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Benjamin McKeown

The End of China's One-Child Policy Isn't Enough | TIME - 0 views

  • No government should interfere with the decisions women make about whether or when to have children .voterDiv .ob_bctrl{display:none;} .ob_pdesc IMG{border:none;} .SB_2 .ob_what{direction:ltr;text-align:right;clear:both;padding:5px 10px 0px;} .SB_2 .ob_what a{color:#999;font-size:10px;font-family:arial;text-decoration: none;} .SB_2 .ob_what.ob-hover:hover a{text-decoration: underline;} .SB_2 .ob_clear{clear:both;} .SB_2 .ob_amelia, .SB_2 .ob_logo, .SB_2 .ob_text_logo {display:inline-block;vertical-align:text-bottom;padding:0px 5px;box-sizing:content-box;-moz-box-sizing:content-box;-webkit-box-sizing:content-box;} .SB_2 .ob_amelia{background:url('http://widgets.outbrain.com/images/widgetIcons/ob_logo_16x16.png') no-repeat center top;width:16px;height:16px;margin-bottom:-2px; } .SB_2 .ob_logo{background:url('http://widgets.outbrain.com/images/widgetIcons/ob_logo_67x12.png') no-repeat center top;width:67px;height:12px; } .SB_2 .ob_text_logo{background:url('http://widgets.outbrain.com/images/widgetIcons/ob_text_logo_67x22.png') no-repeat center top;width:67px;height:22px; 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margin-top: -.5em; position: absolute; right: 60%; font-family: time-icons; top: 20px; } .SB_2 .ob_amelia{ background: url('http://widgets.outbrain.com/images/widgetIcons/ob_logo_67x12.png') no-repeat center top; width: 67px; height: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; } .ob_what.ob-hover {display: block;} .SB_2:hover .ob_what .ob_amelia{background-position:center bottom;} .SB_2:hover .ob_what a{text-decoration: underline;} RECOMMENDED FOR YOU Barack and Michelle Obama Both Top TIME 100 Reader Poll **TIME - Video http://traffic.outbrain.com/network/redir?p=vJ6za24LEnWtc9FEU-KR9ZodNHZDseUPh7aHw6-mHuJSCdW6zzwQ-LOUpJZYaDhK8ic6kuXhdZrj6fyp3NqWa_qSkl_XnmerI3B5wdRMkEK37AnD3wsJSF5A1DGisfwOZADIyZFHQ7bBpR1NlhsHD937QOW0bLqAy2lix2DHoh4bv31J17EmJwZQY
  • Such practices have historically harmed poor women and women of color disproportionately around the world.
  • Is this any better? Not if you choose to have three children.
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  • Until China promotes a fully rights-based, voluntary family planning program, it is supporting the continued oppression of Chinese families through coercive reproductive policies.
  • This is true whether the state is trying to limit family size, deny a woman access to birth control, or force her to keep a pregnancy she wishes to end.
  • When women have access to quality health care, they lead more empowered and fulfilling lives. The advantages of a fully voluntary approach to family planning, where individuals and couples make free and informed decisions on how often to have children, are well documented. Studies show, for example, that when a woman is able to voluntarily decide if and when to have children, and how many, she tends to go further in school, and is more adaptable and resilient during times of hardship.
  • advance women’s rights over their own bodie
Benjamin McKeown

China to end one-child policy and allow two - BBC News - 0 views

  • as demographers and sociologists raised concerns about rising social costs and falling worker numbers.
  • "to improve the balanced development of population'' and to deal with an aging population, according to the statement from the Community Party's Central Committee carried by the official Xinhua News Agency (in Chinese) on Thursday.
  • about 30% of China's population is over the age of 50. The total population of the country is around 1.36 billion.
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  • The Communist Party began formally relaxing national rules two years ago, allowing couples in which at least one of the pair is an only child to have a second child.
  • Critics say that even a two-child policy will not boost the birth rate enough, the BBC's John Sudworth reports.
  • that despite the relaxation of the rules, many couples may opt to only have one child, as one-child families have become the social norm.
  • And for those women who want more than two children, nor will it end the state's insistence on the right to control their fertility, he adds.
  • "As long as the quotas and system of surveillance remains, women still do not enjoy reproductive rights,"
Benjamin McKeown

Japan panel: Fukushima nuclear disaster 'man-made' - BBC News - 0 views

  • It said that the situation at the plant worsened in the aftermath of the earthquake because government agencies "did not function correctly", with key roles left ambiguous. It also highlighted communication failures between Tepco and the office of then Prime Minister Naoto Kan, whose visit to the site in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake "diverted" staff.
  • "Japan's regulators need to shed the insular attitude of ignoring international safety standards and transform themselves into a globally trusted entity," it said.
  • "could and should have been foreseen and prevented" and its effects "mitigated by a more effective human response",
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  • The report catalogued serious deficiencies in both the government and plant operator Tepco's response.
  • It also blamed cultural conventions and a reluctance to question authority. Analysis By Mariko OiBBC News, Tokyo While the report is highly critical of all the key parties, it digs even deeper. The panel called the disaster "Made in Japan", because the mindset that allowed the accident to happen can be found across the country. It flagged up the bureaucracy's role in both promoting and regulating the nuclear industry, and also cultural factors such as a traditional reluctance to question authority. The report was expected to use strong language, but not many thought it would be this harsh. The panel also found that there was a possibility that the plant was damaged by the earthquake, contradicting the official position that only the tsunami contributed to the disaster. It could put further pressure on the government, which recently authorised the restart of two nuclear reactors in western Japan. They were declared safe in April but the plant also sits on top of a fault line.
  • "Although triggered by these cataclysmic events, the subsequent accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant cannot be regarded as a natural disaster," it sai
Benjamin McKeown

The effects of subsidies | Global Subsidies Initiative - 0 views

  • the benefits to society of that money, if it had been spent otherwise, or left in the pockets of taxpayers, might have been even greater.
  • heory shows that these depend on a number of factors, among which are the responsiveness of producers and consumers to changes in prices (what economists call the own-price elasticities of supply and demand), the form of the subsidy, the conditions attached to it, and how the subsidy interacts with other policies.
  • such subsidies tend to divert resources from more productive to less productive uses, thus reducing economic efficiency.
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  • Those who take a more benign view argue that subsidies can serve redistributive goals, or can help to correct market failures. But, as the public-finance economist Ronald Gerritse once warned, subsides defended on such grounds "may have externalities that we did not bargain for." Indeed it is such second-order effects that have come under attack by environmental economists in recent years.
  • any subsidies are defended as benefiting disadvantaged groups, or groups the politicians like to make us believe are disadvantaged.
  • tend to favour larger producing units. Recently, for example, the Environmental Working Group, an American non-profit organization, counted up all the direct payments made by the U.S. Government to farmers between 1994 and 2005 and found that ten percent of subsidy recipients collected 73 percent of all subsidies, amounting to $120.5 billion Analyses of agricultural support programmes in other countries appear to lend credence to the 80:20 rule - the impression that 80% of support goes to 20% of the beneficiaries.
  • environmentally harmful subsidies" they generally mean subsidies that support production, transport or consumption that ends up damaging the environment. The environmental consequences of subsidies to extractive industries are closely linked to the activity being subsidized, like fishing or logging.
  • Subsidies to promote offshore fishing are a commonly cited example of environmentally harmful subsidies, with support that increases fishing capacity (i.e., subsidies toward constructing new boats) linked to the depletion of important fishery stocks. In other industries, subsidies that promote consumption or production have led to higher volumes of waste or emissions. For example, irrigation subsidies often encourage crops that are farmed intensively, which in turn leads to higher levels of fertilizer use than would occur otherwise. Moreover, irrigation subsidies can lead to the under pricing of irrigated water, which in turn fosters the overuse and inefficient use of water. While many subsidies have unintended negative consequences on the environment, well designed subsidies can be beneficial when they work to mitigate an environmental problem. In the context of fisheries, for instance, these would include subsidies to management programs that help ensure that fisheries resources are appropriately managed and that regulations are enforced, or to research and development (R&D) designed to promote less environmentally destructive forms of fish catching and processing.    
Benjamin McKeown

MWC 2016: Facebook uses AI to map people's homes - BBC News - 0 views

  • We believe this data has many more impactful applications, such as socio-economic research and risk assessment for natural disasters," Facebook said in a blog.
  • "I am torn in my reaction between excitement at the technical innovation and concern about the public policy issues," said Emily Taylor, an associate fellow at the Chatham House think tank.
  • customers
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  • But the British Red Cross charity said the initiative could potentially help it locate vulnerable communities.Finer details
  • Facebook intends to use the maps to inform its Internet.org initiative, which aims to connect more people to the internet.
  • The company is currently developing drones that would extend internet signals beyond cities via lasers beamed between the aircraft.
  • "There are many areas globally that still remain off the digital map," said British Red Cross maps expert Andrew Braye."These areas are also home to vulnerable communities at risk from natural disasters or conflict.
  • "Organisations that share open data are enabling the humanitarian sector to respond more rapidly."The information is then available to emergency responders and assists with decision-making."
Benjamin McKeown

Geoengineering Is Inevitable - 0 views

  • But it will happen, and buried in chapter 4 of the new IPCC report is the reason why: it’s cheap, and it’ll probably work.
  • We have this same conversation about intentional, large-scale tinkering with the climate to counteract our ongoing, less-intentional tinkering with the climate because climate change is scary, and it is dangerous, and because we are paralyzed.
  • There is a danger that geoengineering will lead to complacency in the fight to transition away from fossil fuels. And finally, this would be a planetary-scale experiment with so many variables as to make firm predictions of the results nearly impossible.
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  • Keeping it from soaring beyond that level and into the realm of the catastrophic “would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.” Does that sound like something humans are remotely planning on doing, given what we have seen to this point?
  • Accepting the inevitable could spur the development of a regulatory framework, for instance. In the absolute best case scenario, it could even convince some reluctant actors to push harder on mitigation efforts.
Benjamin McKeown

Food, energy and water: the politics of the nexus | Jeremy Allouche | Science | The Gua... - 0 views

  • Jeremy Allouche
  • In a paradoxical way, this was the first time that the business community came to realise the limits to growth.
  • modellers, farmers, and civil engineers have known about these inter-relationships for a long time.
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  • systems approach, where the interactions between different sectors are modelled as global and regional flows, ignoring day-to day realities, local priorities and needs; • A decision-making tool based on these interactions, which provides an economic valuation of these resources and a market mechanism to efficiently allocate them.
  • It treats the trade-offs between human needs for water, energy and food as a perfect equilibrium model, in which resource allocation can be decided.
  • This can encourage the commodification of resources, downplaying environmental externalities, such as biodiversity and climate change, as well as poverty alleviation needs.
  • The villagers affected by the Rasi Salai Dam are now experiencing water scarcity after losing these wetlands.
  • Originally, the government claimed that the dam would provide water for 5,500 hectares of land
  • look
  • This example highlights how elements of the nexus, whether food, water or energy security, take on different meanings at different levels of analysis, from the global to the local.
  • optimisation;
  • A different framing of the nexus is required: one which recognises that global priorities may not reflect local concerns; and that resource allocations are political decisions, which need to be decided through more open and transparent decision making. The nexus must become more inclusive, so that its interrelationships can be grounded in local realities and human needs.
Benjamin McKeown

Why is Bulgaria's population falling off a cliff? - BBC News - 5 views

  • "Bulgaria doesn't need uneducated refugees," says Deputy Prime Minister Valeri Simeonov, a leader of the United Patriots, an anti-immigrant grouping forming part of the coalition government.
  • "They have a different culture, different religion, even different daily habits," he says. "And thank God Bulgaria so far is one of the most-well defended countries from Europe's immigrant influx."
  • It is clear that the Bulgarian government does not see immigration as a possible solution to the country's dwindling population.
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  • "Politicians will not do anything for us. They're just interested in their own interests. They don't care about the people - especially the old people in the villages. They don't even care about the young people because the young people are abroad.
  • In 1989, almost nine million people lived in Bulgaria. Now, it is a little over seven million. By 2050, that number is projected to be less than 5.5 million. By the end of the century, it could be close to half what it is now.
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