Information from “CDC” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA regarding Ebola Virus Disease and protection of people. Check Key “Questions and Answers on Ebola” concerning: Personal protection against Ebola?; Has the “patient zero” been identified?; How do I know if I have seasonal influenza or Ebola? If I  am experiencing some flu-like symptoms (e.g. fever, headache, muscle aches).

What is “CDC” doing in the U.S. about the outbreak in West Africa?; Travelers: What is being done to prevent ill travelers in West Africa from getting on a plane? In West Africa, during travel and in the United States; What do I do if I’m returning to the U.S. from an area where the outbreak is occurring?; What do I do if I am traveling to an area where the outbreak is occurring? Should people traveling to Africa be worried about the outbreak? In the United States: Are there any other cases of people in the U.S. getting Ebola?; Is there a danger of Ebola spreading in the U.S.?; Why don’t we restrict travel to the United States?

Check with the local authorities in your counry if similar questions and answers can be applicable, e.g. elsewhere around the world.

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/qa.html?mobile=nocontent

As humans, in many ways we are special. We are developing with everything working together in complex and fully functioning machine. However, this is not the fully story of evolution on earth. Bacteria are the truly special organisms, evolving very quickly, able to elegantly escape and evade the best of modern medicine. Thus evolution is not only about explaining where humans may have originated but it also a process occurring around us now that we should understand unless we are willing to lose the game to our sleeker, sexier competitors.

http://darwin200.christs.cam.ac.uk/pages/index.php?page_id=g1

Indeed, the era of antibiotics is coming to an end, what once appeared to be miracle medicines have been beaten into ineffectiveness by the bacteria that humans designed to knock out. Once, scientists hailed the end of infectious diseases but the old ones are coming and even more new ones are on the way.

Peak antibiotics – Aug 14

At least 30 new diseases have emerged in the past two decades, for many of which there is no treatment, cure or vaccine, or the possibility of effective prevention or control. In addition, the uncontrolled and inappropriate use of antibiotics has resulted in increased antimicrobial resistance and is seriously threatening drug control strategies against such common diseases as tuberculosis, malaria, cholera, dysentery and pneumonia. Many more that is spreading to new geographical areas, because of changing habits, lifestyle, behavior (including injecting and non-injecting drug use) and cultural or social values. Travel, including tourism, global mobility, pressures on water resources, climate change, intensive land-use, agriculture, farming and animal production, also play a role. The practices of modern medicine also contribute. New animal diseases pose potential food-borne risks to human health that are sometimes difficult to evaluate or predict. All of which have developed anti-microbial resistance. The most dramatic example of a new disease is AIDS, deadly haemorrhagic fevers and Ebola. Epidemics of food-borne and water-borne diseases due to new organisms such as cryptosporidium or new strains of bacteria do exist. New strains such as those of cholera and influenza do not follow the usual pattern of being more common in younger people. They affect all age groups, since older people have not acquired immunity to them from previous infection. These are trends taking place in many places around the world.

Despite the emergence of new diseases, there is still a lack of national and international political will and resources to develop and support the systems that are necessary to detect them and stop their spread. The next few years are certain to be critical for the future of antimicrobial drugs. Antimicrobial resistance will increase if present trends continue.

http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/dise-cn.htm

In addition to the eco-systemic impact of industrial agriculture and global circuits of capital, our highly mobile society and the consequent climate disruption from fossil-fueled globalization have worked to propel the spread of invasive species, diseases, and pathogens:

http://collapseofindustrialcivilization.com/tag/peak-antibiotics/

The United Nations seems to recognize things so late that solutions become complicated, very difficult to manage and in panic things get turned up side down. What are supposed to be “scientific instruments”, available for decades, to implement became suddenly and urgently “political goals”. Yet not all science is realized as important in politics, policy-makers select and it is generally based on short-term election-driven, economy and competition-based market policies.

After more than a century of advances, progress and innovation in science and technology, the UN is suddenly asking the engagement of science. I would agree that science could have contributed much better. But this is, again, related to socio-economic political priorities. It looks like science can fix things over-night, fix everything alone and for all other sectors and for everyone in the society? We shouldn’t mix science with politics though they are inter-dependent. Were we all blind during such a long-time or were we just ignoring the failing reality and hoping “business-as-usual” will make things better. Sustainability requires early engagement of ALL SECTORS in a coherent, collective collaborative and interactive manner. What happened was an increasing fragmentation and isolation in “within” and “between” sector activities where individuals were lost in failing reality and an increasing complexity without unified holistic vision “Life on Earth”.

It is not any longer SUSTAINABLE to let it burn first then come to extinguish the fire, life on earth does not function this way. This has been more or less how WE were acting or reacting on world problems.

http://www.scidev.net/index.cfm?originalUrl=global/mdgs/feature/jeffrey-sachs-sdgs-big-science.html

To counteract the increasing threats from the abuse of energy, water and natural resources and mitigate the accelerating negative impacts of “produce and consume” on quality of life, all education stages have to seriously consider weaving sustainability issues in all educational components. This has to involve applied sustainability instruments and solutions as well as building appropriate interactive links between education, politics, society and the market. There are huge information and data worldwide on continuous and increasing degradation in the atmosphere (air quality), the hydrosphere (water quality), land-water resources, the biosphere and ecosphere (biodiversity, degradation in agro- and animal production, …. ).

“Sustainability” is not only of political and social concern, it is also a natural part of modern high-quality education especially what regards higher education and research where future innovations, engineers, professionals, teachers, policy-makers, scientists, ….. etc, are being shaped and prepared to take care of the planet in much more sustainable manner. The collapsing quality of life reflects severe gaps in education and technology management structures with enhanced fragmentation and isolation within and between society sectors in terms of production, consumption and service. The main responsibility for achieving sustainable socio-economic developments anywhere in the world is through shaping education and research institutions and organizations to meet future sustainability requirements.

http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2011/oct/13/sustainability-in-higher-education

Two most important spheres for existence of life, and the only life in the whole universe, on earth are suffering from severe and increasing degradation. The ATMOSPHERE with remarkable changes in its global composition that has caused global warming and an accelerating deterioration in the air quality in cities around due to urbanization (70% of world population is planned to live in cities in coming decades. The HYDROSPHERE with an ever increasing degradation in the quality of natural waters with accelerating threats on the whole ecosphere and enhanced negative impacts on drinking water and food production. Though ENERGY is the primary cause of all pollution in these two spheres still much attention and resources are given to it with very little left to protect, cure and rehabilitate WATER, and to enhance its accessibility and affordability in clean forms. Follow how energy-water nexus is shaping the life on the earth http://sustain-earth.com

https://www.dropbox.com/s/atcq7lm7iv4rrlt/Water%20vs%20Energy.jpg?dl=0

Many food and beverages we buy from the market don’t give any information on toxic levels which make food stores to offer safer products the so-called “eco-products” with almost double the price of normal products, eco-milk, eco-cheese, eco-vegetables, eco-fruits, ……. and the list keeps growing. It wouldn’t surprise me to see “eco-water” given on bottled water as well “coming soon”. Many reports from several countries around the world give data demonstrating  degradation in water quality of bottled water. The reasons are very simple and are expected, the quality of “natural” surface and ground water are suffering from severe pollution problems and the threats are expanding. Even in regions where natural waters are expected to be of high quality, e.g. Europe, we can still find reports about increasing degradation as new compounds and toxics keep injected to the hydrosphere.

http://sustain-earth.com will report on the increasing health threats that are associated with bottled water.

https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/7152-China-s-bottled-water-the-next-health-crisis-

Poverty is not only the lack of food and will never end by traditional aid policies where only free-food is given to the poor. These policies have indeed not only fueled poverty but generated more and more poverty, as they turn the poor not only to passive consumers with no empowerment for own production but even counteracted their possibilities to join the era of sustainability.  We have already seen that affordability and accessibility to food is very much related to sustainable management of natural resources, in particular water and energy. Sustainable management of natural resources involves, also, holistic approaches for the protection and preservation of all natural resources through the engagement of every citizen in the society. In this context, achieving sustainable socio-economic developments around the world requires establishing appropriate instruments for true poverty alleviation, i.e. all types of poverty, where the inactive and passive poor populations around the world become actively engaged not only in food production but in all the components of achieving sustainable socio-economic developments.

The world needs much more organizations and institutions that can be both actively engaged in poverty alleviation and in engaging the poor in becoming active players for achieving sustainable socio-economic developments rather than being passive observers and consumers. In this context, “SNV Netherlands Development Organization” demonstrates many successful stories around the world. However, much more is still needed as the world competition on the natural resources, in particular water and energy, is becoming much severe.

http://www.snvworld.org/

The planet as is managed today is facing a failing reality because of increasing and fragmented competition on natural resources with little attention to proper protection and conservation of these resources, in particular water and energy. Management of education, research and technology should consider the urgent necessity for sustainable and appropriate coupling to society, population and market needs. The increasing global population, the random use and consumption of natural resources has caused severe threats to, and degradation of, all life forms on the planet.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7euopk4zjqpom3w/Why%20Sustain-earth%3F.docx?dl=0

Management and pricing of water resources are important issues for improving access to water and sanitation, and also for achieving sustainable socio-economic developments around the world. Financing the sustainable management of water resources is a major and accelerating challenge because of the increasing competition on water resources, still growing populations and expanding needs. Water resources and their uses shift greatly around the world and in water resource management there are increasing attention to how pricing of water could be best coupled to financial strategies as well.

Achieving sustainable managements policies is very much related to appropriate optimization of water uses to achieve the “best value for the water resources” on all levels with attention to enhancing accessibility and affordability to water and sanitation. The cost of managing water resources to reach social, economic and environmental goals is increasing due to population and economic growth as well as to climate change. This is generally true in the developing countries especially in Africa.

Formed in 2003, the European Union Water Initiative Finance Working Group (EUWI-FWG) is focused on helping to shape the financial strategy of the EUWI. The FWG group encourages innovation, the development of institutional and regulatory frameworks and capacity building. It also encourages the use of development funding as a catalyst to leverage other forms of finance, including national budgets, donors, user and private finance, to improve access by the poor to water and sanitation services.

Click to access Water_Pricing_FINAL.pdf

Food is a pleasure that has found many ways to adapt to the country where they are prepared. The ingredients, although they may appear similar to those of other continents, there is always a unique stamp associated with the taste of each dish depending on processing, origin of meat or vegetables and spices being used (http://www.whichcountry.co/countries-with-best-food/).

However, food is not only a pleasure of the taste. There are very much to learn about global cultures and habits and importance of agriculture, farming, food production and processing. Why some countries are better than others and why, for example, The Netherlands is ranked best in world food systems (http://www.undercurrentnews.com/2014/01/15/netherlands-ranked-best-in-world-food-systems/). Also, why European countries and Australia are among the ten best countries. The challenges countries faced in getting enough of the right food are dependent on many factors. Oxfam’s Good Enough to Eat Index asked four core questions using two measures each in order to get a global ranking of eating in terms of accessibility, affordability and quality of food, and the unhealthy outcomes of people’s diet. Here are these questions and measures used in the global assessment and ranking:  1. Do people have enough to eat? – Measured by levels of undernourishment and underweight children; 2. Can people afford to eat? – Measured by food price levels compared to other goods and services and food price volatility; 3. Is food of good quality? – Measured by diversity of diet and access to clean and safe water; and 4. What is the extent of unhealthy outcomes of people’s diet? – Measured by diabetes and obesity.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/tasneemnashrulla/the-best-and-worst-countries-in-the-world-for-eating#i7aod3

“Knowledge” is needed in all sectors and on all levels in any society, however the content of knowledge for achieving “sustainable socio-economic developments” needs not necessarily to be of the same components, structure and organization. To bring about changes and developments in any society knowledge has to be “fresh” in the sense that it has to be up-dated or “refreshed” not only to mitigate historical imparities but also to meet emerging necessities and to have capabilities and instruments to deal with any future known or unknown challenges. Knowledge has, also, to be individually adapted to maximize engagement and integration of all citizens and stakeholders for the benefits and welfare of the society.

In our ICT-based “Information Communication Technology” societies there are huge capital and diversity of knowledge resources, though needs of more knowledge still remain to be among essential priorities. Problems and difficulties in many societies for bringing about changes, especially what regards sustainable developments, are not a priori related to availability and accessibility of knowledge but rather the management of knowledge in terms of structure, transfer and adaption on both vertical and horizontal levels. In this context, instruments for appropriate coupling of science and technology to society and market needs is an imperative part of structuring, transferring and adapting knowledge. This is the essence core of successful knowledge-management policies where the coupling goes through citizens and stakeholders, i.e. within and between the very building blocks in the society, i.e. “individuals” and “groups”, in all society levels and sectors.

Services, i.e. serve and get served, production and consumption have to be shaped and based on sound economic policies involving all basic sustainability requirements, i.e. the conservation and protection of natural resources. If all natural resources are consumed, wasted and/or degraded, then it wouldn’t be possible to have life any more. In a knowledge-based society difficulties don’t exist in how knowledge can be obtained and how “citizens”, as carriers, transformers and generators of knowledge, can be engaged to form and shape “consumption”, “production” and “services” for the benefit of their society. The optimum functioning of any society is therefore a balance of these components: why knowledge is needed; what and when knowledge is required; how can knowledge can be produced, transferred, disseminated and propagated.

A major part of the capital knowledge of humans is stored in “virtual memories” around the world. However, such knowledge is accessible but not necessarily affordable for everyone. The Internet provides knowledge with variable quality and in a very scattered and random way though search engines may provide certain limited structuring. Traditional sources of knowledge through libraries are still important sources to “on-line” publishing with excellent audio-visual illustrations and “open-access” versions. In social and human sciences, for example, morals and ethics can be biased by historical misconceptions with negative impacts on freedom of speech as expressed by the public on the Internet. Quality of knowledge is, therefore, essential not only for sustainable socio-economic development but also for lasting security, safety and political stability.

Issues and topics of relevance for achieving socio-economic developments around the world are being discussed and detalied in http://sustain-earth.com

Water quality is often understood in its narrowest meaning where the focus is limited and reduced to portable water. Often at homes, schools, and communities as well as even among policy-makers and politicians, especially in developing countries, the knowledge is still limited to drinking water. This can be true on short-term and small-scale levels to secure affordable and accessible water resources with acceptable quality to mitigate immediate and epidemic impacts on human health.

However, this understanding has generated serious and widespread global threats with disastrous impacts on ecosystem and human health worldwide. This is evident from historical “palaeo-environmental” data that gives information on evolution of water quality and its degradation in natural water resources, e.g. rivers, lakes, reservoirs, marine coasts, wetlands and groundwater. Long-term and large-scale monitoring of the quality of natural water resources and associated impacts on eco-system and human health are IMPERATIVE and there are standard ways to do such studies. Typically, there are two approaches: (1) continuous monitoring of contemporaneous water quality status, such as those given in the present report given in the provided link; (2) full historical records on the evolution of water quality due to point/diffuse pollution sources.

Both approaches are necessary have different and important benefits. The first one is used for “Early Warning” with direct coupling to enforce regulation and laws on stakeholders regarding production of waste/pollution, also to take necessary measures and solutions to cope with the threats, and to give relevant information to the public. While, the second is important for uncovering long-term and large-scale impacts on water quality, e.g. acidification, eutrophication, chemical pollution, other industry/agriculture associated threats and climate impacts. It is, also, useful for assessing consequences of environmental and ecological impacts of pollution/waste in terms of their cycles from source to sink. This outcome of the seconds approach has feedback impacts on international laws and regulations and for implementation appropriate rehabilitation strategies.

Click to access water_quality_human_health.pdf

The magic actions and power of water have been the major drivers for the creation of the most beautiful natural places on earth which can be seen in Turkey, China, Columbia, Thailand, Iceland, Indonesia, USA, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Maldives Islands, Norway, Venezuela, Australia, Canada, France, Croatia, Northern Vietnam, Seychelles Islands, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Alaskan glaciers, Switzerland and New Zealand.

Among these natural formations from the long journey of evolution are: volcanic deposits; natural mountain forests; exotic waters and marvelous lakes; beautiful islands and exotic fjords embedded in green mountain landscape; water falls; forested and exotic islands; mountain rivers; spectacular green landscape; glacial mountains; virgin beaches; national parks; sea reefs with exotic sea life; canyons and rocky mountains; ocean Polynesians, exotic vegetation’s and fauna; limestone’s mountains; ice formations; sand and rocky deserts; the Alps; and rocky coasts; wadis and oasis.