All posts tagged: Burden

Kabwe, the African city where children carry the burden of lead poisoning – Reporters

Kabwe, the African city where children carry the burden of lead poisoning – Reporters

Published by Sam Flores

Located about 150 kilometres north of Zambia’s capital Lusaka, Kabwe is considered one of the most polluted places in the world, following decades of lead and zinc mining. A simple blood test of two children confirms reports of severe lead contamination. FRANCE 24’s Caroline Dumay, Stefan Carstens and Eunice Masson report. Named Broken Hill until 1966, the capital of the Zambian Central Province, Kabwe, carries an invisible threat because of decades of mining: soil saturated with lead. In its most affected areas, more than 95 percent of children exceed the World Health Organization’s safety threshold of 50 micrograms of lead per decilitre of blood. For children, playing in the dust and walking barefoot is dangerous, as lead poisoning can cause intellectual and physical disabilities. Today, an estimated 140,000 affected women and children are collaborating with international role players in a class action suit against the mining giant, Anglo American South Africa Limited (AASA), in the Johannesburg High Court. Judgment for the class action is expected later this year.  Source link

A poem by William H. McRaven: ‘The Burden They Carry’

A poem by William H. McRaven: ‘The Burden They Carry’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Wheeling the old warriorsoff the Honor Flight planewith flags and banners,people calling their names. From Chosen to Kabul,from Baghdad to Hue,after all these yearstoday was their day. Oh, the burden they carry,I heard one woman say.I wonder if our childrenwould serve today? But not far offanother plane left,with soldiers and sailors,their solemn duty kept. Nearby, a young wife,two children at her side.It’s the burden she carriesas the plane took flight. And across the seain an ancient land,a lowered steel ramp,a song from a band. A flag-draped coffin.A fallen hero inside.It’s the burden they carried,and they carried it with pride. Emptiness and sorrow,pain and loss.It’s the burden they carry.The unbearable cost. They swore an oathto support and defend.It’s the burden they carriedto the very end. Wheeling the old warriorsoff the Honor Flight planewith flags and banners,people calling their names. From Fallujah to Khe Sanh,from V-E to V-J,after all these yearstoday was their day. A young child wavedas the old men passed.Home to a hero’s welcome.Home at last. It’s a burden they carryfor a day like today.It’s …

What ‘Strangers’ by Belle Burden Says About Women and Money

What ‘Strangers’ by Belle Burden Says About Women and Money

Published by Jenni Sidey

Warning: Spoilers ahead. If you are a woman and haven’t yet picked up a copy of Belle Burden’s bestselling memoir, Strangers, I suggest grabbing a copy. A personal recounting of Burden’s marriage and divorce from a high-powered attorney-turned-hedge-fund-executive, it reads like a flashing warning sign for women who are married, engaged, or contemplating marriage to consider what would happen to them if their spouse decided to leave. As she was a product of generational wealth and opportunity, including university and law school at prestigious institutions, it is at first hard to understand how such an accomplished and privileged woman could compromise her financial footing so willingly. As a divorce attorney, I’m not surprised. Not only do I see it every day, but on the cusp of my own divorce, I was, in many ways, like her. After having relinquished my financial well-being to my husband for years, I found myself with not even enough money to buy myself a chai tea. Like Burden, I should’ve known better. Yet I, too, chose to leave my financial …

Turning construction materials from a climate burden into a sustainable business

Turning construction materials from a climate burden into a sustainable business

Published by skeptic

ECOFUNC is reshaping building materials with biobased panels designed for real-world performance, safety, and circularity Construction is one of the world’s biggest industries, but it is also one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise. ECOFUNC starts from that reality. The building and construction sector accounts for more than 35% of global final energy use (but around 40% in Europe), about 37% of global carbon emissions, up to 50% of natural resource use, and roughly half of total solid waste. ECOFUNC focuses on three products that are everywhere in modern buildings: cladding for ventilated façades, suspended ceiling tiles, and internal partition walls. These products shape the performance, appearance, durability, and comfort of buildings. Today, they are usually made from materials such as ceramics, gypsum, glass fibre, and fossil-based components that are energy-intensive, difficult to recycle, or both. ECOFUNC sets out to change that by developing circular, biobased, and functional alternatives that can perform in real buildings, not just in the lab. The problem The problem is not only that current construction panels have a high environmental …

In defence of dropping dead: the burden of extended care for aged parents is a heavy new phenomenon | Lucinda Holdforth

In defence of dropping dead: the burden of extended care for aged parents is a heavy new phenomenon | Lucinda Holdforth

Published by Sam Flores

Looked at one way, the modern longevity narrative is an inspirational story of human scientific and social progress. Looked at another you could say that we are now condemned to longevity – our own and other people’s. It’s placing a massive economic, social and psychological burden on us as individuals and as a society. There are now so many old people that new categories of demographic definition have been created to describe them. Those considered the “young old” are aged between 55 and 65. That’s me: At 63 years of age, I’m a young old. By all the rules of human history, I should have been dead for years. Instead, when I look 20 years into the future, I foresee an even older me who will need to plan for the outside possibility that I may have another 20 years to go. This is not necessarily, in my view, a glorious prospect. Sometimes I see myself becoming one of the ancient crones at my own family reunion – the one wearing the garish makeup and …

Joe Bini on ‘Burden of Other People’s Dreams: Chapter One – Ganymede’

Joe Bini on ‘Burden of Other People’s Dreams: Chapter One – Ganymede’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Imagine sitting down in a room with an iPad, a screen and loudspeakers. After a brief introduction to the set-up, you are in there, alone, for what is described as an 80- to 90-minute “live cinema experience.” Its title: Burden of Other People’s Dreams: Chapter One – Ganymede. After you look around the room a bit, you pick up the iPad. And off you are on a surreal journey. If you are now wondering what the heck I am talking about, the creator of the experience, Joe Bini, is likely smiling. Yeah, THAT Joe Bini! The creative, who in his work as an editor has collaborated with the likes of Werner Herzog, Andrea Arnold and many others. While that work is all about helping someone else’s creative vision become reality, Bini has now created something very, very different. Is it a book? Is it a movie? Well, it doesn’t really matter what you call it. What it is for sure is a sold-out offering that is part of the Inter:Active Exhibition at the 23rd edition of CPH:DOX, …

‘My silence ends here’: The heartbreaking burden of Dolores Huerta

‘My silence ends here’: The heartbreaking burden of Dolores Huerta

Published by Sam Flores

At 95, labor icon Dolores Huerta made a shocking and heartbreaking revelation Wednesday, in the wake of a New York Times investigation into sexual abuse allegations against her fellow icon, Cesar Chavez. She was raped by Chavez, she said. Twice — both times resulting in pregnancies. “I have never identified myself as a victim, but I now understand that I am a survivor — of violence, of sexual abuse, of domineering men who saw me, and other women, as property, or things to control,” Huerta wrote in a statement Wednesday. “I have kept this secret long enough. My silence ends here.” Like so many women who have carried the burden of their own attacks behind an iron curtain of guilt and shame, Huerta now finds herself in the difficult, painful position of having not only to relive this trauma as it becomes public, but explain it to the rest of us. Like the brave women of the Epstein files; like our First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and the courageous women who spoke out against Harvey …

The toxic burden of pesticides is growing all around the world

The toxic burden of pesticides is growing all around the world

Published by skeptic

A farmer spraying pesticides on a cotton field Tao Weiming/VCG via Getty Images More than 60 years after Rachel Carson warned of the dangers of pesticides in her book Silent Spring, the harm they are doing to wildlife may be greater than ever. “In more or less all countries, the trend is towards increasing applied toxicity,” says Ralf Schulz at RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau in Germany. The potential harm done by any pesticide depends on both the amount applied and its toxicity, which can vary greatly from species to species. To assess the overall burden of pesticides, Schulz and his colleagues have developed a measure called applied toxicity. The researchers started by looking at the quantities of 625 pesticides used in 201 countries from 2013 to 2019. The list includes some pesticides used by organic farmers as well as conventional ones. They then averaged data from regulators in several countries on how toxic each pesticide is to eight broad groups of organisms: aquatic plants, aquatic invertebrates, fish, terrestrial arthropods, pollinators, soil organisms, terrestrial vertebrates and terrestrial …

‘US’s critical minerals summit will burden Global South with most costs’ | Al Jazeera

‘US’s critical minerals summit will burden Global South with most costs’ | Al Jazeera

Published by Sam Flores

The United States has hosted its first critical minerals summit aimed at challenging China’s dominance of the global supply chain for rare earth elements. But political economist Stefan Zylinski warns that Global South countries are likely to bear the greatest cost from any plan conceived by the Global North. Published On 5 Feb 20265 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Source link

Rising ovarian cancer burden in Europe demands action now

Rising ovarian cancer burden in Europe demands action now

Published by Sam Flores

Developed and funded by AbbVie in collaboration with the World Ovarian Cancer Coalition (the Coalition) and based on an interview with Christel Paganoni-Bruijns, chief executive officer of the Coalition, and Frances Reid, programme director of the Coalition Late diagnoses, burdensome treatments and disease recurrence are realities for many women with ovarian cancer.1,2,3,4,5 Their stories are evidence of systemic challenges impacting care that policymakers have the power to combat. The World Ovarian Cancer Coalition (the Coalition), the only global ovarian cancer patient advocacy organization, is driving evidence generation to inform tangible policy reforms that could reduce the socioeconomic burden of this disease on individuals and wider societies.6 Ovarian cancer is one of the deadliest cancers affecting women in Europe, yet it remains overlooked.7,8 While other areas of women’s health benefit from policy frameworks and public awareness, ovarian cancer continues to sit in the margins, creating real human consequences. In 2022, Europe recorded the highest rates of ovarian cancer incidence and mortality worldwide.8 Only 40 percent of women in Europe remain alive five years after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, with advanced-stage diagnoses often having poorer outcomes.8 Despite this, ovarian cancer remains absent from many national cancer plans and there is still no unified European policy framework to address it.  In partnership with European patient groups, the Coalition is convening a …