We need a Smarter Planet!!

At the start of the 21st century, humankind finds itself At the start of the 21st century, humankind finds itself on a non-sustainable course – a course that, unless on a non-sustainable course – a course that, unless it is changed, will lead to catastrophes of awesome it is changed, will lead to catastrophes of awesome consequences. At the same time, we are unlocking consequences. At the same time, we are unlocking formidable new capabilities that could lead to much formidable new capabilities that could lead to much more exciting lives and glorious civilization. more exciting lives and glorious civilization.

We live on a small, beautiful and totally isolated We live on a small, beautiful and totally isolated planet, but its population is becoming too large, and planet, but its population is becoming too large, and growing rapidly in its desire to consume products that growing rapidly in its desire to consume products that need resources beyond what the earth can provide. need resources beyond what the earth can provide. Technology is becoming powerful enough to wreck Technology is becoming powerful enough to wreck the planet. We are traveling at breakneck speed into the planet. We are traveling at breakneck speed into an age of extremes – extremes in wealth and an age of extremes – extremes in wealth and poverty, extremes in technology and the experiments poverty, extremes in technology and the experiments that scientists want to perform, extreme forces of that scientists want to perform, extreme forces of globalism, weapons of mass destruction and globalism, weapons of mass destruction and terrorists acting in the name of religion. If we are to terrorists acting in the name of religion. If we are to survive decently, we have to learn how to manage survive decently, we have to learn how to manage this situationthis situation

Only 10% of edible fish remain in the oceans, and this percentage is rapidly declining.

Shark Net Cod caught in a Net, Gulf of Maine

The conservation group World Wildlife Fund predicts that if cod fisheries continue to be fished at current rates, there will be no cod left by 2022. "Seventy-five percent of fisheries are overfished," says

marine biologist Enric Sala. "If nothing changes, all fisheries will have collapsed by 2050."

http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/photos/oceans-overfishing/

4http://www.businessinsider.com/weve-eaten-all-the-fish-in-the-sea-2011-6

In the past half century, the biomass of the large predatory fish around the planet fish – such as tuna, swordfish, and marlin – has been reduced by around 90% from their pre-industrial levels .

When we look at the overall impact of global fishing, we see a gradual decrease in the size of fish harvested,  but  the total mass of global  has not decreased.  As larger fish become over-fished, their prey often become abundant, and fishermen harvest these until they too become depleted.  This serial depletion, also called fishing down the food web, has an inevitable ultimate outcome: the fish are gone, and jelly fish populations explode in size  and replace the fish.   Recovery of fish populations then becomes even more difficult.  Already, in places such as Japan, we are looking for ways to try to harvest and eat the jellyfish, whose nutritional value must be close to zero.

http://www.oceanactions.com/?page_id=244

http://na.oceana.org/en/our-work/promote-responsible-fishing/fishing-subsidies/learn-act/more-on-fisheries-subsidies

Rank* Country

2000 Landed Value (US

$'000)

Good Subsidies (US$ '000)**

Bad Subsidies ($

'000)***

Ugly Subsidies (S

'000)****

Fuel Subsidies ($

'000)

Total Bad & Fuel

Subsidies ($ '000)

Total Subsidies (US$ '000)

Total Subsidy Intensity

Bad & Fuel Subsidy Intensity

1 Japan 13.246.743 2.807.057 544.726 579.231 1.115.000 1.659.726 5.046.014 38% 13%2 India 2.420.746 240.192 3.876.459 148.067 233.000 4.109.459 4.497.718 186% 170%3 China Main 11.458.631 11.999 365.851 484.599 1.814.000 2.179.851 2.676.449 23% 19%4 Brazil 1.209.149 74.956 1.910.554 3.708 61.000 1.971.554 2.050.218 170% 163%5 Russian Fed. 2.762.636 574.552 470.981 149.569 491.000 961.981 1.686.102 61% 35%6 Denmark 778.109 161.825 1.037.747 75.907 1.037.747 1.275.479 164% 133%7 USA 4.546.673 936.600 92.210 29.900 184.000 276.210 1.242.710 27% 6%8 Philippines 1.650.629 102.324 413.886 100.962 165.600 579.486 782.772 47% 35%9 Gabon 60.135 4.267 740.787 132 5.000 745.787 750.186 1248% 1240%10 Canada 2.922.195 202.550 162.550 267.498 93.000 255.550 725.598 25% 9%11 Argentina 2.211.345 52.576 333.908 213.242 115.000 448.908 714.726 32% 20%

12Republic of Korea 3.342.446 53.511 276.845 29.453 331.000 607.845 690.809 21% 18%

13 Malaysia 2.573.341 1.723 534.595 0 116.000 650.595 652.318 25% 25%14 Thailand 1.960.883 24.625 221.285 119.939 241.000 462.285 606.849 31% 24%15 Indonesia 1.622.452 84.546 226.077 99.239 171.000 397.077 580.862 36% 24%16 Micronesia 260.143 16.126 563.681 0 563.681 579.807 223% 217%17 Spain 1.413.688 30.847 326.667 92.729 122.000 448.667 572.243 40% 32%18 Taiw an 1.749.892 25.875 233.312 14.500 120.000 353.312 393.687 22% 20%19 France 1.286.697 61.513 195.191 16.697 94.000 289.191 367.401 29% 22%20 Australia 1.672.498 54.374 56.318 199.000 41.000 97.318 350.692 21% 6%

TOTAL Top 20 59.149.031 5.522.038 12.583.630 2.624.372 5.512.600 18.096.230 26.242.640 44% 31%

Source: Sumaila, U.R. and D. Pauly (Editors) 2007 2nd version. Catching More Bait: A Bottom-up Re-estimation of Global Fisheries Subsidies. Fisheries Centre Research Reports Vol. 14(6) 115 pp [w w w .fisheries.ubc.ca/publications/reports/fcrr.php] Ranked by Total Subsidies**Good Subsidies are programs that lead to investment in natural capital assets to a social optimum such as management and research.***Bad subsidies are programs that support and lead to increases in f ishing capacity, such as boat construction and modernization and f ishing sector infrastructure.****Ugly subsidies are programs that can increase capacity depending on the context and implementation, such as decommissioning programs.

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/oceans/pollution/trash-vortex/?MM_URL=http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/our-oceans/pollution/trash-vortex

We gathered these items in the Pacific's vast Trash Vortex. The word "Trash" is written in golf balls.

December 30, 2010 - The estimate comes from French and Belgian marine biologists who analised water samples taken in July off France, northern Italy and Spain to a depth of 10- 15 centimetres. "The rough estimate is that there are roughly 250 billion pieces of micro-debris in all the Mediterranean," said Francois Galgani, of the French Institute for Exploration of the Sea.

The figure derives from 4,371 minute pieces of plastic -- average weight 1.8 milligrams (0.00006 of an ounce) -- found in the samples, "which extrapolates to roughly 500 tonnes for the entire Mediterranean," Galgani said.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-billion-plastic-fragments-mediterranean.html

We gathered these items in the Pacific's vast Trash Vortex. The word "Trash" is written in golf balls.

http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/human_pop/human_pop.htmlhttp://www.fi.edu/guide/hughes/images/pop-1a.jpg

http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/human_pop/human_pop.htmlhttp://www.fi.edu/guide/hughes/images/pop-1a.jpg

http://www.geojunk.com/images/stories/maps/World/worldpopdens2010grid.jpg

http://www.unicef.org/rightsite/sowc/pdfs/statistics/SOWC_Spec_Ed_CRC_Statistical_Tables_EN_111809.pdf

http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/worldageing19502050/

The number of older persons has tripled over the last 50 years; it will more than triple again over the next 50 years

Population aged 60 or over: world and development regions, 1950-2050

Over the last half century, the number of people aged 60 or older increased globally by an average of 8 million

persons every year. Of this increase, 66 per cent occurred in the less developed

regions and 34 per cent in the more developed regions. Over the next half century, this trend will intensify. In the more developed regions the number of persons aged 60 or over will increase by about 70 per cent, from 231 million

in 2000 to 395 million in 2050. In contrast, in the less developed regions

the older population will more than quadruple during this same period,

from 374 million to 1.6 billion. By 2050, nearly four fifths of the world’s older population will be living in the less

developed regions

It took all of history for human population to reach 2 billion, and only one generation to more than

triple to nearly 7 billion.

2 billion / 7 billion

International trade in manufactured goods

increased more than 100 times (from $95 billion to

$12 trillion) in the 50 years following 1955.

>100x growth

In 2010 there are 476 urban areas with at least 1 million people. That’s an increase of 573% from 1950 when there

were 83. Over half the world’s population now lives in urban areas.

476 cities over 1 million

With the population growing to nine or even 10 billion by 2050, "the world will see an enormous need for additional biomass produced in agriculture," warns Franz Josef Rademacher, a mathematician in the southern German city of Ulm.

At the same time, millions of people are changing their lifestyles and eating habits. The new middle class in Shanghai, Hanoi and Jakarta, no longer satisfied with a diet of rice and beans, has a growing appetite for pizza and pasta, burgers and pork chops. Meat consumption has doubled in the last 25 years and continues to grow. Meat production, though, requires large amounts of feed. A hog farmer needs three kilos of feed to produce a kilo of pork, and for beef the ratio is even higher: seven to one. Vast amounts of water are needed to produce the grain that goes into feeding livestock.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,530791-2,00.html

Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1985

(*BMI ≥30, or ~ 30 lbs. overweight for 5’ 4” person)

No Data <10% 10%-14%

Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 2009

(*BMI ≥30, or ~ 30 lbs. overweight for 5’ 4” person)

No Data <10% 10%-14% 15%-19% 20%-24% 25%-29% ≥30%

https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Food_Agriculture/Strategy_Analysis/Why_governments_must_lead_the_fight_against_obesity_2687

Almost half of all US adults are obese. So are more than one-third of Mexican adults and one-quarter of adults in Australia and the United Kingdom. Even in sub-Saharan Africa, obesity rates are rising sharply, particularly among urban residents. Many developing

countries now face yet another health dilemma: obesity rates are increasing even though many people remain significantly malnourished.

http://www.canadianagrifood.ca/?p=81

Meat and dairy products receive substantial

government support relative to fruits and

vegetables.  Contrasting the subsidy figure

against the recommended nutrition

requirements makes the obesity argument

particularly strong.

http://farm.ewg.org/top_recips.php?fips=00000&progcode=total&regionname=theU

nitedStates

Washington paid out a quarter of a trillion dollars in

federal farm subsidies between 1995 and 2009. With

the passage of the 2007 energy bill and 2008 farm bill,

Congress has managed to devise an interlocking maze

of subsidies that, taken together, force taxpayers to spend billions of dollars no matter what the condition of

the farm economy.

6 August 2010 - According to a new study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), subsidies for agriculture in industrialised countries rose to around 252.5 billion dollars, or 22 percent of total farmers' receipts in 2009 -- up from 21 percent in 2008.

The study, "Agricultural Policies in OECD Countries at a Glance 2010", found that the European Union's subsidies for farmers rose from 22 to 24 percent. In the period between 2007 and 2009, EU farmers received an average of 23 percent of their gross receipts in form of direct financial support from the state.

The OECD represents the 30 most industrialised countries of the world, including the U.S. and most members of the EU.

The subsidies for farmers in OECD countries have been at the centre of a heated dispute for years, both at the level of the EU and U.S. and within the larger framework of the World Trade Organisation and its deadlocked Doha Development Round.

The EU spends about 75 billion dollars on subsidies for agriculture, even though the sector represents only about two percent of the total gross domestic product of the union. This subsidies regime will only change in 2014.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201008060661.htmlhttps://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ee.html

http://www.unep.org/dewa/vitalwater/article115.html

 In 1963, the surface of the Aral Sea In 1963, the surface of the Aral Sea measured 66,100 km2, with an average measured 66,100 km2, with an average

depth of 16 m and a maximum depth of 68 depth of 16 m and a maximum depth of 68 m. The salt content was 1%. During the m. The salt content was 1%. During the 1960s, upstream irrigation schemes for 1960s, upstream irrigation schemes for

growing rice and cotton consumed 90% of growing rice and cotton consumed 90% of the natural flow of water from the Tian Shan the natural flow of water from the Tian Shan

Mountains.Mountains.  By 1987, 27,000 km2 of former sea bottom By 1987, 27,000 km2 of former sea bottom of the Aral Sea had become dry land; about of the Aral Sea had become dry land; about 60% volume had been lost, its depth had 60% volume had been lost, its depth had

declined by 14 m, and its salt concentration declined by 14 m, and its salt concentration had doubled.had doubled.

  Today, about 200,000 tonnes of salt and Today, about 200,000 tonnes of salt and sand are carried by the wind from the Aral sand are carried by the wind from the Aral Sea region every day, and dumped within a Sea region every day, and dumped within a

300 km radius. The salt pollution is 300 km radius. The salt pollution is decreasing the available agriculture area, decreasing the available agriculture area,

destroying pastures, and creating a shortage destroying pastures, and creating a shortage of forage for domestic animals. The number of forage for domestic animals. The number

of domestic animals in the region has of domestic animals in the region has become so low that the government has become so low that the government has

issued a decree to reduce the slaughter of issued a decree to reduce the slaughter of animals for foodanimals for food

Effects of 40 years of irrigation on the Aral Sea

http://www.unep.org/dewa/vitalwater/article115.html

Snow surrounding the Aral Sea in early January 2010.

1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water, roughly one-sixth of the world's population. Nearly half of the world's population fails to receive the level of water services available 2,000 years ago to the citizens of ancient Rome.

The average American uses 100 to 175 gallons of water per day. The average African uses 5 gallons per day. The average person in the United Kingdom uses 35.66 gallons of water per day…. Water is a $400 billion dollar global industry; the third largest behind electricity and oil…. Half of the world’s 500 major rivers are seriously depleted or polluted. There are more than 300,000 contaminated groundwater sites in the United States.

https://blueplanetnetwork.org/water/facts

http://mindsorbet.blogspot.com/2009/03/water-works-in-turkey.html

Water stress measures the relative use of water to what is replenished naturally by precipitation and snow melt.

http://www.feow.org/threatmaps.php?image=6

23 September 2010 — The rate at which global groundwater stocks are shrinking has more than doubled between 1960 and 2000, increasing the amount lost from 126 to 283 cubic kilometers of water per year. Because the total amount of groundwater in the world is unknown, it’s hard to say how fast the global supply would vanish at this rate. But, if water was siphoned as rapidly from the Great Lakes, they would go bone-dry in around 80 years.

Groundwater represents about 30 percent of the available fresh water on the planet, with surface water accounting for only one percent. The rest of the potable, agriculture friendly supply is locked up in glaciers or the polar ice caps. This means that any reduction in the availability of groundwater supplies could have profound effects for a growing human population.

The new assessment shows the highest rates of depletion in some of the world’s major agricultural centers, including northwest India, northeastern China, northeast Pakistan, California’s central valley, and the midwestern United States.

http://www.agu.org/news/press/pr_archives/2010/2010-30.shtml

August 12th, 2009 - A pair of satellites that measures changes in the earth’s gravity has shown that the intense irrigation of a 1,200-mile swath of northern India is depleting groundwater at a rate of 1.5 to 4 inches per year.

The satellites, part of a joint U.S.-German mission known as GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment), show that the region — inhabited by 600 million people heavily dependent on irrigated agriculture — is withdrawing 13 cubic miles of water per year from underground aquifers.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090812143938.htm

The map shows groundwater changes in India during 2002-08, with losses in red and gains in blue, based on GRACE satellite observations. The estimated rate of depletion of groundwater in northwestern India is 4.0 centimeters of water per year, equivalent to a water table decline of 33

centimeters per year. Increases in groundwater in southern India are due to recent above-average rainfall, whereas rain in northwestern India was close to normal during the study period.

http://blog.cleantechies.com/2009/08/12/grace-satellites-show-depletion-indian-groundwater-irrigation/

https://blueplanetnetwork.org/sites/default/files/media/WaterInfoGraphics.pdf

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/16/desertification-climate-change

Earth Policy InstituteDesertification on the outskirts of the town of Annakila, Mali

Desertification and land degradation is "the greatest environmental challenge of our time" and "a threat to global wellbeing“ - Luc Gnacadja, UN's top drylands official

“20cm of soil is all that stands between us and extinction," he told the Guardian.

http://theruminant.ca/2010/12/16/book-review-dirt-the-erosion-of-civilizations/

Like a scene from a Hollywood disaster movie, a towering

cloud of sand dwarfs the rows of uniform houses as it

descends on a small village in central China.

http://friskodude.blogspot.com/2010/05/dust-storm-in-china.html

The Chinese Academy of Sciences estimates that the number of sandstorms has jumped six-fold in the past 50 years to two dozen a year. Around 80 per cent of them occur between March and May.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/04/china-desertification

4 January 2011 - Despite the world's biggest tree-planting campaign, the relocation of millions of "eco-migrants" and restrictions on herding and farming, a new report noted the "desertification trend has not fundamentally reversed". There were small signs of improvement. In the five years to 2010, the authors estimated the area of desert had shrunk by an annual average of 1,717 square kilometres. This was 40% better than the results from 2000-05, the first in China's history to ever show a gain.

Expert warns it could take 300 years to recover desert land resulting from over-cultivation and water demands

But 1.7m square kilometres - more than six times the area of the UK - is still covered in sand dunes or gobi gravel desert. The government estimates that 530,000 square kilometres can be restored through afforestation, protection and natural regeneration. But the time needed for such an undertaking makes the Long March look like a weekend stroll."We've made progress, but we face a daunting challenge," said Liu Tuo, head of the desertification control office in the state forestry administration. "It may take China 300 years.”

A child on a sand dune in Waixi, Gansu province, China, where desert is overtaking farmland.

http://www.realtruth.org/news/080207-001-weather.html

Feb 7, 2008 During the past

three years, Brazil has celebrated a 59% reduction in

the rate of deforestation.

However, in the past 40 years,

nearly 20% of the Amazon has been

cut down. The Amazon—the world’s largest absorber of carbon dioxide, holding nearly 86 billion metric tons of carbon (about 11 years of recent carbon dioxide emissions)—is being destroyed at an alarming rate. The primary cause is the clearing of land for cattle. Additionally, the need for land in increased soybean production is also becoming a more significant factor, as well as illegal logging.

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0924-hance_bhagwat.htmlhttp://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/11/2388392.htm

Land clearing for palm oil is a major source of deforestation in Indonesia, where the clearing of forests has pushed the country into the position of the world's third-highest carbon emitter.

Papua, which occupies the western end of New Guinea island, is a largely inaccessible region of highlands and thick forests that has been under the control of Jakarta since the 1960s. Palm oil companies have begun clearing massive swathes of untouched forest in Indonesia's remote Papua region, environmental group Greenpeace campaigner Bustar Maitar said.

http://www.rainforestsos.org/about-rainforests/whats-happening-to-them/

In the past 50 years, a third of the world’s rainforests have been felled and burned, and deforestation continues. The loss of natural tropical forests – both wet and dry

forest – amounts to 15 million hectares per year. Of this total, almost 6 million hectares are humid tropical forests, or rainforests . It’s the equivalent of about 8.5

million football pitches a year, or 23,483 pitches a day.Although this deforestation averages a loss of less than 1% of the forests per year, it is believed that after the loss of 30-40% of a rainforest, the remaining forest will

become so destabilised that it may collapse

http://twitkin.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/a-cubic-mile-of-oil/

http://www.powermag.com/gas/IEA-Global-Power-Demand-to-Surge-2-2-percent-Annually-Through-2035_3286.html

• January 1, 2011 - Under the central scenario in a new International Energy Agency (IEA) report, world power demand will shoot up 2.2% per year between 2008 and 2035. More than 80% of that growth will come from developing countries—led by China and followed by India—spurred by economic activity, industrial production, population, and urbanization. China’s energy demand is foreseen to surge a stunning 75% between 2008 and 2035, when it will account for 22% of world demand. • China will lead the surge in electricity generation growth, and power

demand in the country is expected to triple between 2008 and 2035. To put this into perspective, the IEA says, “Over the next 15 years, China is projected to add generating capacity equivalent to the current total installed capacity of the U.S.”.

http://www.energyandcapital.com/articles/deep-water-oil+drilling/619

Recently, Shell Europe's VP, Tom Botts, expressed: "There is no more easy oil, and the subsea industry is critical to unlocking more oil to meet world supply.”

One thing is for certain, higher oil prices causing a greater interest in deep water offshore drilling. The U.S. Gulf of Mexico is one of the areas experiencing a boom. Production is projected to increase between 22% and 45% in 2008, with the growth being attributed to new fields.

Considering oil prices are over 50% higher compared to last year, producers are able to work on projects that would have been uneconomical when oil was $30 a barrel, and now more offshore drillers are starting to look deeper. Last year, there were more rigs drilling in the ultra deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico than ever before.

Unfortunately, deep water drilling comes with a price. In 2007, Brazil reported the discovery of a massive offshore oil field. The Tupi discovery boosted Brazil's proven oil reserves more than 50%

But don't let this ultra-deep field's huge numbers fool you. It's going to take a lot of time and money to bring Tupi into production.

36.8%projected growth in worldwide

energy demand by 2030

170 billionkilowatt-hours wasted each year by consumers due to insufficient power usage

information

$150 billion/yearlost due to outages and

interruptions in electric power (just in the U.S.)

1/4proportion of

worldwide CO2 emissions created by power generation, the

largest man-made source

$70 billionin infrastructure spending could be saved over

the next 20 years through better management of existing assets (in the U.S. alone)

15% reduction inpeak loads

when consumers were offered the opportunity to save and average of 10% on their electric

bills

More than 100 million people are estimated to be at risk from toxic pollution at levels above international health standards. This is a public health issue as salient as tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS. Toxic pollution causes immense harm to humans, especially children.

Health impacts include physical and mental disabilities, reduced IQ, organ dysfunction, neurological disorders, cancers, reduced life expectancy, and death. An initial exposure to toxic pollution can be the undocumented cause of later illnesses, including respiratory infections, tuberculosis, gastrointestinal disorders, and maternal health problems. In addition, while most toxic pollution is localized, some pollutants, such as mercury and persistent organic pollutants (POPs), are transboundary and end up in food chains in oceans and distant countries

http://www.worstpolluted.org/files/FileUpload/files/2010/WWPP-2010-Report-Web.pdf

Last year, ten Washington residents agreed to testing of their hair, blood, and urine for the presence of toxic chemicals as part of an investigative study by the Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition.. We tested for six groups of chemicals: phthalates; PBDEs; the heavy metals arsenic, lead, and mercury; perfluorinated chemicals like those used to make Teflon; pesticides; and the banned but persistent chemicals PCBs and DDT.

http://pollutioninpeople.org/results/report/executive-summary

Every participant was contaminated with phthalates, found in myriad everyday products. The same is true for perfluorinated chemicals, used to make Teflon and stain-protection treatments for paper and textiles. Every participant had PCBs in his or her blood, despite a decades-old ban on the chemicals. Every participant had PBDEs in his or her blood. Dr. Patricia Dawson had PBDEs in her body at levels close to those that cause reproductive problems in laboratory animals. We found a marker for the carcinogen pesticide carbaryl in five of ten participants Three of our ten participants had mercury exposures above the Environmental Protection Agency’s “safe” levels. Even Laurie Valeriano, toxic chemical expert and regular organic shopper, tested positive for more than two dozen chemicals.

• Last Long a subject of debate, the cause of the infamous brown cloud that hovers over the Indian Ocean and South Asia every winter has finally been discovered. Researchers led by Dr Orjan Gustafsson from the University of Stockholm in Sweden announced in Science that 70 percent of the cloud is made up of soot from the burning of biomasses, largely wood and animal dung used for cooking.

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0123-hance_browncloud.html

Shantytowns with extreme violence and poverty are growing in many parts of the world. Youth there have no hope.

Image taken on a cellphone through a car window in Lagos, Nigeria, which depicted a group of men walking down the street with a

hyena in chains.Nigerian newspapers reported these men

were bank robbers, bodyguards, drug dealers, debt collectors... I eventually

tracked down a Nigerian reporter, who said he knew the ‘Gadawan Kura’ as they are

known in Hausa (a rough translation: ‘hyena handlers/guides’).”

Europeans invariably only ask about the welfare of the animals. Instead, perhaps, we

could ask why these performers need to catch wild animals to make a living..”

http://www.pieterhugo.com/writings/

http://climateprogress.org/2009/05/01/lester-brown-scientific-american-food-shortages-there-is-no-bo/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population

Imagine for a moment that in 2004 the government had required every major financial institution in the U.S to publish their investment positions. All of them with all data about the underlying mortgage pools, defaults so far, etc.

The loans that crashed the system, were [mostly] written from 2005 through the early days of 2007. Opening the banks' books would have revealed just how near the edge they were playing. This would have been a crisis of a sort; the housing bubble would have popped. But popping the bubble two years earlier would have avoided the worst of the damage.

A Senate study in 2002 found that the SEC had managed to fully review just 16 percent of the nearly 15,000 annual reports that companies submitted in the previous fiscal year; the recently disgraced Enron hadn't been reviewed in a decade.

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-03/wp_reboot?currentPage=all

http://seekingalpha.com/article/238429-the-future-of-finance-an-end-to-opacity-and-the-mother-of-all-databases?source=email_stocks_and_sectors

http://hedgefundoperationalduediligence.com/madoffcartoons.html

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-03/wp_reboot?currentPage=all

http://seekingalpha.com/article/238429-the-future-of-finance-an-end-to-opacity-and-the-mother-of-all-databases?source=email_stocks_and_sectors

http://hedgefundoperationalduediligence.com/madoffcartoons.html

Infectious pandemics could spread at unstoppable rates, as they have in the past, but now with the capability to kill enormous numbers of people

• In the past it was fairly easy to contain certain diseases. That was before you could fly from one point on the earth to any other point within 24 hours. Air travel has changed the way diseases flow.

• Most diseases take a little bit of time for symptoms to develop. As we jet from place to place some passenger could be carrying a deadly virus within and no visible clues showing. By the time that the person is gasping for breath several cities globally could be having sick people spreading the virus without a clue. Welcome to the 21st Century Pandemic. Modern man has created the perfect route of traffic for wide spread death.

http://timeinmoments.wordpress.com/2009/04/17/flying-to-a-city-near-you-pandemics-in-the-21st-century-part-2/

Large scale problems of the XXI Century

48

"I feel schizophrenic myself. Half the time I feel really depressed

when I look at say climate change or the potential to misuse

technology. But then I get really excited about how we are

reinventing ourselves through technology.“

Marina Gorbis, Institute for the Future

Pausa Pausa –– Visite Nuestro Bar Visite Nuestro Bar