Advancing PostApocology Studies in Climate Chaos, Resource Depletion,
Plague/Virus, Species Collapse, Biology Breach, Recovery, and more.
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The Biology Breach Scenario
Biomes -- the interconnected systems of plants and animals in a region -- evolved over hundreds of thousands of years, based on local weather patterns and land structures. Predator/prey relationships, pollination mechanisms, seeding and birthing scheduling, and many other delicate interrelationships maintain stability in a biome.

Unfortunately, human activities over the last century have been dramatically disrupting these stable systems. The plastics we dump into the ocean break down into tiny little plastic particles, but never fully dissolve -- and they clog the gill and digestive systems of fish, birds, and sea mammals. The mercury we pump out of our coal plants into the air settles onto multiple biomes, which accrete in predator species, and kill them. The prescription drugs we urinate into our sewers and streams produce endocrine system disruptions in most vertebrates. The fertilizer we pump onto our fields leach into rivers and bays, which overfeeds algae, leading to anaerobic "dead zones" in the ocean of hundreds of square miles.

When it comes to the concept of invasive species, it can be argued that humans are the most invasive species of all. From our origins on the African continent, we proceeded to invade the entire planet -- in the most dramatic diaspora imaginable. No other species has spread so far, and made so many alterations in the environment. The list of those alterations is without end -- the Project can only hope to tickle the very tip that quickly melting iceberg.

Ultimately, everything humans have introduced into the environment, intentionally or unintentionally -- pollution, cane toads, rats, zebra mussels, kudzu, pathogens, estrogens, billboards, GM foods, etc. -- can be considered an introduction of non-indigenous factors. We can think of but a few breaches that can't be blamed on humans: volcanoes, tsunamis, and earthquakes. Of course, a meteor slamming into the planet is the Mother of all Biology Breaches. But we consider those of a different ilk.

This apocalypse is something of a catch-all of human intrusions into the living world. Our warming of the oceans is breaching the stability of the coral systems. Our strip-farming of the Midwest has wiped out the stability of the grasslands and the topsoil. Our sewer systems concentrate the hormones we urinate, which disrupt the endocrine systems of the fish in our rivers, and the other animals which feed on them. The acidic rain that falls on forests disrupts the balances within the soil, damaging the health of every tree within it.

Understanding this apocalypse requires requires systemic thinking, at which humans are notoriously poor. We kill the wolves, because we don't want them eating our sheep -- and then we wonder why there are so many deer munching our gardens. We cut down the hillside trees to build condos, and then wonder why we have landslides when it rains hard. We stripmine the ocean with driftnets, and then wonder why the Northern cod has disappeared.

We are projecting, over the next ten years, using mostly pessimistic predictions, the following scenario:

  • Immune and reproductive systems of many animals will be compromised because of humanly-produced toxins (endocrine disrupters, heavy metals, etc.)
  • Invasive species -- such as the Asian Longhorned Beetle currently chewing on the maple trees in North America -- will cause dramatic impacts on existing biome balances.
  • Unexpected results from genetically engineered plants will cause dramatic disruptions in multiple biosystems.
  • Overwhelmed by carbon dioxide, oceans acidify, producing massive die-offs of coral reef and other key marine life.
  • Coastal areas will be breached, according to some estimates, by more than a meter by the end of the century, but with storm surges in the next decade that wash away much economically valuable coastland.
  • Warming climates create shorter hibernation cycles -- or these mammals don't hibernate at all -- putting entire species at risk of starvation
  • The so-called Eighth Continent, the North Pacific gyre where a massive island of trash now floats, grows beyond its current range of "twice the size of Texas"
  • Environmental toxins create early onset puberty in young mammals, including human boys and girls, disrupting normal growth and development
  • Giant dust clouds assist in the transcontinental dispersion of influenza, SARS, heavy metals, fungi, bacteria, and other unpleasant elements
  • Desperate to sustain current lifestyles and energy needs, humans continue to exploit existing natural resources, thus accellerating all current crises
  • We anticipate tremendous economic disruption because of unanticipated consequences. Surprises like giant oxygen-free areas of the ocean, because of our effluent; a dramatic rise in infertility across mammals, because we pump out fake hormones through our plastic; basic crops increasingly produce allergic reactions in many humans, because invasive artificial genes have drifted; etc.
  • Politicians will blather on about a war on terrorism, and free markets, and the economy, and treat each breach instance as an isolated oddity -- because understanding complexity is almost as hard as communicating it.

Many of these breaches are not solvable within a human lifetime, because of the accumulated toxic reach of our actions over five generations. Others, like unintended consequences of genetic modification, may be impossible to repair. But clearly we need to return to living lightly on the earth, and making decisions with the seventh (or even third?) coming generation in mind.

Recent Biology Breach News
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Wed, Aug 27, 2008: from Popular Science:
New research finds higher-than-expected levels of pesticides in hives
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulates agricultural pesticide use, but this regulation does not account for the interaction of these chemicals that inevitably takes place through the bees' pollination processes. Some of these combinations of pesticides have been found to have a synergistic effect hundreds of times more toxic than any of the pesticides individually, says James L. Frazier, professor of entomology at Penn State.... These changes include immune system blocks and disorientation, which may help to explain the CCD crisis of late.
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Wed, Aug 27, 2008: from Citizens Voice (PA):
Federal agency: Cancer cluster exists between Tamaqua, McAdoo
The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry on Monday confirmed something that residents of an area at the intersections of Schuylkill, Carbon and Luzerne counties have felt sure of for many years -- that an unusually high number of people there are suffering from a rare blood cancer.... The report found three environmental similarities in common in the cluster areas: hazardous waste sites, air pollution and coal mining operations.
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Tue, Aug 26, 2008: from NaturalNews:
Canada's Oil Sands Declared "Most Destructive Project on Earth" as Eco Disaster Looms
The report accuses the Canadian government of allowing the Tar Sands Project to emit levels of greenhouse gases that far outstrip any reductions made in other areas. "Ottawa is letting the Tar Sands hold Canadians hostage on global warming," said Program Manager Matt Price.... The group also says that the project has contaminated rivers and groundwater with toxic chemicals, caused an increase in acid rain and created "health sacrifice zones" in the surrounding region.
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Mon, Aug 25, 2008: from University of New South Wales, via EurekAlert:
Heavy metal link to mutations, low growth and fertility among crustaceans in Sydney Harbor tributary
Heavy metal pollutants are linked to genetic mutations, stunted growth and declining fertility among small crustaceans in the Parramatta River, the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, new research shows. The finding adds to mounting evidence that toxic sediments and seaweeds in Sydney Harbour are a deadly diet for many sea creatures.... Earlier this year, UNSW scientists revealed that copper-contaminated seaweeds in Sydney Harbour were killing 75 percent of the offspring of small crustaceans that feed on a common brown seaweed.
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Sun, Aug 24, 2008: from London Independent:
Nuclear waste containers likely to fail, warns 'devastating' report
"Thousands of containers of lethal nuclear waste are likely to fail before being safely sealed away underground, a devastating official report concludes. The unpublicised report is by the Environment Agency, which has to approve any proposals for getting rid of the waste that remains deadly for tens of thousands of years. The document effectively destroys Britain's already shaky disposal plans just as ministers are preparing an expansion of nuclear power."
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Sat, Aug 23, 2008: from New Scientist:
Superfood rice bran contains arsenic
"Rice bran – a so-called "superfood" – might contain dangerous amounts of a natural poison. A new study suggests that rice bran, the shavings left over after brown rice is polished to produce white rice grains, contains "inappropriate" levels of arsenic. Andrew Meharg at the University of Aberdeen, UK, and colleagues found that the levels of arsenic in rice bran products available on the internet and used in food-aid programmes funded by the US government would be illegal in China – the only country in the world to have standards for how much arsenic is permissible in food."
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Sat, Aug 23, 2008: from Chemistry World:
Chinese sewage plant study raises concerns
Many water treatment facilities in China are failing to remove toxic organic chemicals and levels of some chemicals are actually increasing during treatment, according to researchers from Nankai University, Tianjin.... One of the chemicals monitored by Sun's team is nonylphenol, released during the breakdown of nonylphenol polyethoxylate detergents. Nonylphenol is an endocrine disrupter... [T]he sewage treatment works only removed 60-70 per cent of nonylphenol polyethoxylate from water... To make matters worse, nonylphenol polyethoxylate degrades into smaller metabolites, such as nonylphenol, which could be 70 times more toxic than their precursors.
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Sat, Aug 23, 2008: from WiredPRnews:
Where no cruise ship will ever go: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
In the North Pacific Ocean, in a remote area known as the North Pacific Gyre, are two giant floating "islands," each the size of Texas. They are not made of organic materials. They are made of plastic. The "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" or "Trash Vortex" is at least 20 years of accumulated junk cast off by humans, 90 percent of it plastics. Only 20 percent comes from ships and oil platforms at sea; 80 percent comes from land. Ocean currents carry debris from the east coast of Asia to the center of the gyre in a year or less, and debris from the west coast of North America in about five years.
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Fri, Aug 22, 2008: from Cape Cod Times:
Man-made chemicals tied to sick lobsters
A Woods Hole scientist believes he may have found a key culprit behind a mysterious disease linked to a dramatic drop in lobster populations from Buzzards Bay to Long Island. In research conducted this summer, Hans Laufer found that common man-made chemicals used in plastics, detergents and cosmetics had infiltrated the blood and tissue of lobsters, making them more vulnerable to a particularly virulent strain of shell disease."
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Fri, Aug 22, 2008: from New Scientist:
Penguins dumping arsenic in Antarctica
"Penguin guano isn't usually considered an environmental hazard. Yet, according to new research, it is the main source of arsenic accumulation in Antarctic soil. Zhouqing Xie of the Institute of Polar Environment at the University of Science and Technology of China and colleagues looked at how much arsenic was found in the droppings of three bird species and two seal species that live on Ardley Island, off the Antarctic peninsular. The droppings of the gentoo penguin contained far more than those of the other species - nearly twice as much as the droppings of the southern giant petrel and up to three times more than the local seals."
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Fri, Aug 22, 2008: from The Capital, Annapolis, MD:
Fish kill hits Magothy
Thousands of dead fish and crabs floated to the surface of the Magothy River this week, suffocated by low oxygen levels in the water..... To Paul Spadaro of Severna Park, president of the Magothy River Association, the fish kill is yet another sign that we need to do more to clean up area waterways. Rapid development, overuse of fertilizers and leaky septic systems all take their toll on the water, and in turn, the aquatic life. "What the poor fish have to deal with is our doing," he said.
Tip: Bumming out? Don't forget that there's
also the Recovery Scenario!
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Wed, Aug 20, 2008: from Edmonton Journal:
Fish with double jaw sparks eco interest
"CALGARY - A northern First Nations band which displayed a deformed, two-jawed fish at a weekend water conference says the grotesque specimen has spurred efforts to collect evidence to show that Alberta's oilsands are poisoning both wildlife and people. George Poitras, a spokesman for the Mikisew Cree, said the band is determining what to do with the large goldeye, which was found last week by children playing in the waters of Lake Athabasca, downstream from the oilsands."
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Wed, Aug 20, 2008: from Christian Science Monitor:
New sea change forecasts present a slimy picture
Earth's oceans are on the brink of massive change. You see it in such details as the hordes of Pacific mollusks that researchers have identified as ready to invade the North Atlantic as a thawing Arctic Ocean opens the way. You also see it in broad trends: A new overview warns that such relentless human impacts as overfishing or agricultural pollution -- as well as global warming -- threaten mass extinctions of marine life. Jeremy Jackson at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who made that overview, notes that this is "not a happy picture." He says that "the only way to keep one's sanity and try to achieve real success is to carve out sectors of the problem that can be addressed in effective terms and get on with it as quickly as possible."
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Tue, Aug 19, 2008: from Indiana University, via EurekAlert:
Chronic lead poisoning from urban soils
While acute lead poisoning from toys and direct ingestion of interior paint has received more publicity, these cases account for only a portion of children with lead poisoning. Many health officials are increasingly concerned with chronic lead poisoning, which occurs at lower levels of lead in the blood and are harder to diagnose. Babies and young children may develop chronic lead poisoning when playing in dirt yards or playgrounds or in areas with blowing dry soil tainted with the lead, which is ubiquitous in older urban areas.... As their neurons develop, the nervous system tries to use lead in place of calcium and the child's neural systems fail to form correctly. This impairs neural function leading to irreversibly decreased IQ and increased attention deficient issues.
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Tue, Aug 19, 2008: from Science News:
Carcinogens from car exhaust can linger
"The daily exposure to free radicals from car exhaust, smokestacks and even your neighbors' barbecue could be as harmful as smoking, according to a new study. Many combustion processes, such as those in a car, create tiny particles that may act as brewing pots and carriers for free radicals -- chemicals believed to cause lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases."
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Mon, Aug 18, 2008: from London Independent:
Jellyfish invasion: Britain to fight them on the beaches
"The growing threat from swarms of jellyfish around Britain's coast is to be investigated for the first time by British and Irish scientists. Using the latest technology, researchers are planning to tag jellyfish to explore their life cycles and movement in a project known as Ecojel."
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Mon, Aug 18, 2008: from Reuters India:
"Toxic" Indian festivals poison waterways
"MUMBAI (Reuters) - Toxic chemicals from thousands of idols of Hindu gods immersed in rivers and lakes across India are causing pollution which is killing fish and contaminating food crops, experts and environmentalists said on Monday... Elaborately painted and decorated idols are worshipped before they are taken during mass processions to rivers, lakes and the sea, where they are immersed in accordance with Hindu faith. Environmentalists say the idols are often made from non-biodegradable materials such as plastic, cement and plaster of Paris and painted with toxic dyes."
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Sun, Aug 17, 2008: from South Florida Sun Sentinel:
Health questions linger after state study on Fort Lauderdale trash incinerator
"FORT LAUDERDALE - A state study that found few links between toxic ashes from the Wingate trash incinerator and health problems in nearby neighborhoods downplayed important data, according to several health experts who worked on the survey. One expert, University of Alabama at Birmingham epidemiologist Jeffrey Roseman, helped design the study and said state officials dismissed high rates of reported anemia, asthma and cancers in the northwestern Fort Lauderdale community around Wingate."
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Sat, Aug 16, 2008: from London Independent:
Fattest children to be taken away from their parents
"Dangerously overweight children will have to be taken from their parents and put into care because of Britain's worsening "obesity epidemic", council leaders have warned. One million children will be clinically obese within four years on current trends, storing up future problems from heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure and diabetes. The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents 400 councils in England and Wales, predicted social services teams would have to take drastic action to improve the health of seriously overweight children."
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Sat, Aug 16, 2008: from Associated Press:
Worrying invasive snail found in Lake Michigan
"CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Scientists worry that a rapidly reproducing, tiny invasive snail recently found in Lake Michigan could hurt the lake's ecosystem. The New Zealand mud snail joins a long and growing list of nonnative species moving into the Great Lakes, threatening to disrupt the food chain and change the local environment."
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Fri, Aug 15, 2008: from NaturalNews:
Fragrances in Common Household Products Contain Many Toxins
According to a study that was posted on the Environmental Impact Assessment Review and reported by CBS, there are many different kinds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) found in laundry detergents, air fresheners (in solid, spray and oil form), dryer sheets, and fabric softener. VOCs are small substances that evaporate into the air.... She was able to identify some of the VOCs, discovering that 10 of those that she found were considered toxic under the U.S. federal law. Furthermore, three out of ten of the VOCs were considered air pollutants: acetaldehyde, chloromethane, and 1,4 dioxane.
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Fri, Aug 15, 2008: from Virginia Institute of Marine Science, via ScienceDaily:
Study Shows Continued Spread Of 'Dead Zones'; Lack Of Oxygen Now A Key Stressor On Marine Ecosystems
A global study led by Professor Robert Diaz of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, shows that the number of "dead zones" -- areas of seafloor with too little oxygen for most marine life -- has increased by a third between 1995 and 2007.... The study, which appears in the August 15 issue of the journal Science, tallies 405 dead zones in coastal waters worldwide, affecting an area of 95,000 square miles, about the size of New Zealand. The largest dead zone in the U.S., at the mouth of the Mississippi, covers more than 8,500 square miles, roughly the size of New Jersey.
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Thu, Aug 14, 2008: from KOMO TV news (WA):
Three pesticides singled out in report as threat to salmon
"Overwhelming evidence" suggests the pesticides are interfering with the ability of salmon to swim, find food, reproduce and escape bigger fish trying to eat them, says the evaluation issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service.... Chloripyrifos. Also known by trade names that include Dursban and Lorsban, it is used on more than three dozen crops, including asparagus, alfalfa, cherries, broccoli, onions, pears and peaches, as well as for industrial uses and to control mosquitoes and fire ants. Diazinon. Also known as Knox Out, Spectracide and other brand names, diazinon is used on about 50 crops, including almonds, apples, blueberries, carrots, grapes, spinach and strawberries. Malathion is used on more than 100 crops, including avocados, cauliflower, corn, mangoes, rice, sweet potatoes and watermelon. For homes, it is registered for use on lawns, flowering plants, vegetable gardens, fruit trees, shrubs and other trees.
Tip: Bumming out? Don't forget that there's
also the Recovery Scenario!
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Thu, Aug 14, 2008: from Telegraph-Journal (Canada):
Lake Utopia's toxic algal bloom
The blue-green algae, he said, is caused by increased nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, which come from a variety of sources. Fox said the increase could be an accumulation of many factors, including the flow from a canal that flows from the man-made headpond created by a power dam, automatic dishwater soap flowing into the water, the Cooke Aquaculture hatchery located on the lake, fertilizers people are using to grow grass on their lawns, leaky sewage systems and recreational boating.... Cleary advised that drinking the water could result in a "pretty nasty effect" of nausea and diarrhea and possibly death... The doctor explained that while humans probably wouldn't choose to swim in the scummy areas of the water or swallow it, animals don't know any better and should not be permitted to swim in the lake.
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Thu, Aug 14, 2008: from Sacramento News and Reviews:
The chemistry of beauty
You know those 12 products women use daily? That adds up to some 168 chemical ingredients, and men's habits total about 85 ingredients. I deposit about 110 chemicals into my body every day.... [C]hronic illness and disease in the United States is on the rise, affecting almost one-half of the population, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As the use of synthetic chemicals post-World War II increased, so did infertility, birth defects in males, testicular cancer and learning disabilities. Breast cancer used to be relegated to post-menopausal women. Now young women in their 20s are afflicted.... This industry is the least regulated under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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Wed, Aug 13, 2008: from Associated Press:
Venomous lionfish prowls fragile Caribbean waters
"SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A maroon-striped marauder with venomous spikes is rapidly multiplying in the Caribbean's warm waters, swallowing native species, stinging divers and generally wreaking havoc on an ecologically delicate region. The red lionfish, a tropical native of the Indian and Pacific oceans that probably escaped from a Florida fish tank, is showing up everywhere -- from the coasts of Cuba and Hispaniola to Little Cayman's pristine Bloody Bay Wall, one of the region's prime destinations for divers. Wherever it appears, the adaptable predator corners fish and crustaceans up to half its size with its billowy fins and sucks them down in one violent gulp."
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Wed, Aug 13, 2008: from Blue Ridge Times-News:
Files Show Governor Intervened With Court regarding DuPont Judgment
When Gov. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia filed a friend-of-the-court brief in June arguing that the State Supreme Court should review a $382 million judgment against the DuPont Company, he said he was not taking sides, but acting in the interest of due process. Documents from the governor's office, however, show that Mr. Manchin had consulted with the company before filing the brief, and DuPont officials say the governor even asked them to provide him with a draft brief. The case involves thousands of residents in and around Spelter, W.Va., where DuPont operated a zinc-smelting plant. Last October, a jury in Harrison County ruled that DuPont deliberately endangered those residents by dumping toxic arsenic, cadmium and lead at the plant... The revelations of Mr. Manchin’s involvement in the DuPont case come against a backdrop of larger concerns raised recently about the independence of the state's legal system. In the last year, two Supreme Court justices have come under scrutiny for ties to company executives that had cases pending before the court.
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Wed, Aug 13, 2008: from IndiaInteracts:
Powerful Friends of Posco and Sterlite
In today's world, where the real wealthy are the corporate tycoons, it is hardly surprising that they are using their wealth not just to win friends but also to buy loyalty. The brazen manner in which the Posco and the Vedanta (Sterlite) have bought the friendship of Naveen Patnaik administration in Orissa and the Manmohan Singh government at the Centre is a testimony to the bourgeoning influence of the money power.... And what has the plant done to the people? Although the refinery is not yet in full operation, it is already damaging local life. Filmmaker S.Josson spoke to the people of the area in March 2008. Sample one quote: Mukta a woman living in the vicinity of the refinery says: "The water has become bad. When we bathe the skin itches. When we drink we get sores in our mouth. Our hair is falling rapidly. The air quality has also become terrible. It is difficult to breathe. We get sores in our throat. The body itches at night. Our cattle are dying"... And this is how Naveen Patnaik and Manmohan Singh are bringing the experience of modern living for the tribal people of Orissa.
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Mon, Aug 11, 2008: from AP, via the Munster Times (Indiana):
Researchers study mercury in the Great Salt Lake
[F]or reasons scientists cannot explain, [the Great Salt Lake] is heavily laden with toxic mercury.... Three years ago, in an alarming finding, U.S. Geological Survey tests showed the lake had some of the highest mercury readings ever recorded in a body of water in the United States.... Each year, more than 9 million birds stop by, many on their annual treks between Canada or South America and parts between, making the Great Salt Lake "sort of the Delta airplane hub of the West in terms of migration," Aldrich said.
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Sat, Aug 9, 2008: from Farmers Weekly (UK):
Save Our Sprays: EU Pesticide Ban -- Your Questions Answered
Proposed EU pesticide legislation could remove key products from the market. Mike Abram explains the background, what the current position is, and what happens next.... "Among the many casualties would be virtually all insecticides, strobilurin fungicides, chlorothalonil, mesosulfuron-methyl (as in Atlantis), and metazachlor. It is probably easier to write a list of what would be left."
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Sat, Aug 9, 2008: from The Daily Green:
Junk Mail Produces as Much CO2 as 7 States Combined
"A report by the group ForestEthics estimates that destroying forests to make paper for junk mail releases as much greenhouse gas pollution as 9 million cars. Another way to look at it: Junk mail produces as much pollution as seven U.S. states combined, or as much as heating 13 million homes each winter. While the estimates may or may not be accurate, the point is indisputable: Junk mail is a waste."
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Sat, Aug 9, 2008: from Baltimore Sun (US):
Algal Bloom: Crabs suffocating in Middle River
John Neukam has been catching crabs in pots near the Middle River for decades. But this year, the crabs have been dying in the water, suffocated by a bright green algae bloom that is choking off oxygen and worrying watermen and recreational boaters. "You crab all week, you get a bushel and a half in your live box, and they die," said Neukam, after checking his pots yesterday morning. "I've been here all my life -- 64 years -- and we've only had this one other time, when fertilizer from a farm seeped into the cove."
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Sat, Aug 9, 2008: from Toronto Globe and Mail:
No matter what flame retardant is used, it shows up in the environment
"Another chapter has been added to the troubled history of flame retardants. The latest compounds used to reduce the risk of fire have been found in household dust for the first time. First, there were polychlorinated biphenyls, which were banned in the 1970s when it became clear that they were highly toxic and were accumulating in people and wildlife. PCBs were replaced by PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), which were used in a wide array of consumer products, including televisions and baby clothing. But then those also showed up in wildlife, including whales in the Arctic."
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Sat, Aug 9, 2008: from London Daily Telegraph:
Amazonian Chernobyl - Ecuador's oil environment disaster
"Once it was pristine rainforest. Now it has been described as an Amazonian Chernobyl. Millions of gallons of crude oil and toxic waste - the legacy of an oil extraction programme - has blighted 1,700 hectares of land and poisoned the rivers and streams in Sucumbios in the north-east corner of Ecuador... Indigenous Indian people blame the pollution on the US oil giant Chevron - formerly Texaco - and say it has caused a catalogue of health problems including severe birth defects, spontaneous miscarriages and cancers."
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Fri, Aug 8, 2008: from Toronto Globe and Mail:
Invasion of the New Zealand mud snails
"They are only a few millimetres long, hard-shelled and humble. But the New Zealand mud snails have laid siege to four of the five Great Lakes and are threatening to invade rivers and streams, too. A Penn State research team says these foreign-intruder species that have long been a problem in the western United States could have the ability to change ecosystems in the East."
Tip: Bumming out? Don't forget that there's
also the Recovery Scenario!
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Fri, Aug 8, 2008: from Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
'Alarming' elevated cancer risk in South Seattle linked to air pollution
"Residents of a broad swath of South Seattle from Seward Park to West Seattle face elevated cancer risks because of air pollution, according to a soon-to-be released government study... The risks are significantly elevated in pockets of industrial pollution -- and skyrocket within about 200 yards of highways, says the long-awaited study by state and federal scientists."
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Wed, Aug 6, 2008: from London Guardian:
Rockies wilderness at risk from latest dash for gas
"...Somewhere in the workings of the British Columbia government, an application from global energy company BP is working its way around civil servants' desks. In it, the firm outlines a proposal that has horrified local environmentalists: the installation of up to 1,500 gas wells covering an area of 500 sq km (310 sq miles) amid the lush 1,580 sq km wilderness of the Flathead.... The Flathead valley connects the protected areas, allowing hundreds of bears and thousands of moose to roam between the parks. "
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Tue, Aug 5, 2008: from USA Today:
Toxic plastic toys could go the way of dinosaurs
"Children's advocates say they hope a sweeping consumer protection law passed by Congress last week will begin a broad national effort to shield youngsters from dangerous chemicals. The bill, which is expected to be signed by