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About 80% of the world's population lives in areas where the fresh water supply is not secure, according to a new global analysis. Researchers compiled a composite index of "water threats" that includes issues such as scarcity and pollution. The most severe threat category encompasses 3.4 billion people. Writing in the journal Nature, they say that in western countries, conserving water for people through reservoirs and dams works for people, but not nature. They urge developing countries not to follow the same path. What we're able to outline is a planet-wide pattern of threat” Charles Vorosmarty City College of New York Instead, they say governments should invest in water management strategies that combine infrastructure with "natural" options such as safeguarding watersheds, wetlands and flood plains. The analysis is a global snapshot, and the research team suggests more people are likely to encounter more severe stress on their water supply in the coming decades, as the climate changes and the human population continues to grow. They have taken data on a variety of different threats, used models of threats where data is scarce, and used expert assessment to combine the various individual threats into a composite index.

Why is it that Americans are discovering that the U.S. now has the largest increase in poverty in more than a half a century under the administration of a U.S. president that may be one of the most sympathetic to the needs of the middle class and the poor of all presidents during this period? One answer might be that it reflects a long tail of a previous president due to the engagement of elective wars with poor outcomes and disastrous tax and social policies. This will most likely be at the heart of the political rhetoric of the Democratic party during the the 2010 mid-term and 2012 presidential election. However, there may be a deeper truth, which our national leadership and the American public is missing, or is unwilling to speak about. American society has deep structural problems from long-standing policies and socio-poliical behaviors stemming back to the early 1980s and before, that have aggregated into disastrous unsustainable, yet well entrenched, societal patterns. The key question is "When will the sociopolitical climate be ripe for political leadership to emerge that can speak honestly with the American public about the federal debt?

The United Nations says 3.5 million children in Pakistan are at risk from waterborne diseases, warning of a "second wave of death" from the country's devastating floods. U.N. humanitarian spokesman Maurizio Giuliano said Monday as many as six million people face the risk of contracting diarrhea and dysentery if donors do not provide more aid. Sluggish response The U.N. has launched an appeal for $460 million, but charities say the response has been sluggish, with only about 27 percent of the goal being met so far. Hundreds of angry flood victims blocked a highway outside Sukkur in southern Sindh province Monday, demanding government assistance. The protesters held up traffic as they called for food and shelter. Three weeks of monsoon rains have triggered Pakistan's worst flooding, with an estimated 1,600 people killed and 20 million affected in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh provinces. More flooding likely On Monday, authorities said a new wave of flooding was likely along the Indus River in Punjab and Sindh. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon traveled to Pakistan on Sunday and said the flooding was the worst natural disaster he has ever seen. He urged international donors to speed up aid. Britain's Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on Monday called the international response to the disaster lamentable.

By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY Out of sight, out of mind? As surface oil plumes fade from view in the Gulf of Mexico, courtesy of the capped Macondo well, it would be wrong to think that the oil still isn't there, forensic toxicologists warn. "We're finding less and less oil as we move forward," disaster response chief Thad Allen said last week, noting that skimmer boats were having trouble finding slicks. The retired Coast Guard admiral also pointed out that 40% of the leaked oil — more than 90 million gallons of crude by U.S. Geologic Survey scientist estimates — is unaccounted for. For more information: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2010-08-02-2Amarshes_N.htm