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If you happened to have been driving down a road in south Sudan lately, you would have seen tens of thousands of recently homeless people camping out alongside the highway. Between 50- and 60,000 people have been forced to flee from massive flooding in the region. Besides being worried about malaria outbreaks, officials are especially concerned about the effect this natural disaster will have on voter registration for a historical upcoming referendum that could split the country in two .

Almost constantly since independence in 1956, the Christians and animists in southern Sudan and the Muslims in the north have been engaged in bloody warfare because of tribal, ideological, religious and ethnic differences. However, a peace treaty signed in 2005 marked a turning point in the conflict as it ended the civil war and proposed a referendum for the south’s independence. In January, citizens will vote on whether the south shall secede from the north – a decision that could mean the beginning of sustained peace, but certainly not the end of hardship. But as 60,000 people are wading through flood waters with no food and no shelter right now, registering to vote will probably be low on their priority lists. Also, more heavy rains are expected in October so the situation could potentially go from bad to worse even with the UN aid that has arrived.

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As the New York Times reports, “Last Thursday, hundreds of activists with Climate Camp, a grass-roots protest group, descended on the headquarters of the Royal Bank of Scotland to protest the bank’s financing of carbon-intensive energy projects like mining…” In an effort to draw public attention to the sinister nature of Bank-financed projects which are allegedly environmentally harmful and morally questionable, activists glued themselves together in front of the executive parking garage to block entry. One protestor glued her hands to the front desk and read out loud a document accusing one of the Bank’s partners, an Indian coal mining company called Vedanta, of human rights abuses.

The super-gluers aren’t the only ones who think that Vedanta should no longer be supported by external funding. In an extremely uncharacteristically forward move, the Church of England decided to disinvest from the company on moral grounds this February. Several high-profile NGOs including Amnesty International have also publicly criticized the company. The reasons given have to do with how Vedanta’s coal mines are encroaching upon the habitat of indigenous peoples, thus threatening their livelihoods. Also, the company’s mines are posing a serious threat to natural ecosystems because construction and management are not well regulated and environmental protection does not seem to be very high on their priority list.

Even though stunts like gluing yourself to another person could seem like it’s just kids having too much fun in the arts and crafts cabinet, Climate Camp’s objectives were serious and well thought-out. The Royal Bank of Scotland is 83% taxpayer-owned so I think UK citizens have a right to try to control where that money is being spent. It’s like what one NGO director said in a comment directed toward Vedanta- “we will not bankroll your abuses. Anybody that has shares in Vedanta should sell them today if they care about human rights.”

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A round up of a few news stories about water and the environment from all over the world.

South Pakistan villagers flee threatened areas: Hundreds of thousands of flood-affected villagers from the devastated southern region are fleeing for fear of more flooding. Click here to help victims who have lost their homes.

A question of water in Pakistan: Floods in Pakistan are a matter of war and peace. This insight into what the floods in Pakistan will mean for the future of the country and the region is worth a read.

Fashion Tries on Zero Waste Design: Currently 15-20% of scraps discarded while designing clothes end up in the landfill. Fashion designers in New York are trying to reduce all that waste in an innovative way that will hopefully catch on.

"Nearly 104,000 people are crammed onto an island about a square mile in size."-MSNBC

Rising ocean levels threaten Maldives: An interesting and informative slideshow of photos outlining the problem of overpopulation and environmental degradation on one tiny island in the Indian Ocean

Ocean census reveals what lies beneath the waves: Marine biologists in Japan and Australia reveal the findings of a ten-year study to discover new species of ocean life. The dragon fish they found looks as cool as it sounds AND it has teeth on its tongue.

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1. Water in the news
2. Water in the news
3. Water in the news

Portugal is making big strides toward reducing its dependence on foreign oil by introducing standard-setting national renewable energy projects. Taking full advantage of the country’s bountiful amount of sunlight and wind, a large portion of Portugal’s most trendy hotspot bars and resorts are already powered substantially by clean energy. And following this momentum, 45% of the entire country’s electricity grid will now come from renewable sources, more than twice the amount in 2005. The government, motivated especially by the fact that Portugal has very limited access to fossil fuels of its own, will also implement a national network of charging stations for electric cars and has plans to make better use of domestic hydropower sources.

But what about the cost of all this? Officials claim these environmental initiatives will be no strain on the national budget and will cause no debt, but some citizens are resisting for fear of rising taxes. Nonetheless, Portugal is continuing to become an international example of a society which has made clean energy policies sustainable and effective. Hopefully the United States will follow suit. Read more here: Portugal Gives Itself a Clean-Energy Makeover

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In what UN experts are calling the worst flood in 80 years, over 4 million Pakistanis have been affected by the devastating natural disaster ripping through the north-west region of the country right now. The death toll is rising as people lack access to clean water, food and shelter. International aid agencies are swooping in to help those who have just watched their livelihoods, families, and ancestral land swept away in an instant. But the rains continue and disaster relief is still desperately needed- and that’s where you come in. Tonic.com has compiled the following list of organizations that are on the ground in Pakistan and that ask for support in their rescue efforts. I have included the list here in hopes that readers will respond to this appeal for emergency aid in flood-ravaged Pakistan.

• Hillary Clinton announced Wednesday that Americans could text the word “SWAT” to the number 50555 to donate $10 per SMS message to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to provide tents, clothing, food, clean water and medicine to Pakistan.

• American Red Cross seeks to raise $100,000 to aid its Pakistan equivalent — Pakistan Red Crescent — with teams on the ground providing food, other relief items and medical care. To donate, go to their website.

• UNICEF is providing help with water, sanitation, health and nutrition for displaced children and families. To donate, please click here.

• Stamford, Conn.-based AmeriCares is sending medical and other aid to the hardest-hit areas of the flood. Readers can donate through the AmeriCares website.

• CARE needs donations for its health teams, mobile clinics and distribution of food, which will help 100,000 flood victims. To donate, go to their website.

• Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres is providing water, sanitation help, hygiene kits, cooking utensils and other items to Pakistanis. Doctors Without Borders has also prepared itself to care for patients in case of cholera outbreaks. To donate to Doctors Without Borders, give to its emergency fund.

• The International Rescue Committee, founded by Albert Einstein in 1933, is on the ground assessing the disaster, planning to make clean water accessible and to provide shelter to people who have lost their homes. To donate to the IRC’s efforts in Pakistan, click here.

• The International Medical Corps (IMC) has sent mobile medical teams of doctors and paramedics to assist victims in the hardest hit areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in the northwest. To make a donation to the Santa Monica, Calif. based organization, founded by a UCLA doctor, go to the IMC website. The organization is also seeking doctors, nurses and trained professionals from a wide variety of fields. For more information and to volunteer, visit the Corps’ website.

• Westport, Conn.-based Save the Children, dedicated to helping children worldwide, is already providing medical care, food and shelter kits. To donate to its Pakistan efforts, click here.

• Mercy Corps‘ Pakistan Emergency Fund supports Mercy Corps workers with their efforts in helping displaced families in the hard-hit Swat Valley. Visit the Mercy Corps website to donate to the Pakistan Emergency Fund.

• Oxfam hopes to reach 400,000 people affected by the devastating floods, supplying clean water and preventing the spread of waterborne disease. To support Oxfam’s efforts, go to the Oxfam America website. Those outside the US can donate to its UK emergency relief fund for Pakistan.

• The World Food Programme, the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger, is supplying food to the tens of thousands affected by the floods. To donate, visit the WFP website.

• Islamic Relief Worldwide, a relief organization based in Birmingham, England, has launched a £2 million (or $3.2 million USD) appeal to deliver clean water, food and health care. You can donate here.

• BRAC has temporarily halted its normal operations in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to provide relief work. Due to the acute food shortage, BRAC Pakisan has begun to deliver food packets containing such items at rice, lentils, flour and water purification tables. In the immediate future, the team will also be distributing Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) and sending out a medical team to begin assessing health needs. To donate, click here.

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I found this on Huffington Post and think it’s a great break down of all the reasons to stop buying bottled water. Whoever thought this up points out an interesting vicious cycle that goes a little bit like this: Tap water tastes bad and is sometimes of questionable quality partially because the government lacks funds and power to fix aging municipal water systems–> People drink the tap water and decide it tastes bad so they (the affluent in particular) begin to buy bottled water regularly–>In consuming bottled water, they no longer need to deal with bad-tasting water and do not take action to pass bills which would improve water quality–>water continues to taste bad because no one cares enough to address the problem.

Via: Term Life Insurance

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Here are some of the latest headlines regarding water and the environment:

Brazilian Indians take hostages at Amazon dam site: Brazilian native Indians on Sunday took 100 workers hostage at the construction site of a hydroelectric plant which was built on top of an ancient burial site in the southern Amazon region.

Plastiki Completes Epic Plastic Journey: The journey of Plastiki, a 60-foot boat made out of 12,500 recycled plastic bottles came to an end today after travelling from California to Australia. The mission of the voyage was to bring attention to the effect plastic waste is having on the health of the Pacific Ocean.

Plastiki captain David de Rothschild

China water warning as oil spill hits Yellow River: After a pipeline burst in China, officials are trying to contain the damage but traces of oil have already been detected in the water supply that millions depend on.

Officials fear floods, strained reinforcements: More from China- “After more than 700 flooding deaths and some of the season’s worst downpours yet to come, senior officials are warning that the flood reinforcements of thousands of aging reservoirs in the country are strained to their limit.”

Do Cleaning Products Cause Breast Cancer?: A new study links the use of conventional cleaning products with higher risk of breast cancer. Yet another reason to clean green http://www.bluegranola.com/2009/10/31/clean-green/

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If I had to think of ten ways to “go green,” eating kangaroos would probably not be on my list. But according to scientists in Australia, I should add it on there. Beef is currently the most widely produced meat down under and the environment suffers greatly as a result. In fact, over 50% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions come from cow burps. When the grazing animal is digesting food, it continuously expels methane, a gas that is much more ecologically destructive than carbon dioxide, in the form of a burp. Indeed, enteric fermentation (the polite scientific term for burping and farting) is a serious environmental concern because methane is over 20 times more effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere than CO2.

Kangaroos on the other hand require fewer resources and do not expel nearly the amount of methane as a cow does; so some Australians are trying to bring it into mainstream eating habits. Kangatarians- those who do not eat any other meat besides kangaroo for environmental reasons- are growing in numbers. According to one Australian newspaper: “The low level of greenhouse gas emissions produced by kangaroos, and the fact that they require no additional feed, water or land cleared for them, make them an obvious choice for the ecologically conscious.” While it is organically harvested and humanely killed, there will be many difficulties on the road to making kangaroo-eating popular and widely-accepted.

A green alternative to red meat?

The cute furry animal is a symbol of national pride for Australians and is featured on the country’s coat of arms, so seeing kangaroo nuggets in the grocery store freezer might turn some stomachs. I can imagine that it would be a bit like Americans eating bald eagles as a greener alternative to chicken. Also, kangaroos cannot be herded and it would take ten of them to produce the same amount of meat as one steer. As the debate continues, consider finding more alternatives to eating beef.

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These clips are a bit old by now, but I had to post them anyway because no one says it better than Stephen Colbert.

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