From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions (ending 23/04):

Business & management:
• 13% of adults in the UK have no bank account, compared to 1% to 5% in the rest of Western Europe. A proposal to start a post bank system that operates through the existing post office network has been made by a coalition of unions and small businesses.
• The Greenlist is a website which allows consumers to compare how environmentally friendly products may be across a range of different sustainability criteria, while also allowing companies to promote their products.
• The US annual Innovations Review Report highlights innovative strategies companies have implemented to reduce emissions, conserve resources and encourage sustainable behavior.

Education
• The Ministry of Education has studied completion rates among the first two years' intake of Modern Apprentices and more than half the young people in Modern Apprenticeships and industry training leave without completing their qualifications. There are also big variations between industries, ethnic groups and gender.
• Research in the UK being released at an economics conference this week, has found that if boys stay on at school for just 1 more year, their future salary is likely to rise by 13%. Also being released at the same conference: boys do worse at English when there are girls in their class.
• Personal learning environments are one of the future trends in decentralized forms of learning predicted in education.
• A US professor who teaches about open education, and founded OpenContent.org has predicted that university institutions will be irrelevant by 2020.
• Trainers are using micro-blogging (like Twitter) to foster learning and meet like-minded peers.

Environment & sustainability:
• Crop growth, drinking water and recreational water sports could all be adversely affected if predicted rainfall patterns over coming years prove true. New research raises concerns about the level of phosphorous released from soils into surface water and the surrounding environment.
• The Federal government in Australia is assuring people in Adelaide that water is secure for 2009-2010, after the local water authority said it couldn’t guarantee that water would be delivered over the next 2 years.
• The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) says forests are under increasing degrees of stress as a result of climate change. Forests could release vast amounts of carbon if temperatures rise 2.5C (4.5F) above pre-industrial levels.
• The movement in cities to include or convert spaces to growing food for local communities has its most prominent recent example in the Obamas digging up part of the White House Lawn, but had begun much earlier in other US cities.
• The UK consumer magazine “Which?” says that council taxes there could be reduced if consumers recycled more effectively, since less waste would need to go to landfills.
• 120 US companies that are pushing the envelope in terms of water treatment, purification and management, have been rated on their technology, intellectual property and know-how, team quality and market potential.
• Rivers in some of the world’s most populous regions are losing water, according to a comprehensive study of global stream flows.

Health & wellbeing:
• Waltham Forest council has become the first in the UK to demand the closure of a fast food restaurant because it is too close to a school.
• A British bioethics group is raising concern about the use of the Internet and new technologies to revolutionise health care. The group says that there has been a rise in the use of online drug sales and private DNA tests and scans in recent years.

Law & Government:
• The head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime has warned that organized crime is now global, and poses a threat to cities, countries and even entire regions.
• The UK’s Young Foundation has launched http://www.futurecommunities.net/ “aimed at anyone involved and interested in building the successful sustainable communities of tomorrow”.
• Architects in the UK are suggesting that Prince Charles is abusing his position to unfairly influence planning decisions.
• London’s mayor has earned praise for retaining some fun, when it would be easy to cut back due to the recession.

People, culture & diversity:
• The UK think tank Demos has released a report “Resilient Nation”, on how a prepared population can be resilient in the face of disaster. Lifestyles, infrastructure and extreme weather are contributing to a perception that Britain has a “brittle society”. The report outlines ways to build and sustain community resilience with support from central and local government, relevant agencies, the emergency services and voluntary organisations.
• Debate is ongoing in the UK about the safety of social networking sites for children. A survey there has shown that 99% of children and young people aged eight to 17 use the internet.
• A researcher in the UK is working on a study that contradicts the idea that globalisation and the internet are ironing out differences between people in different regions. His research shows that with increased mobility, particular personality types live in certain regions, and his research follows on from similar work in America.

Science, technology & transport:
• “Failure to yield: evaluating the performance of genetically engineered crops” is a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists. The report shows that over the last 20 years “genetic engineering has failed to significantly increase US crop yields”.
• Automotive manufacturers and traders in the UK, say that existing automotive technology has the potential to achieve significant emissions reductions, providing it has the right governmental encouragement.
• Experts predict that an ageing world population and continuing global military conflicts will be the two main drivers of robot design and function in the coming years.
• A digital software company is about to include Vancouver as its 3rd pilot city in a program to create working 3D models of urban centers. Salzburg, Austria was the first city, and Incheon, South Korea, the second.
• Leading automotive and energy companies have reached an agreement for a standardized plug for electric cars. Some of the automakers included in the agreement are Volkswagen, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Fiat, Toyota and Mitsubishi.