Environment

Acid Oceans Threaten Shellfish and Much More

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Months ahead of official United Nations climate talks, scientists are meeting in Copenhagen to discuss concerns that global climate change could be worse than 2007 predictions — and could occur sooner. Among the topics at hand is new Australian research that shows carbon dioxide pollution is creating acidic oceans at a rapid pace, potentially leading to the mass extinction of deep-water species, reports Agence France-Presse. Researchers say this last occurred about 65 million years ago, when a giant release of carbon dioxide produced mass oceanic extinctions. Current evidence shows that acidity is destroying the shells of tiny organisms that help absorb enormous amounts of carbon pollution from the atmosphere. The Guardian reports that growing acidity is already placing pressure on shellfish and other marine life in the Arctic and Antarctic.

Democracy & Civics

Facebook Politics go Global

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U.S. President Barack Obama’s electoral success using social networking and the Internet is being mirrored in other parts of the world by candidates and nonpartisan democracy advocates. Mauricio Funes, front runner in El Salvador’s March 15 presidential elections, has a Facebook page where his friends can keep tabs on his campaign doings and post messages of support — and where Funes himself is said to write on his followers’ walls, urging them to “vote for change.” [Editor’s note: The Washington Post is reporting that Funes has won the Salvadoran election.]
In Chile, political candidates have sometimes had a hard time connecting with their supporters, in part because the country’s vast territory make on-the-ground campaigning difficult.
Now, The Santiago Times reports that the two major candidates for president in Chile both have Facebook pages, it is the center-right candidate, Sebastian Pinera, who is more effectively tapping into Facebook, Flickr, Fotolog, Twitter and YouTube. Meanwhile, his center-left opponent, former President Eduardo Frei, is stepping up his digital pace with a political Facebook page that features YouTube videos of his everyday activities. In India, however, it’s not the candidates but nonpartisan interest groups who are leading the technological charge to advance the democratic process.

Democracy & Civics

Afghan Women in Parliament, Yet Stifled

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A new political party for women’s rights will be on the ballot in Afghanistan in the next elections. Yet the party, National Need, faces an uphill battle in a male-dominated society where religious fundamentalists and former warlords hold the power in Parliament, and snub their female peers, reports Inter Press Service. In fact, a Human Rights Watch study that found three out of five members of the Afghan Parliament have a connection to warlords or war crimes. Party leader Fatima Nazari, currently a member of Parliament, told IPS that the warlords-turned-legislators stifle female parliamentarians by ignoring them or not giving them a chance to speak. However, the Afghan constitution mandates that women hold 25 percent of the Parliamentary seats — a measure that so far has not guaranteed that women’s voices are heard.

Public Health

Scots to Scotch (Cheap) Whiskey?

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In a move to curb alcohol consumption and reduce public health problems, the Scottish government plans to ban lower-priced liquor in supermarkets — but not before critics have their say. With the eighth-highest rate of alcohol consumption worldwide, and more than 42,000 alcohol-related hospital admissions per year, Scotland hopes to ban lower pricing deals on alcohol, reports the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. If the ban goes through Scotland will be the first country in the world with a minimum price on alcohol. Yet one industry representative said that the plan is unworkable, claiming that although the expense of alcohol will not deter an addict, higher prices will punish lower-income communities. Whiskey distillers say the ban may violate international trade laws, while health advocates note that deaths from alcohol abuse have doubled in the last 15 years, the Financial Times reports.

Environment

Bamboo Bikes for the People

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Craig Calfee, an elite bicycle designer, makes high quality, fully functional bicycles out of bamboo that sell for over $2,000 in the United States.  
Now, Calfee has launched Bamboosero Bikes, which will bring a priced-down version of his eco-friendly bicycles to rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa, according to industry journal Bicycle Retailer.  
Most bikes in Africa are cheaply made imports from China and India. 
Calfee has designed a cargo bike made from locally grown bamboo that is more appropriate for heavy loads and bumpy roads than imported bikes.   
The bikes, which are said to be fully sustainable and require no power tools to make, are intended to to give rural Africans better transport options, and to foster a bike-building cottage industry.   
–Julia Hengst/Newsdesk.org 
Source:
“Africans Mold Bamboo into Cargo Bikes”
Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, March 2, 2009

Environment

Sweden's own Ecotopia

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The small town of Kalmar, Sweden, is on track to become entirely free of fossil-fuel use by the year 2030, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune. 
The city’s comprehensive program to reduce fossil fuels includes heat and electricity generated by a local wood pulp plant, an entire fleet of biodiesel municipal trucks, strict energy efficient building codes and tax incentives.  
Kalmar’s 60,000 residents save money by getting over 65 percent of their energy from renewable resources. 
They say that while the shift has been an adjustment, it “hasn’t made life miserable.” 
At first, most of the city’s politicians scoffed at the idea of independence from fossil fuels, but now they are overwhelmingly in support of the transition. 
“We are not eco-freaks,” one sustainability officer told the Tribune. “We’re just making it easy to change, giving people the tools.”  
–Julia Hengst/Newsdesk.org
Source:
“Going green: Entire Swedish city switches to biofuels to become environmentally friendly”
Chicago Tribune, March 3, 2009
 

Economy

Black Truckers Win Big Wal-Mart Settlement

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Black truck drivers who claimed that Wal-Mart discriminated against them have reached a settlement of $17.5 million, although the company denies any wrongdoing. The 23 drivers who filed suit will also receive priority job placement for future work with the company. According to the Associated Press, figures show that 15 percent of truckers were black from 2000 to 2005. However, in that five-year period only 4 percent to 6 percent of Wal-Mart’s 8,000 truckers were black, and none of the hiring committees at Wal-Mart’s various sites had a strong representation of blacks, despite a rule that the panels have 50 percent minority membership. — Brittany Owens/Newsdesk.org
Source:
“Retail giant Wal-Mart settles suit by black truck drivers”
Associated Press, February 20, 2009

Democracy & Civics

Historically Black Schools: Change They can Believe in?

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Historically black colleges and universities face declining enrollment, with expenses rising and the historic culture changing. Only 13 percent of African Americans pursuing higher education are enrolled at a historically black college, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Mark Gamble, an African American who attends Georgia State University, where the population is 60 percent Caucasian, told the newspaper: “I like being around whites, blacks, Asians and all other minorities.” Indeed, students from some higher-income families are opting for a more diverse environment at schools such as Harvard, Vanderbilt and elsewhere. Those who choose historically black institutions find that they are getting a good education, but also a debt burden.

Public Health

In Kyrgyzstan, Stigma Trumps Hippocrates

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Some doctors in the central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan are refusing to treat people with a history of drug use, incarceration and HIV infection. EurasiaNet reports that such individuals are “regularly denied treatment at hospitals around the country.” Scarce medical resources are partially to blame, but social stigma also drives the problem. According to a report funded by the Soros Foundation, one doctor said that drug users “made a personal decision to choose such a lifestyle” and should therefore be denied care even in life-threatening situations. –Julia Hengst/Newsdesk.org

Source:
“Kyrgyzstan: Doctors Deny Treatment To Undesirables”
EurasiaNet, February 20, 2009

World

Bulgaria Juggles its Nuclear Waste

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Bulgarian dependence on nuclear energy has produced a hot problem — how to dispose of spent nuclear fuel. The BBC reports that although nuclear power keeps Bulgaria’s carbon emissions down, it also creates tons of toxic waste that will remain radioactive far into the future. Some of the waste goes temporarily to Russia, but after reprocessing and a ten-year waiting period gets returned to its source. For this reason, and increasing transport costs, other Eastern European countries no longer work with Russia — but Bulgaria is running out of room in-country to store the spent fuel produced by its two active nuclear plants. So far, the problem has not caused Bulgaria to rethink the way it produces electricity.