Biology
Breach
June 1, 2011, from Chicago Tribune
Just in time for cookout season, some unsettling news arrives for guacamole and salsa lovers: Federal testing turned up a wide array of unapproved pesticides on the herb cilantro -- to an extent that surprises and concerns government scientists.
At least 34 unapproved pesticides showed up on cilantro samples analyzed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as part of the agency's routine testing of a rotating selection of produce. Cilantro was the first fresh herb to be tested in the 20-year-old program. "We are not really sure why the cilantro came up with these residues," said Chris Pappas, a chemist who oversees the Virginia-based USDA pesticide testing.
June 1, 2011, from New York Times
A World Health Organization panel has concluded that cellphones are "possibly carcinogenic," putting the popular devices in the same category as certain dry cleaning chemicals and pesticides, as a potential threat to human health...The W.H.O. panel ruled only that cellphones be classified as Category 2B, meaning they are possibly carcinogenic to humans, a designation the panel has given to 240 other agents, including the pesticide DDT, engine exhaust, lead and various industrial chemicals. Also on the list are two familiar foods, pickled vegetables and coffee, which the cellphone industry was quick to point out.
June 1, 2009, from Sydney Australian
BIRDS are again dropping dead from the sky in a new toxic drama in Western Australia.
Nearly 200 ibises, ravens, gulls, ducks and a pelican were found dead or frothing and convulsing in Perth at the weekend.
The discovery comes a year after the mysterious mass death of 200 birds only a few kilometres away and two years after the Esperance lead contamination scandal which emptied the skies over the holiday town of Esperance for months when thousands of birds were poisoned.
The Department of Environment and Conservation yesterday blamed the latest deaths on the pesticide Fenthion, but said it was unclear whether it was a deliberate bird poisoning or had been caused by someone illegally dumping pesticide.
June 1, 2009, from InterAcademy Panel on International Issues
Ocean acidification, one of the world's most important climate change challenges, may be left off
the agenda at the United Nations Copenhagen conference, the world's science academies warned
today.... 70 national science academies signed the statement.... "The implications of ocean acidification cannot be overstated. Unless we cut
our global CO2 emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050 and thereafter, we could be looking at fundamental
and immutable changes in the makeup of our marine biodiversity. The effects will be seen
worldwide, threatening food security, reducing coastal protection and damaging the local economies
that may be least able to tolerate it."
June 1, 2009, from Institute of Physics, via EurekAlert
Ocean acidification, a direct result of increased CO2 emission, is set to change the Earth's marine ecosystems forever and may have a direct impact on our economy, resulting in substantial revenue declines and job losses.... Ocean acidification and declining carbonate ion concentration in sea water could directly damage corals and mollusks which all depend on sufficient carbonate levels to form shells successfully. Subsequent losses of prey such as plankton and shellfish would also alter food webs and intensify competition among predators for nourishment.... "The worldwide political, ethical, social and economic ramifications of ocean acidification, plus its capacity to switch ecosystems to a different state following relatively small perturbations, make it a policy-relevant "tipping element" of the earth system."
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Climate
Chaos
June 1, 2011, from Newsweek
...Even those who deny the existence of global climate change are having trouble dismissing the evidence of the last year. In the U.S. alone, nearly 1,000 tornadoes have ripped across the heartland, killing more than 500 people and inflicting $9 billion in damage. The Midwest suffered the wettest April in 116 years, forcing the Mississippi to flood thousands of square miles, even as drought-plagued Texas suffered the driest month in a century. Worldwide, the litany of weather's extremes has reached biblical proportions. The 2010 heat wave in Russia killed an estimated 15,000 people. Floods in Australia and Pakistan killed 2,000 and left large swaths of each country under water. A months-long drought in China has devastated millions of acres of farmland. And the temperature keeps rising: 2010 was the hottest year on earth since weather records began.
From these and other extreme-weather events, one lesson is sinking in with terrifying certainty. The stable climate of the last 12,000 years is gone. Which means you haven't seen anything yet. And we are not prepared.
June 1, 2011, from Purdue University via Science Daily
Yellow starthistle already causes millions of dollars in damage to pastures in western states each year, and as climate changes, land managers can expect the problem with that weed and others to escalate. When exposed to increased carbon dioxide, precipitation, nitrogen and temperature -- all expected results of climate change -- yellow starthistle in some cases grew to six times its normal size while the other grassland species remained relatively unchanged...
June 1, 2009, from Times Online (UK)
Improvements in energy efficiency will lead to greater use of fossil fuels, according to research published this week.... He argues that what he calls a "rebound effect" has been seriously underestimated by policymakers, who will have to impose drastic measures such as high petrol taxes to tackle the problem....
The rebound effect works in several ways. Industry, for example, will save on fuel costs by taking measures such as insulating buildings or switching to hybrid cars. It can then pass the savings to customers through lower prices, leaving them with more cash to spend. Production will rise to meet the demand created by the extra spending.
Barker said the effect will be much stronger in the developing world, where large populations are about to join the fossil-fuel economy and small improvements in disposable income can lead to big changes in consumption.
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Resource
Depletion
June 1, 2009, from Mongabay
Major international companies are unwittingly driving the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest through their purchases of leather, beef and other products supplied from the Brazil cattle industry, alleges a new report from Greenpeace. The report, Slaughtering the Amazon, is based on a three-year undercover investigation of the Brazilian cattle industry, which accounts for 80 percent of Amazon deforestation and roughly 14 percent of the world's annual forest loss. Greenpeace found that Brazilian beef companies are important suppliers of raw materials used by leading global brands, including Adidas/Reebok, Nike, Carrefour, Eurostar, Unilever, Johnson and Johnson, Toyota, Honda, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, IKEA, Kraft, Tesco and Wal-Mart, among others.
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Recovery
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