You would have thought that an economic recession, which has slowed spending, raised unemployment and impacted trade, would have had a beneficial effect on humanity’s ecological footprint. But it has not. The Consumption Explosion continues. Humanity’s footprint is still as large as ever. Today is “ecological debt day”, the day that humanity has used the …
Continue reading The recession has not slowed humanity’s consumption of the planet.
Category:2 Geopolitics
Happy Planet Index 2.0
See here the Happy Planet Index by NEF (pdf).
Dirty politics costs you millions.
Transparency International’s 2009 corruption survey is out. There is no improvement in the swathe of corruption that stifles the work of everyone. It is a dirty scum of waste that feeds the rich, all over the world. The report notes that in the US corporations spent an average of $200,000 a year on lobbying every …
Continue reading Dirty politics costs you millions.
Peace Day
International Day of Peace – Wikipedia International Day of Peace website
US to cut missile defence plan. A good start.
The US has cancelled or postponed the plan to emplace missiles in Poland. This is good news. Increasing the volume of armaments is a ludicrous policy in a world where people are dying of malnutrition and thirst and where a gun has no practical purpose except to kill another person. The resources would be better …
Continue reading US to cut missile defence plan. A good start.
Will the new Japan stop barbaric imprisonment and death?
There are 100 people on death row in Japan. Many of them are elderly and have spent decades in near isolation. Conditions are primitive. The new government will be able to abolish the death penalty. Will Japanese people call for it? Will they allow it? It would be a healthy step towards cultural maturity if …
Continue reading Will the new Japan stop barbaric imprisonment and death?
Japan to lead climate change fight?
Incoming Prime Minister Hatoyama has said that Japan will adopt a goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 25% at the Copenhagen talks in December. This is the bottom end of the range proposed by the UN (15%-40% cuts), but far more than considered by Japan and other rich emitters so far. Japan is the …
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Change in The East too.
Japan has voted for change. After more than half a century of nearly unbroken rule the LDP was defeated in a landslide victory by the Democratic Party of Japan. Of course, it is not easy to win an election in the face of an economic recession – people are naturally unhappy with the status quo. …
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The mother of “people power”
The Mother of ‘People Power’ FEER Corazon Aquino January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009
G8 saves face with procrastination and prevarication.
So the G8 agreed to limit global warming to 2°C by 2050. OK maybe a step in the right direction. But no agreement to cuts by 2020. And no agreed action. The G8 agreed its members would “work towards” 80% cuts in emissions by 2050, but again no commitment, no economic penalties for failing to …
Continue reading G8 saves face with procrastination and prevarication.