How to be sucessful_5 points to sucess _ Pinned from Pinterest

In a nut shell.  

Commitment,Courage,Confidence,Certainty,Consistency 

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Peter Senge author of the Learning Organisation

Infed on The Learning Organisation

Pour les lectures de langue Française (FR)

(La pensée systèmique de Peter Senge - BlogActiv.eu)

Society for Organizational Learning_P. Senge (En)

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'Sustainable' tropical timber trade a misnomer, says environmental group

The production and trade in 'sustainable' timber products in Southeast Asia is mostly 'a mirage' due to questionable forestry practices and loopholes in import regulations, alleges a new report from Friends of the Earth International. 

The report, ‘Sustainable’ tropical timber production, trade and procurement', focuses on logging in Malaysia and timber import laws in Japan, South Korea, and Australia. It says declining timber production in Malaysia shows that current management practices are inherently unsustainable, depleting future generations of natural resources. Worse is the environmental damage being wrought to the region's rich forests and the deprivations suffered by indigenous communities, especially in the state of Sarawak, where forest dwellers have been forced off their traditional lands. "We are witnessing a global depletion of natural timber resources and sustainable tropical timber remains essentially a mirage," said Meenakshi Raman, Honorary Secretary of Friends of the Earth Malaysia, in a statement. While several key importing nations seem to have in place regulations that would protect against such abuses, the report argues they have have not "resulted in meaningful changes on the ground". A chief issue has been a focus on legality of timber supplies, rather than safeguarding human rights or ensuring sustainability. "A disproportionate amount of emphasis seems to have been focused on eliminating the trade of illegal timber, at the expense of the efforts to ensure the sustainable production and consumption of tropical timber products," states the report. "Consumer countries have also failed to reduce their tropical timber consumption levels to more sustainable levels." "For policy to be able to address the reality on the ground, it cannot afford to ignore systemic corruption, the violations of human rights as well as unsustainable production and consumption patterns," says the report. "Policy has to be fully grounded on governance transparency and a real understanding on the ecology of natural resources as well as the human lives it affects." 





CITATION Friends of the Earth (2013). From policy to reality: ‘Sustainable’ tropical timber production, trade and procurement. 


'Sustainable' tropical timber trade a misnomer, says group

 Read more at Mongabay...

Why a watermelon tells you what's wrong with the climate debate - Zunia.org

Here is a rpiece I like written by the Guardian, UK science and environment editor  James Randerson of The Guardian,UK  The Guardian.com, Wednesday 11 September 2013.

Watermelon is a word that tells you what is wrong with the climate change debate. 

The right believes the agenda is green on the outside but red on the inside – we must take the political poison out of the debate

"For some libertarians, it is the insult that expresses what greenies and climate scientists are really up to. Behind all the acronyms and the jargon, they say, is a conspiracy to promote a nakedly political aim – anti-big business; anti-free market; pro-tax increases. In short, green on the outside but red on the inside.

The full conspiracy theory requires an impressive degree of paranoia, but one of the reasons the jibe is so persistent is that, if we're honest, there is a grain of truth to it – at least among some in the green movement and on the left.

Many of the policy responses to the climate change problem – consume less, regulate businesses, curb big oil and coal, restrict car use – feel more comfortable to those on the left than the right of the political spectrum. And as a result, right-leaning politicians and thinkers are in danger of losing grip on the most important issue of our age. That has already happened in large measure in America. It would be disastrous if it happened in the UK too. 

This is the backdrop to the parliamentary science and technology select committee's inquiry into the communication of climate science, to which I (J.Randerson) gave evidence on Monday. The Met Office is being questioned on Wednesday. The MPs on the committee are trying to get to the bottom of why the public is still confused about climate science when the core science has been pretty clear for years. The thrust of many of their questions was "what could the media be doing better to communicate the science?"

While the precise impacts and timescale of climate change may be uncertain, the basic tenets are well-established science. The projections from climate scientists indicate that there is a significant risk of profound changes to climate if we continue to release greenhouse gases at the current rate.
 
The elephant in the room at the parliamentary inquiry though has been that, consciously or not, there are people on all sides of the climate debate who argue backwards from a cultural or political position. As a result, arguments about the science of climate change become a proxy for what is really a political argument. If you like the prescription, then you embrace the diagnosis. If you don't, you undermine the diagnosis or attack the doctor.

But if it was just a question of putting across complex science to a lay readership whose attention must be grabbed from the numerous other shiny news stories on offer that would be, if not easy, at least no harder than your average science story. Science journalists' stock in trade is making unfamiliar ideas intelligible, compelling, relevant and entertaining. And let's face it, climate science may be complex, but the Higgs boson is harder to grasp than global warming.

REFERENCES:

Why a watermelon tells you what's wrong with the climate debate - Zunia.org

Full article by James Randerson of The Guardian, Environment, 2013/sep/11/Climate-Debate

Green economy: Will it ever be people, planet and profit? - Zunia.org

Green growth and higher standards of living imply rising consumption of resources, food, and energy.

It follows that countries must also introduce fundamental changes in patterns of consumption, technology, and agriculture to ensure a sustainable future for their growing populations.



Such developments have begun in particular regions in countries and then spread outwards, as in Brazil and India.

Two recent examples of the importance of sustainability for economic growth are given below: 

1. During last year's massive floods in Thailand, exacerbated by global warming, which disrupted the country's car industry with knock-on effects for international supply chains. 

2.In Asia, this year, there have been several examples of severe air pollution in cities spreading over hundreds of kilometres. This disrupted both economic activity and affected the health of millions.

The move towards green growth (is already an immense challenge in our developped countries so "needless to say"?) that in developing countries poses extraordinary challenges for experts and decision makers because of the greater need to address the costs of natural risks and environmental and industrial safety, and large variations and unpredictability in global trade. These challenges are forcing the need in developing countries for speedy but different reforms appropriate to their societies and institutions, although this strategic aspect of development is seldom discussed at meetings of legislators and governments.

REFERENCES:

Green economy: Will it ever be people, planet and profit? - Zunia.org

SOURCE: The Guardian_global-development-professionals-network/2013/sep/17/green-economy-development-policy-china

Why India trails China by AMARTYA SEN, Nobel laureate Economics, Professor of Economics and Philosophy,Harvard Univ.

Failing to invest in the health and education of the poor is a drag on economic growth

AMARTYA SEN,  Nobel laureate Economics, Professor of Economics and Philosophy,Harvard

REFERENCES :

International Herald Tribune free at Paris Air Show Le Bourget

World Bank Blog submitted by Merrell Tuck-Primdahl

Quality of Life_India-vs-China by Amartya Sen

What China Could Teach India, Then and Now, Amartya Sen

Amartya Sen on China vs. India

Modern India is, in many ways, a success. Its claim to be the world’s largest democracy is not hollow. Its media is vibrant and free; Indians buy more newspapers every day than any other nation. Since independence in 1947, life expectancy at birth has more than doubled, to 66 years from 32, and per-capita income has grown fivefold. In recent decades, reforms pushed up the country’s once sluggish growth rate to around 8 percent per year, before it fell back a couple of percentage points over the last two years. For years, India’s economic growth rate ranked second among the world’s large economies, after China, which it has consistently trailed by at least one percentage point.

MSMDNYC

The hope that India might overtake China one day in economic growth now seems a distant one. But that comparison is not what should worry Indians most. The far greater gap between India and China is in the provision of essential public services — a failing that depresses living standards and is a persistent drag on growth.

Inequality is high in both countries, but China has done far more than India to raise life expectancy, expand general education and secure health care for its people. India has elite schools of varying degrees of excellence for the privileged, but among all Indians 7 or older, nearly one in every five males and one in every three females are illiterate. And most schools are of low quality; less than half the children can divide 20 by 5, even after four years of schooling.

India may be the world’s largest producer of generic medicine, but its health care system is an unregulated mess. The poor have to rely on low-quality — and sometimes exploitative — private medical care, because there isn’t enough decent public care. While China devotes 2.7 percent of its gross domestic product to government spending on health care, India allots 1.2 percent.

India’s underperformance can be traced to a failure to learn from the examples of so-called Asian economic development, in which rapid expansion of human capability is both a goal in itself and an integral element in achieving rapid growth. Japan pioneered that approach, starting after the Meiji Restoration in 1868, when it resolved to achieve a fully literate society within a few decades. As Kido Takayoshi, a leader of that reform, explained: ‘‘Our people are no different from the Americans or Europeans of today; it is all a matter of education or lack of education.’’ Through investments in education and health care, Japan enhanced living standards and labor productivity — the government collaborating with the market.

Despite the catastrophe of Japan’s war years, the lessons of its development experience remained and were followed, in the postwar period, by South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and other economies in East Asia. China, which during the Mao era made advances in land reform and basic education and health care, embarked on market reforms in the early 1980s; its huge success changed the shape of the world economy. India has paid inadequate attention to these lessons.

Is there a conundrum here that democratic India has done worse than China in educating its citizens and improving their health? Perhaps, but the puzzle need not be a brainteaser. Democratic participation, free expression and rule of law are largely realities in India, and still largely aspirations in China. India has not had a famine since independence, while China had the largest famine in recorded history, from 1958 to 1961, when Mao’s disastrous Great Leap Forward killed some 30 million people. Nevertheless, using democratic means to remedy endemic problems — chronic undernourishment, a disorganized medical system or dysfunctional school systems — demands sustained deliberation, political engagement, media coverage, popular pressure. In short, more democratic process, not less.

In China, decision making takes place at the top. The country’s leaders are skeptical, if not hostile, with regard to multiparty democracy, but they have been strongly committed to eliminating hunger, illiteracy and medical neglect, and that is enormously to their credit.

There are inevitable fragilities in a nondemocratic system because mistakes are hard to correct. Dissent is dangerous. There is little recourse for victims of injustice. Edicts like the onechild policy can be very harsh. Still, China’s present leaders have used the basic approach of accelerating development by expanding human capability with great decisiveness and skill.

The case for combating inequality in India is not only a matter of social justice. Unlike India, China did not miss the huge lesson of Asian economic development, about the economic returns that come from bettering human lives. India’s growth and its earnings from exports have tended to depend on a few sectors, like information technology, pharmaceuticals and specialized auto parts, many of which rely on the role of highly trained personnel from the welleducated classes. For India to match China in its range of manufacturing capacity, it needs a better-educated and healthier labor force at all levels of society. What it needs most is more knowledge and public discussion about the nature and the huge extent of inequality and its damaging consequences, including for economic growth.

AMARTYA SEN, a Nobel laureate, is a professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard. He is the author, with Jean Drèze, of ‘‘An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions.’’

Sustainability Management Academics & Sage's Journal "Organization & Environment"

Getting to grips with Environmental Impact is by Nature, (with a capital N) a truely millenium challenge this is the place to post. (Note in passing the incredible foresight of the MacMillan brothers when they created in 1860 their now famous Science Journal Nature-Timeline)

As the 2nd issue in 2013 of Sage's Journal Organization & Environment has just arrived in my mail in box, I will share the freely available content with my regular management blog readers at "This-Above-All."

Here is the Editorial address of this years 2nd issue addressing Academics in these fields
Sustainability Management Academics

The "Public Debt Issue_Who is in debt & to Whom? plus questions of probity concerning elected members of the French Assembly(Deputés) or Senate(Senateurs)

For my bilingual readers here is a video link to the enquiry reported by Elise Lucet of France's F2-Antenne 2  public television.

Subject: Tax Evasion or Tax Optimisation or more to be more specific MINIMISATION
NB. Of course the CFO's-Chief Financial Officer's job is to maximise financial leverage and ensure money is well spent within the company, but there is something called "good will", apparently long forgotten. The public must question what this entails and what the company owes the public (customers) and the country (reputation, renown..) eg. the private assets of Greece outlay the Greek public debt!)      

Summary: In 2008 a computer expert at HSBC bank in Geneva, Hervé Falciani, left the bank with a long  list of clients world wide notably those who are strongly suspected of Tax Fraud. The list was in the form of three hard discs, at current data storage performance, that's a lot of data.

Mr Falciani is accused of stealing this data by the Switzerland Justice Department, he apparently has been menaced by death and placed under police protection.

The TV enquiry is also looks at companies implanted in France which are seen to be pushing the limits between Tax Optimisation and Fraud.

Such an enquiry is particularly timely since all Europeans, and certainly in France, are under increasing pressure to "make efforts" to bring our Economies into Equilibrium.

As in all well managed affairs, private business or public affairs the example must come from the top, the "so called leaders".

LEADERSHIP IN QUESTION and I do not intend to do any French President Bashing

Today good leadership is more and more questionable. In spite of the encouraging start to french president F. Hollands reduction in salary -30% (NB. N.Sarkosy increased his presidential salary by something like 140% "I won the battle and take the spoils"? There are of course other factors to be looked into in order to determine the salaried and perks of all elected representatives in total transparence in order to have the clout to change what must be changed)

Even more flagrant is the still apparently excessive and shady treatment attributed-co-opted in the boardrooms of  directors of CAC 40 (40 top companies and their top brass, and collaborators, many of whom may hide behind their financial directors or quality assurance directors in the case of accusation of "fraudulent" behaviour.

This blog author wrote and published in particular:

TWO CASE STUDIES

Two examples of companies present in France were highlighted:
Amazon & BAT British & American Tobacco
Of course pillar of "EU ism" Luxembourg is a main player in this "fraud- tax minimisation"
Amazon have unfair advantage over the small librarian-bookseller.
Having seen this TV programme I shall take Amazon's publicity from my blogs.
BAT is another kettle of fish - Tobacco smoking is proven to be  responsible for a greatly  increased probability of lung cancer, arterial damage and heart failure risk. What motivated me to blog and add my voice to echo this TV enquiry was the present of 3 elected members wined and dinned by BAT
 (one cannot say at BAT's expense since we know where the bribe money comes from, ie the poor cigarette addict.)
while France is actively engaged in increasing tax on cigarettes in order to encourage people to stop smoking (my comment or help finance the cost of cancer care and if possible cure).
M. André Santini, longtime deputy and senator, with a very strong personality (some may say "grande geule" and certainly a fat tummy).and very out spoken in favour of freedom to smoke (even knowing that manufactures do all they can to increase addiction) M. Patrick Balkany, Maire of Levallois-Perret the commune the most  indebted in France and a third person whose name will most certainly figure in the video.
(Bribery if not openly discussed is possible just around the corner).

SUMMARY
Tax Evasion or Tax Optimisation or more to be more specific MINIMISATION
NB. Of course the CFO's job is to maximise financial leverage and ensure money is well spent within the company, but there is something called "good will", apparently long forgotten. The public must question what this entails and what the company owes the public (customers) and the country (reputation, renown..) eg. the private assets of Greece outlay the Greek public debt!)    

INTOLERABLE

PS. Now that I have echoed the deserved slating the national players there are other "Top Dogs" who cry for efforts to be made, the public is now asking our EU representatives and the Salaried EU. Commission what financial effort has or is being enforced as a signal that the EU is playing its leadership role properly, yes properly.
  

Le scandale de l'évasion fiscale : révélations sur les milliards qui nous manquent (in French)

Jack Welch gives us "The Biggest Dirty Little Secret in Business_In one word, it is Candor

"If you’re thinking this secret is “outsized bonuses,” “bureaucracy” or “poor strategy,” guess again. While these issues may have merit in their own right, we believe that the absence of candor is the single largest roadblock keeping companies from being effective."

Perhaps this may also, or even more so, apply to politicians?

[Jack Welch is the ex-CEO of GE (General Electric Corp.) and a mythical figure in corporate life.

MORE...? Check the link to Linkedin below.

The Biggest Dirty Little Secret in Business | LinkedIn

NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE_Special Update April 2013

The Highly respected Journal Nature updates its Climate Change series in this months April 2013 edition.

The following themes are dealt with with the usual Nature professionalism.
I trust your library gives you access to these important and overwhelmingly troubling themes. Please take the time to read at least the table of contents for future reference and eventual action. Wish I could give you more.

Editorials

Top

• Mitigating circumstances

  There are many barriers that must be overcome if South Africa is to control its greenhouse-gas emissions.

• Climate consensus

  People's acceptance of global warming can be influenced by many filters.

Commentary

Top

• Limits to adaptation

  An actor-centered, risk-based approach to defining limits to social adaptation provides a useful analytic framing for identifying and anticipating these limits and informing debates over society's responses to climate change.
  • Kirstin Dow,
  • Frans Berkhout,
  • Benjamin L. Preston,
  • Richard J. T. Klein,
  • Guy Midgley &
  • + et al.

Market Watch

Top

• Power player

  South Africa is trying to make its economy greener. But it must work hard to stay on target and tread a fine diplomatic line, writes Anna Petherick.

Research Highlights

Top

• Soil biogeochemistry: Soil microbes find shelter

   

• Water resources: Depleting aquifers

   

• Sea-Ice extent: Arctic marine access

   

• Atmospheric science: Short-term impacts

   

• Policy: Caribbean renewable energy

News and Views

Top

• Expert judgement assessment: Quantifying uncertainty on thin ice

  The contribution of ice sheets to sea-level rise still has large uncertainties that are yet to be quantified.
  • R. M. Cooke
  See also: Article by J. L. Bamber et al.

• Psychology: Seeing is believing

  Or do we see something, because we believe it? Evidence suggests that personal experience is more likely to influence Americans with no strong beliefs about climate change than those with firm beliefs.
  • Elke U. Weber
  See also: Letter by Teresa A. Myers et al.

Perspective

Top

• Global insights into water resources, climate change and governance

  The high levels of water extraction from the Colorado, Murray, Orange and Yellow rivers are shown to be the main cause of reduced flows in these systems. Changes in governance are urgently required to preserve the health of these rivers, especially in light of the present and future impacts of climate change.
  • R. Quentin Grafton,
  • Jamie Pittock,
  • Richard Davis,
  • John Williams,
  • Guobin Fu,
  • + et al.

Review

Top

• Ground water and climate change

  Groundwater is of crucial importance for water and food security and for sustaining ecosystems. This Review assesses the likely impacts of climate change on groundwater and groundwater-driven feedbacks to the climate system.
  • Richard G. Taylor,
  • Bridget Scanlon,
  • Petra Döll,
  • Matt Rodell,
  • Rens van Beek,
  • + et al.

Letters

Top

• Changing social contracts in climate-change adaptation

  A survey conducted in England and Ireland after a major flooding event shows that perceptions of individual responsibility for protection depend on the specific social and policy context. Perception of future risk, in the case of people directly affected by the flooding, also depends on the context. Expectations about the state’s responsibility for climate protection are critical in promoting longer-term adaptation to the changing climate.
  • W. Neil Adger,
  • Tara Quinn,
  • Irene Lorenzoni,
  • Conor Murphy &
  • John Sweeney

• Your opinion on climate change might not be as common as you think

  Political and media debate on the existence and causes of climate change often rests on claims about what most citizens really think. New research demonstrates that people overestimate how common their own opinion is, and when they do they are less likely to change their view. People also overestimate how many reject the existence of climate change.
  • Z. Leviston,
  • I. Walker &
  • S. Morwinski

• Stock dynamics and emission pathways of the global aluminium cycle

  The long-term demand for materials and the opportunities for scrap recycling depend on the stock dynamics of the products in use. In the case of aluminium, research shows that new technologies in primary production can reduce emissions while the aluminium stocks grow, but beyond stock saturation the largest reduction potential shifts to scrap recycling.
  • Gang Liu,
  • Colton E. Bangs &
  • Daniel B. Müller

• The relationship between personal experience and belief in the reality of global warming

  Research in America finds that observable climate impacts increase people’s certainty about global warming and that prior certainty shapes people’s perceptions of the impacts. The first process happens frequently among people less engaged in the issue of climate change whereas the second process is typical of people already convinced about it.
  • Teresa A. Myers,
  • Edward W. Maibach,
  • Connie Roser-Renouf,
  • Karen Akerlof &
  • Anthony A. Leiserowitz
  See also: News and Views by Elke U. Weber

• Patterns in household-level engagement with climate change in Indonesia

  Understanding public engagement with climate change in developing countries is critical for the success of local adaptation strategies. A study in Indonesia shows that nearly one-third of the population has observed and perceived risks of climate change—contrary to previous research suggesting low levels of awareness—but has not taken action to address it.
  • Erin L. Bohensky,
  • Alex Smajgl &
  • Tom Brewer

• Global perceptions of local temperature change

  Research based on a survey across 89 countries demonstrates that individuals who live in places with rising average temperatures are more likely than others to perceive local warming. The study also suggests that personal experience of the impacts of climate change may shift public opinion about the reality of global warming.
  • Peter D. Howe,
  • Ezra M. Markowitz,
  • Tien Ming Lee,
  • Chia-Ying Ko &
  • Anthony Leiserowitz

• Assessment of the first consensus prediction on climate change

  In 1990 the First Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was produced. It contained a prediction of the global-mean-temperature trend for 1990–2030 which, halfway through that period, appears accurate. This is remarkable in hindsight, considering a number of important external forcings were not included. This study concludes the greenhouse-gas-induced warming is largely overwhelming the other forcings.
  • David J. Frame &
  • Dáithí A. Stone

• Spectral biases in tree-ring climate proxies

  Seamless quantification of past and present climate variability is needed to understand the Earth’s climate well enough to make accurate predictions for the future. This study addresses whether tree-ring-dominated proxy data properly represent the frequency spectrum of true climate variability. The results challenge the validity of detection and attribution investigations based on these data.
  • Jörg Franke,
  • David Frank,
  • Christoph C. Raible,
  • Jan Esper &
  • Stefan Brönnimann

• Management of trade-offs in geoengineering through optimal choice of non-uniform radiative forcing

  This study looks at solar radiation management and how the benefits will vary between regions. Using a general circulation model, the trade-offs between optimizing latitudinal and seasonal distribution of reduced solar radiation are investigated.
  • Douglas G. MacMartin,
  • David W. Keith,
  • Ben Kravitz &
  • Ken Caldeira

• Robustness and uncertainties in the new CMIP5 climate model projections

  Updated models are being used for the new assessment report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This study compares projections from the latest models with those from earlier versions. The spread of results has not changed significantly, and some of the spread will always remain due to the internal variability of the climate system. As models improve, they are able to represent more processes in greater detail, allowing for greater confidence in their projections, in spite of model spread.
  • Reto Knutti &
  • Jan Sedláček

• Evidence of the dependence of groundwater resources on extreme rainfall in East Africa

  Recharge sustains groundwater resources that are depended on globally for drinking water and irrigated agriculture. A newly compiled 55-year record of groundwater-level observations in an aquifer in central Tanzania reveals the highly episodic occurrence of recharge resulting from anomalously intense seasonal rainfall. Model projections show a shift towards more intense monthly rainfall, which favours groundwater recharge, suggesting it may be a viable adaptation water source in the future.
  • Richard G. Taylor,
  • Martin C. Todd,
  • Lister Kongola,
  • Louise Maurice,
  • Emmanuel Nahozya,
  • + et al.

• Response of snow-dependent hydrologic extremes to continued global warming

  Snow accumulation is critical for water availability in the Northern Hemisphere. Model projections show a shift towards low snow years, with areas of western North America, northeastern Europe and the Greater Himalayas showing the strongest decline. Many snow-dependent regions are likely to experience increasing stress from low snow years if global warming exceeds 2° above the pre-industrial baseline.
  • Noah S. Diffenbaugh,
  • Martin Scherer &
  • Moetasim Ashfaq

• The impact of global land-cover change on the terrestrial water cycle

  Human impacts on the terrestrial water cycle have the potential to influence hazards such as flooding and drought, so understanding the extent of our influence is an important research goal. A study utilizing estimates of evapotranspiration for different types of land cover and a database of changes in use now shows that the extent of land-cover change caused by people is already an important factor affecting the terrestrial water cycle.
  • Shannon M. Sterling,
  • Agnès Ducharne &
  • Jan Polcher

• Catchment productivity controls CO₂ emissions from lakes

  Most lakes are net sources of CO₂; conventionally the CO₂ in lake waters is attributed to in-lake oxidation of terrestrially-produced dissolved organic carbon. Now research indicates that CO₂ in lakes may be delivered directly via inflowing streams. These findings suggest that future CO₂ emissions from lakes will be strongly related to productivity in the lake catchment.
  • Stephen C. Maberly,
  • Philip A. Barker,
  • Andy W. Stott &
  • Mitzi M. De Ville

• The temperature response of soil microbial efficiency and its feedback to climate

  Soils are the largest repository of organic carbon in the terrestrial biosphere. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about the factors controlling the efficiency with which microbial communities utilize carbon, and its effect on soil–atmosphere CO₂ exchange. Now research using long-term experimental plots suggests that climate warming could alter the decay dynamics of more stable organic-matter compounds with implications for carbon storage in soils and ultimately climate warming.
  • Serita D. Frey,
  • Juhwan Lee,
  • Jerry M. Melillo &
  • Johan Six

Articles

Top

• The pivotal role of perceived scientific consensus in acceptance of science

  Public concern about anthropogenic global warming has been declining despite the scientific consensus on the issue. It is still unknown whether experts’ consensus determines people’s beliefs, and it is not clear if public perception of consensus overrides worldviews known to foster rejection of anthropogenic climate change. New research shows that information about scientific consensus increases acceptance of anthropogenic global warming and neutralizes the effect of worldviews.
  • Stephan Lewandowsky,
  • Gilles E. Gignac &
  • Samuel Vaughan

• 2020 emissions levels required to limit warming to below 2 °C

  A relatively wide range of emissions in 2020 could keep open the option of limiting long-term temperature increase to below 2 °C; however, a shortfall in critical technologies would narrow that range or eliminate it altogether. Reduced emissions in 2020 would hedge against this uncertainty.
  • Joeri Rogelj,
  • David L. McCollum,
  • Brian C. O’Neill &
  • Keywan Riahi

• Comparing the effectiveness of monetary versus moral motives in environmental campaigning

  Environmental campaigns often promote energy conservation by appealing to economic rather than environmental concerns, assuming self-interest drives people’s behaviour. New research discredits such conventional wisdom and shows that, at least in some cases, it is more effective to call on people’s interest in protecting the biosphere to encourage behavioural changes.
  • J. W. Bolderdijk,
  • L. Steg,
  • E. S. Geller,
  • P. K. Lehman &
  • T. Postmes

• Changes in South Pacific rainfall bands in a warming climate

  The South Pacific Convergence Zone is the largest rainband in the Southern Hemisphere, and its response to global warming is still undetermined. In this study a hierarchy of climate models show that the uncertainty in rainfall projections in the South Pacific Convergence Zone is the result of two competing mechanisms.
  • Matthew J. Widlansky,
  • Axel Timmermann,
  • Karl Stein,
  • Shayne McGregor,
  • Niklas Schneider,
  • + et al.

• An expert judgement assessment of future sea level rise from the ice sheets

  This study uses a formalized pooling of expert views on uncertainties in the future contributions of melting ice sheets to sea-level rise, using a structured elicitation approach. The median estimate obtained is substantially larger than that found by previous studies. Expert opinion is shown to be both very uncertain and undecided on the key issue of whether recent ice-sheet behaviour is a long-term trend or due to natural variability.
  • J. L. Bamber &
  • W. P. Aspinall
  See also: News and Views by R. M. Cooke

MORE THEMES TO WORK ON_The Global Risks That Most Worry World Economic Forum Experts

The following themes, fifty no less, were first brought to our attention via Scientific American posted on the leading professional contact platform Linkedin

An executive summary and full report is freely available on the WEF-World Economic Forum's web site-reports.

There is certainly much food for thought and more for action in this lengthy, in-depth report, well documented  graphically.

eg. Urgent: Likelihood of occurence 

CHANGE

Executives,Managers_ Until 30 April_ Free access to most-read Psychology articles from Academic Publisher Sage

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The following generous free offer to gen-up on the many psychological, aspects and pitfalls in achieving objectives in personal and company performance such as sucessful leadership, human relations,pit falls to avoid and generally taking the word "mostly" out of the equation is a good start to hitting such targets. So please do not hesitate in joining me in reading Sage's Psychology Articles.

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