• Vive la nuclear! The number of nuclear plants being built around the world has grown to twice what it was five years ago, and the U.S. may be next on the bandwagon — finally, people think climate change is scarier than reactor meltdowns. (WaPo)
• Flood-control policies nationwide could feel the affects of a post-Katrina ruling against the Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans. (LATimes)
• “Infrastructure for a Seamless Asia”: Asia-Pacific finance ministers call for governments to spend $8 trillion on national-level infrastructure between 2010 and 2020. (NYTimes)
• Midway through an “unprecedented spending spree” for water infrastructure in California, taxpayers are being asked to foot an additional $11 billion for dams, reservoirs and drought relief projects. Environmentalists say it’s futile; it’s the water use that has to be cut dramatically. (Mercury News)
• The world’s most remote highway, the Leh-Manali, traverses the Himalayas past timeless Buddhist outposts and spectacular emerald lakes. (NYTimes)
• A short train from Pudong to the Bund in Shanghai features a wild, 360-degree light show. (GizModo)
• And finally, a thirteen-year-old runaway spent 11 straight days hiding out on New York’s D, F, and 1 trains, subsisting on junk food and bottled water. So far, no one has been able to reconstruct his odyssey in full. (NYTimes)
November 24th, 2009 at 11:55 am
I would have thought the 1,000 KM “Friendship Highway” that connects Lhasa to Katmandu is equally remote to the Leh-Manali:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship_highway,_Tibet
I had the opportunity to travel the Friendship’s length in 2000. The “highway” in the name is euphemistic, but one perhaps positive effect of a VERY BUMPY road is that the speeds were kept to less than 50 kph almost for the entire length.
November 24th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
finally, people think climate change is scarier than reactor meltdowns
That doesn’t mean building new nukes is a good idea.
November 24th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Uh, I think you mean “Nucular.”
November 24th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
In the case of water usage gone wild, I do agree with the environmentalists. My neighbours here in Dallas water their lawns practically everyday, all year, even when it rains. The waste is astounding. I get up for a jog and have to run through puddles and dodge sprinklers at 5 am. Even the businesses I pass have streams running up and down their sidewalks and parking lots. It should be illegal to waste water like that.
I read somewhere that a law was being pushed that would require all sprinkler systems to have rain meters/sensors so they don’t run when it has rained or whilst its raining. That should be a no brainer and put into effect all over the country.
November 29th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
The nuclear lobby has been pushing global warming as an argument for building new reactors ever since the 80s. Global warming is real enough, but returning to nuclear is the wrong response IMHO for many reasons: accident risks, weapons proliferation risks, plutonium production during reprocessing, absence of any site for permanent storage of civilian nuclear waste, absence of any funding mechanism for decommissioning obsolete plants.
What’s needed is a lot more conservation (i.e. electricity has to become more expensive) plus virtual power plants based on multiple renewable sources spread out over a large area and linked by a smart grid.
As for “clean coal”, that’s an oxymoron. Mother Nature has already sequestered a lot of carbon in the form of coal beds deep underground. Please leave it there.
@ Deacon -
make water expensive enough and people will stop wasting it. In addition, cities that scientists expect will be stricken by drought more frequently as global warming continues should build water recycling plants and require purple pipes for all new industrial, commercial and residential districts, in addition to the regular pipes. I’m not talking about using recycled water to grow food or as tap water. I’m talking about using it for water-intensive industrial processes, indoor decorative plants and outdoor landscaping.
November 30th, 2009 at 2:23 am
finally, people think climate change is scarier than reactor meltdowns
Meanwhile, “normal maintenance” at the Three Mile Island installation that suffered the infamous partial meltdown in 1979 led to an unexpected release of radioactive dust into the containment vessel last Saturday triggering an evacuation of the plant. This one occurred at 4:15 am, when people’s natural alertness cycles are at their lowest and mistakes are most likely, just like the Chernobyl incident and the original TMI incident. Looks like nuclear operators still haven’t learned this lesson.
USA Today and a few other news outlets (not to mention Wikipedia) have details.