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Risks

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This working group is focused on discussions about risks.

The mission of this working group is to focus on discussions about risks.

Members

Hank Rappaport JAB455s Kathy Gilbeaux mdmcdonald WDS1200-Columbus

Email address for group

risks@m.resiliencesystem.org

'The Worst Atrocity You’ve Never Heard Of'

The ethnic cleansing unfolding in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan doesn’t get much coverage. But once you’ve witnessed it, says Nicholas Kristof, it will haunt you. By Adam B. Ellick on Publish Date July 13, 2015. Photo by Nicholas Kristof/The New York Times.

nytimes.com - By ADAM B. ELLICK and NICHOLAS KRISTOF - July 13, 2015

You’ve heard of Darfur, and you know about the slaughter underway in Syria. But the worst ethnic cleansing you’ve never heard of is unfolding in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan, where the government is bombing villages, schools and hospitals and trying to keep out food and medicine.

It doesn’t get much coverage, partly because it’s difficult to get access to. But when you’ve seen these atrocities, they haunt you. So we slipped into the Nuba Mountains through rebel lines to try to document the killings. This video is the result.

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Planetary Boundaries: Guiding Human Development on a Changing Planet

(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE)

CLICK HERE - RESEARCH - Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet

As Science publishes the updated research, four of nine planetary boundaries have been crossed: climate change, loss of biosphere integrity, land-system change, altered biogeochemical cycles (phosphorus and nitrogen). Image source: F. Pharand-Deschênes /Globaïa

stockholmresilience.org

Planetary Boundaries 2.0 – new and improved

As Science publishes the updated research, four of nine planetary boundaries have been crossed

Four of nine planetary boundaries have now been crossed as a result of human activity, says an international team of 18 researchers in the journal Science (16 January 2015). The four are: climate change, loss of biosphere integrity, land-system change, altered biogeochemical cycles (phosphorus and nitrogen).

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Street Protests Loom as Shortages, Inflation and Oil Slump Hit Venezuela

       

Students block a street as they clash with national guards during a protest against the government in San Cristóbal on Wednesday. Photograph: Reuters

As President Nicolás Maduro tours the world in search of financing, the most conciliatory opposition leader says the time has come to mobilise on the streets

theguardian.com - by Sibylla Brodzinski - January 16, 2015

Even Venezuela’s most conciliatory opposition leader has had enough.

Amid sky-high inflation, an absent president, snaking queues outside supermarkets, and plummeting oil prices, Henrique Capriles said this week that the time was ripe to try to force a change.

“We are in a state of emergency,” he said on Monday. “This is the time to mobilise in the streets.”

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What killed the Maya? 'Blue Hole' offers clues

Sediment analysis of Belize's Blue Hole indicates that a first-millennium drought may have led to Mayan decline.

Image: Sediment analysis of Belize's Blue Hole indicates that a first-millennium drought may have led to Mayan decline.

edition.cnn.com - January 2nd 2015 - Todd Leopold

To scuba divers and tourists, Belize's famous "Blue Hole" underwater cave is a wonder, one of the "10 most amazing places on Earth," according to the Discovery Channel.

To scientists, it's something more: evidence of the drought that is suspected to have led to the demise of the Mayan civilization.

New research reinforces that theory, Rice University Earth scientist Andre Droxler told LiveScience.

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GDACS Red Alert - Super Typhoon Hagupit-14 (Ruby) in Philippines

                             GDACS Red Alert

            Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System

Tropical Cyclone HAGUPIT-14 can have a high humanitarian impact based on the Maximum sustained wind speed and the affected population and their vulnerability.

CLICK HERE - GDACS Red Alert - Super Typhoon Hagupit

CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM THE JOINT TYPHOON WARNING CENTER (JTWC)

CLICK HERE - GDACS Tropical Cyclones - Joint Research Centre

CLICK HERE - Tropical Cyclone Information - Japan Meteorological Agency

CLICK HERE - Official list of localities: Typhoon Ruby (Hagupit) Storm Surge Advisory

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Electromagnetic Disaster Could Cost Trillions and Affect Millions. We Need to Be Prepared

      

Roasted by a pulse. Credit: arbyreed, CC BY-NC-SA

homelandsecuritynewswire.com - by Anders Sandberg - August 12, 2014

In 1962, a high-altitude Pacific nuclear test caused electrical damage 1,400 km away in Hawaii. A powerful electromagnetic pulse (EMP) – created either by a solar storm or a high-altitude nuclear explosion — poses a threat to regions dependent on electricity, as such pulses could cause outages lasting from two weeks to two years. The main problem is the availability of spare transformers. Superstorm Sandy’s worst effects were in a single location. In the case of a big EMP surge, replacement transformers would be needed in hundreds of locations at the same time. The cost of an EMP pulse to the U.S. economy would likely be in the range of $500 million to $2.6 trillion. A report by the U.S. National Academies was even more pessimistic, guessing at a higher range and a multi-year recovery. Besides disrupting electricity such storms can also destroy satellites, disrupt GPS navigation, and make other parts of the infrastructure fail.

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An American’s View from a Foxhole in Sudan

      

highcountryhealth.com - by C. Louis “pj” Perrinjaquet, MD - June 12, 2014

As may become clear if you continue reading… I’m a doctor not a writer.  But, just as I was compelled to volunteer the past 6 weeks in the Nuba Mts. of Sudan, I am compelled to write and tell the story of what is happening there. 

Since May 2011 when the government on Sudan in Khartoum launched a campaign “to exterminate the Nuba people like bugs”, the civilian population has been subjected to daily aerial bombardment and has been denied access to humanitarian aid.  Unable to plant crops people are starving to death or surviving on bugs and grass, risking death to venture outside their caves in search of food and water.

The one hospital in the entire Nuba Mts, Mother of Mercy in Gidel, staffed by one fulltime physician, Dr. Tom Catena,  have been spared bombardment… until last month.

The following is taken directly from my journal written when the events were fresh.

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Video - Sudan Targets Only Hospital in Nuba Mountains

nubareports.org - May 5, 2014

On May 1, 2014 the Sudanese Air Force dropped five bombs on the Mother of Mercy Hospital in Gidel - the only hospital in the war-torn Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan State. This is the first time the hospital has been targeted. Doctors and patients alike fear follow-up attacks as a government offensive to the north bears down on the region.

http://nubareports.org/sudan-targets-only-hospital-in-nuba-mountains/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Ly9iW1-t4

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Tar Sands Linked to Health Problems

      

priceofoil.org - by Andy Rowell - April 1, 2014

In a landmark report to Alberta’s energy regulator, a panel of experts has concluded that odours from a controversial tar sands processing plant are linked to human health impacts.

The report, which was published [March 31, 2014], examined the emissions from Baytex Energy’s Peace River plant, which has been the subject of a number of health complaints from local residents over the last few years.

The situation has been so bad that seven families have been forced to leave.

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Regulator says Peace River area emissions potential cause of health problems
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Regulator+says+Peace+River+area+emissions+potential+cause+health+problems/9682279/story.html

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Adaptation to Climate Change in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: Assessing Risks, Appraising Options in Africa

 

odi.org.uk - March 2014

Water will be the main channel through which the impacts of climate change will be felt by people, ecosystems and economies. However, predicting impacts on the availability and quality of freshwater resources, and on water-dependent services and sanitation, remains difficult.

While there is a high level of confidence in the processes linking emissions to global warming, much less is known about how warming will affect changes in rainfall, runoff, groundwater recharge and climate extremes.

This reflects challenges with the downscaling of climate models, but also the significance of intervening factors, such as changes in land cover, which may have a greater influence on local systems and services than climate change. In general, the level of confidence in climate change projections decreases as their potential utility for making decisions on how to adapt increases.

This report presents the findings of research into the risks to delivery of WASH results posed by climate change in Africa, drawing on rapid case study reviews of WASH programming in Malawi, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. A separate Case Study Report provides further detail on country background and findings.

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