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Reducing Food Loss and Waste – A New Working Paper
By The Editors As we have seen in the previous post, this year the theme of World Environment Day (June 5) is ‘Think.Eat.Save’. The theme connects to the “Think.Eat.Save – Reduce Your Foodprint’ campaign. Accordingly, a new working paper has been released yesterday (June 5). The title of this working paper is ‘Reducing Food Loss and Waste”. It was produced by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and draws on research from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The “Think.Eat.Save – Reduce Your Foodprint’ campaign harnesses the expertise of organizations such as FAO, WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme), Feeding the…
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World Environment Day 2013: Today, June 5
By The Editors Today we go back to the foodprint: The World Environment Day (WED) 2013 theme is Think.Eat.Save. Ms Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, concluded her WED 2013 message by saying: “From production, transport and storage to sales and consumption, we need to stop food waste at every step of the way. Each of us must rethink our eating habits to have an impact throughout the food chain. This is how we will lay the foundations for greater sustainability, and this is UNESCO’s message on this World Environment Day.” World Environment Day is celebrated every year on June 5 and it’s one of the main vehicles through which the UN…
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Malala Day: Promoting Global Education
By The Editors Malala Day will be held on her 16th birthday, July 12. Malala, the youngest nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize in history, was shot in the head in October 2012 because of her fight for girls’ right to an education. Malala has been featured in Time magazine as one of “The 100 Most Influential People In The World”. Former British Prime Minister and current United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown launched one of the petitions in Malala’s name demanding that all children worldwide be in school by the end of 2015. Other petitions were for her nomination to the Nobel Peace Prize. Three million global citizens signed the petitions. On…
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Reducing the Foodprint by Eating Misfits
By The Editors In a previous post, The Foodprint: Eyes on Methane, we talked about the enormous amount of wasted food that ends up in the landfills, where it is decomposed by bacteria under anaerobic conditions (i.e., in the absence of oxygen) and becomes a significant source of methane – a potent greenhouse gas. We concluded the post by saying; “How can we decrease the foodprint? Composting, composting, composting — However, composting works well for food waste that has already been generated. What about changing our mindset and finding ways to reduce the amount of food we waste on a daily basis?” In this new post, let’s talk about a possible…
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Lipstick and Heavy Metals
By The Editors Cosmetics are all around us. They have been used for thousands of years. Are they safe? Without discussing the general/global issue of cosmetics safety, we want to bring up something about one of the most used cosmetics worldwide: lipsticks. Although in the last century lipstick use was most prevalent in the Western world, its use is now a global phenomenon. And now, it seems lipsticks contain a potentially unhealthy dose of toxic heavy metals. What are heavy metals? They are high atomic weight elements that exhibit, at room temperature, the properties of a metallic substance. Minute amounts of some heavy metals, including cobalt, copper, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, strontium,…
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Indigenous Knowledge? Yes, It’s Global Knowledge
By The Editors Sharing global knowledge? Yes, indispensable knowledge on the preservation of ecosystems and biodiversity, the sustainable use of protected natural areas, as well as development and food security — all related to the indigenous peoples of Africa, Asia, Latin America and other countries, such as Canada and Australia. Indispensable knowledge that is being shared these days (May 26 – 29) in the capital city of Australia’s Northern Territory, Darwin. The occasion? The first World Indigenous Network (WIN) conference, which calls on native delegates from over 50 countries to help build a strong foundation for an innovative and well-grounded enduring World Indigenous Network. According to the World Indigenous Network website,…
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The Global Tide of Disease Mongering
By The Editors A recent editorial in the British Medical Journal (BMJ 2013;346:f2809) highlights a new social health movement for healthcare reform that may prove crucial to global health in the 21st century. This new social health movement aims to counter a global phenomenon, clearly defined in the editorial: “The results of medical research are often distorted or suppressed for commercial gain, and systems that attempt to control clinicians’ behaviour through payment by results drive over-diagnosis and over-treatment.” In other words, it aims to counter over-diagnosis and over-treatment. The new social health movement is based on a partnership model that affirms themes of mutual respect and combines the perspectives and resources…
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Globesity
By The Editors What is “globesity”? It’s the escalating global epidemic of overweight and obesity – one additional aspect of the great acceleration. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), obesity is “a complex condition, one with serious social and psychological dimensions, that affects virtually all age and socioeconomic groups and threatens to overwhelm both developed and developing countries.” The WHO adds that “Contrary to conventional wisdom, the obesity epidemic is not restricted to industrialized societies; in developing countries, it is estimated that over 115 million people suffer from obesity-related problems.” Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Globally,…
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Electronic Waste and the Global Toxic Trade
By The Editors Here we go with another major source of pollution and serious negative health effects: e-waste, which-stands for electronic waste – also called e-scrap. Electronic waste may be defined as discarded computers (desktop, laptop, computer monitors, etc.), office electronic equipment (printers, scanners, fax machines, etc.), entertainment device electronics, mobile phones, television sets, refrigerators, and more. To make things easier and avoid long lists, we can safely say that e-waste is about anything that works with a cord or a battery — or it’s connected to something with a cord or battery (think for example computer mice, or keyboards). As technology changes come by very rapidly in great acceleration-style, the…
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Globalization, Global Competence and Education
By The Editors One of the effects of globalization on higher education is (or will be) the gradual shift from the reductionist approach so in vogue now for many disciplines to a more holistic point of view. The limits of the current discipline-specific reductionist approach will be highlighted when attempting to become globally competent, as discipline-specific knowledge will need to integrate global competence concepts to ensure educational success – success measured on the basis of positive contributions to the new globalized environment as part of the workforce or other. In his commencement address to the graduating class of 1990 at Arkansas College, David Orr suggested six principles for rethinking education –…
