The BBC:

The number of people being infected with cholera is rising and nearly 9,000 cases have now been confirmed, the United Nations says.

Aid agency Oxfam earlier called on Zimbabwe’s government to declare a national health emergency.

It said ordinary Zimbabweans were desperately short of food, health care, clean water and safe sanitation, and the crisis is set to worsen significantly in December.

The economy is in free fall, with inflation last listed in July at 231,000,000%.

“The situation is under control, there is no need to declare it [an emergency],” Zimbabwean Deputy Health Minister Edwin Muguti told AFP news agency on Wednesday. ”These are results of punitive illegal sanctions imposed on us by the West… I am sure they like what they are seeing from this outbreak.”

Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights believes many people are dying at home where they are not being treated.

October was formerly recognized as North American Celiac Awareness month. In order to be aligned with  the international celiac community, both Canada and the United States recently began recognizing May. It was viewed to be critical that celiac disease be higlighted internationally in May, a month in which other autoimmune diseases linked to celiac (like lupus, arthritis, diabetes, food allergies, etc.) are also noted.

In 2006, the United States Senate designated September 13 as “Celiac Awareness Day.”  Irrespective of when celiac awareness “day” or “month” takes place, it presents itself with an opportune moment to stop, and reflect about how we can spread the word about celiac disease, its symptoms, and how it affects so many unsuspecting Americans. There are a number of ways you can help: talk to your local grocer, media outlets, school districts, local leaders and doctors offices. There is a truly inspiring story about the difference one person can make here. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently launched a website for celiac awareness – a huge step toward promoting a source of information for those affected by the disease.  You’ll find the link here.  It’s good and straightforward information.

For years now, they’ve told us that we can’t afford — that the government providing healthcare to all people is just unimaginable; it can’t be done. We don’t have the money to rebuild our infrastructure. We don’t have the money to wipe out poverty. We can’t do it. But all of a sudden, yeah, we do have $700 billion for a bailout of Wall Street.

(via DF)

Diabetes is treatable with the proper medication, but you cannot beat it nor can you erase the effects it has on your body.

Diabetes is anything but minor. It wreaks havoc on the entire body, affecting everything from hearing and vision to sexual function, mental health and sleep. It is the leading cause of blindness, amputations and kidney failure, and it can triple the risk for heart attack and stroke.

“It is a disease that does have the ability to eat you alive,�? said Dr. John B. Buse, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine who is the diabetes association’s president for medicine and science. “It can be just awful — it’s almost unimaginable how bad it can be.�?

More at well.blogs.nytimes.com.

The No Impact Man is not suggesting you drop everything and do them all today, but pick a few and start changing your life. After all, it doesn’t take much to start making the world a better place. Jude and I are actively doing about 90% of the items in Colin’s list below, and it feels great.

No Impact Man’s 42 Ways to Go Trash-Free

1. No soda in cans (which means we’re probably less likely to get cancer from aspartame).
2. No water in plastic bottles (which means we get to keep our endocrines undisrupted).
3. No coffee in disposable cups (which means we don’t suffer from the morning sluggishness that comes from overnight caffeine withdrawal).
4. No throwaway plastic razors and blade cartridges (I’m staging the straightedge razor comeback).
5. Using non-disposable feminine-hygiene products that aren’t bad for women and are good for the planet.
6. No Indian food in throwaway takeout tubs.
7. No Italian food in plastic throwaway tubs.
8. No Chinese food in plastic throwaway tubs.
9. Taking our own reusable containers to takeout joints (except that now we’re eating local so this tip is out for us).
10. Admitting that we sometimes miss Indian, Italian and Chinese takeout.
11. Hopping on the scale and celebrating the loss of
    my 20-pound spare tire since I stopped eating bucketsful of Indian,
    Italian and Chinese takeout.
12. Buying milk in returnable, reusable glass bottles.
13. Shopping for honey and pickled veggies and other goods in jars only from merchants who will take back the jars and reuse them.
14. Returning egg and berry cartons to the vendors at the farmers’ market for reuse.
15. Using neither paper nor plastic bags and bringing our own reusable bags when grocery shopping.
16. Canceling our magazine and newspaper subscriptions and reading online.
17. Putting an end to the junk mail tree killing.
18. Carrying my ultra-cool reusable cup and water bottle (which is a glass jar I diverted from the landfill and got for free).
19. Carrying reusable cloths for everything from blowing my nose to drying my hands to wrapping up a purchased bagel.
20. Wiping my hands on my pants instead of using a paper towel when I forget my cloth.
21. Politely asking restaurant servers to take away
    paper and plastic napkins, placemats, straws, cups and single-serving
    containers.
22. Explaining to servers with a big smile that I am on a make-no-garbage kick.
23. Leaving servers a big tip for dealing with my
    obsessive-compulsive, make-no-garbage nonsense, since they can’t take
    the big smile to the bank.
24. Pretending McDonalds and Burger King and all their paper and plastic wrappers just don’t exist.
25. Buying no candy bars, gum, lollypops or ice cream (not even Ben and Jerry’s peanut butter cup) that is individually packaged.
26. Making my own household cleaners to avoid all the throwaway plastic bottles.
27. Using baking soda from a recyclable container to brush my teeth.
28. Using baking soda for a deodorant to avoid the plastic containers that deodorant typically comes in (cheap and works well).
29. Using baking soda for shampoo to avoid plastic shampoo bottles.
30. Using the plastic bags that other people’s newspapers are delivered in to pick up Frankie the dog’s poop.
31. Keeping a worm bin to compost our food scraps into nourishment that can be returned to the earth instead of toxins that seep from the landfills.
32. Switching to real—meaning cloth—diapers which Isabella, before she was potty-trained, liked much better.
33. Not buying anything disposable.
34. Not buying anything in packaging (and count the
    money we save because that means pretty much buy nothing unless it’s
    second hand).
35. Shopping for food only from the bulk bins and from the local farmer’s market where food is unpackaged and fresh.
36. Forgetting about prepackaged, processed food of any description.
37. Being happy that the result is that we get to eat food instead of chemicals.
38. Giving our second-hand clothes away to Housing Works or other charities.
39. Offering products we no longer need on Freecycle instead of throwing them away.
40. Collecting used paper from other people’s trash and using the other side.
41. Using old clothes for rags around the apartment instead of paper towels.
42. Talking with humor about what we’re doing because
    making a little less trash is a concrete first step everyone can take
    that leads to more and more environmental consciousness.

Instead of printing this list, save it as a bookmark and return often to try something new.

This is a colossal moment in this nation’s history. In 1967, the U.S. population was a mere 200 million and it’s only taken 39 years to reach a third of a billion. CNN, the New York Times, and many other prominent news agencies published editorials discussing the growing population and the shrinking landscape all asking one simple question: where is everyone going to fit? Like many, I certainly don’t have the answer, but some of that wide-open farm land in the west is looking mighty tasty.

In today’s world there’s living and dying. And, for some, it’s not all it should be. See below in this edition of Monday’s links:

This American Life: Then & Now

By the numbers, with pictures. CNN.com

Bono launches U.S. Red campaign for AIDS in Africa

Red iPods, cell phones, t-shirts, shoes and more. All for the fight against AIDS.

To Be Married Means to Be Outnumbered

I’m married, and I love it. But for the first time ever, us folks who are hitched are in the minority.

A Soldier comes home, too early yet too late

The war in Iraq reaches all the way to the farthest stretches of the U.S., in Barrow, Alaska

Next time I’m in the Sierra Nevadas, I’ll be steering clear of Stanislaus National Forest and The Lair of the Golden Bear, the California Alumni Association’s summer family camp. Jason Snell, the author of the article, sums this hideousness up in two sentences.

“If I had to estimate, I’d say that there was at least one iPod in every single tent cabin at the Lair. As I walked through camp, I was never out of hearing distance of someone’s iPod.”Jason Snell

Can you imagine any place worse? The sounds of “I’m not quite sure what” replacing — and scaring off — every sound nature has to offer. I was pissed eight years ago at the top of Dragon’s Tooth, a big rock atop a 3000′ stop on the AT near where I went to school, when someone snuck up behind me with a ringing cell phone. That was before iPods, but not before cell phones. Damn the ever-reaching scope of cell coverage.

If I can pass on one tiny shred of advice for any peace-and-quiet seeker: go to Africa and hunt for a remote bush camp.

How true.

Lance is very clear about his cause and his goal. He wants a billion dollars for the fight against cancer and he won’t stop until he gets it.

Others are involved, too. Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach of the National Cancer Institute set a goal of “eliminating cancer as a cause of suffering and death by 2015.”

You should take a few moments to read the article, it’s a pretty damned good one.

Airbus denies report it has plans for standing room on jets (from CNN Apr. 25, 2006)