You are here

Home

Other

The UVA Bay Game - Global Watershed Sustainability Simulation Projects

Sat, 2011-06-25 11:32 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Theresa Bernardo

The UVA Bay Game is a large-scale participatory simulation based on the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The Game allows players to take the roles of stakeholders, such as farmers, developer, watermen, and local policy-makers, make decisions about their livelihoods or regulatory authority; and see the impacts of their decisions on their own personal finances, the regional economy, and watershed health. It is an adaptable educational and learning tool for raising awareness about watershed stewardship anywhere in the world; a tool for exploring and testing policy choices; and a tool for evaluating new products and services.

Developed by a multi-disciplinary faculty and student team, the UVA Bay Game combines a video game format with current demographic, economic, and scientific data to create a powerful tool with real-world applications and impact. It has been hailed by federal and state agency, NGO, and corporate and education leaders as "the first of its kind."

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
General Topic Tags: 
Resilience
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Other

United Nations Report: Internet Access is a Human Right

Tue, 2011-06-07 20:45 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Los Angeles Times - June 3, 2011

Internet access is a human right, according to a United Nations report released on Friday.

"Given that the Internet has become an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights, combating inequality, and accelerating development and human progress, ensuring universal access to the Internet should be a priority for all states," said the report from Frank La Rue, a special rapporteur to the United Nations, who wrote the document "on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression."

La Rue said in his report that access to the Internet is particularly important during times of political unrest, as demonstrated by the recent "Arab Spring" uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, among other countries.

From the report:

The Special Rapporteur believes that the Internet is one of the most powerful instruments of the 21st century for increasing transparency in the conduct of the powerful, access to information, and for facilitating active citizen participation in building democratic societies.

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
General Topic Tags: 
Communication
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Other

Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) - Code of Practice for the Hygienic Production of Sprouted Seeds

Tue, 2011-06-07 18:07 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Stuart Leiderman

The Code of Practice for the Hygienic Production of Sprouted Seeds, developed with the sprout industry’s input in 2001 and amended in February 2007, continues to be the current Canadian regulatory guideline used to assess sprout manufacturers’ compliance with Canada’s Food and Drugs Act and Regulations. The HACCP Generic Model for Sprouts Grown in Water and its companion document, Food Safety Practices Guidance for Sprout Manufacturers (FSPGSM), were developed by a committee consisting of representatives from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Health Canada. These documents are intended to be food safety resources for the sprout industry.

CFIA - Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) - (a 42 page .PDF file)

http://www.sproutnet.com/Reports/CFIA_HACCP_EN.pdf

CFIA - Food Safety Practices Guidance For Sprout Manufacturers (FSPGSM) - (a 79 page .PDF file)

http://www.sproutnet.com/Reports/CFIA_FSPG_EN.pdf

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
General Topic Tags: 
Food
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Other

Germany, in Reversal, Will Close Nuclear Plants by 2022

Tue, 2011-05-31 21:53 — Kathy Gilbeaux

The New York Times - May 30, 2011

BERLIN — The German government on Monday announced plans to shut all of the nation’s nuclear power plants within the next 11 years, a sharp reversal for Chancellor Angela Merkel after the Japanese disaster at Fukushima caused an electoral backlash by voters opposed to reliance on nuclear energy.

The plan calls for phasing out all of Germany’s 17 nuclear reactors — eight of which are offline — and expanding the use of renewable resources. The decision was based on recommendations of an expert commission appointed after the Japanese disaster to study an industry that generates 23 percent of Germany’s electricity.

“It’s definite — the latest end for the last three nuclear plants is 2022,” said Norbert Röttgen, the environment minister.

Global
Energy
Other

The 25th Anniversary of Chornobyl

Tue, 2011-04-26 16:31 — mdmcdonald

 

Global
Radiation
Other

Political Revolution and the Internet

Sat, 2011-01-29 10:10 — mdmcdonald

Th mission of this Working Group is exploring the question, "Why Are So Many Countries Throwing Out the Governments Now?"  Why are the authoritarian governments that are trying to suppress the will and actions of those that would throw them out of office shutting down the internet in their countries?

General Topic Tags: 
Communication
Technology
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Other

WHO Members Back U.S., Russia Efforts to Keep Smallpox Cache - WSJ.com

Thu, 2011-01-20 18:07 — mdmcdonald

 

 
" Members of the World Health Organization on Thursday backed efforts by the U.S. and Russia to keep the last known stocks of the smallpox virus for research to combat terrorism, in an initial debate over the fate over what's left of one of the world's most lethal pathogens. "
 
 

 

Global
Research
Other

U.S. lifts moratorium on deep-water drilling in Gulf of Mexico

Wed, 2010-10-13 07:40 — mdmcdonald

Reporting from Washington — The Obama administration on Tuesday lifted its moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, potentially blunting a serious political issue in the weeks before the midterm congressional election and signaling its confidence in newly tightened regulation. "There has been significant progress over the last few months in enhancing the safety of future drilling operations, and in addressing some of the weaknesses in spill containment and oil spill response," Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, said in announcing the moratorium's end. "More needs to be done," he said, "but we believe the risks of deepwater drilling have been reduced sufficiently to allow drilling under existing and new regulations." But the moratorium's end satisfied few players involved in offshore oil drilling issues. Some environmentalists criticized ending the drilling suspension while investigations and cleanup continued into the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which killed 11 people and unleashed the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Get breaking news alerts delivered to your mobile phone. Text BREAKING to 52669.

Global
Pollution
Other

Where is the Evidence-base for Health Policy and Health System Management?

Mon, 2010-09-27 11:48 — mdmcdonald

There is a need for a One Health Knowledge Management System that addresses the need for evidence in health policy and health system management in the U.S. as well as overseas. The article below rightly claims that evidence-based medicine is growing and is positively impacting clinical practice. That said, there needs to be a One Health Knowledge Management System that can inform policy makers, planners, and health systems managers about the cascading health issues and impacts within their domains and jurisdictions. See below.

Taxonomy upgrade extras: 
Global

Can closing schools stop the flu?

Tue, 2009-07-21 06:52 — admin

Email|Link|Comments (0)Posted by Elizabeth Cooney July 20, 2009 08:53 PM As they prepare for a fall flu season that could bring two nasty strains, Boston health officials are studying whether school closings helped to stop the spread of swine flu during the spring. Dr. Anita Barry, director of the infectious disease bureau at the Boston Public Health Commission, said the agency is still analyzing case reports from private and public schools that closed after abseentism rates soared. They expect to have answers in a month that will tell them if closing schools broke the chain of transmission of swine flu, known by its scientific name H1N1. The Boston review continues even as an article appearing today in a special issue of the British medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases concludes that closing schools early in a pandemic can reduce the number of cases at its peak, but cases might rise later when they reopened, leading to the same totals had schools not been shuttered. This flattening in the number of cases was observed in epidemics dating from 1918 through 2008.

Haiti
Cities
Other

Pages

Subscribe to Other
howdy folks
Page loaded in 0.665 seconds.