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Women in the developing world are at the climate-change frontlines. From Nicaragua to Mozambique (right), women must travel further for water due to drought and ecological decline, competing with wild animals, and disrupting their family’s welfare. Photo: Stig Nygaard
The online dating service eHarmony has launched a separate site for gays and lesbians as part of a settlement in a New Jersey civil rights case filed against it. The Press of Atlantic City reports that eHarmony’s Compatible Partners site went live in April for those seeking same-sex relationships. The launch is part of a settlement of a 2005 New Jersey discrimination complaint filed against eHarmony for catering solely to people looking for partners of the opposite sex. A similar complaint was filed against the company in California in 2007. –Ronnie Lovler/Newsdesk.org
Source:
“N.J. man’s efforts push eHarmony to launch gay site”
The Press of Atlantic City, April 3, 2009
Officials say women in developing countries are taking the brunt of the hardships created by climate change. Speaking at the Aspen Environment Forum in Colorado, government officials from Africa, the Middle East and South America described a variety of problems, reports the Aspen Daily News. In Nicaragua, droughts have forced women, who traditionally gather water and firewood accompanied by their daughters, to travel farther from home, keeping young women from school. Mozambique’s coastline is eroding and turning to desert, sending women farther to find fresh water, sometimes in competition with wild animals such as elephants. Advocates hope renewable energy projects and education will both help improve conditions, the newspaper reports.
A new United Nations atlas reveals that half the world’s 6,700 languages are endangered and could disappear. The 2009 edition of the Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger finds that India has the most endangered languages, with the United States in second place. The BBC reported the 192 indigenous languages in the United States are all considered “unsafe,” such as Navajo, with only 120,000 speakers; “endangered,” with just a handful of speakers; or already extinct. Alaska’s Eyak language became extinct last year when the last native speaker died, while Hawaii’s native language is considered endangered because only 1,000 people speak it, although that may change due to an increase in immersion schools. In Massachusetts, a member of the Wampanoag tribe revived her dead language by studying its grammar, then teaching it to her daughter, who is now the first native speaker in six generations.
Peru, Colombia and Ecuador are holding a second round of free-trade talks with the European Union, after but without the support of neighboring Bolivia. Latin American Press, a nonprofit outlet with a focus on human rights, reports that Bolivia left the talks in November, along with Ecuador, which rejoined negotiations in January. Critics said that E.U. wants patent and intellectual property rules that would favor European pharmaceutical companies, raising prices for drugs and increasing the wait for generic drugs to hit the market. –Julia Hengst/Newsdesk.org
“Trade pact threatens integration”
Latin American Press, April 1, 2009
A new music video television channel in Egypt aims to strengthen Islamic values and culture among Arab youth, reports the Christian Science Monitor. 4Shbab TV calls itself “Islam’s own MTV,” and avoids the racy dancing of mainstream music videos in favor of religious and family-friendly themes. The station has been criticized for its lack of women in general, both in music videos or on game shows like “Who wants to be an Islamic pop star?” 4Shbab founder Ahmed Abu Haiba told the Monitor that women would be allowed on the network only gradually, due to their “bad reputation” as provocative dancers. Despite this, Abu Haiba said the station has been threatened by Islamists who think the whole idea is sinful and forbidden.
A new study finds that extreme weather, possibly caused by climate change, is damaging underfunded Superfund toxic waste sites. In Summitville, Colorado, critics say one such site is leaking polluted water into a river used for agriculture, livestock and recreation.Photo: Sprol
Parts of the Swiss Alps may soon go Italian, as global warming melts the glaciers that originally defined that international border, reports New Scientist magazine. Although an Italian legislator has already proposed redrawing the dividing line, and both countries will amicably share the Matterhorn (as is currently the case), experts fear trouble may occur in other regions. Melting borders may be a flashpoint for conflict in the Himalaya Mountains, where a glacial meltdown in Kashmir could heighten tensions between India and Pakistan. In the Arctic, where the melt is opening up oil drilling and shipping possibilities, the United States, Canada and Russia are all claiming territorial rights. At the other end of the globe, Chile and Argentina may renew their battle over the Patagonia ice fields bordering both nations.
Global warming coupled with funding shortages are hurting efforts to clean up the most dangerous waste sites in the United States, activists say. A study by the nonprofit Center for Health, Environment and Justice found that extreme weather conditions like hurricanes and tornadoes, which may be related to climate change, are causing more damage at toxic waste sites. Advocates say that if Congress does not renew “polluter pay” fees, which ended in 1995, Superfund will remain short on cash, and the problem will only get worse. In Colorado, The Monte Vista Journal reports that the Summitville Superfund site is underfunded, and that polluted water leaking from a mining facility there affects a river used for agriculture, livestock and recreation. –Ronnie Lovler/Newsdesk.org
Sources:
“Global Warming hits SLV”
The Monte Vista Journal, March 26, 2009
“Superfund Report”
The Center for Health, Environment and Justice, March 19, 2009
Wal-Mart plans to open new stores in nine Central and South American countries this year, reports the Latin Business Chronicle. Experts say the global recession is helping Wal-Mart make new inroads because its low prices are attractive to consumers when budgets are tight. While other companies are reporting low growth or no growth, Wal-Mart’s earnings topped $13 billion in 2008 — up 5. 2 percent over the previous year, with “strong performance” in Brazil and Mexico. This is prompting Wal-Mart to invest more of its dollars south of the border — with additional stores in Argentina, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Chile and Puerto Rico.