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POPSWater Policy in Israel and Palestine - There's Enough Water for Both The increasing difficulties with water availability, concludes the hydrogeologist, result from Israel using the majority of water resources for agricultural purposes, although this sector today represents a very small portion of the Israeli economy. Despite this, the Israeli state remains unswervingly committed to the Zionist foundation myth, which regards the promotion of agriculture as a central tenet in the Jewish settlement of Palestine. Messerschmid, in turn, sees the priorities of Israeli water policies as fundamentally flawed, leading to a wasteful use of the precious resource. Large areas of land, for instance, are still intensively watered even during conditions of very high temperatures, although most of the water immediately evaporates. The Palestinians, by contrast, do not even have the amount of water at their disposal that was promised in the Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty. Deutsche Fassung
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POPSGlaciers melting at an 'alarming' rate There are figures which show the current melt rates, and they say there is no end in sight, but the end will come when there is no glacier left to melt. people that rely on glaciers for water, will have to find it somewhere else. There is no doubt, wherever they get it, it will be expensive.
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POPSSandcastles need water to stay upright They found you don't need much water at all. As long as it isn't dry. They also say that the work has implications in things like mining, and pharmaceuticals, where there are powders involved. The same principle applies
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POPSResearchers leap a nano hurdle They have managed to make sheets of carbon one atom thick. The graphite in pencils is made of stacks of these sheets, but they have had trouble separating them without clumping. Now they have found and easy way (always easy once you work out how) The are many applications, particularly because of the biological affinity for carbon, and can be useful as electrodes for bionic devices, such as cochlear implants.
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POPSDust, Air, Water Sources of Lead In the late1970 in the U.S. Lead was banned from Gasoline, and paint, amongst other things. While Atmospheric Lead levels were reduced, the Lead didn't just disappear, it just settled into the soil, and accumulated in other places. Lead was and is a common ingredient in many household and industrial products much of the time it's inclusion is either unknown or ignored. It is one of the poisons that effects Everybody - Rich or poor. Things like this accumulate at the top of the food chain - That is generally people. There is no cure.
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POPSUN Warns of Biofuels' Environmental Risk There has been the prospect of biofuels causing food shortages, where food crops are replaced with biofuel crops, but there is the fact that biofuel crops like any other need large mounts of water to grow, with associated redirection of drinking water. There is the land required to grow them, and in Indonesia, Malaysia, and no doubt other countries, where forests can face threats, when they are cleared, to make room for expansion of palm oil plantations. These forests naturally store carbon, and are a key tool in the fight to reduce global warming. Is There Money in it ? Then it will happen. Then there is another prospect. An outbreak of pests and/or diseases could wipe out an entire plantation with one stroke. Then it will happen.
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POPSWeird water Discovery challenges long-held beliefs about water's special properties
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POPSUN Climate Chief to visit Antarctica Much of the ice that has built up over the land at the poles has been frozen fast to the land. As the climate warms, and sea level rises, a sheet of water can form between the ice and the land. Then, due to the buildup, and weight of the ice on the water, an ice sheet can slip into the ocean, creating turbulence, greater ocean volume, and an acceleration of the melt. Will we soon have a planet where there is no ice?
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POPSBeautiful Beetles. No, not VWs. The beetles listed are generally found in Australia, some native, and some introduced. They are the most abundant of all insects, and play a valuable part in the breakdown of organic matter in the soil, and soil aeration. The varieties extend across the world, being active in the summer, and breeding and dying as the weather cools. The last picture of the Green beetle unlabeled is an example of a Stink beetle, which is a Ground beetle, or carab.
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POPSChemical find shuts down 2 L.A. reservoirs The chemical bromate, is craeted when bromine in groundwater is combined with chlorine, and exposed to sunlight. It is said to be the first time an occurrence like this has been observed. Bromine is a key ingredient in flame retardants, so the chemicals used to fight the California fires may be leeching into the ground water. The dams are a fraction of LA's total water storage, but fire retardant chemicals would have been used over a wide area of California State, so soils may have unusually high bromine levels. It may pay to find out exactly why this happened to be wary of where it may happen again.
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POPSResearchers Find New Deep Water Coral The coral was found in a national park created by George Bush, off the Hawaiian Islands. It is 3000-6000 ft deep and is a reminder that so few of the existing marine species that exist have been discovered. We know more about the moon, than the Ocean
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POPSUN has concern about Baghdad Cholera The outbreak has spread to half of Iraq's 18 provinces It is spread, by drinking contaminated water, It is estimated 1 in 3 children has access to clean drinking water. Increased rain and flooding allows it to spread, through contaminated water. One of the main symptoms, that often results in death is dehydration. Attempts are being made to increase distribution of clean water, and water purification tablets.
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POPSUN Calls for improved Worldwide Sanitation A third of the planets population, don't have clean water, and sanitation. 90% of Human sewage in developing countries, pollutes the public water supply, due to a lack of sewerage systems. The UN Secretary General, is naming 2008 the International Year of Sanitation, to highlight the problem.
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POPSSan Franscisco oil spill cleanup continues Just over 16% of the oil has been recovered, but by the weekend most of the oil would be beyond containment and capture. It was said oil and birds, don't mix, and that while some globules would remain, most would dissolve in the water. Oil and water don't mix, but the oil may just be broken down into smaller drops. The oil dissolving isn't much consolation. It just means the lowest, and dirtiest grade of oil-bunker fuel, will become a part of the open ocean. It won't disappear.
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POPSScientists enhance nature's carbon handling mechanism When rock is weathered, CO2, in water percolates through soil and rocks and becomes alkaline. This alkaline water can hold carbon better as bicarbonate, will reduce the acidity, and some of the carbon remains in sediment that settles on the bottom.
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POPSGeorgia Uni asks stadium fans not to flush They can save a lot of water going down the drain if rather than everyone flushing, the the urinal is rinsed periodically. There is another water saving method that can be used in toilets, where a house brick is placed in the cistern, to reduce the total volume lost in a flush, by the amount the brick displaces.
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