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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from
View By Scenario:
Species Collapse:(3)
Plague/Virus:(1)
Climate Chaos:(10)
Resource Depletion: (3)
Biology Breach:(15)
Recovery:(5)
This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
carbon emissions  ~ oil issues  ~ health impacts  ~ global warming  ~ climate impacts  ~ ocean acidification  ~ contamination  ~ ecosystem interrelationships  ~ massive die-off  ~ bad policy  ~ ocean warming  



ApocaDocuments (3) for the "Resource Depletion" scenario from this week
[see full week] ~ [see full Resource Depletion scenario and stories]
Sat, Jul 31, 2010
from Technology Review:
Fossil Fuel Subsidies Dwarf Support for Renewables
A new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance says altogether governments spent between $43 and $46 billion on renewable energy and biofuels last year, not including indirect support, such as subsidies to corn farmers that help ethanol production. Direct subsidies of fossil fuels came to $557 billion, the report says. This disparity raises the question--if the report is right and fossil fuels require so much backing, can they compete with renewables without government support? After all, some renewables--such as sugarcane based biofuels and some wind farms--can already compete with fossil fuels. Without the huge government subsidies for fossil fuels, wouldn't they be eclipsed by renewables? The answer, for now, is no. So far renewables just can't provide enough fuel and power to displace fossil fuels. ...


Quit subsidizing the most profitable industry on earth? But who knows what chaos might ensue?

ApocaDoc
permalink

Thu, Jul 29, 2010
from New Scientist:
Phytoplankton [and more] in decline: bye bye food chain
Ocean life is being wiped out from the bottom up. The global population of microscopic plants that float in ocean water and support most marine life has declined by 1 per cent every year since 1899.... Whatever the cause, it's a remarkably bad piece of news, because although phytoplankton are neither glamorous nor cute, the entire ocean food chain depends on them.... [Corals] are threatened by changing ocean temperatures and ocean acidification, both triggered by humanity's greenhouse gas emissions. [Key saproxylic beetles in] Europe, at least, 24 per cent are under threat, and we would miss them if they went. Similarly, insects such as butterflies and bees that pollinate plants are probably in decline (though the data are far from complete). And fungi have barely been assessed at all, but along with bacteria they are the organisms that do the lion's share of decomposition, which is whiffy but essential. In other words, never mind the pandas: it's plankton, bugs and fungi you should be worrying about. ...


We are the food chain's weakest link.

ApocaDoc
permalink

Mon, Jul 26, 2010
from IRIN:
Mali: Water has become a "luxury"
Local and national authorities - backed by international agencies - have sent truckloads of water and thousands of tons of rice and fodder to Kidal, where animals are dying daily and water for drinking and bathing is increasingly rare. While residents say the assistance has been significant, they say it is insufficient and long-term solutions are indispensable. "Catastrophe" is in store if water shortages are not resolved, according to a report the Kidal regional assembly recently submitted to President Amadou Toumani Touré following an evaluation in the region. A continuation of today's conditions "will set in motion a vicious cycle: chaotic displacement of people, tension and conflict and urban overpopulation." "The region's very stability is threatened."... Housseini Maïga, president of a government and civil society water organisation in Mali, said a town north of Gao, Mali, "saw not a drop of rain in all of 2009 - nothing". ...


And waiter, bring me a bottle of your finest H20, spare no expense.

ApocaDoc
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