Illnesses emerge in Tennessee town after toxic coal ash spill

By Stephanie Smith, CNN Medical Producer HARRIMAN, Tennessee (CNN) — Pamela Hampton stands at the kitchen sink, her gaze trained out of the window of her family’s small hillside home. The disaster site is not visible from where she stands, but she knows it is there, down the hill, around a short stretch of highway, […]

Graph of the Day: US Oil Consumption, 2004-2009

Oil consumption in the US decreased by 480,000 b/d from March to April to a level of 18.26 million b/d. Average consumption of oil in the US in 2009 up to April was 18.69 million b/d, versus 19.50 and 20.70 million b/d in respectively 2008 and 2007. … Oilwatch Monthly – July 2009 Technorati Tags: […]

Melting glaciers in Kashmir causing water shortages, conflict

Shangri-La is in trouble. According to an article by Stephen Faris in Foreign Policy and the IPCC, the Himalayan glacier in the Kashmir province that provides 90 percent of Pakistan’s water for agricultural irrigation will disappear by 2035 as a consequence of climate change. Appropriately titled “The Last Straw,” the article reviews water conflicts exacerbated […]

US budget deficit at $1 trillion

The US budget deficit has moved above $1 trillion (£616bn) for the first time – with three months of the financial year remaining, official data show. The government stepped up spending to counter the recession, and the bailout of financial institutions has taken a huge chunk out of government finances. Falling tax revenues and unemployment […]

Graph of the Day: Phosphorus Production, 1900-2007

It takes a lot of phosphorus to support our diet-about 222.5kg per person per year for a normal balanced diet. Professor Stuart White, Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney suggests that it follows the same Hubbert’s Peak pattern as oil, and that we are just about at the peak. He writes in […]

Australia drought triples antidepressant use by farmers

By Adele Horin AUSTRALIA’S extended drought is having a severe impact on the mental health of farmers and their partners — but they are not turning to alcohol to drown their sorrows. A new study shows that men and women in drought-affected areas are drinking less alcohol than those in areas unaffected by the long […]

Appalachia coal mining health costs in the tens of billions

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The costs of illness and premature deaths in Appalachia related to coal mining far outweigh economic benefits the industry brings to the region, says Michael Hendryx, Ph.D., associate director of the West Virginia University Institute for Health Policy Research in WVU’s Department of Community Medicine. “The human cost of the Appalachian coal […]

Graph of the Day: Historic Texas Drought

‘Once-in-a-century’ drought sending campers indoors and stunting crops North Texas has had average rainfall this year, and three “cool” days this week felt like Christmas in July. But don’t tell your friends in Central and South Texas, because they are feeling hot, parched and bothered. A “once-in-a-century” drought is baking a big swath of Texas, […]

Divers battle invasive kelp in Monterey Bay

David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor    (07-09) 17:30 PDT — Four divers led by a land-based ecologist hunted the turbid waters of San Francisco’s South Beach marina Thursday for a nasty, invasive seaweed that is taking over harbors and estuaries all along the Pacific coast. Although their prey didn’t seem to have a chance, the divers […]

Graph of the Day: Sacramento Real Estate Sales, June 2009

From Calculated Risk: Just using Sacramento as an example … I wish the NAR broke out the data like this! The Sacramento Association of REALTORS® is now breaking out monthly resales by equity sales (normal resales), and distressed sales (Short sales and REO sales). Here is the June data. They started breaking out REO sales […]

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