Looking ahead to Breast Cancer Brawl and Peace Problems and Solutions

Right now I'm also looking ahead in the future for miniatures. I'm wrapping up the Magnus Agenda, but now have set my sights on Breast Cancer Brawl in October. I'm thinking Ashlynn and doing a "Ladies First" Army, to which I donate/auction in October. Which means I need to have Magnus done by end of June and wrap up Ashlynn at the end of September. And get some games in.

Thank god Merc's are my choice army for this year's summer rampage. Otherwise I'd have too many stats, strategies, & tactics to learn.

On a final note, I have to make the ultimate decision in the upcoming week - do I a) bring Cryx to NE Team Championship or b) bring Magnus Agenda, promote water awareness, and knowingly sacrifice my chance of helping the NJ SOB's retain the trophy this year...

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There are two articles that I read, days apart from each other:

Westbank in Acute Humanitarian Crisis should be read first, followed by To Ease Israel's Grip, Farmers Try Old-New Methods.

Asides the finger pointing done by both the Israelis and the Palestinians and the blatant bias indicated in the news article, this is the solutions we need. With modern sanitation, agriculture, and comforts comes a price - heavy demand on water. The West Bank is dry and has to fight with Israel over use of what little water remains in the area. Agriculture, irrigation, and sanitation are all wonderful, but do people really need working toilets?

Perhaps these Britons have the correct answer. Use and re-use. Why waste dishwater when it can become water for the fields, which in turn act as a natural pollution remover. I'm not espousing that everyone should go out and go green, but eco-sustainable policies are necessary. I mean, a well is nice and all, but wells dry out over time. What then?

A Bit Older News

Bio-fuel - Drink-Or-Drive Scenario?

An interesting article dated May 11th that raised the question of how sustainable and feasible Bio-fuels (Corn & Soy) really is, when you take into account the water demands to grow those crops as well as pollution from soil erosion/degradation. With corn, it's 50 gal of water for every mile driven. Soy jumps up to 150 gal of water.

While just numbers...but for crops grown in thirsty states (CA & CO) is this really a better alternative. The avg person should drink at least one gallon of water/day. We probably use more for showers/sanitation/cooking. Throw on top the increased demand required by these thirsty crops and you're crunching on the amount of water people will be able to access.

I've also been always a little skeptical about Bio-fuels. Running on peat or moss is one thing. Running on agricultural crops that have a demand as a food source is another. Mexico demonstrated not too long ago that increased demand in corn, like any good economy, will increase the prices. And for Mexico, corn is a staple food, used to make all sorts of commodities (tortillas for starters).

I'm on board about being green. I'm not on board making impoverished lives harsher and stripping food supply away.

Water & Climate Change

Interesting article that I found while browsing for information: Water & Climate Change.

A few facts that I've picked up from the different websites so far-

• 2.5% of water on Earth is fresh water. Most is still frozen in the ice caps. About 0.7% of water on the planet is fresh water available for consumption.
• Approximately 800,000,000 to 1.1 bn people live without access to good water.
• Another 2.5 bn people live without proper sanitation.
• 67% of water consumption is used in agriculture, the basic industry of developing nations. Yet a majority of these nations in Africa, the mid-East & Asia lack access to freshwater.
• Climate change plays a big impact on the hydrological cycle on earth. Interruptions in the cycle won't replenish water fast enough to match consumption. Additionally, many of the sub-Saharan & mid-East nations live in an arid environment where water is already scarce.
  
• While dams & reservoirs alleviate water scarcity, they are dangerous to rely for two-fold - (1) the environmental impact & (2) unequal distribution of the benefits. Many people may be displaced due to damming, but they and many impoverished will not see the benefits of the dam - clean water and sanitation. Water from the dam typically services the needs of nearby cities instead. City populations are slated to grow due to urbanization - Asian cities alone are predicated to grow by 1 bn.
  

Water, Water Everywhere and Not a Drop to Spare

Well, when I first starting asking for suggestions for an issue to help raise awareness, I was flooded with responses from my group of friends ranging from silly nonsensical issues to Breast Cancer.

However, there was one issue I was floored with - Water Quality and Scarcity.

Think about how much water we waste, yet knowing that approximately 1.1 bn people in the world lack access to drinkable water. Even more suffer from poor sanitation. Violence has flared over the rights to drinkable water and riverways for more than a millennium.

I wish I could say more. It's such a basic issue, so prevalent in third world countries and even here in America. The best that I can do at the moment is learn more like everyone else.

I have provided some links to different sites for now and I'll post news as I can. Many of these are very informational to providing a better idea on water quality and water scarcity issues.

Circle of Blue - a very informational news site that brings together articles dealing with water issues, ranging from the droughts in California and Australia to water wars in southern Ethiopia.

Overcoming Water Scarcity & Quality Constraints - an economics paper dealing with the variety of water issues and how it affects the world, according to the viewpoint of economists.

Charity Water - this was the link that my friend sent that originally floored me and one of the two charities I will be donating to. They work through various different charity organizations, including Water for People, Healing Hands, Gram Vikas, Concern Worldwide & many others. While not explicitly a Christian charity, they do work with LWI & HH.

Wateraid - Another charity that I will be donating to. Wateraid beat out Water for People for two reasons: (1) Charity Water works with Water for People on projects, so I felt like I was duplicating work & (2) Best Business Bureau rated Wateraid higher than Water for People due to WfP's failure to meet BBB's compensation standard. This bothered me slightly. You can read more about it on BBB's entry.

Water for People - notable charity for water scarcity & quality improvement.



I have already decided that I'm going to run the Magnus agenda and will be building 500 & 750 pt armies. I would love to go to GenCon with this army, but I'm afraid that I'm going to have use 4-Star for that, so unless something changes real soon (aka Magnus gets another warcaster to work with), I don't see how that's going to be possible. Although I think I can participate in Hardcore, although the meaning of the army is slightly lost.