Clips
Some of the places Rachel Cernansky’s work has been published:
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
The Poisoning of Colstrip — When the McRae family settled outside of Colstrip, Montana five generations ago, it was for the water. Clint McRae’s great-great-grandfather came when the area was opened for homesteading in the 1880s, in search of a good place to raise cows. When he found water in Rosebud County that was clean, plentiful and close to the surface, he stayed.
“One of the things in agriculture you always look for is water–quality and quantity–and the reason they settled here is there was a lot of water, and it was shallow. The aquifers were very shallow,” said Clint McRae, 49, a six-foot rancher with a thick dark brown mustache who almost always wears a bandana around his neck, bow tied in front.
But he and others in Colstrip are worried because the water under the town is being compromised by poisons known to cause cancer in people and other problems in cattle.
WORLD
Cycle Chalao! Bike Sharing Comes to India — Raj Janagam was growing frustrated with the lack of transportation methods in India for commuting short distances. He said 10 million people in Mumbai alone use local trains and public buses for long-distance transport, but there was no practical way for him to get from the railway station to his college. It seemed the perfect place to set up a bike share program. But since none existed, he was going to have to do it.
For a People in Pain, a Reason to Dance — The first guests arrived at 10 p.m., knowing they would dance until nearly dawn. The sari-like Sudanese dress of the women — called a tob in Arabic — stood out among the dark suits of the men, and guests shouted to hear one another over the noise of the band.
The event, held several weeks ago at the Widdi Catering Hall in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, offered a stark and treasured contrast to the occasions that typically bring this group together. Sumia el-Shirtay and Mohamed Hashim, both natives of Darfur, were getting married, and the Darfurians of Brooklyn had come to observe and participate in a condensed version of the elaborate wedding ceremony, which in Sudanese culture can last up to five days.
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Pueblo power debate: ‘All of the impacts, few of the benefits’ — Xcel produces 1,410 megawatts of electricity in Pueblo — enough to power at least a million homes — but sells none of it to local residents. It does, indirectly, sell a percentage of that power to Pueblo households through Black Hills, which has a franchise agreement with the city, but will do so only until the end of next year, when the current contract is set to expire.
Black Hills has plans in the works for a natural gas plant in Pueblo that it hopes to have up and running before its contract with Xcel expires. And until last month, plans were underway for an “energy park” that was being marketed as a renewable energy project but which would have relied heavily, at least initially, on nuclear power.
SCIENCE
New guidelines show chimps are rarely needed for medical research — The reaction to the new guidelines has been largely celebratory: The New York Times wrote that animal welfare groups cite it as a victory in their fight against chimp research, and Theodora Capaldo, president of the New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS), which has fought for years against the practice, said, “This pivotal report is the first step toward ending all chimpanzee research in U.S. laboratories. The science guided the IOM [Institute of Medicine] to its conclusion that they are ‘not necessary’ – a promising outcome for chimpanzees and better science for humans.”
Some in the industry, however, see it another way. John VandeBerg, scientific director of the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, told the AP that he believes the new guidelines will have little or no impact on his facility, which runs one of the four large active chimp research programs in the country. Answers about which chimps will be released and when are vague, and the report leaves some potential loopholes.
BLOGGING
Hey Knitters: New Zealand Penguins Need Your Help — Things are looking bleak for wildlife in New Zealand as the disastrous oil spill grows even worse. Oil-soaked penguins lose their natural ability to keep warm, and risk ingesting oil as they preen their feathers. So a yarn store in New Zealand has started collecting donations of ridiculously adorable sweaters to help the penguins out in their time of need.The sweaters are meant to both keep the penguins warm and stop them from grooming their feathers.
Christmas Trees Recycled Into Fish Habitats Across the Country — Around the country, Christmas trees are recycled for an unlikely purpose: they make for good fish habitat.
From southern California to South Carolina, fish and wildlife agencies have been collecting Christmas trees with plans to use them in lakes and waterways to create protective habitats for small fish.
Addressing Mental Health in Conflict Zones — Compared with other forms of illness, mental health disorders tend to be an overlooked health issue. This is especially true in a place like Somalia. In a conflict-prone area vulnerable to the kind of drought and famine that is occurring right now, mental illness drops far down the list of public policy priorities.
Building More Roads Leads to More Traffic — Here at TreeHugger, we talk quite a bit about the causes and problems with roads and traffic, and we’ve seen how effective congestion pricing can be. Here’s one more study showing that more roads are not the answer to our rush hour traffic problems: they only attract more cars. NPR reported on the study as LA was gearing up to close 10 miles of Interstate 405 for the weekend to allow for the latest phase of a $1 billion widening project.