Environment

Mideast Iran Non-Alig_Lea.jpg

Three cars that were hit by bombs as they carried Iranian scientists are displayed outside a conference hall hosting the meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Haiti Tropical Weathe_Lea.jpg

In this photo released by MINUSTAH, the U.N. mission in Haiti, a woman swims through floodwaters in a low-lying area affected by Tropical Storm Isaac in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/MINUSTAH, Logan Abassi)

20120823-213224-pic-640653588.jpg

National Mall and Memorial Parks Superintendent Bob Vogel on Thursday said the Washington Monument’s structure would require full scaffolding as part of the restoration process after last August’s earthquake. The 555-foot-tall structure has been closed since the day of the quake. A separate project to fix its elevator has been completed. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

20120823-192341-pic-457981561.jpg

Drought-damaged corn is seen in a field near Nickerson, Neb. Plains farmers have begun harvesting what corn managed to survive, although many cut their fields weeks ago, chalking the year up as a loss. Some ranchers have sold livestock because they had no grass for grazing or money to buy feed, the price of which has soared. Nearly all of Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Illinois are in extreme or exceptional drought. (Associated Press)

20120823-182330-pic-451781463.jpg

A wooden bridge crosses over the Kok River in northern Thailand’s Chiang Rai province, where minority hill tribes live in villages where their culture is not undiscovered but also is not corrupted by tourism. (Associated Press)

20120823-182330-pic-864815997.jpg

This July 21, 2012, file photo shows terraced rice paddies outside a Lahu hill tribe village high above Thailand’s Mae Kok River. The region known as the Golden Triangle was once one of the world’s most prolific regions for growing the opium poppy, but government programs and aggressive eradication efforts have succeeding in wiping out most of the illegal crop. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

20120823-101704-pic-439672641.jpg

Brookfield Homes is building more than 1,000 single-family homes and town homes at Snowden Bridge in the planned community of Stephenson. The Andover model, with 1,506 square feet, is priced from $199,990.

LISTERIA CANTALOUPE_Lea.jpg

Colorado Agriculture Secretary John Salazar (right) holds up a Rocky Ford cantaloupe and declares it “the sweetest, best melon in the country” at the Arkansas Valley Fair in Rocky Ford, Colo., on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012. A year earlier, melons from southeast Colorado were the source of a nationwide listeria outbreak that killed 30 and sickened hundreds. (AP Photo/Kristen Wyatt)

NOAA CARIBBEAN_Lea.jpg

Tropical Storm Isaac, in the lower right corner, moves over the Lesser Antilles in a satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration taken on Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2012, at 1:45 p.m. EDT. (AP Photo/Weather Underground)

MINERAL_EARTHQUAKE082209

The Louisa County High School marching band warms up before practice outside their closed school building that sustained massive structural damage and was deemed unsafe as a result of the magnitude 5.8 earthquake that hit near, Mineral, Va., Tuesday, August 21, 2012. Demolition on the school began just two days before the one year anniversary of the earthquake. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

MINERAL_EARTHQUAKE082208

The water tower for Mineral, Va., looms above the small town days before the one-year anniversary of the 5.8-magnitude earthquake that hit the town, causing millions of dollars worth of damage and felt in nearly every state along the East Coast. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

MINERAL_EARTHQUAKE082205

Dean Hinnant cleans mortar out of a wheelbarrow outside the historic Cuckoo house, built by the Pendleton family in 1819 just outside Mineral Va. Thursday, August 23, 2012 marks the one year anniversary of the magnitude 5.8 earthquake that hit nearby Mineral, Va., causing millions of dollars worth of damage and was felt in nearly every state along the east coast. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)