From National Geographic News -
August 5, 2009—Talk about a sea change.
From 2006 through 2009, Central Asia’s vast Aral Sea dramatically retreated, with its eastern section losing about 80 percent of its water in just four years (above, newly released NASA satellite images are animated to show the regression).
The immense body of water, which straddles Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (see map), was once the world’s fourth largest freshwater lake.
But in the past 30 years, 60 percent of the lake has disintegrated, according to NASA’s Earth Observatory.
In the 1960s farmers in this arid …

From WTTE-TV
Ohio panel begins look at human trafficking
July 30, 2009 08:51 EDT
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A special task force has begun its investigation of human trafficking in Ohio that steers child and adult victims into prostitution and forced labor.
Wednesday’s first meeting of the Trafficking in Persons Study Commission came almost seven months after Gov. Ted Strickland signed a law to increase sentences for crimes if human trafficking is involved.
Kathleen Davis, of the Washington-based Polaris Project, gave the panel an estimate that up to 17,500 trafficking victims come through Ohio every …

from Neil Watkins at JubileeUSA –
Jubilee USA can celebrate some real victories over the past few months:
o Following a 3 year campaign by Jubilee USA, the Obama Administration announced in April that it would provide $20 million to cover Haiti’s debt service payments to the World Bank. This means that Haiti will not make any more debt service payments for at least the next year, freeing up millions for desperately needed investments in health, education, and basic services in …

from the Organic Consumers Association -
After four decades of hard work, the organic community has built up a $25 billion “certified organic” food and farming sector. This consumer-driven movement, under steady attack by the biotech and Big Food lobby, with little or no help from government, has managed to create a healthy and sustainable alternative to America’s disastrous, chemical and energy-intensive system of industrial agriculture. Organic food and farming represent
However, the $50 billion annual natural food and products industry is threatening to undermine the organic movement by flooding the …

sent from Matt Wasson at iLoveMountains.org
This afternoon, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it was suspend and review permits for two mountaintop removal coal mining operations — and putting hundreds more mountaintop coal-mining permits on hold until it can evaluate their impact on our nation’s streams and wetlands.
This is a major victory for our movement. And make no mistake, it is a result of your efforts to raise the alarm about the devastating effects of mountaintop removal coal mining to our mountains, our waters, and our communities.
CBS News has the details:
…

From Democracy Now! -
As the rage around AIG bonuses continues to grow, underscoring again the question of who benefits in an economic meltdown, we look at who is hurt the worst: communities of color around the country. A new report by the Center for Social Inclusion finds that communities of color continue to be disproportionately deprived of infrastructure spending, job creation and other key government services. The report’s authors call for the government to use some of the billions in federal stimulus money to focus on the needs of communities …