Four years remain in the quest to accomplish the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) , and some countries have made great efforts to achieve the goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. Through the Millennium Villages project, supported by the Millennium Promise, UN Development Programme, and The Earth Institute Columbia University, African villages are able […]
Radioactive iodine and cesium was found in spinach and milk as well as other food products in the region of the Fukushima nuclear power plants on Saturday. The World Health Organization has called the situation serious, and the Japanese government is taking precautions, such as banning shipments of certain produce from Fukushima and neighboring prefectures […]
The FT has had some excellent coverage of the nuclear disaster in Japan. Obviously, as I’ve mentioned here, and has been bruited about all over the world, the Fukushima Daiichi nightmare has implications for nuclear power all over the world. The FT has provided a very useful “atomic atlas” to show where the world’s existing […]
The Scottish Parliament approved a plan late last week to build a £40 million tidal power development in the Sound of Islay, which separates the islands of Islay and Jura in the Western Isles. The installation is part of the Scottish government’s drive to generate 80% of Scotland’s energy from renewable sources by 2020. John […]
There is an op-ed in today’s NYT from a Japanese astrophysicist, Satoru Ikeuchi. He recalls the words of a predecessor in Japanese science: “The more civilization progresses, the greater the violence of nature’s wrath.” I am not a Luddite, by any stretch of imagination. I firmly believe, however, in using the power of reason, and […]
The Japanese government and international food aid organizations are working hard to provide relief to the people in Japan’s northeast who were affected by last week’s earthquake and tsunami. The twin natural disasters and crisis at the Fukishima nuclear plants have set off “panic buying” of food, both in areas most directly affected and those […]
In addition to the previous post about ways that you can contribute to Japan’s relief, here are some other initiatives of note: The World Food Programme (WFP) is collecting funds to “provide specialized logistics support in the delivery of water, tents, and blankets to families who need them the most.” The National Hockey League (NHL) […]
The situation at the Fukushima nuclear site just keeps getting worse. If it isn’t a hydrogen explosion in one of the six reactors, it’s a fire in the spent fuel pool of another. The nuclear power industry likes to point to its safety record – years of operation without an incident. The industry’s opponents will […]
In a previous post, I flagged an analysis by Robert Alvarez on the situation with the spent fuel pools. Here is a look from this morning at the situation from another expert, David Wright, at the Union of Concerned Scientists: Spent Fuel Pools at Fukushima. Wright concludes that the indications are that the water level […]
UPDATE: March 15, 2011, 11:00 AM EST: In addition to the links to aid organizations and funds that are aiding Japan, the Japanese Red Cross Society and the American Red Cross are providing disaster relief. The Japanese Salvation Army is also actively aiding in the affected areas. Lady Gaga is offering fans a “We Pray […]
The events of the past several days in Japan are in many ways beyond the scope of the mind to comprehend. Thousands of lives were swept away in an instant. I walked around the World Trade Center on September 12, 2001 and had a very hard time then being able to grasp the enormity of […]
Keeping fingers crossed since Friday hasn’t helped avoid nuclear troubles in Japan. After Friday’s 8.9 Richter-scale earthquake and the following tsunami, a few nuclear reactors lost power, and the cooling systems failed. The facts here are elusive, but we know that pumping sea water into the reactors to cool them as is happening is a […]
This explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station is just one part of the nightmare that visited Japan Friday. There is an ongoing effort now to cool the reactor. Bloomberg reports here that the engineers are trying to avoid damage to the radioactive core of the reactor. Anti-nuclear group in Japan says emergency was […]
A few hours ago, Japan got hit with an earthquake that measured 8.9 on the Richter scale, the biggest temblor in more than a century. The damage done extends to at least two nuclear power plants. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, the top civil servant in the nation, said that there was a mechanical failure […]
