Word: absorb
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna river systems. All flow through Bangladesh and empty into the Bay of Bengal. The watershed contains the southern slopes of the Himalayas in northern India, Nepal and Bhutan, where the hillsides have been ravaged by deforestation. With the denuded soil no longer able to absorb monsoon rains, the savage runoff increases year by year in speed and volume, bringing with it ever larger loads of silt that end up on the river bottoms of Bangladesh...
While minoxidil appears to be safe, the FDA advises patients to get a thorough physical before taking it and then see their doctors periodically. One reason: those who have cardiovascular disease and who also absorb the drug more easily than others may be at risk of developing an irregular heartbeat, among other side effects. None of the test subjects have suffered such serious problems, however, although some have developed such minor complaints as itching, scaling and blistering of the scalp...
...Government foresters. Now, perhaps too late, research has shown that clear-cuts tend to break an important ecological chain: they destroy the habitat of small mammals that shelter in forest undergrowth. These creatures eat and distribute mycorrhizal fungi, which grow among the rootlets of saplings and help the trees absorb water and nutrients. There may be enough spores of fungi in the soil after a clear-cut to start a second-growth forest, but a third crop is less likely to be successful, and it now seems possible that sustained-yield forests based on clear-cutting simply may not work...
There is little question that the oceans have an enormous ability to absorb pollutants and even regenerate once damaged waters. For example, some experts feared that the vast 1979 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico would wipe out the area's shrimp industry. That disaster did not occur, apparently because the ocean has a greater capacity to break down hydrocarbons than scientists thought. But there may be a limit to how much damage a sector of ocean can take. Under assault by heavy concentrations of sludge, for example, the self- cleansing system can be overwhelmed. Just like decaying algae...
Across the globe, the seas have been sending urgent signals that they are perilously close to their capacity to absorb civilization' s wastes. The most visible damage has been to coastal zones, where fouled waters and littered beaches are costing the fishing and resort industries billions of dollars. The loss in quality of life for everyone is incalculable. See ENVIRONMENT...