Ask someone in Flint, Michigan, or São Paolo, Brazil — the list of cities rocked by water disasters seems to grow each day — how much safe water is worth. Worried about contamination and drought, it might be a pretty penny. But the ability of people to actually pay for the full cost of water — from ...
A comprehensive new study of oil’s behaviour in various sea conditions has resulted in significant advances in oil spill recovery using boom-style systems. Put into practice in DESMI ‘s Speed-Sweep Oil Spill Response (OSR) solution, the new approach speeds up oil recovery, increases encounter rates, covers a wider area in a shorter time and provides new flexibility in the choice of ...
A low cost system of resource management such as composting toilets is helping to mitigate many of Haiti’s social and ecological challenges. The Caribbean Republic of Haiti — the poorest, most environmentally degraded country in the Western Hemisphere with a population of about 10 million — is a case study in forestry and soil fertility mismanagement. A colonial ...
The threat of wildfire is a major concern to more and more homeowners as construction of homes moves into the Wildland Urban Interface. Periods of drought are frightening times for residents of suburban and rural areas across the country, including the Northwest, the West, and the Rocky Mountain states as well as the Southeast. For those of us who live near natural areas of brush or forest, the ...
Sarah Grimes explores why we need good ocean monitoring, how to get it, and why it still fails Small Island Developing States. Oceans are a critically important component of the Earth system, supporting ecosystem and human health. They regulate the weather and climate; are essential for producing freshwater; and soak up ...
An Urgent Call for Change in U.S. Oil Spill Response With Bioremediation Agent Type EA* bearing out as a workable first response alternative to the use of chemical dispersants, contrasting evidence has become even clearer that dispersant use has been a huge failure. Dispersants have proven to be an inadequate response method with more and more studies showing an ...
Following the deeply upsetting fire in a tower block in west London this week, there is understandably a real focus by the press and general public on fire standards, particularly in high-rise buildings. ...
California’s drought underscores the need to improve how the state - and the rest of us - divvy up a resource in demand. Grapevines march across wires strung along rolling hills, their little trunks improbably supporting heavy black fruit. Cindy Steinbeck’s family has been farming this land since 1920. They grow Zinfandel, Viognier, Cabernet, Merlot, and Petite Syrah grapes but are ...
One of Georgia’s newest cities decided to go digital with CH2M - digitizing assets to manage operations and improve public safety for the city. If you’re a brand new city, you’re probably thinking what can we do to quickly make our community a better place to live? Peachtree Corners, one of Georgia’s newest cities, decided to go digital with CH2M - digitizing ...
In the US our fatality rate has been flat (total fatalities are actually up a bit the last couple of years) for a decade despite our incident rate’s steady decline to an all-time low. In addition recent disasters such as the chemical exposure fatalities at La Port Texas, the Texas City Refinery explosion and the Deepwater Horizon have demonstrated ...
Food security is deeply connected to other development challenges and poor health. Michael Hoevel traces the links. Food security addresses one of humankind’s most fundamental needs — access to a nutritious and adequate diet. It is also seen ...