There are concerns circulating on the internet that organic farming could be ‘banned’ by a new Bill about to be presented to the US House and Senate. The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 (bill HR 875) proposes measures to enforce the use of pesticides and fertilisers to ensure ‘food safety’. The Bill’s jurisdiction might …
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Author:astraea
Sustainable Energy – Without The Hot Air
Read the book, or chapters, or synopsis, here. This remarkable book sets out, with enormous clarity and objectivity, the various alternative low-carbon pathways that are open to us. Sir David King FRS Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government, 2000-08 For anyone with influence on energy policy, whether in government, business or a campaign group, …
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God, man and growth
Some research was carried out in 2003 to explore the connection between religion, religiousness and economic growth. The story is told in this article by The Economist: God, man and growth. The conclusion supports the thesis that values are key to social and economic success, not religion itself. It is the belief in being part …
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Being a “guy” can get you killed.
The reluctance of men to adopt a healthy lifestyle appears to be fuelling a gender gap in cancer cases and deaths. Among cancers which affect both genders, men are 60% more likely to develop the disease and 70% more likely to die from it, Cancer Research UK said. There is no known biological reason for …
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Global military spending rose 45% between 1999 and 2008
Global military spending rose 45% between 1999 and 2008, fuelled by the US-led “war on terror” and by increased wealth in China, Russia and the Middle East. In Western and Central Europe, military spending increased at a much slower rate than in any other part of the world, while the US accounted for 58% of …
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Watch the planet breathe.
Sometimes its hard to see the big picture. Its difficult to step outside ourselves and realise that we are part of something larger than ourselves. Our plant is a living system and we are an organism on its skin – one that is rather parasitic at the moment though we could be benign. To get …
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Open-source software has won the argument.
This article by The Economist highlights the shortcomings of Facebook and MySpace etc, but its real real mesage is to highlight the advantages of Open Source software. I just had another positive experience with Linux, this time at the lower end of the power spectrum. I installed distros on old 386 machines at a charity …
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Carbon risks and opportunities in the S&P 500
Carbon risks and opportunities in the S&P 500 a report by TruCost, commissioned by IRRCi, finds the carbon intensity of companies varies widely even within sectors. This has important implications for investors: * Companies that are less carbon intensive than their sector peers stand to gain competitive advantage from proposed ‘polluter pays’ cap-and-trade regulation. * …
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More evidence: females outperform.
Another study, now from the UK, shows that women outperform men at university level. A Higher Education Policy Institute report shows that women are more likely to get places in the top universities and go on to get better grades. This should not be surprising after all females have more DNA than males and are …
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Hexayurt – a great design for low impact building.
The Hexayurt is a prize-winning shelter you can build yourself for about $200 (backup link). Suitable raw materials include common building materials ( fire safe insulation boards,) hexacomb cardboard and plastic. You cut six 4′ x 8′ panels in half diagonally to make the roof, and use six more whole panels to form the walls. …
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