Food

Firefly Technology Sheds New Light

Thu, 2012-03-22 13:34 — Kathy Gilbeaux

The light-producing enzyme in the firefly is the key to rapid pathogen detection // Source: cri.cn

submitted by Luis Kun

Homeland Security News Wire - March 22, 2012

A new device, employing the same chemical which lights up fireflies, can easily detect food contamination; the researchers who developed the system hope it will soon be used to test for other diseases, including HIV-AIDS.

Food contamination can now be detected easily by a new device based on the chemical which lights up fireflies.

The Bioluminescent Assay in Real-Time (BART), jointly invented by Professor Jim Murray of the Cardiff University’s School of Biosciences and Dr. Laurence Tisi of Lumora, allows users to test rapidly and simply for food poisoning bacteria. Professor Murray and his partners at technology company Lumora Ltd. hope to develop the system to test for other diseases, including HIV-AIDS.

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21 Issues for the 21st Century - Result of the UNEP Foresight Process on Emerging Environmental Issues

Fri, 2012-02-24 18:12 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Jerome C. Glenn

The process, which was led by the UNEP Chief Scientists with support from UNEP Division of Early Warning and Assessment, involved the identification of emerging issues by UNEP colleagues and a Foresight Panel comprising of 22 distinguished members of the scientific community cutting across a wide spectrum of environmental related disciplines and world regions; the debating and prioritization of the identified issues by the Foresight Panel; the scoring of prioritized issues via an electronic consultation (survey) involving more than 400 scientists worldwide; and a further debating and ranking of the final list of issues by the Foresight Panel, putting into consideration the outcome of the electronic consultation.

The process resulted in a list of 21 emerging environmental issues tagged “21 Issues for the 21st Century” covering the major themes of the global environment including food, land, freshwater, marine, biodiversity, climate change, energy, waste, and technology; as well important cross-cutting issues ranging from the need for better environmental governance, to the need for human behavioral change towards the environment.

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Video - USRio+2.0 Conference - Demo Alley Exhibitors

Sun, 2012-02-05 23:14 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Also see other USRio+2.0 videos in the right side-bar (in the link below)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqCTuvnsHGk

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The New Land Rush

Tue, 2012-01-31 21:01 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Janine Rees

Image Gallery - REUTERS / Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

by Terry J. Allen, from In These Times - utne.com - January-February 2012

A 21st-century land rush is on. Driven by fear and lured by promises of high profits, foreign investors are scooping up vast tracts of farmland in some of the world’s hungriest countries to grow crops for export.

As the climate changes and populations shift and grow, billions of people around the globe face shortages of land and water, rising food prices, and increasing hunger. Alarm over a future without affordable food and water is sparking unrest in a world already tinder-dried by repression and recession, corruption and mismanagement, boundary disputes and ancient feuds, ethnic tension and religious fundamentalism.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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U.S. Fears Serious Famine in Troubled Sudan Region

Sun, 2012-01-29 00:42 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Argil carries water to her family who are fleeing after fighting broke out, near the Blue Nile state capital al-Damazin (Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah Reuters, REUTERS / September 5, 2011)

dailypress.com - Andrew Quinn - Reuters - January 24, 2012

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States fears a large-scale famine in Sudan's restive border states of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile and is boosting pressure in Khartoum to accept aid or face a unilateral assistance operation, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday.

"We are feeling a lot of pressure, if there's no international access, to look at ways in which assistance would be carried across the border without their approval," Princeton Lyman, the Obama administration's special envoy for Sudan, told reporters.

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Preliminary Results of Assessments Done in South Sudan

Sun, 2012-01-29 00:25 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Preliminary results of assessments done in South Sudan . . . CERF allocates $104 million to 13 underfunded crises (including South Sudan and Haiti) . . .

(Juba, 7 January 2012): Humanitarian agencies are mounting a major emergency operation in Jonglei State in South Sudan to help people affected by the recent wave of inter-communal violence. “The Government of South Sudan has declared Jonglei a disaster zone and asked humanitarian agencies to accelerate life-saving assistance. We’re responding to that call,” said the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan Ms. Lise Grande.
. . .

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Slow Response to East Africa Famine 'Cost 'Lives'

Wed, 2012-01-18 13:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

BBC News - January 18, 2012

The US government says 29,000 children under five years old died between May and July 2011

Thousands of needless deaths occurred from famine in East Africa last year because the international community failed to heed early warnings, say two leading British aid organisations.

Oxfam and Save the Children say it took more than six months for aid agencies to act on warnings of imminent famine.

Between 50,000 and 100,000 people have died in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.

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Guardian: Maps and Lists of Occupy Everywhere Sites

Mon, 2011-10-24 07:42 — mdmcdonald

The below Guardian article provides a map and lists of where Occupy Everywhere protests are emerging. They are primarily, but not exclusively in the U.S. and Europe, in countries where the economy is in significant decline and inequities are significant. In most of these places, the youth fear that their future will be worse than their parents, due to the greed of a global elite insensitive to the destruction they have caused economically and environmentally.

The list includes 951 cities in 82 countries.

To see the story and full list, go to:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/oct/17/occupy-protests-world-list-map

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Occupy Wall Street Website

Sat, 2011-10-22 10:45 — admin

We're here for him!

Hear it from the horse's mouth:

http://occupywallst.org/

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Challenges Loom as World Population Hits 7 Billion

Mon, 2011-10-17 23:49 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Samuel Bendett

by David Crary - Associated Press - October 17, 2011

She's a 40-year-old mother of eight, with a ninth child due soon. The family homestead in a Burundi village is too small to provide enough food, and three of the children have quit school for lack of money to pay required fees.

"I regret to have made all those children," says Godelive Ndageramiwe. "If I were to start over, I would only make two or three."

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