Would 2015 be a chance to change history? UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Youth Forum organized by the UN’s Economic and Social Council that “[You are] “the first generation with the potential to end poverty and the last generation to avoid worst effects of climate change”. It was his message to fully engage young people in the post-2015 MDG (http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/youth2015/).

However, what is the situation of children and young people in Africa today. The Children’s situation in Morocco gives some idea about what we may expect in this part of the world. Morocco has made vast improvements in the past decade. The child and infant mortality rates were greatly reduced, the net primary school enrolment rates have been increasing rapidly. However, net secondary school rates are still extremely low: 37% for boys and 32% for girls. 

A large number of children are vulnerable and  there are still many harmful traditional practices. The children are especially affected by the custom of early marriage. Although reforms (2004) have raised the minimum age of marriage for women from 15 to 18, judges are still authorize marriages before that age, including girls as young as 13. The child early marriages is increasing, between 2009 and 2010 were in total of 33,253. Though forced child labour is prohibited, it remains a critical challenge as it concerns 9% of children aged 5 to 14 years. Girls as young as 6 or 7 years old from rural communities are recruited to work as child maids in cities, and often experience conditions of forced labour. Boys experience forced labour as apprentices in the artisan and construction industries and in mechanic shops. In education teachers and parents still believe children should fear them to work and behave better, so “violence is often socially-accepted and approved”. In addition, children are vulnerable by armed conflict and natural disasters. Morocco, for example, suffered 32 events during the period 1980-2010, affecting on average 17,000 persons per year. 

http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.se/start/countries/morocco

Flooding is among major threats in many countries around the world. Global warming is a modern man-made driver of negative feedback impacts on the global water cycle.

World Vision Australia is a member of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) and adheres to the ACFID Code of Conduct which defines minimum standards of governance, management and accountability of development for non-government organisations (NGOs). http://worldvision.com.au/home/defaultverD.aspx?lpos=top_drop_0_Home

To know more about flooding visit: http://montagepages.fuselabs.com/public/Benji-kun/Floods/3cc1dea9-0708-4b2a-a127-389832eea821.htm

Amazing conclusions from continuous and comprehensive global research that are based on all developments in science as a whole “big science”. They involve, also, integrated global observations on several scales and enormous human thinking and intelligence of the whole past century. It is how climate change shaped and formed global creativity (http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/nov/05/climate-change-theatre-2071-katie-mitchell-duncan-macmillan) to bring politics and science for a better future. A future we want to create and for generations to come. Climate change is not just about science – it’s about creating the future (http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/nov/22/-sp-climate-change-special-report).

Saving is essential not only in economic terms but is also for the very sake of lasting survival, not only our survival but the protection and preservation of life on the planet. It took us so much time to arrive to the conclusion that “production and consumption” of natural resources, in particular fossil fuel, at the existing rapid speed is not more than destruction and annihilation of our life. It is a hard conclusion and inconvenient reality that much of the fossil fuel of the planet must stay buried and not to be burned. For the coming decades, until 2050 and beyond, the emission of carbon dioxide has to be cut down to zero which essentially mean much of the fossil fuel on the planet has not to be burned.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/07/much-worlds-fossil-fuel-reserve-must-stay-buried-prevent-climate-change-study-says

Climate change creativity

The Millennium Development Goals promised to reduce poverty by half by 2015. Why are Africa and India so far behind in reaching this target? Follow the Big Debate about “Why Poverty?” with panel of top world politicians, ministers, writers and policy-makers from UK, Nigeria, India and South Africa as well as participants from business leaders, academics, activists and students: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JD7nB8tRc4&app=desktop.

Mining is one of the big industries in Africa that is supposed to contribute in erasing its poverty. However, though the enormous mineral resources in Africa, the question still remains “Does Mining Benefit Africa?”. Follow the Big Debate on this topic with focus on where the income and wealth of Africa’s minerals ends up? Is the benefit is still for the investors and not for the population? Would Africa be able to develop education, health, sanitation and transport infrastructures from such wealth? Are the taxation systems correct, accountable and transparent? Whether or not Africa is heading to an overall privatization, how would public services be developed? All in all would poverty is still remain when all the mineral resources in Africa are consumed?  Many facts and information are uncovered from top politicians, government and finance bodies, mining industries, World Bank, policy-makers and activists from Africa as well as representatives from international companies and others bodies of relevance to the topic.

Would we still hear the same story, again and again, a worker in the mining industry after 22 years of loyalty in a company reporting billions in profit still has no electricity, no sanitation and continue to live in poverty!

One of the six Nobel Prizes that are globally awarded every year is devoted for inventions in Physics. This year “2014”  the prize was awarded for efficient blue Light Emitting Diodes “LED” which enables the production of bright and energy-saving white light sources. “LED”, used in the scientific and market communities, is replacing other sources of light with tectonic changes and transformations in the global lighting technology.

The interest of humans for lighting started already with the discovery of fire and the earliest forms of artificial lighting were made from natural grease-filled materials with fiber wick.  Ancient Greek philosophers were credited for the first peculations (500 BC) about the nature of light, followed by the first correctly attributed  vision to the passive reception of light reflected from objects by Ibn al-Haytham (1038 AD). The 17th century witnessed several progress in compound microscopes and refracting telescopes with advances in astronomy, e.g. by Galileo, Kepler and Snell. Further progress in nature of light was obtained from a long controversy between two theories: wave theory by Huygens (1629-1695); and particle theory of Newton (1642-1727). It was not until 1892 when the invention of the incandescent light bulbs, wire filament heated to high temperatures by electric current, were successfully completed by Thomas Edison. Through further advances in physics during 20th century, new knowledge and understanding was gained (http://www.canon.com/technology/s_labo/light/001/11.html) not only what regards the nature of light but also developing materials and laboratory procedures for production of artificial light by different types of lamps, e.g. ballast, fluorescent, compact fluorescent, halogen and LED (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lighting). LED-lamps, in addition of being most energy effective artificial light sources, have several exceptional versatile and advantages for smart mobile application and integration in renewable energy-based timely applications.  http://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/index.php?id=2370&view=2

Many physical phenomena exiting in nature, such as light, has fascinated humans to search about their origin and some of us went more in depth to find ways to study them and even re-produce them not only on small laboratory scales but also for much more wider everyday life applications. This is how our science and technology keep advancing and transforming observations and abstract ideas to understandable and comprehensible realities with useful applications for human benefits. Innovations keep generating new inventions replacing less efficient, less accurate and less secure inventions to more efficient, accurate and safe products. This evolution in science and technology is important, essential and imperative for improving the quality of life on earth and for achieving sustainable socio-economic developments. This is not a straightforward process free from difficulties, constrains, disappointments, failure, mobility, pain, and even threats, accidents and disasters and above all the continuous and hard struggle to find the necessary resources, investments and partners. Some of these can have solutions and remedies through preparedness, lobbies and also systematic, gradual and continuous build-up of pre-required and introductory knowledge as well as collaboration and teaming up in consortiums.

Science and technology nowadays, also market dynamics, are characterized by being trans-disciplinary with diffuse barriers between disciplines, so classification to physics, chemistry, physiology/medicine and economy is introducing increasing pressures not only on researchers, management of research infra-structures and projects, top peer-reviewed journals and research-funding organization but also on career-development-plans, involvement and shaping of early-stage researcher as well as construction and management of higher education in general. Alfred Nobel’s Will (http://www.nobelprize.org/alfred_nobel/will/testamente.html) (http://nobelpeaceprize.org/en_gb/alfred-nobel/testament/) stated that the prizes “shall be annually awarded to those who, during the preceding year shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind” within the disciplines of physics, chemistry, physiology/medicine, economy, literature and peace. With the new era of trans-disciplinary and trans-sectorial requirements for achieving sustainable socio-economic developments new possibilities for awarding the prize are to be expected for joint inventions by physicists and chemists; physicists, chemists and physiologists; chemists and physiologists; physicists and physiologists; ……. etc as long as the inventions are contributing to the greatest benefit to mankind. Classification into disciplines is just to give equal chances and terms to all disciplines contributing in “the greatest benefit on mankind” including existing and emerging nexuses (water-energy, environment-medicine, environment-economy, …. where underlying sciences can be combinations of physics, chemistry, physiology or even economy for example) with impacts on “the greatest benefit on mankind” in particular life quality and the conservation and protection of natural resources. The scientific career, engineering endeavor, entrepreneurship, mobility, diverse, dynamic and global engagement of Alfred Nobel and his concern about safety and peace as well as his transparency, cultural, literature and art interests have all in all finally resulted in unifying humans towards the neutral goals of the hard issues of science and technology with the soft face of humanity as reflected in literature and peace (http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Nobel).

Tuning the mission of science, technology and economy towards achieving sustainable socio-economic developments has to be completed by global instruments to foster mutual respect across geographical, cultural and religious boarders for achieving peace within and between different generations (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6VQpB4kGtQ&app=desktop).

Food is a daily concern not only for us but also to grow up whatever we need to eat as well! How much do we know about food production, in particular animal and meat production? How much water and energy are needed for such production, also what are the impacts of such production on our environment and health? An interesting issue is the production of chicken and eggs, by being by far most popular food items in the market. Here is a good example of high-quality production and preparation of eggs for the market and consumers (https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10203243637959486&id=1465162541).

The ever-increasing world population is requiring more and more chicken and eggs but how can humans cope with the increasing pressures on chicken? Yet the world has not yet reached peak chicken (http://m.motherjones.com/environment/2013/08/peak-chicken). What about “organic or eco” production; what are the diverse culture and ethics in chicken production and processing? With increasing pressures on water-energy resources how would we sustain farming and production in terms of feeding? Could insects feed animals of tomorrow’s meat industry? If so, what are the challenges posed from convoluted legislation and possible health risks? Indeed, The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization released a report (pdf) last year promoting the introduction of insects into both our diets and animal feed. Scientists and researchers, also claim that “other protein sources for livestock and aquaculture are urgently needed” which in real life terms can be understandable. However, some scientists and researchers even suggest that insects are ideal in this context as they can be “sustainably reared” on vegetable and domestic waste as well as byproducts from slaughterhouses. But startups recognize that for consumers, the thought of directly eating insects is often hard to stomach.

http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/dec/08/insects-feed-animals-meat-industry-startup-food

What makes Scandinavia expensive and beautiful is the costs associated with safety, security and quality of life on all levels. But there are things you need to know if you are planning a long stay, e.g. in Sweden (https://sweden.se/society/20-things-to-know-before-moving-to-sweden/).

It not only about tourism and long stays in Scandinavia and the Nordic countries but in general it is how the culture, social life and economy are being entangled and intertwined with nature and the environment. What you see as a tourist, or experience during a stay, has long history of socio-economic evolution, continuity in space and time and deep involvement of generations (http://www.academia.edu/7640463/Entangled_Environments_Historians_and_Nature_in_the_Nordic_Countries). The article explores questions of definition, disciplinary knowledge and the need for interdisciplinarity, and the problem of national, spatial, and temporal boundaries in environmental history. It concludes with a look to the future of Nordic environmental history.

The industrial revolution (http://sv.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industriella_revolutionen), the advance of science and technology during past centuries (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century) , and the associated accelerating “production-consumption” because of population pressures are taking us to new global tectonic shifts. The scream of nature and life on earth is forcing a new world order to bring about zero-carbon technologies for major cleanup of the atmosphere from all un-necessary emissions of carbon dioxide. Indeed, we should shape these shifts to a much more wider and inclusive cleanup from all toxic pollution and waste that are causing enormous and accelerating degradation of the atmosphere, the hydrosphere and the land. http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=10

For many decades and even centuries there have been an accelerating divergence of the socio-economic twin “eco-nomy and eco-logy” with enormous feedback impacts on the functioning and metabolism of all life processes and qualities on earth. The convergence of the gap between eco-nomy and eco-logy is IMPERATIVE for achieving sustainable socio-economic developments around the world. Just some few examples from two most big economies in world the USA (http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=10) and the emerging China (http://www.mining.com/china-the-worlds-biggest-energy-consumer-and-producer-72513/).

http://blogs.worldbank.org/climatechange/

We can dream to get a world which we can enjoy together in combinations of natural colors with positive impacts from worlds greatest music.