Needville Fire
After reading the news and finding out that the fire was set intentional to the school. Which contained the schools TAKS tests I thought that this would be a good article to check out due to the extremity of it, and becuse if there were two bricks thrown no alarms to sounded, and then the school burning for so long due to the lack of firehydrants within the area. When I went to the school districts website there was no mention of the fire anywhere and I searched all over the districts website. That is just horrible to me, they should at least acknowladge what happened and have some sort of action plan going forward as to what is going to be done.
http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/txcn/houston/stories/khou070423_ac_needvillefire.38947995.html
www.needvilleisd.com
Monday, April 30, 2007
Grassroots vs.astroturf
Grassroots is political backing by the constituents and a community, people that are recieving no pay or "benefits" from the cause that they are supporting. If you go to www.grassroots.org you will see that their headline on their site is "promoting citizen action and providing free service to non-profit organizations.
Asrtoturf is defined by wikipedia as an "artificial grassrooting". In other words, it is a company backing a group that is "supposedly" voluntary and separate from the company.
If you read the "who we are: section of the Rainforest Action Network's website (http://ran.org) you will find a clear example of true grassroots, they are made up of 36 employees and thousands of volunteers. From the TXU article it is quite obvious that they are an astroturf organization. They are working for the good of their own organization not for people. The lobbiest not the welfare of those that are affected.
Asrtoturf is defined by wikipedia as an "artificial grassrooting". In other words, it is a company backing a group that is "supposedly" voluntary and separate from the company.
If you read the "who we are: section of the Rainforest Action Network's website (http://ran.org) you will find a clear example of true grassroots, they are made up of 36 employees and thousands of volunteers. From the TXU article it is quite obvious that they are an astroturf organization. They are working for the good of their own organization not for people. The lobbiest not the welfare of those that are affected.
WaterWays Lede
Denton, TX-March XX, 2007-75% of the water on Earth is oceans, but how does it get from land out to sea? The University of North Texas will be hosting the 2nd bi-annual Waterways conference March 13-15.
“Waterways: the confluence of Art, Science, Policy and Philosophy”, will bring together many departments of the University along with a variety of professionals from both the public and private sector. The conference will focus its discussions on the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna Basin and other river basins. The main topic will be the GBM, which is bordered by India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Tibet. The GBM is the third largest basin in the world behind that of the Amazon and Congo Basins, and it is one of the most fertile.
“Because the GBM is a highly populated area, water engineers and water managers responsible for building dams and other methods of flood control should consider the culture”, said Irene Klaver, UNT Associate professor in the University’s Environmental Philosophy graduate program.
Klaver will co-direct the newly founded River Cultures and Ecological Futures and will help push policies that respect the cultures of those who live along basins.
Guests for the event will include Robert F. Kennedy Jr, president of Waterkeeper Alliance and Rasaswamy R. Iyer (Former Sec. of water for India)
The event is free and open to the public. For schedule of speakers or directions please visit the waterways website www.water.unt.edu, or call Irene Klaver 940-565-2266.
“Waterways: the confluence of Art, Science, Policy and Philosophy”, will bring together many departments of the University along with a variety of professionals from both the public and private sector. The conference will focus its discussions on the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna Basin and other river basins. The main topic will be the GBM, which is bordered by India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Tibet. The GBM is the third largest basin in the world behind that of the Amazon and Congo Basins, and it is one of the most fertile.
“Because the GBM is a highly populated area, water engineers and water managers responsible for building dams and other methods of flood control should consider the culture”, said Irene Klaver, UNT Associate professor in the University’s Environmental Philosophy graduate program.
Klaver will co-direct the newly founded River Cultures and Ecological Futures and will help push policies that respect the cultures of those who live along basins.
Guests for the event will include Robert F. Kennedy Jr, president of Waterkeeper Alliance and Rasaswamy R. Iyer (Former Sec. of water for India)
The event is free and open to the public. For schedule of speakers or directions please visit the waterways website www.water.unt.edu, or call Irene Klaver 940-565-2266.
Bio's
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr
Named one of Time magazines “Hero’s for the planet”, Kennedy has one many lawsuits against those guilty of polluting the Hudson River, Long Island sound and other bodies of water. He acts as Chief prosecuting attorney for Riverkeeper an organization whose mission is to “protect the ecological integrity of the Hudson river and watershed of New York”. Bobby is also president of Waterkeeper Alliance, a grassroots group designed to preserve and protect water from polluters. The groups’ achievements have lead to the expansion of the group to 130 organizations across the world.
Ramaswamy R. Iyer
Iyer has held a number of civil service positions. He has held the position of Secretary of Water for India. He was sent by the government of India to Yemen to advise Yemen on a formulation of a National water policy and strategy. In April 2000 and again in May 2002 he acted as a consultant to the World Bank in reviewing of a water sector strategy. He also acted as a consultant to the World Commission on damns for India’s experience study. Iyer is also a life long member of the Indian water resource society.
Named one of Time magazines “Hero’s for the planet”, Kennedy has one many lawsuits against those guilty of polluting the Hudson River, Long Island sound and other bodies of water. He acts as Chief prosecuting attorney for Riverkeeper an organization whose mission is to “protect the ecological integrity of the Hudson river and watershed of New York”. Bobby is also president of Waterkeeper Alliance, a grassroots group designed to preserve and protect water from polluters. The groups’ achievements have lead to the expansion of the group to 130 organizations across the world.
Ramaswamy R. Iyer
Iyer has held a number of civil service positions. He has held the position of Secretary of Water for India. He was sent by the government of India to Yemen to advise Yemen on a formulation of a National water policy and strategy. In April 2000 and again in May 2002 he acted as a consultant to the World Bank in reviewing of a water sector strategy. He also acted as a consultant to the World Commission on damns for India’s experience study. Iyer is also a life long member of the Indian water resource society.
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