Boy aged just 13 is set to become a father
A 13-year-old boy is set to become one of the country’s youngest fathers after his 14-year-old girlfriend became pregnant.
The two children, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, attend the same school.
But the girl, who is several months pregnant, is in the year above the boy.
It is the latest in a history of under-age pregnancies [...]
Talking to your child about sex and teenage pregnancy
Talking to children about sex
Talking about sex to your child doesn’t mean you are encouraging them to have sex. The best way to start talking about sex is to:
start when your child is young, as waiting before your child reaches puberty can make it awkward
make talking about sex a part of everyday life, not just [...]
Casting a net far into the future
Debates surrounding sustainable fishing are often framed in terms of how initiatives do or do not benefit the seafood industry, or fishermen themselves. In this week’s Green Room, Phil MacMullen argues that these distinctions are far less important than the goal of sustaining the ocean ecosystem and the bounties it provides.
Fishermen have been an [...]
Earthly treasures: The Prix Pictet photography award
THE prestigious Prix Pictet was inaugurated two years ago to honour outstanding photography that conveys important messages about global environmental issues. Last year’s theme was water; this year it is earth, and the work of the 12 shortlisted photographers is showcased in the book Earth, published next month by teNeues (£45), with a foreword by [...]
Australia to expand asylum centre
Australia has been struggling to cope with a surge in asylum seekers
The Australian government has announced plans to significantly expand a detention centre on Christmas Island to cope with the influx of asylum seekers.
The capacity will be increased to more than 2000 beds from the original level of 1200.
The government said it was [...]
“Where’s the Beef?” Will Meat Lose Global Favor?
Summary
The production of meats is responsible for 18% of man made green house gas emissions and 25% of man made methane emissions. No wonder there is talk that eating beef is not very green. WIll sustainable farming and green consumers move away from meats and towards a vegetarian diet?
Analysis
Meat free Mondays is already being pushed [...]
Cap immigration call by MP
THE projected population rise to over 70 million is dangerously unsustainable and would equate to an extra 15,000 people on the Isle of Wight, Island MP Andrew Turner has said.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) projects the population will reach such a level by 2029.
Mr Turner said: “There is simply not the capacity or resources [...]
Multiyear Arctic ice is effectively gone
The multiyear ice covering the Arctic Ocean has effectively vanished, a startling development that will make it easier to open up polar shipping routes, an Arctic expert said on Thursday.
Vast sheets of impenetrable multiyear ice, which can reach up to 80 meters (260 feet) thick, have for centuries blocked the path of ships seeking a [...]
Climate change will devastate Africa
One of the main water sources outside Moyale in Kenya runs dry. Photograph: Sarah Elliott/EPA
One of the world’s most influential scientists has warned that climate change could devastate Africa, predicting an increase in catastrophic food shortages.
Professor Sir Gordon Conway, the outgoing chief scientist at the UK’s Department for International Development, and former head of the [...]
Tuna ban ‘justified’ by science
The bluefin is highly prized for many dishes, notably sushi
Banning trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna is justified by the extent of their decline, an analysis by scientists advising fisheries regulators suggests.
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas’ (ICCAT) advisers said stocks are probably less than 15% of their original size.
More here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8331113.stm
Lawmakers Commit to Women’s Health and Rights by 2015
Legislators and ministers from 115 countries today reaffirmed their commitment to the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action, noting its indispensable role in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
In observing the 15th year since the ICPD, more than 400 global lawmakers converged at the 4th International Parliamentarians Conference on the [...]
Climate change threatens Australia’s coastal lifestyle
Beach culture is as much part of the Australian identity as the bush and barbecues, but that could have to change according to a government report that raises the unsettling prospect of banning its citizens from coastal regions at risk of rising seas.
The report, from a parliamentary climate change committee, said that AUS$150bn (£84bn) worth [...]
Melting Kyrgyz glaciers pose threat
By Martin Vennard
BBC News, Adigene glacier
Geologist Bakutbek Ermenbaev points up through the pine trees at the glacier above us in Kyrgyzstan’s Alatau mountains.
“That one - called Adigene - has decreased in size by about 20% over the last 50 years,” he says.
He adds that a neighbouring glacier, Aksai, has disappeared completely.
Mr Ermenbaev, who [...]
Kenya: Practical Measures Needed on Teen Sexual Education
Kenyan teenagers are having sex. And they appear to have no clue how to go about it.
A report by the Nairobi-based Centre for the Study of Adolescents (CSA) reports that 40 percent of girls and 50 percent of boys reported having had sex before their 19th birthday, a significant minority reported having sex with more [...]
Huge Unmet Need for Contraception in Uganda, Highest in Africa
Uganda has the highest rate of unmet need for contraception in Africa, reports the Guardian UK, denying women the ability to avoid unintended pregnancy and to choose the number and timing of children they bear.
“Limited access to family planning services, fears about side effects, opposition from partners and religious beliefs have led to Uganda having [...]
Increase use of remediated land could accommodate UK population growth
Brown field sites previously judged to be too contaminated could be brought back into use if the predicted rise in the UK population from 61m to 71.6m by 2033 is to be accommodated, according to The Concrete Centre.
Currently, brown field sites account for 70 per cent of new homes. This figure will have to increase [...]
Switch to longer-lasting contraception
MORE women are turning to longer-acting methods of contraception, such as the coil, implants, or injections.
The take-up for such methods increased from 40.6 per 1,000 women aged 15-49 in 2008 to 59.1 this year, figures show. The proportion has increased in all health board areas.
Meanwhile, research from the NHS in Scotland shows a long-term [...]
EEA draws the first map of Europe’s noise exposure
The NOISE (Noise Observation and Information Service for Europe) database provides, at the click of a mouse, a picture of the numbers of people exposed to noise generated by air, rail and road traffic across Europe and in 102 large urban agglomerations.
Noise is ubiquitous but its role as a key form of pollution with serious [...]
Population Decisions – Part I: Who Should Decide?
By
Fred Westmark
The basic questions of overpopulation are: Who? What? Why? How? The decisions made about overpopulation today will have a profound effect on the future of the Earth, Thousands of years hence, if humans survive, the decisions made at the present time will affect the quality of human existence, if any.
The central [...]
Is the pill harmful?
“One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small.” For anyone who has ever struggled to find the right brand of oral contraceptive, the words to the psychedelic anthem will have particular resonance. Weight gain — and sometimes weight loss — not to mention fluctuating levels of self-esteem, [...]
Carey rejects BNP Christian claim
Nick Griffin is complaining he had faced a ‘lynch mob’ on Question Time
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey has urged Christians to “stand shoulder to shoulder” in rejecting the British National Party.
He told the News of the World the party’s leader was a “squalid racist”.
It was “chilling” to hear Nick Griffin claim to [...]
International Day of Climate Action
Dear World—This is an invitation to build a movement—to take one day and use it to stop the climate crisis.
We are a group of people from around the planet—young and old, scientists and writers and activists—who have one thing in common. We know the most important number on earth: 350. And we know how to [...]
Spanish wetland facing destruction as farming starves it of water
Workers near a smoke plumefrom an underground fire in Las Tablas de Daimiel national park in Ciudad Real, Spain. Photograph: Mariano Cieza/EPA
The EU has begun an investigation into a unique Spanish wetland park that is being devastated by underground fires.
Local officials have admitted that mismanaged water resources at the Tablas de Daimiel national park may [...]
Calls for a fairer asylum system
Both refugee councils want to see ‘fairer’ asylum laws
The Scottish and British Refugee Councils are uniting in Glasgow to demand immediate changes to the UK asylum system.
They are expected to call for a ‘fair and just asylum system’ at the Scottish Refugee Council’s annual conference.
The meeting will also look at the future of [...]
Endangered species for every country in the world
Humans have accelerated the rate at which species disappear. Find out which countries fare worst
International conservation projects help to preserve the habitats of species like the red-eyed tree frog. Photograph: Rick Sammon/AP
Although animal extinction is part of the natural cycle, humankind’s presence on the earth has accelerated the rate at which species are disappearing.
The list [...]
The noughties: a decade of lost species
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/oct/21/decade-lost-species
Leeds ‘needs better sex education’
Sex education in schools in Leeds has not been made a big enough priority, according to the city council’s health scrutiny board.
The watchdog said that some teenage girls in the city thought getting pregnant was their “best hope” in life, because they had not received enough education.
The council is investigating how to improve public health [...]
Poor may need to curb CO2 by 15 percent: U.N.
Developing nations may need to slow projected growth in their carbon emissions by 15 percent by 2020 if rich countries agree to reduce theirs by up to 40 percent for a new global deal, a top U.N. official said on Thursday.
Negotiations for a global deal to fight climate change, to be agreed in Copenhagen in [...]
Adopt green tech by 2014 to avert climate calamity
GREEN technologies can prevent catastrophic climate change, but only if we commit to them by 2014. Miss the deadline and we risk runaway global warming and economic meltdown.
That’s the conclusion of a report published this week by the environment group WWF, which says green technologies will have to grow by 22 per cent each year [...]
Government launches map to highlight global warming threat
A nightmare in the not-very-distant future: the map below shows the enormous temperature rises which British scientists believe the planet may be experiencing in as a little as 50 years from now if global warming remains unchecked.
Released by the Government today, it illustrates a rise in [...]
Prepare for climate change, U.S. report warns W.House
As Congress considers curbs on carbon dioxide pollution, a U.S. report on Thursday urged the White House to prepare now for flooding and other natural disasters brought by global warming.
Federal agencies, working with Congress, state and local governments, should “develop a national strategic plan that will guide the nation’s efforts to adapt to a changing [...]
Exploring the evidence on strategies to reduce teenage pregnancy rates
Despite more than £200m being spent on the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, there has been little discernible impact on conception rates, at least at a national level. Although disappointing, these results should not be surprising.
The evidence that direct interventions such as improved school sex education and confidential access to family planning services help to lower teenage [...]
Immigration to drive huge rise in Wales’ population
WALES’ population is set to increase by 12% by 2033 it was disclosed yesterday – the equivalent of a city bigger than Cardiff.
In just 24 years, the country’s population will increase by 350,000 – hitting 3.35m million in 2033, the Office for National Statistics said.
But although more births than deaths are predicted throughout the period, [...]
Hydropower industry braces for glacier-free future
Switzerland (Reuters) - Standing on the glacier at the source of the Rhone river, glaciologist Andreas Bauder poses next to a 3-meter high pole sticking out of the ice, and gestures above his head.
“This is about the melt of one month,” he says, as fellow scientists drill into the ice. “I’m about two meters tall.”
From [...]
We will be billions of dollars poorer when coral dies
The world’s coral reefs save us $172 billion every year, but they’re on the brink of collapse (PDF) because of political inertia, an ecological economist has told the global Diversitas biodiversity conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
The claim was made by Pavan Sukhdev, an economist based at United Nations Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre [...]
Immigrant population has increased by more than two million in eight years
Immigrants have almost doubled under Labour
The number of immigrants in the UK has increased by more than two million in the last eight years, says a Government sponsored report – that is nearly 700 a day - entirely consistent with the figure predicted by think tank Migrationwatch in 2002 which at the time was vilified [...]
Water set to be ‘next carbon’
Water could be the next natural resource that companies will need to account for and manage the use of, as the impact of water scarcity tightens regulation and raises the cost of supply.
According to a recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers on the impact of water scarcity, this is an issue business must start tackling now, ahead [...]
Science to ’stop age clock at 50′
Centenarians with the bodies of 50-year-olds will one day be a realistic possibility, say scientists.
Half of babies now born in the UK will reach 100, thanks to higher living standards, but our bodies are wearing out at the same rate.
To achieve “50 active years after 50″, experts at Leeds University are spending £50m over five [...]
UK population ‘to rise to 71.6m’
The population of the UK will rise from 61m to 71.6m by 2033 if current trends in growth continue, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.
Just over two-thirds of the increase is likely to be related directly or indirectly to migration to the UK.
If the projected increase materialises, the population will have grown at [...]
UK population increase “out of control”
OPT comment on new population projections
The latest population projections for the UK show that population growth is out of control and highlight the urgent need for a national population policy, the Optimum Population Trust said today (Wednesday, October 21).
The figures, published by the Office for National Statistics, show the UK population growing by over [...]
Public ‘misled’ over emissions statistics
Ministers have misled the public about Britain’s reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions, the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) said today.
The authority’s chairman, Sir Michael Scholar, said the presentation of the most recent carbon dioxide data by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was “unsatisfactory” and that changes should be made in the way [...]
Condoms catch up with the Pill as most popular birth control method for younger women: survey
For young women, condoms are now as popular as the birth control pill, according to a new survey in the UK.
Britain’s Office for National Statistics revealed 25% of women under the age of 50 last year use condoms for birth control while the same amount use the pill, reports the Daily Mail. This is the [...]
Uncharted Waters
One of the biggest IPO stories of the year has been China-based water-treatment-equipment company Duoyuan Global Water Inc., whose shares have nearly doubled since a heavily oversubscribed and highly successful debut in New York on June 24.
The success of Duoyuan reflects a growing desire among global investors to hold specialized commodities, in particular a commodity [...]
‘No record’ of 40,000 immigrants
The UK Border Agency is looking at thousands of case files
Up to 40,000 immigrants who should have left Britain more than sx years ago could still be in Britain, the Home Office has said.
In a letter to MPs, it revealed there was “no formal record” of the people, who were refused permission to [...]
UK’s Brown issues stark warning
A grim apocalyptic vision of floods, droughts and killer heat waves has been conjured by the catastrophic flooding in Metro Manila, Central and Northern Luzon in the wake of Typhoons “Ondoy” and “Pepeng.”
At the Major Economies Forum in London, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a warning last Monday that the world has less than [...]
Impact of climate change on Nenet tribespeople of Siberia
One of the world’s last great wildernesses, the Yamal peninsula in Arctic Russia is under heavy strain from global warming. Scientists say there is unmistakable evidence that Yamal’s ancient permafrost is melting, which could catastrophically release billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide and the potent greenhouse gas methane, which were previously trapped in frozen soil. [...]
World must use GM crops, says UK science academy
The world needs genetically modified crops both to increase food yields and minimize the environmental impact of farming, Britain’s top science academy said on Wednesday.
The Royal Society said in a report the world faced a “grand challenge” to feed another 2.3 billion people by 2050 and at the same time limit the environmental impact of [...]
UN calls for action and investment to eradicate global poverty
Conflict, chronic poverty and high food prices threaten children’s well-being in the eastern DRC
17 October 2009 – The United Nations today marked the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declaring that the fight against a scourge that afflicts over a billion people around the world is at a critical juncture.
“At [...]
Green spaces ‘improve health’
The best health benefits come from living less than a kilometre (0.62miles) from a green space
There is more evidence that living near a ‘green space’ has health benefits.
Research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health says the impact is particularly noticeable in reducing rates of mental ill health.
The annual rates of [...]
Feed the world
The End of Food: The Coming Crisis in the World Food Industry
By Paul Roberts
Bloomsbury £12.99, 390 pages
FT Bookshop price: £11.99
The Food Wars
By Walden Bello
Verso £7.99, 186 pages
FT Bookshop price: £6.39
The Constant Economy: How to Create a Stable Society
By Zac Goldsmith
Atlantic £16.99, 200 pages
FT Bookshop price: £13.59
The Environmental Food Crisis: The Environment’s Role in Averting Future [...]
Australia: Unwanted teen sex tied to binge drinking
An explosion in binge drinking among high school girls is driving an increase in unwanted teen sex, a nationwide survey, which will be outlined in Brisbane today, says.
A massive 60 per cent of year 12 girls – and nearly one in three year 10 females – admitted to binge drinking three or more times in [...]
World Food Day - Achieving food security in times of crisis
At a time when the global economic crisis dominates the news, the world needs to be reminded that not everyone works in offices and factories. The crisis is stalking the small-scale farms and rural areas of the world, where 70 percent of the world’s hungry live and work.
With an estimated increase of 105 million hungry [...]
Massive African lake could dry up, U.N. agency says
Up to 30 million people are facing “a humanitarian disaster” as one of Africa’s biggest lakes shrinks, a United Nations agency warned Thursday.
Porters remove goods from a boat on Lake Chad in 2007.
Lake Chad was about the size of Maryland — bigger than Israel or Kuwait — in 1963, satellite images show. [...]
Greener Grass
By Fred Westmark
There is an old saying: “The grass is always greener on the other side.”
The story of humans is the story of looking for greener pastures. Throughout history and prehistory, humans have left one place and travelled to another. Migration has been forced by overpopulation and depletion of resources and wanderlust.
Even today [...]
Economic crisis exposes fragile global food system, new UN report says
The economic turmoil sweeping the globe has lead to a sharp spike in hunger affecting the world’s poorest, uncovering a fragile global food system requiring urgent reform, according to a report issued today by two United Nations agencies.The combination of the food and economic crises have pushed more people into hunger, with the number of [...]
Sex for food in Nyeri slums
Nyeri may be considered the land of plenty, but in these times of famine, that label means nothing in Witemere slums, where girls trade their bodies for food.
The slum on the banks of River Chania is barely two kilometres from Muringato, which was recently in the news for all the wrong reasons - hungry villagers [...]
Teenage sex study shock for parents
Girls as young as 12 are selling their bodies for petty things such as mobile phone airtime, chips and even sanitary pads.
And many are opting not to use protection, even though they are fully aware of the dangers of unsafe sex.
They are also sleeping with different partners: Some admitted having as many as six sexual [...]
UN chief renews call for women’s equality
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon marked the 15th anniversary of a “watershed” U.N. conference that called for women’s equality by urging all countries Monday to renew their commitment to educate girls, end sexual violence, and provide access to modern birth control.
Speaking at the General Assembly’s commemoration of the 1994 U.N. population conference, the U.N. chief hailed the [...]
Noise pollution threatens animals
Owls must hear to hunt
Noise pollution is becoming a major threat to the welfare of wildlife, according to a scientific review.
Sounds produced by vehicles, oil and gas fields and urban sprawl interfere with the way animals communicate, mate and prey on one another.
The sounds are becoming so ubiquitous that they may threaten biodiversity, say the [...]
Stolen youth of SA’s child brides
At the age of 14, Nolizwi Sinama set off from her aunt’s home to a neighbouring village. She thought she had been sent on a routine chore. In fact, she was on her way to be married to a 42-year-old man.
Her aunt and brother had arranged the marriage, taking three cows as a bride price, [...]
Bans ‘do not cut abortion rate’
Most safe abortions are carried out using vacuum aspiration
Restricting the availability of legal abortion does not appear to reduce the number of women trying to end unwanted pregnancies, a major report suggests.
The Guttmacher Institute’s survey found abortion occurs at roughly equal rates in regions where it is legal and regions where it is [...]
China urges greater int’l co-op on population development
Zhang Yesui, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, speaks at the UN General Assembly’s plenary session to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) at UN headquarters in New York, Oct. 12, 2009. Zhang on Monday called on the international community to intensify cooperation in the field of [...]
Conservation targets too low to save at-risk species
Conservation biologists may be deluding themselves. An analysis of the minimum number of individuals needed for a species to survive in the long term has found that current conservation practices underestimate the risk of extinction by not fully allowing for the dangers posed by the loss of genetic diversity. If correct, it means the number [...]
Men commit wide-scale sexual crimes with impunity in conflict zones, says UN
The rampant and brutal abuse of women in war zones continues unchecked, the chair of a United Nations committee said today, urging all nations to ratify the international Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).“Violence against women in the context of armed conflict is widespread and largely unpunished,” Naéla Gabr, [...]
Drought: Kenya’s own banking crisis
The drought which has hit East Africa is wreaking havoc among the region’s pastoralists. Their herds of livestock have been decimated. Even the hardy camels are dying.
When they are slaughtering camels it is like throwing away the pension
Kephas Indangasi
Vets Without Borders
Turkana district in north-west Kenya is a harsh environment at the best of [...]
Sexual health focus of council TV
Sexual health will be a major storyline of a Hollyoaks-style internet television channel soap opera to be launched by Kent County Council.
Penned by EastEnders writer Julie Wassmer, the series is set to go live on October 14, has cost over £20,000 to make over four months and centres on a student’s internet dating.
The £1.2 million, [...]
Boosting agricultural productivity key to feeding growing population – UN
Governments must ensure that agriculture becomes more productive if it is to feed a growing world population expected to reach nearly 9.2 billion people by 2050 as well as respond to the environmental challenges ahead, a senior United Nations official said today.Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), told a meeting [...]
Lack of Mid-East peace deepens water crisis
Parched fields and abandoned villages of Hasake province
By Natalia Antelava
BBC News, Beruit
For the last two years Iraq, Syria, Jordan and parts of Turkey and Lebanon, have suffered from the devastating effects of the worst drought that the Middle East has experienced in decades.
In addition to human suffering, the [...]
Himalayan sherpas bugged by the sight of house flies at 5,000m
Earlier this year Dawa Steven Sherpa was resting at Everest base camp when he and his companions heard something buzzing. “What the heck is that?” asked the young Nepali climber. They searched and found a big black house fly, something unimaginable just a few years ago when no insect could have survived at 5,360 metres.
“It’s [...]
Kashmir’s main glacier “melting at alarming speed”
ndian Kashmir’s biggest glacier, which feeds the region’s main river, is melting faster than other Himalayas glaciers, threatening the water supply of tens of thousands of people, a new report warned on Monday.
Experts say rising temperatures are rapidly shrinking Himalayan glaciers, underscoring the effects of climate change that has caused temperatures in the mountainous region [...]
Madagascar biodiversity under threat as gangs run wild
Roasted lemurs and criminal gangs exporting precious hardwood: this is the sad state of affairs for Madagascar’s legendary biodiversity. Since a military coup forced the president to resign in March, conservationists and biologists have watched as loggers have stripped the country’s forests and killed its animals for bushmeat.
Much of the foreign aid to Madagascar has [...]
Value of UK farmland could double in five years
The surge in pricing is set to be driven by a shortage of quality farmland as the global population expands and demand for food increases.
These factors have already helped farmland avoid the worst effects of the financial crisis. Despite the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, before [...]
UK climate body urges govt to step up emissions cuts
Britain needs to accelerate its strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions to have any hope of meeting its carbon reduction commitments, Britain’s chief climate change adviser said Monday.
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which advises the British government on cutting emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, said the recession exaggerated its progress [...]
London Councils warns UK government transient migrants must be counted
Councils are losing out on million of pounds in funding because the government does not include short-term migrants in their grant calculations, London Councils warned today.
The warning comes after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released estimates for the number of short-term migrants found in each local authority.
The figures show that, of the estimated flow [...]
Freshwater species suffer most as extinctions rise
Creatures and plants living in rivers and lakes are the most threatened on Earth because their ecosystems are collapsing, scientists said on Sunday.
They urged the creation of a new partnership between governments and scientists to help stem extinctions caused by humans via pollution, a spread of cities and expanding farms to feed a rising population, [...]
Australia’s population to boom by 2049: government
Australia’s population will explode by almost two-thirds in the next 40 years, posing an economic threat to the nation that is as serious as climate change, the treasury minister warned on Friday.
Wayne Swan said that as the country’s average age grows, government spending will have to pick up, leading to lower real GDP per person.
He [...]
Ban on ‘barbaric’ shark finning
Shark fins are prized in Asia for use in soup
A complete ban on the “barbaric” practice of shark fin removal is to come into force in Scotland within weeks, it has been announced.
Special permits have been needed for the practice since 2004 but Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said the ban would now [...]
Suffragette march marks centenary
The parade re-enacted the march in Edinburgh 100 years ago
About 2,500 people have taken part in a parade in Edinburgh marking a key suffragette demonstration which took place 100 years ago.
Participants carried banners and dressed in historic costumes in Saturday’s re-enactment of the original march in the capital in 1909.
The movement was a [...]
Obama to end military gay policy
Obama: “I will end ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’”
US President Barack Obama has said he will end the ban on gay people serving openly in the military.
He said he would repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that allows gay people to serve in the military if they do not reveal their [...]
‘Scary’ climate message from past
Environment correspondent, BBC News website
Data came from samples brought up by the drilling ship Joides Resolution
A new historical record of carbon dioxide levels suggests current political targets on climate may be “playing with fire”, scientists say.
Researchers used ocean sediments to plot CO2 levels back 20 million years.
Levels similar to those now [...]
Russian climate goal weak as “methane bomb” ticks
The snows are late in coming on the Arctic Yamal peninsula where moist, dark permafrost entombed for 10,000 years crumbles into the sea at the top of the world.
Western scientists and environmentalists say collapsed river banks, rising tide waters and warmer winters in northwest Russia are clear signs of climate change, but they add Russia [...]
Tropics face fish famine due to climate change
Fisherman off Rodrigues island, Mauritius. Many people in poorer nations depend on fish for their livelihoods. ‘Income-wise and consumption-wise they are affected directly by the decline in catch,’ the report warns. Photograph: Marc Dozier/Hemis/Corbis
Fish populations in the tropics could fall by as much as 40% over the next half century because of global warming, jeopardising [...]
Why the ‘peak oil’ debate is irrelevant
The debate over exactly when we will reach “peak oil” is irrelevant. No matter what new oil fields we discover, global oil production will start declining in 2030 at the very latest.
That’s the conclusion of the most comprehensive report to date on global oil production, published on 7 October by the UK Energy Research Centre.
The [...]
Conservative Party Conference
Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migrationwatch, in a press release, said that:
It is welcome news that immigration will be a “big priority” for a Conservative Home Office, as Chris Grayling put it. The key will be how the Conservatives annual limit is defined and whether it will be low enough to hold the population of [...]
Millions of pensioners will go cold as energy prices soar
Five million people will avoid switching on their heating to keep warm this winter as they struggle to afford higher fuel bills, according to new research.
Polling of pensioners by the charity Age Concern found that 38 per cent were cutting back on gas and 41 per cent on electricity this year because of fears that [...]
Warning over global oil ‘decline’
The report warns the situation will be “extremely challenging”
There is a “significant risk” that global production of conventional oil could “peak” and decline by 2020, a report has warned.
The UK Energy Research Council study says there is a general consensus that the era of cheap oil is at an end.
But it warns [...]
Climate pledges so far are nowhere near enough
With just 60 days left before world leaders meet in Copenhagen to thrash out a new global climate deal, how do the chips that are on the table tally up? Not very well.
According to the latest estimate of the carbon cuts offered by rich nations, the pledges fall well short of the reductions that climate [...]
Crisis for the world’s amphibians
It is a time of crisis for the world’s amphibians, says Helen Meredith. In this week’s Green Room she says we may be facing our last chance to save this important group of animals.
They consume huge quantities of invertebrates, including humanity’s most vilified pests and their crucial role in global ecosystems helps maintain healthy [...]
Exhibition celebrates 40 years of women’s liberation
An exhibition to mark 40 years of the Women’s Liberation Movement in Britain will launch on Thursday at London Metropolitan University.
Ms Understood: Women’s Liberation In 1970s Britain celebrates the 40th anniversary of the country’s first national Women’s Liberation Conference at Ruskin College, Oxford, where 500 women came together and lay the foundation for the movement’s [...]
Government launches environmental migration study
The Government Office for Science has started its latest Foresight project examining how future environmental change could affect human migration in the long term around the world.
A growing, urbanising global population over the next 50 years will create demand for more food, energy and water. Many modern ‘megacities’ are located in coastal areas or river [...]
More Than 1 Million Babies Worldwide Born Prematurely Die In First Month
Each year more than 1 million babies born prematurely die within the first month of life - the ‘March of Dimes’ said in the first comprehensive global report on premature births. Nearly 10 percent of total births worldwide, or 12.9 million infants, are preterm, the study found.
The problem is concentrated in poor countries, with the vast majority [...]
Tories want ‘best’ migrants in UK
Damian Green says the UK is lucky to have ‘got away’ with mass migration
The Conservatives would launch a drive to get more highly qualified migrants to come to the UK, shadow minister Damian Green has said.
The party would keep the government’s points based migration system but place an overall annual limit on numbers.
It [...]
United Kingdom: A Reluctant Country Of Immigration
mmigration to the United Kingdom in the 21st century is larger and more diverse than at any point in its history. As the global recession bites, early evidence shows a reduction in the numbers of immigrants coming to work. However, fundamental dynamics indicate sustained net immigration is here to stay.
Although the United Kingdom has received [...]
Is the new baby boom a good thing?
Britain’s birth rate has overturned recent decades’ fertility trends and is now at the highest since the 1970s. Should we be popping the champagne?
Is the new baby boom a good thing?
25% yes - we need more young ‘uns to pay for our pensions
75% no - the planet can’t sustain more mouths to feed
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/poll/2009/aug/28/population
Nitrogen fertiliser - the downside
The population of the Earth has always gone up in line with our ability to provide sufficient food and it could be argued that the population explosion of the last 60 years has been possible in large part because of artificial nitrogen fertilizer.
Good crop growth depends on sufficient soil nitrogen, and in the past farmers spread [...]
Is London Heading For a Water Crunch?
Water recovery and re-use technology could become a key risk management tool for London’s businesses as changing weather patterns, population growth and evolving regulation increase the potential for UK plc to face a future ‘water crunch’.
The warning comes from sustainability experts Envirowise and follows research which found that 70% of sustainability specialists consider the threat [...]
UN Habitat Agency Says Half of World Population Lives in Cities
The U.N. Habitat agency says more than half of the world’s population lives in cities and that figure is expected to rise to more than 67 percent or around five billion people by the year 2030. The agency says more than 90 percent of the increase in urbanization will take place in developing countries, in [...]
Big population – big business
By
Fred Westmark
Books on business talk about the reason businesses exist – to make a profit. The function of profit is to provide money for investment in the business to grow the business plus give investors a return for their money.
The equation to make a profit is easy. Sales minus cost equal profit. The key for [...]
Fighting the ‘contraceptive mentality’
James McDonald introduces his ‘Quiverfull’ family
Families with more than 10 children are becoming the norm among a group of traditionalist US Christians. The so-called Quiverfull families believe they are carrying out God’s work, and providing a new generation of moral leaders. The BBC’s religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott went to Illinois to meet some of [...]
Egypt oasis risks becoming mirage
The vast but remote Siwa Oasis has been known since ancient times
By Christian Fraser
Siwa Oasis, Egypt
Legend has it that Alexander the Great spent nine days searching for the miracle of Siwa.
Four days into the journey his men had run out of water. By the time they eventually stumbled across [...]