Just one day before the 35th G8 summit in the earthquake-torn town of L’Aquila, Italy, the Holy See released the third encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI. who will meet with US President Obama on Friday.
The passion of Christ / photo: Kevin Dooley, flickr
Being the Holy Father’s first social encyclical, the 144-page “Caritas in Veritate” profoundly examines the depraved morals of market economy, the inhuman side-effects of globalization, consumerism and relativism, the need for a sustainable protection of the environment, the role of media and technology in modern life, the strengthening of workers’ rights and, above all, the imperative of “love and forgiveness, self-denial, acceptance of others, justice and peace”.
Nuclear bomb casing / photo: Andrea Church, flickr
A ”mathematical genius”, statistics wonk, the man behind the escalation of the Vietnam War, the longest-serving US defense secretary, controversial World Bank president and nuclear disarmament advocate: Robert S. McNamara left big footprints in post-World War II international politics – for better and for worse. He died yesterday at the age of 93 at his Washington home.
Do newspapers have a future in the digital age? What strategies could help them stay afloat? The quest for smart survival models has begun.
Take this example from Puerto Rico: The Daily Sun is now exploring whether cooperatives can function as lifesavers in the media crisis. But are nonprofit employee cooperatives really a potential answer to failing newspapers? Maybe, if a newspaper like The Daily Sun can find a niche market and the necessary local support. In this form it could even survive without a digital component.
The Daily Sun’s idea could be added to the interactive map, “What next for newspapers?”- offered by The Independent. The collaborative project is streamlined too; similar ideas on how to save the newpaper business are weaved together “into a single rich, transparent structure,” so you can quickly glimpse and assess a wide range of opinions.
Uncover your ecological footprint / photo: Vu Bui, flickr
Looking for another reason to pass on that second glass of wine with dinner?
Turns out indulging in more Merlot not only increases your caloric intake, but your global footprint as well.
I learned this from a website I stumbled across the other day – Consumer Consequences – that offers a new twist on measuring your global ecological footprint. It builds on the methodology behind the Ecological Footprint Quiz, which “estimates the amount of land and water area required to sustain your consumption patterns and absorb your wastes on an annual basis.” Consumer Consequences builds on this idea by helping a user answer the question, How many ‘Earths’ would be needed to sustain life if everyone lived like me?
The site maintained by American Public Media assesses the total number of ‘global acres’ (biologically productive space on earth) each part of your life consumes and projects how many planets would be needed if everyone consumed like you.
The quiz asks a series of questions to help evaluate consumption in six areas: home (how and where you live); energy use (electricity used in the home); trash disposal; transportation; food and drink; and shopping (use of goods and services).
Turns out even though I live in a small apartment, am a diligent recycler who buys organic and doesn’t own a car, it would still take the biologically productive space of three earths if everyone lived like me.
The site also offers tips on how to reduce your ecological footprint and influence environmental policy.
Now if only sustainable living were as simple as taking the quiz…
US$147/B One Year On: Political Winners and Strategic Losers
In 2009, the oil price fell sharply after a five-year honeymoon. You’d have expected it to take a number of political casualties with it. In a new analysis by the Center for Security Studies (CSS), Matthew Hulbert explains why it’s not been the case. Looking forward, he thinks that consumers will pretty likely face another price crunch as investment lags and demand rises. But he concludes with a warning to Russia, Venezuela and co:
“Some producers will no doubt see this as a ‘strategic victory’: but unless they have learned the lessons of 2008/9 to diversify their economic bases beyond narrow resource wealth, once the next bubble bursts, they will no doubt need to batten down the political hatches once more.”
Matthew is the CSS’s energy expert; he used to work in the City of London, advising on energy markets and political risk.
