Business leaders issued “The Copenhagen Call” at the close of the World Business Summit on Climate Change. In their introduction they state: We call upon our political leaders to agree an ambitious and effective global climate treaty at COP15 in Copenhagen. Sustainable economic progress requires stabilizing and then reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Success at COP15 …
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Category:Risk and Terror
Can we go “cold turkey” on fossil fuels?
Scientists now warn that we must effectively halt fossil fuel use if we are to avoid global climate warming of 2 degrees C by 2050. That’s probably a realistic estimate. But we are unlikely to do it. In fact we probably won’t even try. (See previous post.) But we could take a big step in …
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Don’t stress about swine flu.
The scare of a potential pandemic of swine flu is newsworthy, but you shouldn’t get too concerned. While the rise in deaths (now ~150) makes headlines, these numbers are modest compared to historical pandemics and compared to other causes of death. The resources available to maintain health and cure illness are far better than they …
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The problem with optimism.
Some readers might be turned-off by my insistence on identifying risks. But if we assume everything is alright and do not focus on the problems, we are acting out the same folly that fed the economic crisis. We engender moral hazard and have no incentive to fix the system. I reiterate these concerns now because …
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GM rice to poison the world?
In a few days the EU will decide whether or not to allow GM rice to be imported to the the EU. Most countries have shied away from allowing risky experimentation with the world’s most important staple crop and at present, no GE rice is grown commercially anywhere in the world. But Bayer, the German …
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Economic crisis? The ecological crisis is looming.
Growing world population will cause a “perfect storm” of food, energy and water shortages by 2030, the UK government chief scientist has warned. Global crisis ‘to strike by 2030’
The markets were up, but the news was bad, bad, bad
Simply, … Because Citigroup (now owned by the US government) posted a profit FTSE 100 3715.23up 172.83 4.88% Dax 3886.98up 194.95 5.28% Cac 40 2663.68up 144.39 5.73% Dow Jones 6926.49up 379.44 5.80% Nasdaq 1358.28up 89.64 7.07% BBC Global 30 4342.34up 182.62 4.40% BUT Worst crisis since 1930s says Fed IMF predicts a global recession And …
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Is a food crisis looming? Can solutions be implemented fast enough?
The cost of food remains high. The UN is addressing the issue as a matter of urgency. While energy prices have halved over the past year, the cost of food remains high, particularly for people who spend most of their wealth on food. The buoyancy of trade also hinders access to food. Though the financial …
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Destruction and massacre in The Middle East- the embarrassment of the rich world
A cease fire in Gaza has allowed the full scale of death and devastation to be be seen. Hundreds of people killed and wounded, mostly civilians in a few short weeks. Buildings and utilities destroyed. For what? For pride. There is no doubt that the conflict in Palestine is complex. There is no easy solution. …
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World Economic Situation and Prospects 2009
The United Nations released part of their World Economic Situation and Prospects 2009 today. The chapter Global Outlook is available here (pdf) and the slide show summarising the Outlook is available here (pdf). I strongly recommend reading the slide show which should take about 5 minutes, and then continue to the chapter if you like. …
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