Dual Injustice

A few weeks ago I told you about the disappearance and rape of young working class women in Ciudad Juárez and in other Northern Mexican towns. Via witness.org, here's a short documentary (15 min.) on the abduction of Ms. Neyra Cervantes and the forced confession and imprisonment of her cousin David Meza. While the documentary is too focused to give you the big picture of the phenomenon and its relationship to the exchanges between Mexico and the US, it does give you a notion on the real impact that this situation on human beings like you and me.

An electric car grid in Israel

You may remember from our first classes that I told you about a Palo Alto, CA based company that is in the business of creating a network of power cell stations for electric cars. The company has landed contracts in Denmark, Israel, and, more recently, Hawaii. It might start running some programs in a few Northern California cities as well.

See the following report from World Focus on the advantages and drawbacks of such a concept:

What the World Eats

Picturesque photo essay from Time, a summary of Menzel and D'Aluisio's Hungry Planet.

Complete photo essay here.

Could solar power energize Europe?

It has long been posited that the Sahara desert is a large repository of solar power that could bring cheap and clean energy to all of West Africa. Some claim that it could even provide for Europe, which at this point remains highly hypothetical. Conducting all that energy towards the north remains the larger structural problem. There are, however, some engineers and venture capital firms looking into it right now. German news channel Deutsche Welle has this interesting documentary on alternative energies projects in Africa (in English, 26 min.).

Bangkok is sinking?

You may have heard of "sinking cities" --urban areas built on clay or swampy ground that is giving way to the weight of the buildings above. The cases that come to mind are Venice and Mexico City. Some scientists claim that a combination of soft soil with changes in the sea levels could turn this into more of a problem for some large coastal cities. Global Post reports on Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.

Bangkok is sinking | GlobalPost

Alternatives to female genital mutilation

It's not just production processes, brands, entertainment, or violence that have become globalized. Harmful traditional practices that were once localized continue to be practiced in clandestinity in areas where they are forbidden. Such is the case of female genital mutilation, which has been performed on around 130 million women worldwide. Case in point, Catalonia, a territory in NE Spain, home to one of the largest Gambian communities in Europe. 3,600 women are presumed to have been victims either in underground ceremonies or in the course of "vacations" back home.

Public Health scientist Adriana Kaplan of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona has been working with Gambian communities towards the establishment of alternative, non-harmful initiation ceremonies for girls. There's been a significant breakthrough now that the Gambian government has accepted to take on Kaplan's project into a National Program.

More information on the science news page Eurekalert.

A $10 laptop?

Following the cue of MIT's $100 "One Laptop Per Child" project, here comes the 500 rupee ($10) laptop. The Times of India reports here.