Sunday, 19 April 2009
Italy earthquake reconstruction will cost billions
The central Italy region ravaged by an earthquake more than a week ago will need at least euro12 billion (about $16 billion) for rebuilding, the country's interior minister said.
Encounters At The End Of The World Go watch the Film
RELEASE DATE: Friday 24th April
Werner Herzog journeys to Antarctica's McMurdo Station to find out what it is that drives its 1,000 inhabitants to want to live and work in this remotest of glacial landscapes
New limits to Antarctic tourism
Countries with ties to Antarctica have adopted US proposals to limit tourism in the region, in a bid to protect the fragile ecosystem of the continent.Parties to the Antarctic Treaty agreed to limit the size of cruise ships and the number of tourists taken ashore at a meeting in the US city of Baltimore. Limiting tourism has taken on urgency due to a surge in visits and a number of cruise ship accidents. Antarctic visits have risen from 6,700 in 1992-93 to over 45,000 last season.
BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | New limits to Antarctic tourism
Friday, 17 April 2009
Catastrophic droughts in Africa are the norm, claim scientists
Researchers believe the drought that struck parts of Northern Africa in the 1970s and 1980s, killing hundreds of thousands and displacing millions more, may have been the result of a natural climate cycle. In the past, many scientists thought the drought in the Sahel zone – a band that runs just below the Sahara – was caused by humans overusing natural resources in the region.
But a new study in the journal Science shows that they are a natural part of weather pattern of the area for the last 3,000 years.
If anything the droughts were less severe than those seen historically, with previous periods without rain lasting more than a century.
Catastrophic droughts in Africa are the norm, claim scientists - Telegraph
Britain in 2009: A nation of bullied social networkers who don’t believe in global warming
The annual Social Trends study published by the Office for National Statistics presents a revealing portrait of the way we live now.
Nearly two million men aged between 20 and 34 still live with their parents, almost twice the number of women of the same age. The proportion of young adults who are reluctant or unable to leave home has increased by about 300,000 since 2001. Far more are continuing with their studies, while others are unemployed. The lack of affordable housing is the chief deciding factor in living with parents. The proportion of single-person households has doubled since 1971, from 6 per cent to 12 per cent, while the number of marriages in England and Wales – 237,000 in 2006 – was the lowest for more than a century. The average age at which people tie the knot is 31.8 for men and 29.7 for women. In the past 10 years, the number of women under 25 giving birth has overtaken the number marrying by that age.
EDUCATION LAW and ORDER EMPLOYMENT POPULATION
LIFE STYLE WEALTH HEALTH HOUSING TRAVEL ENVIRONMENT
and SOCIETY
UK goes into ecological debt on Easter Sunday
Britain is living beyond its environmental means and is increasingly dependent on the rest of the world for its natural resources, a thinktank study has revealed.The recession may have slowed consumption but the New Economics Foundation (Nef) says we are now drawing deep on the cropland, pasture, forests and fisheries of other countries. The research also shows that by tomorrow the country will have used the levels of resources it should consume in an entire year if it were to be ecologically self-sufficient.
UK goes into ecological debt on Easter Sunday | Environment | The Guardian
Water shortages go global | Sin aqua non | The Economist
THE overthrow of Madagascar’s president in mid-March was partly caused by water problems—in South Korea. Worried by the difficulties of increasing food supplies in its water-stressed homeland, Daewoo, a South Korean conglomerate, signed a deal to lease no less than half Madagascar’s arable land to grow grain for South Koreans. Widespread anger at the terms of the deal (the island’s people would have received practically nothing) contributed to the president’s unpopularity. One of the new leader’s first acts was to scrap the agreement.
Three weeks before that, on the other side of the world, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California declared a state of emergency. Not for the first time, he threatened water rationing in the state. “It is clear,” says a recent report by the United Nations World Water Assessment Programme, “that urgent action is needed if we are to avoid a global water crisis.”
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
New nuclear site options unveiled
The government has released a list of 11 sites in England and Wales where new nuclear power stations could be built.The locations were nominated by companies interested in building the stations, and the government has given its initial approval to the sites.
BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | New nuclear site options unveiled
Monday, 13 April 2009
Italy quake survivors mark Easter
ROME, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from the earthquake in central Italy's Abruzzo region rose to 287 on Thursday, Italian media reported. Days after the 5.8 magnitude earthquake on Monday, aftershocks continued to jolt the region, with 71 seismic events recorded Wednesday night, Abruzzo Governor Gianni Chiodi said. There had been a total of 1,000 aftershocks since the quake struck the region on Monday, he said.
Premier Silvio Berlusconi said earlier on Thursday it was still too early to estimate the costs of rebuilding the quake-stricken region of Abruzzo, but this would likely require "several billion euros." Meanwhile, the government has approved a package of emergency measures to ease financial pressures on the 29,000 people left homeless by the earthquake.
According to the plan, families will receive up to 400 euros a month to help with rent while business owners, including farmers, who have had to cease activity because of the quake will receive a monthly allowance of 800 euros.
Electricity and gas bills for the stricken areas have been suspended for two months and insurance contributions have also been put on hold, while survivors will be able to renegotiate mortgages with banks. Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti said government aid to deal with the disaster had been increased to 100 million euros.
The government also approved the deployment of 700 troops to patrol the quake-hit areas alongside police to prevent looting. Some 19,000 survivors from the quake are currently housed in tent camps, while 10,000 others are allowed to live in hotels paid by the state.
The government also approved the deployment of 700 troops to patrol the quake-hit areas alongside police to prevent looting. Some 19,000 survivors from the quake are currently housed in tent camps, while 10,000 others are allowed to live in hotels paid by the state.
Photographs http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/04/the_laquila_earthquake.html
Warning given http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6046585.ece
Images http://www.flickr.com/photos/mirkosim/
BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Italy quake survivors mark Easter
Water cut off in Mexican capital
Mexico City officials have shut down a main pipeline providing fresh water to millions of residents because reserves have fallen to record low levels.
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Country profiles | Water cut off in Mexican capital
Global Water Crisis // Current
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GLOBAL WATER CRISIS
Investing in water: why water is blue gold - MoneyWeek
Anyone unfortunate enough to have been caught by this year’s record-breaking UK floods might wonder how a lack of water could possibly be an imminent global problem. But away from our damp corner of the planet, things are rather different. Since 1950, the world’s population has doubled but the amount of fresh water available hasn’t actually budged at all. The result? According to the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), one-third of the world’s population is short of water. What’s worse, this is a point that the planet was not expected to reach, according to previous reports, until 2025, implying that the situation is deteriorating – fast
Monday, 6 April 2009
Pump Aid Who We Are
Pump Aid is a leading water and sanitation organisation, providing lasting solutions to clean water provision and sanitation. At Pump Aid we believe that access to clean water is a fundamental human right. Provision of clean water for rural communities in Africa, means that people can lead a healthy and productive life. Children are able to attend a full day at school, instead of fetching water from far away, open sources. Villagers in rural communities can utilise the clean water source for drinking, washing and irrigation that can lead to generating income from their vegetable crops
Italy hunts for quake survivors April 2009
A desperate search for survivors is on in and around the Italian city of L'Aquila after a quake killed, Italian media say, at least 150 people.Some 5,000 rescuers are picking through rubble in the walled medieval city and nearby towns and villages, some of them said to have been virtually destroyed. Tents are being put up in tennis courts and on football pitches to house some of the 30,000-40,000 homeless. The number of people injured has been put at 1,500.
Sustainable Cities
If you think it's impossibly complicated to make your town or city low carbon, think again.This website gives expert advice on planning, designing and managing a sustainable place. It cuts through the complexity with clear priorities for action. And it shows which places are getting it right.Getting it right means a more resilient economy, healthier residents, a more beautiful place and a better quality of life for everyone.
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Sunday, 29 March 2009
Chronic Arsenic Poisoning:BANGLADESH
Arsenic poisoning has emerged as a fresh blow to Bangladesh, a country of 130 million population, known as a land of frequent natural calamities. Recent surveys showed that about 80 million people of the country are living under the risk of Arsenic poisoning as the groundwater of a vast region contaminated with Arsenic the Arsenic pollution is not only causing serious health hazard to the people, but also affecting the environment and creating social problems.
Arsenic poisoning was first detected in Bangladesh in 1993 by the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE). But the fact remained behind the screen till 1996. According to the latest surveys conducted at both Government levels, at least 53 out of the total 64 districts of Bangladesh are affected with Arsenic pollution