While traditional economists might deride the performance of the Japanese economy as it reports sluggishness, at the same time Japan reports a record high in the number of centenarians. Its another example of the trade-off between money and life. And as has been proven more money doesn’t make you happier. If you haven’t done so …
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Category:1 Perspective
Get the right perspective.
So, the media leads with the headline that China’s economy slowed during the olympics because businesses were closed to help clear the atmosphere. But its important to get the detail. The rate of growth remains high. Far beyond what western economies are experiencing. industrial output growth of 12.8% in August retail sales up at an …
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I don’t like being green/eco/ethical …
It’s just the way I am. So, I suppose, I do like being green/eco/ethical because I wouldn’t want to be the opposite. But I find that that is how I’m labelled by others, and that’s a shame. It should be a minimum that people are green/eco/ethical. People should then be differentiated by their professional skills, …
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The Story of Stuff
A great video and website on our material global society. It is particularly good for education from children to adults. It is simple in its presentation but covers a lot of ground. Its focus is on the US, but its very applicable to all rich consumers. An excellent presentation of the problems with our consumer …
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The United States of Advertising and our dysfunctional perspective
This funny article and video clip give a good insight in to the difficulty we all face of having a sensible and balanced view of our world. The author mainly discusses the differences between advertising in the US and elsewhere, such as the promotion of prescription drugs – “if your doctor isn’t prescribing this, ask …
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Still a primitive world – AI report on human rights 2008
Amnesty International released their annual report on human rights. It continues to paint a stark picture of humanity. Violence is the culture of too many places, and of too many rich countries. With the richest countries still failing to respect human life, despite teh intellect and wealth available to nurture, it remains a dream that …
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The uncomfortable view from the top
Today’s BBC article Thailand’s Wealthy Untouchables touched a nerve. It describes the chasm between rich and poor and the failure of the rich to take responsibility for themselves. It is interesting to see the emotions of the downtrodden becoming visible. And it illustrates the motivation for changing my career a decade ago. When I looked …
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We’re running out of planet …
Even the capitalists are beginning to ask if earth’s resources are now being exhausted: BusinessWeek’s article The Age of Scarcity asks if this is our Malthusian moment. They offer evidence to support that point of view but conclude that policy changes will allow new technologies to make resources go further. Unfortunately this is wishful thinking. …
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Stop making babies – Save the planet
When you take an interest in reducing humanity’s impact on the biosphere, it becomes apparent that there are simply too many humans. It is generally accepted that the planet can support only 2 billion people by natural means. The equation is simple: sun’s energy enters the biosphere and is converted to stored energy (by plants), …
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Addicted
I’m addicted, you’re addicted, we’re all addicted. But not addicted to love, sadly. We might like to think that we’re immune, but facing the truth, we must own up that our addictions are open secrets. Let’s touch a few bases to see where addiction might be in our lives. From personal to popular, from body …
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