The world population is stabilized at a level that is within the short- and long-term carrying capacity of the earth’s finite resources. This level is of great debate and is probably between 8 and 9 billion people.

Resources are used efficiently. Leading organizations such as the Wuppertal Institute and the Factor 10 Club and a growing number of individuals such as Ernst von Weizsacker, Paul Hawken and Amory Lovins have been calling for a huge increase in resource productivity by a factor of 4 to 10 in order to increase wealth for four-fifths of the world’s population and to decrease environmental impact. This is critical because the industrialized economy is incredibly wasteful in use of resources while the planet has a finite amount of resources and a finite ability to absorb and process wastes. According to a recent report of the World Resources Institute, industrialized countries extract forty-five to eight-five tons of materials per person per year. A recent report of the US National Academy of Engineering indicates that 93 percent of all the material which enters into commerce becomes waste before the product reaches the consumer. (more…)

A necessary step in the transition to a sustainable path is to shift from problem-solving to creating. Problems are negative things which we would like to eliminate. However, eliminating the problem does not necessarily get us what we want. We often frame problems in such narrow ways that the solutions are not lasting and may create other problems later on or in some other place. The way we have dealt with most environmental issues such as air or water pollution is to view them as discrete problems with solutions which often end up moving pollution around rather than getting to the root of the problem and eliminating it. Creating, on the other hand, is bringing into existence some thing or situation that we want — which is usually a much better motivator for change than a problem we need to eliminate.

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Disturbing global trends continue to evidence the fact that human activity threatens our ability “to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” This goal of sustainability, as defined by the Brundtland Commission in 1987, will become more inaccessible without a dramatic change in our current mindset and behavior.

In the last five decades, the population of the world has more than doubled to 6 billion people and the world’s economic output has increased nearly sixfold (1). This unprecedented growth is altering the face of the earth and the composition of the atmosphere. (more…)

A design has been produced for a pioneering £120,000 children’s eco-park, which would be the first of its kind in Norfolk.

Officers at Norwich City Council worked with children from Sewell Park College and Catton Primary School to draw up the vision for the revamp of St Clements Park in Catton.

The aim is for it to make use of local, natural, materials and provide an alternative way of play for youngsters by offering something different to the usual boisterous, active play which parks usually focus on.

The design includes a willow tunnel, a sand pit, boulders, a look out tower, wildflowers, mounds and long grass with paths mown through it and would have easy access for wheelchair users and families with pushchairs.

Paul Nicholson, children, young people and play manager at City Hall, explained: “It is based around green principles, using local materials such as wood and boulders. (more…)

Our current level of thinking remains a significant obstacle to the promise of a just and sustainable future. As Einstein observed, “the significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” Our current mindset is characterized by the beliefs that

• humans are both separate from and the dominant species of nature;
• that resources are free and inexhaustible;
• that technological fixes are available to solve most problems;
• that nature has an infinite capacity to assimilate human waste;
• and that material acquisition and accumulation is the most important determinant of success.

As the primary centers of teaching, research and learning, institutions of higher education are significant leverage points which both reflect and inform social mindsets. (more…)

Second Nature imagines a society in which all present and future generations of humans:

• are healthy and can meet their basic needs;
• have fair and equitable access to Earth’s resources;
• have a decent quality of life;
• celebrate cultural diversity;
• are realizing their highest aspirations;
• and restore and preserve the biologically diverse ecosystems on which we all depend.

How might society achieve this vision? We provide you with the following ideas that shape Second Nature’s response to that question, and suggest that you simultaneously picture a sustainable society, and elements of your own vision.

We must align social, economic and natural systems for mutual benefit and sustainability.

Imagine that all people understand their connections to the natural world and to other humans, know where products and services come from and where wastes go, and know how to measure and minimize their ecological footprint. Our ecological footprint (our impact on the Earth) is invisible to most of us. We must make the invisible visible.

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Los Angeles, Oct 9 (EFE) .- Echo Park, an area traditionally occupied by Latinos and is now changing its image with modern apartments for executives, has been named one of the “Best Neighborhood” in America.

The designation adopted by the American Planning Association (APA English) places the district as one of the “10 Best Neighborhoods” of the nation, renowned for the excellence of their homes, streets and public spaces.

“Echo Park is one of the brightest lights in a city full of stars …”, said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, in making the announcement Wednesday of the name. (more…)

“Echo Park Area had disappeared from their world. As a child, had lived for a time with his mother in Apartments Sir Palmer … but times had not been happy for her or him, and now almost totally disappeared his memory. ”

In 2002 when Harry Bosch quit the LAPD (Police Department Los Angeles) records photocopied some cases failed to resolve at the time and continued to haunt him. One of the records that he took home was that of Marie Gesto, who disappeared in 1993. Despite suspecting for years the son of a prominent businessman, he could not prove his involvement in the crime. (more…)

Author: Brian Herbert
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Genre: English
ISBN: 0340837489
Publication Date: Sep 2006

“Hunters of Dune” and the concluding volume, “Sandworms of Dune,” bring together the great story lines and beloved characters in Frank Herbert’s classic Dune universe, ranging from the time of the Butlerian Jihad to the original Dune series and beyond. Based directly on Frank Herbert’s final outline, Which lay hidden in a safe-deposit box for a decade, these two volumes will finally answer the urgent questions Dune fans have been debating for two decades. At the end of “Chapterhouse: Dune” - Frank Herbert’s final novel - a ship carrying the gholas of Duncan Idaho, Sheeana (a young woman who can control Sandworms), and a crew of various refugees escapes into the uncharted galaxy, Fleeing from the monstrous Honored Matres, dark counterparts to the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. (more…)

We see posters everywhere announcing the restoration of a quarry, cleaning soil poisoned by lead, the underpinnings of some dunes… but do we really serve these actions? A scientific team anglohispano had this question, and after consideration of 89 initiatives focused on very different ecosystems, has concluded that it is effective: its positive impact has resulted in an increase in biodiversity of 44% and an increase of 25 % of the “services” that these environments provide to humans.  (more…)