The 2010 Climate B.S.* of the Year Award
Updated: 2010-12-31 01:40:59
Welcome to the 2010 Climate B.S.* of the Year Award. 2010 saw widespread and growing evidence of rapidly warming global climate and strengthening scientific understanding of how humans are contributing to climate change. Yet on the policy front, little happened to stem the growing emissions of greenhouse gases or to help societies [...]
WikiLeaks reveals State Department discord over U.S. support for Canadian tar sands oil pipeline
Updated: 2010-12-31 00:24:57John Bongaarts and Bob Walker on demographic change, growth & the developing world
Updated: 2010-12-30 14:40:20Pop Audio from the Woodrow Wilson Center • “Can the planet handle 9 billion? The answer is probably yes. Is it a desirable trajectory? The answer is no,” says John Bongaarts of the Population Council. [more] • Robert Walker of the Population Institute calls expanding reproductive health services a “win for women, for their health, [...]Official Actuarial Projections Trending Upward
Updated: 2010-12-30 13:54:32Long term projections of life span continue to trend upward as the actuaries revise their opinions on biotechnology - but I believe they still fail to account for potential revolutionary advances in medicine that lie ahead. The level of uncertainty at least is fairly well grasped now within the actuarial industry, but for various political reasons it is only slowly seeping into official projections: "In the first official projection of its kind, the Department for Work and Pensions today forecasts that almost a fifth of Britons will celebrate their 100th birthday. Of the 17 per cent of the population who...Rate of Adoption of Medical Innovation and Trends in Life Expectancy
Updated: 2010-12-30 13:34:06This study looks for measures that might reflect rates at which new medical technology makes its way into the marketplace, and checks for correlation with rising life expectancy. The result is what you might expect - that more rapid adoption of new technology means longer lives: "The rate of increase of longevity has varied considerably across U.S. states since 1991. This paper examines the effect of the quality of medical care, behavioral risk factors (obesity, smoking, and AIDS incidence), and other variables (education, income, and health insurance coverage) on life expectancy and medical expenditure using longitudinal state-level data. We examine...Energy and global warming news for December 30: Paris to test banning gas-guzzlers (yes, SUVs!) in city core
Updated: 2010-12-30 00:42:40African Women Speak Out: A documentary film project created by Blue Planet United/Population Press
Updated: 2010-12-29 15:58:22Thanks to Marilyn Hempel for this announcement. —————– African Women Speak Out A documentary film project created by Blue Planet United/Population Press http://www.populationpress.org from Marilyn Hempel, Executive Director of Blue Planet United The Population Press, and its parent organization Blue Planet United, are pleased to announce the completion of a video project – African Women [...]Solar Power Uptake in Australia Boosted by Electricity Price Hikes
Updated: 2010-12-28 19:02:20
Australia’s solar power industry is experiencing a boom in customer demand thanks in part to a significant increase in current electricity prices, and a forecast of more price hikes to come. When combined with the generous government rebates and feed in tariffs on offer, the expected price hikes are contributing to a surge in residential [...]Survival in the Sahel: Climatic extremes, from drought to flood, threaten survival
Updated: 2010-12-28 14:41:22You may want to thank The Economist for mentioning population near the end of this article. To comment, visit, http://www.economist.com/node/17628093/comments#commentForm ——————— In some ways Alhaji Bunu Fodio is lucky: at least his house is still standing. Most of Kagara, his dusty village in Nigeria’s far north, was smashed to smithereens during this year’s rainy season [...]sustainablog’s Top Ten Posts of 2010
Updated: 2010-12-27 19:24:31
Now that the holiday consumption orgy is just about over (still the after-holiday sales), we’re all thinking about the new year: resolutions, changes, predictions, etc. You may also be taking some time to reflect on 2010… and, wow, what a year it was. From the BP oil spill and weird weather to rising gas prices [...]Economic Growth
Updated: 2010-12-27 14:35:27At http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/worldbiz/ all you can listen to a November 29 BBC broadcast on the issue of economic growth and the question of whether it should continue. Look for the link: GlobalBiz: Growing Pains: 29 Nov 10American Psychosis: What happens to a society that cannot distinguish between reality and illusion?
Updated: 2010-12-26 14:33:48Thanks to Hugh Harwell for this OpEd. It does not mention population, but the problem of societal illusions applies to many population and sustainability issues. ——————— The United States, locked in the kind of twilight disconnect that grips dying empires, is a country entranced by illusions. It spends its emotional and intellectual energy on the [...]Palau Debates Banning Contraceptives to Stimulate Population Growth
Updated: 2010-12-24 14:28:29Thanks to Joe Bish for this article about a possible human rights violation in Palau. ——————– Palau is currently wrangling with a controversial bill that would ban the sale and distribution of contraceptives. The Population Growth Act is intended to stimulate population growth in the country, and has already been passed by the Senate on [...]Brazil’s Threatened Atlantic Forest
Updated: 2010-12-23 14:33:32At http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p002vsnb at 10/12/2010 (December 10, 2010), you can listen to an interesting BBC World Service program on the threat to biodiversity by loss of single trees in Brazil’s Atlantic forest. Here is BBC’s description of the program: Analysing tree-specific microbes in the Brazilian rainforest Scientists in Brazil are using ‘meta-genomics’ – the use of [...]FM100 to air radio drama on MDGs
Updated: 2010-12-22 14:06:08FM100 to air radio drama on MDGs By ELIZABETH MIAE The Population Media Centre-PNG (PMC) has partnered with Kalang Advertising Ltd (KAL)-FM100 for the broadcast of the millennium development goals (MDG) radio drama series for a two-year period commencing next February. A broadcast agreement contract was signed last Friday between the two parties. PMC is [...]Help Kickstart a New Narrative on Sustainability
Updated: 2010-12-21 17:26:27“Narrative is the lens through which we view our lives.” That may strike you as a bit abstract at first, but, with just a little thought, you can probably see how you view yourself and those around you as part of a story… and maybe even recognize that story as (largely) culturally prescribed. We all [...]Contemporary Mass Extinction and the Human Population Imperative
Updated: 2010-12-20 14:53:28Thanks to Eric Rimmer for this article from the Journal of Cosmology. ——————— Humans and their predecessors have accelerated the loss of Earth’s biodiversity into a sixth global mass extinction. Paleontologically, it is a new phenomenon for a mass extinction to be attributed to a single species, but the evolution and expansion of humans has [...]Mother: Caring Our Way Out of the Population Dilemma
Updated: 2010-12-19 14:51:44Finally! An environmental film that breaks the 40-year old population taboo by connecting the dots to the world’s most pressing environmental, social and humanitarian crises. Click here: Mother: Caring Our Way Out of the Population Dilemma to find out more about this groundbreaking film, due to be released in February 2011.Confused Voices, Confused Messages: a Poem
Updated: 2010-12-16 21:09:08
confused voices confused messages
sifting through noise to find a scrap of truth
but it’s burned buried stepped on distorted
scraps of trees gray skies murky water
erosion
entropy
garbage heaps of it
broken and depleted
the damage is done
fat waists glazed eyes
ugly and cultureless
sick and boring
wasting the world away to waste our own lives
tv drugs fast food
reality tv the perfect oxymoron
faster and [...]Biowealth – a lexical leap forward for biodiversity appreciation
Updated: 2010-12-16 19:30:31
Here’s a little idea I’ve been kicking around in my head that I’d like to invite you to debate. Call it an ‘Open Thread’ in the spirit of BraveNewClimate.com’s successful series. – Let’s face it, ‘biodiversity’ is a slippery and abstract concept for most people. Hell, even most ecologists have a hard time describing what [...]Energy Start-Up Wants to Harvest Your Body Heat
Updated: 2010-12-16 18:32:44
So we’ve all heard lots about the benefits of solar energy, but there’s another energy source you may have never considered harvesting: body heat. Yes, that’s right—your body could be expending usable energy right now as we speak.
The “hybrid energy harvesting device” created by Fujitsu Laboratories would work with solar [...]Swedish City Fuels Up On Waste, Not Fossils
Updated: 2010-12-15 17:58:58
Ten years ago, Kristianstad, Sweden made a pledge to wean itself from its use of fossil fuels, and currently the city can claim to have eliminated oil, natural gas, and coal in heating homes. Compare that to twenty years ago, when all of the city’s energy for home heating came from imported fossil fuels.
The city [...]Want a cool conservation job in beautiful southern Australia?
Updated: 2010-12-13 19:30:30
I was asked to post this cool-sounding job on ConservationBytes.com – relevant punters welcome to respond. – http://goo.gl/9YjGn Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) is a non‐profit organisation dedicated to the conservation of Australia’s threatened wildlife and their habitats. AWC now owns and manages more land than any other private conservation organisation in Australia ‐ 21 properties, covering more than [...]Oil and Globalization
Updated: 2010-12-11 22:51:00
Global Issues Social , Political , Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All Main : menu Home About Issues World News Site Updates Support Contact You are : here Home Issues Articles Energy Security Energy Security Author and Page information by Anup Shah This Page Last Updated Saturday , December 11, 2010 This page : http : www.globalissues.org article 595 energy-security To print all information e.g . expanded side notes , shows alternative links , use the print : version http : www.globalissues.org print article 595 Recent years and months have seen increasing attention being paid to the issue of energy security . There are a number of concerns and fears such as though not limited to Oil and other fossil fuel depletion peak oil , etc Reliance on foreign sources of energyAre there any tips to making sure the ice on my pond is safe to stand on? | Week Ending December 11th
Updated: 2010-12-10 21:03:47Winter brings not only cold weather and snow to your pond or lake but a perfect layer of ice for skating, ice fishing, snowmobiling and other fun as well. While you may be eager to get out on the ice this season, it is important that you know...Conservation is all about prioritisation
Updated: 2010-12-04 08:44:52
Another great guest post from a previous contributor, Piero Visconti. – Biodiversity conservation is about prioritisation – making difficult choices. With limited money and so many habitats and species in need of protection, deciding where not to expend resources is as important as deciding where to act. Saying ‘no’ will be crucial for ensuring the [...]