The Future of the Environment

Engineering a Better Earth

PopSci’s plan for identifying the planet’s worst environmental problems—and solving them with science.

Top 10 Forecasts from Outlook 2007

Each year since 1985, the editors of THE FUTURIST have selected the most thought-provoking ideas and forecasts appearing in the magazine. Over the years, Outlook has spotlighted the emergence of such epochal developments as the Internet, virtual reality, and the end of the Cold War.

Here are the editors' top 10 forecasts from Outlook 2007:

1. Generation Y will migrate heavily overseas.
2. Dwindling supplies of water in China will impact the global economy.
3. Workers will increasingly choose more time over more money.
4. Outlook for Asia: China for the short term, India for the long term.
5. Children's "nature deficit disorder" will grow as a health threat.
6. We’ll incorporate wireless technology into our thought processing by 2030.
7. The robotic workforce will change how bosses value employees.
8. The costs of global-warming-related disasters will reach $150 billion per year.
9. Companies will see the age range of their workers span four generations.
10. A rise of disabled Americans will strain public transportation systems.

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'Green eye' tech centre launched

A new space innovation centre in the UK will lead the development of novel technologies to monitor our planet.

Called the Centre for Earth Observation Instrumentation, it will pull together university and industry expertise.

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China Claims First Artificial Snowfall In Drought-Hit Tibet

China has successfully created artificial snow in the mountainous region of Tibet, raising hopes of a man-made solution to drought and melting glaciers there, state media reported on Wednesday.

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Ethanol may cause more smog, more deaths

WASHINGTON - Switching from gasoline to ethanol — touted as a green alternative at the pump — may create dirtier air, causing slightly more smog-related deaths, a new study says.
Nearly 200 more people would die yearly from respiratory problems if all vehicles in the United States ran on a mostly ethanol fuel blend by 2020, the research concludes. Of course, the study author acknowledges that such a quick and monumental shift to plant-based fuels is next to impossible.

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The Water Wars of 2050

The Water Wars of 2050

Although wars are often justified under the banners of lofty tenets, they are just as often fought over resources. And as the Associated Press reports today, it's not unthinkable that as global warming changes the resource status quo, conflicts will erupt between peoples competing for those resources.

A few highlights from the article:

"One of the biggest likely areas of conflict is going to be over water," said [retired General Charles] Wald, former deputy commander of U.S. European Command. He pointed to the Middle East and Africa.

The military report's co-author, former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, also pointed to sea-level rise floods as potentially destabilizing South Asia countries of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Lack of water and food in places already the most volatile will make those regions even more unstable with global warming and "foster the conditions for internal conflicts, extremism and movement toward increased authoritarianism and radical ideologies," states the 63-page military report, issued by the CNA Corp., an Alexandria, Va.-based national security think tank.
Mother Nature's potential WMD sort of raises the bar of imminent threat, doesn't it?

Source:

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003435.html

Climate Change Worries Military Advisers

We're used to hearing scientists warn us about climate change. Now a group of retired generals and admirals says global warming could provoke serious national security threats.