While You Were Sleeping

by Amy Lubinski and photographs by Finbarr O’Reilly, July 28, 2008

The number of refugees crossing borders to escape conflict and persecution increased to 11.4 million people in 2007, an increase of 1.5 million since 2006, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan accounted for more than half of the world’s refugees in 2007. The United Nations said in June that this number could grow due to factors such as climate change and scarce resources. Eighty percent of the refugees remain in developing countries in the immediate vicinity of their own countries.
Source: New York Times

Noise pollution has been proven to be more than a just annoyance; recent studies conducted by the World Health Organization revealed that noise pollution can be detrimental to one’s physical health. Individuals who are subject to daily noise pollution are likely to have higher blood pressure, which puts them at an increased risk of developing heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and dementia. Even those who seem unaffected by the noise and remain asleep when a plane flies overhead experience increased blood pressure, as revealed in a sleep study conducted by Imperial College London.
Source: Salon.com

Seventy percent of Americans affiliated with a religion or denomination believe that other faiths beside their own can lead to salvation, according to a survey conducted in 2007 by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The telephone survey of more than 35,000 adults also revealed that more than a quarter of adult Americans have left the faith of their childhood to join another religion or no religion, and 70 percent of the unaffiliated believe in God. The survey also confirmed findings from previous studies that most religiously and politically conservative Americans are those who attend worship services most frequently and that for them, the battles against abortion and gay rights remain the key issues in regard to an individual’s salvation.
Source: New York Times

New York City plans to convert 6.9 miles of Manhattan into a car-free park for three Saturdays this month—the least congested of the year in the borough—in the recreational experiment Summer Streets. The idea originated 32 years ago in Bogota, Columbia, in an effort to reduce car exhaust. Business owners have expressed concern that the experiment, which will take place from 7am to 1pm on August 9, 16, and 23, will reduce the flow of customers and hurt sales, and taxi drivers are worried about the inconvenience and reduced number of rides that may result from sealing off major traffic routes from the Brooklyn Bridge to East 72nd Street.
Source: New York Times

June was the deadliest month for US troops in Afghanistan since the war began in late 2001. Twenty-eight US troops died due to roadside bombs, small arms fire, and rocket attacks. As of July 10, a total of 533 US combat deaths have occurred to date in Operation Enduring Freedom. Though summer traditionally brings increased fighting in Afghanistan as the mountainous terrain becomes more passable, experts on the war have noted that the level of violence has been incrementally increasing since 2002. Additionally, a shortage of ground troops in Afghanistan has led the Pentagon to significantly intensify its air campaign in the first half of the year to the highest levels since 2003 to fight the resurgence of the Taliban.
Source: Washington Post and USA Today