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.
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Thursday, 12 February 2009
From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions (ending 12/02):
Business & management:
• Surveys of US workers last year showed a significant changes in business travel and telecommuting trends, as a result of the surge in oil prices.
• A US design office has produced a model of innovation that is based around changing paradigms and shows the process of transforming old into new.
• A recent Forbes article describes how US corporations are fighting back when local lobby groups want to prevent developments. The corporations hire consulting groups who use ex-political campaign managers to fight zoning battles.
• Debate about the best way to move economies out of recession continues. One UK commentator believes that the “third sector”, ie the voluntary and community sector, is no longer a marginal part of the UK economy and has turned out to be much more agile in helping communities and people get by in past recessions.
• The NZ Institute of Economic Research has just released a report on food miles and NZ’s exports as well as other countries exports. Both developed and developing country food exporters are likely to suffer economic losses if food miles are the basis for food purchasing decisions in Europe.
• Executive compensation and corporate social responsibility is a hot topic around the world as a result of the recession. A new book on what’s behind the most visible green brands, talks about the policy on this at clothing company Nau.
• A US national survey has found that half of consumers are buying just as many green products now as they did before the economic downturn began. Another report from a management consultancy also shows that firms with "true commitment to sustainability" outperform industry peers in the financial markets, even in the current crisis, and another shows that the interest from investors in corporate climate change information has grown by nearly 25 percent this year.
• Positive Deviance is solving problems by looking, and thinking, about how we act, rather than acting upon how we think. Companies that decide not to suspend their sustainability programmes as a result of the recession, may be acting with positive deviance.
Education
• UK students are being urged to take lower-skilled jobs or do voluntary work when they graduate this summer, after a poll of employers revealed widespread cuts in graduate recruitment.
• Even in the US, the belief that a degree is “a sure-fire path to a life of social and economic privilege” is changing. The amount that college graduates earn over non-graduates has remained relatively constant over the past five years, but the cost of acquiring a degree has risen at twice the rate of inflation.
• An American inventor who plans to live forever has been appointed head of a new school for future entrepreneurs backed by Google and the US space agency, NASA.
• A project funded by the European Commission is looking at the right way to integrate e-learning into the higher education system in Croatia. A recent newsletter includes interviews with other experts on the situation around the rest of Europe (including the e-learning advisor for Massey’s College of Education).
• A researcher believes that the combination of physical reality, virtual reality and imaginary reality and the resulting new immersive learning environments, is the future of education.
• An influential figure with the (previous) Blair government is suggesting that schools in urban areas should become the centers of their communities, in constant use by adults as well as children.
• New UK research suggests that babies looked after by their grandparents while their mothers are out at work are less ready for school than if they went to nurseries or crèches.
• A UNESCO discussion taking place during February about Access to Open Educational Resources provides a comprehensive list of barriers to access – ability and skills, formats, language, culture, disability, awareness, discovery, etc.
Environment & sustainability:
• Hundreds of millions of South Asians face growing water stress due to over exploitation, climate change and inadequate cooperation among countries. This all threatens river basins that sustain about half of the region’s 1.5 billion people.
• Climate change is about to cause a major upheaval in the shallow marine waters of Antarctica. Predatory crabs are poised to return to warming Antarctic waters and disrupt the primeval marine communities.
• A NZ scientist believes that NZ is not tapping our world-class solar resources. He believes government subsidies encouraging solar power generation are needed if we are to make the most of our sun.
• Perth is a city with declining fresh water input. The city has already made use of seawater to supply the deficit, and is intending to open its second desalination plan in 2011.
• Distributed energy generation can be likened to the Internet electricity produced from many small energy sources for use around the whole network.-
• A report from a UK power company, suggests that half the country’s homes could be heated by biogas from waste. And in the US, an assessment of the "electric productivity" of the 50 states indicates that shoring up performance gaps through energy efficiency could not only cut consumption by 30 percent, but also eliminate the need for more than 60 percent of coal-fired generation.
• A European conference on climate change and urban design was an opportunity to impress on sceptics the dangers of urban sprawl. The built environment is responsible for more than half of greenhouse gases, and low-density building s worst of all.
• The collapse of the Western Antarctic ice sheet would mean sea levels rising, but the impact on coastlines in some parts of the world would be much worse than previously thought.
Health & wellbeing:
• Google has announced the launch of a dedicated New Zealand page containing online safety and security tips, as well as a New Zealand safety centre on YouTube.
• In a survey for the NZ Food Industry Group, research showed over 54 per cent of those asked were concerned about overweight problems for themselves or their family and, of these, 73% were taking various actions.
• Researchers at Durham University have modified a video game and turned it into a fire drill simulator.
Law & Government:
• A new council assessment regime will ensure that UK councils have a firm focus on hard local issues specific to their area. The new system is intended to ensure councils and other local services are held to account jointly, encouraging closer cooperation between them and better outcomes for local people.
• The City of Victoria, British Columbia, has created a Department of Sustainability that will focus on providing professional expertise in dealing with a wide range of social, environmental and economic/fiscal sustainability issues.
• A UK council has made the unpopular decision to close 11 public libraries, because it is uneconomical to support their libraries without raising the council tax.
• A bill is to be introduced to the UK parliament that proposes making it a statutory requirement for schools to form children's trusts that bring together schools and social services to improve the safety of all children in England.
People, culture & diversity:
• A new psychology study suggests that buying life experiences rather than material possessions leads to greater happiness for both the consumer and those around them.
• A recent survey showed that tattoos are now a turn-off for Australians aged between 18 and 70. In NZ, 1 in 5 people in a survey have been tattooed, and 22% of NZ women in the survey had tattoos, compared to 17% of men.
• A new manifesto to make UK museums more family-friendly has been released. The Kids in Museums Manifesto includes basics such as museum attendants should be stopped from "shushing" children and displays should be hung low enough for youngsters to see properly.
Science, technology & transport:
• The use of robotics is not normally associated with disasters, but the US Center for Robotic-Assisted Search and Rescue aims at promoting the idea that intelligent robots could help save lives at disaster sites.
• ULI’s Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing has released a report on the tradeoffs in transportation and housing costs that consumers in the Washington, D.C. region incur when they move to far-flung areas in search of more affordable housing. ULI’s Worldwide President says that the report could be easily applied to virtually any high-cost urban area in the United States.
• The EU is to make tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) mandatory in 2012. The measure is intended to improve vehicle safety, but also to reduce CO2 emissions.
• Masdar city in Abu Dhabi is introducing personal rapid transit “pod cars” that will run along the ground, rather than on the usual suspended monorail.
• Surveys of US workers last year showed a significant changes in business travel and telecommuting trends, as a result of the surge in oil prices.
• A US design office has produced a model of innovation that is based around changing paradigms and shows the process of transforming old into new.
• A recent Forbes article describes how US corporations are fighting back when local lobby groups want to prevent developments. The corporations hire consulting groups who use ex-political campaign managers to fight zoning battles.
• Debate about the best way to move economies out of recession continues. One UK commentator believes that the “third sector”, ie the voluntary and community sector, is no longer a marginal part of the UK economy and has turned out to be much more agile in helping communities and people get by in past recessions.
• The NZ Institute of Economic Research has just released a report on food miles and NZ’s exports as well as other countries exports. Both developed and developing country food exporters are likely to suffer economic losses if food miles are the basis for food purchasing decisions in Europe.
• Executive compensation and corporate social responsibility is a hot topic around the world as a result of the recession. A new book on what’s behind the most visible green brands, talks about the policy on this at clothing company Nau.
• A US national survey has found that half of consumers are buying just as many green products now as they did before the economic downturn began. Another report from a management consultancy also shows that firms with "true commitment to sustainability" outperform industry peers in the financial markets, even in the current crisis, and another shows that the interest from investors in corporate climate change information has grown by nearly 25 percent this year.
• Positive Deviance is solving problems by looking, and thinking, about how we act, rather than acting upon how we think. Companies that decide not to suspend their sustainability programmes as a result of the recession, may be acting with positive deviance.
Education
• UK students are being urged to take lower-skilled jobs or do voluntary work when they graduate this summer, after a poll of employers revealed widespread cuts in graduate recruitment.
• Even in the US, the belief that a degree is “a sure-fire path to a life of social and economic privilege” is changing. The amount that college graduates earn over non-graduates has remained relatively constant over the past five years, but the cost of acquiring a degree has risen at twice the rate of inflation.
• An American inventor who plans to live forever has been appointed head of a new school for future entrepreneurs backed by Google and the US space agency, NASA.
• A project funded by the European Commission is looking at the right way to integrate e-learning into the higher education system in Croatia. A recent newsletter includes interviews with other experts on the situation around the rest of Europe (including the e-learning advisor for Massey’s College of Education).
• A researcher believes that the combination of physical reality, virtual reality and imaginary reality and the resulting new immersive learning environments, is the future of education.
• An influential figure with the (previous) Blair government is suggesting that schools in urban areas should become the centers of their communities, in constant use by adults as well as children.
• New UK research suggests that babies looked after by their grandparents while their mothers are out at work are less ready for school than if they went to nurseries or crèches.
• A UNESCO discussion taking place during February about Access to Open Educational Resources provides a comprehensive list of barriers to access – ability and skills, formats, language, culture, disability, awareness, discovery, etc.
Environment & sustainability:
• Hundreds of millions of South Asians face growing water stress due to over exploitation, climate change and inadequate cooperation among countries. This all threatens river basins that sustain about half of the region’s 1.5 billion people.
• Climate change is about to cause a major upheaval in the shallow marine waters of Antarctica. Predatory crabs are poised to return to warming Antarctic waters and disrupt the primeval marine communities.
• A NZ scientist believes that NZ is not tapping our world-class solar resources. He believes government subsidies encouraging solar power generation are needed if we are to make the most of our sun.
• Perth is a city with declining fresh water input. The city has already made use of seawater to supply the deficit, and is intending to open its second desalination plan in 2011.
• Distributed energy generation can be likened to the Internet electricity produced from many small energy sources for use around the whole network.-
• A report from a UK power company, suggests that half the country’s homes could be heated by biogas from waste. And in the US, an assessment of the "electric productivity" of the 50 states indicates that shoring up performance gaps through energy efficiency could not only cut consumption by 30 percent, but also eliminate the need for more than 60 percent of coal-fired generation.
• A European conference on climate change and urban design was an opportunity to impress on sceptics the dangers of urban sprawl. The built environment is responsible for more than half of greenhouse gases, and low-density building s worst of all.
• The collapse of the Western Antarctic ice sheet would mean sea levels rising, but the impact on coastlines in some parts of the world would be much worse than previously thought.
Health & wellbeing:
• Google has announced the launch of a dedicated New Zealand page containing online safety and security tips, as well as a New Zealand safety centre on YouTube.
• In a survey for the NZ Food Industry Group, research showed over 54 per cent of those asked were concerned about overweight problems for themselves or their family and, of these, 73% were taking various actions.
• Researchers at Durham University have modified a video game and turned it into a fire drill simulator.
Law & Government:
• A new council assessment regime will ensure that UK councils have a firm focus on hard local issues specific to their area. The new system is intended to ensure councils and other local services are held to account jointly, encouraging closer cooperation between them and better outcomes for local people.
• The City of Victoria, British Columbia, has created a Department of Sustainability that will focus on providing professional expertise in dealing with a wide range of social, environmental and economic/fiscal sustainability issues.
• A UK council has made the unpopular decision to close 11 public libraries, because it is uneconomical to support their libraries without raising the council tax.
• A bill is to be introduced to the UK parliament that proposes making it a statutory requirement for schools to form children's trusts that bring together schools and social services to improve the safety of all children in England.
People, culture & diversity:
• A new psychology study suggests that buying life experiences rather than material possessions leads to greater happiness for both the consumer and those around them.
• A recent survey showed that tattoos are now a turn-off for Australians aged between 18 and 70. In NZ, 1 in 5 people in a survey have been tattooed, and 22% of NZ women in the survey had tattoos, compared to 17% of men.
• A new manifesto to make UK museums more family-friendly has been released. The Kids in Museums Manifesto includes basics such as museum attendants should be stopped from "shushing" children and displays should be hung low enough for youngsters to see properly.
Science, technology & transport:
• The use of robotics is not normally associated with disasters, but the US Center for Robotic-Assisted Search and Rescue aims at promoting the idea that intelligent robots could help save lives at disaster sites.
• ULI’s Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing has released a report on the tradeoffs in transportation and housing costs that consumers in the Washington, D.C. region incur when they move to far-flung areas in search of more affordable housing. ULI’s Worldwide President says that the report could be easily applied to virtually any high-cost urban area in the United States.
• The EU is to make tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) mandatory in 2012. The measure is intended to improve vehicle safety, but also to reduce CO2 emissions.
• Masdar city in Abu Dhabi is introducing personal rapid transit “pod cars” that will run along the ground, rather than on the usual suspended monorail.
Thursday, 5 February 2009
From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions (ending 05/02):
Business & management:
• In the recession in Britain, a trend is appearing of older workers above 50 being made redundant first, ahead of younger workers. A documentary due for broadcast next week, shows the higher impact that ageism is having on older employees during tough times.
• The European Union (EU) is calling for both airlines and shipping to be included in a global emissions trading plan intended as a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
• The US Center for Sustainable Innovation has produced a resource that enables companies to measure their water footprint.
• The 2009 Global 100 list of the most sustainable corporations was released at the Davos World Economic Forum.
Education
• Academic Earth is “an organization founded with the goal of giving everyone on earth access to a world class education”. Videos of lectures on every subject from universities around the world are posted on the site for anyone to view.
• An article from the Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, discusses the design of effective e-learning.
• Universities in Europe are also moving in the direction of open content for learning, “which could blow away the division between university students and the rest of the population”.
Environment & sustainability:
• An FAO expert says farmers will have to move away from conventional intensive farming methods over the next 40 years to grow enough food to meet the demands of a growing population and respond to climate change.
• The decision to suspend the implementation of London’s low emission zone is causing concern about air quality in the city. In addition, the European Commission has just started infringement proceedings against the UK for failing to comply with levels (in the air) of particulate matter.
• Conserving areas of bush and forest in cities is essential to the conservation of New Zealand's wasp species, according to research from Victoria University.
• A new study suggests that increasing greenhouse gases could delay, or even postpone indefinitely, the recovery of stratospheric ozone in some regions of the Earth.
• Scientists grading the 53 major fishing nations on how their intentions matched actions in complying with the UN international code of conduct, have discovered that more than 40% of the world's fishing is carried out unsustainably and largely in defiance of such codes.
Health & wellbeing:
• “Feeling Good About Where We Live” is an initiative by the London Borough of Greenwich. It focuses on improving local people's environment and living space with the hope that it will lead to improved mental health.
• A UK think tank has warned that millions of people in the UK who rely on social care risk becoming “second class citizens” unless their rights are protected by an NHS-style Constitution.
• Teenagers who smoke could be setting themselves up for depression later in life, according to a groundbreaking new Florida State University study.
• Australians may risk expanding the range of the mosquito that carries dengue fever, with changed water storage behaviour. "Water tanks and other water storage vessels such as modified wheelie bins are potential breeding sites for this disease-bearing mosquito.”
• Some biofuels cause more health problems than petrol and diesel, according to scientists who have calculated the health costs associated with different types of fuel.
• US scientists say that chemicals commonly found in food packaging, upholstery and carpets may be damaging women's fertility.
• A senior family planning official in China has noted an alarming rise in the number of babies with birth defects, saying environmental pollution was a cause of the increase.
Law & Government:
• A major report has been released in the UK on the impact of the credit crunch on regeneration that has been ongoing over the last decade.
• A UK study on community ownership and management of assets, reviewed existing evidence to explore the scale of community ownership in the UK, the benefits and outcomes that arise from it, and differing international approaches.
• ERMA New Zealand is calling for public submissions on a proposal to bring the requirements for possessing explosives into line with the requirements for possession of firearms, cyanide, and certain other high risk substances.
• US cities are increasingly trying to improve public awareness of environmental issues by providing electronic tools. Denver, Colorado has used a pilot test program that uses telemetry technology to send information about CO2 emissions and the cost of excess fuel consumed to drivers over the Internet.
People, culture & diversity:
• 'Change from Experience' is a report on a partnership set up in the UK to test how migrant and refugee community organisations could change policies and practices that are crucial to the lives of their communities.
• A charity allied to the Church of England in the UK, has released a report that suggests that the wellbeing of millions of children across Britain is being damaged by adults' aggressive pursuit of personal success.
Science, technology & transport:
• An Australian CSIRO report “Fuel for thought – The future of transport fuels: challenges and opportunities” discusses a range of plausible scenarios for the future of transport fuels in Australia.
• Late last year, the Ireland government set a target of 10% of all vehicles in the transport fleet to be powered by electricity by 2020, i.e. about 250,000 vehicles over the next 12 years.
• The Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to require businesses owning 200 or more vehicles to have at least 5% of their fleets as fuel efficient vehicles from 2011.
• Hybrid vehicles combine the danger of 300 to 500 volts with a gas tank of fuel, meaning that emergency staff (police, fire, ambulance, etc) have an added complication to their work when such a vehicle crashes.
• An Arizona company is going into production this year with a velomobile – a vehicle that solves the cyclist’s wet weather dilemma while travelling faster than a bicycle can, but still using pedal power.
• In two Tokyo train stations, steps are under way to generate electricity from the floors of the ticket gates and staircases. If successful, passengers could help provide the train stations with 1,400 kilowatts per second each day.
• Oslo City Council has decided that biomethane, a by-product of treated sewage, will run 200 of the city’s public buses.
• In the recession in Britain, a trend is appearing of older workers above 50 being made redundant first, ahead of younger workers. A documentary due for broadcast next week, shows the higher impact that ageism is having on older employees during tough times.
• The European Union (EU) is calling for both airlines and shipping to be included in a global emissions trading plan intended as a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
• The US Center for Sustainable Innovation has produced a resource that enables companies to measure their water footprint.
• The 2009 Global 100 list of the most sustainable corporations was released at the Davos World Economic Forum.
Education
• Academic Earth is “an organization founded with the goal of giving everyone on earth access to a world class education”. Videos of lectures on every subject from universities around the world are posted on the site for anyone to view.
• An article from the Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, discusses the design of effective e-learning.
• Universities in Europe are also moving in the direction of open content for learning, “which could blow away the division between university students and the rest of the population”.
Environment & sustainability:
• An FAO expert says farmers will have to move away from conventional intensive farming methods over the next 40 years to grow enough food to meet the demands of a growing population and respond to climate change.
• The decision to suspend the implementation of London’s low emission zone is causing concern about air quality in the city. In addition, the European Commission has just started infringement proceedings against the UK for failing to comply with levels (in the air) of particulate matter.
• Conserving areas of bush and forest in cities is essential to the conservation of New Zealand's wasp species, according to research from Victoria University.
• A new study suggests that increasing greenhouse gases could delay, or even postpone indefinitely, the recovery of stratospheric ozone in some regions of the Earth.
• Scientists grading the 53 major fishing nations on how their intentions matched actions in complying with the UN international code of conduct, have discovered that more than 40% of the world's fishing is carried out unsustainably and largely in defiance of such codes.
Health & wellbeing:
• “Feeling Good About Where We Live” is an initiative by the London Borough of Greenwich. It focuses on improving local people's environment and living space with the hope that it will lead to improved mental health.
• A UK think tank has warned that millions of people in the UK who rely on social care risk becoming “second class citizens” unless their rights are protected by an NHS-style Constitution.
• Teenagers who smoke could be setting themselves up for depression later in life, according to a groundbreaking new Florida State University study.
• Australians may risk expanding the range of the mosquito that carries dengue fever, with changed water storage behaviour. "Water tanks and other water storage vessels such as modified wheelie bins are potential breeding sites for this disease-bearing mosquito.”
• Some biofuels cause more health problems than petrol and diesel, according to scientists who have calculated the health costs associated with different types of fuel.
• US scientists say that chemicals commonly found in food packaging, upholstery and carpets may be damaging women's fertility.
• A senior family planning official in China has noted an alarming rise in the number of babies with birth defects, saying environmental pollution was a cause of the increase.
Law & Government:
• A major report has been released in the UK on the impact of the credit crunch on regeneration that has been ongoing over the last decade.
• A UK study on community ownership and management of assets, reviewed existing evidence to explore the scale of community ownership in the UK, the benefits and outcomes that arise from it, and differing international approaches.
• ERMA New Zealand is calling for public submissions on a proposal to bring the requirements for possessing explosives into line with the requirements for possession of firearms, cyanide, and certain other high risk substances.
• US cities are increasingly trying to improve public awareness of environmental issues by providing electronic tools. Denver, Colorado has used a pilot test program that uses telemetry technology to send information about CO2 emissions and the cost of excess fuel consumed to drivers over the Internet.
People, culture & diversity:
• 'Change from Experience' is a report on a partnership set up in the UK to test how migrant and refugee community organisations could change policies and practices that are crucial to the lives of their communities.
• A charity allied to the Church of England in the UK, has released a report that suggests that the wellbeing of millions of children across Britain is being damaged by adults' aggressive pursuit of personal success.
Science, technology & transport:
• An Australian CSIRO report “Fuel for thought – The future of transport fuels: challenges and opportunities” discusses a range of plausible scenarios for the future of transport fuels in Australia.
• Late last year, the Ireland government set a target of 10% of all vehicles in the transport fleet to be powered by electricity by 2020, i.e. about 250,000 vehicles over the next 12 years.
• The Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to require businesses owning 200 or more vehicles to have at least 5% of their fleets as fuel efficient vehicles from 2011.
• Hybrid vehicles combine the danger of 300 to 500 volts with a gas tank of fuel, meaning that emergency staff (police, fire, ambulance, etc) have an added complication to their work when such a vehicle crashes.
• An Arizona company is going into production this year with a velomobile – a vehicle that solves the cyclist’s wet weather dilemma while travelling faster than a bicycle can, but still using pedal power.
• In two Tokyo train stations, steps are under way to generate electricity from the floors of the ticket gates and staircases. If successful, passengers could help provide the train stations with 1,400 kilowatts per second each day.
• Oslo City Council has decided that biomethane, a by-product of treated sewage, will run 200 of the city’s public buses.
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