Number games: 2 degrees Celsius, 2050 and the G8. But does it all add up?
G8 leaders have come out with a land mark climate change agreement on the back of meetings in L’Aquila in Italy (read the full communiqué here). Is this good news? In a word, yes. Is it jump for joy and do an embarrassing dance kinda news? In another word, no. Why? Well, the answer lies...
Actuality / Climate & Energy / Developing Countries / Earth & Environment / Globalization & Global Culture / Human Rights / Photography & journalism / Politics & International Relations / Society / Sustainable Development / World
HOME: It’s Too Late To Be A Pessimist
‘If we can improve the images of the world, perhaps we can improve the world’ Wim Wenders Wim Wenders’ words have perhaps never been more relevant to a movie than in the case of Home. Following directly on from Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, Home is, of course, a film with a message that sets...
60 Years
Today marks the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Some places you should definitely take a look: Official UN website Know Your Human Rights Amnesty International Opendemocracy | Human Rights at 60: early retirement or another chance? International Herald Tribune; China hails ‘progress’ but quells protest on human rights anniversary Right Now (Dutch...
Climate & Energy / Earth & Environment / Globalization & Global Culture / Politics & International Relations / Sustainable Development / Youth
Two degrees of separation between hope and despair
A young people’s summary of the United Nations Human Development Report 2007/2008 The young people of the world have produced a Youth Booklet that includes drawings, poems and human stories on climate change and development, entirely made by and for young people! The booklet has been developed by Peace Child International jointly with HDRO, and launched on Youth...
Actuality / Climate & Energy / Earth & Environment / Globalization & Global Culture / Sustainable Development / War & Terrorism / World
The final countdown
Usually I’m quite an optimist when talking about future-related trends, how to act on climate change etc. But this article in The Guardian struck me quite a lot… Time is fast running out to stop irreversible climate change, a group of global warming experts warns today. We have only 100 months to avoid disaster. Andrew...
Could Globalization Be Going In Reverse?
For the last three decades, it’s been more or less assumed that globalization was a force that moved in only one direction — towards ever-greater integration. And due to the logic of global trade, the assumption of ever greater integration led to the prediction that manufacturing would continue to move from countries with low labor...
Actuality / Architecture / Asia / Developing Countries / Globalization & Global Culture / Politics & International Relations / Society / World
080808: Let the Games Beijng
The Biggest and probably most controversial games in history. It’s a big day for China today. With its opening ceremony of the Beijng Olympics, it hopes to definitely settle its desired image of superpower in a world of shifting power, scarce resources, diverging trends of democracy and varying definitions of human rights. While several world...
The true spirit of young people
- By Sandra van Beest, Youth Representative to the United Nations, 2007-2008. As youth representative of the Netherlands I have had the opportunity to represent Dutch young people at the United Nations. Through writing proposals for UN resolutions, negotiating to get the proposals in the UN Resolutions and through addressing the General Assembly, I hope...
2008 most liveable cities
The Monocle Global Quality of Life Index may one day graduate to adopt a scientific methodology that considers a larger spectrum of cities around the world, but I’m happy to settle for their current coverage and play the my-city-is-better-than-yours game, using the tidbits of quick facts they’ve compiled. For those who don’t buy the magazine...
Climate & Energy / Developing Countries / Globalization & Global Culture / Politics & International Relations / War & Terrorism / World
World Refugee Day: Displacement in the 21st Century. A new paradigm
The refugee challenge in the 21st century is changing rapidly. People are forced to flee their homes for increasingly complicated and interlinked reasons. Some 40 million people worldwide are already uprooted by violence and persecution, and it is likely that the future will see more people on the run as a growing number of push...
The One Flag
Adbusters invite everybody to create a flag – free from language and well-worn clichés – that embodies the idea of global citizenship. A symbol that triggers pride and cohesion, whether worn on a backpack, displayed on a door, or flown on a flagpole. A symbol for anyone to declare membership in a growing and vital...
How to save the world
Harvard prodigy Jeffrey Sachs helped take capitalism to Russia. Now he’s tackling Africa and climate change, he tells Ed Pilkington, and ‘negativism’ is all that stands in his way. An interesting interview with a notable person, about his renewed view towards the world and his new publication Common Wealth. Read more at The Guardian… Related...
