9) Italian city buried in trash

2,400 tons of trash have piled up in the streets of Naples, Italy. City trash hasn't been collected due to public outrage of a proposed city dump. Residents are protesting not only the building of a new landfill, but the conditions of an existing landfill, which they say poses an environmental and health hazard. Last week Italian Prime Minister, Berlusconi, promised that within 10 days the situation should be brought back to normality. He also mentioned that the current landfill poses no risk to the residents. I can only imagine the smell and all the diseases that are carried by trash. Hopefully, the government will move into quick action otherwise, like I said, diseases might start spreading and it will be harder to control.

Link to site: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_newsroom/20101025/wl_yblog_newsroom/in-photos-an-italian-city-buried-in-trash

8) Artic of old is gone

Ok so its not new that the Artic is melting because of global warming but seeing a before and after picture just somehow makes it that much more real. Yes, the Artic keeps warming up and highly unlikely to return to earlier conditions according to an annual report card issued Thursday by top scientists. The report card tells a story of widespread continued and even dramatic effects of a warming Artic. In 2009 there was a slowdown in Artic warming but the first half of 2010 shows a near record pace with monthly anomalies of over 4 degrees Centigrade in northern Canada. Beyond affecting the humans and wildlife that call the area home, the Artic's warmer temperatures and decreases in permafrost, snow cover, glaciers and sea ice also have wide ranging consequences for the physical and biological systems in other parts of the world.

Link to site: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39779522/ns/us_news-environment/

7) Russia Fires and Pakistan Floods linked?

Two deadly natural disasters this year, the Russian wildfires and the Pakistan floods, may be connected by the Asian monsoon, one of the most powerful atmospheric forces on the planet. The reason why is because the monsoon brings rain and floods to Pakistan and much of the rest of Asia in summer. The air pumped into the upper atmosphere by monsoon winds has to come down somewhere and much of that air seems to be settling over Russia where it's creating high-pressure conditions, which favor heat waves. Circulation patterns such as the one described above are usually normal but they're also being enhanced by rising sea temperatures due mostly to global warming. This doesn't come as a surprise to me as, the more environmental news I read, the more I make a connection between everything and how global warming is really taking its toll on our Earth. Pakistan has had its worst flood in 80 years, which has affected nearly 14 million people and Russia has had the worst heat wave ever. The link between the Russian fires and the Pakistan floods "is a great example that things that happen in the atmosphere don't occur in isolation"

Link to site: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/100812-russian-wildfires-pakistan-floods-global-warming-science-environment/

6) 20 year old woman becomes top cop in violent Mexican municipality

This week I was surprised to hear about 20-year old Marisol Valles Garcia who became the police chief in a town near drug cartel capital Juarez, Mexico. Nobody else applied for the job as everyone is afraid of the recent killings of police officers, including the former mayor of Guadalupe. It is admirable that Marisol, despire being afraid as everyone else is of the drug cartels, would take on this job motivated by the desire to make her community a safer living place.

More than 28,000 people have died in Mexico due to the country's drug violence since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the cartel's in 2006.

Link to site: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101020/wl_yblog_upshot/college-student-named-police-chief-in-violence-plagued-mexican-town-after-no-one-else-would-apply

5) Plastic Bag bans!

It is very exciting to see more and more cities join the national effort to ban plastic bags from supermarkets by proposing taxes on them! Back home in Mexico over the summer we were informed through the newspapers that major shopping centers like Wal-Mart would no longer give away free plastic bags so the options were to pay for them or bring your own from home. I'm not sure if this rule was enforced or if it still is but it was great to see people becoming aware of the fact that plastic bags are terrible for the environment due to the long time they take to decompose. California didn't pass a statewide tax on plastic bags but states such as Texas, Alaska, and Hawaii now have a 20% tax on plastic bags and in Washington D.C. plastic bag use dropped from 22 million to 3 million in a month thanks to taxes!! I think this is a great initiative and it would be great if every state passed a similar law then the US could really reduce the amount of plastic bags used nationwide in no time :)

Link to site: http://www.grist.org/article/2010-10-08-plastic-bag-bans-sweep-cities-across-nation/

4) New County Park at Creekwood

There is a new 25-acre county park being built near Creekwood area. The park will include a play lot, dog park, playing field, picnic tables, pavillion, parking lot and restrooms. I think it is great that they are building this park and that the director of Manatee County Parks and Recreations mentioned the plans to build this park go back more than a decade ago, as well as considering that the people living near the area have been requesting a dog park. It is expected to be completed within the next 9-12 months. The neighbors are more than excited to have a play lot for their children and overall I think parks are great for communities, people can enjoy being out and kids can learn to have more fun outside than indoors. Good Job Manatee County!!

3) 10/10/10 at Ringling

So this whole week we celebrated Wellness Week at Ringling concluding with Sunday's 10/10/10 celebration yet, where are the students? I was lucky to be able to attend a couple of the events planned this week such as the Organic cooking demo, Harvest Fest, and the Sunrise Yoga, but not a lot of people seemed interested in attending or making the time or effort to attend this events. Judging by the way the campus looks over the weekends, students don't seem to care about the environment they live in and study in. There is always trash around the CJ area, people don't respect the designated smoking areas, etc. It is sad to see that people have not been educated or brought up to care for the environment. This week it was even more disappointing to know that students were not as interested in the events the school had planned for the week. I am thankful for the different events we had, the time and money that went to bringing speakers to campus and organizing trips, but I hope people will be more interested in their environment, starting by taking care of their own school and themselves.