Scientists: We've Entered a New Epoch, the Anthropocene

Trouble With Physics: Fuel 2000 & Beyond

*Nuclear Energies are on standby and far more readily accessible than through fission or fusion

*The conversion factor between matter and energy is precisely equal to the quantity C, velocity of light

*The quantity C is the pivotal point about which the natural laws become manifest

*An energy differential equal to C between two reference points suspends the natural laws

*An energy differential in excess of C between two reference points, the laws appear to operate in reverse

*The natural laws are Relative: that is, the value of one can be altered between any two reference points by altering the value or relationship of the other. This last fact should always be borne in mind when we hear some dogmatist solemnly declare that we are forever barred from reaching the stars by the hopelessly great degree of separation which exists between us, or that the gravity field is disabled with only one pole.

As a people fail to understand evolutionary parameters which are conveniently "lacking/missing" in suppressed energy science today (fundamental Trouble With Physics), future legends of our time will reflect a repetitive history of the 'rise & fall of civilizations': "the people followed the errs of the kings, and in a short span of time, lost their freedom, their land, their temples, their lives" When the concept of Freedom disconnects from responsibility, it magically transforms to FreeDumb, the killer of civilizations.

Mild shock and disbelief barely registered in the nation of the most productive, overworked, underpaid, underinsured, vacation deprived, low paid slave/workers in the world, as they watched their bridges fall down, while their taxes, gas and energy costs continued skyrocketing to uncharted realms, as the masses stagnated in unmovable traffic, and government departments threatened to close due to lack of funds - On the bright side, the worldwide corporate 2% greedy guts, individually, had aplenty, more wealth than 30 nations combined, apiece.... irrelevant to who is paying for their errors (as in subprime loans)

Scientists: We've Entered a New Epoch, the Anthropocene
Researchers Believe an Era of Overwhelming Human-Caused Change in Earth Needs New Name
COLUMN by LEE DYE Jan. 2, 2008 —
We humans are having such a dramatic impact on our planet that some leading scientists think the current era needs a new name. We're no longer in the Holocene epoch, they say. We're now well into what they are calling the Anthropocene.
This planet is being changed by human activities in ways that will continue to alter Earth for millions of years. The most obvious example is global climate change precipitated by the release of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels, but there are many more, some so obvious it's hard to think of them as insidious threats to our environment.
But they are indeed, according to the leader of the Anthropocene movement, Nobel laureate Paul J. Crutzen, who is said to have coined the word during a science meeting in 2000. Crutzen, former chief of atmospheric chemistry at the Max-Planck-Institute in Germany and now a part-time professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, is out with a new paper that leads off with a provocative question: "Are Humans Now Overwhelming the Great Forces of Nature?"
The paper, published by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in the current issue of the journal Ambio, begins with this warning:
"Global warming and many other human-driven changes to the environment are raising concerns about the future of Earth's environment and it's ability to provide the services required to maintain viable human civilizations. The consequences of this unintended experiment of humankind on its own life support system are hotly debated, but worst-case scenarios paint a gloomy picture for the future of contemporary societies."
Pretty scary stuff, but Crutzen and his co-authors have done their homework. In fact, they argue that about the only thing that might head off a global human catastrophe is some other catastrophe, like "a meteorite impact, a world war or a pandemic." Here are just a few of their points, in their own words:
· Earth is rapidly moving into a less biologically diverse, less forested, much warmer and probably wetter and stormier state.
· Between 1800 and 2000 population grew more than sixfold, the global economy about 50-fold, and energy use about 40-fold. (Population is expected to reach 10 billion in this century.)
· Energy use grew 16-fold just during the 20th century, causing 160 million tons of atmospheric sulphur dioxide emissions per year. The number of motor vehicles increased dramatically from about 40 million at the end of World War II to nearly 700 million by 1996. (And according to other studies, all those vehicles are owned by just 15 percent of the world's population.)
· About 30 percent to 50 percent of the planet's land surface is exploited by humans. Tropical rain forests are disappearing at a fast pace, releasing carbon dioxide and strongly increasing species extinction.
· So far, these effects have largely been caused by only 25 percent of the world population.
A sticking point on labeling this a new epoch is disagreement over when the Anthropocene actually began. Some argue it began when our ancestors abandoned hunting and gathering and took up farming. Huge swaths of land were cleared and the trees burned, launching the rise in greenhouse gases.
A forester once told me that many years ago it would have been possible to walk from the California coast to the Mississippi River and only occasionally be forced to step out of the shade of an oak forest. Nearly all of that is gone now.
Crutzen and his colleagues  Will Steffen of the Australian National University, Canberra, and John R. McNeill of Georgetown University  concede that those early folks had a significant impact, but they argue that the real turning point began in the late 18th century with the industrial revolution, and it reached a new level at the end of the Second World War. They call the modern period the Great Acceleration of the Anthropocene, when humans began to overwhelm their planet.
In their own words:
"The Great Acceleration is reaching criticality. Enormous, immediate challenges confront humanity over the next few decades as it attempts to pass through a bottleneck of continued population growth, excessive resources use, and environmental deterioration. In most parts of the world the demand for fossil fuels overwhelms the desire to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"About 60 percent of ecosystem services are already degraded and will continue to degrade further unless significant social changes in values and management occur. There is also evidence for radically different directions built around innovative, knowledge-based solutions. Whatever unfolds, the next few decades will surely be a tipping point in the evolution of the Anthropocene."
Those last couple of sentences are among the few encouraging words in their paper. Maybe we don't have to stumble down this path forever. But given the vast gaps between the haves and the have-nots, the relentless reach for a higher standard of living, the exploding need for more energy at seemingly any cost, it's hard to be optimistic.
As they note in their paper, "To develop a universally accepted strategy to ensure the sustainability of Earth's life support system against human-induced stresses is one of the greatest research and policy challenges ever to confront humanity. Can humanity meet this challenge?"
Lee Dye is a former science writer for the Los Angeles Times. He now lives in Juneau, Alaska.

Working Yourself to Death

Trouble With Physics: Fuel 2000 & Beyond
*Nuclear Energies are on standby and far more readily accessible than through fission or fusion
*The conversion factor between matter and energy is precisely equal to the quantity C, velocity of light
*The quantity C is the pivotal point about which the natural laws become manifest
*An energy differential equal to C between two reference points suspends the natural laws
*An energy differential in excess of C between two reference points, the laws appear to operate in reverse
*The natural laws are Relative: that is, the value of one can be altered between any two reference points by altering the value or relationship of the other. This last fact should always be borne in mind when we hear some dogmatist solemnly declare that we are forever barred from reaching the stars by the hopelessly great degree of separation which exists between us, or that the gravity field is disabled with only one pole.

As a people fail to understand evolutionary parameters which are conveniently "lacking/missing" in suppressed energy science today (fundamental Trouble With Physics), future legends of our time will reflect a repetitive history of the 'rise & fall of civilizations': "the people followed the errs of the kings, and in a short span of time, lost their freedom, their land, their temples, their lives" When the concept of Freedom disconnects from responsibility, it magically transforms to FreeDumb, the killer of civilizations.

Mild shock and disbelief barely registered in the nation of the most productive, overworked, underpaid, underinsured, vacation deprived, low paid slave/workers in the world, as they watched their bridges fall down, while their taxes, gas and energy costs continued skyrocketing to uncharted realms, as the masses stagnated in unmovable traffic, and government departments threatened to close due to lack of funds - On the bright side, the worldwide corporate 2% greedy guts, individually, had aplenty, more wealth than 30 nations combined, apiece.... irrelevant to who is paying for their errors (as in subprime loans)

Working Yourself to Death
Which Nation Works Harder Than the Rest? You Might Be Surprised
By BOB ROSNER Dec. 28, 2007 —

But the Japanese are slackers compared to another industrialized nation -- it's us, as in the USA. If you thought the Japanese worked longer hours, you are so last decade. In the mid-1990s we passed them to become the hardest-working country on the planet.

Dear Readers: It's time to look back on the year to identify the Working Wounded person of the year. We search worldwide for nominees, and some years it can be a very tough call. But not this year.
Meet our person of the year, Kenichi Uchino.
Unfortunately, Uchino can't accept the award because he died five years ago. But the result of his death changed the dialogue about work throughout Japan and in many other countries.
If you've ever seen a World War II movie, chances are that you've heard of hari-kari and kamikaze. You've probably not heard of "karoshi," which is the Japanese term for death from overwork.
We're not quoting Uchino's personal physician or union. No, this case of karoshi was acknowledged by a court in central Japan. It awarded his widow worker's compensation benefits. Furthermore, the Japanese government admits 147 cases of death from overwork last year, with some experts placing the number in the thousands.
The Japanese workers are some of the hardest working in the world, totaling 1,842 hours a year. That's the equivalent of sitting through 3,684 episodes of "Barney" or 921 corporate safety lectures.
Uchino routinely put in 80 hours of overtime per month for at least six months before his death. He was a middle manager in charge of quality control when he collapsed and died at work at age 30. My heart goes out to his young family for their loss.
But the Japanese are slackers compared to another industrialized nation -- it's us, as in the USA. If you thought the Japanese worked longer hours, you are so last decade. In the mid-1990s we passed them to become the hardest-working country on the planet.
We worked 1,979 hours. That is three and a half more weeks than the Japanese. We're talking almost a month more of work each year. Almost a year more at work each decade.
The sheer number of hours worked doesn't capture the problem. Stress, heart attacks, strokes and infertility. Yes, infertility. The problem has gotten so bad in Japan that the government is considering decreasing working hours for public servants in order to coax workers into having more babies. Overwork costs all of us.
In the United States we have terms for working long hours -- burned out, slammed and overwhelmed. We also have federal and state departments of labor, human resources departments and lawyers for workplace injuries. Thousands and thousands of employment lawyers are ready to lunge on those claims like a hungry dog on a piece of raw meat.
But we haven't reached the place where U.S. courts have declared karoshi. Yet.
But the clues were always right under our noses. Have you ever thought about how much of the language about work revolves around death -- deadline, dying to get a job, killing time, drop-dead date, etc. The time is right for a revolt against ridiculous overwork. It's hoped that Uchino's death will bring to life a movement toward more reasonable hours at work.

The Two Faces of Money - More Layers Unveiled

"How did the "money powers" amass enough power to control the President, the Congress and the Supreme Court, thereby subverting the Constitution - all in order to create a legal and monetary system that can be used to serve their own interests?

The Two Faces of Money

http://www.thetwofacesofmoney.com/index.php/Main/HomePage

*How is it that America - the wealthiest nation the world has ever seen - is also some 9 trillion dollars in debt?

*How is it that America's own citizens collectively have a negative savings rate, meaning most Americans are in debt?

*How did the "money powers" and the "invisible government" create our current monetary system, a system which has brought recurring periods of inflation, deflation and depression, not to mention the current financial crisis?

*How did the "money powers" amass enough power to control the President, the Congress and the Supreme Court, thereby subverting the Constitution - all in order to create a legal and monetary system that can be used to serve their own interests?

*How does the "invisible government" create wars for their financial benefit, leaving less and less money to maintain our critical infrastructure?

*Is there a better monetary system that can lead us out of inflation and away from the ultimate financial breakdown now facing us?
_________________________________

More on How: The Two Faces of Money

Revisit The Nature of Power

A Choice Not an Echo: The inside story of how American Presidents are chosen (Paperback)

Still Continuing, see post

"..this process has become to a great extent about money, Mr. Vilsack said, lamenting the fact that today’s presidential campaigns are “simply about a money primary.”
'08 Campaign Cash Race Claims First Casualty




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More on How: The Two Faces of Money

Revisit The Nature of Power

Dr. Stanley Milgram's Study

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More on How: The Two Faces of Money

Revisit The Nature of Power

Over 60 Years "Trouble With Physics": Fuel 2000 & Beyond
*Nuclear Energies are on standby and far more readily accessible than through fission or fusion
*The conversion factor between matter and energy is precisely equal to the quantity C, velocity of light
*The quantity C is the pivotal point about which the natural laws become manifest*An energy differential equal to C between two reference points suspends the natural laws
*An energy differential in excess of C between two reference points, the laws appear to operate in reverse
*The natural laws are Relative: that is, the value of one can be altered between any two reference points by altering the value or relationship of the other. This last fact should always be borne in mind when we hear some dogmatist solemnly declare that we are forever barred from reaching the stars by the hopelessly great degree of separation which exists between us, or that the gravity field is disabled with only one pole.

As common sense in science is lost with the continued stagnation of our energy base and deep troubling theoretical foundational issues in physics, so too, Civilization's Survival Parameters fly out of sight, out of mind, along with the values and morals inherent within new scientific understanding which new energy systems would reveal. Scientific Stagnation bodes an ill wind to evolution, sustainability, and survival as "cycles of humiliation, dumbing us down, violence & resource wars" join hands with global warming and ecological imbalance to precipitate the historical "rise and fall" - a Tsunami accelerating toward us with a far more spectacular event than the legends and myths of 'Atlantis and Lemuria"........ had more people known that Energy from Corn (or going backwards to a dimwitted concept of radioactive nuclear power application ) sounded a wee bit kindergartenish and senile for the twenty first century......the Future may have had a chance.

__________________________________
More on How: The Two Faces of Money

Revisit The Nature of Power

"Corporism: The Systemic Disease that Destroys Civilization."
http://www.countercurrents.org/glo-reiner11503.htm - Huge corporations now control America's body politic by reason of their bald-faced purchases of the three branches of the American government and America's major media. by Ken Reiner: kreiner@earthlink.net
05/09/03: I view the continuing growth of corporate power and its despotic control of governments throughout the world, including our own, as a socio-economic disease. While Mussolini and others named it "Fascism," I call it "Corporism" because that name better reveals its underlying institutional structure. I would define Corporism as the domination of government and society by the emergence and power of the giant publicly-traded multinational corporations and financial institutions, organized in totalitarian hierarchies, which singly and in combinations buy or destroy their competitors, corrupt the politics of nations, and seize, hoard, and wield for themselves most of the wealth of the human race.
We must recognize that we do have this cancerous disease, what it is doing to us and the world we live in, how it came about historically, and how and why it continues to be generated and sustained now in our society. Just as computer viruses find their ways into the software of our computers and destroy their operation, Corporism, promulgating itself by financial, legal, and technological means, has infected society in ways that lead to the hoarding of human resources, increasing insecurity and misery for the bulk of the world's population, perhaps even to worldwide holocaust. We must conquer this disease if we are to survive.

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More on How: The Two Faces of Money
Revisit The Nature of Power

By William Rivers Pitt > t r u t h o u t Perspective > Friday 21 February 2003
OF GODS AND MORTALS AND EMPIRE

".........No mere citizen could do what these men in one moment can do with the crooking of a little finger. With a word, they can erase cities, deprive an entire populace of water and light, unleash disease and famine, annihilate the economies of dozens of nations, and imprison forever anyone who dares dissent. These men bleed, they sicken, they die, but in their time of life they can punch holes in the sky large enough to make Zeus wince with envy. Like the millions who marched, the gathering of such fearful powers into the hands of so few is also without precedent in all of human history. "

The Two Faces of Money

Trouble With Physics: Fuel 2000 & Beyond

*Nuclear Energies are on standby and far more readily accessible than through fission or fusion

*The conversion factor between matter and energy is precisely equal to the quantity C, velocity of light

*The quantity C is the pivotal point about which the natural laws become manifest*An energy differential equal to C between two reference points suspends the natural laws

*An energy differential in excess of C between two reference points, the laws appear to operate in reverse

*The natural laws are Relative: that is, the value of one can be altered between any two reference points by altering the value or relationship of the other. This last fact should always be borne in mind when we hear some dogmatist solemnly declare that we are forever barred from reaching the stars by the hopelessly great degree of separation which exists between us, or that the gravity field is disabled with only one pole.

As a people fail to understand evolutionary parameters which are conveniently "lacking/missing" in suppressed energy science today (fundamental Trouble With Physics), future legends of our time will reflect a repetitive history of the 'rise & fall of civilizations': "the people followed the errs of the kings, and in a short span of time, lost their freedom, their land, their temples, their lives" When the concept of Freedom disconnects from responsibility, it magically transforms to FreeDumb, the killer of civilizations.

Mild shock and disbelief barely registered in the nation of the most productive, overworked, underpaid, underinsured, vacation deprived, low paid slave/workers in the world, as they watched their bridges fall down, while their taxes, gas and energy costs continued skyrocketing to uncharted realms, as the masses stagnated in unmovable traffic, and government departments threatened to close due to lack of funds - On the bright side, the worldwide corporate 2% greedy guts, individually, had aplenty, more wealth than 30 nations combined, apiece.... irrelevant to who is paying for their errors (as in subprime loans)

The Two Faces of Money

http://www.thetwofacesofmoney.com/index.php/Main/HomePage

*How is it that America - the wealthiest nation the world has ever seen - is also some 9 trillion dollars in debt?

*How is it that America's own citizens collectively have a negative savings rate, meaning most Americans are in debt?

*How did the "money powers" and the "invisible government" create our current monetary system, a system which has brought recurring periods of inflation, deflation and depression, not to mention the current financial crisis?

*How did the "money powers" amass enough power to control the President, the Congress and the Supreme Court, thereby subverting the Constitution - all in order to create a legal and monetary system that can be used to serve their own interests?

*How does the "invisible government" create wars for their financial benefit, leaving less and less money to maintain our critical infrastructure?

*Is there a better monetary system that can lead us out of inflation and away from the ultimate financial breakdown now facing us?
The Two Faces of Money
By tracing our modern money system all the way back to the man-made god of ancient Babylonia, this book unfolds many of the misconceptions we have about money and the role government plays. With her Constitutional promise of a true, “democratic” money, America at her birth offered real hope to the world that mankind could at last break free of the heavy yoke of “false” money and its worship of mammon. Yet, with the exception of one brief twenty month period, America has never fulfilled that promise.
Instead, and through a long series of behind-the-scenes manipulations and legal maneuvers, a “new legal regime” was established by the invisible government of the money powers, taking America from a Constitutional Republic to the brink of an unconstitutional dictatorship. America truly stands on the precipice of her demise. But there is an honorable way out when we look for, and clearly see, the true and constitutionally mandated face of money.
Reader comments:
I have been studying this stuff for over thirty years, and I have never seen it presented like this. Being a 'gold bug' I never questioned how gold has been used to manipulate our money, our country - and our lives. But what is presented here is so thought-provoking, well-argued and compelling that I know I must share it with others. Eugene, Oregon
This book goes beyond blaming individual politicians for our failings by exposing the underlying causes that contribute to decision-making – ours and theirs. It should be read and re-read again and again, until you are able to carry its message to your own family, friends and neighbors. If you care about America, DO IT NOW! Woodridge, Il.
This book empowers each and every one of us with an amazingly easy-to-understand solution to our political, social and economic woes. San Fransisco, California

Meat, poultry, vegetables feel heat from global warming

The world's billion poor, whether producers or consumers, will bear the brunt, warned scientists who ended a conference Saturday on agriculture and climate change in Hyderabad, southern India."In some ways, the time for doing things is already past,"

Mild shock and disbelief barely registered in the nation of the most productive, overworked, underpaid, underinsured, vacation deprived, low paid slave/workers in the world, as they watched their bridges fall down, while their taxes, gas and energy costs continued skyrocketing to uncharted realms, as the masses stagnated in unmovable traffic, and government departments threatened to close due to lack of funds - On the bright side, the worldwide corporate 2% greedy guts, individually, had aplenty, more wealth than 30 nations combined, apiece.... irrelevant to who is paying for their errors (as in subprime loans)

As a people fail to understand evolutionary parameters which are conveniently "lacking/missing" in suppressed energy science today, future legends of our time will reflect a repetitive history: "the people followed the errs of the kings, and in a short span of time, lost their freedom, their land, their temples, their lives" Freedom is not to be disconnected from responsibility.

Meat, poultry, vegetables feel heat from global warming

by Anil Penna Sat Nov 24, 8:54 PM ET Yahoo News – Agence France Presse
From meat, poultry and milk to potatoes, onions and leafy greens, everything consumed on the world's dining tables is feeling the heat from climate change, scientists say.
Researchers are trying to establish the extent to which global warming will affect livestock, plant life and staple crops such as rice to bolster their resistance to disease and breed stronger varieties.
The world's billion poor, whether producers or consumers, will bear the brunt, warned scientists who ended a conference Saturday on agriculture and climate change in Hyderabad, southern India.
"In some ways, the time for doing things is already past," said John McDermott, deputy director of research at the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute. "The changes are already happening."
As an example, rift valley fever, a deadly virus transmitted to sheep, cattle, camels and humans by mosquito bites, is being fuelled by climate change, the scientist said.
The virus is manifesting itself in broader swathes of East Africa and the Middle East because of climate variability in dry regions that helps vectors such as mosquitoes, tsetse flies and ticks to breed and spread, he said.
"What you see are diseases moving into areas where they have not been before, which means sometimes animals are exposed where they haven't been for a long time," he said.
"That leads to more outbreaks," McDermott added.
For the poor, livestock offers a livelihood as well as a savings bank they can tap, selling off their cows or chickens to deal with a health or family emergency.
"These are the people who don't make much of an impact on the ecological footprint of the world," said McDermott.
But they are also the people most at risk from damage wrought on livestock by diseases that could be aggravated by climate-related phenomena.
Scientists are also studying cropping and disease patterns in vegetables -- potatoes and tomatoes to cabbage and spinach, onion and garlic -- to see how they can cope with the stresses brought by global warming and its side-effects.
"If you make it a given that temperatures will go up, water will be a problem -- that will be your worst-case scenario," said Jackie Hughes, deputy director of research at the Shanhua, Taiwan-based World Vegetable Centre.
"You're going to have typhoons, cyclones and hurricanes," she said, adding vegetable growers may have to grow different varieties, use grafting techniques to address flooding and devise rain and insect protection for their crops.
"Probably, it will mean a shift of where crops are grown -- onions moving a little bit in one direction and tomatoes, cabbages coming out of very, very dry areas," she added.
Success in tackling the impact of climate change on crops is important as the world is host to a billion people who are already underweight and under-nourished, Hughes said.
The average adult is required to consume 74 kilogrammes of vegetables a year and "most don't reach that," she added.
Scientists are also concerned about the potential effect of climate change on potato blight, a weather-driven disease that takes a heavy toll on potato crops.
The pathogen that causes the blight is an "incredibly fast breeder," said Dyno Keatinge, deputy research head of the International Crops Research Institute here.
"So I am worried, you don't see me smiling in complacency," said Keatinge, who comes from Ireland where the disease caused a great famine in the 1840s.

Lack of toilets is fatal, global association says

"Some 2.6 billion people worldwide do not have access to proper toilet facilities, with potentially fatal consequences. It is regrettable that the matter of defecation is not given as much attention as food or housing."

Mild shock and disbelief barely registered in the nation of the most productive, overworked, underpaid, underinsured, vacation deprived, low paid slave/workers in the world, as they watched their bridges fall down, while their taxes, gas and energy costs continued skyrocketing to uncharted realms, as the masses stagnated in unmovable traffic, and government departments threatened to close due to lack of funds - On the bright side, the worldwide corporate 2% greedy guts, individually, had aplenty, more wealth than 30 nations combined, apiece.... irrelevant to who is paying for their errors (as in subprime loans)

As a people fail to understand evolutionary parameters which are conveniently "lacking/missing" in suppressed energy science today, future legends of our time will reflect a repetitive history: "the people followed the errs of the kings, and in a short span of time, lost their freedom, their land, their temples, their lives" Freedom is not to be disconnected from responsibility.

Lack of toilets is fatal, global association says
By Jack Kim
Reuters, SEOUL

Lack of proper toilet facilities and sanitation kills almost two million people a year, most of them children, the World Toilet Association said at its first meeting on Thursday.

"It is regrettable that the matter of defecation is not given as much attention as food or housing," Sim Jae-duck, the association's South Korean head, told the meeting at its recently opened lavatory-shaped headquarters south of Seoul.

Sim, a lawmaker nicknamed "Mr. Toilet," said some 2.6 billion people worldwide do not have access to proper toilet facilities, with potentially fatal consequences.

About 1.8 million people die every year from diarrheal diseases that are mainly blamed on inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene, the World Health Organisation's regional director for the Western Pacific, Shigeru Omi, told the meeting.

The majority of these deaths occur in Asia and 90 percent of the fatalities are children under the age of five, he added.

"Just imagine the number of children whose lives could be saved through simple low-cost interventions in sanitation and hygiene," Omi told the meeting.

The United Nations has declared 2008 the "Year of Sanitation" and is calling for a renewed effort to improve sanitation and hygiene facilities, especially in developing countries.

Several charities also marked World Toilet Day on Monday by launching international campaigns for more hygiene awareness and investments in toilet facilities.

The Seoul meeting, which brought together public health officials from around the world and U.N. agencies, aims to raise funds for sanitation in developing countries.

"The funding needed is not overwhelmingly large, but the return is immense," said Vanessa Tobin of U.N. children's agency UNICEF. "Political support is extremely important. Advocacy for this issue is a high priority."

According to the United Nations, spending $10 billion a year could halve the proportion of people without basic toilet facilities by 2015, and Tobin said this investment would net an estimated $84 billion in savings from improved public health and better living conditions.

In some cultures, the solution requires very little water, as is the case in sub-Saharan Africa where ash on top of a pit is often all that is needed, she said.

"It is very important to remember most people who don't have access are poor people living in rural areas," Tobin added.

(Editing by Jon Herskovitz and Miral Fahmy) 2007 Reuters News Service. ABC News Internet Ventures

UN: Climate Change Here And Getting Worse

BIG CO2 BUGS, UMBRELLAS FOR THE EARTH, 'CORNY' FUEL, FREEDUMB VS FREEDOM. Does the Future stand a chance with lame science? As common sense in science is lost with the continued stagnation of our energy base and deep troubling theoretical foundational issues in physics, so too, Civilization's Survival Parameters fly out of sight, out of mind, along with the values and morals inherent within new scientific understanding which new energy systems reveal. Over 50 years of Scientific Stagnation within the energy sector bodes an ill wind to evolution, sustainability, and survival as "cycles of humiliation, dumbing us down, violence & resource wars" join hands with global warming and ecological imbalance to precipitate the historical "rise and fall" - a Tsunami accelerating toward us with a far more spectacular event than the legends and myths of 'Atlantis and Lemuria"........ had more people known that Energy from Corn (or going backwards to a dimwitted concept of radioactive nuclear power application ) sounded a wee bit kindergartenish and senile for the twenty first century......the Future may have had a chance.

UN: Climate Change Here And Getting Worse
VALENCIA, Spain, Nov. 17, 2007
(CBS/AP) The Earth is hurtling toward a warmer climate at a quickening pace, a Nobel-winning U.N. scientific panel said in a landmark report released Saturday, warning of inevitable human suffering and the threat of extinction for some species. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said climate change imperils "the most precious treasures of our planet" and called on the United States and China -- the world's two biggest polluters - to do more to fight it. As early as 2020, 75 million to 250 million people in Africa will suffer water shortages, residents of Asia's megacities will be at great risk of river and coastal flooding, Europeans can expect extensive species loss, and North Americans will experience longer and hotter heat waves and greater competition for water, the report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says. The potential impact of global warming is "so severe and so sweeping that only urgent, global action will do," Ban told the IPCC after it issued its fourth and final report this year. The IPCC adopted the report, along with a summary, after five days of sometimes tense negotiations. It lays out blueprints for avoiding the worst catastrophes - and various possible outcomes, depending on how quickly and decisively action is taken. The document says recent research has heightened concern that the poor and the elderly will suffer most from climate change; that hunger and disease will be more common; that droughts, floods and heat waves will afflict the world's poorest regions; and that more animal and plant species will vanish. The Summary for Policymakers, and the longer version, called the synthesis report, distill thousands of pages of data and computer models from six years of research compiled by the IPCC. The information is expected to guide policy makers meeting in Bali, Indonesia, next month to discuss an agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The panel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year along with former Vice President Al Gore for their efforts to raise awareness about the effects of climate change. The report is important because it is adopted by consensus, meaning countries accept the underlying science and cannot disavow its conclusions. While it does not commit governments to a specific course of action, it provides a common scientific baseline for the political talks. The U.N. says a new global plan must be in place by 2009 to ensure a smooth transition after the expiration of the Kyoto terms, which require 36 industrial countries to radically reduce their carbon emissions by 2012. "There are real and affordable ways to deal with climate change," Ban said. He said a new agreement should provide funding to help poor countries adopt clean energy and to adapt to changing climates. Ban encouraged the United States and China, which have stood apart from the Kyoto accord, to join in the next phase of cooperative efforts against climate change. "I look forward to seeing the U.S. and China playing a more constructive role starting from the Bali conference," Ban told reporters. "Both countries can lead in their own way." But the Bush administration is making no promises, reports CBS News correspondent Joie Chen. Just last week, the president signaled that his focus is on getting companies to do what they can to help - voluntarily. "It's easier to deal with the climate change issue if you've got the revenues and finances to invest in new technologies that will change how we live, and at the same time enable us to grow our economies," President Bush said. The report says emissions of carbon, which comes primarily from fossil fuels, must stabilize by 2015 and go down after that. Otherwise the consequences could be "disastrous," said IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri. In the best-case scenario, temperatures will continue to rise from carbon already in the atmosphere, the report said. Even if factories were shut down today and cars taken off the roads, the average sea level will reach as high as 4½ feet higher than the preindustrial period, or about 1850. "We have already committed the world to sea level rise," said Pachauri. If the Greenland ice sheet melts, the scientists couldn't even predict by how many meters the seas will rise, drowning coastal cities. Yet differences remain stark on how to control carbon emissions. While the European Union has taken the lead in enforcing the carbon emission targets outlined in Kyoto, the United States opted out of the 1997 accord. President Bush described it as flawed because major developing countries such as India and China, which are large carbon emitters, were excluded from any obligations. He also favors a voluntary agreement. Sharon Hays, a White House science official and head of the U.S. delegation, said the certainty of climate change was clearer now than when Bush rejected Kyoto. "What's changed since 2001 is the scientific certainty that this is happening," she said in a conference call to reporters late Friday. "Back in 2001 the IPCC report said it is likely that humans were having an impact on the climate," but confidence in human responsibility had increased since then. "What's new is the clarity of the signal, how clear the scientific message is," said Yvo de Boer, the U.N.'s top climate change official. "The politicians have no excuse not to act." Opening with a sweeping statement directed at climate change skeptics, the summary declares that climate systems have already begun to change. Unless action is taken, human activity could lead to "abrupt and irreversible changes" that would make the planet unrecognizable.