From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions (ending19/02):

Business & management:
• According to a new UN report from the International Telecommunication Union, the global financial crisis could provide entrepreneurial opportunities for budding information and communication technology (ICT) businesses, which in turn can power economic recovery.
• With UK banks becoming more reluctant to lend to small businesses, councils are exploring ways of stepping into the gap. A small number of local authorities are looking at the possibility of founding a local banking service in a bid to prop up the local economy and prevent redundancies.

Education
• A major UK study on higher education has shown that women graduates are paid less from the very beginning of their careers, with men earning £1,000 more than their college classmates within three years of leaving university.
• New research shows that encouraging toddlers to use hand gestures can improve their vocabulary and boost their chances of doing well at school a few years later.
• When an enterprise is going to adopt a new software product or a new system to provide higher productivity and greater functionality, inexpensive training solutions that achieve an effective result are the choices for most enterprises. Task-oriented screencast presentation is a good solution for technology training.

Environment & sustainability:
• Panarchy is a theory explaining the evolution of complex systems, from forests to economic markets. It may provide insight into the future adaptation and resilience of civilization to ecological stresses and rising energy costs.
• 37 cities, towns and regional bodies across New Zealand have committed to WWF's Earth Hour™ 2009, including Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Hamilton. For one hour on Saturday, 28 March, 2009 at 8.30pm businesses and governments will turn out their lights as a symbolic gesture to show their support for action that tackles climate change.
• The Environmental Risk Management Authority is calling for public submissions on the use of another two toxic chemicals, a herbicide and an insecticide.
• GreenBiz.com has produced a paper that provides research findings on how consumers perceive corporate environmental responsibility.
• The UK government's former chief scientific adviser says that the Iraq war was just the first of this century's "resource wars", in which powerful countries use force to secure valuable commodities.
• A Luxembourg clean tech firm has developed a portable wastewater treatment system that can be deployed in sites ranging from communities, fairs and sports venues to remote areas and scenes of disaster.
• A report from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers says we have to accept the world could change dramatically, and that we should start planning our major infrastructure now to accommodate more extreme weather events and sea level rises.
• In regions where pumping and distributing water requires significant electricity use, policies that lead to reduced water consumption could address climate change more efficiently than requiring businesses and households to use less energy.

Health & wellbeing:
• A University of Otago study has found that many homes have hazards that result in claims to ACC costing millions of dollars a year. The top 3 hazards are lack of smoke alarms, water heaters with too high a temperature, and sliding glass doors or low windows with no visibility stickers.
• A recent UK report sets out in compelling detail the arguments for investment in "mental capital". It requires investment in public services such as childcare, parenting support and lifelong education and training. It also requires promotion of mental health issues in the workplace.
• The UK Mental Health Foundation has been working with GPs to promote awareness of the benefits of exercise for depression.

Law & Government:
• The City of Toronto has issued an RFP for execution of a study to assess the environmental and technical aspects of capturing waste gas from the city’s solid waste management projects.
• A public consultation document aimed at gathering information and views on the activities of property managers has been released. The consultation document looks at all aspects of the industry, but specifically asks whether there are gaps in the law relating to property managers that are causing problems for property owners.
• A report by legal experts from the International Commission of Jurists says that anti-terror measures worldwide have seriously undermined international human rights law.
• A UK council is being taken to court for damages due to toxic waste from reclamation works at a former British Steel plant. Families claim their children suffered birth defects after being exposed to an "atmospheric soup of toxic materials".
• Following up on its “Carbon Neutral Zone”, Atlanta declared its downtown area last week, to be a “Zero Waste Zone”.

People, culture & diversity:
• A UK charity’s recent survey shows that children and young people feel personally affected by the financial and emotional consequences of recession.
• Artists and curators have begun colonising "slack space" in the UK’s high streets freed up by the recession and are transforming vacant shops into "creative squats", galleries and studios.
• In the booming 1980s, UK councils sold off allotments as it seemed no one in the Britain of conspicuous consumption could be persuaded to grow much. But as recession bites, the growing enthusiasm for homegrown vegetables has seen more than 100,000 people join waiting lists for a patch of land as demand hits an all-time high.

Science, technology & transport:
• A panel of Euro MPs has voted to introduce extra road charges to curb congestion and pollution from lorries. EU states would be free to impose levies on lorries using major roads. The current rules only apply to those on motorways that cross borders.