Once Again, Drought Threatens Horn of Africa with Famine
La Niña is the likely cause, but rapidly rising food costs are making matters worse. Hardest hit are northern Kenya, southern Somalia, south-eastern Ethiopia and Djibouti. The Economist:
…after the worst drought in 60 years, more than 10m people in the Horn of Africa need emergency food aid. Livestock have been annihilated. Hundreds of thousands of people are streaming into refugee camps in search of help. Malnutrition rates in some areas are five times more severe than the threshold aid agencies use to define a crisis. Many children are already dying of starvation.
Fortunately, Somalia’s Qaeda-linked group, Al-Shabaab, lifted its 2-year ban on outside emergency aid last week, opening the way for US and other relief efforts.
Conserving Electricity Leads to Heatstroke in Japan
Energy-Daily: Heatstroke cases in Japan have shot up in the early summer as many air-conditioners have been switched off amid an energy saving campaign following the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
More than 13,000 people were rushed to hospital by ambulance in June and the beginning of July, data from the Fire and Disaster Management Agency showed. Twenty-six of them died.
First Soft Drink Bottle Made from 100% Recycled PET Plastic
PepsiCo Beverages Canada last week announced the introduction of the 7UP EcoGreen™ bottle, North America’s first soft drink bottle made from 100 percent recycled PET plastic.
The 7UP EcoGreen bottle will reduce the amount of virgin plastic used by approximately six million pounds over the course of one year. Studies published by the Association for Post-Consumer Plastic Recyclers in 2010, estimate this reduced use of virgin plastic will lead to a reduction of more than 30 percent in greenhouse gas emissions and more than 55 percent in energy use, based on current 7UP production levels.
PepsiCo introduced the first 100 percent plant-based PET plastic bottle in March 2011.
Fuel Costs and EV Tariffs: Electric vs Gas-Powered Vehicles
Charging ports on the all-electric Nissan Leaf.
According to a recent analysis from research and consulting firm Northeast Group LLC, the cost to recharge an electric vehicle (EV) – under current utility EV tariffs – is significantly lower than that of fueling a gas-powered vehicle.
“In all scenarios we studied, the costs to recharge an electric vehicle were cheaper than fueling a gasoline-powered car,” the company says. “In the most likely EV charging scenarios, costs were approximately one-tenth to half the costs of fueling a conventional vehicle with gasoline.”
The study is available at the Northeast Group LLC website.
