Sweets for children = violence in adults

The report is full of maybes, but the message is clear: children who are given sweets daily have poor self-control and tend to become unhappy, violent adults. It’s not just the red ones either.  Parents know that red food colour has a tendency to make children frenetic and irritable, but this study illustrates the consequences …
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The recession has not slowed humanity’s consumption of the planet.

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 …
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Zero Growth: The Future of Business – Ethical Corp/Jonathan Porritt

The big interview: Jonathan Porritt – When real progress means standing still Business must see that zero growth is the future for developed economies, according to Jonathan Porritt Interview by Eric Marx As he prepared to step down in July as chief environmental adviser to the UK prime minister, Jonathan Porritt headed out for one …
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A story about changing course: Trading derivatives for dogs.

Here’s a short story about a former financial trader who now sells frankfurters in Frankfurt’s business district. A new and interesting job, hard work, fulfilling.  “If you’re not happy with your job, it’s bad for you.” BBC: German fat cat turns to hot dogs

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 …
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Do you want to live without trees?

An article in today’s news suggests that we can turn back the tide of carbon by installing thousands of artificial carbon capture trees. OK, it might help.  But it’s just the wrong kind of thinking and a tremendous waste of materials.  It is real trees that we need. Building steel structures with solar panels and …
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Getting real about the high price of cheap food

An informative story from Time magazine. Somewhere in Iowa, a pig is being raised in a confined pen, packed in so tightly with other swine that their curly tails have been chopped off so they won’t bite one another. To prevent him from getting sick in such close quarters, he is dosed with antibiotics. The …
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Videos in magazines – another step beyond extravagant consumption

Video advertisements will be published in a traditional paper magazine in September. The video-in-print ads will use slim-line screens, around the size of a mobile phone display, which also have rechargeable batteries. The chip technology used to store the video – described as similar to that used in singing greeting cards – is activated when …
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