Here, Kitty, Kitty!

Apparently, certain types of cat litter can be used to assist with containing radioactive products. NPR identifies how “cat litter has been used for years to dispose of nuclear waste.”

Training Germs to Eat Up That Greenhouse Gas

Israeli scientists have produced a genetically engineered bacteria that can live on carbon dioxide rather than sugar.

We Almost Wiped out Measles. (Next: Covid-19?)

Between 2000 and 2017, it was estimated that global deaths from measles had reduced by about 80% due to vaccination. Success in the fight against measles is down to the delivery of at least two doses...

Here’s a Ticket for Your Messy Backyard!
County fire departments in Southern California are checking homes for fire hazards at higher rates…and sending homeowners multiple reminders to make their houses safer.

Another good reason to eat cherries
A study from South Korea’s Forest Research Institute indicated that each 25-year-old cherry tree can absorb about 20 pounds of emissions each.

Try a 17th Century Technology for Fruit-Growing
Fruit walls were a pre-greenhouse technology that was used for several centuries (beginning in the 1600s) to grow food in areas where the climate would not otherwise support it.

Who Pays Attention to the Arms Trade Treaty? (Anyone?)
The Arms Trade Treaty limits what weapons a country can sell to other countries, especially if the weapons are likely to be used to attack others.... (continued)

Arms Trade, continued
... So is there any evidence so far that it is working? Has any country actually changed its plans and refrained from selling weapons just because it signed the treaty?

Can Trump Fool the Farmers?
Agriculture is among the hardest hit sectors by the climate crisis, and yet U.S. farm policy is largely devoid of climate considerations.

Robotic Vehicle-Killers?
U.S. Army has a missile system that, without humans, can pick out vehicles to attack. So what do we think of such things? And what can we do about it?

Is Cannabis better than concrete?
“I’ve seen videos lately about hemp bricks instead of concrete. How realistic is that option?”

Can a Fern Save Us?
A species of fern (Azolla) has potential as a biofuel and major carbon sink. Millions of years ago, this fern sequestered so much carbon that it switched the globe out of ‘hothouse’ conditions into the relatively cooler conditions that we experience now.

How dangerous are a cow’s burps and farts?
Although manure is a source of methane, it is actually much less than from ruminant digestion (“cow burps”). And the biggest source of methane from ruminant digestion is cows grazing on pasture.

Catch your zoonotic disease right at home — by drinking milk or playing with your dog
“In 2018, we saw an outbreak of psittacosis in poultry plant workers, drug-resistant brucellosis ..." (continued)

Zoonotics, continued
"... linked to drinking raw (unpasteurized) milk, dog lick–related Capnocytophaga infections, and Salmonella infections linked to pet guinea pigs, hedgehogs, and backyard poultry.”

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Please participate in the many ongoing discussions and debates on various pages of this website. In the coloured “slide show” boxes above, you’ll read excerpts from comments others have posted. To find articles and the Comments Column on any particular topic, click on a link in the menu of colored bars on the left side of this page. A window will open. Click on “Comments” or scroll down to the Comments Column. There you can reply to ideas that others have posted, share an article you’ve read by someone else, or post your own remarks. You can add a small photo if you wish.

The Platform for Survival

These public policy proposals, if adopted together, will greatly reduce the risk of six grave, inter-dependent threats to humankind. Wherever you are on the planet, if you accept at least 20 of the 25 “planks,” please scroll down and add your endorsement. Ask your organization to endorse too, listing its website here and announcing its public events. Then please visit this website frequently as a member of a worldwide community, sharing information, video discussions, and podcasts.

War and Weapons

Plank 1. All states owning or hosting nuclear weapons shall immediately de-alert them and commit to no-first-use.
Plank 2. All states, including those in NATO, shall sign, ratify, and within 10 years comply with the TPNW¹Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Plank 3. All states shall reduce their militaries and not plan war for “national security.”
Plank 4. All states shall develop a UN Emergency Peace Service to protect civilians and respond to crises.
Plank 5. All states shall ratify and fully implement the Arms Trade Treaty.
Plank 6. UN Convention on CCW²The “Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons” is the body that can negotiate rules banning “killer robots.” and all states shall prohibit developing or deploying lethal autonomous weapons.

Global Warming

Plank 7. All states shall swiftly adopt maximally stringent efficiency standards for cars, trucks, ships, and aircraft.
Plank 8. The International Code Council³The International Code Council is an association with over 64,000 members. It develops model codes and standards used in the design, build and compliance process to construct safe, sustainable, affordable and resilient structures. Some countries use its standards instead of developing their own. About 40 percent of emissions come from existing buildings, which could be 80% more efficient. Currently, design is done with consideration for payback by cost from utility savings. However, higher carbon fuels cost less right now than renewable energy, so buildings are being built to use fossil fuels instead of lower carbon fuel sources. They are not designed to be ready to use renewable energy sources. shall adopt stringent performance-based building codes.
Plank 9. All states shall adopt norms and procedures for the production, recovery, and recycling of materials.
Plank 10. All states shall accelerate R&D of HVDC⁴Research and Development of High voltage direct current electric grids electric grids, energy storage, and Demand System Management.
Plank 11. All states shall incorporate environmental considerations in developing national dietary food guides.
Plank 12. All states shall negotiate to preserve and protect forests and enhance carbon sinks.

Famine

Plank 13. All states shall accelerate SDG⁵Sustainable Development Goals efforts to end poverty and enable all to obtain food and potable water.
Plank 14. All states shall support improvements of soil health for resilient food production and carbon sequestration.

Pandemics

Plank 15. WHO shall promote nations’ use of Incident Management System⁶“Incident Management System” is an approach to disaster management developed by firefighters. for early detection and response to pandemics.
Plank 16. UN shall adopt a ‘one health approach’ integrating veterinary and environmental science⁷Pandemics often result from contact between humans and animals, whereby a virus jumps from an animal to a person. This risk is increasing because people are cutting down forests and living closer to the animals they displace, and because global warming enables some animals and insects to move into formerly temperate zones. to mitigate pandemics.

Radiation Exposure

Plank 17. All states shall shift rapidly to effective generation of electricity by using renewable energy.*⁸This plank recognizes that phasing out all nuclear power plants, including subsidies and uranium mining, may be an outcome in the future.
Plank 18. All states shall prioritize the long-term control and safe storage of radioactive wastes, with public review.

Cyber Attacks

Plank 19. The UN shall declare cyberspace a peaceful commons and create a binding treaty for international cyber norms.
Plank 20. Manufacturers of ICT⁹Information and communications technology hardware and software shall be liable for negligent security failures that cause harm.

Enabling Measures

Plank 21. All states shall support SDGs; tax wealth and financial transactions; and redistribute funds equitably.¹⁰Actors: The April 2017 version of the Security & Sustainability Guide (SSG) identifies 52 finance organizations: G7 and G20, the Bretton Woods organizations (IMF, World Bank),the Belmont Forum (of funding agencies), Bloomberg New Energy Finance, World Economic Forum (Davos), Climate Bonds Initiative, European Investment Bank, OECD’s Financial Action Task Force, Global Innovation Fund, Green Climate Fund (UNFCCC), UN Financing for Development), Green Investment Bank (UK), and the UNEP Finance Initiative; and The Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures. Actions include: Tobin tax, universal financial transactions tax, convening World conference to design a global financial architecture, including agreement on taxing wealth and redistribution. Canada’s Just Transition Task Force is now getting underway.
Plank 22. All multilateral institutions shall heed the demands of international civil society alliances for justice.¹¹Actors: World Social Forum, LEAP, Climate Action International, ecumenical and interfaith coalitions, CCIC, IUCN and other INGOs.
Plank 23. Sub-national governments and non-state actors shall exercise leadership in solving global problems.¹²The Bretton Woods organizations (IMF, World Bank),the Belmont Forum (of funding agencies), Bloomberg New Energy Finance, World Economic Forum (Davos), Climate Bonds Initiative, European Investment Bank, OECD’s Financial Action Task Force , Global Innovation Fund, Green Climate Fund (UNFCCC), UN Financing for Development), Green Investment Bank (UK), and the UNEP Finance Initiative; and The Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures. Actions: Use opportunities available around meetings and processes of organizations like G7, G20, UNFCCC, UNGA, ECOSOC, WTO, IMF, World Bank annual meetings, World Economic Forum, national governments. Actors: C40, ICLEI, World Parliament of Mayors, Mayors for Peace, UNFCCC, UN Habitat, UN Global Compact Cities Programme, and 100 Resilient Cities (a $100m initiative of the Rockefeller Foundation), Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Canadian Urban Institute, The Urban Renaissance Institute at the University of Toronto.
Plank 24. Investors and regulators shall compel all businesses to comply with the U.N. Global Compact.¹³Actors: Business-led Groups such as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Ethical Groups such as the UN’s Global Compact, Broadened Accounting Groups seeking new and appropriate measures, Certifying Organizations, Green Investing Groups, Sustainability Consultants, and Green Business Publishing, OHCHR-Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Stock Market disclosures; Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), G20, Trade Agreements, OECD, WEF.
Plank 25. Social movements and states shall prioritize Sustainable Common Security¹⁴Sustainable Common Security priorities are: to develop a common agenda that covers immediate threats, underlying causes and long-term consequences; to build bridges of understanding, support and solidarity in a movement of movements; to address shared global challenges; and, to counter the national security narrative of nuclear deterrence and further preparation for war, with steps toward a more effective peace system.
Actions might include: work for military transformation, economic conversion and progressive UN reform including a UN Emergency Peace Service, a UN Parliamentary Assembly, the strengthening of the International Criminal Court and support for equal participation of women in all UN processes and decision making to address shared global challenges to address shared global challenges.

Fatal combinations

When dealing with a system, it can be easier to solve the whole combination of problems together than any one of them singly. That is true when one of the problems is causing most of the other problems. If you solve it, the others will be easy. So it’s important to prioritize—to choose which issues to work on and in which order. Afterward we may all keep specializing in solving a single small part of the problem, but we’ll understand how the parts fit together as a big picture. When you’re working on a jigsaw puzzle, it helps to see the picture on the box lid and get a notion as to where each piece may belong. So, this course is meant to be like a picture on the box of our huge puzzle called “How to save the world.” Read more here…

Sign the Platform for Survival

If you agree with at least 20 of the 25 items in our Platform, we welcome your endorsement! Just fill in (and submit) the form below to indicate your support.