Business & management:
• Over half of professionals working in Australasia are looking for another job either actively or passively – although only 17% of those surveyed were NZers.
Environment & sustainability:
• The FAO is calling on countries to begin providing data for the 2010 Global Forest Resources Assessment, the data from which will help in measuring the impact of deforestation on climate change.
• The UN Environmental Programme has launched the Green Passport, intended to make travellers aware of some of the things they can do to make tourism a sustainable activity.
• The World Meteorological Organisation says that governments, businesses and the public need more sophisticated information on weather from their national meteorological agencies, so that they can cope with climate variability and change.
• In China, so-called green energy companies manufacturing solar power cells are polluting the local environment, because they haven’t implemented the expensive waste management systems needed for photovoltaic production, and are even dumping waste near residential areas.
• Milwaukee was host earlier this month to the first Urban Agriculture Conference to have an international audience. The conference attracted academic researchers, city planners, health officials and urban farmers. The US government takes the idea of urban agriculture seriously (e.g. with the 1996 Community Food Security Act), as concerns about food security grow.
• Those parts of the world where drought is common may need to think again about electric vehicles, which need 17 times more water per mile than a petrol-powered vehicle.
Health & wellbeing:
• The Chip Group began as an ad hoc way of swapping notes on the industry. It’s now evolved to become an industry group aiming to raise the nutritional standards of takeaway chips, with the Best Chip Shop Competition, and the launch of the world’s first chip standards: “New Zealand Standards for Deep Fried Chips in Independent Fast Food Outlets”.
• Associated Press has been investigating drinking water supplies in the US, and has discovered that traces of pharmaceuticals can be found in the water supply to 41 million Americans. The concentrations found are minimal, but there are concerns about long-term exposure to unregulated and unintended combinations of drugs.
Law & Government:
• The government’s Urban Design Protocol now has 150 signatories, with Hutt City Council joining the initiative.
• The government has made a formal submission to the UK government over proposed changes to short-term (including ancestry) visas for NZers travelling to the UK. The proposed changes would mean a maximum stay of 3 months, rather than the 6-12 months available with current visas.
• Calendars printed last year are confusing some people about the last day for daylight saving this year. Beginning on the last Sunday of September, and ending on the first Sunday of April, means that daylight saving for this year ends on 6th April.
• The government’s main web portal has been upgraded and was launched today, with much work being done to improve the search function.
People, culture & diversity:
• In a paper by Phoenix Research commissioned by Persil, “Children being children: a New Zealand mother's perspective” results show that 92% of NZ mothers believe that children are growing up too quickly compared to 76% globally. However, the report shows that more Kiwi kids spend more time outside playing than children from other countries.
• And in London, a new policy has been introduced that requires all new housing development applications to include play and recreation facilities.
• Forced marriages are widespread and occurring over a range of ethnic minorities in the UK, with 3000 women a year coerced into marriage, according to a recent report. Although the government has a forced marriage unit, it’s only handling 300 cases a year.
• Minorities and indigenous peoples are in more danger from climate change, and are often last on any lists for aid, according to "State of the World's Minorities 2008" report from Minority Rights Group International (MRG).
Science, technology & transport:
• A “geothermal renaissance” is taking place around NZ, with at least 6 new geothermal power stations planned, including one in Northland.
• A British company has developed a security camera that can see through clothing from up to 25m away.
• In the future, you may be able to power your lights by plugging into the paint on your building. Scientists in the UK are working on a way to paint solar cells onto the steel sheets used to clad large buildings.
• Digital information is starting to outstrip the ability to store it, as there is now more digital information being created, captured or replicated than there is available storage in the form of tapes, CDs DVDs and memory.
Thursday, 13 March 2008
Thursday, 6 March 2008
From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions (ending 06/03):
Business & management:
• Corporate “greenwash” concerns some leaders of industry and researchers, because it threatens the efforts of those companies that are taking steps to reduce emissions, mitigate climate change and minimize environmental destruction.
• The Centre for Housing Research has 2 new publications available, looking at the falling rate of home ownership in NZ. One trend noted, is the increasing tendency to buy homes further away from work, increasing the need for a long commute.
• We tend to think NZ is doing pretty well on a global scale in the travel and tourism industry, but the World Economic Forum’s “Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2008” only ranks NZ as 19th overall. Australia ranks 4th, the UK 6th and the US 7th.
• Specialist recruiting company Hays says that just over half the jobseekers in a recent Australasian survey, say that the number of women in their senior management team does not reflect the number in their business overall.
• The whistle-blowing website Wikileaks is fighting to regain its online status in the US.
• Women professionals in Britain are often forced into taking jobs well below their skill levels after they have had a baby, according to a recent survey on the impact of motherhood on careers.
• The UK Speaker of the House of Commons has been accused of using his (work) air miles for his family. The Institute of Business Ethics there, suggests that in company codes of ethics or conduct an employer should have specific rules for use of company "perks" in order to avoid confusion.
Education
• Surveys shows 1 in 5 children at primary school show severe antisocial behaviour, and 1 in 7 primary teachers report being physically assaulted by students.
• Computer gaming has become a way to learn skills about business, production and management, and to have fun in a very competitive environment, while getting the advice of real economists from around the world. Eve Online is a science fiction trading game that lets you build a corporation in a vast online universe of more than 5,000 solar systems distributed over 66 regions.
• A survey in the UK has found that bullying in UK schools is the worst in Europe , but the survey also found that more students in the UK are happier in school most of the time, than students in the rest of Europe.
Environment & sustainability:
• In southwest England, Totnes is the first of many “Transition Towns” in the UK, working to reduce the impact of peak oil and improve the sustainability of their region. Their TT model has 10 working groups, who cover transport, energy, food, arts, education, local government, business, economics and livelihood, and Heart and Soul (an area that they feel is often neglected). • Celsias have published the 2008 Unenvironment Awards, and Portfolio magazine from Conde Nast has published “The Toxic Ten” of the worst corporate polluters.
• The renewable energy industry is rapidly expanding and has doubled electric generating capacity since 2004, according to the Renewable Energy Network for the 21st Century (REN21). Details are available in their free report Renewables 2007 Global Status Report.
• Plug-in hybrid-electric cars (eg the Chevrolet Volt) in the United States may lower emissions in some parts of the country, but could increase them in others, because 49% of US electricity comes from coal-burning power plants.
• A survey conducted for the global strategy company SustainAbility shows that 75% of the 2100 people surveyed internationally view current efforts on sustainability by governments, businesses, and multilateral organizations as being “very or mostly inadequate.”
• A day before Leap Day, Victoria University announced that it had hatched tiny (no larger than your littlest fingernail) Maud Island frogs for the first time on the mainland – very timely in the International Year of the Frog.
• A University of Otago study shows that lobbying, poorly informed and vacillating politicians and a bureaucracy that lacked technical expertise are all reasons why it took 20 years for petrol in NZ to become unleaded.
Health & wellbeing:
• The Dept of Labour has released the report “Health and safety makes good business sense”, saying that amongst the obvious benefits, safe workplaces enhance corporate reputations and improve staff recruitment and retention.
• Bugs are good – and scientists researching the microbes that live in our digestive systems are discovering that microbes can influence more than just digestion. They may also affect your immunity, modulate your weight or keep you from losing bone density.
• Cutting the amount of television your kids watch really will mean they’ll be healthier and less fat.
Law & Government:
• A recent posting on the Urban Land blog argues the question as to whether a high population density results in a higher crime rate, especially in areas with high-rise buildings.
• Government in the UK is encouraging businesses to get involved with their local communities, offering advice and expertise to help communities to convert disused buildings into vibrant community centers.
• Also in the UK, the government is promoting the concept of lifetime design for housing with a national strategy: “Lifetime homes, lifetime neighbourhoods: a national strategy for housing in an ageing society.” Inclusive design, universal design or accessible design are alternative names overseas for this approach, but these are often associated solely with disability – lifetime design in the UK & in NZ is being seen as design including every person in the house, to cater for all ages and abilities.
• The UN survey 'Criminal Victimisation in International Perspective: Key Findings from the 2004-2005 ICVS and EU ICS” shows that NZ has the best victim support after a crime, globally. However, NZ is ranked highly in terms of the prevalence rate of “conventional crime” (theft from or of vehicles, burglary, and contact crime i.e. robbery, assault, threats or sexual offences).
• The Human Rights Commission has just launched the Race Relations Report 2007, and says that local body representation is not as diverse as the communities served.
• The UK Improvement and Development Agency (I&DeA) has put together a series of pages on city regions covering policy (local and international), key contacts and links to online resources and publications.
• Local authority winners in the UK Beacon Awards have just been announced. The awards celebrate innovation, excellence and quality local services, with the winners sharing £3m of government funding to expand their work in sharing best practice and to motivate further innovation across public services.
• The personalised public services pilot in the UK is to be spread further, with a 'personalisation toolkit' to be produced to help councils pool information on what works so others can redesign social care services.
People, culture & diversity:
• The newly established permanent Catholic-Muslim Forum will meet every 2 years, with the first to be held in Rome in November and future meetings alternating between the Vatican and a Muslim country.
• The Organisation of American States, a pan-regional body, held an emergency meeting in Washington to seek a diplomatic solution to the threat of war, as Venezuela and Ecuador sent troops to the Colombian border. Colombia is a key ally of the US in Latin America.
• Are children growing up too fast? Life for children and teenagers in previous decades meant that adults have actually been debating the question for longer than we realise.
Science, technology & transport:
• Professor John Adams of University College London believes that traffic lights should be banned (and stop signs, zebra crossings, kerbstones and railings), because he believes that they kill people. Many European cities now make use of a “shared space” approach to traffic management.
• Research in the UK shows that while 39% of the population aren’t online, 75% of disadvantaged people are “digitally excluded”. A project that provides training and recycled computers to families is showing that even after the course is over, Internet use in this group increases.
• NZ researchers have found that in spite of concerns that production of ethanol from NZ’s softwood forests would be too difficult technically & too expensive, generating biofuel in this way is an option.
• A vault built into a frozen mountain in a remote part of Norway is to house the Global Seed Vault, which will house duplicates of unique varieties of the world’s most important crops.
• A US Dept of Transportation interim report confirms the climate benefits gained by a community that uses bicycle and pedestrian travel.
• 500 million people are estimated to log onto the internet from a cyber café every day, and a European company, Jooce, is offering a free web-based desktop that could prove valuable for those who can't afford their own PC. A review has called it “close to being all a Web OS needs to be”.
• Proposals to introduce a compulsory motorway toll system in the UK, enforced by satellite tracking, have caused protest, but now discussions are around the idea of adding an extra lane to some motorways for drivers willing to pay a premium to use them, or for those willing to share a car.
• The Ask website (formerly Ask Jeeves) will no longer operate as a general search engine, but will become a female-focused online query specialist providing answers to domestic questions about health, children's homework, recipes and hobbies.
• Encrypted information on laptops may be vulnerable to hackers. US researchers have shown that while the PC is in “sleep” or “hibernation” mode, it is possible for a hacker to retrieve the encryption key from a laptop.
• Corporate “greenwash” concerns some leaders of industry and researchers, because it threatens the efforts of those companies that are taking steps to reduce emissions, mitigate climate change and minimize environmental destruction.
• The Centre for Housing Research has 2 new publications available, looking at the falling rate of home ownership in NZ. One trend noted, is the increasing tendency to buy homes further away from work, increasing the need for a long commute.
• We tend to think NZ is doing pretty well on a global scale in the travel and tourism industry, but the World Economic Forum’s “Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2008” only ranks NZ as 19th overall. Australia ranks 4th, the UK 6th and the US 7th.
• Specialist recruiting company Hays says that just over half the jobseekers in a recent Australasian survey, say that the number of women in their senior management team does not reflect the number in their business overall.
• The whistle-blowing website Wikileaks is fighting to regain its online status in the US.
• Women professionals in Britain are often forced into taking jobs well below their skill levels after they have had a baby, according to a recent survey on the impact of motherhood on careers.
• The UK Speaker of the House of Commons has been accused of using his (work) air miles for his family. The Institute of Business Ethics there, suggests that in company codes of ethics or conduct an employer should have specific rules for use of company "perks" in order to avoid confusion.
Education
• Surveys shows 1 in 5 children at primary school show severe antisocial behaviour, and 1 in 7 primary teachers report being physically assaulted by students.
• Computer gaming has become a way to learn skills about business, production and management, and to have fun in a very competitive environment, while getting the advice of real economists from around the world. Eve Online is a science fiction trading game that lets you build a corporation in a vast online universe of more than 5,000 solar systems distributed over 66 regions.
• A survey in the UK has found that bullying in UK schools is the worst in Europe , but the survey also found that more students in the UK are happier in school most of the time, than students in the rest of Europe.
Environment & sustainability:
• In southwest England, Totnes is the first of many “Transition Towns” in the UK, working to reduce the impact of peak oil and improve the sustainability of their region. Their TT model has 10 working groups, who cover transport, energy, food, arts, education, local government, business, economics and livelihood, and Heart and Soul (an area that they feel is often neglected). • Celsias have published the 2008 Unenvironment Awards, and Portfolio magazine from Conde Nast has published “The Toxic Ten” of the worst corporate polluters.
• The renewable energy industry is rapidly expanding and has doubled electric generating capacity since 2004, according to the Renewable Energy Network for the 21st Century (REN21). Details are available in their free report Renewables 2007 Global Status Report.
• Plug-in hybrid-electric cars (eg the Chevrolet Volt) in the United States may lower emissions in some parts of the country, but could increase them in others, because 49% of US electricity comes from coal-burning power plants.
• A survey conducted for the global strategy company SustainAbility shows that 75% of the 2100 people surveyed internationally view current efforts on sustainability by governments, businesses, and multilateral organizations as being “very or mostly inadequate.”
• A day before Leap Day, Victoria University announced that it had hatched tiny (no larger than your littlest fingernail) Maud Island frogs for the first time on the mainland – very timely in the International Year of the Frog.
• A University of Otago study shows that lobbying, poorly informed and vacillating politicians and a bureaucracy that lacked technical expertise are all reasons why it took 20 years for petrol in NZ to become unleaded.
Health & wellbeing:
• The Dept of Labour has released the report “Health and safety makes good business sense”, saying that amongst the obvious benefits, safe workplaces enhance corporate reputations and improve staff recruitment and retention.
• Bugs are good – and scientists researching the microbes that live in our digestive systems are discovering that microbes can influence more than just digestion. They may also affect your immunity, modulate your weight or keep you from losing bone density.
• Cutting the amount of television your kids watch really will mean they’ll be healthier and less fat.
Law & Government:
• A recent posting on the Urban Land blog argues the question as to whether a high population density results in a higher crime rate, especially in areas with high-rise buildings.
• Government in the UK is encouraging businesses to get involved with their local communities, offering advice and expertise to help communities to convert disused buildings into vibrant community centers.
• Also in the UK, the government is promoting the concept of lifetime design for housing with a national strategy: “Lifetime homes, lifetime neighbourhoods: a national strategy for housing in an ageing society.” Inclusive design, universal design or accessible design are alternative names overseas for this approach, but these are often associated solely with disability – lifetime design in the UK & in NZ is being seen as design including every person in the house, to cater for all ages and abilities.
• The UN survey 'Criminal Victimisation in International Perspective: Key Findings from the 2004-2005 ICVS and EU ICS” shows that NZ has the best victim support after a crime, globally. However, NZ is ranked highly in terms of the prevalence rate of “conventional crime” (theft from or of vehicles, burglary, and contact crime i.e. robbery, assault, threats or sexual offences).
• The Human Rights Commission has just launched the Race Relations Report 2007, and says that local body representation is not as diverse as the communities served.
• The UK Improvement and Development Agency (I&DeA) has put together a series of pages on city regions covering policy (local and international), key contacts and links to online resources and publications.
• Local authority winners in the UK Beacon Awards have just been announced. The awards celebrate innovation, excellence and quality local services, with the winners sharing £3m of government funding to expand their work in sharing best practice and to motivate further innovation across public services.
• The personalised public services pilot in the UK is to be spread further, with a 'personalisation toolkit' to be produced to help councils pool information on what works so others can redesign social care services.
People, culture & diversity:
• The newly established permanent Catholic-Muslim Forum will meet every 2 years, with the first to be held in Rome in November and future meetings alternating between the Vatican and a Muslim country.
• The Organisation of American States, a pan-regional body, held an emergency meeting in Washington to seek a diplomatic solution to the threat of war, as Venezuela and Ecuador sent troops to the Colombian border. Colombia is a key ally of the US in Latin America.
• Are children growing up too fast? Life for children and teenagers in previous decades meant that adults have actually been debating the question for longer than we realise.
Science, technology & transport:
• Professor John Adams of University College London believes that traffic lights should be banned (and stop signs, zebra crossings, kerbstones and railings), because he believes that they kill people. Many European cities now make use of a “shared space” approach to traffic management.
• Research in the UK shows that while 39% of the population aren’t online, 75% of disadvantaged people are “digitally excluded”. A project that provides training and recycled computers to families is showing that even after the course is over, Internet use in this group increases.
• NZ researchers have found that in spite of concerns that production of ethanol from NZ’s softwood forests would be too difficult technically & too expensive, generating biofuel in this way is an option.
• A vault built into a frozen mountain in a remote part of Norway is to house the Global Seed Vault, which will house duplicates of unique varieties of the world’s most important crops.
• A US Dept of Transportation interim report confirms the climate benefits gained by a community that uses bicycle and pedestrian travel.
• 500 million people are estimated to log onto the internet from a cyber café every day, and a European company, Jooce, is offering a free web-based desktop that could prove valuable for those who can't afford their own PC. A review has called it “close to being all a Web OS needs to be”.
• Proposals to introduce a compulsory motorway toll system in the UK, enforced by satellite tracking, have caused protest, but now discussions are around the idea of adding an extra lane to some motorways for drivers willing to pay a premium to use them, or for those willing to share a car.
• The Ask website (formerly Ask Jeeves) will no longer operate as a general search engine, but will become a female-focused online query specialist providing answers to domestic questions about health, children's homework, recipes and hobbies.
• Encrypted information on laptops may be vulnerable to hackers. US researchers have shown that while the PC is in “sleep” or “hibernation” mode, it is possible for a hacker to retrieve the encryption key from a laptop.
Friday, 29 February 2008
From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions (ending 28/02):
Business & management:
• 93% of cruise ship visitors surveyed are “very satisfied” or “extremely satisfied” with their experience of cruising in NZ.
Education
• Internet technology is transforming education, especially for universities needing to cut back on their budgets. Second Life is transforming the way academics teach the new generation of university students.
Environment & sustainability:
• Waitakere City has noticed a big increase in the number of cathode ray tube television sets being dumped, now that technology has moved on to flat screen TVs.
• People who would like to find out more about how to live in a sustainable way can attend a Sustainable Living course of evening study and be part of regional training events and a national network.
• One Plan for Auckland is the new initiative that will use greater collaboration amongst national, regional and local government. The aim is to set a clear direction for sustainable development, and it will build on the current strategic objectives that are set out in the Auckland Sustainability Framework.
• Climate change is going to have an impact on ¾ of the world’s key fishing grounds, which could affect up to 2.6 billion people in developing countries around the world who rely on seafood for their daily protein.
• A new Centre for Sustainable Cities was launched this week at the University of Otago after a seminar that brought together local and overseas experts.
• The government wants to get better information about water resources to improve sustainable management, by bringing in a standard that will measure the amount of water taken from rivers, lakes and aquifers.
Health & wellbeing:
• Techno addiction (to cell phones, PDAs, etc) is a growing phenomenon, and while in the early stages or addiction, a worker may seem to become more efficient, later on the addiction can seriously interfere with work.
• The Families Commission report “Elder abuse and neglect: exploration of risk and protective factors” is now available (2008 research report).
• NZ & overseas experts will be gathering to discuss how leaky buildings affect health at 2 workshops (in Wellington and Auckland). Discussions will concern older buildings as well as those involved in the current group of leaky building cases.
• A review of progress on the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing has prompted the UN to ask governments for more effort.
• A new WHO survey has found that drug resistant TB is at its highest rates ever – although NZ has a rate of less than 1%, rates in parts of China are just over 7%.
Law & Government:
• The UK consumer group Which? says that people are leaving themselves open to the risk of identity theft when using social networking sites.
• In spite of people’s perceptions, research shows that there has in fact been a drop in the incidence of crime over the last decade.
• The official UN estimates and projections of the urban, rural and city populations, the World Urbanization Prospects database has just had its 2007 revision released with a prediction that half the global population will be living in cities by the end of this year.
People, culture & diversity:
• Language diversity and the learning of languages has a strong foundation in NZ according to a recent Human Rights Commission report (and learning Maori is in the digital environment at institutions like AUT), but the International Year of Languages has just been launched by the UN with a warning that more than half of the world’s 6700 languages face extinction.
Science, technology & transport:
• The UK government has ordered a review of the future of broadband internet at a time when the industry there says the current telecoms infrastructure can’t cope with the increase in demand for services such as downloads of films, videos and music.
• The US Dept of Energy provides free access to the High Performance Buildings Database, which collects data about high performance green building projects. The database includes various factors that affect a building's performance, such as energy, materials, and land use & covers buildings mostly in the US, but also around the world. A recent Celsias blog posting highlights some of these.
• The Household Sustainability Benchmark Survey published this month by the Ministry for the Environment shows in the section on transport, that lack of convenience is one of the main reason NZers don’t make greater use of public transport
• 93% of cruise ship visitors surveyed are “very satisfied” or “extremely satisfied” with their experience of cruising in NZ.
Education
• Internet technology is transforming education, especially for universities needing to cut back on their budgets. Second Life is transforming the way academics teach the new generation of university students.
Environment & sustainability:
• Waitakere City has noticed a big increase in the number of cathode ray tube television sets being dumped, now that technology has moved on to flat screen TVs.
• People who would like to find out more about how to live in a sustainable way can attend a Sustainable Living course of evening study and be part of regional training events and a national network.
• One Plan for Auckland is the new initiative that will use greater collaboration amongst national, regional and local government. The aim is to set a clear direction for sustainable development, and it will build on the current strategic objectives that are set out in the Auckland Sustainability Framework.
• Climate change is going to have an impact on ¾ of the world’s key fishing grounds, which could affect up to 2.6 billion people in developing countries around the world who rely on seafood for their daily protein.
• A new Centre for Sustainable Cities was launched this week at the University of Otago after a seminar that brought together local and overseas experts.
• The government wants to get better information about water resources to improve sustainable management, by bringing in a standard that will measure the amount of water taken from rivers, lakes and aquifers.
Health & wellbeing:
• Techno addiction (to cell phones, PDAs, etc) is a growing phenomenon, and while in the early stages or addiction, a worker may seem to become more efficient, later on the addiction can seriously interfere with work.
• The Families Commission report “Elder abuse and neglect: exploration of risk and protective factors” is now available (2008 research report).
• NZ & overseas experts will be gathering to discuss how leaky buildings affect health at 2 workshops (in Wellington and Auckland). Discussions will concern older buildings as well as those involved in the current group of leaky building cases.
• A review of progress on the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing has prompted the UN to ask governments for more effort.
• A new WHO survey has found that drug resistant TB is at its highest rates ever – although NZ has a rate of less than 1%, rates in parts of China are just over 7%.
Law & Government:
• The UK consumer group Which? says that people are leaving themselves open to the risk of identity theft when using social networking sites.
• In spite of people’s perceptions, research shows that there has in fact been a drop in the incidence of crime over the last decade.
• The official UN estimates and projections of the urban, rural and city populations, the World Urbanization Prospects database has just had its 2007 revision released with a prediction that half the global population will be living in cities by the end of this year.
People, culture & diversity:
• Language diversity and the learning of languages has a strong foundation in NZ according to a recent Human Rights Commission report (and learning Maori is in the digital environment at institutions like AUT), but the International Year of Languages has just been launched by the UN with a warning that more than half of the world’s 6700 languages face extinction.
Science, technology & transport:
• The UK government has ordered a review of the future of broadband internet at a time when the industry there says the current telecoms infrastructure can’t cope with the increase in demand for services such as downloads of films, videos and music.
• The US Dept of Energy provides free access to the High Performance Buildings Database, which collects data about high performance green building projects. The database includes various factors that affect a building's performance, such as energy, materials, and land use & covers buildings mostly in the US, but also around the world. A recent Celsias blog posting highlights some of these.
• The Household Sustainability Benchmark Survey published this month by the Ministry for the Environment shows in the section on transport, that lack of convenience is one of the main reason NZers don’t make greater use of public transport
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