Watch as our planet melts

One of my professors today showed us this handy tool for tracking the most up-to-date satellite images of Arctic ice and comparing it to any day in the last 30 years. The results are truly horrifying. See for yourself: http://igloo.atmos.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/test/print.sh

How do pirates fight global warming?

By reducing their cAAARGHbon footprints!

(Actually, there is a point to the this blog post, the pirate joke was just a freebie.)

Apparently, increased numbers of pirate attacks on ships carrying large loads of chemicals have raised international concerns about chemical terrorism. According to Chemical and Engineering News, last year there were 263 reports of attempted or actual attacks on vessels worldwide. Of these reports, 23 were on chemical tankers and 29 were on product tankers, which may carry bulk chemical loads that include oil. These numbers are exepected to be grossly under-reported.

Um. If terrorism is the only concern with ships carrying 40,000 tons of cancer causing toxins across the ocean, then I'll be dAARGHned.

This is fracking ridiculous

Fracking* fluids, or fracturing fluids, are fluids that are pumped into the ground to break up rocks and increase oil production in a process known as hydraulic fracking. Around 90 percent of all oil and gas wells in the U.S. uses this process.

The problem is, these fracking fluids are extremely toxic and go largely unregulated. Yet, millions of gallons of these fluids are used every years, and there are hundreds of reported spills.The EPA, however, says that fracking fluids are safe for the environment and groundwater, even though this is clearly not the case. Check out this Newsweek article on the health and environmental effects of fracking, and story of one woman who got poisoned by exposure to fracking fluids.

The upside is that in yet another example of states stepping in where EPA fails, Colorado has just announced it will be issuing regulations on fracking fluid. Yay, Colorado!

*Brian has pointed out that frack is also a swear word commonly used on Battlestar Galactica. For all my sci-fi geek fans (Megan), I apologize for the confusion.

North Pole Could Be Free of Ice In Just 5 Years

For anyone who doesn't believe that climate change is happening now, read this immediately.

After a record summer of arctic melting, leading scientists are now saying that the North Pole could be free of ice by 2013. I can't say it better than the Guardian, so I'm not going to try:

This startling loss of Arctic sea ice has major meteorological, environmental and ecological implications. The region acts like a giant refrigerator that has a strong effect on the northern hemisphere's meteorology. Without its cooling influence, weather patterns will be badly disrupted, including storms set to sweep over Britain.

At the same time, creatures such as polar bears and seals - which use sea ice for hunting and resting - face major threats. Similarly, coastlines will no longer be insulated by ice from wave damage and will suffer erosion, as is already happening in Alaska.

Other environmental changes are likely to follow. Without sea ice to bolster them, land ice - including glaciers - could topple into the ocean and raise global sea levels, threatening many low-lying areas, including Bangladesh and scores of Pacific islands. In addition, the disappearance of reflective ice over the Arctic means that solar radiation would no longer be bounced back into space, thus heating the planet even further.

Shout out to Gina Johnson for sharing this scary, scary story with us.

Why haven't I heard about the Amazonian Chernobyl until now?

File this under things we should have heard about a long time ago. Apparently, U.S. oil giant Chevron has dumped over 17 million tons of oil waste in Ecuador, in an area with multiple indigenous tribes and thousands of rare species of plants and animals. The contamination is so bad that it is being referred to as the "Amazonian Chernobyl."

The toxic pollution has devastated the wildlife, poisoned the land and water, and sickened the people of Ecuador. 30,000 Ecuadorians have sued Chevron, and in typical form, they are denying responsibility.

Read all about it in the London Daily Telegraph and on Amazon Watch's excellent website, Chevron Toxico.

Have other people heard of this before now? Anyone else feel compelled to boycott Chevron?

Bacteria Makes Scary Things Scarier

Surfactants are chemicals that are used in the production of detergents, pesticides, and plastics. According to the Environmental Working Group, surfactants are highly toxic to aquatic organisms, and suspected endocrine disruptors. Endocrine disrupting chemicals are chemicals that mimic or inhibit natural hormones. Endocrine disruptors have been linked to reproductive disorders, alterations in neurodevelopment, cancer, immune suppression and other negative health effects in humans and in wildlife.

Think thats scary? Researchers from Europe have just found that when bacteria and microbes break these surfactants down, they degrade into a chemical known as nonylphenol. Numerous studies have shown that this breakdown product is toxic and endocrine-disrupting. Because it mimics the natural hormone estrogen, organisms treat this chemical as if it was estrogen. In fact, at levels as low as 50−100 parts per billion (ppb), nonylphenol is capable of feminizing male fish.

Nonylphenol and nonyphenol ethoxylates, the surfactants that break down to nonylphenol, have been banned in the European Union because of their hazardous nature to human and environmental safety. Current regulations in the U.S., however, don't take into account the complexity of breakdown products, despite the fact that many common chemicals break down into more toxic substances.

Source: Environ. Sci. Technol., 2008, 10.1021/es800577a