Many regions worldwide are facing new and major challenges for generations to come. The world is currently, going through tectonic transformations for meeting the UN-SDG (Paris meeting, 2015) and adapting more sustainable life-styles to meet the future realities of the post fossil-fuel era. With growing population, declining natural resources and increasing waste and pollution and uncertain climate and energy pressures, it becomes imperative to have careful large-scale and long-term planning and manageable policies. To meet the expected doubling of population in Uppsala county a Climate and Energy Strategy is being worked out with consideration to all development areas identified in the regional development plan. In this context, Uppsala county is planning to be an international centre of excellence in the climate-Energy area. 

See how one of the most explosive Swedish regions in terms of population and socio-economic developments is planning to cope with the complex challenges of its distant future.

Click to access strategy-short-version.pdf

The global climate change debate is so far focused on collection of information on climate change indicators by being mainly forced by what is known as man-made global warming. This is a consequence of the increasing levels of green-house gases in the atmosphere in particular carbon dioxide. Enormous amount of research were put to get “validated” data on the average global surface temperature. However, existing knowledge on the associated indicators (http://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/) is mainly qualitative with major uncertainties what regards the spatio-temporal accuracies and uncertainties. Validated quantitative data and associated up and down scaling besides being very difficult to get using Environment and Climate Assessment Studies and Models are neither globally available not straightforward to get, e.g. for example using the spatio-temporal archives of lake-catchment systems to retrieve the complex data on indicators (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2854826/pdf/ukmss-29587.pdf). Also, another key issue in quantitative studies is the type of base-line indicators that exist as reference framework for predicting the changes from “normal values”, i.e. how abnormal is abnormal in our observations? We are still left with considerable unknowns of the known unknowns while many new unknowns ars still remain to be known.

Energy and mass are conserved in closed systems. Looking at our universe, the solar system, the earth and using the concept of closed systems we find the following. Since the earth can be looked upon as a “closed system” then we can conclude that what we consume in terms of any fossil natural resources, i.e. being mined and used, is irreversible and can not be brought back as they were before. The same can be also said about natural minerals. Furthermore, all irreversable processes (mining and associated production to other forms, e.g. energy and industrial products) generally give rise to irreversible hazardous products in form of waste and pollution that impacts negatively on the functioning of natural systems. These natural systems, e.g. aquatic systems and land-water resources are generally expected to go out of order and to suffer from “malfunctioning”. In this context the earth’s natural resources can be generally classified into four main categories: 

(1) Mined and used irreversibly with major and remarkable large-scale and long-term damaging effects and negative environmental impacts 

(2) Mined and can be used reversibly but with high economic costs and major side-effects and negative environmental impacts

(3) Mined and can be used reversibly with minor economic costs and limited negative environmental impacts

(4) used and reused reversibly with limited environmental impacts

The International Renewable Energy Agency published an interesting report on the global Renewable Energy benefits “The Economics of Renewables”. This is the added-value of the decarbonization of energy for mitigating the global warming.  

https://www.dropbox.com/s/12cy7ynt4sgwzwk/IRENA_Measuring-the-Economics_2016.pdf?dl=0

  


The human eye can only see objects in daytime and not when it is dark by night. This is unlike, e.g. snakes, where they can see objects in dark space as well. The visibility of human eyes is made possible through the natural daylight coming from the sun which among its components some type of electro-magnetic radiation called “the visible light”. The visible light can also come from artificial light sources (http://www.continental-lighting.com/lighting-basics/artificial-light-sources.php) e.g. light bulb (heated wires), LED-lamps, flourescent, ….). Snakes for their visibility, for example, use other type of radiation called “the infra-red” which is also emitted from hot bodies including the human body. The global distribution of snakes bites leading to envenoming can be viewed at (http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1678-91992013000100205&script=sci_arttext&tlng=pt).

Researchers have now created possibilities for extending the visibility of human eyes to include in addition to visible light the infra-red radiation. Read the story below:

http://www.slipperybrick.com/2014/04/night-vision-contacts/
  

The world around us is moving steadily  and rapidly towards different distinations to meet the growing challenges for post oil and fossil-fuel era or even more seriously stated towards what we can call the post natural resources era. One exception is the solar energy which will outdate all other natural resources on earth including water and the life itself. 

This does come with a surprise as all existing knowledge and research predictions indicate that all natural resources on planet earth are, or sooner or later will be, going through peak-consumption followed by gradual decline and even annihilation. In the case of water and life it is about peak-quality and peak-life as we are also facing peak-waste and peak-pollution in this very century. However, it is only our collective human intelligence, integrated worldwide innovation and coherent hardwork combined with systematic planning and above all sustainable policies and management strategies that can save our planet from total collapse and annihilation. 

Successful transformation to sustainable future for planet Earth can not and will not be achieved without effective global dialog, shared knowledge and expertise combined with worldwide solutions and work for implementation of innovative and sustainable policies and management strategies. We can not imagine that this can be achieved by “business as usual” where only a small and localized portion of the world population has access to knowledge and expertise while the large majority of the global population lack the resources and capabilities to contribute constructively in saving planet Earth. 

It is not about finding false and destructive solutions for erasing poverty (only filling the hungry stomachs) since we will be overloading planet Earth with more blind consumption, generating and accumulating enormous waste and pollution everywhere. It is about empowering the majority of the world population with resources and capabilities to actively share the heavy responsibility for preservation and protection of our collective natural resources on earth. This is only possible if we have collective vision and mission for more sustainable future for our planet Earth. 

It is interesting to see how some first-class universities (http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm) are taking major steps for the globalization of knowledge and increasing the mobility of expertise around the world.

The post industrial revolution era was  geared to lifestyle based on production and consumption engineering technology. While our global lifestyle is moving on new tracks to revert what went wrong in the post industrial era new concepts are being emerging. Future  technology will involve the expansion of the so-called “Reversed Engineering” where 12 GREEN Engineering Principles would be absolutely imperative for getting our planet on large-scale and long-term sustainability roads. 

Read more about this: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/es032373g

Water management explained simply means “water care” where water is being cleaned after using it and before injected it again to the environment. Water in nature is meant to be clean and fresh, and that is the way water ends it global natural cycle in the form of rain. 

Successful water management policies are not only essential for life on earth but it is imperative and should be composed of many dynamic key issues involving the effective removal of waste and pollution from joining the water cycle in all its stages. Waste and pollution management, public awareness, education, protection of water bodies and associated monitoring programs are typically carried out through major, strict and comprehensive national strategies, directives and regulations. These have to be in place all the time, anytime and everywhere, it is not a matter of being done now and then as the costs involved in rehabilitation are very huge and time consuming with complicated procedures and actions.

A typical case to illustrate is The Citarum River, indonesia, which is known as the dirtiest river in the world. The Roadmap for the rehabilitation of the river system is an extensive plan with many components and phases that is to be completed by 2023 at a total cost of $3.5 billion. This will be a huge undertaking by people and government of Indonesia for empowering communities to better plan and manage their water resources for a more sustainable future.

https://haltonrecycles.wordpress.com/2012/10/10/the-importance-of-waste-management-and-fresh-water-resources-looking-at-indonesias-citarum-river/
  

Collapse of political structures, economic pressures, constrains in natural resources, and large-scales and long-term socio-economic changes towards sustainable societies force new needs for effective and dynamic synergetic “society-university” interactions.

Higher education (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_education), including research institutes, is inevitable what regards forcing major transformation in societies around the world. Ongoing globalization and socio-economic changes towards sustainable societies are very much coupled to the transformation in higher education itself as our world itself is in constant and fast changes and shifts.

Transformation of societies is driven by economic, political, social and cultural as well as religious powers and thereby  strategically important for building coupled “university-society” synergies for societies in transformation. In considering how universities can have effective role in coupled “university-society” synergies the following issues are of huge value: curriculum; quality and standards; diversification in teaching, research and society interactions; changes in access policies; student profiles and experiences; and  academic responses to change. 

Click to access transf-final-report.pdf

Nany of us have many questions about tap water and bottled water in terms of quality, access and affordability? Is bottled water more pure than tap water? What is most appropriate for a state or a country in terms of water management policies and services provided to the citizen? What regulations and directives that control water quality? What feedback impacts of the quality of natural waters on household needs in particular drinking water? 

The quality of water varies considerably around the world. So, you better learn about sources and quality of your water. Even in countries with high tap water quality people still go for bottled water. In the U.S. popularity of bottled water is  exploding again. During 2014 Americans consumed about 270 single-serving bottles of water per person with total value of bottled water sold of approximately $13 billion. Within the next two years bottled water in the U.S. is expected to become the most consumped packaged beverage in the United States. Water delivered by public water supplies in the U.S. is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) while bottled water is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These two agencies have different standards for the water. In general, EPA’s quality standards are higher while FDA does have strict standards of purity and labeling that must be met by all manufacturers.

Is Bottled Water High Priced Tap Water?
It often is. About 25% of the bottled water sold in the United States comes straight out of a tap. This is also the case in many other counties around the world. It can cost over 1000 times as much as tap water. The FDA requires bottlers to identify what type of water is in every bottle. If it is marked  “from a community water system” or “from a municipal source” or something similar, you are buying the equivalent of tap water. The bottler might treat municipal or community water so that it meets the United States government’s definition of “purified water”, “demineralized water”, “deionized water”, “distilled water” or “reverse osmosis water”. It can then be labeled with those names. All steps of processing, bottling and labeling have a cost.

In the U.S. some bottled waters are specially produced and marketed as being from natural water sources. These are also regulated and labeled according to FDA definitions. Some of the more common water identities are: Mineral Water, Spring Water, Artesian Water, Sparkling Water, Ground Water and Well Water. 

In the U.S. if you are drinking bottled water because you think that it is more pure, better for your health or safer than community or municipal water you are probably not getting your money’s worth. 
One concern that motivates many people to drink bottled water instead is “taste” as some don’t like the taste of tap water.

The benefits of bottled water are mainly convenience and novelty. Instead of buying bottled water you can carry a canteen or a drinking cup and save lots of money by using tap water. For lits of reasons drinking tap water will also help the environment.
Water has no calories, no dissolved sugar, no alcohol and no caffeine. If you regularly drink water as a replacement for soda, beer, coffee or iced tea you are probably making a healthy choice. There are many real benefits of bottled water or tap water. It’s easy to drink water as an alternative beverage. So, start thinking of water as an alternative beverage. Drink bottled water when you need convenience. Drink tap water to save money and preserve the environment.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/03/100310/why-tap-water-is-better/

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/19/health/upwave-bottled-water/

http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/health/bottle-vs-tap-7-things-to-know-about-drinking-water-1.2774182

http://abcnews.go.com/US/mississippi-delta-state-university-lockdown-dead/story?id=33748843

http://geology.com/articles/bottled-water.shtml

Human innovation never halts and it’s not only a matter curiosity but in most cases a matter of survival. Indeed, both curiosity and survival are very much related on long-term perspective. Curiosity can generate solutions for survival and our survival instinct fuels our creativity and curiosity. 

I enjoyed very much being a student and I still love to learn as it is the only tool to refresh and jog myself forward in a turbulent and an ever changing world. For successful navigation in life you need a compass to direct yourself but there are no such ready-make compasses that are tuned for everyone. So, I created one for myself, “a survival compass driven by curiosity”. Survival makes my everyday living while curiosity gives the momentum to cope with changes and unexpected obstacles in everyday living. 

During my studies at school and even in many parts of my university education there were no luxury things like electricity, machines and modern ICT-solutions. Everything were done manually, e.g. to go long distances, solve mathematics using paper-based tables, write personal notes after teachers, and not to mention never ending stories of searching and waiting for literature for days, weeks or even months through local and national libraries and book-stores as well as personal contats. Every technical and scientific transitions in the society were met with great curiosity and my compass has to recalibrated to continue safe and secure navigatation, just because of my very instinct for survival.

In late forties and the fifties came the amazing semi-conductor technology (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor) and the invention of transistors which gradually changed our life in terms of bringing about intelligent tools, calculators and semi-intelligent machinery, ….. and so on. Advances never stop once humans open small doors that keep creating big inventions and changes. The whole semi-conductor technology moved forwards more and more towards automation and control. The new era of ICT-revolution has started its definite journey that no one expected that it will bring about enomous changes that we are experiencing today in modern houses and in all service-sectors. Here is an example regarding ICT applications for agriculture risk management for micro-scale farming:

http://www.ictinagriculture.org/sourcebook/module-11-ict-applications-agricultural-risk-management

UN has projected that world population could reach 9.6 billion by 2050 and debate has emerged about how best to support farmers between advocates of large-scale agricultural projects and those who prefer more targeted, small-scale efforts. Global food production must double by 2050 to feed the world. Smallholder farmers provide up to 80% of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa’s food, where the vast majority of the world’s poor people live. Long-term food security has to be based on food sovereignty in national, regional and international policies that influence food systems where small-scale farmers are important in this context. In order to thrive, farmers in the developing world need access to seed, fertiliser, microcredit and microinsurance, as well as rights to land and union representation: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/feb/19/feed-the-world-small-farmers-big-agriculture-mdgs

In a globalised world with increasing  competition for professional careers, e.g. an academic career, or even for getting or/and maintaining or/and improving  professionslism in private or public sectors it is IMPERATIVE to be “visible”. It is a simple fact in nature that we can not see and evaluate any object unless it is, in away or another, becomes visible. In addition of being essential is also problematic how and where you need to be visible. Equivalently, it is important how your visibility is going to be judged and by whom.

The common tool and instrument for visibility in any academic career (http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2012/06/14/the-perfect-academic-career-pathway/) is “Publishing” regardless which state/stage in the academic career you are. At any stage several key questions arise along any academic career, e.g. why, how, when and where you get your material published.

For early stage researchers putting a plan for your research strategy (why and how) is critical to get a good start (http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2015/01/13/new-years-research-resolution-plan-your-research-strategy/).

Even if you leave the research for some short periods, which might be very healthy, one can always get back to research after professional breaks (http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2014/09/17/opportunities-for-researchers-after-a-career-break/).

The are considerable needs for researchers to keep contact with the outside world, i.e. apart from the small groups there are integrated in. Such contacts indeed bring in additional dimensions not only to the research itself but also to the researchers. They can also be arranged and organized in many ways and new global alternatives keep emerging, and become more and more available thanks to diverse possibilities of the social media.

As academic staff, with great pressure to publish in academic journals, it is being recognized that academic generalist networks are becoming increasingly essential, e.g. ResearchGate, Academia.edu or Mendeley, which help to disseminate on the web published articles and to try to obtain more citations and name among the scientific community in the existing fields of expertise. They may also help quick and easy accessibility and affordability especially for early stage academics. Also, for setting up research collaboration and international research projects, share ideas and find solutions. What concerns social media Facebook don’t clearly do it because it’s very focused on leisure and personal life but, what about Linkedin? With millions of professors and professionals connected interested in science/research? No and no again, sciences and technologies need specific ones that differentiate researchers, with specific functionalities on usability and sociability (mainly source credibility).

Here are some information for user or scientist concerning main features and how to make out of their time spent in  ResearchGate, Academia.edu or Mendeley, also what you can expect from each. An important aspects in social media in general is if not constantly updated (profile and papers), the effort will be useless (http://howtopublishinjournals.com/2014/05/18/academic-networks-contest-researchgate-vs-academia-vs-mendeley/).

The energy trends in Africa as compared to other parts of the world show that the majority of the Africa population, 625 millions, have to wait 25 years to get electricity. Half of all electricity in sub-Saharan Africa is generated in South Africa where the generation mix is dominated by coal.

The current energy mix in sub-Saharan Africa is dominated by bioenergy, mainly fuelwood and charcoal accounting for 60%. with renewables are expanding rapidly, but only from a small base. Energy demand in this part of the world is still accounting for 4% of global demand though having 13% of global population.

This means that the UN SDG “Sustainable Development Goals” are not likely to very much delayed in Africa at least until 2040 and assuming that there are major efforts for timely implementation of whatever is needed.

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2014/11/12/energy-trends-in-africa/

WWW is without hesitation a historical invention that changed and still changing the fate of all humans anywhere, at anytime and in every nanosecond on planet Earth. Information Communication Technology “ICT” is moving faster and faster to involve more and more active coupling of humans and machines.

With the birth of World Wide Web “WWW” in May 1993 new generations from 1990 and beyond are now shaping out planet and our lives. The Internet seems like it has always been around and with us …. isn’t it? In this short two decades, or so, is has affected us and changed our lives far more than anything else in the whole intergrated human history with no similar parallels. The question is what this ICT-revolution will take us to and what would the world be like in say 2020 and beyond (https://ispanico82.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/happy-birthdat-www/)

The fast global progress in ICT within the vast landscape of WWW has benefited enormously from all previous stages of developments. Future possibilities are very huge with increasing degree of digital and wireless communication, combined sences, embodied interactions and with computer technology that took us from central computer and many users in early 1940s to smart cities in 2020. We are heading more and more towards smarter solutions, e.g. smart homes, smart factories, smart space, smart classrooms, smart shops, and much much more. ICT for the rich, the poor, the young, the old, and furthermore between communications between humans over the whole globe, humans and machines, and machines and machines: http://www.ourcommonfuture.de/fileadmin/user_upload/dateien/Reden/wahlster_opening.pdf

Policy-makers in Europe and the U.S. have addressed major concerns about the failure of integration of immigrants brought into their labor-markets after the rapid industrial and technology transfer post WWII, e.g. for more information visit the following websites (http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/e-library/documents/policies/legal-migration/general/docs/final_report_on_using_eu_indicators_of_immigrant_integration_june_2013_en.pdf) and (http://m.immigrationpolicy.org/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.immigrationpolicy.org%2Fissues%2Fcitizenship&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.se%2F#2887).

With these experiences in mind and the fact that Europe and the U.S. passed through a wide-scale of urbanization and modernization especially after WWII, we can already expect similar negative consequences and impacts in the developing countries because of the ongoing fast urbanization, in particular Africa. With the exception that the negative consequences and impacts in Europe and the U.S. were/are relatively very much smaller than the observed trends and the expected future changes in the developing countries. Currently, there is already gradual and intensive internal migration due to the enormous urbanization process that is taking place in many developing countries around the world. This process is certainly resulting from the severe failure of integration of rural and urban regions and the core reason for the expansion of poor communities around major/mega cities. This indeed, has two major future impacts: (1) gradual degradation of the basic public and private infra-structures of newly urbanized regions; and (2) shortage of the relatively experienced local and native labor in rural regions on many levels in general and collapse of the agriculture, in particular, with associated negative impacts on food and agro-industries.

This is a very ignored issue in Africa though many severe impacts are already observed in big and mega cities in Africa, e.g. Cairo, Lagos, Nairobi, Bamako……

IMMIgration is an integral part of human experience and always existed throughout human history. In a dynamic world of continuous changes and unlimited needs for successful globalization IMMIgration would always exist. However, the motivations, dynamics and mechanisms are never the same. In this context, there are many critical questions that need to be answered not only at individual levels but also on the larger socio-economic landscape.

Shortly after WW-II immigration was very popular, and people and countries around the world benefited from the unlimited needs and diverse market possibilities that existed at that time. However, the current global situation what regards IMMIgration and INTEgtation is very much different than what it used to be after WW-II. Why the INTEgration of IMMIgarnts did not take a sustainable path, as it was wished, is among most important global political and socio-economic issues (http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/e-library/documents/policies/legal-migration/general/docs/final_report_on_using_eu_indicators_of_immigrant_integration_june_2013_en.pdf).

Full integration of immigrants in the U.S. is still an issue and most immigrants want to be Americans and fully participate in social and civic life. We can expect naturalization and integration programs to be an important part of comprehensive immigration reform. Immigrant integration has benefits for everyone because it enables immigrants to realize their full potential, contribute more in economy and develop deeper community ties. While the United States encourages legal permanent residents to become citizens, there is no national strategy for facilitating integration with sufficient infrastructures to smooth transition from immigrant to citizen. Failure to address this problem in the context of comprehensive immigration reform could lead to endless delays for the millions who currently seek services from USCIS and the millions more who will become part of the applicant pool following legalization.

Another important issue is the internal migration in many countries due the enormous urbanization process that is currently taking place around the world. This process is certainly resulting from the severe failure of integration of rural and urban regions and the core reason for the expansion of poor communities around major/mega cities. This indeed, has two major impacts: (1) gradual degradation of the basic public and private infra-structures of urbanized regions; and (2) shortage of labor in rural regions on many levels in general and collapse of the agriculture, in particular, with associated negative impacts on food and agro-industries.

http://m.immigrationpolicy.org/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.immigrationpolicy.org%2Fissues%2Fcitizenship&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.se%2F#2887