Party

As per the suggestion, will we have a get-together this month?

Josef

Where's the remotest place on Earth? - Image 1 - New Scientist

Gallery - Where's the remotest place on Earth? - Image 1 - New Scientist:

"Plotted onto a map, the results throw up surprises. First, less than 10% of the world's land is more than 48 hours of ground-based travel from the nearest city.

What's more, many areas considered remote and inaccessible are not as far from civilisation as you might think. In the Amazon, for example, extensive river networks and an increasing number of roads mean that only 20% of the land is more than two days from a city - around the same proportion as Canada's Quebec province."

found via gyford.com

still too hard and too expensive?

Britain's Royal Society to study climate "geoengineering" | FP Passport:

"An interesting editorial in The Guardian by a member of Britain's Royal Society, the country's national academy of science, announced -- with a bit of modesty bordering on self-skepticism -- plans to look into 'geoengineering' schemes to combat climate change"

South Sudan's bike ambulance lifeline

BBC NEWS | Africa | South Sudan's bike ambulance lifeline:

"There are certainly more comfortable ways to go to hospital than a motorbike with a sidecar bed attached to its side.

But the launch of these ambulance motorbikes in South Sudan is a serious attempt to tackle some of the world's highest rates of women dying in pregnancy."

African Cholera Epidemic Worsens

The Lancet Student � Archive � African Cholera Epidemic Worsens:

"...According to the UN Office for the Co-Ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), earlier this month, cholera cases have been reported in nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa: Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Between the 3rd and 17th of April, these countries reported a total of 4,579 new cases of cholera, and in the two weeks before that 6,460 new cases were reported."

National Geographic: Green Roofs

Article. Make sure to view the pictures of green roofs too. Fortunately, the U.S. is starting to "get it" when it comes to the many uses this can provide: from CO2 reduction to building insulation, greens roofs are a smart and practical way to not only mitigate climate change but promote a healthier lifestyle in cities.

Literacy Action Project ‎(anniem)‎

I want to share this assignment with you from another of my classes. Please feel welcome to share any of your assignments you can. Google sites is easy to use, you can paste your word docs and share them with us all as URLs!

Literacy Action Project ‎(anniem)‎:

"This project is the final assignment for Literacy and Development, a graduate course in International Educational Development. Throughout the fall semester I observed literacy in several settings, and kept notes in journals, as well as artifacts of literacy (scanned and attached below). Below is a summary of this project, as it covered my 11-day trip to Ruhiira, Uganda and my experience parenting two children in various stages of literacy--a second grader and a kindergartner. Where possible, I have included video and pictures to illustrate my observations."

31 W 125th st.

Urban Gardening - HarlemCondoLife:

"I was looking to re-pot a beautiful hydrangea bought at Harlem Flo and the gentleman there referred me to Mushtari Hardware. What a surprise! In the front it’s a well-priced, extensive hardware store but walk to the back and there’s a hidden floral feast. Or maybe a mini tropical rain forest. Immediately my nose was hit with a beautiful waft of humid fragrant air and my eyes were filled with vibrant hues of healthy, flowering greenery..."

NOLA Service Trip: Beignets and Briefings

Join the Group for Community Recovery (GCR) for their Service Trip Debriefing on Thursday, April 30, from 4:30 - 5:30 pm in Hess Commons.

During Spring Break, thirteen students traveled to Louisiana to work with the Hirtzel Institute and the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Information Center of Louisiana (GRGICL). The students volunteered their time and efforts to conduct research on the fragile support systems of grand families. The information will be presented as a public policy report to the state legislature in order to advocate for expanded funding and services for grand families.

Learn more about the trip, preliminary findings, and continuing research at the Debriefing. Refreshments will be provided.

--
Group for Community Recovery
gulfrecovers@gmail.com

Efficient, Effective, Equitable Recovery
"The Right To Return"

BBC NEWS | Special Reports | Acidic oceans threaten sea life

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/8022194.stm

The oceans are now 30% more acidic than before the industrial revolution!

Institute for Systems Science and Health Course Materials

Institute attendees:



The website for the Institute is now open with several items available for viewing and download, including the agenda, track syllabi, and presentations/handouts that have been made available by the Track leaders.



The website URL is: www.chronicdisease.org/issh



At the close of the Institute, the webpage will be populated with the complete set of electronic materials for each track, including those that were provided on-site. Please check back the rest of this week for any additional updates and during the Institute next week for further postings.





Regards,



David Yum, MPH

Public Health Program Manager

National Association of Chronic Disease Directors
Main Office: (770) 458-7400

Mission: NACDD provides state-based leadership and expertise for chronic disease control and prevention at the state and national level.

The Green House of the Future - WSJ.com

The Green House of the Future - WSJ.com

Read about these four architects' proposals for energy efficient houses.

BBC NEWS | Business | Getting fit and healthy on the job

BBC NEWS | Business | Getting fit and healthy on the job

Cool!
If employers are providing health insurance, they might as well provide healthy living options!

Monday event

SIPA’s Urban and Social Policy Concentrations
Presentation: Breaking the Green Ceiling—Affordable Housing Meets Environmentalism, with Nancy Biberman, President, Women's Housing and Economic Development Corporation.
1:10 pm to 2:30 pm
International Affairs Building, Room 1510
Note: To register visit: https://calendar.columbia.edu/sundial/webapi/register.php?eventID=32440

Climate and Development - Vol 1:1, 2009

new journal launched!

Climate and Development - Vol 1:1, 2009

Car-Free in NYC

Yes, there is a small ounce of bias in this article, but I like the main thrust of it - from Streetsblog:

If you live in New York City, chances are you've already done your part this Earth Day with a car-free commute to work. As this week's featured Streetswiki article by DianaD reminds us, vehicle ownership in the five boroughs is far less common than in most areas of the U.S. -- even in relatively auto-centric Staten Island, where 18 percent of households are car-free.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, only 8% of American households do not own a car. Vehicle ownership is strongly related to distance traveled. People in households with at least one vehicle travel twice far as those in households without a vehicle. They also use a car for more than 90% of their trips, while those without a vehicle travel on foot or via transit 57% of the time. Households with a vehicle walk or take public transit for only 1% and 8% of their trips, respectively.

In addition to a more pedestrian-friendly street grid than most Americans enjoy, most New Yorkers owe their car-freedom, of course, to the MTA. However, even as the city looks to expand sustainable transportation options to complement its overworked mass transit system, the majority of its citizens remain at the mercy of motoring class lawmakers who spew anti-MTA vitriol like so much noxious CO2.

It would have been nice this April 22 to wake up to headlines announcing that the Fare Hike Four and their ilk had come to realize that they could, and should, promote a healthy transit system while reducing congestion and pollution. Unfortunately, news that good only comes on April 1.

Earth Day Isn't What it Used to Be

In The Air: Earth Day Isn't What it Used to Be: The New Yorker:

"Still, there are plenty of reasons to wonder whether serious steps to reduce carbon emissions will be taken this year or, indeed, ever. Regulating CO2 using existing laws will be a laborious, and potentially litigious, exercise. Meanwhile, the Administration has been strangely passive about trying to shape climate legislation—one reason that the Waxman bill is likely to be further watered down. Then, there’s the question of whether even an inadequate bill has the votes to pass [...]"

An Effort to Save Flint, Mich. by Shrinking it.

By DAVID STREITFELD
Published: April 21, 2009

FLINT, Mich. — Dozens of proposals have been floated over the years to slow this city’s endless decline. Now another idea is gaining support: speed it up.

Instead of waiting for houses to become abandoned and then pulling them down, local leaders are talking about demolishing entire blocks and even whole neighborhoods.

The population would be condensed into a few viable areas. So would stores and services. A city built to manufacture cars would be returned in large measure to the forest primeval.

“Decline in Flint is like gravity, a fact of life,” said Dan Kildee, the Genesee County treasurer and chief spokesman for the movement to shrink Flint. “We need to control it instead of letting it control us.”