Africa faces a mounting number of disasters, such as floods, drought, food security and the spread of diseases, but must also deal with the likely impact of global climate change that could intensify these problems. To help tackle these tragic threats to Africa's human and economic well-being, space-based technologies are being identified. Nearly a 100 decision-makers and senior experts on disaster-risk management from African countries, Europe, the Middle East and America met July 6-9 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This notable gathering of officials was organized by the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response, known as UN-SPIDER together with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) with support of the Government of Austria and in cooperation with Secure World Foundation. The UN ECA called for more use of space-based technologies in Africa.
To help tackle these tragic threats to Africa's human and economic well-being, space-based technologies are being identified.
Nearly a 100 decision-makers and senior experts on disaster-risk management from African countries, Europe, the Middle East and America met July 6-9 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
This notable gathering of officials was organized by the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response, known as UN-SPIDER together with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) with support of the Government of Austria and in cooperation with Secure World Foundation.
The UN ECA called for more use of space-based technologies in Africa.
The size and number of marine dead zones-areas where the deep water is so low in dissolved oxygen that sea creatures can't survive-have grown explosively in the past half-century. Red circles on this map show the location and size of many of our planet's dead zones. Black dots show where dead zones have been observed, but their size is unknown. It's no coincidence that dead zones occur downriver of places where human population density is high (darkest brown). Some of the fertilizer we apply to crops is washed into streams and rivers. Fertilizer-laden runoff triggers explosive planktonic algae growth in coastal areas. The algae die and rain down into deep waters, where their remains are like fertilizer for microbes. The microbes decompose the organic matter, using up the oxygen. Mass killing of fish and other sea life often results. Satellites can observe changes in the way the ocean surface reflects and absorbs sunlight when the water holds a lot of particles of organic matter. Darker blues in this image show higher concentrations of particulate organic matter, an indication of the overly fertile waters that can culminate in dead zones.
It's no coincidence that dead zones occur downriver of places where human population density is high (darkest brown). Some of the fertilizer we apply to crops is washed into streams and rivers. Fertilizer-laden runoff triggers explosive planktonic algae growth in coastal areas.
The algae die and rain down into deep waters, where their remains are like fertilizer for microbes. The microbes decompose the organic matter, using up the oxygen. Mass killing of fish and other sea life often results.
Satellites can observe changes in the way the ocean surface reflects and absorbs sunlight when the water holds a lot of particles of organic matter. Darker blues in this image show higher concentrations of particulate organic matter, an indication of the overly fertile waters that can culminate in dead zones.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is partnering with the National Science Foundation to illustrate the usefulness of renewable energy in the most extreme climate conditions on Planet Earth. While summer reigns supreme in North America, faraway American outposts hibernate in the undying dark of an Antarctic winter. There, wind energy systems are currently helping to power research stations by capturing energy embedded in the polar winds. In the polar summer, when Antarctica trades endless night for endless sunshine, solar panels will take their turn
Chinese officials have warned of a severe threat to wildlife from one of the country's worst reported oil spills as an army of volunteers was dispatched to beaches to try to head off the black tides. At least one man has drowned in crude during the clean-up operation, which has expanded as the area of the slick has doubled in size despite earlier government assurances that it was being contained and posed no risk to ecologically sensitive areas.
At least one man has drowned in crude during the clean-up operation, which has expanded as the area of the slick has doubled in size despite earlier government assurances that it was being contained and posed no risk to ecologically sensitive areas.
At least one man has drowned in crude ...
Would love to see that YouTube. In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
Loss-making coal mines across the EU will have to close over the next four years, the European Commission says. State subsidies for such mines will only be allowed if a closure plan is in place. Production subsidies are to be replaced by social and environmental aid for affected areas. The new regulation targets hard coal - not lignite (brown coal). Most subsidies go to mines in Germany's Ruhr region, north-west Spain and Romania's Jiu Valley.
Loss-making coal mines across the EU will have to close over the next four years, the European Commission says.
State subsidies for such mines will only be allowed if a closure plan is in place. Production subsidies are to be replaced by social and environmental aid for affected areas.
The new regulation targets hard coal - not lignite (brown coal).
Most subsidies go to mines in Germany's Ruhr region, north-west Spain and Romania's Jiu Valley.
The UN is considering reducing the number of countries involved in faltering international climate talks in an effort to push through a deal.In a document published yesterday, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) outlined the idea among back-up plans if stalled talks fail to produce a successor to the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012.Countries which are party to the Kyoto protocol in June asked the UN climate secretariat to report on legal options to avoid a political vacuum or gap. Legal remedies to avoiding a gap focus on tweaks to the treaty, such as cutting the number of countries required to approve any new targets or extending the existing caps to 2013 or 2014, the UN document said.
The UN is considering reducing the number of countries involved in faltering international climate talks in an effort to push through a deal.
In a document published yesterday, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) outlined the idea among back-up plans if stalled talks fail to produce a successor to the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012.
Countries which are party to the Kyoto protocol in June asked the UN climate secretariat to report on legal options to avoid a political vacuum or gap. Legal remedies to avoiding a gap focus on tweaks to the treaty, such as cutting the number of countries required to approve any new targets or extending the existing caps to 2013 or 2014, the UN document said.
BP acknowledges it posted on its website an altered photo that exaggerates the activity at its Gulf oil spill command centre in Houston.The picture posted over the weekend showed workers monitoring a bank of 10 giant video screens displaying underwater images.The spokesman Scott Dean said yesterday that three screens were blank in the original picture and a staff photographer used Photoshop software to add images.
BP acknowledges it posted on its website an altered photo that exaggerates the activity at its Gulf oil spill command centre in Houston.
The picture posted over the weekend showed workers monitoring a bank of 10 giant video screens displaying underwater images.
The spokesman Scott Dean said yesterday that three screens were blank in the original picture and a staff photographer used Photoshop software to add images.
PETERSBURG, Neb., Jul 21, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- State and local officials and community leaders attended a ceremonial groundbreaking held today for the Laredo Ridge Wind project near Petersburg. The project was developed by Midwest Wind Energy, LLC of Chicago and is owned and operated by Laredo Ridge Wind, LLC, an affiliate of Edison Mission Group (EMG) of Irvine, Calif., a subsidiary of Edison International /quotes/comstock/13*!eix/quotes/nls/eix (EIX 32.30, -0.70, -2.11%) . All of the electricity produced at the site will be sold under a 20-year contract to the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD).
PETERSBURG, Neb., Jul 21, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- State and local officials and community leaders attended a ceremonial groundbreaking held today for the Laredo Ridge Wind project near Petersburg.
The project was developed by Midwest Wind Energy, LLC of Chicago and is owned and operated by Laredo Ridge Wind, LLC, an affiliate of Edison Mission Group (EMG) of Irvine, Calif., a subsidiary of Edison International /quotes/comstock/13*!eix/quotes/nls/eix (EIX 32.30, -0.70, -2.11%) . All of the electricity produced at the site will be sold under a 20-year contract to the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD).
Nebraska Public Power District is Nebraska's largest electric utility, with a chartered territory including all or parts of 91 of Nebraska's 93 counties. It was formed on Jan. 1, 1970, when Consumers Public Power District, Platte Valley Public Power and Irrigation District (PVPPID) and Nebraska Public Power System merged to become Nebraska Public Power District. Merger properties also included assets formerly operated by Loup River Public Power District. NPPD is a public corporation and political subdivision of the state of Nebraska. The utility is governed by an 11-member Board of Directors, who are popularly elected from NPPD's chartered territory.
Illustrating that it was possible to create public entities serving public interests as late as 1970 in the USA. Nebraska does have some notable populist :history
"The sea of Nebraska" is what the first settlers coming west called the Platte River--not actually a single river, but a braid of streams that weaves a silver chain around sandbars and islands, flooding the level floor of the great plain--a mile wide, as the saying goes, and six inches deep. Nebraska was formed in one rush of settlement in the 1880s, when its population increased from 452,000 to 1,062,000; it increased less than that, to 1,578,000, in the next 100 years.... But while the 1880s were a time of plentiful rain here, the 1890s were a decade of drought, and Nebraska stopped growing.... The sudden boom of the 1880s and the bust of the 1890s produced the most colorful--and atypical--politics of Nebraska's history: The populist movement and William Jennings Bryan, the ''silver tongued orator of the Platte.'' Bryan was only 36 when he delivered his Cross of Gold speech at the 1896 Democratic National Convention and was swept to the Democratic nomination. He was so radical that Democratic President Grover Cleveland wouldn't support him, but he still won 47% of the popular vote in the first of three attempts at the presidency. Since Bryan's time, Nebraska's most notable politician has been George Norris, who led the House rebellion against Speaker Joseph Cannon in 1911, and in the 1930s championed the state's unicameral legislature and pushed through the Norris-LaGuardia Anti-Injunction Act (the first federal pro-union legislation) and the Tennessee Valley Authority. But most Nebraskans were repelled by the New Deal, which seemed to threaten their way of life. Although it often elects Democratic governors and senators, Nebraska over the past half-century has been the second-most Republican state in presidential elections.
The sudden boom of the 1880s and the bust of the 1890s produced the most colorful--and atypical--politics of Nebraska's history: The populist movement and William Jennings Bryan, the ''silver tongued orator of the Platte.'' Bryan was only 36 when he delivered his Cross of Gold speech at the 1896 Democratic National Convention and was swept to the Democratic nomination. He was so radical that Democratic President Grover Cleveland wouldn't support him, but he still won 47% of the popular vote in the first of three attempts at the presidency. Since Bryan's time, Nebraska's most notable politician has been George Norris, who led the House rebellion against Speaker Joseph Cannon in 1911, and in the 1930s championed the state's unicameral legislature and pushed through the Norris-LaGuardia Anti-Injunction Act (the first federal pro-union legislation) and the Tennessee Valley Authority. But most Nebraskans were repelled by the New Deal, which seemed to threaten their way of life. Although it often elects Democratic governors and senators, Nebraska over the past half-century has been the second-most Republican state in presidential elections.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- President Cristina Fernandez signed a new law Wednesday making Argentina the first country in Latin America to legalize marriage for same-sex couples. Civil registries across the nation will now begin processing long lists of marriage applications from gay couples. The first such ceremony in Buenos Aires is set for Aug. 13. "Today we are a society that is a little more egalitarian than last week," Fernandez said at the signing ceremony. Representatives of groups for gays and lesbians cheered, crying out "Equality, equality!"
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- President Cristina Fernandez signed a new law Wednesday making Argentina the first country in Latin America to legalize marriage for same-sex couples.
Civil registries across the nation will now begin processing long lists of marriage applications from gay couples. The first such ceremony in Buenos Aires is set for Aug. 13.
"Today we are a society that is a little more egalitarian than last week," Fernandez said at the signing ceremony.
Representatives of groups for gays and lesbians cheered, crying out "Equality, equality!"
