Systems Failure: Maui Survivors Ask for Accountability. August 2023

 

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Caribbean Rum & Food Festival.. September Events. Authentic Caribbean Foundation. Bring us together Caribbean Style.

 

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Some call it rum, rhum, or ron

Boston, Massachusetts

Enjoy some of the world’s most renowned Caribbean Rum, cocktails, and food at the annual “Caribbean RUM & FOOD Festival” being held in Boston, September 16, 2023

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NEW LOCATION Hartford, Connecticut-Sep 23

+  Entertainment +  Caribbean Rum +  Caribbean Food +  Live Artists +  Anthony B +  Nadine Sutherland & +  Richie Stephens

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All proceeds benefiting our kids with disability learning program

Congratulations. Recent Black Fire Brigade Graduates. Chicago. September 2023

Making it work one graduating class at a time.

Quentin Curtis, Thanks for all the work you and BFB are accomplishing.  Alternatives and Hope.

Other locations.  Contact BFB for establishing such a program in your community with BFB to change the paradigm.

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2023 Graduating Class

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Water Insecurity: These five cities could be one natural disaster away from a catastrophic water crisis September 2, 2023

 

Phillip Young, a resident from Jackson, Mississippi, takes a break while helping volunteers distribute bottles of water during the city's water infrastructure crisis on August 31, 2022.

These five cities could be one natural disaster away from a catastrophic water crisis

By Rachel Ramirez and Eric Levenson, CNN

Published 3:08 AM EDT, Sat September 2, 2023

CNN —  When torrential rainfall in August 2022 pushed the Pearl River in Mississippi to surge well beyond its banks, floodwaters spilled into the suburbs of Jackson and led an already-hobbled water treatment plant to fail. It was the final stroke in what experts described as a yearslong issue in the making, which eventually left tens of thousands of residents in the city without clean drinking water for weeks. What happened in Jackson, experts say, is a bellwether for what’s to come if America continues to kick the can down the road in addressing its aging and crumbling water infrastructure. The climate crisis threatens to make those issues even more pressing. When sea levels rise, summers become hotter or heavy rains lead to more flooding, the country’s water infrastructure – largely built last century and only designed to last roughly 75 years – will be more strained than ever, threatening a system vital to human life. At the rate our climate is changing, America’s water infrastructure is not equipped to handle the challenges to come, said Erik Olson, the senior strategic director for health and food with the National Resources Defense Council. “America’s water system relies on last century’s infrastructure that often can’t protect our health from hazardous contaminants,” Olson told CNN. “And our outdated system is completely unprepared for this century’s challenges of intense heat, drought and flooding.” The American Society of Civil Engineers gave America’s drinking water infrastructure a C-minus in its 2021 report card. And climate change-fueled extreme weather disasters promises a gauntlet of even tougher tests. The 2021 infrastructure legislation signed by President Joe Biden includes about $30 billion for drinking water, and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act another $550 million for water infrastructure. But experts say those figures are not enough to make up for decades of disinvestment and mismanagement across the country. In Jackson alone, it could cost $1 billion to $2 billion to repair the water system, and the water industry estimates that the total nationwide costs will top $1 trillion. “Federal investments account for just a few percent of the total needs,” Olson said. To better understand the issue, CNN examined five cities or regions across the country that show signs of vulnerability under a rapidly warming planet – from coastal flooding in New York to saltwater intrusion in California’s groundwater. Read more at this location for the additional story highlights on the following five major cities:   https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/02/us/water-infrastructure-failure-us-cities-climate/index.html  Buffalo, New York Prichard, Alabama St. Louis, Missouri Central Coast, California San Juan, Puerto Rico

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Water Wars: Avoiding North Africa’s First War for Water is the Subject of a New Better Satellite World Video from SSPI October 2022

BEMA International membership on land, sea, underwater, air, and space (The Final Frontier).

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https://www.sspi.org/cpages/water-wars

As our planet grows warmer, water grows scarcer in parts of the world that are already dry. In 2018, Cape Town, South Africa came within a few weeks of having its water taps run dry. According to NASA, the entire Middle East entered a drought in 1998 that, in some places, is the worst in nine centuries.

One of those places is Egypt, a desert nation that depends for most of its water on a single source: the Nile River. Nine nations draw from that river on its long journey to the coast of Egypt, which is last in line before the river meets the sea. So, it was with grave concern that Egypt watched Ethiopia begin building a massive dam in 2011 to generate electricity.

When Ethiopia began filling the dam’s huge reservoir in 2020, concern turned to alarm. Egypt demanded a promise that, if the rains failed, Ethiopia would keep the river flowing. In drastic need of electricity, Ethiopia refused to commit.

Would Ethiopia treat its downstream neighbor fairly if the rains fell short? Would Egypt, a military power, feel it had to act? The answers would determine if North Africa faced its first war for water.

But war has not broken out – because the nations found a way to let facts take the place of fears.

Ursa Space Satellite Imagery Prevented an African Water War

Observation satellites circle the Earth taking pictures of the entire planet every day. The images are used by governments but also by insurers, farms, forestry and other industries.

Some use radar instead of visible light. They beam radio waves at the ground and read the reflections. And those proved vital, because Ethiopia fills its dam’s reservoir during the summer rainy season. Cloud cover is heavy, but radio waves pass right through it.

Turning radar imagery into something decision-makers can rely on takes special expertise. For Egypt and Ethiopia, that came from a company called Ursa Space Systems. Engineers there measure changes in the size of the reservoir over time. Using that data, Ethiopia can prove it is managing water flows without endangering countries downstream. Egypt can check the same data whenever the flow of the river becomes a concern. And two nations with no other reason to fight can find better ways to resolve their differences.

Facts are not always the answer to fears. But satellite images and data – and the skills of companies like Ursa Space Systems – reveal more about our planet every day. As it keeps changing and we work to adapt, knowing the facts beats guessing them any day.

Ursa Space Systems is a U.S.-based satellite intelligence company that provides business and government decision-makers access to on-demand analytic solutions. Through its radar satellite network and data fusion expertise, Ursa Space detects real-time changes in the physical world to expand transparency. The company’s subscription and custom services enable clients to access satellite imagery and analytic results with no geographic, political, or weather-related limitations.