An interesting piece from an investors web-site by a business and economic journalist.
Seven essential graphs from the IEA’s World Energy Outlook | Carbon Brief
Funny weather we’re having… how the melting Arctic is affecting global weather patterns in a sinister way | Campaign against Climate Change
An article on Climate Change, going into some detail on why we are experiencing some very unusual weather. It is those in the Global South and the poor in the Global North who suffer most, from these extreme weather patterns. And as he states, we are now on a slippery slope downwards, which we will not be able to get back up. And what do our leaders do, more of the same, which is the cause of Global Warming. It is time, those in the Global North, cut back on their excessive consumption and waste. It is time to throw away the motor car and give up flying on holidays abroad. Because, in the end, this is going to adversely affect everyone, no matter how much money you have. You cannot eat money, gold, shares, bonds or even bricks and mortar.
The Silent Pandemic – the risk to children’s health
Many childhood illnesses are on the rise, and a growing body of scientific evidence links pesticide exposure to this troubling trend.
Using facts and findings from the current body of evidence, I hope you’ll join me in taking a stand for kid’s health!
Let’s make protecting children from pesticides a national priority, one conversation at a time >> Public Action
The site may be American, but the problem is also relevant within the UK. Especially as more and more Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are finding there way into processed food. Monsanto GMOs particularly have been adapted to be resistant to Round-up, a pesticide which is known to be a carcinogen. Some of the information that can be found on their site:
When it comes to pesticides, children are among the most vulnerable. Pound for pound, they drink 2.5 times more water, eat 3-4 times more food, and breathe 2 times more air. They therefore absorb a higher concentration of pesticides than adults.
Infants and children also face unique exposure because of how they interact with the world: they crawl on the ground and put things in their mouths — including their hands. They also face exposure during critical windows in the womb and via breast milk.
Developing Brains & Bodies
Since they are growing so quickly, infants and young children are more susceptible to the effects of pesticide exposure than adults. Their developing brains and bodies are in the midst of complex and fragile developmental processes that regulate tissue growth and organ development — and these developmental processes can be irreversibly derailed by pesticide exposure.
Drawings by preschoolers exposed to pesticides (Valley) compared to those by preschoolers not exposed (Foothills). See “Developmental Delay” below.
Research indicates that children exposed to pesticides either in utero, or during other critical periods face significant health risks including higher incidence of:
- Birth defects
- Neurodevelopmental delays & cognitive impairment
- Childhood brain cancers
- Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD)
- Endocrine disruption
Many of the worst pesticides, known as “persistent organic pollutants,” or POPs, contaminate our water and soil for years. They move on the wind and in streams, rivers and oceans and concentrate as they move up the food chain. Other pesticides are so widely and heavily used that they contamine our food and water supplies (chlorpyrifos and atrazine are good examples).
Health Effects: The State of the Science
Get the latest on the state of the science, including reports on Brain Development, Autism, and ADHD. Learn More »
So, while farmer and farmworker’s children bear some of the highest risks, pesticides contaminate the environment and permeate the food supply such that even kids in city cafeterias face daily exposure.
Ripped-off Britons: Key political fibs, and some tips on how to refute them
I have posted before, that the UK, especially the City of London Corporation is the biggest Tax Haven in the World. Our political elite, Labour and Conservative constantly tell us they cannot tax the rich because the financial sector would leave this country. They also tell us, it is unfair to tax the rich, because success should be rewarded. But we know, they have only been successful by acting in a criminal way and evading tax. That, money will trickle down, but for generations we have seen the reverse. The article below gives some answer, you can use in reply to the nonsense being peddled by the political elite.
Ripped-off Britons: Key political fibs, and some tips on how to refute them.
You can send a message by signing the following petition, asking for a reform of the banking sector:
The papers are full of stories of how the Conservatives are going to cut benefits, claiming tax-payers are sick of paying for the work-shy. Most of those who are on benefits have no choice, there is no paid work for them. The way the Economy is modelled, does not take account of those who do unpaid work, such as housewives and those who care for relatives. We are going back to the times of Dickens, were the poor were thought to have brought on themselves and deserved punishment. Whilst the rich fleece each other in a very corrupt business world.
Jobless and big-families lose benefits
I wonder, are those who are in employment and earn more than the average wage, will continue to receive child benefits, even though they do not need it? The cuts are supposed to be in the region of £10 billion but the Government is taking about spending £70 billion of a Trident missile program replacement, not mentioned in the papers.
And of course this ‘Green’ Governments commitment towards renewable energy, which has seen the Chancellor talk about tax-breaks for ‘fracking’. Has disillusioned major energy companies, who are now talking not investing in the UK.
I totally agree with Kevin Anderson and he repeats something I have said for some time. It is the affluent middle-class who contribute most to climate-change. And yet they try to demonize those on low-incomes and benefits.
This is particularly true of certain members of Manchester Green Party, who make token gesture, like showing up at meetings holding a bicycle. Though they are motorists, who cannot live without their cars. One person in particular, I do not think has never used public transport in her entire life. Others are quite happy to jump on a jet for short journeys, such as to Ireland. Then they dismiss those who live in social housing as being uneducated and do not care about climate change. They do care, but why, when the are struggling to warm their homes, should they listen to some clown, from an affluent background, who is living quite well?In fact, these so-called educated middle-class bullies and hypocrites, are the ones who need to change the way they live. And I think JK Rowlings comments in the Guardian, more or less potray my own thoughts on middle-class hypocrisy:
and I think these middle-class hypocrites should also take note of what an American newscaster had to say about bullies:
jennifer-livingston-newscaster-fightback-bully.
I have said it before, ‘Hypocrisy, hypocrisy, every where I look, nothing but hypocrisy and not a drop of truth to quench my thirst for knowledge’. Sorry Samuel Taylor Coleridge for adulterating part of your The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere.
Below is Professor Kevin Anderson’s submission for the recent “Climate Clock is Ticking” series. The Guardian don’t appear to have used it in either their print edition or online. Below his submission we have posted our response to the same invitation.
The request for the piece from the New Economics Foundation was:
‘The Climate Clock is Ticking. Normal isn’t Working. What Will You Do Differently?’
We would like to use your answer in a feature of collected insights to mark the half-
way point of the 100 months climate countdown that began in August 2008, and to
highlight what can be done differently in the next 50 months.
_____
My day job is to translate the science of climate change into the everyday language
we use to understand our lives. To chaperon policy-makers in the transition towards
a low-carbon UK, and to help companies and civil society understand the…
View original post 1,136 more words
100 Million people will die by 2030 if the World does not act on Climate Change
A new report released on the 26th September 2012, called ‘A Guide to the Cold Calculus of a Hot Planet’, claims 100 Million people will die before 2030, due to the results of Climate Change. This is because of the inactions of Governments and businesses to act on climate change. This has led to a more polluted planet, causing the Global temperature to rise. Unfortunately Governments and business are locked into a fossil-fuel and consumer economy. They have not heeded the calls to invest in real renewable technologies and a move away from ‘business-as-usual’ model.
The report is optimistic, that there is still an opportunity to scale-back pollution and halt Global warming. I feel, it will not happen, till there is a complete collapse in water and food supplies, when it is too late. They put forward the argument that economically (not the first time, it has been argued), it would be the sensible thing to do. It would reduce poverty, hunger and ill-health and opposed to the outcome of pursuing a carbon economy. This is a report all politicians and business people should read and act on it.
At a meeting of Southern Voices a talk given by Washington Alcott ( a Jamaican), entitled ‘Climate Change – A conservation from the South’. Made the point that climate change and the environment agenda;
“It was predominately the white-middle class who dominated the debate and decided the outcomes”.
I agree with him, in fact I would go further, it is the so-called ( predominately white) educated middle-class who are part of the problem. The do not want to change their life-styles, so do not want real change. Even, those espousing to be environmentally aware, still drive the most, shunning public transport and continue to fly abroad multiple times a year for holidays. They consume more than those on reduced incomes, but pay less because of the unequal charging mechanisms. Because of their spending power, they could make a huge difference but they will not. There are ‘OK Jack, sod you’.
We need to go back to basics, organic farming, growing crops native to that region. Industrial farming just damages the biodiversity of the soil, the fauna and flora and is extremely wasteful of water and fossil fuels. Idiots like Gates should have never been allowed to have a monopoly, as he had. He has no idea about nature and the environment.
House approves GOP bill to revoke environmental standards – 24 Sep 2012 – News from BusinessGreen
Some more bad news from the US, who have the largest carbon footprint per person than anywhere else. They are living on 6 planets worth of resources and they just want to consume more. And yet they criticise countries like China and India, who are trying to improve the living standards of their citizens. And the individual carbon footprints 6 times less than the US citizen.
House approves GOP bill to revoke environmental standards – 24 Sep 2012 – News from BusinessGreen.
Senate votes to ban US airlines from EU carbon trading
In the UK, despite a Government which also does not understand the need for more renewable energy supplies especially, small localised units. Investment in onshore wind turbines appears to be strong, with new wind farms coming on-line.
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2207382/uk-onshore-wind-capacity-breezes-past-5gw-mark
Arctic “death spiral” leaves climate scientists shocked and worried | The Vancouver Observer – Page 1
An in depth report on why we should be very worried about the melting ice-caps. and why we in the Global North should be cutting back our excessive consumption, especially of fossil fuels. Time to ditch the car and walk, cycle or use public transport. And do you really need to fly any where?
patricktsudlow 