Water

Cape Town, South Africa

meetingoftheminds.org - by Manohar Patole - April 3, 2018

The growth of urban settlements is subject to a range of factors influenced by demographic, economic, political, environmental, cultural, and social factors. Weather variability, or climate change, has recently risen up this list. These two factors: climate change and urban population growth, are dramatically affecting urban water management. On one hand, growing populations increase urban water demand and on the other, climate change has increased water variability (volume, distribution, timing and quality) . . . 

 . . . How will cities adapt? Reframe. Develop new responses.

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Algae bloom covers northern Lake Pontchartrain

nola.com - by Mark Schleifstein - March 26, 2018

Large areas of Lake Pontchartrain are now covered with algae that may be the so-called blue-green version, which are often toxic and can cause a variety of health effects in humans and pets, officials with the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation announced Monday (March 26).

That conclusion is based on aerial photographs taken by Patrick Quigley with Gulf Coast Air Photo, and observations by boaters, both of which found a large area of green to blue-green material on the surface of the lake along the North Shore and on both sides of the northern third of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway.

Blue-green algae is actually made up of cyanobacteria, which can produce a variety of toxins -- or poisonous substances -- that can affect the liver, kidney and the reproductive system, and can cause abdominal pain, headaches, sore throats, nausea, diarrhea,  pneumonia, tingling or burning sensations, numbness, drowsiness, and respiratory paralysis, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Image: A street in St. Martin after Hurricane Irma. Residents spoke of a disintegration in law and order as survivors struggled in the face of severe food and water shortages. Credit Martin Bureau/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

nytimes.com - Azam Ahmed and Kirk Semple - September 10th 2017

At dawn, people began to gather, quietly planning for survival after Hurricane Irma.

They started with the grocery stores, scavenging what they needed for sustenance: water, crackers, fruit.

But by nightfall on Thursday, what had been a search for food took a more menacing turn, as groups of people, some of them armed, swooped in and took whatever of value was left: electronics, appliances and vehicles.

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Image: An oil refinery.

esquire.com - Charles P. Pierce - August 30th 2017

It is the Christian thing to do in the middle of tragedies like the one currently unfolding along the Texas-Louisiana Gulf coast not to politicize human suffering and, certainly, the stories of people rescuing their fellow citizens from this calamity deserve to be told and they deserve to be spread as widely as possible. But there is nothing I can find in the Gospels that would forbid us from politicizing politics. So let us summon the ghost of Walter Winchell and review some of the events of the past few days.

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