fri, Jun 20, 2014 from Reuters: U.S., stung by bee decline, sets plan to save pollinators The White House on Friday announced a federal strategy to reverse a rapid decline in the number of honey bees and other pollinators in the United States that threatens the development of billions of dollars in crops. As part of the plan, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced $8 million in funding for farmers and ranchers in five states who establish new habitats for honey bee populations.... Over recent years, bees have been dying at a rate the U.S. government says is economically unsustainable. Honey bees pollinate plants that produce about a quarter of the food consumed by Americans, including apples, watermelons and beans.... The recent increased loss of honey bee colonies is thought to be caused by factors including a loss of natural forage and inadequate diets, mite infestations and diseases, loss of genetic diversity, and exposure to certain pesticides. ... Exposure to certain?! Pesticides?!?! LIKE NEONICOTINOIDS?!?!? Oh, right, I forgot! Politics requires the pretense of complicated causation! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jun 12, 2014 from Mother Jones: Is It "Madness" to Rebuild a Flu Virus That Wiped Out 50 Million People? Remember the Spanish Flu of 1918? Of course you don't. That's the freakishly deadly influenza strain that swept the globe in 1918 and 1919, wiping out 30 million to 50 million people. It infected about one in four Americans and killed about 675,000. It didn't just kill little kids and the elderly, either, like most flu strains. This one was unusually devastating in young, healthy people--although why the "mother of all pandemics" behaved as it did is not fully understood.... "To assess the risk of emergence of a 1918-like virus and to delineate the amino acid changes that are needed for such a virus to become transmissible via respiratory droplets in mammals, we attempted to generate an influenza virus composed of avian influenza viral segments that encoded proteins with high homology to the 1918 viral proteins," he and his coauthors wrote. Needless to say, some of Kawaoka's scientific peers think he's insane to do such a thing. ... Well, we could stand to lose a little weight. Say, a billion or two. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 12, 2014 from Guardian: Antibiotic resistance: 6 diseases that may come back to haunt us Diseases we thought were long gone, nothing to worry about, or easy to treat could come back with a vengeance, according to the recent World Health Organisation report on global antibiotic resistance.... Tuberculosis... Gonorrhoea... Klebsiella... Typhus... Syphillis... Diphtheria. ... Will it do any good to say that antibiotic resistance is a natural outcome of God's will? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, May 9, 2014 from Harvard, via The Guardian: Honeybees abandoning hives and dying due to insecticide use, research finds The mysterious vanishing of honeybees from hives can be directly linked to insectcide use, according to new research from Harvard University. The scientists showed that exposure to two neonicotinoids, the world's most widely used class of insecticide, lead to half the colonies studied dying, while none of the untreated colonies saw their bees disappear. "We demonstrated that neonicotinoids are highly likely to be responsible for triggering 'colony collapse disorder' in honeybee hives that were healthy prior to the arrival of winter," said Chensheng Lu, an expert on environmental exposure biology at Harvard School of Public Health and who led the work. ... Five out of ten scientists recommend Chesterfield neonicotinoids. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, May 6, 2014 from LiveScience: Rare Earthquake Warning Issued for Oklahoma Mile for mile, there are almost as many earthquakes rattling Oklahoma as California this year. This major increase in seismic shaking led to a rare earthquake warning today (May 5) from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Oklahoma Geological Survey. In a joint statement, the agencies said the risk of a damaging earthquake -- one larger than magnitude 5.0 -- has significantly increased in central Oklahoma... While scientists haven't ruled out natural causes for the increase, many researchers suspect the deep injection wells used for the disposal of fracking wastewater could be causing the earthquake activity. ... The cause could be where the wind comes sweeping down the plain. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 5, 2014 from Columbus Business First: Fracking disposal wells may cause quakes 30 miles away, researchers say Oil and gas development could induce earthquakes at a further range than previously thought, according to new seismic research. Wastewater disposal wells, which hold millions of gallons of leftover fracking-related fluid, may be changing stress on existing faults and causing earthquakes spread out from the actual well. "Our results, using seismology and hydrogeology, show a strong link between a small number of wells and earthquakes migrating up to 50 kilometers (31 miles) away," Katie Keranen, assistant professor of geophysics at Cornell University, said in a release. ... My faults are often exploited. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Apr 7, 2014 from UC Davis, via EurekAlert: Field study shows why food quality will suffer with rising CO2 For the first time, a field test has demonstrated that elevated levels of carbon dioxide inhibit plants' assimilation of nitrate into proteins, indicating that the nutritional quality of food crops is at risk as climate change intensifies.... "[T]his is the first study to demonstrate that elevated carbon dioxide inhibits the conversion of nitrate into protein in a field-grown crop," he said. The assimilation, or processing, of nitrogen plays a key role in the plant's growth and productivity. In food crops, it is especially important because plants use nitrogen to produce the proteins that are vital for human nutrition. Wheat, in particular, provides nearly one-fourth of all protein in the global human diet. ... I'm thinkin' we'll just engineer that out. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Apr 2, 2014 from Discovery: Silver Nanoparticles May Harm Humans and Wildlife Microscopic bits of silver, known as nanoparticles, now appear as an anti-microbial ingredient in a wide variety of consumer products. However, a growing body of evidence tarnishes silver nanoparticles' reputation. Studies published this year documented unhealthy reactions in human intestinal cells and aquatic algae after exposure to silver nanoparticles, reported Inside Science.... Silver nanoparticles' tiny size allows them to enter parts of living things bodies that other molecules can't reach. The other study mentioned by Inside Science and published in February by ACS Nano, found that human intestinal cells reacted negatively to silver nanoparticles of different sizes.... The danger is that nanosilver may be entering the environment now, yet we don't know how it will affect living things in the long term. Scientists do know that various forms of silver, including nanoparticles, can be toxic to animals, including rainbow trout and rats, in laboratory experiments. ... Hi-yo, blood-brain barrier, away! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Mar 19, 2014 from Wired: Voracious Worm Evolves to Eat Biotech Corn Engineered to Kill It One of agricultural biotechnology's great success stories may become a cautionary tale of how short-sighted mismanagement can squander the benefits of genetic modification. After years of predicting it would happen -- and after years of having their suggestions largely ignored by companies, farmers and regulators -- scientists have documented the rapid evolution of corn rootworms that are resistant to Bt corn. Until Bt corn was genetically altered to be poisonous to the pests, rootworms used to cause billions of dollars in damage to U.S. crops. Named for the pesticidal toxin-producing Bacillus thuringiensis gene it contains, Bt corn now accounts for three-quarters of the U.S. corn crop. The vulnerability of this corn could be disastrous for farmers and the environment. ... We're on the corns of a dilemma. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Mar 7, 2014 from Huffington Post: New Government Report Warns of 'Cascading System Failures' Caused By Climate Change For example, during Hurricane Katrina, the loss of electricity in the region meant that several major oil pipelines could not ship oil and gas for several days, and some refineries could not operate. Gas prices rose around the country. Other scenarios include a major storm wiping out communications lines, a blackout that cuts power to sewage treatment or wastewater systems, and a weather event that damages a bridge or major highway. In the latter case, the damage would not only cost money to repair, but could cause traffic backups or delays in the shipment of goods, which could in turn have wider economic implications. As the report describes it: "A central theme of the report is that vulnerabilities and impacts are issues beyond physical infrastructures themselves. The concern is with the value of services provided by infrastructures, where the true consequences of impacts and disruptions involve not only the costs associated with the cleanup, repair, and/or replacement of affected infrastructures but also economic, social, and environmental effects as supply chains are disrupted, economic activities are suspended, and/or social well-being is threatened."; ... Après moi, le cáscade. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Feb 12, 2014 from tcktcktck: Extreme Weather Hits Hard Worldwide From unprecedented storms and flooding in the UK to severe drought in California and Brazil, 2014 has kicked off with some exceptional and weird weather events. Scientists are increasingly able to link the upward trends in extreme weather to climate change--and these latest examples are giving them even more evidence. ... We are colonized/by the extreme weather that/we have created ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 10, 2014 from Time Magazine: Delhi's Air Has Become a Lethal Hazard and Nobody Seems to Know What to Do About It ...Delhi struggles to cope with an appalling smog that has hung over the Indian capital since the beginning of January. Three-quarters of the noxious miasma is generated by the city's almost 7.2 million vehicles. The rest comes from industrial emissions, construction work and the burning of agricultural waste. The pollution in Delhi is now so severe that by some measures it is worse than in Beijing, which has long enjoyed notoriety as the world's most polluted capital... A 2013 study found air pollution to be the fifth largest killer in India, causing more than 600,000 premature deaths -- up six times from 2000. The study cited Delhi as one of the major trouble spots. ... Breathing is a risky behavior. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Feb 8, 2014 from Nature Scientific Reports, via SaveOurSeasAndShores: Anthropogenic noise causes body malformations and delays development in marine larvae Here we provide the first evidence that noise exposure during larval development produces body malformations in marine invertebrates. Scallop larvae exposed to playbacks of seismic pulses showed significant developmental delays and 46 percent developed body abnormalities. Similar effects were observed in all independent samples exposed to noise while no malformations were found in the control groups (4881 larvae examined). Malformations appeared in the D-veliger larval phase, perhaps due to the cumulative exposure attained by this stage or to a greater vulnerability of D-veliger to sound-mediated physiological or mechanical stress. Such strong impacts suggest that abnormalities and growth delays may also result from lower sound levels or discrete exposures during the D-stage, increasing the potential for routinely-occurring anthropogenic noise sources to affect recruitment of wild scallop larvae in natural stocks. ... Scallops just need to evolve little hands to put over their little ears. 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. Sat, Feb 1, 2014 from New York Times: Migration of Monarch Butterflies Shrinks Again Under Inhospitable Conditions Faltering under extreme weather and vanishing habitats, the yearly winter migration of monarch butterflies to a handful of forested Mexican mountains dwindled precipitously in December, continuing what scientists said was an increasingly alarming decline. The migrating population has become so small -- perhaps 35 million, experts guess -- that the prospects of its rebounding to levels seen even five years ago are diminishing. At worst, scientists said, a migration widely called one of the world's great natural spectacles is in danger of effectively vanishing. The Mexican government and the World Wildlife Fund said at a news conference on Wednesday that the span of forest inhabited by the overwintering monarchs shrank last month to a bare 1.65 acres -- the equivalent of about one and a quarter football fields. Not only was that a record low, but it was just 56 percent of last year's total, which was itself a record low. At their peak in 1996, the monarchs occupied nearly 45 acres of forest. ... Children of the future will thank Monsanto and RoundupReady™ for the enhanced shareholder value. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Dec 2, 2013 from Scientific American: Dandruff Shampoo Could Mess Up Waterways Every time you wash your hair, a lot of shampoo goes down the drain. And if you're bothered by tiny white flakes, odds are you use a shampoo that deals with dandruff. Such medicinal shampoos often include a fungicide. A fair amount of fungicide thus ends up at the local wastewater treatment plant. Those industrial facilities remove a lot of stinky stuff. But they mostly fail to grab the drugs in soaps, shampoos, toothpastes, perfumes, sunscreen and other skincare products that our daily habits add to wastewater. Now a study has detected fungicides from anti-dandruff shampoos in the water. And even at concentrations as low as 0.5 micrograms per liter of H2O such fungicides can hurt many organisms, from tiny algae to big plants and fish. ... Shame-poo on you! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Nov 23, 2013 from Associated Press: In first case of its kind, power company pleads guilty to killing eagles at wind farms A major U.S. power company has pleaded guilty to killing eagles and other birds at two Wyoming wind farms as part of the first enforcement of environmental laws protecting birds against wind energy facilities. Under the settlement Friday, North Carolina-based Duke Energy Corp. and its renewable energy arm agreed to pay $1 million. Much of the money will go toward conservation efforts. The company pleaded guilty to killing 14 eagles and 149 other birds at two wind farms outside Casper, Wyo., from 2009 to 2013. ... Whatever happened to grand old tradition of blaming the victim? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 14, 2013 from Associated Press: Lake Erie algae a threat to Ohio drinking water Toxins from blobs of algae on western Lake Erie are infiltrating water treatment plants along the shoreline, forcing cities to spend a lot more money to make sure their drinking water is safe. It got so bad last month that one township told its 2,000 residents not to drink or use the water coming from their taps... The unsightly surface has scared away tourists, and toxins produced by the algae have contributed to oxygen-deprived dead zones where fish can't survive. The toxins also are a threat to the drinking water that the lake provides for 11 million people. ... Let them drink Coke. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 14, 2013 from Washington Post: Study links warmer water temperatures to greater levels of mercury in fish ...In a lab experiment, researchers adjusted temperatures in tanks, tainted the killifish's food with traces of methylmercury and watched as the fish stored high concentrations of the metal in their tissue. In a field experiment in nearby salt pools, they observed as killifish in warmer pools ate their natural food and stored metal in even higher concentrations, like some toxic condiment for larger fish that would later prey on them. The observation was part of a study showing how killifish at the bottom of the food chain will probably absorb higher levels of methylmercury in an era of global warming and pass it on to larger predator fish, such as the tuna stacked in shiny little cans in the cupboards of Americans and other people the world over. ... It would seem our energy system exists solely to serve mercury. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 1, 2013 from Environmental Research Web: Antibacterial products fuel resistant bacteria in streams and rivers Invented for surgeons in the 1960s, triclosan slows or stops the growth of bacteria, fungi, and mildew. Currently, around half of liquid soaps contain the chemical, as well as toothpastes, deodorants, cosmetics, liquid cleansers, and detergents. Triclosan enters streams and rivers through domestic wastewater, leaky sewer infrastructure, and sewer overflows, with residues now common throughout the United States. Emma Rosi-Marshall, one of the paper's authors and an aquatic ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York explains: "The bacterial resistance caused by triclosan has real environmental consequences. Not only does it disrupt aquatic life by changing native bacterial communities, but it's linked to the rise of resistant bacteria that could diminish the usefulness of important antibiotics." ... I think it's time to declare war on bacteria. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Aug 28, 2013 from Xinhua: Water supplies in eastern U.S. threatened by river alkalinization: study Researchers from the University of Maryland and other institutions looked at records of alkalinity trends in 97 rivers from the U.S. state of Florida to the state of New Hampshire over the past 25 to 60 years and found that two-thirds of the region's rivers are becoming "significantly more alkaline." Among the rivers impacted are those that provide water for big cities such as Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Atlanta, the researchers said. Increased alkalinity complicates drinking water and wastewater treatment, encourages algae growth, and can hasten the corrosion of metal pipe infrastructure. At high alkalinity levels, ammonia toxicity can also harm irrigated crops and fish in rivers, according to the researchers.... "This is because acid rain, acidic mining waste, and agricultural fertilizers speed the breakdown of limestone, other carbonate rocks, and even concrete and cement," the researchers said in a statement. "The result: alkaline particles are washed off of the landscape and into streams and rivers." ... Alkaline rivers, acidic seas... see, it's all part of Gaia's plan to balance things out. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jun 16, 2013 from McGill, via EurekAlert: Study of oceans' past raises worries about their future A McGill-led international research team has now completed the first global study of changes that occurred in a crucial component of ocean chemistry, the nitrogen cycle, at the end of the last ice age. The results of their study confirm that oceans are good at balancing the nitrogen cycle on a global scale. But the data also shows that it is a slow process that may take many centuries, or even millennia, raising worries about the effects of the scale and speed of current changes in the ocean.... "We are changing the planet in ways we are not even aware of," says Galbraith. "You wouldn't think that putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere would change the amount of nitrogen available to fish in the ocean, but it clearly does. It is important to realize just how interconnected everything is." ... Interconnecteness means always having to say you're sorry. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Apr 20, 2013 from Sustainable Pulse: New Review Links Roundup to Diabetes, Autism, Infertility and Cancer A new peer-reviewed scientific review paper has been released in the US stating that glyphosate-based herbicides such as Roundup are contributing to gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer's disease. The review paper states that "glyphosate enhances the damaging effects of... food borne chemical residues and environmental toxins. Negative impact on the body is insidious and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body. Here, we show how interference with CYP enzymes acts synergistically with disruption of the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids by gut bacteria, as well as impairment in serum sulfate transport. Consequences are most of the diseases and conditions associated with a Western diet, which include gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer's disease."... [Eighty percent] of genetically modified crops, particularly corn, soy, canola, cotton, sugar beets and most recently alfalfa, are specifically targeted towards the introduction of genes resistant to glyphosate, the so-called "Roundup Ready® feature". ... Here at Monsanto, we just want to make humans "RoundUp Ready®"! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Apr 16, 2013 from Science: Color-Changing Hare Can't Keep Up With Climate Change For hares, fashion is a life or death proposition. Whereas Peter Rabbit could always jump down his hole to escape a fox, his cousin, the hare, has to rely on blending in with his environment to avoid detection. But as the climate warms, hares may no longer be able to stay in sync with their environment, according to a new study. The animals will be switching from earthy brown to snowy white or vice versa at the wrong time and becoming targets for hungry predators.... With the initiation dates for molting fixed, that shift would result in hares being mismatched for as much as 36 days by 2050 and for double that amount of time by the end of the century. ... Hare today, gone tomorrow. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 4, 2013 from Nature: Terrestrial pesticide exposure of amphibians: An underestimated cause of global decline? Amphibians, a class of animals in global decline, are present in agricultural landscapes characterized by agrochemical inputs. Effects of pesticides on terrestrial life stages of amphibians such as juvenile and adult frogs, toads and newts are little understood and a specific risk assessment for pesticide exposure, mandatory for other vertebrate groups, is currently not conducted. We studied the effects of seven pesticide products on juvenile European common frogs (Rana temporaria) in an agricultural overspray scenario. Mortality ranged from 100 percent after one hour to 40 percent after seven days at the recommended label rate of currently registered products. The demonstrated toxicity is alarming and a large-scale negative effect of terrestrial pesticide exposure on amphibian populations seems likely. Terrestrial pesticide exposure might be underestimated as a driver of their decline calling for more attention in conservation efforts and the risk assessment procedures in place do not protect this vanishing animal group. ... Should we be blamed if amphibians are a little thin-skinned? ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Feb 3, 2013 from CNN: Historic cod fishing cuts threaten centuries-old industry in New England ... An advisory council voted Wednesday to slash cod catch rates by 77 percent in the Gulf of Maine, a region roughly the size of Indiana that extends from Cape Cod up through Nova Scotia. That move, analysts predict, is expected to decimate fishing communities across the region and have a domino effect on seafood processors, wholesalers, distributors and retailers who all make a living off the water. "The impact will be severe," said John Bullard, the regional administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who voted in favor of the cuts. "It wasn't easy, but it was necessary." ... I suppose next you'll be saying that we need that same attitude elsewhere! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jan 18, 2013 from The Guardian: Can vegans stomach the unpalatable truth about quinoa? Sales took off. Quinoa was, in marketing speak, the "miracle grain of the Andes", a healthy, right-on, ethical addition to the meat avoider's larder (no dead animals, just a crop that doesn't feel pain). Consequently, the price shot up - it has tripled since 2006 - with more rarified black, red and "royal" types commanding particularly handsome premiums. But there is an unpalatable truth to face for those of us with a bag of quinoa in the larder. The appetite of countries such as ours for this grain has pushed up prices to such an extent that poorer people in Peru and Bolivia, for whom it was once a nourishing staple food, can no longer afford to eat it. Imported junk food is cheaper. In Lima, quinoa now costs more than chicken. Outside the cities, and fuelled by overseas demand, the pressure is on to turn land that once produced a portfolio of diverse crops into quinoa monoculture. ... Give us, this day, their daily bread. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Dec 4, 2012 from E&E Publishing: Scientists link Colo., Okla. temblors to drilling activities Scientists are saying with increased certainty that two damaging earthquakes in 2011 -- one in Colorado, the other in Oklahoma -- were triggered by oil and gas production activities. Studies by seismologists from the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Oklahoma and Columbia University have found the quakes were caused by the deep underground injection of drilling waste. ... Lesson learned: Don't frack on frualt lines! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Nov 20, 2012 from National Research Council, via National Academies Press: Climate and Social Stress: Implications for Security Analysis: National Research Council/CIA Report From page 4 of the Summary: Available knowledge of climate-security connections that feature societal vulnerabilities indicates that security analysis needs to develop more nuanced understanding of the conditions -- largely, social, political, and economic conditions -- under which particular climate events are and are not likely to lead to particular kinds of social and political stresses and under which such events and responses to them are and are not likely to lead to significant security threats. The empirical knowledge base on the connections between extreme events and political instability or violence also suggests some hypotheses that are worthy of further examination.... From page 5 of the summary: Building Fundamental Understanding: Recommendations 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, and 6.1 The intelligence community should participate in a whole-of-government effort to inform choices about adapting to and reducing vulnerability to climate change. Recommendation 3.1 It should, along with appropriate federal science agencies, support research to improve the ability to quantify the likelihoods of potentially disruptive climate events, that is, single extreme climate events, event clusters, and event sequences. ... The National Research Council, and the CIA -- they're kinda leftist organizations, aren't they? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 5, 2012 from Yale Environment 300: How Fishing Gear is Killing Whales in the North Atlantic In early August, a small minke whale washed up on a beach in Chatham, Massachusetts. It was less than nine months old, not even weaned, and the cause of death soon became clear to Michael Moore, a veterinarian and biologist with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who came to perform a necropsy. Fishing line snarled the whale's snout, threading in and out of its baleen. Skull-bone fractures indicated that it had struggled in the rope underwater.... Entanglement has become a fact of life for large whales. Scientists examining scars on whale skin estimate that 82 percent of North Atlantic right whales and about half of endangered humpbacks between Cape Cod and Nova Scotia have become entangled at least once. Each year an unknown number die. Many of them manage to free themselves. ... Fear gear. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Nov 4, 2012 from LiveScience, via HuffingtonPost: Ocean Acidification Research Suggests Return To Dinosaur-Era Underwater Acoustics ... Rising acidity in the oceans could set underwater acoustic conditions back to the Cretaceous period, scientists say, allowing some low-frequency sounds like whale songs to travel perhaps twice as far as they do now. "We call it the Cretaceous acoustic effect, because ocean acidification forced by global warming appears to be leading us back to the similar ocean acoustic conditions as those that existed 110 million years ago, during the Age of Dinosaurs," David G. Browning, an acoustician at the University of Rhode Island, said in a statement. ... WHAT'S THAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU. THE METAPHOR IS TOO LOUD. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Oct 12, 2012 from New York Times: Will Seismic Blasts Upend Atlantic Marine Life? The tests are to be performed by a vessel that trails evenly spaced hydrophones in its wake as compressed air is blasted downward by the vessel's airgun. The resulting sound waves, as high as 250 decibels, are far greater than the sound emitted by a jet engine upon takeoff, Oceana notes. Once the sound waves hit the ocean floor, the hydrophones register echoes that reflect the densities of materials like gas and oil within the seabed.... The intensity and reach of the noise will not only drive some marine animals away and disrupt their feeding patterns, Oceana argues, but could damage or destroy their hearing. This is particularly worrisome for whales, which do not have sharp eyesight and depend heavily on their hearing. Without it, "they can't navigate, they can't function," Mr. Huelsenbeck said. "They keep contact with others based on their calls." Animals like whales decline slowly once their hearing is gone, making it difficult to link a death directly with the seismic tests, he added. ... Environmentalist's concerns are falling on deaf ears. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 2, 2012 from Reuters: Pesticide use ramping up as GMO crop technology backfires: study U.S. farmers are using more hazardous pesticides to fight weeds and insects due largely to heavy adoption of genetically modified crop technologies that are sparking a rise of "superweeds" and hard-to-kill insects, according to a newly released study. Genetically engineered crops have led to an increase in overall pesticide use, by 404 million pounds from the time they were introduced in 1996 through 2011, according to the report by Charles Benbrook, a research professor at the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources at Washington State University.... in recent years, more than two dozen weed species have become resistant to Roundup's chief ingredient glyphosate, causing farmers to use increasing amounts both of glyphosate and other weedkilling chemicals to try to control the so-called "superweeds." ... GMO no mo' ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Sep 29, 2012 from GoErie: Asian carp DNA found in Lake Erie, raising concerns Tom Fuhrman calls the threat of Asian carp possibly invading the Great Lakes and Lake Erie "the scariest invasive thing we've faced.'' "This is the big one,'' said Fuhrman, president of the Lake Erie Region Conservancy. "If we don't control this, we're in trouble. This will change the whole game.''... Flooding allowed Asian carp to escape into the Mississippi River and move upriver. The invasive species has migrated north into tributaries, like the Illinois River, and toward the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, Fuhrman said.... "It's hard to imagine how the native fish species would compete with the carp,'' Fuhrman said. "They're going to be the 800-pound gorilla.'' ... The answer is easy: genetically engineered freshwater sharks! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Sep 14, 2012 from ScienceDaily: Reduced Sea Ice: Fewer Consequences Than Anticipated? Recent data show that we face a historical and dramatic decline in the Arctic summer sea ice extent. This has believed to be bad news for marine organisms living under the ice. But new research show that perhaps some of the species actually have adapted to minimal ice cover in summer. The scientists call their hypothesis the "Nemo hypothesis."... The scientists point to an unresolved paradox concerning the evolution and current distribution of ice associated organisms within the Arctic Ocean: How is it possible to retain a large and viable population of organisms totally dependent on sea ice when their habitat is annually reduced by up to 75-80 percent through melting and the Transpolar Drift through the Fram Strait? ... Sweet! Knowing that a few species will survive lets me stay guilt-free! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Sep 2, 2012 from EnvironmentalResearchWeb: Geoengineering 'comparatively inexpensive' Researchers in the US have estimated that modification of stratospheric albedo - a widely discussed geoengineering technique to counteract some of the effects of climate change - could cost as little as $5 bn a year. Although this is just a small fraction of the gross domestic product (GDP) of most western countries, the team stresses that there are many potential risks of geoengineering the planet in this way.... Indeed, scientists and policy experts have uncovered many disadvantages of stratospheric albedo modification. One problem is that different regions of the world might need different amounts of modification, since global warming is not expected to occur evenly. Another issue is that altering albedo could affect other aspects of the climate such as rainfall. In fact, some climate models suggest that albedo modification could hasten the droughts that climate change itself is expected to induce. Worst, however, is the knowledge that, once begun, albedo modification must be maintained indefinitely. "Abrupt stopping of the delivery of particles to the stratosphere would cause very rapid climate changes," said Apt. ... Heck, the first fix is free. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 28, 2012 from ScienceDaily: Loss of Predators in Northern Hemisphere Affecting Ecosystem Health A survey on the loss in the Northern Hemisphere of large predators, particularly wolves, concludes that current populations of moose, deer, and other large herbivores far exceed their historic levels and are contributing to disrupted ecosystems.... It found that the loss of major predators in forest ecosystems has allowed game animal populations to greatly increase, crippling the growth of young trees and reducing biodiversity. This also contributes to deforestation and results in less carbon sequestration, a potential concern with climate change.... Densities of large mammalian herbivores were six times greater in areas without wolves, compared to those in which wolves were present, the researchers concluded. They also found that combinations of predators, such as wolves and bears, can create an important synergy for moderating the size of large herbivore populations. ... Don't we disallow all scary things? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 28, 2012 from AFP: The spiralling cost of invasive species "Invasive species have a huge impact worldwide. In some countries, the cost is astronomical," says Dave Richardson, director of the Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology at South Africa's University of Stellenbosch.... Invasive species inflict more than $1.4 trillion (1.12 trillion euros) in damage each year, or five percent of global GDP, according to an estimate made 11 years ago.... "It's the globalisation of nature, and we're going to have a hard time stopping it," he said. ... I was led to believe globalization was a good thing. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Aug 16, 2012 from Associated Press: Study off Mass. coast finds noise harming whales Researchers say increasing amounts of underwater noise, largely from shipping traffic, is enveloping rare right whales in "acoustic smog" that makes it harder for them to communicate. The endangered North Atlantic right whale relies far more on sound than sight, using distinctive noises to maintain contact. ... (muffled) ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 31, 2012 from National Geographic News: Caffeinated Seas Found off U.S. Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest may be the epicenter of U.S. coffee culture, and now a new study shows the region's elevated caffeine levels don't stop at the shoreline. The discovery of caffeine pollution in the Pacific Ocean off Oregon is further evidence that contaminants in human waste are entering natural water systems, with unknown consequences for wildlife and humans alike, experts say. Surprisingly, caffeine levels off the potentially polluted areas were below the detectable limit, about 9 nanograms per liter. The wilder coastlines were comparatively highly caffeinated, at about 45 nanograms per liter. ... This all makes me very nervous! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jul 26, 2012 from Guardian: Loss of Arctic sea ice '70 percent man-made' The radical decline in sea ice around the Arctic is at least 70 percent due to human-induced climate change, according to a new study, and may even be up to 95 percent down to humans - rather higher than scientists had previously thought.... He found that a climate system called the Atlantic multi-decadal oscillation (AMO) was a dominant source of variability in ice extent. The AMO is a cycle of warming and cooling in the North Atlantic that repeats every 65 to 80 years - it has been in a warming phase since the mid-1970s.... "We could only attribute as much as 30 percent [of the Arctic ice loss] to the AMO," he said. "Which implies that the rest is due to something else, and this is most likely going to be man-made global change." ... Thank goodness 30 percent is well within the "natural variation" meme. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 24, 2012 from Porterville Recorder: Illegal pot growers are a threat to wildlife Damage done to wildlife and the environment by illegal marijuana growers is causing great concern, especially for officials with the state Department of Fish and Game. The evidence is growing -- pesticides used on illegal marijuana grows may be sickening and killing wildlife. Specifically, a new study documents deaths of fishers, a forest carnivore of the weasel family, in remote forested areas due to rat poisons, but Fish and Game Warden Patrick Foy said the damage goes far beyond one species... "These systems are impressive and all gravity driven," said Foy of the gardens that can contain more than 40,000 plants. This month, the TCSD busted 11 gardens, one which contained more than 30,000 plants. They also found piles of pesticides and poisons as well as elaborate irrigation systems and a lot of garbage. ... Dude, that is one awesome garden... ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 10, 2012 from ProPublica: New Study: Fluids From Marcellus Shale Likely Seeping Into PA Drinking Water New research has concluded that salty, mineral-rich fluids deep beneath Pennsylvania's natural gas fields are likely seeping upward thousands of feet into drinking water supplies. Though the fluids were natural and not the byproduct of drilling or hydraulic fracturing, the finding further stokes the red-hot controversy over fracking in the Marcellus Shale, suggesting that drilling waste and chemicals could migrate in ways previously thought to be impossible... The study is the second in recent months to find that the geology surrounding the Marcellus Shale could allow contaminants to move more freely than expected. ... Fluids: a most magical elixir! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, May 29, 2012 from New York Times: Expert Links Dolphin Deaths to Sonar Testing Did offshore oil exploration play a role in the recent deaths of nearly 900 dolphins off the northern Peruvian coast? Peru's fisheries minister said last week that government scientists had ruled that out as a possibility and that the dolphins probably died of natural causes. But a marine veterinarian and conservationist who examined many of the corpses contends they were probably harmed by sound waves from seismic tests used to locate oil deposits. ... (muffled) ApocaDoc permalink Tue, May 15, 2012 from PhysOrg: Scientists sound acid alarm for plankton The microscopic organisms on which almost all life in the oceans depends could be even more vulnerable to increasingly acidic waters than scientists realised, according to a new study. Previous experiments have given an unduly optimistic view of the impact of acidifying oceans on plankton; it turns out that the methods used may have biased their results. "Plankton often grow in clumps or aggregates," says Professor Kevin Flynn of Swansea University, lead author of the study. "But the way they are handled tends to break these clumps up. When a scientists starts working on a plankton sample in the lab, the first thing they do is give it a good shake."... They found that if predictions of general ocean acidification come true, many kinds of plankton will face much more acidic conditions, and more widely varying conditions over each day, than previously realized - conditions far beyond anything seen in recent history. The results are likely to be stunted growth, or even death.... In another twist, as seawater gets more acidic, its capacity to protect against even more acidity diminishes, so general ocean acidification will increase the impact of the local acidification that plankton trigger. ... Whaddaya expect? Plankton're not cute. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Apr 30, 2012 from Reuters: Wind farms may have warming effect: research Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels contribute to global warming, which could lead to the melting of glaciers, sea level rise, ocean acidification, crop failure and other devastating effects, scientists say. In a move to cut such emissions, many nations are moving towards cleaner energy sources such as wind power.... Researchers at the State University of New York at Albany analysed the satellite data of areas around large wind farms in Texas, where four of the world's largest farms are located, over the period 2003 to 2011. The results, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, showed a warming trend of up to 0.72 degrees Celsius per decade in areas over the farms, compared with nearby regions without the farms. ... Poor us. We can't do anything right! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 26, 2012 from HuffingtonPost: 'Agent Orange Corn' Debate Rages As Dow Seeks Approval Of New Genetically Modified Seed ... The corn has been genetically engineered to be immune to 2,4-D, an ingredient used in Agent Orange that some say could pose a serious threat to the environment and to human health. Approval by the United States Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency would allow farmers to spray it far and wide without damaging their crops, boosting productivity for the agribusiness giant. Dow and its allies have insisted that their product is well tested, while industry regulators have so far overlooked critics' concerns.... "The scientific community has sounded alarms about the dangers of 2,4-D for decades," wrote opponents in their letter to Vilsack. "Numerous studies link 2,4-D exposure to major health problems such as cancer, lowered sperm counts, liver toxicity and Parkinson's disease. Lab studies show that 2,4-D causes endocrine disruption, reproductive problems, neurotoxicity, and immunosuppression." Some farmers have argued that the new herbicide, a combination of 2,4-D and glyphosate -- the active ingredient in Monsanto's bestselling Roundup weed killer -- is necessary to combat weeds that have become resistant to glyphosate alone. ... No doubt the nervous Nellies will natter negativism nabobishly. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 26, 2012 from ScienceDaily: Wind Pushes Plastics Deeper Into Oceans, Driving Trash Estimates Up After taking samples of water at a depth of 16 feet (5 meters), Proskurowski, a researcher at the University of Washington, discovered that wind was pushing the lightweight plastic particles below the surface. That meant that decades of research into how much plastic litters the ocean, conducted by skimming only the surface, may in some cases vastly underestimate the true amount of plastic debris in the oceans, Proskurowski said.... [D]ata collected from just the surface of the water commonly underestimates the total amount of plastic in the water by an average factor of 2.5. In high winds the volume of plastic could be underestimated by a factor of 27.... Proskurowski gathered data on a 2010 North Atlantic expedition where he and his team collected samples at the surface, plus an additional three or four depths down as far as 100 feet. "Almost every tow we did contained plastic regardless of the depth," he said. ... That plastic could be the result of natural variation, couldn't it? Hunh? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Apr 9, 2012 from PNAS, via HuffingtonPost: White-Nose Bat Deaths: Fungus Behind Mysterious Deaths In U.S. And Canada Came From Europe The mysterious deaths of millions of bats in Canada and the United States over the past several years were caused by a fungus that hitchhiked from Europe, scientists reported Monday. Experts had suspected that an invasive species was to blame for the die-off from "white nose syndrome." Now there's direct evidence the culprit was not native to North America. The fungal illness has not caused widespread deaths among European bats unlike in the U.S. and Canada. In North America more than 5.7 million bats have died since 2006 when white nose syndrome was first detected in a cave in upstate New York. The disease does not pose a threat to humans, but people can carry fungal spores. It's unclear exactly how the fungus crossed the Atlantic, but one possibility is that it was accidentally introduced by tourists. Spores are known to stick to people's clothes, boots and caving gear. ... In other contexts, that's called "globalism." ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Apr 2, 2012 from Windsor Star: New chemicals piling up in environment New flame retardants meant to replace their toxic predecessors are showing up in the air around the Great Lakes in increasing concentrations and travelling as far north as the Arctic. These new findings raise a red flag that these chemicals need to be more closely examined to see if they accumulate in the environment and animals, according to Hayley Hung, a research scientist at Environment Canada, who found concentrations of tetrabromobenzoate (TBB) and tetrabromophthalate (TBPH) in both Canada's High Arctic and the Tibetan Plateau. "It's not just a localized problem," Hung said. "(They) could become a global pollutant." ... We are not very bright at making retardants. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Mar 14, 2012 from Mongabay: Surging demand for vegetable oil drives rainforest destruction Surging demand for vegetable oil has emerged as an important driver of tropical deforestation over the past two decades and is threatening biodiversity, carbon stocks, and other ecosystem functions in some of the world's most critical forest areas, warns a report published last week by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). But the report, titled Recipes for Success: Solutions for Deforestation-Free Vegetable Oils, sees some reason for optimism, including emerging leadership from some producers, rising demand for "greener" products from buyers, new government policies to monitor deforestation and shift cropland expansion to non-forest area, and partnerships between civil society and key private sector players to improve the sustainability of vegetable oil production.... To meet increased demand, large swathes of land have been converted for rapeseed (canola), oil palm, sugar cane, maize (corn), and soy. Some of the area has included carbon-dense rainforest in Brazil, Malaysia, and Indonesia, a development that has alarmed environmentalists, scientists, and people who rely on forests for subsistence. ... But I love fries with that. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jan 31, 2012 from Guardian: China's largest freshwater lake dries up For visitors expecting to see China's largest freshwater lake, Poyang is a desolate spectacle. Under normal circumstances it covers 3,500 sq km, but last month only 200 sq km were underwater. A dried-out plain stretches as far as the eye can see, leaving a pagoda perched on top of a hillock that is usually a little island. Wrapped in the mist characteristic of the lower reaches of the Yangtze river, the barges are moored close to the quayside beside a pitiful trickle of water. There is no work for the fisheries. According to the state news agency Xinhua, the drought - the worst for 60 years - is due to the lack of rainfall in the area round Poyang and its tributaries. Poor weather conditions this year are partly responsible. But putting the blame on them overlooks the role played by the colossal Three Gorges reservoir, 500km upstream. The cause and effect is still not officially recognised, even if the government did admit last May that the planet's biggest dam had given rise to "problems that need to be solved very urgently". ... Three dams, gorging. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 16, 2012 from Nature Climate Change, via EPOCA: Carbon dioxide is 'driving fish crazy' "For several years our team have been testing the performance of baby coral fishes in sea water containing higher levels of dissolved CO2 - and it is now pretty clear that they sustain significant disruption to their central nervous system, which is likely to impair their chances of survival," Prof. Munday says.... ["]They were confused and no longer avoided reef sounds during the day. Being attracted to reefs during daylight would make them easy meat for predators." Other work showed the fish also tended to lose their natural instinct to turn left or right - an important factor in schooling behaviour which also makes them more vulnerable, as lone fish are easily eaten by predators. "All this led us to suspect it wasn't simply damage to their individual senses that was going on - but rather, that higher levels of carbon dioxide were affecting their whole central nervous system." ... They'll fit right in to this crazy world! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jan 12, 2012 from Associated Press: EPA: Power plants main global warming culprits The most detailed data yet on emissions of heat-trapping gases show that U.S. power plants are responsible for the bulk of the pollution blamed for global warming. Power plants released 72 percent of the greenhouse gases reported to the Environmental Protection Agency for 2010, according to information released Wednesday that was the first catalog of global warming pollution by facility. The data include more than 6,700 of the largest industrial sources of greenhouse gases, or about 80 percent of total U.S. emissions. ... If I be wicked, coal unto me... ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Dec 12, 2011 from The ApocaDocs: 2011 ApocaDocs Year In Review The top 100-and-change from the more than 1,000 news items bequipped by 'Docs Jim and Michael in 2011, all in one place -- with punchlines! This distillation is 200-proof grain alcohorror that may make you wish you were blind. Climate chaoses, species collapses, biology breaches, and much more from the whole human tragicomedy of the last 12 months. If only it weren't so -- but then, if it wasn't so, the 'Docs would have to make fun of Lindsay Lohan instead. ... I hear there are nekkid pichers of LiLo in Playboy, just in time for the holidays! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Nov 8, 2011 from PNAS, via New Scientist: Frog-killer chytrid fungus was born in trade The global amphibian trade spread the lethal chytrid fungus, which is decimating frogs around the planet, and it now looks like it may have created the disease in the first place. The team behind this finding are calling for an amphibian quarantine to help slow the disease's spread.... The best and simplest explanation is that 20th-century trade, which shipped amphibians all over the world, enabled the mating, says Farrer's supervisor Matthew Fisher. "We've got to restrict trade, or at least make sure that amphibians are not contaminated," says Fisher. One approach would be for countries to quarantine all imported amphibians and only allow them to stay if they are uninfected. ... Take out the "fun" in "fungus," and what's left? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Nov 1, 2011 from New York Times: Turkey: Sandblasting Jeans for "Distressed" Look Proved Harmful for Textile Workers Sandblasting new blue jeans to make them look "distressed" killed a number of young Turkish textile workers before the practice was outlawed, a new study has found. The study, published in Chest, a medical journal for lung specialists, was done by doctors at a hospital for thoracic diseases in Istanbul. They followed 32 male textile workers who came to their hospital with breathing problems between 2001 and 2009. That year, after news reports of a "silicosis epidemic,” Turkish health authorities banned sandblasting denim. ... Does my guilt make my butt look big? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Nov 1, 2011 from New York Times: Concerns Are Raised About Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes These mosquitoes are genetically engineered to kill -- their own children. Researchers on Sunday reported initial signs of success from the first release into the environment of mosquitoes engineered to pass a lethal gene to their offspring, killing them before they reach adulthood. The results, and other work elsewhere, could herald an age in which genetically modified insects will be used to help control agricultural pests and insect-borne diseases like dengue fever and malaria. ... Are we playing God ... or playing Devil? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Oct 20, 2011 from New York Times: Infectious salmon anemia found in wild Pacific salmon As word spread that infectious salmon anemia, a deadly virus that has devastated farmed fish in Chile, had been found for the first time in prized wild Pacific salmon, there remained much uncertainty about the finding and what its potential impact could be. So far it has been found in just two wild sockeye salmon in British Columbia and not in an active state. Nevertheless the reaction from fishermen has echoed that of some scientists: this is the last thing salmon need. "On top of everything else, that would just be murder here," said Mr. Tremain, aboard his 40-foot boat, Heidi, at Fishermen's Terminal here.... Richard Routledge, a professor from Simon Fraser University, speculated that the fish may have caught the disease from a nearby fish farm. Canadian officials, however, say the fish at the farm have not tested positive for the disease. That discrepancy has caused some scientists to privately question the validity of the government tests, in part because the same Canadian agency that regulates fish farming, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, also promotes it. The agency did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. ... If the salmon are anemic, give 'em iron supplements. Duh! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 18, 2011 from Associated Press: 7 billion humans and rising rapidly As of Oct. 31, according to the U.N. Population Fund, there will be 7 billion people sharing Earth's land and resources. In Western Europe, Japan and Russia, it will be an ironic milestone amid worries about low birthrates and aging populations. In China and India, the two most populous nations, it's an occasion to reassess policies that have already slowed once-rapid growth. But in Burundi, Uganda and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, the demographic news is mostly sobering as the region staggers under the double burden of the world's highest birthrates and deepest poverty. The regional population of nearly 900 million could reach 2 billion in 40 years at current rates, accounting for about half of the projected global population growth over that span. ... At least 4 billion of them will be in costume. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Oct 6, 2011 from PLOS, via EurekAlert: The establishment of genetically engineered canola populations in the US Large, persistent populations of genetically engineered canola 1 have been found outside of cultivation in North Dakota. As genetically engineered crops become increasingly prevalent in the United States, concerns remain about potential ecological side effects. A study published today by the online journal PLoS ONE reports that genetically engineered canola endowed with herbicide resistance have been found growing outside of established cultivation regions along roadsides across North Dakota. These "escaped" plants were found state-wide and accounted for 45 percent of the total roadside plants sampled. Furthermore, populations were found to persist from year to year and reach thousands of individuals. The authors also found that the escaped plants could hybridize with each other to create novel combinations of transgenic traits. The authors argue that their result, more than 10 years after the initial release of genetically engineered canola, "raises questions of whether adequate oversight and monitoring protocols are in place in the U.S. to track the environmental impact of biotech products." ... It's so wonderful that they engineered in a desire for freedom. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Sep 28, 2011 from Huffington Post: Dan Rather: Bee Aware And it's not just here in the United States. With losses being reported from all over Europe, the Middle East and some parts of Asia, the worldwide economic value of pollinators to agriculture, estimated to be over $200 billion dollars, is in the balance. So what's going on? One of the suspects, according to beekeepers and scientists, is relatively new on the market. Remember these words: systemic pesticides. Systemics work differently than any other pesticide.... Systemic pesticides have changed the game of insect control since they were introduced in the mid-90s. They have since become the fastest growing class of any insecticide in history, and among the most widely used in the world, now approved for use on three quarters of all U.S. farmland. Systemic pesticides have become popular because they're so effective. Since they are absorbed by the plant, either through seed treatment or spray, the whole plant becomes toxic to insects. That means they don't need to be reapplied like traditional pesticides, saving time, money and exposure to humans. But it also means that the chemicals get into the pollen and nectar. ... Maybe that explains why my old compost piles look like my new ones. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 13, 2011 from Georgetown University: High Levels of Carcinogens in Dry-Cleaning, Study Shows Georgetown researchers have found that perchloroethylene (PCE), a potentially carcinogenic dry cleaning solvent, is retained in dry-cleaned clothes made of polyester, cotton or wool. The levels increase with repeat cleanings, according to the researchers, whose work appeared Aug. 30 online in Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry.... "The question is, can the levels of PCE we find be absorbed through the skin or inhaled in quantities large enough to harm people," says Georgetown professor Paul Roepe, who supervised the study. "We don't have the complete answers to those questions, but I think we know enough to suggest that more studies should be done very quickly."... They found that polyester, cotton and wool (but not silk) are most prone to retaining high levels of PCE. "At the end of the day, nobody - I mean nobody - has previously done this simple thing - gone out there to several different drycleaners and tested different types of cloth for retained PCE," says Roepe, also co-director of Georgetown's Center for Infectious Disease. ... That crisp, fresh look is worth it! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 13, 2011 from London Guardian: Sheffield highlights 'clean jeans' which zap pollutants round their wearers Jeans which clean up the air around them are being highlighted in Sheffield, as the UK's textile industry continues to show that it is far from dead. Using Lilliput-like nanotechnology, the familiar blue material breaks down pollutants from industry and road traffic with photocatalysts added to the cloth. The system, devised by Sheffield university and the London College of Fashion, follows similar 'smart' applications at Bolton University, which generate electricity through minute solar and movement cells in fabric. Its potential for reducing other more obvious odours, or even overcoming the long-standing aversion of golf clubs to denim clothing, has yet to be explored. ... The most important thing, however, is its impact on the perceived capaciousness of my derriere. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Sep 1, 2011 from London Guardian: Firing laser beams into the sky could make it rain, say scientists Ever since ancient farmers called on the gods to send rain to save their harvests, humans have longed to have the weather at their command. That dream has now received a boost after researchers used a powerful laser to produce water droplets in the air, a step that could ultimately help trigger rainfall. While nothing can produce a downpour from dry air, the technique, called laser-assisted water condensation, might allow some control over where and when rain falls if the atmosphere is sufficiently humid. ... Our twubbles are alllll over. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 30, 2011 from Wired Science: Antibiotics: Killing Off Beneficial Bacteria ... for Good? But implicit in that concept is the expectation that, after a while -- after a course of antibiotics ends -- the gut flora repopulate and their natural balance returns. What if that expectation were wrong? In a provocative editorial published this week in Nature, Martin Blaser of New York University's Langone Medical Center argues that antibiotics' impact on gut bacteria is permanent -- and so serious in its long-term consequences that medicine should consider whether to restrict antibiotic prescribing to pregnant women and young children. Early evidence from my lab and others hints that, sometimes, our friendly flora never fully recover. These long-term changes to the beneficial bacteria within people's bodies may even increase our susceptibility to infections and disease. Overuse of antibiotics could be fuelling the dramatic increase in conditions such as obesity, type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies and asthma, which have more than doubled in many populations.... Among the findings he cites in support: The population-level observation that the incidence of infection with H. pylori, the bacterial cause of gastric ulcers, has declined over decades just as the incidence of esophageal cancer has risen. In addition, he offers his own research group's observation that children who don't acquire H. pylori are at greater risk of developing allergy and asthma, and their findings that eradicating H. pylori affects the production of the two hormones, ghrelin and leptin, that play a role in weight gain. ... I say, kill 'em all, and let evolution sort 'em out. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Aug 27, 2011 from New York Times Environment: Time to Start Work on a Panic Button? For two decades, the world's governments have failed to meet their own commitment to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas. As frustration builds among scientists, some of them have begun to argue for research on a potential last-ditch option in case global warming starts to get out of control. It is called geoengineering -- or directly manipulating the Earth's climate.... Perhaps the single most prominent idea is to scatter sulfur compounds into the upper atmosphere, mimicking volcanic eruptions and causing some of the sun's light to bounce back to space. Other ideas include designing machines to capture carbon dioxide from the air and store it underground or in the deep ocean. Most scientists who support this kind of research are emphatically not advocating that geoengineering schemes be undertaken now, and most of them hope society will never reach that point. But they do want a research program to quantify the potential risks and benefits, so that future political leaders will have some scientific basis if they ever have to make decisions on the issue.... The Government Accountability Office, an auditing and analysis arm of Congress, found that no geoengineering scheme could be responsibly deployed today, given the uncertainties. But it also found that a large majority of experts it interviewed were in favor of research to narrow those uncertainties. And the agency did public-opinion research that suggested the American people would favor such research, too, while also being concerned about the potential harm. ... We've done it once; surely we can do it again, this time on purpose! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Aug 24, 2011 from Mongabay: Humanity knows less than 15 percent of the world's species Scientists have named, cataloged, and described less than 2 million species in the past two and a half centuries, yet, according to an new innovative analysis, we are no-where near even a basic understanding of the diversity of life on this small blue planet. The study in PLoS Biology, which is likely to be controversial, predicts that there are 8.7 million species in the world, though the number could be as low as 7.4 or as high as 10 million. The research implies that about 86 percent of the world's species have still yet to be described.... "We have only begun to uncover the tremendous variety of life around us," says co-author Alastair Simpson, also with Dalhousie. "The richest environments for prospecting new species are thought to be coral reefs, seafloor mud and moist tropical soils. But smaller life forms are not well known anywhere. Some unknown species are living in our own backyards—literally." Less is even known about the threats to species in what scientists say is an age of mass extinction. ... Ah, species, we hardly knew ye. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Aug 20, 2011 from EcoHearth: Millions of Abandoned, Leaking Oil Wells and Natural-Gas Wells Destined to Foul Our Future Other instances of leaking oil from just the past 30 odd years (millions of gallons noted in parentheses) have occurred in Kuwait during the Gulf War (240-336); Bay of Campeche, Mexico (140); Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies (88.3); Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan (87.7); Nowruz Oil Field, Persian Gulf (80); Angolan coast (80); Saldanha Bay, South Africa (78.5); off Brittany, France (68.7); off Nova Scotia, Canada (43); Genoa, Italy (42); Exxon Valdez spill off Alaska (11); and BP's Deepwater Horizon platform leak in the Gulf of Mexico (205). This in-depth EcoHearth report indicates these are but a prelude more numerous catastrophes to come.... Each day hundreds of thousands of abandoned leaking oil wells and natural-gas wells spew toxic pollutants into the environment--and tens of millions more will soon join them--thanks to fatally flawed gas and oil-well capping and lax or nonexistent industry and government oversight. A three-month EcoHearth.com investigation has revealed this developing environmental calamity that almost no one is paying attention to and that gravely threatens ecosystems worldwide. There are at minimum 2.5 million abandoned oil and gas wells--none permanently capped--littering the US, and an estimated 20-30 million globally. There is no known technology for securely sealing these tens of millions of abandoned wells. Many--likely hundreds of thousands--are already hemorrhaging oil, brine and greenhouse gases into the environment. Habitats are being fundamentally altered. Aquifers are being destroyed. Some of these abandoned wells are explosive, capable of building-leveling, toxin-spreading detonations. And thanks to primitive capping technologies, virtually all are leaking now--or will be. ... I'm confident that the technology of the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s is both dependable and safe, in perpetuity. How about you? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Aug 18, 2011 from Wired: Science Zapping bugs with microwaves could replace pesticides Researchers at the National Physical Laboratory are investigating whether microwaves can be used to kill insects and other pests, such as slugs and snails, instead of chemical pesticides. The right wave frequency can cause damage to the insect's structure, causing it to explode, or can simply interfere with its communication or reproductive system. Microwaves of up to 100 gigahertz are being tested to see whether they can be used as a more energy efficient and environmentally friendly way of exterminating certain pests. Whereas chemical pesticides don't discriminate between species, microwaves could be tailored to target insects of a certain size and structure. Finding the right resonant frequency to cause the damage to the bugs is a bit of trial and error. ... What could go wrong? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Aug 10, 2011 from Lloyd: Climate change leads to rising subsidence risks in Europe News reports on climate change have focused on dire predictions of more hurricanes and increasing flooding due to rising sea levels. But subsidence caused by drought, which has already become a major problem across Europe, will also become much worse due to global warming.... Subsidence is one of the costliest but least known property risks. Unlike a roaring storm, the damage wreaked by subsidence takes years rather than hours, but it can be serious.... A prolonged heatwave may bake the ground, creating fissures that can tear apart the foundations of houses, bridges and factories. In some parts of Europe, subsidence claims are now the costliest natural hazard, comparable to serious flooding, says Swiss Re in its report "The hidden risks of climate change: An increase in property damage from drought and soil subsidence in Europe". In France, subsidence-related claims have risen by more than 50 percent in the past 20 years, costing the affected regions 340 million euros every year on average. ... OMG: PermaMoist breakdown! Who would have thought? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Aug 4, 2011 from MITnews: The too-smart-for-its-own-good grid In the last few years, electrical utilities have begun equipping their customers' homes with new meters that have Internet connections and increased computational capacity. One envisioned application of these "smart meters" is to give customers real-time information about fluctuations in the price of electricity, which might encourage them to defer some energy-intensive tasks until supply is high or demand is low. Less of the energy produced from erratic renewable sources such as wind and solar would thus be wasted, and utilities would less frequently fire up backup generators, which are not only more expensive to operate but tend to be more polluting, too.... in MIT's Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems, however, shows that this policy could backfire. If too many people set appliances to turn on, or devices to recharge, when the price of electricity crosses the same threshold, it could cause a huge spike in demand; in the worst case, that could bring down the power grid. Fortunately, in a paper presented at the last IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, the researchers also show that some relatively simple types of price controls could prevent huge swings in demand. But that stability would come at the cost of some of the efficiencies that real-time pricing is intended to provide.... But, Litvinov adds, an accurate model of the dynamics of energy consumption would have to factor in consumers' responses, not only to changing electricity prices, but also to each other's responses. "It's like a game," Litvinov says. "People will have to start adopting more sophisticated strategies. That whole dynamic is itself a subject for study." ... The invisible hand of the smartgridplace may give us the back of it. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 19, 2011 from Pittsburg Post-Gazette: Pa. wind turbines deadly to bats, costly to farmers ...The 420 wind turbines now in use across Pennsylvania killed more than 10,000 bats last year -- mostly in the late summer months, according to the state Game Commission. That's an average of 25 bats per turbine per year, and the Nature Conservancy predicts as many as 2,900 turbines will be set up across the state by 2030... Bat populations go down, bug populations go up and farmers are left with the bill for more pesticide and crops...If one turbine kills 25 bats in a year, that means one turbine accounted for about 17 million uneaten bugs in 2010. ... Do THIS math: If I don't have electricity I don't have TV! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jul 7, 2011 from Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Pennsylvania fracking water being disposed in Ohio Pennsylvania's waste is becoming Ohio's million-dollar treasure. Marcellus shale drillers are shipping more fracking waste to the Buckeye State, on pace for Ohio to bank nearly $1 million in fees this year from out-of-state drillers pumping hazardous fluids deep under Ohio. The amount of wastewater Ohio accepted from out-of-state drillers jumped 25 percent in the first quarter, compared to the last quarter of 2010, likely in part because Pennsylvania officials this year increased pressure on drillers to keep fracking waste out of surface water, said Tom Tomastik of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Drillers "have to do something with this waste," said Pam Melott, manager at WTC Gas Field Services in Indiana County, one of several haulers newly registered to ship to Ohio. "There's a lot of prospective customers. Our customers have called me and they want to know, 'What are we going to do?' ... So, yes, they're very interested in this."... More haulers are registering to carry shipments to Ohio, and one developer is considering a rail line covering several hundred miles, Tomastik said.... Drillers were taking some of it to plants that treated it, then dumped it into rivers. The Pennsylvania DEP in August set stricter standards for the amount of solids those plants could allow in treated water. This spring, the agency asked drillers to stop taking Marcellus water to those plants, sparking the search for options.... Some water used in shale gas drilling won't be recycled, usually because there's no place to use it or no convenient place to recycle it. That water is distilled into a highly concentrated brine and that goes to underground disposal wells, said Matt Pitzarella, spokesman for Texas-based Range Resources, which has offices in Cecil.... In the second half of last year, drillers produced almost as much liquid waste -- 5.3 million barrels -- and started sending more than 6.6 percent of their waste to injection disposal wells, all in Ohio. ... Injection wells kick ass, in the race to the bottom. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 20, 2011 from SciDev.net: Small hydro could add up to big damage A belief that 'small' hydropower systems are a source of clean energy with little or no environmental problems is driving the growing interest in mini, micro, and pico hydro systems that generate from less than 5 kilowatts up to 10 megawatts of energy. Hydropower appears to be the cleanest and most versatile of renewable energy sources. But experience shows that optimism about its potential can be misplaced.... By the end of 1970s it had become clear that the very optimistic, almost reverential, attitude towards hydropower projects that had prevailed during the early 1950s was misplaced. These projects damaged the environment as seriously as did fossil-fuelled power projects.... A turbine here or there may not affect the river noticeably; but if we are to use the technology extensively and put turbines in every other waterfall in a river, and make small dams on most of its tributaries or feeder streams, the environmental degradation -- per kilowatt of power generated -- will likely be much higher than that caused by large hydropower systems. The factors that harm a river habitat with large hydropower projects are also at play with small projects: interrupted water flow, barriers to animal movement, water loss from evaporation and loss of biodiversity from the sacrificed portion of river are some examples. ... There goes all my plans for our Three Gullies Dam. 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 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 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 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 Fri, Jun 3, 2011 from North Carolina State University via ScienceDaily: Biodegradable Products May Be Bad for the Environment Research from North Carolina State University shows that so-called biodegradable products are likely doing more harm than good in landfills, because they are releasing a powerful greenhouse gas as they break down. "Biodegradable materials, such as disposable cups and utensils, are broken down in landfills by microorganisms that then produce methane," says Dr. Morton Barlaz, co-author of a paper describing the research and professor and head of NC State's Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering. "Methane can be a valuable energy source when captured, but is a potent greenhouse gas when released into the atmosphere." ... For goodness sake can't we get anything right? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 9, 2011 from The Walrus: Climate Controlled He's been training his mental telescope on the year 2031, and the nagging question of whether our world will be consumed by a new, climate-related geopolitics.... China and the Pacific Rim nations, meanwhile, are enduring ever-worsening repercussions of climate change: volatile storms, food riots, and rising sea levels that displace millions of people. "Suddenly," he says, drawing out the tale like the pitch for a thriller, "some countries say, 'Screw it. We have to cool this down.'" How? A bloc of Asian nations underwrites an aggressive geoengineering effort that uses specially designed aircraft to disperse thousands of tonnes of sulfate aerosols into the upper atmosphere. The goal: to reduce global temperatures and calm regional weather patterns. Relative to the costs of environmental mayhem, this high-leverage project is alluringly affordable and promises quick results. Indeed, the halo of high-altitude particles succeeds in reflecting enough sunlight into space that ocean temperatures begin to drop -- so much so that the summer sea ice in the Arctic refreezes. Blackstock continues the plot line: Arctic oil and gas exploration halts, triggering a recession as investors anticipate rising energy prices. Resource-rich northern nations, which have reaped a climate change dividend in the Arctic, now find their commercial interests directly threatened by the geoengineering efforts of southern countries hit by global warming symptoms. ... Surely nobody would change the climate in a way that would harm others, would they? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 9, 2011 from New Scientist: Unnatural selection: Fish growing up fast If we humans are good at hunting, we excel at fishing. As we vacuum up stupendous numbers of fish from oceans, rivers and lakes, the nature of the ones that get away is changing at an astonishing rate. In particular, the targeting of big animals drives the evolution of smaller fish or ones that become sexually mature at a younger age, or both. Many fish populations are changing dramatically, with average size shrinking by 20 per cent and average life histories 25 per cent shorter (PNAS, v 106, p 952). Harvested species show the most abrupt trait changes ever observed in wild populations, Michael Kinnison of the University of Maine and colleagues reported recently.... There is also no doubt about the plausibility of such rapid evolution. A decade-long study of Atlantic silversides kept in tanks has shown that intense targeting of large individuals can halve average size in just four generations. ... Pretty soon fish will die before they're born. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Apr 24, 2011 from Associated Press: Costly gasoline clouds Obama re-election prospects With gas prices climbing and little relief in sight, President Barack Obama is scrambling to get ahead of the latest potential obstacle to his re-election bid, even as Republicans are making plans to exploit the issue....As Obama well knows, Americans love their cars and remain heavily dependent on them, and they don't hesitate to punish politicians when the cost of filling their tanks goes through the roof. ... This Easter, give your car a big bunny hug because it's the most important thing on the planet. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Apr 18, 2011 from St. Petersburg Times: USF study concludes that common fungicide is deadly to frogs Two years ago some University of South Florida researchers began studying the effects of the most widely used fungicide in the country to see if it might kill more than just fungus. Turns out it's also a pretty effective frog-icide. "We were completely surprised to see it basically killed everything," said Taegan McMahon, the lead researcher on the study, which was published this week in a scientific journal called Environmental Health Perspectives. Frogs on farms with treated fields, frogs in ponds on golf courses, frogs in the back yard -- the fungicide could be lethal to any of them, the study suggests. "We don't know what the effect on humans could be," she added. "And we use it heavily in Florida." The fungicide, chlorothalonil, sold under such names as Bravo, Echo and Daconil, is used to treat farmers' fields, lawns and golf courses and is an ingredient in mold-suppressing paint. It's part of the same chemical family, organochlorines, as the banned pesticide DDT. It is known to cause severe eye and skin irritation in humans if handled improperly. Chlorothalonil kills mold and fungi by disrupting the respiratory functions of the cells, explained Jason Rohr, an assistant professor who co-authored the study and heads up USF's Rohr Ecology Lab. At this point the researchers don't know if that's how it kills frogs, too, he said. They just know it's lethal. ... On Silent Pond. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Apr 17, 2011 from Popular Science: Study Finds Commonly Used Silver Nanoparticles Are Deadly to Microbes, Plants Nanotech is looked upon by many as the next great enabling technology that will revolutionize (and is revolutionizing) everything from materials science to disease therapies to game-changing new energy technologies. But, according to a new study by Queen's University researchers, some commonly used nanoparticles found in everything from sunscreen to cosmetics to socks could be destroying soil systems, and by extension the very ecosystems upon which we rely for life. Among the millions of tons of nanoparticles manufactured annually, silver nanoparticles are a particular favorite as they work as antibacterial agents in surgical tools, water treatment, wound dressings, and in a variety of other roles. They've even been used in the cathodes of batteries.... The researchers had begun to wonder what the impact of nanoparticles were on the environment, and having received a chunk of Arctic soil as part of the International Polar Year they decided to experiment on this piece of uncontaminated earth. They first studied the sample to see what kind of microbe communities were living in the soil, and identified a certain beneficial and prevalent microbe that helps fix nitrogen to plants. Plants can't do this on their own and nitrogen is critical to their growth, so this particular microbe is essential to plant life. The researchers then added three different kinds of nanoparticles to the soil and let it sit for six months. When they re-examined it, they found that this microbe had largely been extinguished, and laboratory analysis showed that silver nanoparticles were the culprit. Given the high number of silver nanoparticles slipping into the environment on a daily basis, such findings are concerning. ... Should there be a warning label that reads "Antithetical to life itself"? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Apr 13, 2011 from Basque Research: In recent decades, the number of alien species in Navarre has tripled In concrete, the experts involved are focusing on endemic freshwater species - euryhalines and diadromes - fish that can live in both fresh and salty water (such as salmon and eels).... In this sense, it is striving to increase awareness of and interest in autochthonous fish species under threat due to a number of factors. Amongst the most serious, points out Mr Miranda, is the alteration of the habitat caused by hydraulic works, water extraction, industrial waste dumping, the extraction of sand or the canalisation of riverbeds. "Moreover, particularly serious is the introduction of alien species, which causes the greatest impact", he stressed. According to the expert, invasive fish fed into our lakes and rivers put the survival of autochthonous Iberian Ichthyofauna in danger: "In fact, biological invasions are the second great cause of loss of biodiversity in the world, being especially damaging to freshwater systems". This is the case of predatory species such as black bass, pike or catfish, all of which are present in rivers in Navarre.... "This is the case of bleak (alburon) - possibly introduced as bait from France - and which in 20 years has become the dominant species over all the middle-range and lower stretches of the Ebro river basin and which, on competing with the nose fish (madrilla), has made the latter's numbers plummet throughout the zone". ... Ironically, this English is written by a non-native speaker. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Apr 12, 2011 from North Carolina State University: Study Finds Public Relatively Unconcerned About Nanotechnology Risks A new study finds that the general public thinks getting a suntan poses a greater public health risk than nanotechnology or other nanoparticle applications. The study, from North Carolina State University, compared survey respondents' perceived risk of nanoparticles with 23 other public-health risks. The study is the first to compare the public's perception of the risks associated with nanoparticles to other environmental and health safety risks. Researchers found that nanoparticles are perceived as being a relatively low risk. "For example, 19 of the other public-health risks were perceived as more hazardous, including suntanning and drinking alcohol," says Dr. Andrew Binder, an assistant professor of communication at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the study. "The only things viewed as less risky were cell-phone use, blood transfusions, commercial air travel and medical X-rays." In fact, 60 percent of respondents felt that nanoparticles posed either no health risk or only a slight health risk.... “While it remains unclear whether nanoparticles are safe, they are not a major concern among the general public.” ... I'm concerned just a really really tiny amount. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Apr 8, 2011 from St. Petersburg Times: USF study concludes that common fungicide is deadly to frogs Two years ago some University of South Florida researchers began studying the effects of the most widely used fungicide in the country to see if it might kill more than just fungus. Turns out it's also a pretty effective frog-icide... The fungicide, chlorothalonil, sold under such names as Bravo, Echo and Daconil, is used to treat farmers' fields, lawns and golf courses and is an ingredient in mold-suppressing paint. It's part of the same chemical family, organochlorines, as the banned pesticide DDT. It is known to cause severe eye and skin irritation in humans if handled improperly. ... Bravo, indeed, for our unending creativity when it comes to the mindless destruction of the habitat! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Apr 5, 2011 from ScienceDaily: Record Depletion of Arctic Ozone Layer Causing Increased UV Radiation in Scandinavia Over the past few days ozone-depleted air masses extended from the north pole to southern Scandinavia leading to higher than normal levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation during sunny days in southern Finland. These air masses will move east over the next few days, covering parts of Russia and perhaps extend as far south as the Chinese/Russian border. Such excursions of ozone-depleted air may also occur over Central Europe and could reach as far south as the Mediterranean.... "Such massive ozone loss has so far never occurred in the northern hemisphere, which is densely populated even at high latitudes," AWI researcher Markus Rex describes the situation. The ozone layer protects life on Earth's surface from harmful solar ultraviolet radiation. Because of the low inclination angle of the sun, exposure to ultraviolet radiation is not normally a public health concern at high northern latitudes. However, if ozone-depleted air masses drift further south over Central Europe, south Canada, the US, or over Central Asiatic Russia, for example, the surface intensity of UV radiation could lead to sunburn within minutes for sensitive persons, even in April.... Ozone loss was particularly large this winter due to unusually low temperature, which results in the presence of clouds in the polar stratosphere. Reactions on the surface of these clouds transform chlorine containing breakdown products of CFCs into compounds that aggressively remove ozone.... The stratosphere has been observed to cool, following the rise of greenhouse gases (GHGs), because heat that would otherwise reach the stratosphere is trapped below, warming the surface. The situation for the Polar Stratosphere is more complicated because of dynamical heating by waves generated in frontal systems. For several years, however, scientists have noted that the coldest winters in the Arctic stratosphere are getting colder, a development that enhances the ozone-destroying efficiency of the remaining CFCs and could be linked to rising levels of GHGs. ... It ain't the heat, it's the humid-UV. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Apr 5, 2011 from Independent: Study reveals how bees reject 'toxic' pesticides Bees can detect pesticide residues in the pollen they bring back to the hive and try to isolate it from the rest of the colony, the American government's leading bee scientist revealed in London yesterday. They "entomb" the contaminated pollen in cells which are sealed over, so they cannot be used for food, said Dr Jeffrey Pettis, head of the Bee Research Laboratory of the US Department of Agriculture.... Great interest has been shown in Dr Pettis's work on how a new generation of pesticides, the neonicotinoids, which are increasingly used over enormous acreages of crops in Britain and the US, and may be contributing to the worldwide decline in honey bees by making them more susceptible to disease. Dr Pettis has discovered that bees infected with microscopic doses of imidacloprid, the best-selling neonicotinoid made by the German agribusiness giant Bayer, are far more susceptible to infection by the harmful nosema parasite. Yet his study, which featured on the front page of The Independent two months ago, remains unpublished two years after it was completed.... He said his study was going through the process of peer-review with a scientific journal, and he hoped it would be published shortly, perhaps in less than a month. "In fact, the US Department of Agriculture has given me freedom to talk about it," he said. ... If you had to ask for permission, that's probably not freedom. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 31, 2011 from PNAS, via Mongabay: 'Huge reduction' of water from plants due to higher CO2 levels As if ocean acidification and a warming world weren't enough, researchers have outlined another way in which carbon emissions are impacting the planet. A new study shows that higher carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have taken a toll on how much water vapor plants release, potentially impacting the rainfall and groundwater sources. A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has found that carbon dioxide levels over the past 150 years has reduced plants' spores, called stomata, by over one third (34 percent). This is important because stomata take in oxygen and carbon dioxide and release water vapor in a process dubbed 'transpiration'. Less stomata means less water driven into the atmosphere. "The increase in carbon dioxide by about 100 parts per million has had a profound effect on the number of stomata and, to a lesser extent, the size of the stomata," explains co-authors David Dilcher of Indiana University Bloomington in a press release. "Our analysis of that structural change shows there's been a huge reduction in the release of water to the atmosphere."... "The carbon cycle is important, but so is the water cycle. If transpiration decreases, there may be more moisture in the ground at first, but if there's less rainfall that may mean there's less moisture in ground eventually," Dilcher says, adding that, "this is part of the hyrdrogeologic cycle. Land plants are a crucially important part of it." ... But the glass was half-full so recently! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Feb 26, 2011 from Scientific American: Can Geoengineering Save the World from Global Warming? As efforts to combat climate change falter despite ever-rising concentrations of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, some scientists and other experts have begun to consider the possibility of using so-called geoengineering to fix the problem. Such "deliberate, large-scale manipulation of the planetary environment" as the Royal Society of London puts it, is fraught with peril, of course. For example, one of the first scientists to predict global warming as a result of increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere--Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius--thought this might be a good way to ameliorate the winters of his native land and increase its growing season. Whereas that may come true for the human inhabitants of Scandinavia, polar plants and animals are suffering as sea ice dwindles and temperatures warm even faster than climatologists predicted. Scientific American corresponded with science historian James Fleming of Colby College in Maine, author of Fixing the Sky: The Checkered History of Weather and Climate Control, about the history of geoengineering--ranging from filling the air with the artificial aftermath of a volcanic eruption to seeding the oceans with iron in order to promote plankton growth--and whether it might save humanity from the ill effects of climate change.... This idea of detonating bombs in near-space was proposed in 1957 by Nicholas Christofilos, a physicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.... In short, I think it may be infinitely more dangerous than climate change, largely due to the suspicion and social disruption it would trigger by changing humanity's relationship to nature. ... Anything that makes climate change seem tame is a bit of all right with me, even if it's "infinitely more dangerous than climate change"! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Feb 23, 2011 from Telegraph.co.uk: Campaign to stop 'killer shrimp' Fishermen are being warned to look out for a 'killer shrimp' amid fears the invasive species is spreading across Britain, endangering native fish stocks. The aggressive shrimp, that often kills its prey and leaves it uneaten, is originally from Eastern Europe but is now being found in lakes and rivers across the country. The spread is being blamed on a new craze for fishing on open water using inflatable tyres as the larvae attach to the bottom of the tubes and are transported to new waters. The Environment Agency are so concerned about the spread of the invasive species it is launching a campaign to warn the nation's 4 million fishermen to clean equipment between fishing trips. And a water company in the north west has even banned floating tyres. The shrimp, officially called Dikerogammarus villous, will attack insect larvae, baby fish and native shrimp, upsetting the food chain and threatening stocks of trout and salmon or coarse fish such as roach and rudd further up the food chain. ... Apocaiku: The invasive thing / wills to kill because it can, / emptying the lake. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 8, 2011 from Los Angeles Times: Bill would exempt municipal fireworks displays from Coastal Act regulation Describing seaside fireworks displays as wholesome and patriotic, an Orange County legislator wants to prevent the California Coastal Commission from snuffing them out. State Assemblywoman Diane Harkey (R-Dana Point) introduced a bill last month that would exempt municipal fireworks displays from regulation under the state Coastal Act by declaring they do not constitute "development." The bill comes in response to increasing pressure from environmental groups to clamp down on fireworks. Environmentalists say the noise and explosive debris generated by the displays threatens wildlife and degrades water quality. ... But it's patriotic to threaten wildlife and degrade the environment! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Feb 2, 2011 from change.org: Ban the use of Rozol (chlorophacinone) grain bait on prairie dogs (petition) Urge your elected officials to pressure the the EPA to immediately ban the use of Rozol (chlorophacinone) grain bait to exterminate black-tailed prairie dogs. This poison is inhumane. Rozol causes internal bleeding to animals who ingest it, and their suffering can be prolonged over the course of several days to two weeks until death. Black-tailed prairie dogs have declined by up to 99 percent across their range in the Great Plains. These animals are keystone species who create habitat that benefits over 100 vertebrate species. Many of the animals who depend on black-tailed prairie dogs are also declining and imperiled. Any additional poison to kill prairie dogs will only hasten their decline toward extinction. Rozol is also particularly dangerous to non-target animals. Animals such as grassland birds and other rodents that eat grain and seeds are at risk to dying from Rozol-laced bait. Birds of prey and carnivores that eat prairie dogs are also at risk. Some of these animals include hawks, eagles, foxes, badgers, and endangered black-footed ferrets. By approving Rozol, the EPA has violated the Endangered Species Act. Use of the poison to exterminate black-tailed prairie dogs can harm species listed under the Act. These species include the black-footed ferret, the American burrowing beetle, and the whooping crane. ... All we have to do is teach eagles, hawks, foxes, badgers, coyotes, and ferrets not to eat the Rozol-killed prairie dogs. How hard can that be? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Dec 24, 2010 from BBC: New cars in Beijing cut by two-thirds to battle traffic New rules have taken effect in China that restrict car purchases in an effort to combat serious traffic problems in the capital, Beijing. City authorities will allow only 240,000 vehicles to be registered for 2011 - one-third of this year's total. Car buyers have been swamping dealers in anticipation of the new rules, which will still leave about five million cars on the road in the capital. Traffic and air pollution in Beijing is among the worst in the world.... Yang Ailun of Greenpeace China told the BBC that the restrictions had come far too late... "Everything in China now happens so quickly, and the government always fails to anticipate what's coming, and as a result normally policies are only introduced when things are already out of control." ... Thank goodness 'Mericans are free to ruin the planet without interference. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Dec 17, 2010 from BBC: Poisoning drives vulture decline in Masai Mara, Kenya Vulture populations in one of Africa's most important wildlife reserves have declined by 60 percent, say scientists. The researchers suggest that the decline of vultures in Kenya's Masai Mara is being driven by poisoning. The US-based Peregrine Fund says farmers occasionally lace the bodies of dead cattle or goats with a toxic pesticide called furadan. This appears to be aimed at carnivores that kill the livestock, but one carcass can poison up to 150 vultures.... "People may think of vultures as ugly and disgusting, but the birds are essential for the ecosystem," he says. Their taste for carrion actually makes them the landscape's clean-up team - ensuring the region is not littered with bodies, helping contain the spread of disease and recycling nutrients.... The terrible consequences of a vulture population crash have already been demonstrated during a case that became known as the Asian vulture crisis.... "If we lost the vultures," says Dr Murani, "tourists would have to travel around the reserve with face masks on, because the stench from rotting wildebeest carcasses would be unbearable." ... "Ugly and disgusting," yes, but less so than a landscape littered with rotting wildebeest carcasses. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Dec 16, 2010 from ScienceDaily: Earthworms Absorb Discarded Copper Nanomaterials Present in Soil In a study funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a team of scientists from the University of Kentucky determined that earthworms could absorb copper nanoparticles present in soil. One crucial step in determining the uptake of nanomaterials was discerning whether uptake of metal ions was released from the nanomaterials or the nanomaterials themselves. Using x-ray analysis, researchers were able to differentiate between copper ions and copper nanoparticles by examining the oxidation state of copper in the earthworm tissues.... Jason Unrine, the lead author of the study said, "This was one of the first studies to demonstrate that engineered nanomaterials can be taken up from the soil by soil organisms and enter food chains, and it has significant implications in terms of potential exposure to nanomaterials for both humans and ecological receptor species." ... Uh-oh! Looks like "ecological receptor species" and "humans" are an intersecting set! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Dec 14, 2010 from Associated Press: Concerns Over Eagle Safety Stall Wind Projects Fears that whirling wind turbines could slaughter protected golden eagles have halted progress on a key piece of the federal government's push to increase renewable energy on public lands, stalling plans for billions of dollars in wind farm developments. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management suspended issuing wind permits on public land indefinitely this summer after wildlife officials invoked a decades-old law for protecting eagles, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Associated Press. The restriction has stymied efforts to "fast-track" approvals for four of the seven most promising wind energy proposals in the nation, including all three in California. Now, these and other projects appear unlikely to make the year-end deadline to potentially qualify for hundreds of millions of dollars in stimulus funds. If extensions aren't granted in the lame duck session of Congress, the future of many of these plans could be in doubt. ... Eagles, hoping to avoid being referred to as "lame eagles," are encouraging the reissue of these wind permits. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Dec 1, 2010 from ScienceDaily: Transgenic Crops: How Genes Jump from Crop to Crop A new data-driven statistical model that incorporates the surrounding landscape in unprecedented detail describes the transfer of an inserted bacterial gene via pollen and seed dispersal in cotton plants more accurately than previously available methods.... The transfer of genes from genetically modified crop plants is a hotly debated issue. Many consumers are concerned about the possibility of genetic material from transgenic plants mixing with non-transgenic plants on nearby fields. Producers, on the other side, have a strong interest in knowing whether the varieties they are growing are free from unwanted genetic traits.... Genes can be transferred in several ways, for example by pollinators such as bees, or through accidental seed mixing during farming operations. Surprisingly, the team found that pollinating insects, widely believed to be the key factor in moving transgenic pollen into neighboring crop fields, had a small impact on gene flow compared to human farming activity, with less than one percent of seeds collected around the edges of non-Bt cotton fields resulting from bee pollination between Bt and non-Bt cotton. ... You trying to blame humans again? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Nov 12, 2010 from Environmental Health News: Antimicrobials murderous in nature When released into waterways from wastewater treatment plants, the antimicrobial triclosan continues to do what it was designed to do -- kill bacteria -- and starts doing what it was not designed to do -- interfere with photosynthesis in algae. The results from a study in Spain suggest that triclosan carries a high environmental risk and warrants concern about its presence in waterways. The findings agree with prior studies that find the antimicrobial is toxic to bacteria at levels measured in water. However, this is one of just a few published studies to report that triclosan can reduce photosynthesis in a type of algae known as diatoms. Through photosynthesis, diatoms produce oxygen and food that other aquatic organisms rely upon. It is estimated that 80 percent of the oxygen in our atmosphere comes from diatoms, making these microscopic organisms essential for life on earth. Triclosan is an anti-microbial chemical widely used in personal care products, like toothpaste and anti-bacterial hand soap. It is added to cleaning products and is applied to many items, including clothing, toys, shower curtains and kitchenware. ... Die, diatoms, die! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Nov 11, 2010 from Huffington Post: GM Mutant Mosquitoes Fight Dengue Fever In Cayman Islands, But Experiment Could Wreak Havoc On Environment, Critics Say Scientists have released genetically modified mosquitoes in an experiment to fight dengue fever in the Cayman Islands, British experts said Thursday. It is the first time genetically altered mosquitoes have been set loose in the wild, after years of laboratory experiments and hypothetical calculations. But while scientists believe the trial could lead to a breakthrough in stopping the disease, critics argue the mutant mosquitoes might wreak havoc on the environment. "This test in the Cayman Islands could be a big step forward," said Andrew Read, a professor of biology and entomology at Pennsylvania State University, who was not involved in the project. "Anything that could selectively remove insects transmitting really nasty diseases would be very helpful," he said.... Researchers at Oxitec Limited, an Oxford-based company, created sterile male mosquitoes by manipulating the insects' DNA. Scientists in the Cayman Islands released 3 million mutant male mosquitoes to mate with wild female mosquitoes of the same species. That meant they wouldn't be able to produce any offspring, which would lower the population. Only female mosquitoes bite humans and spread diseases.... He said mosquito larvae might be food for other species, which could starve if the larvae disappear. Or taking out adult mosquito predators might open up a slot for other insect species to slide in, potentially introducing new diseases. Humans have a patchy track record of interfering with natural ecosystems, Riley said. In the past, such interventions have led to the overpopulation of species including rabbits and deer. "Nature often does just fine controlling its problems until we come along and blunder into it." ... Lucky for us, we have a hammer, and that looks like a nail! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Nov 10, 2010 from Scientific American: A warming Earth could mean stronger toxins Global warming may be making pesticide residues, heavy metals and household chemicals more dangerous to fish, wildlife and, ultimately, humans, scientists warn. At the North American branch of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry's 31st annual meeting in Portland, Oregon, on 8 November, environmental chemists warned that complex interactions between chemistry and climate change might be making chemicals more toxic and the environment more susceptible to damage.... climate change will cause differences in the movement, quality and distribution of water that could affect stream acidity all over the world. This would alter the toxicity of chemicals such as pharmaceuticals, which make their way into these streams when they are excreted into waster water and flushed down the toilet. Drugs are designed so that small changes in acidity alter their bioavailability, helping to route them to the bodily tissues where they are needed. But when they reach the environment, says Valenti, "it's the same thing. I've seen upwards of 10- to 20-fold differences in toxicity at pH 9 compared with pH 6".... Goss studied Daphnia magna, a tiny freshwater crustacean used in many aquatic toxicity studies. "We saw greater sensitivity to lead at higher temperatures," she said. ... That would be true only if you believe in toxicity. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 8, 2010 from New Scientist: Whale mass strandings linked to hearing loss In "one of the biggest mass deaths of cetaceans in Irish history" at least 33 whales have beached themselves on the north-west coast of County Donegal.... The whales' deaths come just after the latest research into cetacean strandings, which suggests that stranded whales and dolphins often suffer from hearing loss. The finding is the latest salvo in the long-running controversy over whether undersea noise pollution is harming whales. David Mann of the University of South Florida and colleagues looked at eight species of cetacean, all of which had either stranded themselves or become entangled in fishing gear. 4 out of 7 of the bottlenose dolphins they looked at, and 5 out of 14 rough-toothed dolphins, had either severe or profound hearing loss, as did one short-finned pilot whale.... "We do not know the noise exposure history of any of these [animals]. Based on the locations of stranding, it is possible that some of them have been exposed to chronic noise from boating and shipping, while for others this is unlikely."... Earlier this year, north Atlantic right whales were found to be calling more loudly to each other, apparently to compensate for the constant noise. ... They can't hear, and we can't listen. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 8, 2010 from Scientific American: Biofuel worse for climate than fossil fuel: study European plans to promote biofuels will drive farmers to convert 69,000 square km of wild land into fields and plantations, depriving the poor of food and accelerating climate change, a report warned on Monday. The impact equates to an area the size of the Republic of Ireland. As a result, the extra biofuels that Europe will use over the next decade will generate between 81 and 167 percent more carbon dioxide than fossil fuels, says the report. Nine environmental groups reached the conclusion after analysing official data on the European Union's goal of getting 10 percent of transport fuel from renewable sources by 2020. ... Stop confusing me! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Nov 6, 2010 from BBC: River Lagan under attack from invading alien plants The River Lagan, one of Northern Ireland's major waterways, has been attacked by a highly invasive aquatic plant. Floating pennywort has been discovered along its banks. So far over five tonnes of the weed has been removed. The plant is native to North America. It was first brought into Ireland as a plant for tropical aquariums and ponds, but it has since escaped into the wild at a limited number of locations in Northern Ireland. It is capable of growing at a rate of 20cm a day and once established it can quickly form thick floating mats across the water's surface.... Ecologists in Northern Ireland are watching alien species encroaching on a number of fronts. Slipper limpets, muntjac deer and Japanese ironweed all have the potential to devastate local habitats. And the so-called Sudden Oak Death disease, a fungus attacking Japanese larch trees, has been found in at least five woodlands in Northern Ireland. Ironically it almost certainly came in on non-native or alien plants imported for ornamental gardens. ... Accidents happen. And then they grow roots. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Nov 3, 2010 from Scientific American: Geoengineering faces ban A last-ditch remedy for an ailing planet, or a reckless scheme that could be a greater threat to life on Earth than the problem it aims to solve? Opinions are sharply divided on geoengineering--potential massive interventions in the global climate system, intended to forestall the worst effects of climate change. Last week, participants in the international Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) made their views clear at a meeting in Nagoya, Japan. They included in their agreement to protect biodiversity a moratorium on geo-engineering "until there is an adequate scientific basis on which to justify such activities and appropriate consideration of the associated risks." The moratorium, expected to be in force by 2012, isn't legally binding, and given the preliminary nature of studies in the area it is unlikely to affect researchers in the near future. But some scientists fear that the CBD's stance will sow confusion and delay at a time when governments and research groups are exploring how geo-engineering might feasibly be undertaken if global warming accelerates disastrously. ... Why would geoengineering concern biodiversity scientists? Complex living ecosystem interrelationships have nothing to do with corporate-military politics. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 26, 2010 from Popular Science: Detailed Simulation of Space Tourism Finds It Could Accelerate Climate Change Last week we celebrated the dedication of Spaceport America, New Mexico's dedicated private spaceflight hub that hopes to begin launching regular flights to the edge of space sometime next year. This week we hear the other side of the story: space tourism's emissions of black carbon in the upper atmosphere could have dire consequences for climate change, increasing polar temperatures by 1.8 degrees and reducing polar sea ice by 5-15 percent. A paper publishing in Geophysical Research Letters suggests that emissions from 1,000 private rocket launches each year would dump detrimental amounts of black carbon - the really bad kind - into the stratosphere where it could remain for up to a decade, altering global atmospheric conditions and the distribution of ozone. And because there's no weather up there to scrub the carbon away as it does commercial airline emissions, that black carbon could hang around for a while.... The models showed that all those firing rockets - 1,000 over the course of a year - would leave behind some 660 tons of black carbon annually, comparable to the emissions of the entire global aviation industry. ... I know! We'll just have every rocket drop off a floating solar-powered black-carbon vacuum! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Oct 24, 2010 from ScienceDaily: From Bees to Coral Reefs: Mutualisms Might Be More Important to Global Ecosystem Than Previously Thought Mutually beneficial partnerships among species may play highly important but vastly underrecognized roles in keeping the Earth's ecosystems running, a group of evolutionary biologists suggests in a study.... Experts from several fields joined forces in this study and published their conclusions in Ecology Letters, one of the most influential journals in the field of ecology. "The alarmist view is that if you disrupt an interaction, you lose the interaction, you lose the community, and, ultimately, the ecosystem," Bronstein said. "We are trying to challenge people to make that explicit and to figure out whether their data support that. We need to ask, 'What is the range of possible things that can happen?'" "It is not all doom-and-gloom," lead author E. Toby Kiers added. "There are clear cases in which mutualisms show a surprising ability to adapt to global change." ... Not to sound alarmist, but we're screwing it up!! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 5, 2010 from Washington Post: Threat of global warming sparks U.S. interest in geoengineering It's come to this: Climate-conscious policymakers are beginning to contemplate the possibility of playing God with the weather in the hope of slowing global warming. For years it was considered downright wacky in official Washington to discuss geoengineering: altering the climate by reflecting sunlight back into the sky, sucking carbon dioxide from the air - or a host of other gee-whiz schemes. But in the past year the wacky has won a following, spurred in part by the recent collapse of climate legislation as well as by growing interest among private entrepreneurs and foreign officials. ... That whole "playing God" thing has worked out great so far! 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 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 Sun, Sep 26, 2010 from Anthony Doerr, in The Morning News, via OnlyInItForTheGold: Planet Zoo and the Cliff During my sophomore year, 1992, 1,500 scientists, including more than half the living Nobel laureates, admonished in their Warning to Humanity: "A great change in our stewardship of the earth and the life on it is required if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated." So what have we done? Not much. From 1992 to 2007, global CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels rose 38 percent. Emissions in 2008 rose a full 2 percent despite a global economic slump. Honeybees are dying by the billions, amphibians by the millions, and shallow Caribbean reefs are mostly dead already. Our soil is disappearing faster than ever before, half of all mammals are in decline, and a recent climate change model predicts that the Arctic could have ice-free summers by 2013. Unchecked, carbon emissions from China alone will probably match the current global level by 2030.... Sure, it's socially acceptable nowadays to compost your coffee grounds and turn off your thermostat and grow strawberries on the porch, but it's still considered uncool to suggest that the American capitalist system is untenable.... Maybe even more astounding, they've found antibiotic-resistant E. coli in French Guiana, in the intestines of Wayampi Indians--people who have never taken antibiotics.... Eventually the ice caps will resolidify; new species will arise, the forests will teem once more. It's Homo sapiens we need to worry about. Some geologists have taken to calling the past 8,000 years or so the Anthropocene Period -- a time when we've burned coal, impounded rivers, and reconfigured ecosystems. And now, in our lifetimes, we're learning that perhaps this period is untenable, and like billions of species before us, we are not immune to extinction. ... In zoos, primates fling their shit everywhere. We try telling them not to, but it doesn't do much good. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Sep 19, 2010 from Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies: Could precisely engineered nanoparticles provide a novel geoengineering tool? In a nutshell, David's idea is to engineer discs around 10 micrometers across and 50 nanometers thick, with a core of aluminum, a top layer of aluminum oxide, and a bottom layer of barium titanate. Injected high enough into the atmosphere (so Brownian motion didn't muck things up) the discs should align with the lighter aluminum/aluminum oxide side facing up, and the heavier barium titanate side facing down. This is important, because the way these two surfaces interact with air molecules when the particles heat up - as they would do in sunlight - means that there would be a net force pushing the discs up (photophoresis). In effect, the particles would levitate to a stable position in the atmosphere, while keeping their shiny side to the sun - thus reflecting sunlight away from the earth (or increasing albedo).... The neat thing of course is that this is a concept that can be tested reasonably easily in the lab, using simulated atmospheres and prototype particles. And with advances in materials manufacturing in recent years, it shouldn't be too hard to make small batches of the discs.... In his paper, David estimates that around 10 billion kg of these nano-discs would be needed. That's a lot - but probably economically viable with large-scale investment in production and if the benefits were deemed important enough (David runs the figures assuming the cost of manufacture is less than 1 percent the cost of abating CO2 emissions, and arrives at a cost of less than $60/kg). ... Only $600,000,000,000 dollars, and I can still run my lights all night? Let's do it! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Sep 18, 2010 from New Scientist: Antibiotics play hell with gut flora Antibiotics can cause long-lasting changes in the bacteria living in the human gut. As changes in gut flora could increase the risk of some chronic diseases, such as inflammatory bowel syndrome, each course of antibiotics may represent a trade-off between short-term benefit and long-term risk. Les Dethlefsen and David Relman of Stanford University in California collected more than 50 stool samples from three people over a 10-month period that included two courses of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin. They used gene sequencing to identify the microbial strains present in each sample. They found that each person had a unique set of microbial flora, the composition of which fluctuated around an equilibrium which was disrupted by each course of drugs. In most cases, the composition quickly returned to its previous state, but in a few, bacterial species present before treatment were replaced by related species. One person completely lost a common genus of bacteria, which did not return for the duration of the study ... Who could have predicted that antibiotics would anti my biota? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Sep 17, 2010 from CBC: Oilsands deforming, poisoning fish, say scientists, fishermen Fish with tumours, deformities and signs of disease or infection were collected from the lower Athabasca River, Athabasca Delta and Lake Athabasca, downstream from the oilsands. University of Alberta ecologist David Schindler says the National Pollutant Release Inventory, Canada's legislated, publicly accessible record of pollutant releases and transfers, is proof of the harm caused by oilsands' toxins going into the water. "Embryos of fish exposed to oilsands' water and sediment have very high rates of mortality, and among the survivors, there are very high rates of deformities," Schindler said. "I think most of you will agree they aren't things you'd like to find on your plate when you go to a restaurant."... First Nations fishermen from Fort Chipewyan and Fort MacKay say deformed fish are becoming more and more common. ... What you call "deformed," I call "ready-2-eat!" ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Sep 10, 2010 from San Francisco Chronicle: Gas line explosion burns San Bruno neighborhood With a thunderous roar heard for miles, a natural gas line explosion ripped through a San Bruno neighborhood Thursday evening, sending up a geyser of fire that killed at least one person and injured more than 20 others, and igniting a blaze that destroyed 53 homes and damaged 120 more, authorities said. The wind-whipped blaze leaped from structure to structure in the neighborhood near Skyline Boulevard and Sneath Lane, west of Interstate 280, raging unabated for almost an hour as emergency crews rushed in and residents streamed out. ... So... is this a natural disaster? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 7, 2010 from New Scientist: Why wartime wrecks are slicking time bombs Thousands of ships sunk in the second world war are seeping oil - and with their rusty tanks disintegrating, "peak leak" is only a few years away... The second world war saw the greatest-ever loss of shipping: more than three-quarters of the oil-containing wrecks around the globe date from the six years of this war. Sunken merchant ships are scattered around trade routes, the victims of attack by U-boats and other craft aiming to disrupt enemy nations' supply lines. Then there are the naval ships sunk during great engagements such as the attack on Pearl Harbor and the battle of Chuuk Lagoon, the Japanese base in the Pacific where the US sank over 50 Japanese ships. In some locations these hulks are already leaking oil, threatening pristine shorelines, popular beaches and breeding grounds for fish. This year, for example, oil has begun to leak from the Darkdale, a British naval tanker that sank in 1941 near the island of St Helena in the south Atlantic Ocean. It was carrying more than 4000 tonnes of oil when it went down. ... War is (sometimes delayed) hell. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Sep 3, 2010 from PhysOrg: Rolling the dice with evolution: Massive extinction will have unpredictable consequences New research by Macquarie University palaeobiologist, Dr John Alroy, predicts major changes to the rules of evolution as we understand them now. Those changes will have serious consequences for future biodiversity because no one can predict which groups will come to dominate after the current mass extinction..... Thus, a group's average rate of diversification or branching into new species in the past is not a good predictor of how well it will fare after a mass extinction event.... Organisms that might have adapted in the past may not be able to this time, he said. "You may end up with a dramatically altered sea floor because of changes in the dominance of major groups. That is, the extinction occurring now will overturn the balance of the marine groups." When there is a major mass extinction, it's not just a temporary drop in richness of species, he said. Alroy likens what is happening now to rolling the dice with evolution. "What's worrisome is that some groups permanently become dominant that otherwise wouldn't have. So by causing this extinction, we are taking a big gamble on what kind of species will be around in the future. We don't know how it will turn out. People don't realise that there will be very unpredictable consequences." ... Snake eyes, when baby needs new shoes. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Aug 27, 2010 from ScienceDaily: Artificial Enzyme Removes Natural Poison For the first time ever, a completely artificial chemical enzyme has been successfully used to neutralise a toxin found naturally in fruits and vegetables. Chemzymes are designed molecules emulating the targeting and efficiency of naturally occurring enzymes and the recently graduated Dr. Bjerre is pleased about her results. "Showing that these molecules are capable of decomposing toxins ... proves the general point that it's possible to design artificial enzymes for this class of task," explains Bjerre.... But where natural enzymes are big and complex, the artificial ones have been pared down to the basics. One consequence of this simplicity is that designing chemzymes for targeted tasks ought to be easier. With fewer parts, there's less to go wrong when changing the structure of chemzymes.... Manmade enzymes take on heat and solvents without batting a molecular eyelid. One of the consequences of this is that chemzymes can be mass-produced using industrial chemical processes. This is a huge advantage when you need a lot of product in a hurry. ... Should I be thrilled, or terrified? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Aug 19, 2010 from Scientific American: Silver Beware: Antimicrobial Nanoparticles in Soil May Harm Plant Life A new study finds that the popular microbicidal silver nanomaterial negatively impacts the growth of plants as well as kills the soil microbes that sustain them.... When it is nanosize--between one and 100 nanometers, which is smaller than many viruses (a nanometer is one billionth of a meter)--silver is even more effective at killing microbes. This antimicrobial potency has prompted manufacturers to include silver nanoparticles in a wide variety of consumer products, such as odor-resistant clothing, hand sanitizers, water treatment systems and even microbe-proof teddy bears.... In order to examine silver nanoparticles' ecosystemic impact the researchers prepared series of outdoor "mesocosms"--intermediate-sized "fields" of plants growing in rubber tubs. They applied 0.2 kilograms of biosolid to each tub, amending the fertilizer with 11 milligrams of silver nanoparticles per tub. This concentration is within the range that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported finding in a recent survey of biosolids from water treatment plants.... The nanoparticles reduced the growth of one of the tested plant species by 22 percent as compared with silver-free biosolid treatment. Similarly, microbial biomass was reduced by 20 percent. Colman presented the findings August 4 at the 95th annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America. ... Given the uncertainty, I suggest an uncontrolled experiment on the real environment. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 17, 2010 from CNN: Scientists: Toxic organisms, oil found on Gulf floor John Paul says, at first, he couldn't believe his own scientific data showing toxic microscopic marine organisms in the Gulf of Mexico. He repeated the field test. A colleague did his own test. All the results came back the same: toxic. It was the first time Paul and other University of South Florida scientists had made such a finding since they started investigating the environmental damage from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The preliminary results, the scientists believe, show that oil that has settled on the floor is contaminating small sea organisms.... The researchers found micro-droplets of oil scattered across the ocean floor and they also found those droplets moving up through a part of the Gulf called the DeSoto Canyon, a channel which funnels water and nutrients into the popular commercial and recreational waters along the Florida Gulf Coast. The scientists say even though it's getting harder to see the oil the Gulf is still not safe. "This whole concept of submerged oil and the application of dispersants in the subsurface and what are the impacts that it could have, have changed the paradigm of what an oil spill is from a 2-dimensional surface disaster to a 3-dimensional catastrophe," said David Hollander, a chemical oceanographer and one of the lead scientists on the recent USF mission. ... How can you be making conceptual poetry at a time like this? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Aug 6, 2010 from Ecological Society of America: Scientists find the first evidence of genetically modified plants in the wild Scientists currently performing field research in North Dakota have discovered the first evidence of established populations of genetically modified plants in the wild. Meredith G. Schafer from the University of Arkansas and colleagues from North Dakota State University, California State University, Fresno and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency established transects of land along 5,400 km of interstate, state and county roads in North Dakota from which they collected, photographed and tested 406 canola plants. The results--which were recorded in early July and are set to be presented at ESA's Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh--provide strong evidence that transgenic plants have established populations outside of agricultural fields in the U.S. Of the 406 plants collected, 347 (86 percent) tested positive for CP4 EPSPS protein (confers tolerance to glyphosate herbicide) or PAT protein (confers tolerance to glufosinate herbicide). "There were also two instances of multiple transgenes in single individuals," said one of the study's coauthors Cynthia Sagers, University of Arkansas. "Varieties with multiple transgenic traits have not yet been released commercially, so this finding suggests that feral populations are reproducing and have become established outside of cultivation. These observations have important implications for the ecology and management of native and weedy species, as well as for the management of biotech products in the U.S." ... Awright! Now everything's becoming RoundupReady! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 3, 2010 from Spiegel Online: Radioactive Boar on the Rise in Germany As Germany's wild boar population has skyrocketed in recent years, so too has the number of animals contaminated by radioactivity left over from the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. Government payments compensating hunters for lost income due to radioactive boar have quadrupled since 2007. It's no secret that Germany has a wild boar problem. Stories of marauding pigs hit the headlines with startling regularity: Ten days ago, a wild boar attacked a wheelchair-bound man in a park in Berlin; in early July, a pack of almost two dozen of the animals repeatedly marched into the eastern German town of Eisenach, frightening residents and keeping police busy; and on Friday morning, a German highway was closed for hours after 10 wild boar broke through a fence and waltzed onto the road. Even worse, though, almost a quarter century after the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in Ukraine, a good chunk of Germany's wild boar population remains slightly radioactive -- and the phenomenon has been costing the German government an increasing amount of money in recent years.... Wild boar are particularly susceptible to radioactive contamination due to their predilection for chomping on mushrooms and truffles, which are particularly efficient at absorbing radioactivity. Indeed, whereas radioactivity in some vegetation is expected to continue declining, the contamination of some types of mushrooms and truffles will likely remain the same, and may even rise slightly -- even a quarter century after the Chernobyl accident. ... You mean those Atomic Age sci-fi movies were right? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Aug 2, 2010 from Guardian: Floating debris threatens to block Three Gorges dam Thousands of tonnes of rubbish washed down by recent torrential rain are threatening to jam the locks of China's massive Three Gorges dam, and is in places so thick people can stand on it, state media said on Monday. Chen Lei, a senior official at the China Three Gorges Corporation, told the China Daily that 3,000 tonnes of rubbish was being collected at the dam every day, but there were still not enough resources to clean it all up. "The large amount of waste in the dam area could jam the miter gate of the Three Gorges dam," Chen said, referring to the gates of the locks which allow shipping to pass through the Yangtze river. The river is a crucial commercial artery for the upstream city of Chongqing and other areas in China's less-developed western interior provinces.... Environmentalists have warned for years that the reservoir could turn into a cesspool of raw sewage and industrial chemicals backing on to nearby Chongqing city, fearing that silt trapped behind the dam could cause erosion downstream. China has made scant progress on schemes drawn up nearly a decade ago to limit pollution in and around the reservoir. Chen said about 10m yuan is spent each year clearing 150,000 to 200,000 cubic metres of floating waste by the dam. ... Dam! Who would have expected debris? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jul 26, 2010 from Discover Magazine: The Best Flavor of Geoengineering Stills Leaves a Bad Taste In theory, geoengineering seems like the ideal remedy for our climate ills. Some white reflective roofs here, a little ocean fertilization there, a few simulated volcanic eruptions, and voila! you have a potential fix for one of the world's most intractable problems. But there's good reason to believe that many of these proposed schemes would prove much costlier to the planet over both the short- and long-term than more mainstream approaches to addressing climate change--and leave a number of critical problems, like ocean acidification, in the lurch.... The rapidly changing nature of climate models, from which most of these findings are drawn, also makes it inherently difficult to predict with any uncertainty what this scheme's exact outcome will be. What is certain, however, is that it would have a fair number of unintended consequences--almost all of which would be bad. According to a new paper in Nature Geoscience, stratospheric geoengineering, or "solar-radiation management," as the authors refer to it, would affect different parts of the world differentially (go figure), helping to cool down some countries while cooking others. ... It doesn't just taste bad. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 20, 2010 from Wall Street Journal: Fresh Water Aimed at Oil Kills Oysters Oysters are dying in their beds in the brackish marshes of southern Louisiana, but the culprit isn't oil spilling from the Gulf. It is, at least in part, fresh water. In April, soon after the oil spill started, Louisiana officials started opening gates along the levees of the Mississippi River, letting massive amounts of river water pour through man-made channels and into coastal marshes. It was a gambit--similar to opening a fire hose--to keep the encroaching oil at bay. By most accounts, the strategy succeeded in minimizing the amount of oil that entered the fertile and lucrative estuaries. But oyster farmers and scientists say it appears to have had one major side effect: the deaths of large numbers of oysters, water-filterers whose simplicity and sensitivity makes them early indicators of environmental influences that ultimately could hit other marsh dwellers too. ... I know we're trying our best but some days it seems we can't we do ANYTHING right. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jun 30, 2010 from PhysOrg: Nutrients, viruses and the biological carbon pump Adding nutrients to the sea could decrease viral infection rates among phytoplankton and enhance the efficiency of the biological pump, a means by which carbon is transferred from the atmosphere to the deep ocean, according to a new mathematical modelling study. The findings, published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology, have implications for ocean geo-engineering schemes proposed for tackling global warming. Tiny free-floating algae called phytoplankton dominate biological production in the world's oceans and sit at the base of the marine food web. Their population dynamics are controlled by sunlight, nutrient availability, grazing by tiny planktonic animals (zooplankton) and mortality caused by viral infection. "Viruses are the most abundant organism in the world's oceans, and it is thought that all phytoplankton species are susceptible to infection. Our aim was to model the interaction between viruses, phytoplankton, zooplankton grazing and nutrient levels".... The researchers took an 'eco-epidemic' modelling approach, taking into account the mutual interaction between the effects of ecology and disease epidemiology. This approach has been used previously to model the effects of infection by pathogens on the population dynamics of mammals and invertebrate animals.... Artificial enhancement of the biological carbon pump by fertilizing the oceans with nutrients has been proposed as a possible geo-engineering 'fix' for global warming caused by the increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide from anthropogenic sources. "The decrease in viral infection rates caused by artificially adding nutrients to the sea could in the future benefit humans by increasing the efficiency of the biological carbon pump, making these proposed ocean geo-engineering schemes more viable," said Dr Rhodes. ... As far as I know, extra nutrients never caused any problems anywhere else. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 28, 2010 from Telegraph.co.uk: Giant salmon will be first GM animal available for eating Usually Atlantic salmon do not grow during the winter and take three years to fully mature. But by implanting genetic material from an eel-like species called ocean pout that grows all year round, US scientists have managed to make the fish grow to full size in 18 months. They hope that the sterile GM salmon can offer an efficient and safe way to breed salmon in fish farms, so that the wild fish can be left in the oceans. US watchdog the Food and Drug Administration is currently considering whether the GM Atlantic salmon, called AquAdvantage, is safe to eat. The fish could be on supermarket shelves within a year.... "Once you have bombarded an animal with other genes, the DNA is unstable, and there is no guarantee these fish remain sterile. It poses far too great a risk to wild salmon. A fish that grows that quickly is likely to lose some of its environmental benefits. There is no such thing as a free salmon lunch and we will pay the price," he said. ... Me, pout about a Salmonster? How unnatural! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jun 25, 2010 from IRIN: Millions of Bangladeshis poisoned by arsenic-laced water A fifth of all deaths in Bangladesh are linked to drinking water contaminated by arsenic, while up to 77 million people - half the population - have been chronically exposed to the poisonous metalloid, according to a new study published in the Lancet medical journal. Researchers tracked 12,000 people over a period of 10 years, taking urine samples every two years and analysing water from 6,000 wells to detect arsenic, confirming what the World Health Organization warned of a decade ago when it predicted "a major increase in the number of cases of diseases caused by arsenic if the population continues to drink arsenic-contaminated water". A decades-old programme of digging tube wells to reach what was thought to be clean drinking water is being cited as the cause of the mass poisoning, says the report ... The water of life turns out to have unintended consequences. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jun 25, 2010 from Scientific American: Unintended whale kills deadlier than intentional whaling More whales are being killed by chemical and noise pollution, entanglement in nets, climate change or collisions with ships than by whaling itself, delegates to the world's main whaling body said this week. Harpooning whales for their meat and oil pushed many species close to extinction in the last century. Stocks have begun to recover under a moratorium on whaling agreed in 1986, although Japan, Norway and Iceland still hunt the giant mammals. But climate change now means it is harder for whales to find food, ship collisions are growing, pollution is disrupting their reproduction, and fishing nets can kill or wound them, according to delegates at the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) annual meeting in the Moroccan Atlantic city of Agadir.... Marine wildlife experts say growing numbers of whales succumb to "by-catch" -- getting entangled in nets or hooked to fishing lines stretching up to 10 kilometers (6 miles) and known by green campaigners as "curtains of death." Many of the whales which escape succumb to their injuries months or years later. ... Pretty soon that worldwide pool will be spanking clean! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jun 24, 2010 from PhysOrg: Seismic probe threat to endangered whales: experts International Whaling Commission scientists have warned that a seismic survey in Russia's Far East could push a critically endangered population of whales closer to extinction. "The committee is extremely concerned about the potential impact on western gray whales and strongly recommends that Rosneft postpone their survey until at least June 2011," the scientists said in a report released this week, referring to the Russian company carrying out the testing. There are probably fewer than 130 Western North Pacific Gray Whales remaining, and only a couple of dozen females of calf-bearing age, according to the IWC.... "The Rosneft survey (is set to) occur while the highest number of feeding gray whales, including cow and calves, are present," the 120-strong committee cautioned.... "It's not as if the committee is asking them not to do the survey," said Wendy Elliott, species manager at WWF International. "All they have to do is wait a year and conduct it earlier, before the whales arrive in the area." ... Wait a whole year for just a buncha whales? Nyet! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jun 11, 2010 from Reuters: Waiter, there's a potential carcinogen in my soup What Sprague didn't realize is that BPA, or bisphenol A, is ubiquitous. Simply put, just about anything you eat that comes out of a can -- from Campbell's Chicken Soup and SpaghettiOs to Diet Coke and BumbleBee Tuna -- contains the same exact chemical. The exposure to BPA from canned food "is far more extensive" than from plastic bottles, said Shanna Swan, a professor and researcher at the University of Rochester in New York. "It's particularly concerning when it's lining infant formula cans." BPA is the key compound in epoxy resin linings that keep food fresher longer and prevents it from interacting with metal and altering the taste. It has been linked in some studies of rats and mice to not only cancer but also obesity, diabetes and heart disease.... What is clear, however, is that unlike the case with plastic, there are no economically viable alternatives to the chemical in epoxy resins right now.... Because BPA has been presumed to be safe without question for so long, very little research has been undertaken to find commercially viable substitutes in canned goods. ... If it's canned in a Mason Jar, it's more likely BPA-free. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jun 11, 2010 from WREG, Memphis: Mystery Crop Damage Threatens Hundreds Of Acres Something is killing crops, trees, even weeds and nobody can explain why. Farmers are scratching their heads and some are worried their crops may be lost to the mysterious plague. Tiny dots appear to have burned onto leaves of all types of plants, and they appear different depending on the plant. On corn stalks, the dots seem to turn white in the center. On other plants, a white dust speckles the leaves and then destroys the green life underneath. "We found it all in the herbs, in the flowers, in the plum tree, in the weeds," said organic farmer Toni Holt. "It's apparently in everything." Holt grows organic produce that she sells at area farmers' markets. As she and other farmers inspect the new growth covered in the perplexing plague, they fear their entire crop may be lost. Less than ten miles from Holt's crops, the damage could possibly hit hundreds of acres of corn at Wilder Farms. It appears to have hit everything in its path. ... Worst of all, when you connect the leaf dots, they spell out "death to all humans"! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jun 9, 2010 from BBC: Cane toad threat spreads beyond Australia to Caribbean Cane toads, one of the world's most destructive invasive species, have started killing native wildlife outside of Australia. Cane toads are poisonous, secreting a toxin that kills predators not adapted to eat them, and as a result the toads have caused a decline in native Australian reptiles and marsupials. Now scientists have discovered that the toads are also killing boa snakes in the West Indies, suggesting that other predators in the Caribbean and elsewhere may also be at risk.... In the early to mid 19th Century, the toad was intentionally introduced to islands in the Caribbean, including Jamaica in 1844, and then through the South Pacific. The toad was introduced to eat and control pests of sugar cane, including rats and beetles. However, the toad has had a destructive impact in many places where it has spread, out-competing native species.... Now scientists have documented the cane toad killing rare native fauna in the Caribbean. ... We cane, we saw, we canequored. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 7, 2010 from Pune Mirror: The effects of cellphone tower radiation on honey bees: India report The recent experiment, which observed bee colonies exposed to mobile phone radiation, concluded, "At the end of the experiment, there was neither honey nor pollen in the beehives. It resulted in complete loss of the colony." The study found that the queen bee's egg-laying capacity dropped drastically because of the radiation. The bees that went foraging could not find their way back to the beehives, according to the experiment. The implications of these findings could be catastrophic for Mumbai. An expert from the BNHS said, "If the bees were to disappear from Mumbai the result would be disastrous. It would cause a huge imbalance in the entire ecological system. Bees are not just one of the key pollinating agents but also an important part of the food chain."... Bees, which have magnetite in their bodies, utilise the earth's magnetic field to navigate. Cell tower radiation interferes with this process. ... Those Indian bees should quit talkin' and keep their eyes on the road. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jun 6, 2010 from Guardian: Solar panels could be a threat to aquatic insects, new research shows Solar panels could wipe out fragile populations of insects, according to a new study that raises fresh doubts about the ecological impact of some forms of renewable energy. Scientists have discovered that aquatic insects such as the mayfly can mistake shiny photovoltaic panels for pools of water, which they rely on to reproduce. They urge caution on the increasing use of panels until experts work out how they could affect insects and other creatures that feed on them.... "It is clear that the worst place to put a solar installation would be in proximity to natural lakes and rivers, where aquatic insects could easily become attracted to them." The insects mistake the panels for water because both reflect horizontally polarised light - an optical trick in which light waves vibrate in the same direction. Many insects have evolved to detect such polarised light as a sure way to find water, particularly in arid environments. ... Solar, solar everywhere / and not a drop to drink. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, May 27, 2010 from New Scientist: The taste of tiny: Putting nanofoods on the menu So what is a nanofood? It isn't just about nanoparticles. Many foods have a natural nanostructure - the proteins in milk form nanoscale clusters, for example - that can be altered on the nanoscale to enhance their properties. In fact, researchers have been changing the nanostructure of food for years, for example by adding emulsifiers to improve the texture of ice cream. It's the emergence of technologies such as atomic force microscopy that has changed the game by finally opening a window on the nanoworld. Rather than working blind, Morris can now take a close look at the tiny structures he works on, understand their behaviour and then make changes in a more rational and deliberate way.... "We know that the food industry is looking at encapsulating certain ingredients like omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins or minerals," says Frans Kampers, who researches bionanotechnologies at Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands. The idea is an attractive one. Oil-soluble nutrients can be poorly absorbed in the watery environment of the gut, with a proportion passing right through the body. Nano-encapsulation converts them to a dispersed form that is more easily taken up (Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science, vol 14, p 3). Wrapping them in nano packages also extends their shelf life, masks any unpleasant tastes and, in the case of nano-emulsions, makes them invisible to the naked eye so that they don't affect a food's appearance. ... I'm sure any unintended consequences will be really small! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, May 26, 2010 from National Geographic: Gulf Coast Pipelines Face Damage as Oil Kills Marshes A vast network of pipes and platforms is woven into these wetlands, and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill could literally expose them to potential ruptures and wreckage, experts say. If oil kills off marsh plants, wetlands will turn to open water, putting the shallowly buried coastal pipelines at risk of ships strikes, storms, and corrosive salt water. Each rip means more leaking oil, costly repairs and replacements, and in some cases, new wetland-restoration projects.... About 26,420 miles (42,520 kilometers) of onshore oil and natural gas pipelines snake through coastal counties between Mobile Bay (map), Alabama, and Galveston (map), Texas, according to Virginia Burkett, chief scientist for global change research at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wetlands Research Center in Lafayette, Louisiana.... What's more, the Gulf coastline has been literally sinking as fossil fuels are pumped out of the earth, according to the Gulf research institute. And as the coast sinks, sea level rises--submerging and killing off marshes, according to the USGS.... Add the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and you've got a "perfect storm of wetlands loss," Harte Research Institute director Larry McKinney said in an email. ... Glad the oil companies saved us all that money finding the cheapest way to feed our addiction. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, May 20, 2010 from BBC: Methane hydrates rear their ugly head: Did they cause the BP Gulf explosion? The vast deepwater methane hydrate deposits of the Gulf of Mexico are an open secret in big energy circles. They represent the most tantalizing new frontier of unconventional energy -- a potential source of hydrocarbon fuel thought to be twice as large as all the petroleum deposits ever known. For the oil and gas industry, the substances are also known to be the primary hazard when drilling for deepwater oil. Methane hydrates are volatile compounds -- natural gas compressed into molecular cages of ice. They are stable in the extreme cold and crushing weight of deepwater, but are extremely dangerous when they build up inside the drill column of a well. If destabilized by heat or a decrease in pressure, methane hydrates can quickly expand to 164 times their volume... something that would render a man six feet six inches tall suddenly the height of the Eiffel Tower.... Professor Sum said geologists know much less about these hydrate-bearing sediments than conventional ocean sediments, and that there is "little knowledge of the risks" of drilling into them.... [T]estifying before the Senate last week, a Halliburton executive made no mention of methane hydrate hazards associated with cementing in deepwater.... Japan has joined the US and Canada in pursuit of this energy bonanza, motivated by the $23 billion it spends annually to import liquefied natural gas. According to a Bloomberg News article called "Japan Mines Flammable Ice, Flirts with Environmental Disaster," the Japanese trade ministry is targeting 2016 to start commercial production, even as a Tokyo University scientist warned against causing a massive undersea landslide that could suddenly trigger a massive methane hydrate release. ... Which part of "methane is 20 times worse than CO2" don't you understand? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, May 14, 2010 from Guardian: Bill Gates' cloud-whitening trials 'a dangerous experiment' Campaigners have criticised plans for a sea trial of cloud-whitening technology, funded by Microsoft founder Bill Gates. A US-based research body, Silver Lining, which has received $300,000 from Mr Gates, is developing machines to convert seawater into microscopic particles to be sprayed into clouds. Scientists believe this will increase the whiteness, or albedo, of clouds and increase their ability to reflect more sunlight back into space, reducing global warming. The Gates-backed sea trial would be the largest known attempt to geoengineer the climate so far, reported to be conducted over an area of 10,000km2. However, campaigners say such a large-scale trial is 'risky' and that a global ban on geoengineering experiments should be put in place until regulations governing the sector can be introduced. ... The fearful Vista, from my Windows, is that the XPeriment may lead to the "blue sky of death." ApocaDoc permalink Sat, May 8, 2010 from ABC (Australia): Alternative Reality Geoengineering Game Moving Forward [Story note: billionaire founds alternative reality game which is in fact a cover for a real geoengineering project to spray sulfur dioxide particulates unilaterally into the atmosphere. The "whistleblower" has online presence, leaves clues, links to other possibly-fictional sites.... In many ways related to Walter Jon Williams' novel This Is Not A Game. -- 'Doc Michael] Lots has unfolded in ABC's Alternate Reality game, Bluebird, this week...with a big code break this morning by one of you (someone called 'GirlWhoRuled'). Players are cracking codes, sleuthing locations, and on the chase in the race to find out what eco-entrepreneur & billionaire, Harrison Wyld, might be up to with a certain Mr Kruger. A campaign has been launched, and a rival one by Wyld too. Meanwhile, the young whistleblower scientist, Kyle Vandercamp, has woken up today to find that none of his plastic works. Catch up on the story so far at http://abc.net.au/bluebird (with links to the key blogs and websites involved). ... I've longed for an alternative reality for quite a while. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Apr 28, 2010 from HandsOffMotherEarth: Hands off Mother Earth Hands Off Mother Earth (H.O.M.E) is a global campaign to defend our one precious home, Planet Earth, against the threat of geoengineering experiments. The HOME campaign provides a common platform for organizations and individuals around the world to register their opposition to geoengineering experiments. The campaign asserts that the seas, skies and soils of our home planet should not be used as a laboratory for these unjust and risky technological fixes. The HOME campaign was launched in April 2010 at The World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Cochabamba Bolivia by a coalition of international civil society groups, indigenous peoples organizations and social movements. These groups invite other organizations worldwide as well as individuals to sign up in support of the campaign. ... Aw, c'mon. WE understand Nature better than Nature does. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Apr 28, 2010 from GOOD: On Fracking and Human Folly The [Columbia Natural Gas] man described how they would get through the Devonian shale beneath Ingraffea's 70 acres using a method called hydraulic fracturing, and that it was very safe and the impact on the surface of his land would be minimal. Ingraffea didn't buy the woods with the small trout stream for the Devonian shale or natural gas reserves, so he was surprised--but not for the reasons the man at his door that day might have thought. Ingraffea has his Ph.D. in rock fracture mechanics and knows all about Devonion shale. He also knows all about hydraulic fracturing: He's been teaching courses on fracture mechanics at Cornell since 1977.... When fracking knocked on his front door that day, he knew it was also coming to his neighbors' doors, to his whole community around Ithaca. "I looked at my situation and said: Crap, I know a lot about what's going on here and I know that what's being told to the public is not the complete story. If I don't say something, I'm just like one of my bad examples." So, like a true professor, he made a PowerPoint lecture about it. In fracking, the actual splitting of the rock is only one part of a very large, very complex process. Ingraffea uses that word throughout his lecture: "large" (also "big," "huge," "immense," "giant"). Focusing on the fracking itself to determine the safety of a given mining operation, he says, is like looking at a generator to find out if an engine is good or bad. Yeah, it's a key part of the process, but it's also just that: one part of a very (you guessed it) big process. In order to hydraulically fracture, a company has to use certain chemicals--hydrochloric and citric acid, ammonium persulfate, dimethylformamide, petroleum distillate, potassium chloride..... Rather, Ingraffea suggests we use natural gas as a way to wean ourselves off coal, the dirtiest fuel we burn. But this, he says, points to the largest myth of all, the myth that "somebody's in control." We have, he says, "No national energy strategy, no oversight to maintain the standard of living while decreasing our impact on the environment, which should be the cornerstone of any energy policy." ... I'm reasonably sure the Holy Ghost of the Invisible Hand is "in control." ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Apr 18, 2010 from Yale 360: As Pharmaceutical Use Soars, Drugs Taint Water and Wildlife In recent years, scientists have detected trace amounts of more than 150 different human and veterinary medicines in environments as far afield as the Arctic. Eighty percent of the U.S.'s streams and nearly a quarter of the nation's groundwater sampled by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has been found to be contaminated with a variety of medications.... Drugging our bodies inevitably drugs our environment, too, as many medications can pass through our bodies and waste treatment facilities virtually intact. And it is difficult to predict where and how unexpectedly vulnerable creatures may accrue potentially toxic doses.... A large body of evidence has connected this contamination with excess feminization in fish. In one study, U.S. and Canadian government scientists purposely contaminated an experimental lake in Ontario with around 5 nanograms per liter of ethynyl estradiol, and studied the effects on the lake's fathead minnow population, a common species that fish like lake trout and northern pike feed on.... Exposed to ethynyl estradiol, the male minnows' testicular development was arrested and they started making early-stage eggs instead. That year's mating season was disastrous. Within two years, the minnow population crashed. ... Hey, the world is sick. We do what we always do: medicate. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Apr 18, 2010 from TrueSlant: A Dying African Lake, Polluted, Overfished; Bad And Getting Worse It was shortly after daybreak and a long, wooden fishing skiff crunched up on the stony beach here along Lake Victoria. Women who sell fish in the market in nearby Kisumu swarmed the boat. They grabbed slippery Nile perch and tilapia and tossed them into their plastic baskets. Then they began haggling. The catch that day was meager, and one woman came away with nothing. "The fishermen don't get enough fish," said Salin Atieno, 37. She has been buying fish at the Dunga landing for seven years. "There are not that many fish now." Lake Victoria, one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world, is suffering. It is polluted with raw sewage and it is muddy from the erosion of soil from nearby hills that have lost trees and shrubs to people in search of firewood. Like Lake Chad in West Africa and a few other lakes around the world, it has also been shrinking. Parts of Lake Victoria are clogged with hyacinths and algae. All of this has been thinning out the fish. "The lake is dying," said Dr. Raphael Kapiyo, the head of environmental studies at Maseno University in Kisumu, an East African trading post of a city with about 400,000 people. ... Can we introduce some more invasive species? Ones that eat raw sewage, water hyacinth, and algae? ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Apr 17, 2010 from Greenmonk: Are utility companies ready for full smart grids? Do utility companies have billing systems in place which are able to take in these vast quantities of data and output sensible bills? Today's bills are generated off that single monthly meter read, however bills generated from 2,880 meter-reads a month (or even 720 - one meter read per hour) will be very different. They should be easy to understand, reflect the intelligence gained from the extra information and offer customers ways to reduce their next bill based on this.... Consumers will need to be given ubiquitous, secure access to their energy consumption information. But more than that, consumers will also need to be given the tools to help them reduce their bills, without necessarily reducing their consumption (i.e. load shifting).... All of these changes require seismic shifts by utility companies both in terms of IT investments, but also in terms of their approach to customer care and communications. ... Rejiggering the energy system requires planning? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Apr 16, 2010 from University of Montreal, via EurekAlert: Excessive cleanliness to blame for allergy, autoimmune rise Allergies have become a widespread in developed countries: hay fever, eczema, hives and asthma are all increasingly prevalent. The reason? Excessive cleanliness is to blame according to Dr. Guy Delespesse, a professor at the Université de Montréal Faculty of Medicine.... "There is an inverse relationship between the level of hygiene and the incidence of allergies and autoimmune diseases," says Dr. Delespesse. "The more sterile the environment a child lives in, the higher the risk he or she will develop allergies or an immune problem in their lifetime."... Why does this happen? "The bacteria in our digestive system are essential to digestion and also serve to educate our immune system. They teach it how to react to strange substances. This remains a key in the development of a child's immune system." Although hygiene does reduce our exposure to harmful bacteria it also limits our exposure to beneficial microorganisms. As a result, the bacterial flora of our digestive system isn't as rich and diversified as it used to be. ... Is biodiversity loss inside mirroring biodiversity loss outside? ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Mar 20, 2010 from New York Times: Consumers Buy More Efficient Refrigerators, but Keep the Old Ones Humming Each year millions of Americans with old, inefficient refrigerators in their kitchens buy new, energy saving ones. That may sound like an efficiency boon, but what's vexing efficiency advocates is that an increasing number of consumers don't actually get rid of the old fridge. Instead, they move it to another area of the house and keep using it -- increasing their energy usage over all.... Further, every year about 10 percent of households that purchase new refrigerators keep their old units, a practice that is adding as many as one million secondary units to homes annually.... Individual owners could save from $420 to $750 in energy costs over the lifetime of an older, secondary unit by retiring it, depending on the age of the unit, the agency found. ... I love having that second fridge cold -- "just in case"! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Mar 19, 2010 from Duke, via PhysOrg.com: High Fructose Corn Syrup Linked to Liver Scarring "We found that increased consumption of high fructose corn syrup was associated with scarring in the liver, or fibrosis, among patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)," said Manal Abdelmalek, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology/Hepatology at Duke University Medical Center.... The researchers found only 19 percent of adults with NAFLD reported no intake of fructose-containing beverages, while 52 percent consumed between one and six servings a week and 29 percent consumed fructose-containing beverages on a daily basis.... "Our findings suggest that we may need to go back to healthier diets that are more holistic," Abdelmalek said. "High fructose corn syrup, which is predominately in soft-drinks and processed foods, may not be as benign as we previously thought." ... You'll pry my Coca-Cola from my cold, dead hands! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 16, 2010 from New York Times: A Risk of Poisoning the Deepest Wells Fertilizing the oceans with iron has been proposed as a way of fighting climate change. The idea is that iron will promote blooms of phytoplankton that will remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. When the phytoplankton dies and sinks, the carbon will effectively be sequestered in the deep ocean. Enthusiasm for the idea has waned, in part because of concerns about large-scale manipulation of ocean ecosystems. Now, a study in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences points out a specific risk: by promoting the growth of certain organisms, iron enrichment may result in the harmful production of a neurotoxin[, domoic acid].... The researchers found evidence that increased domoic acid production enabled Pseudonitzschia to outcompete other phytoplankton. "So it's more toxic than it was before," Dr. Trick said, "and there's more of it." ... Good thing we have other consequence-free geoengineering options to turn to! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 4, 2010 from SciDev.net: Farmers and pesticide blamed in Thai rice pest invasion Thai farmers keen to exploit high rice prices have made an outbreak of a devastating pest worse by overplanting and using too much pesticide, according to ecologists. An outbreak of brown planthoppers has destroyed 368,000 hectares -- about four per cent of Thailand's rice paddies -- since August last year. The pests have periodically plagued Asian rice farming for decades, eating their way through rice crops and spreading viral diseases that can stunt growth and prevent rice grain formation.... To ensure good yields, farmers overuse fertilisers -- thought to increase the planthopper's fertility -- and pesticides such as synthetic pyrethroids, which have no effect on planthoppers but kill many of their natural enemies such as spiders. Golsalvitra said the problem remains unabated despite state efforts to control the situation and the pest is migrating south to the Central Plains -- the country's rice bowl, which is preparing for the next rice season in May.... He said the outbreaks are preventable and that the best way to deal with them is to restore biodiversity rather than destroy it. ... We should have used cane toads!* ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Mar 3, 2010 from ACS, via EurekAlert: CFC replacements may cause warming and acid rain Chemicals that helped solve a global environmental crisis in the 1990s -- the hole in Earth's protective ozone layer -- may be making another problem -- acid rain -- worse, scientists are reporting.... [S]tudies later suggested the need for a replacement for the replacements, showing that HCFCs act like super greenhouse gases, 4,500 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The new study adds to those concerns, raising the possibility that HCFCs may break down in the atmosphere to form oxalic acid, one of the culprits in acid rain. They used a computer model to show how HCFCs could form oxalic acid via a series of chemical reactions high in the atmosphere. The model, they suggest, could have broader uses in helping to determine whether replacements for the replacements are as eco-friendly as they appear before manufacturers spend billions of dollars in marketing them. ... Replacing the replacement... aren't we getting a little meta here? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 2, 2010 from Purdue, via EurekAlert: Popular nanoparticle causes toxicity in fish, study shows ... [N]anosilver suspended in solution proved toxic and even lethal to the minnows. When the nanosilver was allowed to settle, the solution became several times less toxic but still caused malformations in the minnows. "Silver nitrate is a lot more toxic than nanosilver, but when nanosilver was sonicated, or suspended, its toxicity increased tenfold," said Maria Sepulveda, an assistant professor of forestry and natural resources whose findings were published in the journal Ecotoxicology. "There is reason to be concerned."... "These nanosilver particles are so small they are able to cross the egg membranes and move into the fish embryos in less than a day," Sepulveda said. "They had a potentially high dose of silver in them." ... Only a really tiny reason to be concerned! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 22, 2010 from The Australian: Toxic water linked to forestry trees RESEARCH has linked toxicity in a Tasmanian river used for drinking water to the leaves of genetically improved plantation eucalypt trees, prompting calls for a wider inquiry. The woman behind the work, local GP Alison Bleaney, yesterday told The Australian the findings, featured on ABC TV's Australian Story tonight, warranted a full and thorough inquiry. "We need to get to the bottom of this so that forestry can go on growing their trees and we can continue to drink our water," Dr Bleaney said. A long investigation by Dr Bleaney and Sydney scientist Marcus Scammell -- involving the testing of water at independent laboratories interstate -- concluded a toxin found in the George River on Tasmania's east coast was from the leaves of the eucalyptus nitens. ... This is a devil of a problem ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 18, 2010 from National Oceanographic Centre, UK: Ocean geoengineering scheme no easy fix for global warming Pumping nutrient-rich water up from the deep ocean to boost algal growth in sunlit surface waters and draw carbon dioxide down from the atmosphere has been touted as a way of ameliorating global warming. However, a new study led by Professor Andreas Oschlies of the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR) in Kiel, Germany, pours cold water on the idea. "Computer simulations show that climatic benefits of the proposed geo-engineering scheme would be modest, with the potential to exacerbate global warming should it fail," said study co-author Dr Andrew Yool of the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS).... In the new study, the researchers address such questions using a more integrated model of the whole Earth system. The simulations show that, under most optimistic assumptions, three gigatons of carbon dioxide per year could be captured. This is under a tenth of the annual anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, which currently stand at 36 gigatons per year.... More significantly, when the simulated pumps were turned off, the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and surface temperatures rose rapidly to levels even higher than in the control simulation without artificial pumps. This finding suggests that there would be extra environmental costs to the scheme should it ever need to be turned off for unanticipated reasons. ... Who could have expected unexpected consequences? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 15, 2010 from London Independent: Seeds of discontent: the 'miracle' crop that has failed to deliver A new 'ethical' biofuel is damaging the impoverished people it was supposed to help... Five years ago jatropha was hailed by investors and scientists as a breakthrough in the battle to find a biofuel alternative to fossil fuels that would not further impoverish developing countries by diverting resources away from food production. Jatropha was said to be resistant to drought and pests and able could grow on land that was unsuitable for food production. But researchers have found that it has increased poverty in countries including India and Tanzania. Millions of the plants have been grown in anticipation of rich returns, only for growers to be hit by poor yields, conflict over land and a lack of infrastructure to process the oil-rich seeds. ... Jatropha, we hardly re-KNEW-able ya! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Feb 13, 2010 from Science, via Mongabay: Chinese farming practices are acidifying soils A new study in Science shows that farming practices in China are acidifying the nation's soils and threatening long term productivity at a time when food concerns worldwide have never been higher. The culprit is the increasing use of nitrogen fertilizer. "Chinese agriculture has intensified greatly since the early 1980s on a limited land area with large inputs of chemical fertilizers and other resources," the authors note, pointing out that nitrogen fertilizer consumption in China reached 32.6 million tons in 2007, an increase of 191 percent over 1981 levels. "The rates of [nitrogen] applied in some regions are extraordinarily high as compared with those of North America and Europe. These have degraded soils and environmental quality in the North China Plain and in the Taihu Lake region in south China," the authors explain. ... Can soil have flashbacks? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Feb 12, 2010 from Mongabay: Expedition to save world's rarest cetacean threatened by lack of funding Little known beyond the waters of the Gulf of California, the world's smallest cetacean (a group including whales, dolphins, and porpoises) is hanging on by a thread. The vaquita—which in Spanish means 'little cow'—has recently gained the dubious distinction of not only being the world's smallest cetacean, but the also the world's rarest. In 2006 it was announced that the Yangtze river dolphin, or baiji, was likely extinct, and conservationists fear the Critically Endangered 'little cow' is next. An expedition for this year is set to identify vaquita individuals, but even this is threatened by lack of funding. Tobias Nowlan, a member of the proposed expedition, told mongabay.com that the situation was dire with only 100 individual vaquitas left in the world. The vaquita lives in what Nowlan calls "the most restricted range of any marine mammal", inhabiting about 2,500 square kilometers of the Gulf of California. As far as researchers know the vaquita is threatened by one thing and one thing only: gillnets used to catch the local fish totoaba (which is also considered Critically Endangered). "The vaquita has declined dramatically as a result of bycatch in gillnets. A gillnet ban is now in place in the 'Vaquita Conservation Zone', though their use continues illegally. ... We've got more important things to spend money on -- like oil exploration subsidies. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Feb 3, 2010 from Associated Press: Gas drilling in Appalachia runs into resistance: What do you do with the wastewater? A drilling technique that is beginning to unlock staggering quantities of natural gas underneath Appalachia also yields a troubling byproduct: powerfully briny wastewater that can kill fish and give tap water a foul taste and odor. With fortunes, water quality and cheap energy hanging in the balance, exploration companies, scientists and entrepreneurs are scrambling for an economical way to recycle the wastewater. ... We could always bottle it. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 1, 2010 from Virginia Tech, via EurekAlert: Engineers explore environmental concerns of nanotechnology History has shown that previous industrial revolutions, such as those involving asbestos and chloroflurocarbons, have had some serious environmental impacts. Might nanotechnology also pose a risk? ... Scientists and engineers at the center have outlined plans to conduct research on the possible environmental health impacts of nanomaterials. The plans include new approaches, such as creating a predictive toxicology model based on cell assays and building ecosystems to track nanoparticles.... In their preliminary studies, results indicate that "oxidation does impact solubility, as absorbance after resuspending in water is lower for fullerenes exposed to ozone." The implication is that reactions in the atmosphere can transform nanoparticles and make them more likely to dissolve in water once they deposit back to earth. There, they can travel farther and come in contact with more organisms than if they were stuck to soil. ... Everyone knows only good things come in small packages. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jan 22, 2010 from UVA, via ScienceBlog: UVa engineers find significant environmental impacts with algae-based biofuel [R]esearchers from the University of Virginia's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering have found there are significant environmental hurdles to overcome before fuel production ramps up. They propose using wastewater as a solution to some of these challenges. These findings come after ExxonMobil invested $600 million last summer and the U.S. Department of Energy announced last week that it is awarding $78 million in stimulus money for research and development of the biofuel. The U.Va. research, just published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, demonstrates that algae production consumes more energy, has higher greenhouse gas emissions and uses more water than other biofuel sources, such as switchgrass, canola and corn.... "Before we make major investments in algae production, we should really know the environmental impact of this technology," Clarens said. "If we do decide to move forward with algae as a fuel source, it's important we understand the ways we can produce it with the least impact, and that's where combining production with wastewater treatment operations comes in." ... Waitaminnit: we have to think about what we're doing? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jan 15, 2010 from London Independent: 42 tons of poison to purge island of rats Lord Howe, an idyllic island off the Australian mainland, carefully conserves its natural treasures. The World Heritage-listed chunk of rock has strict quarantine laws, and limits the number of tourists who may visit. But its unique birds, insects and plants are under threat from an implacable foe: the black rat. Accidentally introduced in 1918 when a ship ran aground, rats are blamed for the extinction of five endemic bird species. Wildlife experts warn that 13 other native birds, two reptiles, five plants and numerous invertebrates are at risk. Rats are also a threat to the vital tourism industry, which relies on the island's pristine image.... Stephen Wills, chief executive of the Lord Howe Board, which administers the island as part of New South Wales, agrees that the plan -- which involves dropping nearly 42 tons of poison-laced bait from helicopters -- is radical. But there is no other option, he believes. ... What could possibly go wrong with this? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jan 13, 2010 from Wildlife Conservation Society, via EurekAlert: Tilapia feed on Fiji's native fish The poster child for sustainable fish farming -- the tilapia -- is actually a problematic invasive species for the native fish of the islands of Fiji, according to a new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups. Scientists suspect that tilapia introduced to the waterways of the Fiji Islands may be gobbling up the larvae and juvenile fish of several native species of goby, fish that live in both fresh and salt water and begin their lives in island streams.... The team found that streams with tilapia contained 11 fewer species of native fishes than those without; species most sensitive to introduced tilapia included the throat-spine gudgeon, the olive flathead-gudgeon, and other gobies. In general, sites where tilapia were absent had more species of native fish. ... Right! Non-native = invasive! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jan 8, 2010 from Nature: Oceans release DDT from decades ago A computer simulation of the environmental fate of DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) has revealed that substantial quantities of the pesticide are still being released from the world's oceans, despite widespread restrictions on its use during the 1970s. The calculations show that although remaining DDT use today tends to be in the southern hemisphere, its concentrations are actually growing in the northern hemisphere as it moves through the world's oceans and atmosphere. An estimated 1.5 million tonnes of DDT were used worldwide between the 1940s and 1970s, both as an agricultural insecticide and to control disease-carrying insects such as mosquitoes – the chemical was a key weapon in the war against malaria, for example. But DDT is toxic to a wide range of aquatic life, and its eggshell-thinning effects also had a drastic impact on many bird species. ... Dang oceans! Can't they just hold onto the stuff? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Dec 16, 2009 from Green Bay Press Gazette: Energy-efficient traffic signals don't melt snow, are blamed for accidents MILWAUKEE -- Cities around the country that have installed energy-efficient traffic lights are discovering a hazardous downside: The bulbs don't burn hot enough to melt snow and can become crusted over in a storm -- a problem blamed for dozens of accidents and at least one death... Many communities, including Green Bay, are using LED bulbs in some of their traffic lights because they use 90 percent less energy than the old incandescent variety, last far longer and save money. Their great advantage is also their drawback: They do not waste energy by producing heat. ... We were led to believe this would solve problems, not create them! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Dec 16, 2009 from COP15: New study: Substantial irreversible damage to ocean ecosystems According to the study, seas and oceans absorb approximately one quarter of the carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and other human activities. As more and more carbon dioxide has been emitted into the atmosphere, the oceans have absorbed greater amounts at increasingly rapid rates. Without this level of absorption by the oceans, atmospheric CO2 levels would be significantly higher than at present and the effects of global climate change would be more marked. However, the absorption of atmospheric CO2 has resulted in changes to the chemical balance of the oceans, causing them to become more acidic.... This dramatic increase is 100 times faster than any change in acidity experienced in the marine environment over the last 20 million years, giving little time for evolutionary adaptation within biological systems. ... Irreversible? C'mon, we're humans. We'll figure something out. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Dec 14, 2009 from Associated Press: Governments Turn to Cloud Seeding to Fight Drought SACRAMENTO, California -- On a mountaintop clearing in the Sierra Nevada stands a tall metal platform holding a crude furnace and a box of silver iodide solution that some scientists believe could help offer relief from searing droughts. This is a cloud-seeding machine designed to increase rainfall by spraying a chemical vapor into the clouds. Under the right conditions, it can help water droplets grow heavy, coalesce and fall to the ground. Faced with water shortages, growing populations and the threat that climate change could make matters worse, governments around the globe have increasingly turned to cloud seeding in an attempt to wring more rain and snow from the sky. ... We call this feat of geoengineering the trickle-down effect! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Nov 20, 2009 from Discovery News: Toxic Butts Even with a small amount of unburnt tobacco clinging to it, a single cigarette butt soaked for a day is enough to turn a liter of water a sickly yellow brown and kill 50 percent of fish swimming in it. Without tobacco, it takes about 4 smoked filters to do the same job. That's a lot of butts in a small area, and the research team that conducted the laboratory study, led by Elli Slaughter of San Diego State University, is quick to point out that no research has been done yet to test how much poison leaches from butts into ponds, lakes, streams and the ocean... According to one estimate, some 4.5 trillion filters from spent smokes make their way into the environment every year. When immersed in water, each one becomes a time-released capsule of compounds like nicotine, cancer-causing benzenes, heavy metals and other dangerous compounds.... "You might as well have small vials of toxins -- trillions of them -- in the water." ... But I thought nicotine was a nutrient. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 22, 2009 from Environmental Expert (UK)h: New chemical pollutants? Research finds fluorochemicals in water samples Another contaminant found in Canadian groundwater samples may join the list of environmental substances that could be harmful to humans and the environment.... The newest potential threat to human health and the environment is fluorochemicals known as perfluorinated phosphoric acids (PFPAs), which were found in water samples taken for study in the past decade from Canadian creeks, rivers and, waste treatment effluents. PFPAs were found at 24 of 30 sites used in the research.... PFPAs are used commercially as leveling and wetting agents and to defoam additives used in pesticide formulations. Similar fluorochemicals have been used for industrial purposes since the 1950s but were not identified as widespread environmental contaminants until 2001. As noted in the article, PFPAs lack hydrogen atoms and may resist degradation, like other fluorochemicals such as PFCAs and PFSAs -- perfluorinated carboxylic and sulfonic acids -- that once were used commercially and now are regulated in the United States and Canada. "From the analysis of Canadian surface waters, low-level PFPA contamination clearly is widespread," according to the authors. ... Thank god I'm acronym-challenged. It's just too hard to remember what these things mean! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Sep 20, 2009 from University of Exeter via ScienceDaily: Impact Of Renewable Energy On Our Oceans Must Be Investigated, Say Scientists Scientists from the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth are calling for urgent research to understand the impact of renewable energy developments on marine life. The study, now published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, highlights potential environmental benefits and threats resulting from marine renewable energy, such as off-shore wind farms and wave and tidal energy conversion devices. The research highlights the capacity for marine renewable energy devices to boost local biodiversity and benefit the wider marine environment. Man-made structures on the sea bed attract many marine organisms and sometimes become 'artificial reefs', for example, supporting a wide variety of fish. The study also points out that such devices could have negative environmental impacts, resulting from habitat loss, collision risks, noise and electromagnetic fields. ... I presume a simple "Keep Out" sign is out of the question. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Sep 20, 2009 from New York Times: Belatedly, Egypt Spots Flaws in Wiping Out Pigs CAIRO — It is unlikely anyone has ever come to this city and commented on how clean the streets are. But this litter-strewn metropolis is now wrestling with a garbage problem so severe it has managed to incite its weary residents and command the attention of the president... When the government killed all the pigs in Egypt this spring — in what public health experts said was a misguided attempt to combat swine flu — it was warned the city would be overwhelmed with trash. The pigs used to eat tons of organic waste. Now the pigs are gone and the rotting food piles up on the streets of middle-class neighborhoods like Heliopolis and in the poor streets of communities like Imbaba. ... This pig in a poke went to hell in a handcart. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Sep 16, 2009 from American Chemical Society, via EurekAlert: Biofuel production could undercut efforts to shrink Gulf 'Dead Zone' Scientists in Pennsylvania report that boosting production of crops used to make biofuels could make a difficult task to shrink a vast, oxygen-depleted "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico more difficult. The zone, which reached the size of Massachusetts in 2008, forms in summer and threatens marine life and jobs in the region.... the zone forms when fertilizers wash off farm fields throughout the Mississippi River basin and into the Gulf of Mexico. The fertilizers cause the growth of algae, which eventually depletes oxygen in the water and kills marine life. Government officials hope to reduce fertilizer runoff and shrink the zone to the size of Delaware by 2015. But that goal could be more difficult to reach due to federally-mandated efforts to increase annual biofuel production to 36 billion gallons by 2022, the study says. ... Our "dead zone" is still smaller than that Texas-sized plastic gyre in the Pacific -- how embarrassing, to be #2. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Sep 12, 2009 from Huffington Post: New Dr. Strangeloves and the Prospect of Geo-Engineered Climate 'Adaptation' He said, "We may have to do the impossible and the unforgivable to address the unavoidable."... I let those words percolate. And then I pondered... Even more problematically, geo-engineering approaches and theory enshrine a false sense of control over the uncontrollable, while simultaneously institutionalizing desperate measures. They play into the agendas of business-as-usual proponents, holding out a mechanistic hope that science and engineering schemes to cool the planet would extend the shelf life of entrenched economic, political, and corporate structures.... Nourished by hubris, enthralled by a cold rationality, geo-engineering advocates live comfortably in flats in London, Stockholm, or Palo Alto. They work at Royal Dutch Shell or the Royal Swedish Academy of Science or the Royal Society, or some equally reputable academic, corporate, or scientific institution. They think they're qualified to talk about love and hope, when their real experience centers on attempting to influence business outcomes via scenario planning or, even more implausibly, planetary and civilization outcomes via the climate system's non-existent thermostat. ... Gimme an H! a U! a B-R-I-and-S! Hu-bris, Hu-bris, that's what we love best! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Aug 27, 2009 from Environmental Research Web: Agricultural methods of early civilizations may have altered global climate, study suggests Massive burning of forests for agriculture thousands of years ago may have increased atmospheric carbon dioxide enough to alter global climate and usher in a warming trend that continues today, according to a new study that appears online Aug. 17 in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews.... "They used more land for farming because they had little incentive to maximize yield from less land, and because there was plenty of forest to burn," said William Ruddiman, the lead author and a professor emeritus of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia. "They may have inadvertently altered the climate." ... Good thing we don't have plenty of anything to burn, and that CO2 is just a theory. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Aug 10, 2009 from Gas 2.0: Hybrid Vehicles Failing to Produce Environmental Benefits The study finds that hybrid sales have not replaced gas guzzling SUVS, but rather have replaced small, relatively fuel-efficient, conventional cars. Too bad, considering SUVS, trucks and vans produce substantially greater carbon emissions.... "Our estimates indicate that two-thirds of people who buy hybrids were going to buy them anyway," said Chandra. "So for the majority, rebates are not changing behavior -- they are subsidizing planned purchases."... The study finds that Canadian provinces that offer rebates have spent an average of $195 per tonne of carbon saved or, equivalently, $0.43 for every litre of gasoline that a vehicle consumes over its 15 year average life expectancy.... Chandra claims that governments could garner greater environmental benefits by purchasing carbon offsets (currently priced between $3 and $40 per tonne on carbon markets) or investing in green jobs and technologies. ... Rational policy is just too hard to explain. We like happy policy. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Aug 9, 2009 from Times Online (UK): Green grass of steppes falls victim to West's stampede for cashmere Fly over Mongolia in summer and the steppes look as green as they must have done when Genghis Khan and his armies galloped across the land -- but the switch is startling as the flight crosses the border into China's Inner Mongolian region. The ground suddenly turns brown. The danger facing Mongolia is that its steppes may be transformed into a desert similar to the one eating away at neighbouring China. The culprit is the humble goat -- and the fascination of fashionistas for cashmere. The money to be earned from "diamond fibre" cashmere, so prized among wealthy shoppers in Europe and the US, has resulted in Mongolia's population of cashmere goats soaring to 40 million in 2007 from 25 million in 1993. The World Bank warned of grave consequences for the environment and for farmers. "Mongolian herds will be at greater risk of severe weather conditions if growing livestock populations and deteriorating pastureland is not reversed," it said in a report. A combination of the sharp hooves of the goats and their voracious consumption of all greenery -- including roots -- is harming the steppes. ... Just one more steppe down the road to helle. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Aug 7, 2009 from BBC (UK): Climate fixes 'pose drought risk' The use of geo-engineering to slow global warming may increase the risk of drought, according to a paper in Science journal. Methods put forward include reflecting solar radiation back into space using giant mirrors or aerosol particles. But the authors warn that such attempts to control the climate could also cause major changes in precipitation. They want the effect on rainfall to be assessed before any action is taken.... They cite the powerful effects on rainfall of volcanic eruptions which also prevent solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface, albeit by throwing up dust rather than reflecting the radiation back into space. For example in 1991, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo not only reduced global temperatures but also led to increases in drought.... The article warns that geo-engineering of this type, combined with the effects of global warming could produce reductions in regional rainfall that could rival those of past major droughts, leading to winners and losers among the human population and possible conflicts over water. ... Why don't all these crises recognize that we need to be able to fix them? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jul 27, 2009 from BBC (UK): Threatened whale found wedged dead on cruise ship bow A rare whale was discovered wedged on to the bow of a cruise ship when it docked in a Canadian port. The 70ft fin whale, a threatened species in Canada, was found when the Sapphire Princess docked at the Port of Vancouver, the cruise company said. It said it had "strict whale avoidance" measures and it was unclear where, when or how the whale became stuck. Tourists looked on as the dead whale was examined by fisheries department staff. ... Ooops. We had been calling out "watch out, whales" but it didn't work. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jul 24, 2009 from New York Times: Slow, Costly and Often Dangerous Road to Wind Power As demand for clean energy grows, towns around the country are finding their traffic patterns roiled as convoys carrying disassembled towers that will reach more than 250 feet in height, as well as motors, blades and other parts roll through. Escorted by patrol cars and gawked at by pedestrians, the equipment must often travel hundreds of miles from ports or factories to the remote, windy destinations where the turbines are erected. In Belfast, officials have worked hard to keep the nuisance to a minimum, but about 200 trucks are passing through this year on their way to western Maine, carrying parts that have been shipped from Denmark and Vietnam. Plenty can go wrong despite months of planning. In Idaho and Texas, trucks laden with tall turbine parts have slammed into interstate overpasses, requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs. In Minnesota last year, a truck carrying a tubular tower section got stuck at a railroad crossing; an approaching train stopped just in time. Also in Minnesota, a woman was killed last September when her car, driven by her husband, collided at an intersection with a truck carrying a wind turbine. (After a police investigation, local officials found that the truck driver was not at fault.) ... I'm not sure we can get there from here. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 21, 2009 from American Meteorological Society, via EurekAlert: Geoengineering climate requires more research, cautious consideration and appropriate restrictions Geoengineering -- deliberately manipulating physical, chemical, or biological aspects of the Earth system to confront climate change -- could contribute to a comprehensive risk management strategy to slow climate change but could also create considerable new risks, according to a policy statement released by the American Meteorological Society (AMS) today. According to the Society, geoengineering will not substitute for either aggressive emissions reduction or efforts to adapt to climate change, but it could help lower greenhouse gas concentrations, provide options for reducing specific climate impacts, or offer strategies of last resort if abrupt, catastrophic, or otherwise unacceptable climate-change impacts become unavoidable by other means. However, AMS scientists caution that research to date has not determined whether there are large-scale geoengineering approaches that would produce significant benefits, or whether those benefits would substantially outweigh the detriments. ... Why would meteorologists say this kind of thing? Don't they control the weather? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jul 6, 2009 from Guardian (UK): Just add lime (to the sea) -- the latest plan to cut CO2 emissions Putting lime into the oceans could stop or even reverse the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere, according to proposals unveiled at a conference on climate change solutions in Manchester today. According to its advocates, the same technique could help fix one of the most dangerous side effects of man-made CO2 emissions: rising ocean acidity. The project, known as Cquestrate, is the brainchild of Tim Kruger, a former management consultant. "This is an idea that can not only stop the clock on carbon dioxide, it can turn it back," he said, although he conceded that tipping large quantities of lime into the sea would currently be illegal.... Kruger admits there are challenges to overcome: the world would need to mine and process about 10 cubic kilometres of limestone each year to soak up all the emissions the world produces, and the plan would only make sense if the CO2 resulting from lime production could be captured and buried at source. ... Management consultants make recommendations, and make up catchy branding. They rarely analyze unintended consequences. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jul 4, 2009 from Times Online (UK): Bengal tiger breeding plan at Sariska in doubt over fears that new mates are siblings When Indian wildlife authorities took three Bengal tigers by helicopter to an empty reserve in Rajasthan last year it was hailed as a groundbreaking experiment to revive the country's flagging tiger population. Now, some experts fear that the male and two females relocated to the Sariska reserve could all be siblings -- reducing their chances of a successful long-term breeding programme. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII), which is in charge of the project, began testing DNA samples from the three tigers yesterday to decide if they need to introduce others from different parts of the country. It already had blood samples from the two females but had not taken a sample from the male until it was briefly captured on Monday to have its broken radio collar replaced. "We're to blame -- we should have done this earlier but everything was done in a hurry," K. Sankar, a WII tiger expert who is overseeing the project, told The Times. "Now we have the samples, the analysis is under way and after that we will be able to say for sure. We're keeping our fingers crossed." Results are expected this weekend, when the Indian Environment Minister is due to visit Sariska. ... What's the hurry? It's not as if... oh, right. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jun 9, 2009 from Mongabay: Kenya moves forward to ban the pesticide Furadan after it is used to kill 76 lions After highly-publicized poisonings of lions in Kenya’s national parks, the Kenyan Parliament has begun addressing longstanding concerns regarding the pesticide Furadan. Since 1995 Furadan has been used to illegally kill 76 lions, 15 hyenas, 24 hippos, over 250 vultures, and thousands of other birds in Kenya. These numbers are likely low due to under-reporting, according to Kenya-based conservation organization, Wildlife Direct. Furadan is the trade name for Carbofuran, which is manufactured by Farm Machinery and Chemicals Corporation(FMC) in the United States. The deliberate poisoning of wildlife in Kenya by Furadan is often in retaliation for predators killing a farmers' livestock. On the other hand, birds die from ingesting the pesticide off of crops. ... O majestic wildlife... I will kill you! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 8, 2009 from University of Calgary, via EurekAlert: Scientists should look at their own carbon footprint Scientists studying the impact of climate change on the Arctic need to consider ways to reduce their own carbon footprints, says a researcher who regularly flies north to study the health of caribou.... "The importance of the research is not at question here. It is vital to our understanding of and adapting to climate change. But we need to think about better approaches," says Brook from the U of C's faculty of Veterinary Medicine. "This is an issue for all scientists, though polar researchers often travel particularly long distances using commercial air travel. We also rely extensively on small aircraft, icebreakers, and snowmobiles, all of which produce large amounts of carbon. We know that carbon release by human activity is a key contributor to climate change."... "The total footprint of all scientists is small, but it's important to critically evaluate how we can reduce our footprint from research activities. What are we doing in the best ways possible? Where can we improve? What do we need in order to improve? Let's start talking about this on a larger scale." ... Researching the cure is causing the disease? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 18, 2009 from Salon: Pesticides indicted in bee deaths Gene Brandi will always rue the summer of 2007. That's when the California beekeeper rented half his honeybees, or 1,000 hives, to a watermelon farmer in the San Joaquin Valley at pollination time. The following winter, 50 percent of Brandi's bees were dead.... Brandi has grown accustomed to seeing up to 40 percent of his bees vanish each year, simply leave the hive in search of food and never come back. But this was different. Instead of losing bees from all his colonies, Brandi watched the ones that skipped watermelon duty continue to thrive. Brandi discovered the watermelon farmer had irrigated his plants with imidacloprid, the world's best-selling insecticide created by Bayer CropScience Inc., one of the world's leading producers of pesticides and genetically modified vegetable seeds, with annual sales of $8.6 billion. Blended with water and applied to the soil, imidacloprid creates a moist mixture the bees likely drank from on a hot day.... Imidacloprid and clothianidin are chloronicotinoids, a synthetic compound that combines nicotine, a powerful toxin, with chlorine to attack an insect's nervous system. The chemical is applied to the seed of a plant, added to soil, or sprayed on a crop and spreads to every corner of the plant's tissue, killing the pests that feed on it. ... It's so shocking when insecticides kill insects. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, May 7, 2009 from The Engineer (UK): Hot topic: Geoengineering There are two main methods of doing this. One is reversing the greenhouse effect by pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere and locking it away in a planetary version of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) scheme. That may sound ambitious, but it is nothing compared to the other option: create a giant sunshade to prevent some of the sun's rays from hitting the atmosphere in the first place. As far fetched as these ideas seem, they are now beginning to gather attention and are the subject of serious research. To some, however, particularly in the environmental movement, they are seen as a distraction from the matter of reducing emissions and developing renewable technologies.... Some of the effects of global warming are only just becoming apparent and this drastic form of global cooling could easily have effects that are difficult to predict. 'One important consideration is: if it goes wrong, can you turn it off?' Vaughan added. ... Lifestyle change? Me? Heck, just let the scientists and engineers fix it. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, May 1, 2009 from Purdue University, via EurekAlert: Fish may actually feel pain and react to it much like humans Because both groups of fish wriggled at about the same temperature, the researchers thought the responses might be more like a reflex than a cognitive reaction to experiencing pain.... Upon later observation in their home tanks, however, the researchers noticed that the fish from each group were exhibiting different behaviors. "The fish given the morphine acted like they always had: swimming and being fish," Garner said. "The fish that had gotten saline -- even though they responded the same in the test -- later acted different, though. They acted with defensive behaviors, indicating wariness, or fear and anxiety." Nordgreen said those behavioral differences showed that fish can feel both reflexive and cognitive pain. ... Next you'll be telling me we should treat fish humanely. Something's fishy about that. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Apr 19, 2009 from Chapel Hill News: Biosolids concerns bubble to surface Nancy Holt bulldozed trees and blocked the path to the creek behind her house after her grandson and his friend went wading in the water and got staph infections. Myra Dotson developed red bumps on her knees and forearms after gardening. When they became infected, a doctor diagnosed her with MRSA, the antibiotic-resistant "super bug." Both women blame the infections on sewage sludge applied on nearby fields. Now an advisory board's concerns are raising questions the county had hoped to begin answering two years ago. ... This is tantamount to pissing in the wind. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Apr 19, 2009 from Seattle Times: Toxic marshes deadly to swans: Coeur d'Alene River laden with lead from Silver Valley mining Even near death, tundra swans are graceful. Snowy necks arch and flex as the birds -- victims of lead poisoning -- gasp for breath. Wings rise and fall in rhythmic sweeps, but the birds are too weak to take flight. Their cries are soft, trilling sounds. Each spring, thousands of tundra swans stop in the marshes along the Coeur d'Alene River as they migrate north to breeding grounds in Alaska. Some never make it out of the marsh. As they feed on roots and tubers, the swans swallow sediment polluted with heavy metals from mining waste. At high enough levels, the lead shuts down their digestive systems, causing the swans to gasp for air as food backs up into the esophagus and presses against the windpipe. The birds grow emaciated, starving to death on full bellies. ... These canaries are tortured in the coal mine. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 9, 2009 from SciDev.net: Charcoal plan for carbon storage under fire Campaigners have launched a protest against a proposed form of geoengineering that they say is gaining popularity despite being untested and fraught with potential social and environmental repercussions. Biochar, at its most ambitious, involves recruiting vast amounts of biomass -- for example, from dedicated plantations -- and converting the carbon captured in the plant matter into charcoal. The charcoal is then ploughed into soils where it is hoped it will remain forever, improving soil fertility in the process.... But a coalition of nearly 150 organisations launched their campaign against biochar this week (6 April) during the Bonn Climate Change Talks, held in the run-up to the Copenhagen meeting.... The group, made up of small-scale farmers associations, forest protection groups, international environmental networks and human rights advocates, called on governments to study biochar in greater depth because of what they say is serious scientific uncertainty about both its ability to remove carbon from the atmosphere and side effects of its use. ... Come on -- unintended consequences? When did that ever happen? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 30, 2009 from Soil Science Society of America, via EurekAlert: Nitrate fertilizer stimulates greenhouse gas production in small streams Nitrous oxide is a potent greenhouse gas that has been accumulating in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution. It is well known that fertilizer can stimulate nitrous oxide production in soils, but less is known about nitrous oxide production in small streams which drain agricultural landscapes. Much of the cropland in the agricultural Midwest is drained by an extensive subsurface drainage network which delivers soil-derived nitrate to small streams where it may be converted to nitrous oxide. Given the large quantities of nitrogen that leach from agricultural soils and the predominance of small streams in Midwestern agricultural landscapes, small streams may an important source of nitrous oxide.... The study revealed that nitrous oxide is frequently produced in the sediments of small streams and that production rates were best explained by stream water nitrate concentrations. The highest production rates were observed during the winter and spring of the second year of the study when snow melt and rain flushed nitrate into the streams resulting in elevated stream water nitrate concentrations. ... Fertilizing our way to climate warming? How efficient. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Mar 29, 2009 from New York Times: Freeman Dyson: We Can Fix It, It's Not A Big Deal. Dyson may be an Obama-loving, Bush-loathing liberal who has spent his life opposing American wars and fighting for the protection of natural resources, but he brooks no ideology and has a withering aversion to scientific consensus.... Since then he has only heated up his misgivings, declaring in a 2007 interview with Salon.com that "the fact that the climate is getting warmer doesn't scare me at all"... A particularly distressed member of that public was Dyson's own wife, Imme, who, after seeing the film in a local theater with Dyson when it was released in 2006, looked at her husband out on the sidewalk and, with visions of drowning polar bears still in her eyes, reproached him: "Everything you told me is wrong!" she cried. "The polar bears will be fine," he assured her.... Far from expecting any drastic harmful consequences from these increased temperatures, he says the carbon may well be salubrious -- a sign that "the climate is actually improving rather than getting worse," because carbon acts as an ideal fertilizer promoting forest growth and crop yields. "Most of the evolution of life occurred on a planet substantially warmer than it is now," he contends, "and substantially richer in carbon dioxide." Dyson calls ocean acidification, which many scientists say is destroying the saltwater food chain, a genuine but probably exaggerated problem. Sea levels, he says, are rising steadily, but why this is and what dangers it might portend "cannot be predicted until we know much more about its causes." ... James Lovelock vs. Freeman Dyson: The Cage Match! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Mar 28, 2009 from CBC (Canada): Film sheds light on shadowy world of germ warfare One of the things that I found out was that this world of biological weapons research was really shrouded in secrecy, and there's all these skeletons in the closet that go back decades -- human experimentation, secret programs, illicit programs. And it's not just in the United States -- the U.K., Russia, my home continent of Africa -- Zimbabwe, South Africa.... [T]he United States government has budgeted more than $50 billion US on biodefence, and a lot of that money is now going to private companies, to private foundations, to university labs... One of the scary things about biological weapons is that even if you're working on biodefence, you still have to create the actual weapon to know how to defend against it so you have a very, very blurry line between what is biodefence and what is bio-offence. And we must remember that ... offensive biological weapons have been illegal under the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention that has been signed by more than 170 countries [in] 1972. They've been outlawed. ... Thank goodness it's all secret. That means that nothing bad could happen. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Mar 22, 2009 from The Japan Times: Oceans awash in toxic seas of plastic Go down to the beach today and you'll find plenty of garbage among the sand — but that's nothing compared with the continent-sized whirlpools of lethal waste out there beyond the horizon... Umbrella handles. Pens. Popsicle sticks. Lots and lots of toothbrushes. These are just a few of the items that make up the approximately 13 million sq. km Eastern Garbage Patch, an immense plastic soup in the Pacific Ocean that starts about 800 km off the coast of California and extends westward. Sucked from the coasts of Asia and America by ocean currents, or discarded at sea, plastic debris accumulates there in an ever-growing mass that does not biodegrade and is said to be already larger than the United States. Scientists have long known that plastic in the garbage patch and elsewhere is stuffing the stomachs of seabirds and causing them to starve, suffocating fish and choking marine turtles. But what is now becoming clear is that when pieces of plastic meet other pollutants in the ocean, the results can be even more toxic. That's because, as a growing number of studies are showing, the plastic debris absorbs harmful chemicals from the seawater it floats in, acting like a "pollution sponge" that concentrates those chemicals and poses a different, more insidious threat to marine and other life. ... Perhaps we're just building a plastic Pangea! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 19, 2009 from SHEA, via EurekAlert: Study finds extensive patient sharing among hospitals; could impact spread of infectious diseases "We were surprised to find extensive interlinking of all the hospitals included in the study," said Susan S. Huang, MD, MPH, assistant professor and hospital epidemiologist, University of California Irvine School of Medicine and SHEA member. "The level of patient sharing among hospitals is grossly underestimated because patients often don't transfer directly between hospitals."... A large number of people (22 percent) who are discharged from acute care facilities are readmitted elsewhere within one year.... This research is particularly important for infectious agents with a substantial incubation period or prolonged carrier state such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), since patients may not exhibit symptoms of these diseases until after they have been discharged from a hospital stay. ... Sharing is a bad thing? That's not what my Mom taught me. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 16, 2009 from AP News: Economy spurs home garden boom With the recession in full swing, many Americans are returning to their roots -- literally -- cultivating vegetables in their backyards to squeeze every penny out of their food budget. Industry surveys show double-digit growth in the number of home gardeners this year and mail-order companies report such a tremendous demand that some have run out of seeds for basic vegetables such as onions, tomatoes and peppers. "People's home grocery budget got absolutely shredded and now we've seen just this dramatic increase in the demand for our vegetable seeds. We're selling out," said George Ball, CEO of Burpee Seeds, the largest mail-order seed company in the U.S. "I've never seen anything like it." ... I'm not ready to declare "victory [gardens]" just yet. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 16, 2009 from Queen's University, via EurekAlert: Cleaning up oil spills can kill more fish than spills themselves A new Queen's University study shows that detergents used to clean up spills of diesel oil actually increase its toxicity to fish, making it more harmful. "The detergents may be the best way to treat spills in the long term because the dispersed oil is diluted and degraded," says Biology professor Peter Hodson. "But in the short term, they increase the bioavailability and toxicity of the fuel to rainbow trout by 100-fold." ... [The dispersion] increases the transfer of hydrocarbons from oil to water, Dr. Hodson explains. The hydrocarbons pass easily from water into tissues and are deadly to fish in the early stages of life. "This could seriously impair the health of fish populations, resulting in long-term reductions in economic returns to fisheries," he says. ... Jeez, you mean adding more shit won't fix the stew? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 12, 2009 from Associated Press: Space junk threat worries space station The crew of the international space station survived a close call with space junk Thursday. The three crew members took refuge for 11 minutes in the Soyuz escape capsule and then were told to go back into the space station. Officials were worried about a possible collision with a piece of space junk. The debris was was about one-third of an inch in width, said NASA spokesman Josh Byerly. ... Man.... our shit is everywhere! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 12, 2009 from MIT, via EurekAlert: New greenhouse gas identified A gas used for fumigation has the potential to contribute significantly to future greenhouse warming, but because its production has not yet reached high levels there is still time to nip this potential contributor in the bud, according to an international team of researchers. Scientists at MIT, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego and other institutions are reporting the results of their study of the gas, sulfuryl fluoride, this month in the Journal of Geophysical Research. The researchers have measured the levels of the gas in the atmosphere, and determined its emissions and lifetime to help gauge its potential future effects on climate.... Its newly reported 36-year lifetime, along with studies of its infrared-absorbing properties by researchers at NOAA, "indicate that, ton for ton, it is about 4,800 times more potent a heat-trapping gas than carbon dioxide" says Prinn. ... I wonder if this one has any deniers yet. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Mar 8, 2009 from Mother Jones: Spoiled: Organic and Local Is So 2008 Many of the familiar models don't work well on the scale required to feed billions of people. Or they focus too narrowly on one issue (salad greens that are organic but picked by exploited workers). Or they work only in limited circumstances. (A $4 heirloom tomato is hardly going to save the world.)... Organizations such as the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (which despite its namesake is a real leader in food reform) have long insisted that truly sustainable food must be not just ecologically benign, but also nutritious, produced without injustice, and affordable.... Using the definition of sustainability above, about 2 percent of the food purchased in the United States qualifies. Put another way, we're going to need not only new methods for producing food, but a whole new set of assumptions about what sustainability really means.... And for all our focus on the cost of moving food, transportation accounts for barely one-tenth of a food product's greenhouse gas emissions. Far more significant is how the food was produced—its so-called resource intensity. Certain foods, like meat and cheese, suck up so many resources regardless of where they're produced (a pound of conventional grain-fed beef requires nearly a gallon of fuel and 5,169 gallons of water) that you can shrink your footprint far more by changing what you eat, rather than where the food came from. According to a 2008 report from Carnegie Mellon University, going meat- and dairyless one day a week is more environmentally beneficial than eating locally every single day. ... Wait... it's not just simply "organic or not"? I mean -- isn't "paper or plastic" simple? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Mar 4, 2009 from New Scientist: Inbreeding sabotages rare species' sperm It's a triple whammy for male animals on the brink of extinction: not only are there fewer mates around to have sex with, but, to make things worse, their sperm are more likely to carry genetic abnormalities and less likely to be good swimmers, research shows.... The team found that, on average, 48 percent of the sperm of endangered species was abnormal, compared with 30 percent in non-endangered species. In addition, the percentage of the sperm that was motile -- or capable of movement -- was around 10 percent lower in endangered species. Earlier research has shown that both characteristics make a male less likely to produce viable offspring. ... The endangered species sperm bank may have a problem with derivatives. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 26, 2009 from Los Angeles Times: NASA satellite crashes A NASA satellite designed to measure greenhouse gas emissions and pinpoint global warming dangers crashed Tuesday after a protective covering failed to separate from the craft shortly after launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The loss of the $278-million satellite came as a severe blow to NASA's climate monitoring efforts, as well as the builder of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va. "Our whole team, at a very personal level, is disappointed," Orbital Science's John Brunschwyler said at an early-morning briefing just hours after the satellite plunged into the ocean near Antarctica. ... This is one, giant metaphor. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Feb 25, 2009 from New Scientist: Hacking the planet: The only climate solution left... Previously, the idea of tweaking the climate in this way was anathema to most scientists. Apart from the technical challenges and environmental risks, many argued that endorsing the concept might scupper international negotiations for a post-Kyoto protocol to reduce global emissions. But it's becoming clear that moves to cut global carbon emissions are too little and too late for us avoid the worst effects of climate change. "There is a worrying sense that negotiations won't lead anywhere or lead to enough," says Lenton. "We can't change the world that fast," says Peter Liss, who is scientific adviser to the UK parliamentary committee investigating geoengineering. Extraordinary measures may now be the only way of saving vulnerable ecosystems such as Arctic sea ice.... What's more, geoengineering could turn out to be relatively cheap. Early estimates suggest some schemes could cost a few billion dollars, small change compared to the cost of slashing emissions - estimated by former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern to be at least 1 per of global GDP per year. In his testimony to the UK politicians last year, John Latham of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, argued that all of the above reasons make it "irresponsible" not to examine geoengineering. ... Unintended consequences 'R' us? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 24, 2009 from London Daily Mail: Social websites harm children's brains: Chilling warning to parents from top neuroscientist Social networking websites are causing alarming changes in the brains of young users, an eminent scientist has warned. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Bebo are said to shorten attention spans, encourage instant gratification and make young people more self-centred. The claims from neuroscientist Susan Greenfield will make disturbing reading for the millions whose social lives depend on logging on to their favourite websites each day. Baroness Greenfield, an Oxford University neuroscientist and director of the Royal Institution, believes repeated exposure could effectively 'rewire' the brain. "We know how small babies need constant reassurance that they exist," she told the Mail yesterday. 'My fear is that these technologies are infantilising the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment." ... Michael is wishing he was sure he existed. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Feb 22, 2009 from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Great Lakes scourge infects West ...Zebra and quagga mussels have been making a particular mess of the Great Lakes ecosystem and economy since they were discovered in the late 1980s. The filter-feeding machines have cost this region billions of dollars by plugging industrial water intake pipes, starving fish populations and spawning noxious algae outbreaks that have trashed some of the Midwest's most prized shoreline. For nearly two decades the western U.S. was spared this havoc. No more. The first quagga mussel west of the Continental Divide was discovered on Jan. 6, 2007. It was likely a stowaway hiding on the hull or in the bilge water of a Midwestern pleasure boat pulled across the Great Plains, over the Rockies and down a boat ramp at Lake Mead near Las Vegas, where a marina worker found some suspicious shells clinging to an anchor.... What took decades to unfold in the Great Lakes has played out in a matter of months in Lake Mead. Quaggas can lay eggs six or seven times a year in the warmer water, compared with once or twice a year in the Great Lakes. If you drained Lake Mead above Hoover Dam, says National Park Service biologist Bryan Moore, it would reveal that brown canyon walls that were mussel-free just two years ago are now black with quaggas at densities of up to 55,000 per square meter. ... Quaggas sound like a possible renewable resource to me. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Feb 18, 2009 from University of Georgia, via EurekAlert: Link between unexploded munitions in oceans and cancer-causing toxins determined During a research trip to Puerto Rico, ecologist James Porter took samples from underwater nuclear bomb target USS Killen, expecting to find evidence of radioactive matter -- instead he found a link to cancer. Data revealed that the closer corals and marine life were to unexploded bombs from the World War II vessel and the surrounding target range, the higher the rates of carcinogenic materials. "Unexploded bombs are in the ocean for a variety of reasons -- some were duds that did not explode, others were dumped in the ocean as a means of disposal," said Porter. "And we now know that these munitions are leaking cancer-causing materials and endangering sea life." ... According to research conducted in Vieques, residents here have a 23 percent higher cancer rate than do Puerto Rican mainlanders. Porter said a future step will be "to determine the link from unexploded munitions to marine life to the dinner plate." ... The death industry just keeps giving and giving. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 17, 2009 from Telegraph.co.uk: Astronomer devises giant sun shield to reverse global warming Professor Roger Angel thinks he can diffract the power of the sun by placing trillions of lenses in space and creating a 100,000-square-mile sunshade. Each lens will have a diffraction pattern etched onto it which will cause the sun's rays to change direction. He intends to use electromagnetic propulsion to get the lenses into space. If work was started immediately Prof Angel thinks the sunshield could be operation by 2040. He said: "Things that take a few decades are not that futuristic." ... Perhaps the headline should be: Astronomer has great press agent! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 17, 2009 from New Era (Namibia): Overfishing Threatens Global Shrimp Industry - FAO WINDHOEK -- Reducing fishing capacity and limiting access to shrimp fisheries are likely to mitigate over-fishing, by-catch and seabed destruction, which the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations said are some of the major economic and environmental side effects of shrimp fishing.... [S]hrimp fishing is also associated with over-fishing, the capture of juveniles of ecologically important and economically valuable species, coastal habitat degradation, illegal trawling, and the destruction of sea-grass beds.... Estimates are that shrimp trawl fishing, particularly in tropical regions, produces large amounts -- if not the greatest amount -- of discards, or 27.3 percent (1.86 million tonnes) of discards. The environmental impact of trawling -- and including shrimp trawling -- has been likened to forest clear-cutting and accused of being the world's most wasteful fishing practice. ... Shift to prawns, ASAP! Oh... wait... ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 17, 2009 from New York Times: The Unintended Consequences of Changing Nature's Balance In 1985, Australian scientists kicked off an ambitious plan: to kill off non-native cats that had been prowling the island's slopes since the early 19th century. The program began out of apparent necessity -- the cats were preying on native burrowing birds. Twenty-four years later, a team of scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division and the University of Tasmania reports that the cat removal unexpectedly wreaked havoc on the island ecosystem. With the cats gone, the island's rabbits (also non-native) began to breed out of control, ravaging native plants and sending ripple effects throughout the ecosystem. The findings were published in the Journal of Applied Ecology online in January. ... In the Battle of the Invasives, nothing wins. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 16, 2009 from Associated Press: British, French nuclear subs collide in Atlantic LONDON -- Nuclear submarines from Britain and France collided deep in the Atlantic Ocean this month, authorities said Monday in the first acknowledgment of a highly unusual accident that one expert called the gravest in nearly a decade. Officials said the low-speed crash did not damage the vessels' nuclear reactors or missiles or cause radiation to leak. But anti-nuclear groups said it was still a frightening reminder of the risks posed by submarines prowling the oceans powered by radioactive material and bristling with nuclear weapons. The first public indication of a mishap came when France reported in a little-noticed Feb. 6 statement that one of its submarine had struck a submerged object -- perhaps a shipping container. But confirmation of the accident only came after British media reported it. France's defense ministry said Monday that the sub Le Triomphant and the HMS Vanguard, the oldest vessel in Britain's nuclear-armed submarine fleet, were on routine patrol when they collided in the Atlantic this month. It did not say exactly when, where or how the accident occurred. ... Whoa. Two satellites just collided recently, too. Sounds like Machines Gone Wild! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Feb 15, 2009 from Telegraph.co.uk: 'Crazy ideas' to fight global warming revealed by scientists The science known as "geo-engineering" is considered dangerous by some for interfering with the world's delicate ecosystems, however advocates claim that it could "save the world" from catastrophic global warming.... However Robin Webster of Friends of the Earth said it was dangerous to rely on untested science. "We cannot afford to close our eyes to new ideas but the fear is politicians see geo-engineering as the magic bullet that will get us out of trouble and take attention away from making difficult choices to cut carbon emissions now. We need to look at tried and tested technologies like renewables that work and can start reducing the threat climate change now." ... "Wrapping" Greenland? Space-based "sun shield"? In the movies, "these are so crazy they just might work!" In reality, there's this thing called "the law of unintended consequences..." ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 12, 2009 from Reuters: U.S. and Russia track satellite crash debris Space officials in Russia and the United States were on Thursday tracking hundreds of pieces of debris that were spewed into space when a U.S. satellite collided with a defunct Russian military satellite. The crash, which Russian officials said took place on Tuesday at about 1700 GMT (12:00 p.m. EST) above northern Siberia, is the first publicly known satellite collision and has raised concerns about the safety of the manned International Space Station. The collision happened in an orbit heavily used by satellites and other spacecraft and the U.S. Strategic Command, the arm of the Pentagon that handles space, said countries might have to maneuver their craft to avoid the debris. "The collision of these two space apparatuses happened by chance and these two apparatuses have been destroyed," Major-General Alexander Yakushin, first deputy commander of Russia's Space Forces, told Reuters. "The fragments pose no danger whatsoever to Russian space objects," he said. When asked if the debris posed a danger to other nations' space craft, he said: "As for foreign ones, it is not for me say as it is not in my competency." ... Whoa, dude... this is soooooooo totally cosmic. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 12, 2009 from Associated Press: Africanized bees found in Utah for the first time Africanized honey bees have been found for the first time in the Beehive State. The bees, long the subject of lore as "killer bees," were recently discovered in Utah's Washington and Kane counties, the state Department of Agriculture said Wednesday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed that seven hives — three in the wild and four managed by private beekeepers — contained Africanized bees. The hives have since been destroyed. The bees in Utah do not appear to be widespread and no injuries to people or animals have been reported. State and local officials have been anticipating the bees' arrival since they showed up in Mesquite, Nev., in 1999, just a few miles from the Utah line. ... Can't you just hear the drums building in the background? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Feb 11, 2009 from Minneapolis Star Tribune: Road salt spreading into our water Rain and melting snow in the Twin Cities have flushed away road salt residue from hundreds of streets and tens of thousands of cars. But that might not be a good thing. Now a University of Minnesota study estimates that 70 percent of the deicing salt used on metro-area roadways does not travel far when it drains off the pavement. It gushes into area wetlands and lakes and seeps into groundwater, and it is making them saltier with each successive year. About 30 percent goes to the Mississippi River. ... And mixed w/ all the PCBs and pharmaceuticals... what a delightful elixir! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Feb 8, 2009 from London Independent: New nuclear plants will produce far more radiation New nuclear reactors planned for Britain will produce many times more radiation than previous reactors that could be rapidly released in an accident, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. The revelations -- based on information buried deep in documents produced by the nuclear industry itself -- calls into doubt repeated assertions that the new European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) will be safer than the old atomic power stations they replace. Instead they suggest that a reactor or nuclear waste accident, [sic] althouguh less likely to happen, could have even more devastating consequences in future; one study suggests that nearly twice as many people could die. ... No matter how deep you bury it ... ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Feb 7, 2009 from Minneapolis Star Tribune: Probe: Did 3M firefighting foam contaminate water? Minnesota health officials are launching a major investigation into whether drinking water in 15 Minnesota cities is contaminated with chemicals formerly manufactured by 3M Co. and used in municipal fire-fighting foam. The tests, set to begin next month, will be important to residents and fire officials in communities across the country where a 3M firefighting foam has been used for years in training exercises, often on city-owned property adjacent to municipal wells. The foam is flushed into storm sewers or left to seep into the ground, raising the possibility that drinking water has been affected. "This could have national significance," said Doug Wetzstein, supervisor in the superfund section at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Firefighters virtually everywhere have used the foam for decades, he said, at city practice areas, community college training courses, and especially at military bases, airports and refineries where jet fuel and other petroleum-based fires are a major concern. ... Next thing... you're gonna tell me I shouldn't have eaten all that scotch tape! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jan 28, 2009 from ACS, via EurekAlert: Substantial work ahead for water issues, say scientists at ACS' Final Report briefing Scientists and engineers will face a host of obstacles over the next decade in providing clean water to millions of people caught up in a water shortage crisis, a panel of scientists and engineers said today... Although Edwards stressed the importance of water conservation in meeting those, he also cited unintended consequences of such efforts. He noted, for instance, that reduced-flush toilets and other water conservation methods are allowing water to remain in household pipes longer. As it stagnates in pipes, the water could develop undesirable characteristics and have unwanted effects on household plumbing.... For instance, hypoxic zones in the Bay -- large areas of low oxygen levels where most animals can't live -- are still growing despite lacking the nutrients they need for expansion. "We don't fully understood why that is so," Ball said. "There's a lot to be learned yet about what locations and causes lead to that phenomenon, whether there are carbon sources coming in from the shallows into the deep that current models and understanding don't capture."... For example, the use of sensors to detect potentially toxic substances in water could provide general benefits for safety. Cost-effective, low maintenance sensors are a Holy Grail, Haas said, but difficult to develop. He warned that over-sensitive sensors could be counterproductive. ... It was so easy getting into this mess. Why isn't it easier to get out? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 17, 2008 from USGS, via EurekAlert: Acid soils in Slovakia tell somber tale Increasing levels of nitrogen deposition associated with industry and agriculture can drive soils toward a toxic level of acidification, reducing plant growth and polluting surface waters, according to a new study published online in Nature Geoscience.... On the basis of these results, the authors warn that the high levels of nitrogen deposited in Europe and North America over the past half century already may have left many soils susceptible to this new stage of acidification. The results of this further acidification, wrote the authors, are highly reduced soil fertility and leaching of acids and toxic metals into surface waters. ... lalalala I can't hear our past gaining on us lalala... ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 27, 2008 from Telegraph.co.uk: Endangered birds tracked by conservationists are found poisoned The birds, northern bald ibis, are thought to have fallen victim to poisons left out by farmers to kill rats.... The species numbered more than 6,000 in Turkey and Syria 50 years ago but development and the use of the farm chemical DDT is thought to have caused the collapse in numbers. It is thought that many of the young birds who disappear without trace fall victim to poisoning. ... Who would have thought that rat poison would be toxic to other critters? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Oct 24, 2008 from UCSD, via EurekAlert: Potent greenhouse gas more prevalent in atmosphere than previously assumed A powerful greenhouse gas is at least four times more prevalent in the atmosphere than previously estimated, according to a team of researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. Using new analytical techniques, a team led by Scripps geochemistry professor Ray Weiss made the first atmospheric measurements of nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), which is thousands of times more effective at warming the atmosphere than an equal mass of carbon dioxide.... Nitrogen trifluoride is one of several gases used during the manufacture of liquid crystal flat-panel displays, thin-film photovoltaic cells and microcircuits. Many industries have used the gas in recent years as an alternative to perfluorocarbons, which are also potent greenhouse gases, because it was believed that no more than 2 percent of the NF3 used in these processes escaped into the atmosphere. ... Whoops! Guess all our cool laptops and gizmos may be making things hot! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Oct 10, 2008 from London Times: Research raises health fears over energy-saving light bulbs Reading or working near to an energy-saving light bulb could be harmful to your health, experts have cautioned. Certain types of fluorescent light bulbs - where the shape of the coil is clearly visible - may emit ultraviolet (UV) radiation that can damage the skin, new research suggests. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) issued a "precautionary" warning that the bulbs should not be used for long periods at distances closer than 30cm (one foot) away, such as in a desk or bedside lamp. ... Two steps forward one step back. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 6, 2008 from CTV News: Wind turbines cause health problems, residents say Windmills may be an environmentally friendly alternative energy source but they also cause debilitating health problems, say people who live near them. Wind turbines are popping up in rural communities around the world, including Canada, in the hope that they will reduce reliance on coal and other sources for power. Currently, there are about 1,500 turbines across Canada and there are plans to build another 1,000 to 1,500 in the next year. But some residents who live near wind farms complain the turbines cause a number of adverse health effects, such as crippling headaches, nose bleeds and a constant ringing in the ears. ... You'll get no argument from the birds who are sliced and diced by the turbines. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Aug 30, 2008 from NaturalNews.com: Broken Compact Fluorescent Lights Release Mercury Into the Air: Over 100 Times the EPA Limit "Compact fluorescent light bulbs can release dangerous amounts of mercury into the air when they break and must be disposed of very carefully, according to a report by the state of Maine. Compact fluorescent bulbs, which consume only about a quarter as much energy as traditional incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer, all use mercury to produce light." ... It seemed like a good idea. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Aug 15, 2008 from The Nation (Nairobi) via AllAfrica: Africa: Unable to Put Beef And Fish On the Table, Continent Courts Animal-Spread Diseases Last year's outbreaks of the deadly Marburg and Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever viruses in southwestern Uganda and in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo's province of Kasai Occidental and the sporadic outbreaks of Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) across the continent once again bring to light the threat zoonotic diseases pose to sub-Saharan Africa in particular and the world generally.... Along with population increase comes the need for more arable and grazing land and the exploration of new forest, swamp and cave habitats. This raises the likelihood of exposure to 'new' infectious agents in those environments, and could result in the emergence of new disease pathogens. As population grows there is also an increase in the demand for food. In sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere, people are more and more turning to wild animals for food. This high demand for bush meat in the countries of the Congo Basin is helping to fuel the increase in outbreaks of such illnesses as Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever. ... Bushmeat: it's what's for dinner. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Aug 1, 2008 from Raleigh WRAL News: Hurricanes feed environmental fears about hog lagoons "The destruction wrought on hog lagoons by Hurricane Floyd in 1999 prompted North Carolina's governor to vow to eliminate them. However, ten years later, more than 3,800 hog lagoons still operate and are, increasingly, the target of environmental activists. Flooding killed hundreds of swine and caused hog lagoons to overflow, contaminating nearby water supplies." ... "Environmental activists?" You mean those people who care if they're ingesting hogshit? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jul 31, 2008 from New Scientist: Five ways to trigger a natural disaster "Few people still doubt that human emissions are causing long-term climate change, which is predicted to increase storm surges, drought and possibly hurricanes. So there's little doubt that humans influence natural disasters over the long term. But can we also trigger sudden "natural" catastrophes? The answer is yes. From mud volcanoes to disappearing lakes, human actions can have all sorts of unforeseen environmental consequences." ... Not to mention trigging the natural disaster of stating the obvious! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jul 23, 2008 from Guardian (UK): A recession will give ecological development a new life "This is an opportunity to think strategically about development," says environmental adviser Chris Baines. "Sites where biodiversity is being lost may have a reprieve, and this breathing space is the opportunity to think about establishing a green infrastructure ahead of a restart in building and to analyse the social implications to families of such high-density housing without significant green space. There are opportunities for tree-planting, wetlands for flood management, energy crops, adventure playgrounds." ... Maybe these clouds have a green lining. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jul 20, 2008 from Toronto Globe and Mail: A tough new row to hoe "The Green Revolution that began in 1945 transformed farming and fed millions in developing countries. But its methods over the long run are proving to be stunningly destructive... Now, almost half a century later, the Green Revolution's key innovations - chemicals and monocultures - are being blamed for a recent pest and disease epidemic that has ravaged Asian rice fields and sharply curtailed the supply of the main food staple of half of the world's population." ... And before long, all these troubles will land us in the funny farm. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 8, 2008 from Los Angeles Times: A climate threat from flat TVs, microchips "A synthetic chemical widely used in the manufacture of computers and flat-screen televisions is a potent greenhouse gas, with 17,000 times the global warming effect of carbon dioxide, but its measure in the atmosphere has never been taken, nor is it regulated by international treaty." ... The Apocalypse will be televised. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jun 25, 2008 from MetroWest Daily News: Tests to begin for Nyanza underground cleanup Long gone are a 12,000-ton vault that oozed chemicals and the infamous green and purple sludge lagoons atop Megunko Hill. But one last known piece of contamination from the former dye company site still lingers deep underground in Ashland. Federal contractors plan to return to town this summer to start designing the cleanup of dense chemicals that have sunk below the water table to the bedrock beneath, causing a plume of contaminated groundwater.... Nyanza operated from 1917 to 1978, also polluting the Sudbury River with mercury that is being eyed in a separate EPA cleanup process. ... There's gonna to be a whole lot of cleanin' goin' on in the next decade. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jun 13, 2008 from Earth Institute, via ScienceDaily: Closing Ozone Hole Will Have Major Impact On Global Warming, And Probably Not For The Better In the past few decades, the tropospheric winds in the Southern Hemisphere have been accelerating closer to the planet's pole as a result of increasing greenhouse gases and decreasing ozone. This wind change has had a broad range of effects on the Earth's climate. The IPCC models predict that this effect will continue, albeit at a slower pace. In contrast, predictions made by the chemistry-climate models indicate that, as a consequence of ozone recovery--a factor largely ignored by IPCC models--the tropospheric winds in the Southern Hemisphere may actually decelerate in the high latitudes and move toward the equator, potentially reversing the direction of climate change in that hemisphere. ... Where are the CFCs when we need them? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jun 5, 2008 from Environmental Research Web: Geoengineering could lead to droughts Geoengineering schemes to cut the amount of sunlight reaching the earth have been proposed as a measure to reduce temperature rises brought about by increased levels of greenhouse gases. But now a team of researchers in the US has shown that such a move would decrease mean global precipitation, potentially leading to drought. "Global mean rainfall changes are more sensitive to solar forcing than to carbon dioxide forcing," Govindasamy Bala of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, US, told environmentalresearchweb. "Therefore, if you turn down the sun to counter carbon dioxide effects, you will end up with less rainfall and droughts." ... Drat! I was so looking forward to seeing the sun through a planetary umbrella, darkly. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jun 1, 2008 from Vancouver Sun: Everyone knows acid rain, but what about black water? In other words, when it comes to sorting the "clean energy" from the "smart energy," most of us don't know what we're talking about. According to EcoAlign, an eco-marketing group, the green gap isn't just about misusing words. Our lack of understanding contributes to a "growing misalignment" between our intention to become more green and our ability to do so. Unless we get to know the new vocabulary, we run the risk of committing the kinds of eco-errors that could lead to ecocide -- or, worse, an entirely avoidable ecopolypse. ... Language defines cognition, said Chomsky -- so let's start talking, since it's clear our cognition needs a boost. (and really, ecopolypse? who do they think they are, making up words?) ApocaDoc permalink Wed, May 28, 2008 from American Chemical Society via ScienceDaily: Melting Glaciers May Release DDT And Contaminate Antarctic Environment "In an unexpected consequence of climate change, scientists are raising the possibility that glacial melting is releasing large amounts of the banned pesticide DDT, which is contaminating the environment in Antarctica." ... Sounds like someday we'll all be eating DDT for breakfast. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, May 14, 2008 from Ecological Society of America, via Eurekalert: Restoring fish populations leads to tough choice for Great Lakes Gulls You might think that stocking the Great Lakes with things like trout and salmon would be good for the herring gull. The birds often eat from the water, so it would be natural to assume that more fish would mean better dining. But a new report says that the addition of species such as exotic salmon and trout to the area has not been good for the birds, demonstrating that fishery management actions can sometimes have very unexpected outcomes. ... Daddy, why is it hard to fix my broken lake? It worked before I broke it. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, May 13, 2008 from The Daily Mail: Sir Paul McCartney 'furious' after his new eco-car is flown 7,000 miles from Japan "Sir Paul McCartney was today said to be furious after his new eco-friendly car was flown 7,000 miles from Japan. The former Beatle ordered the Ł84,000 hybrid vehicle to be shipped to Britain but the delivery instead created a carbon footprint almost 100 times larger by arriving on a jet. The Lexus LS600H produces just 219g in carbon emissions per kilometre.... his efforts to help save the environment were frustrated by the fact that the air journey created 38,050kg of carbon dioxide instead of the 297kg for the three-week voyage by boat." ... Yesterday ... all his troubles were a boat away... now it seems his carbon's here to stay... ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Apr 23, 2008 from BBC (UK): Biodiversity loss "bad for our health" A new generation of medical treatments could be lost forever unless the current rate of biodiversity loss is reversed, conservationists have warned.... Further research [on the southern gastric brooding frog (Rheobatrachus silus)] could have lead to new ways of preventing and treating stomach ulcers in humans, but the amphibian was last recorded in the wild in 1981. "These studies could not be continued because both species of Rheobactrachus became extinct... The valuable medical secrets they held are now gone forever." ... At least now we have a reason to stop the species-cide: stomach ulcers. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 11, 2008 from The Washington Post (US): Solar Energy Firms Leave Waste Behind in China With the prices of oil and coal soaring, policymakers around the world are looking at massive solar farms to heat water and generate electricity. For the past four years, however, the world has been suffering from a shortage of polysilicon -- the key component of sunlight-capturing wafers -- driving up prices of solar energy technology and creating a barrier to its adoption. With the price of polysilicon soaring from $20 per kilogram to $300 per kilogram in the past five years, Chinese companies are eager to fill the gap.... But Chinese companies' methods for dealing with waste haven't been perfected.... the byproduct of polysilicon production -- silicon tetrachloride -- is a highly toxic substance that poses environmental hazards.... For each ton of polysilicon produced, the process generates at least four tons of silicon tetrachloride liquid waste.... ... Actually, the companies' methods have been perfected: "Stopping between the cornfields and the primary school playground, the workers dumped buckets of bubbling white liquid onto the ground. Then they turned around and drove right back through the gates of their compound without a word." ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 3, 2008 from The Tribune, Chandigarh, India: Toxins, sand mining threatens gharials "Between December 2007 and February 2008, as many as 105 gharials have been reported dead. However, the reason for the decline in their numbers is attributed to possibility of nephro-toxin entering the food chain and loss of habitat due to illegal sand mining." ... A nephro-toxin? Sand mining? Gharials have been around since the Cretaceous. Note: a nephrotoxin is something that ruins the liver. And yes, even gharials have livers. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 12, 2008 from Globe and Mail: Salmon farms killing wild stocks: study "VANCOUVER -- Salmon farms are having a negative impact on wild stocks globally, in many cases causing survival rates to drop by more than 50 per cent per generation, according to a new study being released today... It compared the marine survival of wild salmon in areas with salmon farming to adjacent areas that didn't have farms - and it found wild stocks are suffering wherever they are in contact with salmon farms....Studies have clearly shown that escaped farm salmon breed with wild populations to the detriment of the wild stocks, and that diseases and parasites are passed from farm to wild salmon." ... The big city salmon are mixing with the rural salmon and those durn city slickers are takin' over! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 7, 2008 from Associated Press: Study: Ethanol may add to global warming "The widespread use of ethanol from corn could result in nearly twice the greenhouse gas emissions as the gasoline it would replace because of expected land-use changes, researchers concluded Thursday. The study challenges the rush to biofuels as a response to global warming. The researchers said that past studies showing the benefits of ethanol in combating climate change have not taken into account almost certain changes in land use worldwide if ethanol from corn -- and in the future from other feedstocks such as switchgrass -- become a prized commodity." ... Could it be the solution is to simply stop driving cars? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 7, 2008 from Times-Picayune (New Orleans): Study suggests big risks with fish farms "The study from Canadian researchers finds that parasites spread from farmed salmon along Canada's Pacific coast could lead to a species collapse for the area's wild salmon within four years. Previous studies have pointed to sea lice from fish farms as a threat to wild salmon populations, but this is the first to suggest effects on the entire species population." ... Great. Now what can I eat to stay heart-healthy? ApocaDoc permalink Copyright 2009 The Apocadocs.com