Earth ChangesS


Bomb

The Escalating Chemical War on Weeds

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© Paul Hoppe

The Return of Agent Orange

A few weeks back, the New York Times made mention of an astounding development, which has, for whatever reason, received little fanfare or recognition. Despite its Vietnam War notoriety, Agent Orange is in vogue again, this time down on the farm. Its reemergence, and in this particular setting, raises a host of troubling questions that are not being well considered.

Over the past year, there have been increasing reports of emerging superweeds resistant to Roundup, the preferred weedkiller of America's farmers. Roundup is sold in tandem with Roundup-ready seeds, both marquee products of the Monsanto Corporation. In the 1990s, when the latter product hit the market, it was momentous, revolutionary - a godsend: Roundup-ready seeds are genetically designed to resist application of the potent herbicide. By sowing Roundup-ready seeds and dousing their fields with the trademark weedkiller, farmers could forego the expense and toil of tilling the land, and losing valuable topsoil in the process. Production was enhanced, time and money saved. It was quite an economic boon to farmers, at least in the short run. Environmentalists were also pleased in light of the topsoil angle. Needless to say, Monsanto was thrilled that farmers were even more dependent on its products.

Bizarro Earth

Eight dead after Typhoon Conson smashes Philippines

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© Unknown
At least eight people were confirmed dead on Wednesday after Typhoon Conson ripped across the Philippines, sweeping shanties into the sea and bringing the nation's capital to a standstill.

Conson, the first typhoon of the year, hit the Southeast Asian archipelago late on Tuesday before sweeping over the heavily populated main island of Luzon with maximum gusts of 120 kilometres (74 miles) an hour.

"The wind howled like a child screaming," said Rigor Sambol, 52, a father of six who lives in a coastal shanty town on the outskirts of Manila that was partly destroyed.

"It was so strong, our houseboat nearly got flipped over. I had to take the children one by one to a nearby gym where they spent the evening on the cold floor."

Bizarro Earth

Chile: Earthquake Magnitude 6.5 - Bio-Bio

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© USGS
Date-Time:
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 08:32:22 UTC

Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 04:32:22 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
38.002°S, 73.282°W

Depth:
28.4 km (17.6 miles)

Region:
BIO-BIO, CHILE

Distances:
55 km (35 miles) SE of Lebu, Bio-Bio, Chile

100 km (65 miles) NW of Temuco, Araucania, Chile

100 km (65 miles) SW of Los Angeles, Bio-Bio, Chile

560 km (345 miles) SSW of SANTIAGO, Region Metropolitana, Chile

Cloud Lightning

Canada: Golf ball-sized hail, thunderstorms pummel Calgary, southern Alberta

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© Gavin Young, Calgary Herald
High winds, heavy rain, and most of all, large hail, left a swath of damage across some communities in Calgary and southern Alberta during a Monday afternoon marked by tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings. The forecast for tomorrow raises the possibility of a repeat performance.

To the east, tornado warnings were issued through the afternoon for areas ranging from Drumheller, through the Strathmore region and into south eastern Alberta counties as at least three storm cells moved through, bringing rain, hail, high winds and the threat of even more severe weather. At least one funnel cloud was spotted near Strathmore during the storm, prompting some to head to their basements to wait out the severe weather.

Environment Canada meteorologist Sandy Massey said more rain is expected, with some areas north of Calgary predicted to see up to 70 mm falling tonight and tomorrow. Wednesday is expected to be a bit drier, she said.

Bizarro Earth

Deadly Landslides Hit South-West China

landslide
© Associated PressIn Xiaohe, Yunnan, officials said the side of a mountain collapsed
At least 17 people have been killed and dozens more are missing after a series of landslides in south-west China, state media says.

The landslides, which were triggered by days of heavy rain, struck three rural communities in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.

Four people were killed and 42 others were missing after one landslide in Xiaohe in Yunnan's Zhaotong city.

In Sichuan, two separate landslides left 13 people dead and two missing.

Meanwhile further to the west in Qinghai province, 10,000 people have been evacuated from the area around an overflowing reservoir.

Bizarro Earth

Top China miner pollutes river leading to massive fish kill

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© AFPDead fish wash up on the beach of Hong Kong's Lamma Island. Pollution from a mine owned by a top gold producer has severely contaminated a river in southeastern China, leading to a massive fish kill, the government and state media said Monday.
Pollution from a mine owned by a top gold producer has severely contaminated a river in southeastern China, leading to a massive fish kill, the government and state media said Monday.

Seepage from a mining waste pond owned by the Zijinshan Copper Mine has contaminated the Ding River and a reservoir in Fujian, the province's environmental protection bureau said in a statement.

The leak was first detected on July 3, prompting the bureau to issue an emergency order to begin monitoring it, the statement said.

Xinhua news agency said the mine is owned by the Hong Kong-listed Zijin Mining Group Co, China's largest gold producer.

Pollution from the sludge pond has killed or poisoned 1.89 million kilogrammes (4.2 million pounds) of fish on the Ding River and in the Mianhuatan reservoir, the report said.

The smell of dead fish was discernible 10 kilometres (six miles) from the reservoir, it added.

"The county government has issued a circular asking residents to turn in poisoned fish for collective disposal," the report quoted local villagers as saying, adding that villagers would be compensated for the fish they collect.

Better Earth

Global Backup Generator For Past Climate Change?

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© IPRC/SOESTThe top panel shows the glacial conveyor belt flow 21,000 years ago. The bottom panel shows a reorganized conveyor belt flow 17,500-15,000 years ago with deep-water sinking in the North Pacific.
Toward the end of the last ice age, a major reorganization took place in the current system of the North Pacific with far-reaching implications for climate, according to a new study published in the July 9, 2010, issue of Science by an international team of scientists from Japan, Hawaii, and Belgium.

Earth's climate is regulated largely by the world ocean's density-driven circulation, which brings warm surface water to the polar regions and transports cold water away from there at depth. As poleward flowing salty waters cool in the North Atlantic, they become so heavy that they sink. This sinking acts as a pump for the ocean's conveyor belt circulation.

A well-established fact by now is that there have been times in the past when the North Atlantic branch of the conveyor belt circulation was shut down by melting ice sheets, which released so much fresh glacial meltwater that the sinking of cold water in the Nordic Seas stopped and the Northern Hemisphere was plunged into a deep freeze.

Info

Florida Sinkhole Swallows Car, Endangers Condominium


A big sinkhole at a condominium complex in Florida has swallowed a car and it might not be done yet.

The sinkhole opened up Sunday morning near Tampa and claimed a Toyota Camry, pulling it down beneath its shifting sands.

The sinkhole is as wide as two parking spaces and is said to be about that deep, too.

Bad Guys

Why BP is Readying a 'Super Weapon' to Avert Escalating Gulf Nightmare

Nuclear bomb
© shatterlimits.com
Chicago - In a desperate attempt to stop a huge area of the Gulf ocean floor from possibly rupturing due to subterranean methane gas (leading to a calamity no human has ever seen) BP has ripped a page from science fiction books.

The giant oil company is now quietly preparing to test a small nuclear device in a frenzied rush against time to quell a cascading catastrophe. If successful they will have the capability to detonate a controlled fusion generated pulse.

While the world watches BP's attempt to contain the oil gusher at the former Deepwater Horizon site, company officials have given the green light on an astounding plan to use what is known as a nuclear EPFCG charge if all else fails.

Bizarro Earth

US: Massive Jet Fuel Spill at Kirtland Air Force Base Still Threatens Water Supply

It is has been reported that a massive amount of highly toxic jet fuel has been leaking into the ground at Kirtland Airforce Base (KAFB) in Albuquerque, New Mexico for the last thirty years. Initial estimates put the total leak at 1-2 million gallons. However, The New Mexico Environment Department has put the figure at closer to 8 million gallons. Unfortunately, if spills like the BP's Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico are any indication, even these higher figures may understate the true level of contamination. The leak was detected in 1999, and since then various efforts have been made to secure funding to help clean up the mess. Approaches, including the drilling of as many as 23 wells, and pump have been used with some degree of success, as this article reports.

It appears that fuel has sunk as deep as 500 feet underground, which threatens the water table, and could potentially migrate into the Rio Grande River, which is one of the most important sources of water for the Albuquerque, and the state of New Mexico. Recently, as this article reports, as much as $15 million was appropriated to perform soil remediation. It is not clear that this will be an adequate amount of money, however, given the size of the spill, and the urgency to prevent the contamination of the aquifer. As recently as July 7th of this year Kirtland was required to provide final proposals to the New Mexico Environment Department to detail the status of cleanup efforts and future planning.