The Gaia Reports

By Theodora Filis   North Americans are hospitalized for food poisoning every year.   We all place our faith in manufacturers, designers, marketers, and retailers, trusting that the products we buy are safe. Sometimes, that trust is broken when these products cause injury or even death. According to statistics compiled by the U.S. Center for Disease Control, there are approximately 200 known diseases that can be transmitted through food. When a food-borne illness is the result of unsanitary restaurant conditions, improper packaging, or insufficient supervision of staff hygiene, it makes food poisoning cases even more tragic. Deli meat is recalled nationally  for containing food-borne illnesses,  one of the most common reasons people visit the emergency room. One of the worst and most potentially fatal food-borne diseases is Listeria monocytogenes. It is one of the most virulent food-borne pathogens with 20 to 30 percent of clinical infections resulting in death...

By Theodora Filis The March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, left thousands dead and caused extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure in northeastern Japan. "Many individuals and companies from around the world sent donations after the [March 11, 2011 tsunami] disaster. The people who know Japan are worried about the situation as though it is happening to their own country. While the media continues to focus their attention on the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, we hope to report on what is happening to the other areas devastated by the tsunami." Shinko Tana, the International Rescue Committee's (IRC) Japan adviser, in the Dec 21, 2011 edition of Japan's Fukkou Kamaishi Shimbun newspaper. The Japanese government and people have made tremendous strides working to pull down the old, and build new houses and roads, cleaning vast territories of rubble, smashed cars, and even planes and boats – an estimated 23 million tonnes of debris. Japan approved...

By Theodora Filis In 2007 an unprecedented drought, lasting nearly three years, stretched across the southeastern United States forcing some of the region's largest cities to declare water emergencies. The situation became so serious that officials in Atlanta, where rainfall totals were more than 16 inches below normal, were worried they would run out of drinking water. David Stooksbury, a climatologist at Georgia State, classified the drought as “an exceptional drought... basically [it is] the type of drought that we expect to see about once in 100 years.” When Lake Lanier reservoir, the main source of Atlanta’s water supply, shrank to historic lows in the midst of the drought, Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue called the drought “man-made,” and sought to halt or severely restrict water releases from Lake Lanier reservoir, directly threatening numerous aquatic species downstream, including endangered mussels and sturgeon. This crisis triggered litigation, and a water war, involv...