29 Miners Dead in W. Va.:

The bodies of the four missing miners were discovered yesterday. Conditions in the mine were so bad that rescue workers had walked right passed them the first day of searching, without seeing the bodies.

Now the questions remain, will the government develop enough muscle to enforce proper mine safety, and where is the union in all of this? We know that Massey Energy, the company that owns the mine, is unscrupulous. Why doesn't the union know this and stand up to them?

(See The Washington Post story.)


Water—Is there enough of it?

• 69.6% is frozen in ice sheets, glaciers, permanent snow cover, and permafrost.
• 30.1% is beneath the ground. This is being drained more quickly than can be recharged.
• Only 0.3% is in lakes, rivers, and wetlands. This amount includes water in plants, animals, and the atmosphere.
• Two-thirds of our water is used to grow food.
• There are 83,000,000 more people on earth each year.

(See the April 2010 National Geographic special edition.)