As the Cookie Crumbles

If a sugar-free cookie tastes too good to be true, there could be a reason. That cookie may not be sugar-free at all—even if the "nutrition facts" label says so. In these days of epidemic obesity, diligent consumers are reading the nutrition labels on packaged foods, but apparently they're the only ones doing so regularly. Although Congress has forced food manufacturers to place nutrition facts labels on their products since 1990, the Food and Drug Administration doesn't have enough staff to check labels' accuracy. So where does that leave a consumer? Too often, in the dark.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=589&topicId=15026&docId=l:632183182&start=5&nid=3461

Message in a Bottle

At yesterday's meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, mayors from across the country rejected efforts by the American Beverage Association and Coca-Cola to stop a resolution that highlights the importance of municipal water and calls for a study of the impact of bottled water on city waste. Mayors voted to support the resolution, introduced last week by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Salt Lake City Mayor Ross "Rocky" Anderson and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=589&topicId=15026&docId=l:631668173&start=5&nid=3461

I'm Melting, I'm Melting!

Arizona Dust Causes Colorado Meltdown

Wind-blown dust from the drought-stricken Southwest can speed the melt of snow in Colorado’s mountains, yet another unpredictable effect of climate change, a new study shows. In 2006, snows in areas of Colorado's San Juan Mountains above and below the tree line (above which trees can no longer grow), unexpectedly melted a month earlier than usual.
http://www.livescience.com/environment/070625_dust_snow.html

I'm Sinking, I'm Sinking!

Cities beneath the sea

Heat from the Earth’s deep interior helps keep much of North America afloat by warming the continental crust and making it buoyant, scientists say. If not for this effect, many American coastal cities would lie beneath the sea.

The findings show that if North America had a uniform crust, many American cities would be underwater. New York City, for example, would be dunked 1,427 feet beneath the Atlantic. Boston would be 1,823 below sea level, and Los Angeles would be 3,756 beneath the Pacific.

http://www.livescience.com/environment/070625_bouyant_namerica.html

I got some beach front property in Montana to sell you...

Rising Seas to Destroy U.S. Beaches
You may have to kiss that summer trip to the beach goodbye later this century, thanks to rising sea levels and more intense tropical storms, scientists predict.
A new study of the potential sand losses to North Carolina beaches reports that a 1-foot rise in sea level in the next 25 to 75 years (which is at the lower end of the range predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) would cause the coast to move inland by 2,000 to 10,000 feet and could cost an estimated $223 million in lost recreational value by 2080 to beach-goers in that state alone.

Molten Magma Underfoot

Thick Layer of Magma Found Under American Southwest Scientists have spotted a thick layer of melted rock beneath the Earth’s crust that could be part of a fluid band of hot magma circling the globe. The magma ring has until now remained a theory. The molten-rock layer is 10 miles thick and can’t be seen, felt or smelt from the surface.

Guns, Gas or Butter?!

Food execs to examine solutions to biofuel threat
Food industry R&D executives will be meeting in Chicago next month to examine the impact of increased biofuel demand on their business, in an effort to anticipate challenges resulting from a fundamental shift in supply chain dynamics. Organized by the American Association of Cereal Chemists International (AACCI), the symposium and workshop will examine the projected demand for biofuels, and the impact of this on the food industry supply chain, on consumers, on food formulation and on food technology.
http://www.foodproductiondaily-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=77488-aacci-biofuels-ethanol&nid=3461

Losing the Moon and the Sun and the Stars...

The Earth is moving very very slowly away from the Sun. This happens for two reasons. The first is that the Sun is constantly losing mass because of the solar wind. As the mass of the Sun decreases its pull on the Earth decreases and so the Earth moves slightly further away. The second reason is to do with tidal forces. In exactly the same way that the Moon is slowly moving away from the Earth, the Earth is very slowly moving away from the Sun. In the Earth-Moon case the Moon pulls on the Earth creating tides and slowing the Earth’s rotation very slightly, making the day longer. This action has a reaction - the Moons orbit is speeded up. If something travels faster it must move outwards to remain in an orbit and so the Moon slowly drifts away from us at a rate of 3.8 centimetres per year. The same situation happens with the Sun but the Earth’s influence on the Sun is much smaller than the Moon’s influence on the Earth. The result is the Earth’s tiny tiny drift away from the Sun

When Schwabe speaks the Sun Listens...

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/comment/story.html?id=597d0677-2a05-47b4-b34f-b84068db11f4&p=4
"Solar scientists predict that, by 2020, the sun will be starting into its weakest Schwabe solar cycle of the past two centuries, likely leading to unusually cool conditions on earth. Beginning to plan for adaptation to such a cool period, one which may continue well beyond one 11-year cycle, as did the little ice age, should be a priority for governments. It is global cooling, not warming, that is the major climate threat to the world, especially Canada.”