Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Population, Water & Food Security in Major Cities Globally.

BBC
NewsNews
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-42982959

The 11 cities most likely to run out of drinking water - like Cape Town

  • 11 February 2018
Dripping tap

A quarter of the world's major cities face a situation of water stress

Cape Town is in the unenviable situation of being the first major city in the modern era to face the threat of running out of drinking water.
However, the plight of the drought-hit South African city is just one extreme example of a problem that experts have long been warning about - water scarcity.
Despite covering about 70% of the Earth's surface, water, especially drinking water, is not as plentiful as one might think. Only 3% of it is fresh.
Over one billion people lack access to water and another 2.7 billion find it scarce for at least one month of the year. A 2014 survey of the world's 500 largest cities estimates that one in four are in a situation of "water stress"
According to UN-endorsed projections, global demand for fresh water will exceed supply by 40% in 2030, thanks to a combination of climate change, human action and population growth.
Presentational grey line

You might also be interested in:

Presentational grey line
It shouldn't be a surprise, then, that Cape Town is just the tip of the iceberg. Here are the other 11 cities most likely to run out of water.

1. São Paulo

Brazil's financial capital and one of the 10 most populated cities in the world went through a similar ordeal to Cape Town in 2015, when the main reservoir fell below 4% capacity.
At the height of the crisis, the city of over 21.7 million inhabitants had less than 20 days of water supply and police had to escort water trucks to stop looting.
Sao Paulo droughtImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionAt the height of the drought, Sao Paulo's reservoirs became a desolate landscape
It is thought a drought that affected south-eastern Brazil between 2014 and 2017 was to blame, but a UN mission to São Paulo was critical of the state authorities "lack of proper planning and investments".
The water crisis was deemed "finished" in 2016, but in January 2017 the main reserves were 15% below expected for the period - putting the city's future water supply once again in doubt.

2. Bangalore

Local officials in the southern Indian city have been bamboozled by the growth of new property developments following Bangalore's rise as a technological hub and are struggling to manage the city's water and sewage systems.
To make matters worse, the city's antiquated plumbing needs an urgent upheaval; a report by the national government found that the city loses over half of its drinking water to waste.
Like China, India struggles with water pollution and Bangalore is no different: an in-depth inventory of the city's lakes found that 85% had water that could only be used for irrigation and industrial cooling.
Not a single lake had suitable water for drinking or bathing.
Polluted lake in BangaloreImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionPollution in Bangalore's lakes is rife

3. Beijing

The World Bank classifies water scarcity as when people in a determined location receive less than 1,000 cubic metres of fresh water per person a year.
In 2014, each of the more than 20 million inhabitants of Beijing had only 145 cubic metres.
China is home to almost 20% of the world's population but has only 7% of the world's fresh water.
A Columbia University study estimates that the country's reserves declined 13% between 2000 and 2009.
And there's also a pollution problem. Official figures from 2015 showed that 40% of Beijing's surface water was polluted to the point of not being useful even for agriculture or industrial use.
The Chinese authorities have tried to address the problem by creating massive water diversion projects. They have also introduced educational programmes, as well as price hikes for heavy business users.

4. Cairo

Once crucial to the establishment of one of the world's greatest civilisations, the River Nile is struggling in modern times.
It is the source of 97% of Egypt's water but also the destination of increasing amounts of untreated agricultural, and residential waste.
Pollution on the NileImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionThe Nile provides 97% of Egypt's water supply
World Health Organization figures show that Egypt ranks high among lower middle-income countries in terms of the number of deaths related to water pollution.
The UN estimates critical shortages in the country by 2025.

5. Jakarta

Like many coastal cities, the Indonesian capital faces the threat of rising sea levels.
But in Jakarta the problem has been made worse by direct human action. Because less than half of the city's 10 million residents have access to piped water, illegal digging of wells is rife. This practice is draining the underground aquifers, almost literally deflating them.
As a consequence, about 40% of Jakarta now lies below sea level, according to World Bank estimates.
To make things worse, aquifers are not being replenished despite heavy rain because the prevalence of concrete and asphalt means that open fields cannot absorb rainfall.
Flooded neighbourhood in JakartaImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionIllegal well-drilling is making the Indonesian capital more vulnerable to flooding

6. Moscow

One-quarter of the world's fresh water reserves are in Russia, but the country is plagued by pollution problems caused by the industrial legacy of the Soviet era.
That is specifically worrying for Moscow, where the water supply is 70% dependent on surface water.
Official regulatory bodies admit that 35% to 60% of total drinking water reserves in Russia do not meet sanitary standards

7. Istanbul

According to official Turkish government figures, the country is technically in a situation of a water stress, since the per capita supply fell below 1,700 cubic metres in 2016.
Local experts have warned that the situation could worsen to water scarcity by 2030.
Dry lakeImage copyrightAFP
Image captionA 10-month long drought dried up this lake near Istanbul
In recent years, heavily populated areas like Istanbul (14 million inhabitants) have begun to experience shortages in the drier months.
The city's reservoir levels declined to less than 30 percent of capacity at the beginning of 2014.

8. Mexico City

Water shortages are nothing new for many of the 21 million inhabitants of the Mexican capital.
One in five get just a few hours from their taps a week and another 20% have running water for just part of the day.
The city imports as much as 40% of its water from distant sources but has no large-scale operation for recycling wastewater. Water losses because of problems in the pipe network are also estimated at 40%.

9. London

Of all the cities in the world, London is not the first that springs to mind when one thinks of water shortages.
The reality is very different. With an average annual rainfall of about 600mm (less than the Paris average and only about half that of New York), London draws 80% of its water from rivers (the Thames and Lea).
Burst pipe in central LondonImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionLondon has a water waste rate of 25%
According to the Greater London Authority, the city is pushing close to capacity and is likely to have supply problems by 2025 and "serious shortages" by 2040.
It looks likely that hosepipe bans could become more common in the future.

10. Tokyo

The Japanese capital enjoys precipitation levels similar to that of Seattle on the US west coast, which has a reputation for rain. Rainfall, however, is concentrated during just four months of the year.
That water needs to be collected, as a drier-than-expected rainy season could lead to a drought. At least 750 private and public buildings in Tokyo have rainwater collection and utilisation systems.
Home to more than 30 million people, Tokyo has a water system that depends 70% on surface water (rivers, lakes, and melted snow).
Recent investment in the pipeline infrastructure aims also to reduce waste by leakage to only 3% in the near future.

11. Miami

The US state of Florida is among the five US states most hit by rain every year. However, there is a crisis brewing in its most famous city, Miami.
An early 20th Century project to drain nearby swamps had an unforeseen result; water from the Atlantic Ocean contaminated the Biscayne Aquifer, the city's main source of fresh water.
Miami's sea fontImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionContamination by seawater threatens Miami's water supplies
Although the problem was detected in the 1930s, seawater still leaks in, especially because the American city has experienced faster rates of sea level rise, with water breaching underground defence barriers installed in recent decades.
Neighbouring cities are already struggling. Hallandale Beach, which is just a few miles north of Miami, had to close six of its eight wells due to saltwater intrusion.









Black Panther vs 1915’s Birth of a Nation

Marvel's Black Panther
and
Our Beautiful Black Future
Happy Tuesday, CHN friends!


Did you see Black Panther?!?! We did!


What a movie!



Black Panther has the potential to be as consequential a film as 1915’s Birth of a Nation. Just as that film wrote the cinematic narrative for the relentless portrayal of Black people as sub-human, Black Panther has opened the door to a new narrative that portrays Black people as fully human beings.

With a cast of extraordinarily beautiful Black women and men from across the African Diaspora delivering magnificent performances, and a script that is thought-provoking, funny, and inspiring, with many lines that really hit the spot for us as Black people, Black Panther is a fantastic movie.



Can we just take a moment to appreciate all these beautiful Black actors. I am blinded by the beauty, where are my SHADES?!?!"
Black Panther has set the stage for a new era in film history--one in which Black people might routinely create movies that show Black life and culture in all its richness and complexity. For that, the film’s producers, writers, director, and actors deserve the deepest thanks of all Black people.

In the words of Marcus Garvey:
In one fell swoop, Black Panther gives us a glimpse of both that history and that future. It invites us to think about the possibilities of creating a Wakanda-like existence for ourselves and our children.

The movie creates a beautiful world for Black people to inhabit—a world that helps us imagine what our lives as Africans could have been had it not been for the great European disruption of nearly 600 years ago. Black Panther makes us long for that world and may, in so doing, encourage us to do the long-overdue work necessary to empower us to create that world.
 
Garvey said that in order to create the beautiful future that is our destiny, we must “emancipate ourselves from mental slavery.” We must free ourselves from the poisonous lie that Whiteness is superior to Blackness.

The urgent question implicit in Black Panther is this: Why is it that the fictional world of Wakanda stands alone as a symbol of Black preeminence, and why is it that in this real world that we live in today, there is no Black country like Wakanda?

This is no accident. For nearly 600 years, we Black people have been living our lives according to a narrative written for us by Europeans to serve their economic interests. In their narrative, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, everything Black is “ugly and evil,” and everything White is “pure, high and clean.” This narrative is grounded in the lies of White superiority and Black inferiority and was created to justify the enslavement of African people and the economic exploitation of Africa, the richest continent on the face of the earth.

The European narrative created a hierarchy of humanity with White people at the top and Black people at the bottom and sometimes even outside of the circle of humanity. These lies convinced the world that nothing good comes out of Africa and that Black people are not as beautiful, intelligent, lovable, capable, worthy or valuable as White people. These lies objectified, commodified, and dehumanized people of African ancestry.
As a result, for almost a millennium, all over the world, the advantages conferred by “Whiteness” and the disadvantages imposed by “Blackness” have been multiplying. This is why, all around the world, Black communities are under-developed and Black lives do not matter as much as White lives.

Once we see how this narrative, grounded in lies, has been shaping our lives, we can begin the intentional and systematic work of rejecting it, in favor a narrative that we write for ourselves—a narrative grounded in the truth of our dignity and humanity as people of African ancestry.

Racism against Black people stands on a foundation built by the lies of White superiority and Black inferiority. The characters in Black Panther evince no sense of being inferior to anyone. That is a big part of what makes it such a beautiful movie.

It is also what could make it a great impetus for what the global Black community needs most right now: a movement for emotional emancipation, a movement to free all people of African ancestry from the lies –once and for all. 

Join Community Healing Network in creating a Wakanda-like world in which Black people are free not only in body, but also in mind and spirit-- a world in which Black people everywhere have moved beyond surviving to flourishing.

Let us know what you think! Tune in every tuesday for Let’s Talk Tuesdays.

  -Enola G. Aird, Founder and President

Exemption from State Taxes. Veterans. State of Maryland Bill 312, House Bill 362 Feb 21, 2018

Fellow Veteran, 

Would you like to have 100% of your uniformed service retirement income exempt from Maryland state income tax? If you answered YES, we need your help!

Please attend the legislative hearings for Maryland Senate Bill 312 and House Bill 362 in Annapolis next week, on Wednesday, February 21st, beginning at 1:00 PM. The legislation, submitted by Governor Hogan, exempts $15,000 in 2018, 75% in 2019, and 100% in 2020.

We need for you to either testify or to help us make a show of force in the hearing room. I am coordinating with Secretary of Veterans Affairs George Owings. Our panel(s) and crowd will travel from one hearing room to the other with him. It worked well last year to tell a coordinated story, so please let me know the gist of your testimony; it will enable me to create the most effective panel(s) possible.

We will have a conference call on Monday, February 19th, at 7:00 PM to provide details about what to expect on Wednesday. The detail information will also be sent by email to those who have asked for it. Please send me an email prior to 5:30 PM on Monday, February 19th, to receive the conference call dial-in information.

OTHER THINGS TO DO:

1. Forward this message to every retiree (and every soon to be retiree) you know who is a Maryland resident.
2. Forward this message to the president of any veteran or military-related organizations that you belong to and ask them to help us get people out for the Feb 21st hearings.
3. Wear a hat or other clothing item denoting your military affiliation when attending the hearings. Please do not wear your uniform.
4. Organize car pools, van pools, or charter buses to come to Annapolis for the hearings. Free limited parking is available at the USNA; it is just a short walk from the Academy to the State House and Senate buildings. http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/html/govbldg.html
5. Contact your State Senators and members of the House of Delegates to support HB 362 and SB 312.

Regards,

Annie S. Brock

Legislative Liaison

FEBRUARY 14, 2018 U.S. Energy Department forming cyber protection unit for power grids

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-energy-cyber/u-s-energy-department-forming-cyber-protection-unit-for-power-grids-idUSKCN1FY29C?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social

FEBRUARY 14, 2018 / 10:22 AM / 6 DAYS AGO

U.S. Energy Department forming cyber protection unit for power grids



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said on Wednesday it is establishing an office to protect the nation’s power grid and other infrastructure against cyber attacks and natural disasters.

President Donald Trump’s budget proposal unveiled this week included $96 million in funding for the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry said the DOE “plays a vital role in protecting our nation’s energy infrastructure from cyber threats, physical attack and natural disaster, and as secretary, I have no higher priority.”


Last July, the DOE helped U.S. firms defend against a hacking campaign that targeted power companies including at least one nuclear plant. The agency said that the attacks did not have an impact on electricity generation or the grid, and that any impact appeared to be limited to administrative and business networks.
The previous month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had issued an alert to industrial companies, warning that for months hackers had targeted nuclear reactors and other power industry infrastructure, using tainted emails to harvest credentials and gain access to networks.
In some cases hackers succeeded in compromising the networks of their targets, but the report did not identify specific victims.
Nuclear power experts, such as Dave Lochbaum at the Union of Concerned Scientists nonprofit group, have said reactors have a certain amount of immunity from cyber attacks because their operation systems are separate from digital business networks. But over time it would not be impossible for hackers to potentially do harm, he said.
Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe

Event: Feb 23, 2018. Black History Month. African American Leaders in the White House: Education, Business and Policy.

Register Now to Join us in Celebrating 2018 Black History Month

Nature Heals Itself. Dominica, An Island Reborn.

What is a disaster, an emergency, a crisis?

Questions that we as emergency and crisis managers must face daily, especially when asked by our future leaders, our children.  I believe in keeping it as simple as possible, or 'KISS' (keep it simple, stupid) for the average layperson.  Nothing fancy, nothing unique.

A disaster, emergency, or crisis is any event that affects or is caused by humans.

Dominica will recover from the 2017 Hurricanes.  Nature shall heal itself, humans must rebuild better shelters or homes to weather the next storm for highest hurricane category level to survive. 

Please review the short video narritve 'Dominica - An Island Reborn' at the Caribbean Today websites:  http://today.caricom.org/   

Charles D. Sharp
CEO
BEMA International



RECOMMENDED READING LIST

Search This Blog

ARCHIVE List 2011 - Present