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Today's NewWork News Web Tip: WEF Annual Meeting 2005 (Tuesday, 2/1/05)
Here's description of the issues and sessions dealt with at the recently concluded 2005 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: World Meteorological Organization (Wednesday, 2/2/05)
Chemistry Nobel Laureate Roald Hoffmann has remarked that "the economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the environment," suggesting that the common notion that societies must choose between economic development and stewardship of the environment constitutes a short-sighted false dichotomy.
Answering questions about mankind's impact on the global environment has not been an easy task. For one thing, there is evidence of high-amplitude, low-frequency global temperature changes throughout much of the Earth's history, as well as evidence that there have been periods long before the onset of the Industrial Revolution when carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere has been very high. Immediately assuming that recent change, or, at least, that ALL of the recent change necessarily has been a result of mankind's industrial activities may be premature.
Among the basic recent questions seem to be these:
1) Has the global atmosphere really gotten warmer during recent years? The answer now appears to be a clear "yes."
2) To what extent has recent climate change been a consequence of mankind's industrial activities during the past 150 years or so, including the recent accelerated production of "greenhouse gasses?" The evidence now seems to indicate that human activities are playing a role in these changes, but this doesn't preclude the possibility that the world may also be going through one of the long-term cycles that it has been through in the past.
3) What are the consequences for humans of climate change? For one thing, a warmer atmosphere implies more atmospheric moisture and greater weather extremes, as well as climate changes which can be to the dramatic disadvantage of peoples in some parts of the world, such as on the African continent. However, earlier warm periods appear to have been associated with the creativity that precipitated the development of what we call "Civilization," as well as global explorations that brought Asia and the Americas to the attention of Europeans.
4) What can humanity do about the changes at this point? Individuals and societies can take a variety of actions in order to cope with changed circumstances, although the history of mankind's rationality with respect to change and threats is not altogether encouraging. For instance, even though Italy's Mount Vesuvius seems about due for the kind of catastrophic explosive eruption that buried Pompeii and Herculaneum in August AD 79, millions of people continue to live in the immediate vicinity of the mountain. While deaths in AD 79 were in the thousands, deaths from a similar eruption now would be in the hundreds of thousands.
To the extent that climate change has been brought on my recent industrial processes, it doesn't seem possible to "turn back the clock" at this point. It's likely that humanity will have to resign itself to living in a somewhat different world than it has been accustomed to for many centuries.
However, as the old admonition goes, "When you're already in a hole, it's a good idea to stop digging." It appears that the U.S. could reduce its energy consumption without significantly reducing its overall standard of living. Moreover, it seems possible that countries in an earlier but rapid stage of economic development could find ways to continue their development while also giving some priority to environmental concerns. South Korea's air quality problem comes to mind, as well as China's ravaging of its environment, as we have reported in recent days.
However, to the extent that recent climate change has been a consequence of long-term cycles of the sort that the Earth has gone through before, human actions of any kind will have limited consequences. That is, even if all industrial activity were to cease, some climate change might still continue.
Also, it isn't clear that climate change necessarily is linear. That is, one of the findings from that branch of physics usually referred to as "chaos theory," which had its origins in meteorology, is that nonlinear complex dynamic systems such as the atmosphere sometimes suddenly "tip over" or enter a qualitatively different state once a given threshold has been reached. We all have good reason to hope that human activity is not introducing novelty into the atmospheric system that could suddenly change its essential nature and make Earth more like Venus. At this point, no one really knows entirely what is happening, why it's happening, or what the implications might be.
However, one thing that we can know for sure is that the atmosphere recognizes no national boundaries. Monitoring of it and actions on its behalf must necessarily be international in scope. Since its founding in 1950, the World Meteorological Organization has been one of the principal leaders in fostering international cooperation in the monitoring of the world's weather and climate.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Online Claims and Services (Thursday, 2/3/05)
The U.S. Social Security Administration tells what Online Claims and Services are available to you. However, if you use a Macintosh or WebTV browser, you may be out of luck for some things and, instead, have to use a technological device that our older readers, who may be the only ones interested in doing anything about Social Security online anyway, will remember as a "telephone."
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Sila: Clue in to Climate Change (Friday, 2/4/05)
Sila: Clue in to Climate Change examines climate change from the perspective of the experience of native peoples in the Arctic. The site comes to you from the Canadian Museum of Nature.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Mapping the Risks (Saturday, 2/5/05)
Mapping the Risks: Assessing the Homeland Security Implications of Publicly Available Geospatial Information is a report from the famous RAND Corporation dealing with the implications of the availability of geospatial information to the American public, which also means that it is available to those who would like to destroy the United States.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: SINGOV (Sunday, 2/6/05)
Singaporeans like to say that their city-state is "clean and green," which is mostly true, although it's possible to exaggerate the "clean" part. However, by Asian or even global standards, it is a prosperous and comfortable place to live and work, and, while certainly not a liberal democracy, its government has a reputation for being highly competent and efficient. Here's their SINGOV web site, which can tell you quite a lot about it.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The Encyclopedia of World History (Monday, 2/7/05)
If your political, economic, religious and other key attitudes tend to be based on the assumption that the world is created anew each morning, you may want to try to put things into historical perspective and may be interested to know that the Encyclopedia of World History is now available online.
However, simply concentrating on the most recent several thousand years of human experience may not offer sufficient perspective either. So as not to be mislead by fairly small things which look large only because you're so close to them, it's useful to re-examine those pictures of the earth taken from the moon. Or, even better, read Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot about how the earth looks from a only a bit further out.
The entire earth, including everything and everybody that's ever been on it, really constitutes a very tiny part of reality, so it's important not to take too much for granted or to assume too much about the significance or permanence of humans or their actions.
As an example, the brightest supernova in four centuries suddenly lit up the southern sky in February of 1987. It allowed astronomers to watch the development of this enormous explosion over a period of days. However, the explosion really took place earlier and so far away that it required 165,000 years for the light to reach earth by 1987. That is, the light from that explosion left its origin long before modern Homo Sapiens Sapiens first appeared on the earth and about 160,000 years before the most early beginnings of what we call "recorded history."
So, is it really possible for us to destroy ourselves or change the Earth into an uninhabitable planet? Are there any beer trucks in Germany? Do cats purr? Is there any snow in Alaska?
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: University Business (Tuesday, 2/8/05)
University Business IS about business, but university business. That is, it's the online magazine from the University of Minnesota intended for administrators in higher education.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Ministry of Finance (Wednesday, 2/9/05)
For a variety of good reasons, India and its economy have been more on the minds of people around the world lately than used to be the case. If you're among those who believe that it's no longer a good idea to ignore India, here the Indian government's Ministry of Finance site.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Ballpark Estimate (Thursday, 2/10/05)
You can use the online Ballpark Estimate calculator to see how much you will need to save for retirement.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Future Scientists and Engineers of America (Friday, 2/11/05)
One of the odd perversities is that so many Americans and probably others as well rely heavily on stereotypes and derogatory labels for people who are committed to things of major social value. You've all heard about "eggheads," "tree-huggers," "do-gooders," and, of course, "nerds" and "geeks."
It may be that the anti-authority, anti-expert, "wisdom of the common man" attitude was somewhat functional during at least the early history of the United States, given that so many Americans had been immigrants from aristocratically-dominated Europe where the same few families essentially had all the education, all the wealth, all the property, and all the political power.
However, if new generations of Americans do not learn that having interest in and talent for technical occupations is greatly cool, America is likely to become an underdeveloped country sometime later this century, now that the generations of scientists and engineers galvanized by Sputnik and the Apollo space program are fading from the scene and into retirement. The non-profit Future Scientists and Engineers of America organization is trying to do something about the problem.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: National Environment Research Council (Saturday, 2/12/05)
For forty years, the National Environment Research Council has been funding research and training at colleges and universities in the United Kingdom.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Women and Men in the United States (Sunday, 2/13/05)
The U.S. Census Bureau has released this report on the relative circumstances of women and men in the United States during recent decades. Among other things, the data show that women are remaining single longer and are achieving higher levels of formal education in greater numbers.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Top 10 Ways to Beat the Clock and Prepare for Retirement (Monday, 2/14/05)
Here's a "top 10" list that doesn't come from David Letterman, but may be of more benefit to you than lists which are merely amusing. Here are the Top 10 Ways to Beat the Clock and Prepare for Retirement.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Habitat for Humanity International (Tuesday, 2/15/05)
Many Americans know about the Habitat for Humanity International organization because of former President Jimmy Carter's long involvement in it. He has not only promoted the organization and its mission, but also has spent a good deal of time swinging a hammer, and not just for news cameras. The organization claims to have helped build or refurbish more than 175,000 houses for low-income people, and emphasizes that it is not a giveaway. People who will live in the houses contribute their own labor and make mortgage payments. However, these are made affordable by the fact that Habitat is a non-profit organization and also because the loans are interest-free.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Wednesday, 2/16/05)
With the Kyoto Protocol going into effect today, you may want some perspective on the whole effort. Here's the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, including some essential background. Incidentally, Kyoto is a famous Japanese city and widely regarded as that country's principal cultural capital. Young Japanese with talents in the arts usually want to attend a university in Kyoto.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: What is the Kyoto Protocol? (Thursday, 2/17/05)
Here are some questions about the Kyoto Protocol, which, if not frequently asked, at least seem frequently implied. This overview and explanation of the agreement that was negotiated in 1997 among many nations that was negotiated in 1997 and which took effect yesterday, with the conspicuous absence of the United States and Australia, comes to you from the United Kingdom's Daily Mail.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: National Energy Foundation (Friday, 2/18/05)
The National Energy Foundation provides a variety of educational materials and programs relating to issues having to do with natural resources, the environment, technology, and conservation.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Cartographic Modeling Lab (Saturday, 2/19/05)
During a time of globalization and with a recent Gallop Polll showing a large proportion of American adults apparently unable to locate the United States on a world map, it may be a bad time to de-emphasize geography. Elementary geographic literacy should at least include knowing where on earth one is located. The Cartographic Modeling Lab at the University of Pennsylvania is dedicated to the analysis and mapping of spacial data, with emphasis on projects in the Philadelphia area.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: House Committee on Veterans' Affairs (Sunday, 2/20/05)
Since 1946, when a tremendous number of American veterans had just returned from the Second World War, the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs has been recommending legislation relating to veterans' benefits.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Commercialism in Education Research Unit (Monday, 2/21/05)
It may seem ironic that the Commercialism in Education Research Unit is now located at a university in Arizona, given that the University of Phoenix is now the largest of the for-profit universities and was fined nearly $10 million last fall for falling prey to conflicts of interest inherent in a for-profit corporation that ostensibly exists to serve students. Many scholars are concerned about the future of the essential "academic freedom" tradition in such institutions as well, and what this will do, not only to teaching, but also genuine scholarship.
For a long period of time, the term "university" was reserved mostly for institutions heavily involved with original scholarship as well as the training of advanced scholars and professionals. These institutions also had major archival responsibilities and often maintained large libraries and museums. By these criteria, no one has ever doubted that institutions such as Oxford, Princeton, the University of Michigan, or the University of Minnesota have been genuine universities.
Then, some years ago, the word "college" seemed to become a "dirty word." Many perfectly fine colleges suddenly were renaming themselves "universities," which, in most cases, served to diminish their credibility, rather than enhancing it. They started to look like tiny businesses hiding behind huge signs.
Now, higher education may be further attenuating its credibility and value, as well as the accreditation process, by extending the old proprietary trade school model to baccalaureate and post-graduate levels with the growing number of for-profit "universities." With the growth of online delivery systems, the barriers to entry have not been great, so long as these commercial organizations are able to meet requirements for accreditation, which, as it has turned out, has not been difficult.
Online doctoral programs seem particularly troublesome, given that the Ph.D. degree traditionally has been seen as a scholar's credential, even though, in practice, a great many Ph.D.'s spend their professional lives doing something other than research once they've completed their degree programs. For many, the one and only piece of research that they ever do is their dissertation, which, for many, really is only another school exercise which will never be read by anyone, with the possible exception of members of the candidate's doctoral committee.
Nonetheless, Ph.D. students, following an early burst of post-graduate coursework, typically learn how to do research mostly by apprenticing with active, recognized, productive scholars, who are found mostly in traditional large universities and research institutes where original scholarship is supported.
It all suggests that, whatever the accreditation criteria, society will be unwilling to treat doctoral graduates from for-profit organizations the same as doctoral graduates from, say, Harvard or Stanford. For one thing, the latter kinds of institutions are highly selective, while it's difficult to believe that organizations intending to maximize profit will turn away 95 percent of their applicants. As a consequence, graduates of traditional research universities are likely to differ, on average, from those of the less-selective institutions when they begin, so we shouldn't be surprised to find that they're also different when they finish.
Those who wonder how baccalaureate and graduate degrees from the online for-profit startups will be perceived by employers and others whose perceptions can make a major practical difference in individual lives can simply examine how an A. A. degree from one of the for-profit private schools is greeted compared to an A. A. degree from an established community college. According to a recent CBS News "60 Minutes" report, many of the proprietary career schools now granting degrees seem most interested in getting their hands on government student loan money.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Shopping Mall Studies (Tuesday, 2/22/05)
Years ago, an Oxford don got a very strange look on his face when he was told that Michigan State University offers a master's degree in packaging. If you tend to think of things like philosophy, medieval history, physics, or German literature when you think of universities, you may be amused or annoyed to hear that Eastern Connecticut State University offers Shopping Mall Studies as part of their American Studies program. But, of course, if universities are intended to be places where people can study subjects of importance to human life, why not? If serious scholars ignore the sociological, anthropological, and other aspects of the modern shopping mall phenomenon, in addition to the economic, we may miss something important about modern social life.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (Wednesday, 2/23/05)
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor has been assessing and tracking entrepreneurial activity across dozens of the world's countries for the past six years and involves the participation of many international scholars and higher education institutions.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Iraq Investment and Reconstruction Task Force (Thursday, 2/24/05)
The Iraq Investment and Reconstruction Task Force is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce and is intended to help American corporations assist in the rebuilding of Iraq.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (Friday, 2/25/05)
President Lincoln signed the Morrill Land Grant College Act into law on December 2, 1861 which made possible the development of the vast network of public colleges and universities that are found across the United States today. They were intended not only to provide higher educational opportunities for the "common man;" i.e., people who were not from wealthy American aristocratic families, but also persons educated in a range of practical subjects needed by a rapidly expanding continental nation on the threshold of industrialization as well as the mechanization revolution in agriculture. The National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges was founded in 1887 and is the oldest higher education association, now with 215 member institutions. The Association continues to play a key role in the development of higher education policy in the United States and the role of public higher education in the nation's economic, social, and cultural life.
Today's NewWork News Web Tip: USDA Rural Development (Monday, 2/28/05)
The United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Development agency conducts financial programs and offers loans to help in the development of public facilities and development of the rural economy. The Agency's goal is to help "improve the economy and quality of life" for persons in rural areas across the United States.
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