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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from
View By Scenario:
Species Collapse:(5)
Plague/Virus:(1)
Climate Chaos:(9)
Resource Depletion: (3)
Biology Breach:(13)
Recovery:(3)
This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
contamination  ~ ecosystem interrelationships  ~ health impacts  ~ stupid humans  ~ economic myopia  ~ global warming  ~ toxic water  ~ water issues  ~ plastic problems  ~ toxic buildup  ~ carbon emissions  



ApocaDocuments (9) for the "Climate Chaos" scenario from this week
[see full week] ~ [see full Climate Chaos scenario and stories]
Sun, Mar 28, 2010
from via ScienceDaily:
Dawn of the Anthropocene Epoch? Earth Has Entered New Age of Geological Time, Experts Say
Geologists from the University of Leicester are among four scientists- including a Nobel prize-winner -- who suggest that Earth has entered a new age of geological time. The Age of Aquarius? Not quite -- It's the Anthropocene Epoch, say the scientists writing in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. And they add that the dawning of this new epoch may include the sixth largest mass extinction in Earth's history... The scientists propose that, in just two centuries, humans have wrought such vast and unprecedented changes to our world that we actually might be ushering in a new geological time interval, and alter the planet for millions of years. ...


Let's call it the Age of Anthroposcrewup.

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Sun, Mar 28, 2010
from London Guardian:
The trillion-dollar question is: who will now lead the climate battle?
Some of the planet's most powerful paymasters will gather in London on Wednesday to discuss a nagging financial problem: how to raise a trillion dollars for the developing world. Those charged with achieving this daunting goal will include Gordon Brown, directors of several central banks, the billionaire philanthropist George Soros, the economist Lord (Nicholas) Stern and Larry Summers, President Obama's chief economics adviser. As an array of expertise, it is formidable: but then so is the task they have been set by the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. In effect, the world's top financiers have been told to work out how to raise at least $100bn a year for the rest of this decade, cash that will be used to help the world's poorest countries adapt to climate change. ...


Since nothing else has worked, I'd say let's give the antichrist a shot!

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Sun, Mar 28, 2010
from Science:
Scientists Call for 'Climate Intervention' Research With 'Humility'
An international group of scientists, ethicists, and governance experts meeting here this week has agreed that research into large-scale modification of the planet is "indispensable" given the "threats" posed by climate change... a 5-day meeting on geoengineering, the idea of deliberate tinkering with the climate to reduce global warming. More than 175 scientists from 15 countries spanning the geosciences, ethics, business, and political science, convened on the leafy grounds of the Asilomar Conference Center along the Pacific Ocean in Northern California. Molecular biologist met here 35 years ago to hash out initial ethical and safety rules on recombinant DNA. So researchers dubbed this meeting "Asilomar 2." Scientists emphasized that they are not saying whether large-scale geoengineering to combat climate change is needed--or if it is morally acceptable. Indeed, the statement urged that any discussion of the topic should be undertaken with "humility." ...


We won't need geoengineering if we adopt "humility" as a lifestyle. Now.

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Sat, Mar 27, 2010
from ENS Newswire, via DesdemonaDespair:
Worst Ice Year on Record Kills Canadian Seals Before Hunters Can
Thousands of harp seal pups are presumed dead in Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence and starving pups are being found abandoned on the beaches of Prince Edward Island, victims of the worst ice conditions ever recorded in the region. Environment Canada said March 16 that ice conditions in the Gulf were the lowest in the 41 years it has kept records. Off Newfoundland, Canada's other seal hunting ground, ice has formed only off the Northern Peninsula when, by now, it has usually extended along the island's northeast coast.... "The conditions this year are disastrous for seal pups. I've surveyed this region for nine years and have never seen anything like this," said Sheryl Fink, a senior researcher with IFAW. "There is wide open water instead of the usual ice floes, and rather than the hundreds of thousands of seal pups that we normally encounter, only a handful of baby harp and hooded seals, animals that are normally found on ice, remain on the beaches," she said. ...


The Canadian government, however, knows better: it increased the quota on harp seals last week.

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Thu, Mar 25, 2010
from Times Online:
Public scepticism prompts Science Museum to rename climate exhibition
The Science Museum is revising the contents of its new climate science gallery to reflect the wave of scepticism that has engulfed the issue in recent months. The decision by the 100-year-old London museum reveals how deeply scientific institutions have been shaken by the public's reaction to revelations of malpractice by climate scientists. The museum is abandoning its previous practice of trying to persuade visitors of the dangers of global warming. It is instead adopting a neutral position, acknowledging that there are legitimate doubts about the impact of man-made emissions on the climate. Even the title of the £4 million gallery has been changed to reflect the museum's more circumspect approach. The museum had intended to call it the Climate Change Gallery, but has decided to change this to Climate Science Gallery to avoid being accused of presuming that emissions would change the temperature. ...


How about we change your name to "The Belief Museum"? The Cro-magnon yee-hawing atop Brontosaurus will be a big draw.

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Wed, Mar 24, 2010
from AP, via PhysOrg.com:
Disputed isle in Bay of Bengal disappears into sea
For nearly 30 years, India and Bangladesh have argued over control of a tiny rock island in the Bay of Bengal. Now rising sea levels have resolved the dispute for them: the island's gone. New Moore Island in the Sunderbans has been completely submerged, said oceanographer Sugata Hazra, a professor at Jadavpur University in Calcutta. Its disappearance has been confirmed by satellite imagery and sea patrols, he said. "What these two countries could not achieve from years of talking, has been resolved by global warming," said Hazra. Scientists at the School of Oceanographic Studies at the university have noted an alarming increase in the rate at which sea levels have risen over the past decade in the Bay of Bengal. Until 2000, the sea levels rose about 3 millimeters (0.12 inches) a year, but over the last decade they have been rising about 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) annually, he said. ...


Who would have expected nature to help us resolve our political differences?

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Wed, Mar 24, 2010
from BBC:
UN body to look at meat and climate link
UN specialists are to look again at the contribution of meat production to climate change, after claims that an earlier report exaggerated the link. A 2006 report concluded meat production was responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions - more than transport.... But a new analysis, presented at a major US science meeting, says the transport comparison was flawed.... In an attempt to capture everything associated with meat production, the FAO team included contributions, for example, from transport and deforestation. By comparison, the IPCC's methodology collects all emissions from deforestation into a separate pool, whether the trees are removed for farming or for some other reason; and does the same thing for transport. This is one of the reasons why the 18 percent figure appears remarkably high to some observers. ...


Oh, I see -- transportation may be more, so meat might be somewhat less proportionally -- so bring on the BBQ!!

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Mon, Mar 22, 2010
from London Guardian:
Wind contributing to Arctic sea ice loss, study finds
Much of the record breaking loss of ice in the Arctic ocean in recent years is down to the region's swirling winds and is not a direct result of global warming, a new study reveals. Ice blown out of the region by Arctic winds can explain around one-third of the steep downward trend in sea ice extent in the region since 1979, the scientists say. The study does not question that global warming is also melting ice in the Arctic, but it could raise doubts about high-profile claims that the region has passed a climate "tipping point" that could see ice loss sharply accelerate in coming years. The new findings also help to explain the massive loss of Arctic ice seen in the summers of 2007-08, which prompted suggestions that the summertime Arctic Ocean could be ice-free withing a decade. About half of the variation in maximum ice loss each September is down to changes in wind patterns, the study says. ...


Shoo-eeee!! Maybe we can bio-engineer ourselves out of this mess after all!

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Mon, Mar 22, 2010
from The Epoch Times:
Carbon Dioxide 'Domes' Over Cities Could Increase Deaths, Study
Carbon dioxide "domes" that form over cities contribute to more deaths in those areas, a new study shows. Although the total health impacts of such concentrations of CO2 are uncertain, they are of concern the study concluded. "It is estimated that local CO2 emissions may increase premature mortality by 50 to 100 per year in California and 300 to 1,000 per year in the U.S.," the study says. Conducted by a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, Mark Jacobson, it states that, "Reducing locally emitted CO2 may reduce local air pollution mortality even if CO2 in adjacent regions is not controlled." The research also highlights a gap in the carbon dioxide "cap and trade" proposal that was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in June last year. Current air pollution regulations worldwide are broad and do not account for local health impacts under domes. The cap and trade system also does not consider controlling local CO2 based on local health impacts. ...


This is one way to take a bite out of overpopulation!

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