Archive for August, 2019

03/08/2019

Hanford’s Dirty Secret– 25,000 Years and $80 Billion Dollars (Part 2)

By the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)* — Hanford is the most toxic site in the United States. Why is the cleanup plan destined for failure?
.
Clean up efforts at Hanford

.

In 2017, the Hanford Waste Management Site, Washington, was suddenly evacuated. A radioactive waste storage tunnel, built in 1965, had collapsed and the fallout was unknown.

Hanford holds the waste from most of the US’s weapons-grade plutonium, about 56 million gallons of radioactive sludge in decrepit tanks.

read more »

03/08/2019

Hanford’s Dirty Secret– and It’s Not 56 Million Gallons of Nuclear Waste (Part 1)

By the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)*Building nuclear weapons requires materials and labor, not just from scientists, but also from the men and women living in communities nearby. After the Cold War, many of the United State’s most crucial nuclear weapons production sites ‘closed’ and were forgotten, but not by workers and local communities, who were left to deal with the devastating, toxic legacy of these sites.
The Hanford Site
This is obvious at Hanford Waste Management Site, Washington. It is sometimes referred to as “the most toxic place in America,” yet most people will never have heard of it.

read more »

03/08/2019

The Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty Definitive Collapse: Dawn of a New Nuclear Arms Race?

Human Wrongs Watch

By the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)*, 2 August 2019  — Today, 2 August 2019, the governments of the US and Russia have missed a troubling deadline: the end of the six-month notice period that began when both countries announced their withdrawal from the INF Treaty earlier this year.
03/08/2019

“The History of Nuclear Testing Is One of Suffering, with the Victims of More than 2,000 Nuclear Tests Often from the Most Vulnerable Communities of the World”

Human Wrongs Watch

By the United Nations*Since nuclear weapons testing began on 16 July 1945, nearly 2,000 have taken place. In the early days of nuclear testing little consideration was given to its devastating effects on human life, let alone the dangers of nuclear fallout from atmospheric tests.

featured-image-index

Licorne test, 1971, French Polynesia. Photo: The Official CTBTO Photostream

Hindsight and history have shown us the terrifying and tragic effects of nuclear weapons testing, especially when controlled conditions go awry, and in light of the far more powerful and destructive nuclear weapons that exist today.

read more »

03/08/2019

Even the Bermuda Triangle Has a Plastic Problem

03/08/2019

Air Pollution-Eating Moss Cleans Hotspots in Europe

1 August 2019 (UN Environment)*  — When 26-year-old Peter Sänger and 34-year-old Liang Wu got together, they realized right away that they had something in common. Both firm advocates in the fight against air pollution, they believe that if you can’t measure it, you can’t beat it.    

.

GreenCity-Cover(Photo from UN Environment story).

That’s why they founded Green City Solutions: “The solution to quantifiably improve city air.”

Their invention the CityTree acts as both an air purifier and a spectacular plant display.

Rooted in science, the vertical flat-paneled “trees” dotted around cities across Europe eat air pollution and double up as seats for pedestrians.

read more »

02/08/2019

July Equalled, and Maybe Surpassed, the Hottest Month in Recorded History

read more »

02/08/2019

Global Forum to Tackle Youth Employment Crisis

GENEVA, 31 July 2019 (ILO)* – More than 200 young people from around the world will be attending the Global Youth Employment Forum in Abuja , Nigeria to discuss how to ensure more and better quality jobs for young people.
noscritte.jpg
.
The forum, organized by the International Labour Organization in collaboration with the Nigerian government, takes place from 1 to 3 August at the Sheraton Hotel in Abuja.
Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari and ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, will address the opening ceremony, which will be webcast  along with the main events of the first day.
02/08/2019

The Cheapest Way to Save the Planet Grows Like a Weed

Human Wrongs Watch

By Ellen Brown | Web of Debt – TRANSCEND Media Service*

Planting billions of trees across the world is by far the cheapest and most efficient way to tackle the climate crisis. So states a July 4 article in The Guardian, citing a new analysis published in the journal Science. The author explains:

0-1-0-cannabis_sativa_plant_2-marijuana.jpg

read more »

02/08/2019

‘Hijrah’ Talk: A New Dialogue around Migration in the Middle East and North Africa

Cairo, 2 August 2019 (IOM)*  – “Hijrah Talk”, a talk show using digital platforms to challenge misconceptions around migration, was launched on 29 July by IOM’s Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

egy20190802-1_0

From left: IOM Egypt Chief of Mission Laurent de Boeck, IOM Senior Regional Liaison and Policy Officer Kristina Mejo, and IOM Head Media and Communications Division and Spokesperson Leonard Doyle at the launch of “Hijrah Talk” last 29 July by IOM’s Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

read more »