The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

Brigitte Bardot Fine: Top 5 Bardotisms That Got Hot Sex Symbol In Hot Water

Obama Pound: In Historic Moment, White People Exposed To “Fist Bump” For First Time

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Nicole Hughes:

Get a Job: Top 10 Guides to Finding the Perfect Eco Career

Schwarzenegger Declares Drought in California

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Andy Kondrat:

Barcelona Fines Citizens for Using Drinking Water in Pools and Gardens

Coal Power Plants Waste Two-Thirds of Energy Input

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Jon Popham:

Megabus Expanding to the East Coast

Egyptian Blogger Freed from Prison

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Giulia Rozzi:

Diamonds In The Rough: A Ugandan Hip Hop Revolution

Cluster Bomb Ban

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Gina Telaroli:

Interview with Nina Davenport, Director of Operation Filmmaker

KidZui : Internet for Kids (and Those Young at Heart)

In Barcelona, the local government is taking drastic measures to protect the increasingly-scant water resources available, and is now issuing fines to citizens that use potable water for uses other than drinking. The fines, which were implemented in April of this year, can be levied for a number of different offenses. From the press release on the City of Barcelona’s website:

Minor sanctions will be applied in the case of using drinking water to wash cars on the road, water gardens of between 250 and 1,000 square metres, or filling pools up to 12 metres deep by six wide.

Using drinking water to water gardens between 1,000 and 3,000 square metres is considered a serious offence, and will carry fines of 800 euros.

Read the rest of this entry »

The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. This week we celebrated some of our own favorite top 10 bloggers who work night and day to provide us up-to-date info on films, literature, and feminist news. Don’t miss these exciting and informative blogs, as well as some of our most popular stories of the week.

Katie:

“La Misma Luna Under the Same Moon,” Not the Same Old Movie

Top 5 Eco-Friendly Gadgets for Under $50

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Nicole:

Top 10 Literary and Book Blogs

NBC11 First Wind Powered TV Station

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Giulia:

Top 10 Feminist Blogs

Horton: The New Mascot for Pro-Life

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Gina:

Top 10 Film Blogs

Top 10 Films I Would See If I Was At SXSW

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Kerry:

Our Pharmaceutically Fouled Water Supply

Top 7 New Sins Against God’s Green Earth

My dad installed a reverse osmosis water filtration system in our house decades ago for religious reasons; as a Christian Scientist, he objected to the City of Los Angeles imposing its “medicated”i.e. fluoridated—drinking water on us.

Looks like you were ahead of your time, Dad!The Associated Press has just released the results of an investigation showing that:

A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans¦

How do the drugs get into the water?

People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Then, some of the water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers. But most treatments do not remove all drug residue.

And while researchers do not yet understand the exact risks from decades of persistent exposure to random combinations of low levels of pharmaceuticals, recent studies — which have gone virtually unnoticed by the general public — have found alarming effects on human cells and wildlife.

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PlayPumps International is merging play and utility together to bring clean water to millions of children and their families in Africa. These water pumps are powered by children at play ““ they spin the merry-go-round PlayPump, and clean drinking water is pumped out of the earth into a 2,500 liter tank, raised above ground. A tap on the tank makes access to water easy and safe.

For more on this marvelously simple construction, check out the video below, and to find out how PlayPump is improving the health and living conditions for those in need.