Matt Damon Does Ice Bucket Challenge With Toilet Water For 800 Million Without Clean H2O
"It posed kind of a problem for me,
not only because there's a drought here in California," Damon explained in the video, uploaded to the organization's YouTube channel. "But because I co-founded Water.org, and we envision the day when everybody has access to a clean drink of water -- and there are about 800 million people in the world who don't -- and so dumping a clean bucket of water on my head seemed a little crazy."
The actor -- who nominated George Clooney, Bono and NFL quarterback Tom Brady to do the challenge next -- said swapping clean H2O from the faucet for toilet water seemed fitting for the causes near and dear to his heart, as about 2.4 billion people across the globe still lack access to clean sanitation systems. Toilet water in westernized nations, Damon added, is still cleaner than the drinking water in many underserved communities in developing countries.
The ice bucket challenge has raised an unprecedented amount to combat the fatal neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Between July 29 and Aug. 25, the ALS Association has raised $79.7 million from about 1.7 million donors in its fight against Lou Gehrig’s
disease, according to TIME. During that same period last year, the organization raised about $2.5 million.
Wednesday
Tuesday
Holes in the Earth - mining and indigenous communities
Holes in the Earth | MyFDL
Hooded thugs in Guatemala allegedly beat and set on fire a protester at the Marlin Mine, owned by Goldcorp of Canada. The victim managed to jump into a puddle of water to douse the flames, was rescued by family and taken to hospital where he died. He was indigenous, a Maya Mam.
The Maya Sipacapenses, living nearby, have also reported severe reaction if they protest the mine and its destructive impact on their communities. It’s so bad that the Inter-American Commission on Human
rights urged the government to “properly consult” with the two indigenous communities, to no avail. World Bank International Financial Corporation provided the loan that got the mine underway. Goldcorp said any suggestion that it or its subsidiary, Montana Exploradora which is operating the mine, had anything to do with the violence is “patently false.” After all, their web page says so.
Hooded thugs in Guatemala allegedly beat and set on fire a protester at the Marlin Mine, owned by Goldcorp of Canada. The victim managed to jump into a puddle of water to douse the flames, was rescued by family and taken to hospital where he died. He was indigenous, a Maya Mam.
The Maya Sipacapenses, living nearby, have also reported severe reaction if they protest the mine and its destructive impact on their communities. It’s so bad that the Inter-American Commission on Human
rights urged the government to “properly consult” with the two indigenous communities, to no avail. World Bank International Financial Corporation provided the loan that got the mine underway. Goldcorp said any suggestion that it or its subsidiary, Montana Exploradora which is operating the mine, had anything to do with the violence is “patently false.” After all, their web page says so.
Saturday
Neskoulith evict Imperial Metals Corp in BC
Mount Polley mine spill: fish safe to eat, water ban mostly lifted
A British Columbia First Nation plans to issue an eviction notice to Imperial Metals Corp. (TSX:III) — the company behind a massive tailings pond breach at a gold and copper mine last week over a
separate project in the band's territory.
The declaration from the Neskonlith Indian Band is the latest sign that last week's tailings spill at the Mount Polley Mine in central B.C. could ripple across the company's other projects and possibly the province's entire mining industry.
The Neskonlith band said the notice, which its chief planned to hand-deliver to Imperial Metals in Vancouver on Thursday, orders the company to stay away from the site of its proposed Ruddock Creek zinc and lead mine, which is located about 150 kilometres northeast of Kamloops.
The mine, which is still in the development phase and has yet to go through the environmental assessment process, would be located near the headwaters of the Adams River, home of an important sockeye salmon run. The Neskonlith band opposed the mine long before the Mount Polley tailings spill.
"We do not want the mine developing or operating in that sacred headwaters," Neskonlith Chief Judy Wilson said in an interview Wednesday.
"Our elders have stated very clearly that they do not want anything poisoning our water or our salmon."
A British Columbia First Nation plans to issue an eviction notice to Imperial Metals Corp. (TSX:III) — the company behind a massive tailings pond breach at a gold and copper mine last week over a
separate project in the band's territory.
The declaration from the Neskonlith Indian Band is the latest sign that last week's tailings spill at the Mount Polley Mine in central B.C. could ripple across the company's other projects and possibly the province's entire mining industry.
The Neskonlith band said the notice, which its chief planned to hand-deliver to Imperial Metals in Vancouver on Thursday, orders the company to stay away from the site of its proposed Ruddock Creek zinc and lead mine, which is located about 150 kilometres northeast of Kamloops.
The mine, which is still in the development phase and has yet to go through the environmental assessment process, would be located near the headwaters of the Adams River, home of an important sockeye salmon run. The Neskonlith band opposed the mine long before the Mount Polley tailings spill.
"We do not want the mine developing or operating in that sacred headwaters," Neskonlith Chief Judy Wilson said in an interview Wednesday.
"Our elders have stated very clearly that they do not want anything poisoning our water or our salmon."
Monday
The U.S. Bans GMOs, Bee-Killing Pesticides in All Wildlife Refuges | TakePart
The U.S. Bans GMOs, Bee-Killing Pesticides in All Wildlife Refuges | TakePart
The U.S. government is creating a safe place for bees in national wildlife refuges by phasing out the use of genetically modified crops and an agricultural pesticide implicated in the mass die-off of pollinators.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Wildlife Refuge System manages 150 million acres across the country. By January 2016, the agency will ban the use of neonicotinoids, widely used nerve poisons that a growing number of scientific studies have shown are harmful to bees, birds, mammals, and fish.
Neonicotinoids, also called neonics, can be sprayed on crops, but most often the seeds are coated with the pesticide so that the poison spreads throughout every part of the plant as it grows, including the pollen and nectar that pollinators such as bees and butterflies eat.
“We have determined that prophylactic use, such as a seed treatment, of the neonicotinoid pesticides that can distribute systemically in a plant and can affect a broad spectrum of non-target species is not
consistent with Service policy,” James Kurth, chief of the National Wildlife Refuge System, wrote in a July 17 memo.
The move follows a regional wildlife chief’s decision on July 9 to ban neonics in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Hawaii, and the Pacific Islands by 2016.
The nationwide ban, however, goes further, as it also prohibits the use of genetically modified seeds to grow crops to feed wildlife.
The U.S. government is creating a safe place for bees in national wildlife refuges by phasing out the use of genetically modified crops and an agricultural pesticide implicated in the mass die-off of pollinators.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Wildlife Refuge System manages 150 million acres across the country. By January 2016, the agency will ban the use of neonicotinoids, widely used nerve poisons that a growing number of scientific studies have shown are harmful to bees, birds, mammals, and fish.
Neonicotinoids, also called neonics, can be sprayed on crops, but most often the seeds are coated with the pesticide so that the poison spreads throughout every part of the plant as it grows, including the pollen and nectar that pollinators such as bees and butterflies eat.
“We have determined that prophylactic use, such as a seed treatment, of the neonicotinoid pesticides that can distribute systemically in a plant and can affect a broad spectrum of non-target species is not
consistent with Service policy,” James Kurth, chief of the National Wildlife Refuge System, wrote in a July 17 memo.
The move follows a regional wildlife chief’s decision on July 9 to ban neonics in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Hawaii, and the Pacific Islands by 2016.
The nationwide ban, however, goes further, as it also prohibits the use of genetically modified seeds to grow crops to feed wildlife.
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