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!

Nicole Hughes:

U.S. Media Ignores Link Between Midwest Floods and Global Warming

Top 10 Houseplants for Removing Indoor Air Pollution

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Andy Kondrat:

Dubai to Build Rotating Positive Energy Tower

Bioethicist Peter Singer Tackles World Food Shortage

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Jon Popham:

Americacorps Workers Assist Flood Ravaged Town

Australians “Out-Fat” Americans

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Giulia Rozzi:

Progressive Book Club

Oprah Recommends “A New Earth”

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Gina Telaroli:

Human Rights Watch 2008 Film Festival Update

SilverDocs 2008 Update

Americorps disaster response workers are laboring hard to save the flood ravaged town of Clarksville, Missouri. An Americorps team led by Katie Rooney and Kyle Henning has been coordinating volunteer and community liaison efforts out of the City Hall of the small Mississippi River community, population 490.

“I think they are awesome,” Clarksville Alderman Mike Russell, who doubles as the town’s emergency services manager, told MSNBC. “I can literally tell you that if it was not for them running the City Hall end, we would be much worse off.”

Americorps is a Federal National Service program created by President Clinton in 1993. Members specialize in a wide array of domestic issues ranging from environmental programs to literacy initiatives. The Clarksville team was part of a disaster response unit based out of St. Louis, Missouri who had just finished assisting tornado victims in the Southwest portion of the state when they were called to help out with the disastrous Mississippi flooding in Clarksville. Americorps members receive healthcare, a few hundred dollars a month, a modest educational grant and numerous ready to eat meals for their invaluable service to pressing issues confronting the country.

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Flood victims in the Midwest are worried about what’s in the water they’re wading through, and concerns over its potential for creating sickness and disease are mounting. Not only has the flood contaminated drinking water and forced people out of their homes, but reports of all manner of noxious refuse have been seen floating in the water in downtown Cedar Rapids, including propane tanks, drums labeled corrosive, railroad ties, pesticides, and dead birds and fish. In addition to the poisoned water, millions of mosquitoes are spawning over the stagnant floodwaters.

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A green puppy was born in New Orleans last week. The puppy is perfectly healthy thus far, just green. Veterinarians say this occasionally occurs when the mother’s amniotic fluid mixes with the placenta during birth, which dyes the coat of the puppy.

Freak occurrences aren’t the only way to get the your dog or cat to go green, however. You can by checking out the blog Great Green Pets, which offers myriad ideas on how to make having a pet more environmentally friendly. Recent posts include information on organic dog biscuits, dog portrait cards on recycled materials and eco-friendly cat toys.

Click here for video of the green puppy—->:

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To celebrate Earth Day, NBC Universal has decided that only one day to celebrate the planet is for chumps, and has proclaimed it to be Earth Week over at their media outlets.  Many of NBC’s shows will be eco-themed this week, and those totally helpful “The More You Know” bumps will focus on the environment.  As well, at NBC’s special green website you can, “Learn simple and easy ways to incorporate ‘Green’ choices into your lifestyle.”  While many of these tips may seem old hat to some of us, there really is a lot of good information on the site, and it’s nice to see a company with so much power promoting a green agenda.  A few other things that NBC is doing, aside from telling you what you ought to do:

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. We brought you some excellent top 10 lists this week on art, technology, director Errol Morris, and naughty celebs who should rethink their eco-lifestyles. Don’t forget to catch up with some of our other most popular articles of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites.

Katie:

Bush’s War: PBS Frontline Brings the War to a Computer Near You

Inverted Areola, Asymmetrical Breasts, & the Miss Bimbo Game

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Nicole:

Where the Wild Things Are: Top 10 Art Blogs

Dark Water: Artist Explores Consequences of Three Gorges Dam Project

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Giulia:

A Pregnant Man?

Is the Lebron / Gisele Vogue Cover Racist?

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Gina:

Top 10 Technology Blogs

Errol Morris’ Top 10 Films

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Kerry:

Top 10 Celebrities Who Need a New Cause

Dead Bats Flying: Mysterious Fatal Illness Alarms Scientists

The cover photo on this month’s Vogue Magazine of LeBron James holding Gisele Bundchen has caused a debate over whether or not the image is racist. The image taken by the infamous Annie Liebovitz was discussed on this mornings Today Show as seen in this clip below.

LeBron James likes the photo saying

“everything my name is on is going to be criticized in a good way or bad way.Who cares what anyone says?”

So if the person in the photo doesn’t see the image as anything more than a cool photo why are people making such a fuss?

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Yesterday afternoon at Northern Illinois University, a tall skinny man dressed all in black stepped out from behind a curtain on the stage of the lecture hall, said nothing, and opened fire with a shotgun.

The New York Times reports

on Friday morning, the coroners office of DeKalb County, Ill., added another person to the death toll, which now stands at six, all of them students. Fifteen others were wounded, at least one of them critically. Hospital officials said at least 13 males and five females between the ages of 18 and 27 had been shot, several of them in the head.

The gunman, whom the authorities did not identify pending family notification, also died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said John G. Peters, the president of Northern Illinois University. The gunman, he said, had been a graduate student in sociology at the university in 2007, but was no longer enrolled here. Records suggested that the man, who had more recently attended a different state school, had no previous police contact, the authorities said.

President Bush commented on the shooting Friday morning, saying it was “obviously a tragic situation on that campus.” He said he was asking citizens across the country to “offer their blessings — blessings of comfort and blessings of strength” to the families of the victims.

Since 1996 there have been 56 school shootings reported, most in the US. While some (myself included) feel that number (and really any number) is much two high, authorities have tried to ease the public’s fear by reporting that only 12 to 20 homicides a year occur in the 100,000 schools in the U.S.

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