The top development news you just can't miss. For week 14, 2010.

#5 Don't read this

Someone must have obviously lost his mind when he wrote Is Digital Media Worse for the Environment Than Print? Never mind

#4 We all now about Kyrgyzstan, right. And we all agree Twitter brings democracy, right?

Not Steve LeVine who runs the Oil & Glory blog. Read his Kyrgyzstan and the Anti-Democratizing Power of Twitter and YouTube:

"the lessons of the indelible images from Kyrgyzstan go both ways: For the trampled masses, they are a signal that all is not lost; for those in power, they are a warning of how easily matters can get out of hand."

And I know absolutely nothing about Kyrgyzstan so I'm not going to add anything.

#3 Solid progress on light bulbs

What else would you conclude from this Inhabitat article: GE Unveils New Omnidirection LED Bulb That Will Last 17 Years? It looks funky so here's the picture but click it to read the article:

#2 IBM developing solar-powered desalination machinery

You read that right. The kind of th!nking I like: making use of the abundant to produce what is in demand.

"IBM and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology are teaming up to solve the water problem with solar-powered desalination technology. Eventually, the two organizations hope to construct a desalination plant in Al Khafji, Saudi Arabia that can harness sunlight to generate 7.9 million gallons of water daily — enough for 100,000 people."

Read Inhabitat.com / IBM’s New Solar Desalination Tech Could Create Rivers in the Desert. It's got a YouTube video for you.

#1 The coal mine explosion and the 25 workers who was killed in it

In a way, I find it a bit strange no-one has written about this yet. Sure, it's in the "1st world". But the 3rd world obviously isn't the only one that needs development. And since climate change affects many of the MDGs, coal is at the root of our project. It's not only polluting, it's dangerous.

Try looking for news about the Massey Energy coal mine explosion at Google News if you want the latest (because this story is developing). Or head straight to the "Upper Big Branch Mine disaster" Wikipedia entry.

The mining company is attracting attention. For example, read Coal, corruption and campaign finance reform:

"Massey, and its leader, Don Blankenship, are almost cartoonishly villainous in the way they approach everything from the environment to union rights to media scrutiny. They've pioneered mountain top removal mining, a particularly destructive form of mining that dirties local water supplies, ruins animal habitats, and damages the foundations of nearby houses, all while eliminating much of the Appalachians. Massey refuses to hire union workers, and thus denies its workers an advocacy group that could press for, among other things, safer ventilation systems. And Blankenship himself has been downright thuggish to critics and reporters, grabbing an ABC news camera and saying the cameraman was "liable to get shot" if he kept taking pictures." [bold added by me]

Remember: This is from West Virginia, USA. Not Zimbabwe.

I'm the kind of average guy with carefully selected, computationally filtered and cybernetically implanted news feeds. So, I may or may not be doing this type of article every week. What do you think, should I?