Group items tagged

"0.85 - the amount in degrees Celsius that the world's land and oceans warmed between 1880 and 2012. 3.7 - the amount in Celsius of extra global surface warming we will likely get between 2081 and 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions stay roughly on their current path. 14 - the number of chapters in the full Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis report. Australian scientists feature as authors in 11. 19 - the amount in centimetres the world's oceans have risen between 1901 and 2010. 36 - the number of pages in the summary document. 39 - the number of countries represented in the list of authors and review editors for the full report. 40 - the percentage rise in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere between the years 1750 and 2011. 55 - the number of countries represented in the list of expert reviewers. 63 - the amount in centimetres of extra sea level rise we will likely get between 2081 and 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions stay roughly on their current path. 90 - the percentage of the extra energy in the climate system between 1971 and 2010 that has been taken up by warming oceans. 209 - the number of lead authors who worked on the full report. 600+ - the number of contributing authors to the full report. 1089 - the number of self-appointed expert reviewers of the full report. 1250 - the number of figures (that's charts, graphs and other eye candy) contained in the full report. 2000+ - the number of pages in the full draft of Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. 9,200 - the number of scientific publications cited in the full report. 54,677 - the number of comments made on the full report by the group of self-appointed expert reviewers. 1,400,000 - the number of words in the full report. 2,000,000+ - the amount in gigabytes of numerical data gathered from computers running models of the world's climate systems. 30,000,000,000 - the tonnes of ice that "likely" melted from the Antarctic Ice Sheet on average each ye

"SOMETIME in 2013 Lagos will overtake Cairo to become Africa's largest city. This is confirmation of a decisive shift away from the ends of the continent and towards its tropical middle. Within a decade Lagos will have 16m people; Kinshasa, in Congo, will have 15m. The standard view of cities as generators of wealth, diversity and ideas will be challenged in Africa. To become liveable, cities will have to improve public transport, address rising violent crime and generate opportunities for young Africans. In 2013, over half of all city-dwellers will be under 18 and every African election will be decided, statistically at least, by first-time voters. What is certain is that African cities will be the most informal economies in the world in 2013. Some 70% of workers will live on their wits, relying on day labour to make enough to eat, pay rent and send their children to school. That will make cities dynamic and mobile, but also combustible. See full article."

"The map shows the touch-ins (going into the network) and touch-outs (leaving the network) of Oyster cards at London's tube and train stations, including a few beyond the Greater London boundary which still accept . As the animation moves forwards in 10-minute intervals during the typical weekday, the balance between touch-ins and touch-outs is shown by a colour scale. Red indicates the great majority of taps are touch-ins, and green indicates mainly touch-outs. White is the "neutral" colour, indicating that roughly as many people are entering the network as leaving it, at that period in time."

"What is known about the laws and policies that shape children's lives globally? Previously, few global maps showcased children's rights in countries around the world. The Children's Chances website allows you to view maps of key policies for children's healthy development, and answer pressing questions such as: Can children in your country go to school? How many countries protect children from child labor? In which countries is child marriage legal? Does your country prioritize child health? Can parents in your country meet the needs of their children? How do the unemployed or underemployed fare across different countries? In which countries do children of different genders, religions or ethnicities have equal rights? Which countries support the education and inclusion of children with disabilities?"

"The west has in recent years undergone a prolonged and painful financial crisis. In contrast, much of Africa has experienced relatively more rapid economic growth. While there are questions about the environmental impact, sustainability and quality of Africa's growth, what accounts for these different economic trajectories? Part of the explanation lies in the growth of the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) economies. These are largely responsible for higher African economic growth through increased demand for primary commodities and investment in mining, infrastructure and other sectors. They are also changing the nature of globalisation."

"Syria has disappeared from the internet. That's not an exaggeration either, nearly the entire Middle Eastern country has been cut off from the web. A post from research company Renesys reveals that what effectively amounts to all of Syria's internet connectivity shut down earlier today: Starting at 10:26 UTC (12:26pm in Damascus), Syria's international Internet connectivity shut down. In the global routing table, all 84 of Syria's IP address blocks have become unreachable, effectively removing the country from the Internet. We are investigating the dynamics of the outage and will post updates as they become available. A more detailed post reveals that 77 networks, representing 92% of the routed networks in the country experienced an outage. The outage comes among increasing violence in the country. According to the Daily Star, the government cut off internet as well as cell phone activity amid increasingly fierce clashes between government troops and rebels."

The number of older people using day care centres in England has fallen by nearly a quarter in three years, charity Age UK has said. Age UK found the number using services such as lunch clubs had fallen from 88,498 in 2009-10 to 68,160 in 2011-12, and blamed councils' funding pressures.

"This video is part of a series that won a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting on April 15, 2013 bit.ly/11aWqlz. See the entire iECONOMY series here nyti.ms/ZDNRNA For the New York Times | By Jonah M. Kessel In the winter of 2011, I visited the Foxconn factory in Chengdu, China, where many popular Apple products are made. However, I was not greeted with open arms. Foxconn denied any interviews and did not allowed us access to their facility. Employees of Foxconn we found outside the factory gates complained of grimm working conditions. (That report here: vimeo.com/35674511) Over the year, the New York Times and other media outlets reported on this and Apple responded saying they would improve conditions for workers. One year later, I returned to Foxconn with New York Times' Hong Kong Bureau Chief Keith Bradsher as well as factories producing for Hewlett-Packard in Western China, to see what had changed since our initial investigations. This time around, Foxconn in Chengdu allowed us to interview employees as well as visit employee dormitories. Their reaction a year later showed a culture change. While at HP, manufactories there gave us full access to work areas, recreational areas, dormitories and eating facilities. This video documents what we found."

"In a paper published Thursday in Science, demographers from several universities and the United Nations Population Division conclude that instead of leveling off in the second half of the 21st century, as the UN predicted less than a decade ago, the world's population will continue to grow beyond 2100. (Read "Population Seven Billion" in National Geographic magazine.)"

"The population of an area changes as people move in and out of an area to work. For the workday population the usually resident population is re-distributed to their places of work, while those not in work are recorded at their usual residence. This map shows the percentage change, for 16-74 year olds, experienced in each area, as recorded by the 2011 Census. Hover over the map to explore the change in your area. "

"Police in Paris set up checkpoints around the city on Monday to enforce a vehicle ban in an effort to cut dangerous pollution levels. All vehicles bearing even-numbered license plates are banned from driving in French capital for the day. The restrictions were introduced after pollutions levels reached dangerous levels for five days in a row"

"IN HER parents' bare brick-built shack in southern Beijing, Li Xue sifts through piles of court verdicts, petitions and other papers that record her family's struggle for most of the 20 years of her life to secure a simple document: a household registration certificate, the basic building block of official identity in China. Because she was born in violation of China's one-child-per-couple policy, local officials will not give her one. As a result she could not go to school. She now cannot get a job, nor get married, nor even buy a train or plane ticket. Despite recent moves to relax family-planning rules, the ordeal for Ms Li (pictured) is still far from over."

"Have you heard of carbon trading?  Where a country or region sets a cap for its emissions, and then uses permit trading to seek out the cheapest cuts.  I'm guessing you have. But what about the carbon in trade?  The carbon that moves around the world in the form of fossil fuels and finished products. Heard of it? When we talk about carbon emissions we invariably talk about where emissions occur due to fossil fuel combustion.  But carbon moves around a lot.  Oil moves from the Middle East to Europe before being used and products purchased in the US are often made in China.  These movements have important implications for climate policy."

In particular, the OECD's projections for 2060 (at constant purchasing-power parities) show the impact of fast catch-up growth in underdeveloped countries with big populations. Economic power will tilt even more decisively away from the rich world than many realise. In 2011 the current membership of the OECD made up 65% of global output, compared with a combined 24% for China and India. By 2060 the two Asian giants will have a 46% share of world GDP, the OECD members a shrunken 42%. India's economy will be a bit bigger than America's, China's a lot.

"The UN is to publish the most exhaustive examination of climate change science to date, predicting dangerous temperature rises. How hot will it get in your lifetime? Find out with our interactive guide, which shows projections based on the report" EXCELLENT interactive graphic - i was born in 1960 check out the change in that short time

"The number of births in England and Wales fell in 2013 by the largest annual amount in nearly 40 years, official figures show."

China's ruling Communist Party meets from 8 November to rubber-stamp sweeping changes that will put in place the country's leaders for the next 10 years. Here are eight reasons - eight being an auspicious number in China - why the world should pay attention to what happens in the secretive corridors of Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

US drought, rain in Europe and erratic weather in Asia have reduced yields, but harvests in the far east may break records

The clock is ticking. Every second, it seems, someone in the world takes on more debt. The idea of a debt clock for an individual nation is familiar to anyone who has been to Times Square in New York, where the American public shortfall is revealed. Our clock (updated September 2012) shows the global figure for almost all government debts in dollar terms.

"THE best quality of life of any of the world's urbanites is still enjoyed by Melburnians, according to the latest Liveability report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, our corporate sibling. For the third year in a row Australia's second city has kept a hair's breadth ahead of Vienna and Vancouver, which spent almost a decade in first place before Melbourne's reign began. The ranking scores 140 cities on a scale of zero to 100 for each of 30 factors such as the quality of public healthcare or the threat of military conflict. These 30 values are then combined to create scores in five areas: stability, infrastructure, education, health care, and culture and environment. A weighted average of those five numbers gives each city its final score."