Brits Flood Pakistan With Aid (Video News)

Welcome to Planet 100 for August 24, 2010. Here's what we're covering today.

WATCH VIDEO: Brits Flood Pakistan With Aid

Brits Flood Pakistan With Aid
Brits are leading the way with their generous response to the devastating floods in Pakistan, shaming politicians across the world so says a spokesperson for a UK aid agency.

While the British public have donated $30 million to help relief efforts a United Nations official criticized the "quite extraordinary" lack of international support for Pakistanis, calling it the biggest humanitarian crisis in decades.

About 1,600 people are thought to have died in the disaster which is estimated to have affected 20 million.

Via: Guadian

Biochar Report
An international team of scientists just published a paper exploring a not so well known technology called biochar, which could alleviate as much as 12% of global CO2 emissions annually.

Biochar works by essentially slow cooking agricultural waste like straw, stalks and other cellulosic materials in a machine called a pyrolyzer. The result is a charcoal-like substance which works as a rich soil amendment, and permanently locks carbon into the soil. The technology is now in production,

but it could take years or even decades before it becomes affordable enough to use on a large scale. Nevertheless biochar may well be one of our greatest hopes for living sustainably on planet Earth.

Via: MNN

ETSY Couture
Actresses are more usually spotted advertising designer fashions in glossy magazines but Mad Men star, Christina Hendricks, whose been modeling hand-crafted felt scarves for ETSY.com created by the sustainable Blackbird Design House.

Via: MNN

Credits:
Pakistan flood devastation ©Getty Images
Aid workers in Pakistan ©AP Photo/Muhammad Zubair
Pakistan flood devastation ©Getty Images
Biochar ©Getty Images
Dry corn stalks ©iStockphoto/Thinkstock
Biochar Courtesy of Okimori Biochar
Christina Hendricks ©Getty Images