Sharon Van Etten - Love More- adeus 2010...bem vindo 2011

Da série Big Question: Is Earth past the tipping point?

 Visita o projecto Planet Boundaries
Lê mais em Scientific American, Abril de 2010

Outra grande questão: Festim ou Fome?

Como vamos alimentar uma população em rápido crescimento sem destruir ainda mais o planeta?

Comunicação para 2011- década do IPod, IPad, Simplex, Cartão Cidadão, Via Verde, Edifícios Inteligentes, GPS, Facebook, NetBanking, Wikileaks

Onde e quando e como estabelecer as barreiras de privacidade? O que dizer dos hackers? Quais os limites concedidos à confidencialidade? Democracia da informação ou manipulação da mesma? Até que detalhe podemos informar o público em geral dos mapeamentos de espécies protegidas ou não? As tecnologias que estão em consumo são amigas do ambiente? E a relação tecnologias e emprego/regras de trabalho?

Ainda sobre o Ano Internacional da Biodiversidade: video

Plants, animals, even entire ecosystems are disappearing from the Earth. So what? In "What Is Nature Worth?", the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment offers a three-minute look at what biodiversity loss is really costing us -- and what we can do about it.

Música para a década 2011 - Joy Formidable - curiosamente intitulado "Austere" e mais algumas *gemas*

1. Joy Formidable teledisco. Publicado em 21 de Dezembro de 2010




2.Nero teledisco. Publicado em 21 de Dezembro de 2010




Lykke Li teledisco. Publicado em 15 de Novembro de 2010

4. Uma ideia-modelo da BBC4: Live @ Songwriters Circle. Destas sessões, escolhi a de 2 de Novembro de 2010 e com a intervenção de KT Tunstall - Still a Weirdo. Juntos podemos fazer melhor e partilhá-lo, tornando este viver com + sentido, sentindo +

Escolhas dos Leitores do Scientific American: Top 10 de 2010

Começam os balanços do ano e as reflexões de uma década que está a terminar. Eu elegi alguns temas: ambiente, ciência e artes, política,sociedade.
nesta postagem chamo a atenção para o Top 10 da prestigiada Scientific American.Todos têm possibilidades interactivas, mas saliento o primeiro e o oitavo artigo. Os artigos de Jesse Bering são habitualmente de grande nível.

1. "12 Events That Will Change Everything, Made Interactive," by the Editors and Zemi Media

2. "8 Wonders of the Solar System, Made Interactive," by Ed Bell

3. "Long Live the Web: A Call for Continued Open Standards and Neutrality," by Tim Berners-Lee

4. "Michelangelo's secret message in the Sistine Chapel: A juxtaposition of God and the human brain," by R. Douglas Fields

5. "Bering in Mind: Being suicidal: What it feels like to want to kill yourself," by Jesse Bering

6. "Electric Icarus: NASA Designs a One-Man Stealth Plane," by Charles Q. Choi

7. "Bering in Mind: One reason why humans are special and unique: We masturbate. A lot," by Jesse Bering

8. "How Much Is Left? The Limits of Earth's Resources, Made Interactive," by The Editors and Zemi Media

9. "Carbs against Cardio: More Evidence that Refined Carbohydrates, not Fats, Threaten the Heart," by Melinda Wenner Moyer

10. "169 Best Illusions—A Sampling," by The Editors

A biblioteca GM da Comissão Europeia (CE)

Para os que ainda não sabe da sua existência, podem consultar aqui os estudos sobre OGM que a CE conhece.

Retarded Cop - Copvan

Uma boa punkalhada acaba por saber sempre bem!! Depois de ter postado isto e isto.

Notícias frescas da Índia e China: será que queremos mesmo estes modelos económicos a seguir?

Coal wars: India outbids the Aussies

Workers at Riversdale Mining's Benga Project site, near the city of Tete in Mozambique. Photographer: Scott Douglas/Riversdale Mining Ltd. via Bloomberg

International Coal Ventures Ltd., an Indian state-run joint venture, is studying an offer for Riversdale Mining Ltd. to counter a A$3.9 billion ($3.9 billion) bid from Rio Tinto Group.
ICVL appointed Citigroup Inc. to examine a possible takeover offer for the Sydney-based coal company with mines in Mozambique, the venture’s chairman C.S. Verma said yesterday. London-based Rio yesterday bid A$16 a share for Riversdale, securing 14.9 percent of the company in pre-bid agreements.
Indian companies are seeking coal mines overseas to ensure raw material supplies for producing steel and electricity. Brazil’s Vale SA or Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. may make bids, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., as Tata Steel Ltd., Riversdale’s biggest holder, said it will study Rio’s offer “in the context of other alternatives” available to Tata.
Fonte: Bloomberg

And Now Presenting: Amazing Satellite Images Of The Ghost Cities Of China

 

64 million houses. EMPTY.

 

 

 

 

Click here to see the ghost towns >

Para onde foi o nosso dinheiro?

I don't know whats going on
Where has all my money gone?
One night in the pub and I'm on the skids
Cos I went and blew all of my lids

Nesta semana vou fazer uma série de "As Grandes Questões" para um futuro de esperança. Enquanto isso hoje apetece-me ouvir bom punk. "Porque será"?

Coldplay - One I Love

Feliz Eco-Natal * Holly Thorsby - Now I Love Someone

Noite de Paz

Sufjan Stevens . ❅ . O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Feliz Eco-Natal:: "se choras porque perdeste o sol, as lágrimas não te deixarão ver as estrelas" (1) :: Bach to Cuba

(1) Rabindranath Tagore,  Índia, [1861-1941], escritor

feliz Natal e a paz de John Lennon para todos!

 

 John Lennon morreu há 30 anos. A atitude dele nestas fotos diz tudo sobre a grandeza de carácter do malogrado John Lennon!

“Eu gosto disso (que os grevistas cantem 'Todos nós vivemos com pão e margarina' ao ritmo da canção Yellow Submarine). E gostava quando as claques  de futebol nos estádios cantavam All Together now (Todos juntos agora). Sinto muita alegria quando o movimento na América canta Give peace a chance (Dê uma chance para a paz) porque compus esta canção pensando nisso. A minha expectativa é que ao invés de cantar We shall overcome (Nós conquistaremos), do século XIX, tivéssemos algo mais contemporâneo. Senti uma obrigação de compor uma canção que pudesse ser cantada nos bares ou em manifestações. Por isso gosto de compor actualmente canções para a revolução”. 

Filme Lennon Naked
O canal inglês BBC4 encomendou a produção de "Lennon Naked", telefilme no qual será narrado em 90 minutos a vida de John Lennon entre os anos de 1967 e 1971. A história tem como foco os efeitos que tiveram em Lennon a morte do agente do grupo The Beatles, Brian Epstein, bem como o reencontro com seu pai, Alfred Lennon, também conhecido como Freddie; o fim de seu casamento com Cynthia Lennon e o encontro com Yoko Ono.

Christopher Eccleston, que interpretou o Doutor na 1ª temporada da atual fase da série "Doctor Who" será Lennon, enquanto que Naoko Mori, intérprete de Toshiko em "Torchwood", será sua esposa Yoko Ono.

Naoko Mori será Yoko Ono

Escrito por Robert Jones e dirigido por Edmund Coulthard, o telefilme também trará no elenco os atores Rory Kinnear, como Epstein, Claudie Blakley, de "Cranford", como Cynthia Lennon; Andrew Scott, de "John Adams", como Paul McCartney, entre outros.

Pai Natal, eu desejo...

Feliz Eco-Natal: a mesma origem: Bach to Africa

Feliz Eco-Natal: "é fácil apagar as pegadas, difícil, porém, é caminhar sem pisar o chão" (1) : longa canção e dança Al- Andalus (sefardita, judia, árabe, marroquina, cigana e flamengo)

(1) Lao-Tsé, China Antiga [570 a.C.- 490 a.C.]

Feliz Eco-Natal: "um só mundo" (1) : Oceania, arte e cultura do povo aborígene

(1)Peter Singer, Um Só Mundo - A ética da globalização [consultar ainda a postagem no BioTerra, 2008]

Feliz Eco-Natal:: o mesmo povo :: Hamza El Din - Mwasha

Uma outra versão aqui:

Como é que os Jornalistas ajudam a promover a guerra e o que pode ser feito para preveni-lo

… e o que pode ser feito para preveni-lo. A Guerra Que Não Se Vê é o novo filme de John Pilger relacionado com o papel dos media na promoção e limpeza das guerras contemporâneas. Entrevista por Daniel Trilling.

Artigo | 19 Dezembro, 2010 - 12:04

É certo que, como o Wikileaks tem demonstrado, a agenda da “corrente predominante” é cada vez mais conduzida pela rede global de Internet.

A Guerra Que Não Se Vê está relacionada com o papel dos media na promoção e limpeza das guerras contemporâneas. Por que motivo faz este filme neste preciso momento?
Há muitos anos que escrevo argumentos e realizo filmes acerca dos media e da guerra. Traduzir esta crítica para filme, especialmente o poder traiçoeiro das relações públicas, tem sido uma espécie de ambição. Peter Fincham assumiu há dois anos o cargo de director de programas da ITV e queria claramente restaurar parte de legado factual da ITV. Ele estava entusiasmado com a ideia; ele também sabia que o filme teria uma abordagem crítica à ITV. Não é algo muito comum.
Desde que eu fui pela primeira vez para o Vietman, enquanto um jovem repórter, tomei consciência dos rituais e influências ocultas e pressões dentro do jornalismo que determinam tanto as notícias quanto a qualidade das mesmas. O jornalismo de transmissão tem um misticismo poderoso; a BBC alega que é objectiva e imparcial na cobertura da maior parte dos assuntos, especialmente no respeitante à guerra. A pressão para acreditar e manter esta alegação é quase uma questão de fé. Para o público, a realidade é bastante diferente. A Universidade de Wales e a organização Media Tenor levaram a cabo dois estudos sobre a cobertura televisiva na preparação para a invasão do Iraque. Ambas defendem que a BBC seguiu predominantemente a linha governamental: que o seu relato reduziu as opiniões anti-guerra a uma curta percentagem. Entre os maiores emissores ocidentais, apenas a CBS, na América, tinha uma percentagem mais baixa. O público tem o direito de saber porquê.
Porque é que acha que os jornalistas que fizeram a cobertura da Guerra do Iraque – alguns dos quais são entrevistados por si neste filme – estão tão dispostos agora a admitir que não fizeram os seus trabalhos com devia ser? O que é que os impediu de tomar consciência disso naquela altura?
O ambiente mudou. Agora ninguém tem dúvidas que as razões para a invasão do Iraque eram fraudulentas, assim como o são as razões para invadir o Afeganistão, assim como eram as razões para invadir o Vietnam. Ainda assim, os jornalistas que contam no meu filme onde é que tudo – e eles – falhou são corajosos. Pedi a muitos outros para aparecerem, tais como Andrew Marr e Jeremy Paxman, e não me deram qualquer resposta. Efectivamente, quanto mais famoso o nome, maior a aparente falta de vontade em discutir o porquê, tal como Paxman disse a um grupo de estudantes, eles foram “ludibriados”.
Será que as fontes online independentes – sendo o Wikileaks o exemplo mais falado no momento – permitem que o público ultrapassem totalmente a barreira das empresas dos media?
Sim, mas lembre-se que a principal fonte de informação do público ainda é a televisão. Os programas de notícias da BBC têm uma enorme influência. É certo que, como o Wikileaks tem demonstrado, a agenda da “corrente predominante” é cada vez mais conduzida pela rede global de Internet. Para mim, enquanto jornalista, a Internet oferece as fontes mais interessantes e frequentemente mais fidedignas porque elas passam ao lado das tendências consensuais e de uma censura por omissão, que está impregnada nas transmissões.
Como se pode compreender, a sua atenção está voltada para o jornalismo de guerra. Porém, o filme também sugere que a nossa indústria do entretenimento tem um papel na disseminação da propaganda. Como é que isso pode ser prevenido?
Não existe uma máquina de propaganda como Hollywood. Como Ken Loach afirmou recentemente, a larga maioria dos filmes nos cinemas britânicos são americanos, ou britânicos com financiamento americano. Isto tem levado à apropriação tanto dos factos como da ficção: da própria arte. Edward Said descreve o efeito no seu livro Culture and Imperialism, defendendo que a penetração de uma cultura empresarial e imperialista é cada vez mais profunda nos nossos dias do que em qualquer outro período. Como é que combatemos isso? Apoiamos realizadores independentes e cinemas e distribuidores independentes. Começamos a pensar no jornalismo como um “quinto estado” no qual o público desempenha um papel e as organizações dos media são chamadas a prestar contas.
Mesmo quando a realidade mais difícil da Guerra é relatada com veracidade e exactidão, as audiências podem simplesmente escolher ignorá-la. Existem algumas técnicas específicas que leve a cabo na sua realização para evitar que tal aconteça?
Sem dúvida, a responsabilidade de persuadir e desafiar as pessoas, de estimular a sua imaginação, pertence-nos a nós, os realizadores e jornalistas. Culpar o público é uma confissão da nossa incapacidade. A minha experiência é que as pessoas responderão positivamente se estabelecermos uma ligação com as suas próprias vidas, ou tentarmos articular a forma como se preocupam com o mundo, as suas guerras e outros cataclismos. Se chamarmos poder ao facto de nos relacionarmos com os factos, obtemos a recompensa do apoio do público. Por outras palavras, quando as pessoas que se apercebem que somos os seus agentes, e não um agente de um bloco de pedra chamado “media”, ou de outros interesses poderosos, eles dão-nos o seu tempo e o seu interesse. É isso que faz com que o jornalismo seja um privilégio.

Video-poem´arte de Maria Azenha - Desde que a Luz se Fez Artificial

A nossa polis...as nossas cidades ...os sem abrigo, os sem papéis, os sem terra...e os sem saúde...o amor é exigente, mas é o (b)elo mais importante. Amei o teu vídeo, bem como toda a tua obra, minha Amiga. Beijos

Feliz Eco Natal

Inauguro uma série de postagens alusivas a esta semana, de Natal e que se aproxima. 
A mesma Terra, diferentes modos de a ver, diferentes filosofias e modos de estar, a mesma preocupação: a vida, a morte, o património para as próximas gerações, a educação, a saúde, a próxima refeição, o trabalho, o sexo, a amizade, a solidão...no fundo o mesmo povo, não é?

Feliz Eco- Natal

Fotógrafa do dia: Angela Vicedomini

Página Oficial

El amor consiste muy principalmente en hablar, y el declive de la conversación lo afecta profundamente. Hace falta lo que solo en algunas épocas existe: un lenguaje amoroso. El amor ha usado siempre –o casi siempre- la seducción por la palabra, principalmente por parte del hombre. La palabra lleva al descubrimiento de un mundo iluminado por el reflejo del amor, y esto suele ser un poderoso vehículo de su realización.

(Julián Marías: La mujer y su sombra, 1987)

Excerto retirado do belo blogue de Roger Michelena

Sufjan Stevens - The One I Love

Balmorhea - The winter

Reflexões soltas....
Uma Europa fustigada por nevões...o Inverno chegou muito antes de 21 de Dezembro. 
Sobre a Cimeira do México, uma calma e frustração geladas,  fruto de vários nevões e  ventos frios noutras cimeiras sobre alterações climáticas...

Alimentos saudáveis e solidários também para os mais frágeis

Comissão Europeia recebe cabaz cheio das promessas vazias dos transgénicos

Ontem pelas 10 da manhã, em frente à representação da Comissão Europeia (CE) em Lisboa, a Plataforma Transgénicos Fora e a Quercus distribuíram cabazes solidários para realçar o direito a uma alimentação saudável e entregaram igualmente um simulacro de prenda natalícia à CE composta por inúmeros "alimentos" transgénicos indesejáveis.

Está cientificamente estabelecida a relação entre pobreza e falta de saúde/longevidade,(1) pelo que o direito a escolher e comer o que é mais saudável torna-se particularmente crucial no caso de grupos vulneráveis da sociedade, como as crianças, os idosos e os mais desfavorecidos. A representar cada um destes estratos sociais associaram-se a esta acção pública a Associação Verdes Anos, uma escola de educação livre, a ANAI, Associação Nacional de Apoio ao Idoso, e a CASA - Centro de Apoio ao Sem Abrigo. As três entidades receberam cabazes de alimentos sustentáveis sem transgénicos, num gesto de reconhecimento da importância desta escolha.

A Comissão, por seu lado, recebeu os símbolos do falhanço da engenharia genética alimentar: alimentos que ninguém quer, sem uma rotulagem que permita escolha, com potencial intrínseco para contaminar a restante produção e, desta forma, tornar mais caro tudo o que não seja transgénico (devido aos complexos programas de monitorização e segregação necessários para evitar a poluição genética). No futuro, mantendo-se as tendências e regras actuais, cada vez menos pessoas poderão pagar para comer sem transgénicos. Ainda mais grave, os portugueses não estão sequer na posse de conhecimento que lhes permita fazer uma escolha informada: segundo o Eurobarómetro de 2010 Portugal é o país menos familiarizado com o assunto de todos os Estados Membros, apenas ultrapassado por Malta.(2)

Susana Fonseca, presidente da Quercus e porta voz desta acção, clarifica: "O direito a uma alimentação saudável é tão central ao nosso bem estar que faz parte da Declaração Universal dos Direitos do Homem. Ao aprovar transgénicos sobre os quais pendem pesadíssimas dúvidas de segurança, a Comissão sabe que põe em risco - de uma forma irresponsável - sobretudo aqueles que não conhecem ou não conseguem proteger-se. Mesmo a minoria da população que abrange os consumidores informados e com poder de compra fica impotente perante a falta de rotulagem. O sistema neste momento protege os interesses económicos que fomentam os transgénicos, em detrimento dos direitos dos consumidores."

Note-se que foram este mês entregues à Comissão Europeia em Bruxelas um milhão de assinaturas por uma moratória à introdução de transgénicos na União. Os europeus procuram alimentos realmente sustentáveis, de produção biológica, compatíveis com a protecção do ambiente e biodiversidade e ainda um elevado nível de saúde pública. Os transgénicos representam um grande e infeliz passo na direcção oposta.

Notas

1. Ver por exemplo artigo em Wolfson

2. Consultar pg. 84 do Eurobarómetro "Europeus e Biotecnologia em 2010 - Ventos de Mudança?" disponível em eurob2010

Mais fotos da acção aqui

Smog- I Break Horses

Livro da Semana: "Horizontes da Ética. Para uma Cidadania Responsável"

"Saiu, hoje, o livro que fiz. É uma publicação da Afrontamento, editora a que estou ligado há muitos anos.

Tem o título “Horizontes da ética – para uma cidadania responsável”. Procura ser uma incursão sobre diferentes concepções da ética e uma reflexão crítica sobre os problemas éticos que se colocam no mundo da vida e no contexto em que vivemos. A minha intenção é contribuir para uma cidadania mais responsável. Se conseguir isso ficarei muito feliz.

Tem uma introdução do professor Arnaldo de Pinho e um prefácio do Prof. Mota Cardoso. Além de serem bons amigos, deram uma óptima contribuição a este trabalho."

Fonte: Renascer!

Leitura da Semana: GE food and animals the year in review

by Lucy Sharratt

Quem é Lucy Sharratt?

Nominated for Best Peoples Defense[Captain Hook]

Nominated by E. Ann Clark (Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph, but I do not represent them) – Monday 06 February 2006

Reasons for this nomination

Subcategory - 'On a Shoestring'
Lucy Sharratt, who has worked for the Polaris Institute, the Quakers, the Council of Canadians and other NGOs, deserves to be recognized and affirmed for her personal and lifelong commitment to biojustice. What distinguishes her from many other deserving candidates is her ability to come up with imaginative approaches to reveal corporate encroachment and government dissembling, and to mobilize others to further expose the risks - and to drive her ideas to completion - always on a slender shoestring budget. She is a model to be emulated.

Supporting info

Map Your Corporate Campus is a particularly novel approach to empowering students to investigate and expose corporate involvement on their own campuses, resulting in a detailed campus map. Remarkably effective and powerful - yet simple and readable.
Genetically Modified Organisms and Precaution: Is the Canadian Government Implementing the Royal Society of Canada's Recommendations? (Oct 2004) by Peter Andree and Lucy Sharratt is a detailed, point by point analysis of what the RSC recommended and how government has responded. Priceless. This needed to be done, but required painstaking and tedious effort to expose the fraud of the Canadian government.

Polaris Institute

Artigo
Fonte [Common Ground]
Starting with the humble alfalfa seed and ending with a genetically engineered (GE) Atlantic salmon, the controversies in 2010 over genetic engineering multiplied and tumbled over each other, with the year ending in unprecedented uncertainty.
This year, the GE Atlantic salmon and GE “Envriopig” began lurching towards commercialization in both the US and Canada. The fate of these GE animals, and that of the unassuming alfalfa seed, will shape the future of our food system and of democracy.
Alfalfa seeds are tiny and generally keep a low profile, but this year the little perennial seeds were in the limelight during a showdown between Monsanto and organic farmers. It is no exaggeration to say that GE alfalfa threatens the future of the entire North American organic food and farming system because of the diverse and unique role that alfalfa plays in many different types of farming, as well as the inevitability of contamination. In 2010, Monsanto was forced to go to the US Supreme Court to try to get its GE Roundup Ready alfalfa in the ground; the company essentially lost the case and it is still illegal to plant GE alfalfa in the US. The USDA is being forced by the courts to publish an Environmental Impact Statement, but once it is complete plantings could begin. Canadian organic farmers shared their experience of GE contamination of organic canola with the USDA in the hopes of swaying the outcome against Monsanto. Meanwhile, here in Canada, conventional and organic growers continue to lobby the federal government to try to find a way to stop GE alfalfa.
In a parallel case, organic farmers in the US successfully challenged the GE sugarbeet (white sugarbeet for sugar processing). In August, a US court ruled the department had failed to conduct an adequate analysis of the impacts of GE sugarbeets on farmers and the environment. The beets were therefore ruled illegal to plant or sell until the USDA completed a full environmental assessment. However, because this study may not be finished until 2012, Monsanto and the sugar industry have pressured the USDA by proposing plantings next spring. All of Canada’s sugarbeet seeds, grown in Alberta and Southern Ontario, come from the Willamette Valley in Oregon so if GE sugarbeets cannot be planted in the US, there may be no GE sugarbeet seed for Canada.
The year of “We told you so”
In a predictable, though unfortunate, “We told you so” moment (one of too many in 2010), university researchers found transgenes present in 80 percent of the wild canola plants they tested in North Dakota. The canola provides new evidence that GE crop plants can survive and thrive in the wild, possibly for decades. But this is not the first documented escape into the wild. It was recently revealed that the Oregon Department of Agriculture and the USDA refused to alert the public that GE Roundup Ready bentgrass spread from a test plot in Western Idaho to irrigation ditches in Eastern Oregon. The feral GE bentgrass is a warning about the future of GE alfalfa. But, of course, this contamination brings up the particular problem of herbicide tolerance where the feral plants are engineered to survive specific herbicide sprayings. Most GE crops on the market are herbicide tolerant and the majority of these are Roundup Ready, resistant to Monsanto’s brand-name herbicide “Roundup” and its active ingredient glyphosate.
Overuse of Monsanto’s GE Roundup Ready soy, corn, canola and cotton is now showing a predictable result. 2010 was the year of the superweed. Palmer amaranth, or pigweed, is among 10 weed species in 20 US states, and one in Ontario, that have become resistant to glyphosate. The rapid spread of glyphosate resistant pigweed is a major agronomic failure of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready technology and an economic shock to farmers. In the US cotton belt, the pigweed is forcing farmers to revert to more toxic herbicides such as paraquat and they are abandoning their cotton-picking machines in favour of hired labour. This problem has actually triggered a race among chemical companies to develop new GM crops or to use old herbicides to attack the resistant weeds. “The biotech industry is taking us into a more pesticide-dependent agriculture than they’ve always promised and we need to be going in the opposite direction,” said Bill Freese at the Center for Food Safety in Washington.
Monsanto also overreached in 2010 and is now feeling the pinch. In 2009, the US and Canada granted approval for Monsanto’s new eight-trait “SmartStax” corn, a combination of different insect resistant and herbicide tolerant traits with a whopping price hike of up to 42 percent. Monsanto’s stocks fell significantly at the end of this year when results showed farmers were not buying “SmartStax” in levels projected by the company. It was a difficult year for the world’s biggest seed and biotech company as the US Justice Department intensified its antitrust investigation, farmers in Haiti burned Monsanto’s hybrid corn seed donation and Monsanto began giving rebates to farmers so they could buy competitor’s herbicides in order to kill Roundup resistant weeds.
Monsanto is also being investigated in West Virginia for possibly misleading growers who were promised improved yields from Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybean. After converting its chemical business to “seeds and traits,” Monsanto is beginning to show the strain of a technology that has yet to fulfill its early promise and struggling with all of its anticipated troubles.
Farmers first!
This year, for the first time in our 15-year history with genetically engineered crops, farmers had a voice in Parliament and our MPs debated some of the real issues. This debate was thanks to Bill C-474, which would require that “an analysis of potential harm to export markets be conducted before the sale of any new genetically engineered seed is permitted.” This one-line Private Members bill challenged the biotechnology industry to defend its practice of introducing GE crops, even when contamination will ruin the export markets of Canadian farmers. Canadian regulation does not include, or even allow, consideration of the question of economic impact of GE crops and there is no space for farmers to share their knowledge or voice their concerns. In 2001, flax farmers predicted GE flax would ruin their European market and they were proven right in 2009 when GM contamination shut down our flax exports. Despite this clear case, the Liberal and Conservative parties refuse to acknowledge there is a problem, even with the partial solution of Bill C-474 on the table.
Before the Liberals and Conservatives shut down hearings on Bill C-474, the House of Commons Agriculture Committee heard testimony from groups representing conventional and organic alfalfa growers who described how GM would inevitably ruin farmers. Conservative and Liberal MPs could barely believe this revelation and rather than pursue this line of inquiry, they shut down the hearings. On October 28, the president of the National Farmers Union was turned away from Parliament Hill when the scheduled hearings in which he was called to participate were cancelled. The debate on Bill C-474 was so effective up to that point that the Liberals and Conservatives built an escape hatch in the form of a new motion to the Agriculture Committee: that the Committee “conduct a study on the status of the Canadian biotechnology sector, in which it travels to the universities across Canada where this technology is primarily being undertaken, and that it recommend, where necessary, legislative, policy and regulatory changes in order to foster an innovative and fertile biotechnology industry in Canada.”
This study would neither address nor explore the problem Bill C-474 identifies. Instead, it would provide the biotech industry with a public relations platform while allowing the Liberals and Conservatives to tell constituents they are doing something, however useless, about this controversial GE issue.
Bill C-474 identifies the core problem with genetic engineering: there is no democratic decision making process with regard to genetic engineering and GE crops can and do harm the very people they are supposed to benefit – farmers. The tremendous industry backlash over Bill C-474 shows that, when farmers and food come first, Monsanto is last. The final vote on Bill C-474 should take place in mid-December. Take action at www.cban.ca/474
Lucy Sharratt is the coordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network. www.cban.ca.

Video Campanha da Semana- World is Everyone's HOME & Lets Take CARE of It. Before it ENDS.

Como fazer amor de forma sustentável e ecológica (é mesmo um aritgo no Ecologist de Novembro)

How to have sex (sustainably and ethically)

Eifion Rees

9th November, 2010

Kicking off a new series of 'how to...' we show you the most satisfying way to 'green up' your lovemaking between the sheets. Now relax, lie back and think of the Ecologist…

You’ve cycled home from work, whipped the veg box up into a sumptuous meal, dimmed the LED lightbulbs and slipped into something organic. Your partner is giving you the look of love across the reclaimed oak table. Polish off that bottle of Fairtrade wine and turn up Barry White on your A-rated CD player... it's time to get down to some good lovin'.
If you thought your environmental duty stopped at the bedroom door, however, think again. It may be one of the more enjoyable low-carbon and low-impact activities out there, but there are still ways to green up your sex life.
Are you up for it?
After a hard day at the office, it may be difficult sometimes to summon the energy for a romp in the sack. But a greener, healthier lifestyle – a balanced, nutritious diet and plenty of exercise – is one of the best ways to keep your libido, among other things, up. The act itself is also a good way to stay fit – a nine-stone person can burn 20 calories per five minutes of vigorous sex – so if you have a willing partner and plenty of stamina you could probably just ditch the jogging and cut to the chase. As well as lowering your risk of a heart attack (depending on your age and athletic ability), medical studies suggest that sex is integrally connected to wellbeing and a longer, happier life.
Contraception
In 2008, researchers in the US worked out that every child born stateside adds a whopping 9,441 tonnes of carbon to each parent's carbon footprint (1,384 tonnes in China and 56 tonnes in Bangladesh). Given that, it’s hard not to see contraception as the ultimate form of offsetting in high-consumption countries such as the UK and US. But it’s not just a case of keeping your green conscience clean – the type of prophylaxis you use has an impact too.
Somewhere in the region of 10 billion condoms are used worldwide every year, which is either a lot of plastic going to landfill or a population explosion of cataclysmic proportions averted, depending on how you want to look at it.
Choose natural rubber (and rubbers) over nonbiodegradable polyurethane if you can. French Letter condoms are made of latex harvested in South Asia. The latex-tappers are guaranteed higher wages and better working conditions, while the condoms guarantee safety, kitemarked as they are by the BSI and CE.
A 99 per cent effective means of birth control, condoms don’t need to contain a spermicide, which, as Pat Thomas writes, doesn’t protect against STDs and may even increase the risk of infection.
The Pill may have empowered generations of women since its introduction in the 1960s, but its side-effects are becoming increasingly evident in the natural world. A recently completed four-year study by Exeter and Brunel universities has established that endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) found in the female contraceptive, among other substances leeched into waterways and sewage systems, are responsible for altering the biology of male fish to make them more female.

Of course there are also natural ways to avoid getting pregnant, some more effective than others. Oral sex, for example, is 100 per cent effective; the calendar-rhythm method, which involves counting the menstrual cycle and only having unprotected sex on certain days, is not.
Lubricants
Considering what you’ll be slathering it over, who wouldn’t want their lube to be organic? That is, unless petroleum based-chemicals (liquidum paraffinum, petroleum jelly), skin irritants (glycerin, grapefruit seed extract), penetration enhancers (propylene glycol) and potentially carcinogenic synthetic preservatives and oestrogen-mimickers (methylparaben) are your kinky thing. A few brands don’t even list their ingredients, a worrying fact and something of a passion-killer, especially if you're trying to read the packaging mid-application.
The world’s most popular lubricant, KY Jelly, is the subject of its very own Behind the Label. But for organic, fair trade and not tested on animals try Yes Pure Intimacy or Love Lube.
Sex toys
You may know where they’re going, but do you know where they’ve been? Supermarket chains Tesco and Carrefour were recently rapped for selling consumer products – including sex toys – containing toxic ‘substances of very high concern’ (SVHCs). In fact the manufacture of most big-brand vibrators, dildos and other sex toys should be a cause for concern. The majority are made from PVC, which contains hormone-disrupting phthalates and the carcinogen vinyl chloride, while the process of creating PVC and disposing of it through incineration releases cancer-causing dioxin.
Glass is infinitely more stylish and eco-friendly an option. Phthalate-free, long-lasting, battery-free and non-porous, cutting down on the spread of bacteria and viruses, glass dildos, butt plugs and love eggs are also sensually body-temperature-sensitive. Those with money (and a penis) to spare might consider investing in a fair trade pearl cock ring.
If you’re more of a Duracell bunny, preferring that most intimate of household appliances, the vibrator, then use rechargeable batteries rather than traditional dry-cell ones. Not to ruin the moment, but the UK sends the equivalent weight of 110 jumbo jets’ worth to landfill every year, containing harmful heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury and nickel. And be sure to recycle: Love Honey operates a ‘Rabbit Amnesty’ for the world’s number one vibrator, recycling your old or broken Rabbit, providing you with a new one for half price and donating £1 to a green charity at the same time.
Orgasm
The advertising industry knows that sex sells, but in a world where supermarkets employ pornographic film techniques to shift chocolate cake and a really good shampoo is all a woman needs to reach climax, it’s difficult not to think that it has sold out too.
Like preferring trains to planes and Slow Food to fast, green sex is as much about the journey as the destination – to rework the old adage: ‘It’s not the coming, it’s the taking part that counts.’ Find a person you want to go to bed with and who wants to go to bed with you, and in the end all the extraneous paraphernalia, packaging and promotion don't mean a thing.
Getting steamy the green way may just be the most enjoyable environmental experience of your life. And think what you'll be saving in heating bills...
Eifion Rees is the Ecologist's acting Green Living Editor
Green sex resources
Eco-Sex: Go green between the sheets and make your love-life sustainable – Stefanie Iris Weiss’s book includes tips on aphrodisiac meals, latex beds and eco-sexy bling (Ten Speed Press, £14.99)
Coco de Mer – Sam Roddick’s erotic boutique in London, whose products are made by local artisans, or Fairtrade projects abroad, ‘with consideration for environmental and human rights’.
Green Porno – Not really. Isabella Rosselini writes and stars as the male of the species in five two-minute films about the seduction habits of the cuttlefish, duck, salmon, bedbug and snake.
Fuckforforest.com – Yes, really. This registered not-for-profit offers ‘erotic activism and idealistic porn’, raising money through donations for reforestation projects in Costa Rica and Ecuador.

	READ MORE...
	GREEN LIVING Behind the label: Tainted love Love doesn’t have to be a dirty business – unless, of course... This Valentine’s Day Pat Thomas makes a heartfelt plea for a little non-toxic lovin’
	INVESTIGATION What is the Pill doing to our bodies and planet? It was the drug that fuelled the sexual liberation of the 1960s, but what price are we paying for our love of the contraceptive Pill?
	COMMENT Love: batteries not included Relationships, like so many other aspects of modern life, are increasingly subject to the pressures of commercialisation. ‘Buy this and you’ll be happy’, suggests the marketing. And one recent product, both intimate and as impersonal as can be imagined, boasts particular success…

Cartonista da semana- Seppo Leinonen

Ver mais na página e blogue do autor!

Echo & the Bunnymen - Everything Kills You

And when it comes
Always too late
You put the future behind you

Then when it's gone
Always too soon
You put the past in front of you, in front of you

Everything takes you
Everything aches you
Everything breaks you
Everything spills you
Everything ills you
Everything kills you

And when the world
Is never enough
Nothing at all is too much for you

And when what's real
Is always too tough
Nothing at all can touch you, touch you

Everything takes you
Everything fakes you
Everything breaks you
Everything will's you
Everything chill's you
Everything kill's you

And when your heart's in pieces
And when your heart's in pieces
It's when the world's in pieces now
the world's in pieces now
the world's in pieces now

And when it comes
Always too late
You've got the future behind you

Then when it's gone
Always too soon
You've put the past in front of you, in front of you

Everything takes you
Everything aches you
Everything breaks you
Everything spills you
Everything ills you
Everything kills you
Everything takes you
Everything makes you
Everything fakes you
Everything will's you
Everything chill's you
Everything kills you

Mind-Flux - Zero Gravity

Filme do Mês Imprescindível - Inside Job (A verdade da crise)

Através de uma pesquisa extensiva e entrevistas com economistas, políticos e jornalistas, "Inside Job - A Verdade da Crise", mostra-nos as relações corruptas existentes entre as várias partes da sociedade. Narrado pelo actor Matt Damon e realizado por Charles Fergunson, este é o primeiro filme que expõe a verdade acerca da crise económica de 2008. A catástrofe, que custou mais de $20 triliões, fez com que milhões de pessoas tenham perdido as suas casas e empregos.

Música Solar

Os sons provocados pelo movimento das ondas magnéticas na coroa solar são harmónicos. Uma descoberta realizado por uma equipa de cientistas da Universidade de Sheffield no âmbito do projecto Sunshine.Já os pitagóricos nos séculos V ou IV a. C. diziam isso…É o costume.

Leitura da semana: para onde vai o nosso guito

Weapons makers, multinationals among top beneficiaries of EU regional funds

Coca Cola is one of the recipients of EU regional funds (Photo: chicco)

VALENTINA POP

01.12.2010 @ 07:47 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU commission has tried to defend the rationale of its regional policy after a new database put together by investigative journalists revealed that corporations such as IBM and Coca-Cola are on the recipient list, together with weapons makers Honeywell, EADS and Dassault, big pharmaceutical companies and chain supermarkets.

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"Cohesion policy brings significant benefits to the poorer regions of the EU, but is also benefiting the whole of Europe," EU regional policy commissioner Johannes Hahn said in a press release issued hastily on Tuesday (30 November) after the Financial Times and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism published a centralised database of EU funds recipients.

Member states are required to publish the names and amount of the beneficiaries online, but the FT/BIJ effort is the first one to put all the data together in a searchable format, translated into English and with figures both in the national currency and in euros.

Regions and government companies in charge of building roads, railway tracks or sewage systems gobble up most of the money, but corporations also pocket fairly large sums of the €347 billion to be paid out by the EU during 2007-2013.

US computer giant IBM is the largest of the corporate recipients, with over €24 million pocketed in various countries and projects. Out of this sum, €15.6 million are allocated to a service centre in Wroclaw, southern Poland, another €2.6 million for a similar centre in the Czech Republic and €985,000 for one in Hungary.

In Italy, the local branch of the American company receives €3.7 million for developing a "bio-informatics" lab and "e-business platforms" for small and medium enterprises in the fields of tourism, cultural heritage and agri-food.

In the Netherlands, IBM has partnered with two other firms in a pilot project co-financed by the EU to the tune of €646,542 and aimed at reducing the energy consumption of 500 households by 14 percent. One of the applications involves a power display allowing residents to monitor the exact energy consumption of each electric device.

The Spanish region of Valencia is also boosting IBM sales with EU money, as it acquired servers and memory disks produced by the company to the tune of €638,820.

Portugal's Greencyber company specialised in biodiesel is receiving €23 million of EU funding for its plant in the southern region of Alentejo which uses soy and sunflower from Brazil, Angola and Mozambique to produce the low-polluting fuel. Biofuels are however controversial as the crops used take up precious land which could feed the local population, especially in African countries.

US aerospace technology maker Honeywell receives €4.2 million for its research and development centre in the Czech Republic. On its website, Honeywell Czech Republic advertises itself as manufacturing control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; power generation systems and aerospace products and services. The latter category includes guidance systems for missiles and other "guided weapons."

Honeywell is also notorious for the cluster bombs it produced in the second half of the last century.

Meanwhile, Europe's aerospace giant EADS - the constructor of Airbus planes - also gets regional funding to boost employment: €1.5 for its Polish factories, €1.1 for the Spanish ones and €750,000 for the French development of anti-lightning protection of airplanes.

Nokia Siemens Networks, sued by Iranian dissidents for having supplied the regime in Tehran with technology allowing mobile phones to be tracked down and wire-tapped, got €3.1 million for "diversification of the IT center in Wroclaw by introducing innovative products" and another €900,000 for "innovation and strategic projects" in Portugal.

Still in France, €131,250 of EU funds go to the south-western region of Aquitaine for "optimisation of the industrial management of Dassault MRP2 subcontractors." Dassault is the producer of the French Raphale fighter jets. Another €20,174 are claimed by Dassault for "advanced manufacturing systems" in the north-Italian region of Piemonte.

Pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) receives €1.8 million for its plant in northern France where they develop a way to "increase the lyophilisation capacity of vaccines" - a method of drying pharmaceuticals by freezing the material and then warming it in a vacuum.

The world's biggest pharma company, Pfizer, also taps EU funds - €196,352 for projects in Belgium dedicated to "team culture," gender equality and career development.

German discount supermarket chain Lidl is set to receive almost €1 million for "improving employability" in Spain, the Czech Republic and Belgium and installing solar panels on one of its buildings in France.

Meanwhile, Swedish popular furniture manufacturer Ikea also gets a little EU help to the amount of €1.2 million for opening up a call centre in the eastern German region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

US soft drink giant Coca-Cola is present on the list, with €902,071 allocated for upgrading its production lines in Hungary and Estonia, as well as training German staff. A Belgian project is mentioned as well, but no figure is made available.

Along with Coca-Cola comes fast food icon McDonalds, charging EU taxpayers €59,708 for "further development" of its Swedish and Spanish staff.

Fonte: EU Observer

Filme da semana- José Saramago e Pilar

"Ele punha as pessoas a pensar. Devemos-lhe muito.” Entrevista com Miguel Gonçalves Mendes, realizador do filme “José e Pilar”. Ler entrevista publicada na edição online do Público

Cartoonista da semana: Dan Piraro

Visita a sua página pessoal, para conheceres mais sobre o autor e seu trabalho diversas vezes premiado

Ashbury Heights - Corsair

Smog- All Your Women Things

All your women things
All your frilly things
Scattered 'round my room
Right where you left them
When you left them
Scattered 'round my room

All your hardness
All your softness
And your mercy

All your bridges and bras
Your cotton
And gauze
All your buckles and straps
Releases and traps
All your screws
And false nails
Oriental winks
And egyptian veils

Oh all of these things
I gathered them
And I made a dolly
I made a dolly
A spread-eagle dolly
Out of your frilly things

Why couldn't I have loved you
This tenderly
When you were here
In the flesh
So tenderly

How could I ignore
Your left breast
Your right breast

How could I ignore
Your hardness
Your softness
And your mercy

Well it's been seven years
And the thought of your name
Still makes me
Weak in the knees

How could I ignore
Your left breast
Your right breast

Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man - Spider Monkey

Estudo mostra que radiações Wi-Fi danificam as árvores

Radiation from Wi-Fi networks is harmful to trees, causing significant variations in growth, as well as bleeding and fissures in the bark, according to a recent study in the Netherlands.

All deciduous trees in the Western world are affected, according to the study by a group of institutions, including the TU Delft University and Wageningen University. The city of Alphen aan den Rijn ordered the study five years ago after officials found unexplained abnormalities on trees that couldn't be ascribed to a virus or bacterial infection.

Additional testing found the disease to occur throughout the Western world. In the Netherlands, about 70 percent of all trees in urban areas show the same symptoms, compared with only 10 percent five years ago. Trees in densely forested areas are hardly affected.

Besides the electromagnetic fields created by mobile-phone networks and wireless LANs, ultrafine particles emitted by cars and trucks may also be to blame. These particles are so small they are able to enter the organisms.

The study exposed 20 ash trees to various radiation sources for a period of three months. 

Trees placed closest to the Wi-Fi radio demonstrated a "lead-like shine" on their leaves that was caused by the dying of the upper and lower epidermis of the leaves. This would eventually result in the death of parts of the leaves. The study also found that Wi-Fi radiation could inhibit the growth of corn cobs. The researchers urged that further studies were needed to confirm the current results and determine long-term effects of wireless radiation on trees. [fonte: macworld]

O ambiente como bem comum (curso de formação)

Curso de Formação
O ambiente como bem comum: experiências de conflito, acção colectiva e decisão pública
18 de Dezembro de 2010, 09.30, Picoas Plaza, R. Tomás Ribeiro,65, CES-Lisboa

Resumo

Os conflitos ambientais podem ser definidos como disputas que surgem decorrentes de situações ou eventos (incluindo decisões públicas) que afectam a relação das colectividades humanas com o meio ambiente. Os conflitos ambientais dão origem a conflitos entre diferentes valores atribuídos ao ambiente, que produzem, por sua vez, conflitos entre diferentes grupos sociais acerca da distribuição dos "custos ecológicos" das actividades económicas e dos danos e dos benefícios ambientais das escolhas públicas. Eles surgem em diferentes níveis - desde o local até a dimensão global - e envolvem uma variedade de sujeitos - cidadãos e cidadãs em nome individual, comunidades, ONGs, movimentos sociais, actores institucionais e responsáveis de políticas públicas. A existência desta variedade de atores, que não somente atribuem ao ambiente valores diferentes, mas são também marcados por desigualdades de poder económico, conhecimento científico, informação e influência política, configura-se num desafio para a acção colectiva e a decisão pública em matéria de ambiente.

Este curso oferece uma visão comparada sobre vários tipos de conflitos ambientais contemporâneos e sobre as diferentes experiências de acção colectiva e de tomada de decisão que se constituíram ao redor de cada um deles.

O curso é formado por duas sessões. A primeira abordará conflitos envolvendo o uso de diferentes recursos naturais (energia eólica, solo e água), bem como diferentes instrumentos e métodos de suporte à tomada de decisão, baseados na avaliação das diferentes alternativas disponíveis e na construção de um espaço de participação e deliberação. A segunda sessão será centrada no conflito entre trabalho, saúde e ambiente, com particular atenção para o caso da indústria petroquímica. Nesta sessão, será apresentado, em antestreia nacional, o filme documentário ‘Oil. Il film’ (Itália, 2010). O debate a seguir, que contará com a presença do secretário geral da CGTP Manuel Carvalho da Silva, abordará temas como as relações entre os movimentos sindicais e os ambientalistas e os contrastes entre as políticas industriais e as políticas de sustentabilidade em Portugal.

O curso integra-se nas actividades organizadas pelo Observatório do Risco do CES no quadro do projecto financiado pela FCT BeCOM (A escolha apesar da (in)comensurabilidade: controvérsias e tomada de decisão pública acerca do desenvolvimento territorial sustentável - FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-009234).

Inscrição

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Estudantes e desempregado/as: 20€

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Ranking of the Climate Change Vulnerability Index - Maplecroft

Big economies of the future - Bangladesh, India, Philippines, Vietnam and Pakistan - most at risk from climate change

21/10/2010

A new global ranking, calculating the vulnerability of 170 countries to the impacts of climate change over the next 30 years, identifies some of the world’s largest and fastest-growing economies, including India, as facing the greatest risks to their populations, ecosystems and business environments. 

The new Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI), released by global risks advisory firm Maplecroft, enables organisations to identify areas of risk within their operations, supply chains and investments. It evaluates 42 social, economic and environmental factors to assess national vulnerabilities across three core areas. These include: exposure to climate-related natural disasters and sea-level rise; human sensitivity, in terms of population patterns, development, natural resources, agricultural dependency and conflicts; thirdly, the index assesses future vulnerability by considering the adaptive capacity of a country’s government and infrastructure to combat climate change.

The index rates 16 countries as ‘extreme risk,’ including nations that represent new Asian economic power and possess significant forecasted growth. Bangladesh (1), India (2), Philippines (6), Vietnam (13) and Pakistan (16) all feature in the highest risk category and are of particular importance as they are major contributors to the ongoing global economic recovery and are vital to the future expansion of Western businesses in particular. 

“These countries are attracting high levels of foreign investment from many multinational organisations,” said Principal Environmental Analyst at Maplecroft, Dr Matthew Bunce. “However, over the next 30 years their vulnerability to climate change will rise due to increases in air temperature, precipitation and humidity. This means organisations with operations or assets in these countries will become more exposed to associated risks, such as climate-related natural disasters, resource security and conflict. Understanding climate vulnerability will help companies make their investments more resilient to unexpected change.”

Other countries featuring in the ‘extreme risk’ category include: Madagascar (3), Nepal (4), Mozambique (5), Haiti (7), Afghanistan (8), Zimbabwe (9), Myanmar (10), Ethiopia (11), Cambodia (12), Thailand (14) and Malawi (15). According to Maplecroft, the countries with the most risk are characterised by high levels of poverty, dense populations, exposure to climate-related events; and their reliance on flood and drought prone agricultural land. Africa features strongly in this group, with the continent home to 12 out of the 25 countries most at risk.

Climate Change Vulnerability Index 2011

Legenda e fonte da notícia aqui

Throughout 2010, changes in weather patterns have resulted in a series of devastating natural disasters, especially in South Asia, where heavy floods in Pakistan affected more than 20 million people (over 10% of the total population) and killed more than 1,700 people. “There is growing evidence climate change is increasing the intensity and frequency of climatic events,” said Environmental Analyst at Maplecroft, Dr Anna Moss. “Very minor changes to temperature can have major impacts on the human environment, including changes to water availability and crop productivity, the loss of land due to sea level rise and the spread of disease.”

Maplecroft rates Bangladesh as the country most at risk due to extreme levels of poverty and a high dependency on agriculture, whilst its government has the lowest capacity of all countries to adapt to predicted changes in the climate. In addition, Bangladesh has a high risk of drought and the highest risk of flooding. This is illustrated during October 2010, when 500,000 people were driven from their homes by flood waters created by storms. However, despite the country’s plethora of problems, the Bangladesh economy grew 88% between 2000 and 2008 and is forecast to by the IMF to grow 5.4% over 2010 and up to 6.2% over the next five years.

India, ranked 2nd, is already one of the world’s power brokers, but climate vulnerability could still adversely affect the country’s appeal as a destination for foreign investment in coming decades. Vulnerability to climate-related events was seen in the build up to the Commonwealth Games, where heavy rains affected the progress of construction of the stadium and athletes’ village. Almost the whole of India has a high or extreme degree of sensitivity to climate change, due to acute population pressure and a consequential strain on natural resources. This is compounded by a high degree of poverty, poor general health and the agricultural dependency of much of the populace.

There are 11 countries considered ‘low risk’ in the index, with Norway (170), Finland (169), Iceland (168), Ireland (167), Sweden (166) and Denmark (165) performing the best. However, Russia (117), USA (129), Germany (131), France (133) and the UK (138) are all rated as ‘medium risk’ countries, whilst China (49), Brazil (81) and Japan (86) feature in the ‘high risk’ category.

The Climate Change Vulnerability Index is the central component of Maplecroft’s Climate Change Risk Atlas 2011, which also evaluates the risks to business relating to emissions, unsustainable energy use, regulation and climate change vulnerability. The index is also visually represented in an interactive, GIS derived “hotspots” sub-national map, which analyses climate change vulnerability risks down to a 25km² scale worldwide.