The Big Three of the 21st Century--Food, Energy and Water

Here at the beginning of the 21st century, the challenges are clear: the growing population is stressing the Earth's resources to the breaking point. The "big three" are Food, Energy and Water--whose initials ominously spell FEW. Looming shortages make human misery more likely as time passes without finding solutions. Will the 21st Century be known as the Century of Scarcity? Or will we find new technical, political and economic approaches to free humanity from want and discontent?

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Thursday, June 21, 2012

There's still hope at Rio

It's interesting listening to coverage of Rio on Australian televsion. The coverage is frequent and extensive--I'm guessing that's not the case in the US.

An Australian official observer, Don Henry of the Australian Conservation Foundation, was extensively interviewed by ABC News (the Australian Broadcasting Company). His take was similar to that of the BBC reporting--the draft statement is very weak. But he also held out two threads of hope:
--it is still possible for the leaders gathered in Rio to produce an action statement that goes beyond the diluted draft statement
--the leadership is hearing about the world's sustainability and poverty problems, which could lead to action after the conference.

Henry also held up the importance of Sustainable Development Goals to be developed in the coming months.
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