Clown beams message of water conservation from space

WATER WORLD

Guy Laliberte.

Jordan to refill Dead Sea from Red Sea
Jordan's plan to refill the Dead Sea with water from the Red Sea could damage ecosystems in both bodies of water, environmentalists warn. Water levels in the Dead Sea, the Earth's lowest and saltiest body of water, have been shrinking by more than 4 feet a year for the last 20 years, largely because of water extracted for drinking, agriculture and industry, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday. The Jordanian government plans to extract more than 10 billion cubic feet a year from the Red Sea, 110 miles to the south, route most of it to a desalination plant to create drinking water, and then send the remaining salty wastewater to the Dead Sea by tunnel, Jordanian Water Minister Maysoun Zu'bi said. The project would begin as soon as funding is arranged, Zu'bi said. Environmentalists warn that mixing two types of saltwater could produce algae blooms in the Dead Sea, while increased salinity in the Red Sea could damage fish and coral, the Telegraph reported. (UPI Report)

50,000 people short of water in south China drought: report
More than 50,000 people in southern China's Guangdong province are suffering from water shortages as a spreading drought has left farmers' fields dry and cracked, state media reported Sunday. Guangdong's annual average rainfall this year was 1,400 millimetres, down 13 percent down from previous years, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing drought relief officials. In Renhua county in Shaoguan city, one of the worst-hit areas, reservoir levels this year have been 78.2 percent of normal levels, Huang Fuyang, deputy head of the county, was quoted as saying. Cracks can be seen in fields due to drought, the report said, adding that more then 53,000 hectares of farmland had been affected. More than 67.7 million yuan (10 million dollars) has been earmarked for drought relief by various levels of government, the report said. Drought has hit several parts of north, central and southern China this year, leaving millions short of water. Nearly five million people were affected by drought that hit in late July and lasted until last month in an area spanning Inner Mongolia province in the north to Jilin province in the northeast, earlier state media reports said. In Liaoning province, next to Jilin, the situation was the worst in 60 years, with half of all arable land having dried up, reports said. Meanwhile, the provinces of Hubei and Hunan in central China have also suffered drought, as they have been hard hit by a combination of low rainfall and high temperatures, reports said.

by Staff Writers
Montreal (AFP) Oct 10, 2009
The first clown in space, Guy Laliberte, has launched a 14-city poetic planetary extravaganza to promote clean drinking water, from the International Space Station.

The billionaire space tourist and founder of Cirque du Soleil described his journey as a "poetic, social mission."

The two-hour live One Drop show, broadcast online Friday included guests Al Gore, Bono, Salma Hayek, Peter Gabriel, Shakira, Canadian astronaut Julie Payette and a musical theatrical performance by Laliberte's circus troupe.

It kicked off with a reading of a poem by Man-Booker prize-winning author Yann Martel, describing a conversation between the Sun, the Moon and a drop of water. Throughout the show, several people read bits of the fable.

Former US vice president Gore used charts and video to warn of melting polar ice caps, water pollution, and extreme weather causing droughts and flooding.

"To solve the climate crisis and safeguard our planet and its beauty ... will require global effort," he said.

Australian Tiffany Speight sang from the Sydney opera house. Inuit singer Elisapie Isaac belted out haunting lyrics in her native language, while rappers Fnaire performed from Morocco.

Throughout the show crowds danced and cheered in the streets of Rio de Janeiro, New York's Times Square and at outdoor concerts worldwide.

The 14 segments were broadcast from South Africa, Mexico, Russia, Brazil, Canada, Britain, Japan, France, India, Morocco, Australia, and several cities in the United States.

Acrobats swan underwater with whales in the Pacific Ocean, as others swung from a makeshift ship dangling high above a pool at a Las Vegas casino.

In Moscow, ballet students of the State Academic Maliy Theatre splashed in a curtain of rain with Bolshoi Ballet star Nikolai Tsiskaridze.

U2 rocked a stadium crowd in Tampa Bay, Florida as part of what Bono described as "an out of this world event."

Between songs, Laliberte spoke with Bono onstage from orbit via a satellite video link. "Every time I look down at this fantastic planet (from the International Space Station) ... it looks so fragile," he said, at times losing his footing in zero gravity.

Later, Laliberte was shown trying to gulp a drop of water floating in air.

Flanked by the ISS crew who described onboard technology for recycling urine into drinking water that could someday be used to allay a water crisis predicted to be coming in 25 to 50 years, Laliberte touted: "All for water, water for all."

As well, he expressed his wish that a "ripple effect" from the show would spur more people to become water conservation activists.

Critics lamented the enormous cost of the promotion and Laliberte's own 35-million dollar space voyage aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket, suggesting the money would have been better spent digging wells in Africa.

Others said it was a modest sum for such exposure of an important cause.

Montreal's daily Le Devoir accused Laliberte of being a "narcissus" and blasted media coverage of the event, saying it focused more on his red clown nose than on water issues.

Laliberte boarded the ISS with US astronaut Jeffrey Williams and Russian cosmonaut Maxim Surayev on October 2, two days after they blasted off from the Baikonur space base in Kazakhstan.

A former stilt-walker and fire-eater, Laliberte entertained his fellow crew members with a soap bubble show during their Soyuz flight. He is due to return to Earth on October 11.

NASA will rebroadcast the One Drop show on Saturday.

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us Digg Reddit

YahooMyWeb Google Facebook

Related Links
Water News - Science, Technology and Politics

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS
Solar Energy Solutions
Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ...

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

WATER WORLD

Dutch cabinet okays land flooding to enlarge Belgian port
The Hague (AFP) Oct 9, 2009
The Dutch cabinet gave the green light Friday to flood a 320-hectare piece of farmland reclaimed from the sea to allow the enlargement of the port of Antwerp in neighbouring Belgium. "We have decided to opt for flooding" of the Western Scheldt estuary, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told journalists in The Hague after a weekly cabinet meeting. "We have tried everything to find ... read more

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2009 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement