Congo launched in space
While the big news fills up with the war and turmoil in this Central African nation, Congolese rocket scientists are experimenting with space. Grand ambitions.
Filed Under SPECIAL FEATURE
Earthquake hits central Italy
Al Jazeera photos – A powerful earthquake in mountainous central Italy knocked down whole blocks of buildings early Monday as residents slept, killing at least 50 people and trapping many more, officials said…
Filed Under Environment, SPECIAL FEATURE
“Why do you own a gun?”
Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in Their Homes is Kyle Cassidy’s latest book. An exhibit of this project is currently ongoing in Bernstein gallery at Princeton University; Mar 30-May 1.
Filed Under History & traditions, Human Rights, Media & Society, SPECIAL FEATURE
Where’s the news
There is a humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka; the Tamil minority in the Island’s North and East are facing annihilation at the hands of the Sinhalese-dominated government. A friend alerted me to this news last month and we have both been trying to follow up on the story and have noticed that not a word of it can be found on any of the major news websites or “world politics & war” themed blogs. Weird.
Filed Under Human Rights, Politics, SPECIAL FEATURE
Recyling sewage for drinking
Using sewage to obtain drinking water? It may look strange or disgusting but… Read our special feature article about water.
Which is the world’s driest continent: Africa? Asia? Not at all, it’s Australia. For long time the settlers have dreamt to find a way to turn costal rivers inland. Without success. Global warming and growing population have worsen the situation. Moreover an exceptional drought has made the lack of water supplies more severe and what has been the major problem for much of the rural economy is now concerning also Australian cities.
Since decades wastewater has been recycled and used for watering parks and golf courses or for agricultural and industrial purposes, however the need to find and adopt innovative, sustainable methods to slake Australian’s thirst for water has driven two towns, Toowoomba and Gouldburn, to propose to recycle sewage and use it to top up drinking supplies. The project, which couldn’t win the social acceptance, was rejected.
Filed Under SPECIAL FEATURE, Water
The renaissance of rainwater harvesting
Today, in our special feature article about water, we talk about the Barefoot College, and its work of empowering India’s rural poor to innovate their way out of poverty
Sometimes the drinking water shortage drowns in paradox. Cherrapunji receives 11,000 mm of rainfall annually which make the town in northern India the place with the highest precipitation on the planet. Nevertheless few drops run from the household taps. The people of this Himalayan town often walk long distances to get drinking water, limit their baths to once a week and have trouble irrigating their crops. As far as fresh water is concerned India is precariously placed.
Filed Under SPECIAL FEATURE, Water
Stories of happy water pumping
“The children now come early to school because they want to play. They think they are just playing but they are really pumping water. In addition the Play Pump is keeping them busy and off the streets”.
We talked about PlayPump, the merry-go-round powered by kids for a pump system to extract water invented by Trevor Field and used in some African countries.
We go into depth on it adding some stories.
The 22 flush toilets in the Regiment Basic Primary School nestled just off of the busy streets of Lusaka, Zambia, had stopped working long ago. Teachers and students used to rely on water from a neighbourhood school but since Play Pump merry-go-round was installed on the school grounds their live became a lot easier. Several times a day a simple hose is attached to the system tap so the pupils can flush the toilet and wash their hands in the buckets filled just outside the sanitary block.
Mrs Mutaka, the headmistress is delighted: “The children now come early to school because they want to play. They think they are just playing but they are really pumping water. In addition the Play Pump is keeping them busy and off the streets”.
Loveness Hikalungo, attending her first grade in a nearby school, is so enthusiastic about it that she told her mom that she wanted to be transferred to Regiment’s primary classes so she can play on the pump too
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Filed Under SPECIAL FEATURE, Water