Wednesday News Bucket

9 Comments

1. 

   Knoxville Progressive on July 19, 2006 at 9:20 am

   Mostly environmentally related stuff today…

   It’s also hot across the pond:  With the mercury expected to approach 100F (37.8C) for only the 2nd time in Britain’s history – but also the 2nd time in under 3 years – researchers said the unusual heat was entirely consistent with predictions of climate change.

   New research shows that land-use activities over the last 300 years have substantially altered the land surface in ways that likely had profound effects on the Earth system.  And NASA scientists have determined that the formation of clouds is affected by the lightness or darkness of air pollution particles. More clouds form when light-reflecting pollution filled the air, but many fewer clouds were recorded in the presence of light-absorbing dark aerosols.  The overall effect worldwide could be as much as a 5 percent net increase in cloud cover. In polluted areas, these cloud changes can change the availability of fresh water and regional temperatures.

   And if climate change hasn’t convinced you the environment is more than a peripheral issue, how about this:  Environmental risk factors play a role in more than 80% of the diseases regularly reported by the WHO.  Globally, nearly one quarter of all deaths and of the total disease burden can be attributed to the environment.  At least 180 human diseases and health conditions are linked to environmental exposures. Of 198 diseases surveyed, 123 have strong links to exposures. The majority of chemicals have not been tested for potential toxic effects, even those some are commonly found in contexts that will lead to human exposures.

   The prevalence of childhood asthma and wheeze rises around 2 to 3 per cent for every indoor swimming pool per 100,000 of the population across Europe.  The authors conclude that the rise of asthma in Western Europe could at least partly be attributed to the increasing exposure of children to the by-products of chlorine in the air and water of indoor swimming pools.  (K.P.’s take:  This is interesting, in that chlorine – like the ozone in air pollution (also linked to asthma) – is an oxidant and would irritate the respiratory tract.  Could chronic irritation of the respiratory tract lead to a predisposition to asthma and related illnesses?)

   Speaking of pollution’s effects, coral tissue damage that normally heals on its own will not mend when the colonies are near pollution sources on land that release industrial chemicals, fuel oils and other contaminants, a University of Central Florida biologist and several colleagues have found.

   Toyota Motor Corp plans to develop a hybrid vehicle that will run locally on batteries charged by a typical 120-volt outlet before switching over to a gasoline engine for longer hauls.  And Ford’s hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines, destined for shuttle buses, will be ready for delivery later this year.

   Speaking of cars and mileage, the Environmental Working Group reports that The U.S. would have imported about 20 percent less foreign oil in 2005 if automakers met federal fuel efficiency standards based on real world driving conditions. That reduction is equivalent to more than 1.3 times the amount of oil imported from Saudi Arabia in 2005, or about two million barrels of oil per day. But lobbyists have pushed to prevent the EPA from requiring MPG tests that reflect how people actually drive.

   The Yucca Flats nuclear waste facility in the Nevada desert would begin storing spent nuclear fuel from the nation’s 103 nuclear reactors in 2017 — 19 years behind schedule — under the latest plan the US Energy Department submitted to Congress on Tuesday.

   And since no day is complete without the volcano update:  A “state of calamity” was declared in towns and villages near the Mayon volcano southeast of the Philippine capital as lava flow intensified Tuesday. This allows the provincial government to use emergency funds to prepare evacuation camps, provincial governor Fernando Gonzales said. He said Mayon remains “in a mild state of eruption” at present, but there were signs of a more violent eruption in the coming days or weeks.  Oh yeah – Mt. Etna in Sicily is also showing signs of activity (same link as above).

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     keepinon on July 19, 2006 at 7:45 pm

     Hey KP: Knowing what you know (I look to you for current info on a vast variety of topics), and living where you live, (the Smokey Mts. are one of my all time favorite places, but the culture there causes my stomach to churn, at times) how do you remain sane?? (Living,as I do, in the Michigan 8th congressional district, I really need to know then answer to this question.)

     • 

       Knoxville Progressive on July 20, 2006 at 9:21 am

       This is worthy of a diary, to open the discussion to everyone living in someplace short of “The People’s Republic of Vermont.”  I’ll try and post it Thursday.

2. 

   Oui on July 19, 2006 at 9:33 am

   .

   Grim Search for Bodies after Indonesian Tsunami

   PANGANDARAN, Indonesia (AFP) 30 minutes ago — Rescuers dug with bare hands in a grim search for bodies after more than 520 people were confirmed killed in the second tsunami to strike Indonesia in as many years.

   The three-metre (10-foot) tsunami lashed the densely-populated south coast of Java island, sparking memories of the 2004 catastrophe that left 220,000 people dead across Asia, 168,000 of them in Indonesia’s Aceh province.

     «« click on pic for BBC story
   An Indonesian woman, center, faints as rescuers recover the body of her six-year old son at a tsunami-ravaged area in Pangandaran, West Java, Indonesia. AP Photo/Dita Alangkara

   "But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

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3. 

   Arcturus on July 19, 2006 at 11:45 am

   The Energy Department has a new opening date for the long-delayed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada: March 31, 2017.   [snip]

   Under the schedule, the department would submit its license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on June 30, 2008, get authorization to begin construction on Sept. 30, 2011, complete construction on March 30, 2016 and begin accepting nuclear waste on March 31, 2017.  [snip]

   But Domenici, who last month released a proposal for interim nuclear waste storage at federal sites across the country, said his plan still would be needed because the government is years past its 1998 deadline to begin accepting spent fuel from nuclear reactors.

   Yucca Mountain is planned as the first national repository for nuclear waste and is meant to hold at least 77,000 tons of the material for thousands of years. The dump site is in the desert 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

   The project has been delayed repeatedly by lawsuits, funding shortfalls, evidence that government scientists flouted quality control standards – requiring their work to be redone – and other problems.

   Currently there are more than 50,000 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste waiting at nuclear power plants in 31 states. The government is obligated by contract to take the waste off the utilities’ hands but has not done so because it has no place to put it.

   “This timetable is a rosy scenario painted to please those desperate to see Yucca Mountain open for business, said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., who along with the rest of Nevada’s congressional delegation strongly opposes the dump.   link

   Citizen Alert has a detailed map of the routes that will be used to transport tons of nuclear waste from around the country, as well as a factsheet proposing an alternative plan (PDF!) to Yucca Mountain.

4. 

   Arcturus on July 19, 2006 at 12:11 pm

   Up until now, Israel has done the following: blown up our international airport, runways, gas reserves for planes (no one can leave or enter the country); blown up small military and domestic airports (both in the north and south); blown up all bridges and roads linking Beirut to the south; blown up villages in the south, everything from the deep south to Sidon; blown up – as I type this now, another jet is flying by, it is so loud – blown up the suburbs (Dahiya); blown up the Beirut to Damascus road at several points. We are surrounded by sea as well.   [snip]

   . . . We were just planning to start a family. Who wants to get pregnant now?

   We are under attack by Israel. It is so unjust and unfair. Everything we’ve worked towards for the past 10 years is gone. We had so many events planned for the summer: exhibitions … concerts … plays. All gone.   [snip]

   Believe it or not, the sun is beginning to rise and I actually hear birds chirping.   {snip}

   . . . amid the worst shelling we have had so far, I realised that I was not afraid of the noise any more; how quickly you get used to it. I realised what was hurting the most was the unknown. What is going to happen tomorrow? When will this all end? How are we going to start rebuilding again? Are the refugees going to be OK? How are the people in the south? And why punish a whole country? How much worse is it going to get?   [snip]

   There are thousands like me here, who build culture and tolerance, who work for peace and understanding, to educate. Who work to promote love and compassion. What about us?   [snip]

   I don’t want to write about how everything I have spent my whole life working for has disappeared in a matter of days. A matter of days … my whole life has changed.   My city, on fire again

   The US is giving Israel a window of a week to inflict maximum damage on Hizbullah before weighing in behind international calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon, according to British, European and Israeli sources. The Bush administration, backed by Britain, has blocked efforts for an immediate halt to the fighting initiated at the UN security council, the G8 summit in St Petersburg and the European foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels.

   “It’s clear the Americans have given the Israelis the green light. They will be allowed to go on longer, perhaps for another week,” a senior European official said yesterday.   link

5. 

   Arcturus on July 19, 2006 at 12:56 pm

   FlashPoints Radio: Tuesday, July 18, 2006  

   Listen   D’load   Podcast 

   Israeli F-16s contine to pound Lebanon as the death toll rises to over 230, including an entire family of 9 killed in Lebanon; we’ll speak to Robert Fisk on the ground in Beirut; we’ll also speak with former high-level CIA analyst Ray McGovern for a deep backgrounder on the players and the dangers in the expanding Middle East war; and the Knight Report with Robert Knight.

6. 

   Arcturus on July 19, 2006 at 1:03 pm

   Israel Violates Law on U.S. Weapons in Mideast

   UNITED NATIONS – Israel is in violation of U.S. arms control laws for deploying U.S.-made fighter planes, combat helicopters and missiles to kill civilians and destroy Lebanon’s infrastructure in the ongoing six-day devastation of that militarily-weak country.   [snip]

   “Section 4 of the (U.S.) Arms Export Control Act requires that military items transferred to foreign governments by the United States be used solely for internal security and legitimate self-defense,” says Stephen Zunes, professor of politics at the University of San Francisco. “Since Israeli attacks against Lebanon’s civilian infrastructure and population centers clearly go beyond legitimate self-defense, the United States is legally obliged to suspend arms transfers to Israel,” Zunes told IPS.    [snip]

   “The Israeli Air Force now flies only U.S.-origin fighters, a mix of F-15s and F-16s, and the rest of the service’s fleet is almost completely of U.S. origin,” says Tom Baranauskas, a senior Middle East analyst at Forecast International, a leading provider of defense market intelligence services in the United States.   [snip]

   . . . the latest CRS survey shows a total of 8.4 billion dollars of arms deliveries to Israel in the 1997-2004 period, with fully 7.1 billion dollars or 84.5 percent coming from a single source: the United States. A major factor in this trend was the rise in U.S. Foreign Military Financing (FMF) — outright U.S. grants to Israel — which now totals about 2.3 billion dollars a year paid for by U.S. taxpayers.   [snip]

   U.S. assistance to Israel during 1950-2005 has been staggeringly high: Foreign Military Financing (FMF) amounting to 59.5 billion dollars; 27 billion dollars in Foreign Military Sales (FMS) mostly government-to-government arms transactions; and eight billion dollars in commercial arms sales by the private sector.   link

7. 

   Oui on July 19, 2006 at 4:26 pm

   .

   Dutch Presence in Iraq — Camp Smitty

     «« click on pic for story
   March 2005 - Dutch base in Iraq - Camp Smitty - is no more

   July 2006 — Al-Muthanna province now governed by Iraqi’s

   The Aussies and the British press with no mention of the lion-share performed by the Dutch to pacify the province and train the new Iraqi forces.

   Defence Secretary congratulates Iraqis on taking over control of Al Muthanna

   "But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

   ▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY