World Futures Fall 2021

"Improving the microbial quality of agricultural water through filtration can benefit small farms globally. The incorporation of zero-valent iron (ZVI) into sand filters (ZVI-sand) has been effective in reducing E. coli, Listeria spp., and viruses from agricultural water. This study evaluated ZVI-sand filtration in reducing E. coli levels based on influent water type and the percentage of ZVI in sand filters"

"Excess release of phosphorus is the main culprit for the eutrophication of freshwater and marine ecosystems [1]. Phosphorus is a nonrenewable and irreplaceable element for plant growth, and its role is crucial in agricultural production [2]. The accelerated growth in food demand has also increased the demand for phosphate fertilizers, which has placed stress on phosphate rock sources and is exhausting existing deposits [3]. The phosphate mining industry is also facing serious challenges regarding water availability for the mining process and a decrease in the quality of phosphate rocks"

Join us for a fascinating talk followed by Q&A with St Cross alumna Kristina Lunz (MSc Global Governance and Diplomacy, 2014) entitled 'The Future of Foreign Policy is Feminist - Insights from building a feminist start-up to change the status quo of foreign policy'. Kristina will discuss her work as a co-founder and co-CEO of the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy - the world's first research and advocacy organisation promoting an intersectionally feminist and people-centered approach to foreign policy.

"The Biden administration has issued a warning that the pending federal debt crisis might trigger an economic recession that would affect economic growth and trigger job losses across the United States."

"The communist regime in China has plans to export its horrific practice of forced organ harvesting as soon as it's able to tear down ethical standards in the transplant industry established by the West, Dr. Torsten Trey warns."

This project has taken a broader approach to explore how different governments have developed their foresight ecosystems over time and to map the features that can support integration of long-term thinking into policymaking at the most strategic level. It aims to provide a guiding framework to build and sustain foresight in policy-making and to do so in a way that creates long-term impact from futures work. The School of International Futures exists to help policy-makers and business leaders improve the present and the future by using foresight and futures methods to make better strategic choices about the future, to improve the quality of their innovation and make their organisations more resilient by better understanding and managing risk.

"China's tech behemoths are handing months of profits to the regime in Beijing to demonstrate loyalty to the Communist Party. Popular actors have been erased from internet history with their devoted online fan groups disbanded. Young gamers now are allowed no more than three hours of playtime per week."

"A lack of face-to-face doctor visits in the UK since the start of the CCP virus pandemic may result in 10,000 unnecessary deaths due to cancer, according to a report from University College London published this week."

"Texas became the latest state to implement permitless carry, or Constitutional Carry, on September 1, 2021. There are now a total of 21 states with permitless carry laws on the books. Texas was one of three states to implement this kind of law in 2021 alone."

"The antiviral remdesivir treatment reduced the risk of hospitalization among COVID-19 patients when administered soon after they were diagnosed, according to a new study from Gilead Sciences, which developed remdesivir."

"The leaders of Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom announced last week the formation of a new trilateral security agreement called "AUKUS." The new security pact will oversee the development of a nuclear-powered submarine fleet in Australia and also focus on developing joint artificial intelligence, cyber warfare, and long-range strike capabilities."

"The measure, called AB 701, was approved by the state Assembly earlier in the month and signed into law by Newsom on Sept. 23. The law, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2022, bars mega-retailers such as Amazon from firing or retaliating against warehouse workers for missing quotas that interfere with bathroom and rest breaks."

"Teacher shortages and difficulties filling job openings have been reported in Tennessee, New Jersey, and South Dakota, which saw one school district begin the year with 120 teacher vacancies. In Texas, Houston, Waco, and a number of other districts saw hundreds of teaching vacancies unfilled at the start of the year."

"The global semiconductor shortage will lead to 7.7 million fewer vehicles produced in 2021, costing automakers billions in lost sales, according to consulting firm AlixPartners. The forecast, released Sept. 23, estimates that the shortage will cost the auto industry $210 billion globally in lost revenue in 2021, up sharply from the May projections of $110 billion in forgone sales and 3.9 million fewer vehicles built."

" recently filed lawsuit against Facebook reveals new details about the Cambridge Analytica data breach scandal, claiming among other allegations that company executives massively overpaid the Federal Trade Commission to shield CEO Mark Zuckerberg from personal liability."

"Facebook has agreed to pay a 500,000 pound ($644,000) fine for breaches of data protection law related to the harvesting of data by consultancy Cambridge Analytica, Britain's information rights regulator said on Oct. 30."

"Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg-who in the past openly pandered to Chinese officials, likely in an effort to ensure the social media giant's entry into the Chinese market-recently made a speech at Georgetown University in which he criticized the Chinese regime for its internet censorship, striking a remarkably different tone. "

"According to Theresa Chu, a lawyer with the Taiwan Falun Gong Attorney Group, "Forced organ harvesting is not only used to carry out the … genocide of Falun Gong practitioners and ethnic minority groups, such as Uyghurs, but also implicated in massive economic profits from organ transplantation, transnational organ sale, transplant tourism, and organ brokerage.""

"Last year, two reports were published that broadened our picture of the scale and method of this atrocity. "Bloody Harvest/ The Slaughter-An Update" by investigators David Matas, David Kilgour, and Ethan Gutmann was released on June 22 in Washington, D.C. This report shows detailed evidence of the massive number of organ transplants taking place in Chinese hospitals. It analyzed hospital revenue, bed counts and utilization rates, surgical personnel, and other data and reached the conclusion that China is performing 60,000 to 100,000 transplants per year, far exceeding the Chinese government's claim of 10,000 per year."

"The smart building market was valued at USD 82.55 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 229.10 billion by 2026 at a CAGR of over 11.33% over the forecast period (2021 - 2026). Growing energy concerns, increasing government initiatives on smart infrastructure projects are driving the market's growth positively. Solutions, such as the Building Energy Management System, Infrastructure Management System, and Intelligent Security System, are being adopted for smart buildings. BEMS is integrated, computerized systems for monitoring and controlling energy-related building services plant and equipment, such as HVAC systems and lighting, among others"