the mysterious mass die-off of honey bees

the mysterious mass die-off of honey bees that pollinate $30 billion worth of crops in the US has so decimated America’s apis mellifera population that one bad winter could leave fields fallow. Now, a new study has pinpointed some of the probable causes of bee deaths and the rather scary results show that averting beemageddon will be much more difficult than previously thought. 

Saudi human trafficking

The case of Saudi Princess Meshael Alayban, accused of human trafficking in the U.S., has caused a stir throughout the world. But do you know how the story was uncovered?
A few weeks ago, the victim, identified as 'Jane Doe,' escaped Alayban’s home where she alleges she was forced to work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week; her passport held by Alayban to prevent escape. Jane Doe then flagged down a bus, explained her situation to another passenger who helped her phone police. When the police went to investigate, they found four other women at the home claiming to be in the same situation¹.
Modern slavery is a crime that survives hidden from the view of the public, but occasionally, it’s there, right in front of us. It could happen overtly – a woman escaping a home in which she was trapped or a boy summoning the courage to trust a stranger – or a more subtle scene in an airport where something just doesn’t look right. The bottom line is, at any moment, a person trapped in the nightmare of modern slavery could be trying to get our attention and we all need to be ready to help.
Hours ago, Princess Alayban was supposed to face charges of human trafficking in a California court but didn't show up. Annoyed, the judge moved her court date.

Send a message of solidarity that we all stand with the passenger on the bus who took action to protect another by ensuring millions of people know how to spot a problem AND what to do.

poverty and terrorism

Gunmen have killed at least nine foreign tourists after storming a hotel in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, police say.

Initial reports say five are from Ukraine, one from Russia and three from China. A Pakistani woman is also said to have been killed.

The attack happened near the base camp of the Nanga Parbat Mountain, in the Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan.

No group has so far said it carried out the attack.

Police had at first said 10 foreign tourists were killed. The motive for the attack is not yet clear.

Part of the Himalayan Range, Nanga Parbat is one of the highest mountains in the world and a popular tourist destination.

"Unknown people entered a hotel where foreign tourists were staying last night and opened fire," Ali Sher, a senior police officer, told Reuters.

A senior official said the area had been sealed off and police were hunting for the killers.

"Since the area is very remote with no roads or transport, their bodies will have to be retrieved by helicopter," he said.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have condemned the attack.

Mr Sharif, who was re-elected earlier this month, said such acts of cruelty and inhumanity would not be tolerated.

Meanwhile Gilgit governor Syed Mehdi Shah is set to hold a meeting with regional law enforcement agencies on Sunday to discuss the security situation in the area, Radio Pakistan reports.

Correspondents say Gilgit-Baltistan, which borders China, had been considered one of the more secure areas under Pakistani control.

However, in recent years it has suffered a spate of attacks by militants targeting Pakistan's Shia Muslim minority.

The area is famous for its natural beauty and the main city of Gilgit is seen as a gateway to the Karakoram and Himalayan mountain ranges.




Published on Dec 21, 2012

United Nations, December 2012 - Pakistan - it's a country rich in culture and history, but it's also a country struggling with rising threats of terrorism and in some regions, radical ideology. But now, many of Pakistan's youth are fighting back, determined to shape a future of prosperity ....and peace.

21ST CENTURY SHOW # 73

Transcript:
http://www.un.org/webcast/pdfs/21century73.pdf

HOW MANY AMERICANS CAN THE EARTH SUPPORT?

Dr. David Pimentel, Cornell University 

Based on the current growth rate, the present U.S. population of more than 270 million is projected to double to 540 million within the next 70 years. In addition, the world population -- about 6 billion -- is projected to double within just 50 years (again, based on current rates of growth). The growing imbalance between the increasing world population and the finite amount of Earth's resources that support human life is reason for grave concern.
Consider that according the World Health Organization, more than 3 billion people are currently considered malnourished. This represents the largest number and proportion of malnourished humans ever in history! Deaths from malnutrition and other diseases have significantly increased, especially during the past decade, and there is no indication that this trend will cease or reverse. What can we expect as population numbers continue to climb?
In order to support increasing numbers of people, we will need to be able to feed them. The production of adequate food depends on ample supplies of fertile cropland, pure water, energy, and other biological resources, like plants and pollinators. Growing numbers of humans, though, force us to stretch these limited resources further and further. The fact that grain production -- which supplies 80% to 90% of the world food -- has been declining since 1983 should alert us to the potential for future food supply problems and increasing malnutrition.
About 0.5 hectares (1.2 acres) of cropland per person is required to provide a diverse diet similar to that desired by the average American and European. At present, this amount of land is still available in the United States for its present population. In contrast, worldwide, only 0.27 ha of cropland per person remains for food production. Since land is a finite resource, available cropland per person will continue to decline, both worldwide and in the United States, as the human population increases. Urban sprawl, highways, and industries also spread and cover more land. Finally, a substantial amount of fertile cropland is lost to erosion by wind and water every year. Some 10 million hectares of cropland is being eroded and abandoned each year throughout the world.
Rainfall, as well as water captured in rivers and lakes, is essential for all plants, including crops. As agricultural production increases to feed more humans, pressure on water supplies also increases. Because communities, states, and countries must share water, competition for water resources increases. In arid regions of the world, which supply 30% of the world's food, irrigation has declined during the past decade. This has already had a negative impact on food production in these regions. Even in some areas of the United States, sufficient water for crops and people is becoming a serious problem. The fact that the great Agualla aquifer of central United States is being depleted about 140% faster than rainfall recharges it, suggests an impending serious water scarcity for a large area of U.S. land.
In addition to land and water resources, energy is also vital to crop production. Solar energy and human power, augmented with fossil energy, make the cultivation of crops possible. Fossil energy is used to power farm machinery and irrigation pumps as well as to produce fertilizers and pesticides. Unfortunately, fossil energy is a finite and non-renewable resource that is being rapidly depleted throughout the world.
Lastly, humans and their assorted activities are reducing biodiversity throughout the world. Pollination, essential for one-third of the world's food supply and dependent on diverse species of pollinators, has been declining; some U.S. crops already face serious problems due to lack of sufficient pollination. The stability of other essential biological resources for agriculture and forestry, such as microbes and invertebrates, are also declining and being threatened due to human activities. Finally, the use of more than 100,000 different chemicals -- including pesticides -- worldwide reduces vital biodiversity even further.
As increasing numbers of humans travel and trade more, more exotic species of plants and animals invade the U.S. and other ecosystems worldwide. Some of these exotic species become pests, which can increase food losses and frequently alter natural habitats. From 40% to 80% of agricultural pests are biological invaders, and -- despite the 5 billion pounds of pesticide applied worldwide -- more than 40% of potential food is destroyed by pests each year.
At present, humans face serious malnutrition, land degradation, water pollution and shortages, and declining fossil energy resources. In addition, with related changes in the natural environment, many thousands of species are being lost forever. If the human population increases dramatically over the next several decades, as it is projected to do, the strains on these limited resources will grow as well.
Some people are starting to ask just how many people the Earth can support if we want to cease degrading the environment and move to a sustainable solar energy system? There is no solid answer yet, but the best estimate is that Earth can support about 1 to 2 billion people with an American Standard of living, good health, nutrition, prosperity, personal dignity and freedom. This estimate suggests an optimal U.S. population of 100 to 200 million. To achieve this goal, humans must first stabilize their population and then gradually reduce their numbers to achieve a sustainable society in terms of both economics and environmental resources. With fair policies and realistic incentives, such a reduction in the human population can be achieved over the next century.

---

David Pimentel is a professor of ecology and agricultural science at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-0901. His Ph.D. is from Cornell University. His research spans the fields of basic population ecology, ecological and economic aspects of pest control, biological control, biotechnology, sustainable agriculture, land and water conservation, natural resource management, and environmental policy. Pimentel has published more than 490 scientific papers and 20 books and has served on many national and government committees including the National Academy of Sciences; President's Science Advisory Council; U.S. Department of Agriculture; U.S. Department of Energy; U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare; Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress; and the U.S. State Department. From Pop!ulation Press vol 5, # 3, March/April 1999.
http://www.populationpress.org/essays/essay-pimentel.html

http://www.globaldashboard.org/2010/11/09/how-many-people-can-the-earth-support/


http://makewealthhistory.org/2010/12/09/how-many-people-can-the-earth-support/


http://ergobalance.blogspot.com/2008/12/how-many-people-can-earth-support.html

estimates of how many people the earth can support

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overpopulation

http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5686e/y5686e04.htm
http://www.enotes.com/energy-reference/energy-177831

http://www.eufic.org/article/en/health-and-lifestyle/food-choice/artid/biology-of-food-choice/

http://www.ajcn.org/content/79/1/6.full

http://www.ecofuture.org/pop/rpts/mccluney_maxpop.html

http://archive.org/details/howmanypeoplecan00cohe

mathematical cartoons human population size carrying capacity

http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/support/guide_unit5.pdf




http://fatknowledge.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-many-people-can-earth-support.html

http://www.ecofuture.org/pop/rpts/mccluney_maxpop.html

Mexican Drug War

Nov 22nd 2012, 16:34 by Economist.com

Mexican states compared with entire countries' body counts, murder rates and populations

MEXICO’S murder rate has doubled over the past five years, to nearly 19 per 100,000 people per year. But what does that really mean? To give an idea of how safe or dangerous the country's various states are, we have compared their crime statistics with those of whole countries. Visitors can relax in Yucatán, the safest state, which has about the same murder rate as Finland. Tlaxcala, not far from Mexico City, is about as safe as the United States. At the other end of the spectrum Chihuahua, the most violent state, has a murder rate equivalent to El Salvador, one of the most violent countries in the world. Another way of looking at the data is to compare the gross totals. The state of San Luis Potosí, for instance, has seen as many murders in the past year as all of Spain, despite having a population of just 2.6m.

Automation

Sympathy for the Luddites

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: June 13, 2013 480 Comments

In 1786, the cloth workers of Leeds, a wool-industry center in northern England, issued a protest against the growing use of “scribbling” machines, which were taking over a task formerly performed by skilled labor. “How are those men, thus thrown out of employ to provide for their families?” asked the petitioners. “And what are they to put their children apprentice to?”

Paul Krugman

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Blog: The Conscience of a Liberal

Evangelical push

June 13, 2013, 5:03 am Comment

Cities of God

By CARLOS PUIG

MEXICO CITY — Saturday was a beautiful day in Monterrey, northeastern Mexico, and in the Plaza Zaragoza, just a few meters from City Hall, it was a cheerful one, too. Standing at a clear plexiglass podium, a woman of about 40 is making a speech. Human participation alone, she says, “does not have the ability to reverse the darkness”; only the light from faith in God can. “Which is why we are gathered here today, and I, Alicia Margarita Arellanes Cervantes, give Monterrey, Nuevo León, to our Lord Jesus Christ, so that his kingdom of peace and blessings may be established.”

“I open the doors of this municipality to God as the ultimate authority,” she adds. “Lord Jesus Christ, welcome to Monterrey, the house that we have built. This is your home Lord Jesus, Lord of Monterrey.” The people in the square say amen, applaud and cheer.

There is just one problem: Alicia Margarita Arellanes Cervantes may be the mayor of Monterrey, but clearly the city — Mexico’s third-largest  and its wealthiest per capita — isn’t hers to give away.

As soon as the “Pray Monterrey!” event and Arellanes’s gift to God hit the news, other such pledges were revealed. It turns out that the mayors of Guadalupe and Juárez, two towns close to Monterrey, and of Ensenada, in Baja California, had already done the same.

Those grants were orchestrated by the Assembly of Pastors, an evangelical organization with chapters in several cities in northern Mexico. They’re a bid to gain ground among Christians: Only 6 percent of Mexicans call themselves evangelicals, compared with 82 percent who say they are Catholic, according to the last census.

Around 10,000 people attended the event in Monterrey, and it made the local evening news. That was the point, it seems: In a recent interview two evangelical leaders joked that they would keep on teaming up with politicians so long as that won them national attention, scandalized or not.

Evangelical churches have long proselytized in neighboring countries: Recent surveys put the number of Central Americans declaring themselves evangelicals at above 20 percent. But they may be in for disappointment here. The Cristero War, a bloody conflict between the government and catholic militias in the late 1920s, was triggered by the passing of laws prohibiting public displays of any religious faith. The Mexican Constitution is one of the most restrictive in the Western Hemisphere when it comes to limiting the place of religion in the public arena.

Churches and their representatives are prohibited from any political activity. Priests have been allowed to vote only since 1994, but they still may not express any political view. The law also forbids municipal and federal authorities from attending “any official religious act of public worship” or any similar activity. Public religious celebrations require special permits, subject to approval by an under secretary for religious affairs who answers to the interior secretary.

And now, in response to the recent ceremonies granting cities to God, there have been calls in the press and among nongovernmental organizations to penalize both the magnanimous politicians and the evangelical churches they serve. It’s a sign the evangelicals may have overshot; certainly, they haven’t learned their lesson from the Catholic Church, which has been skillful at lobbying for its interests without causing too much scandal. Mexico was one of Pope John Paul II’s favorite places to visit, for example, and though he was welcomed by massive crowds here, nobody complained.

In an interview after her speech in Monterrey, Arellanes tried to deflect criticism by saying that when she gave the city to Jesus, she acted “as a private person not as the mayor” and that she is Catholic, not evangelical. She asked for tolerance for “her own beliefs.” Strange logic.

Less strange is that politicians like her would be eager to secure votes from every constituency and that emerging religions would associate with the powerful and the popular to gain exposure. Sometimes, though, as the event in Plaza Zaragoza, the combination ends up being as ridiculous — maybe even illegal.