Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Why Is The Skin From My Testicles Peeling Off?

"State of the World 2010"


The prestigious Centro Studi Worldwatch Institute, 1974 since that day, was given the mission to provide so-called "decision makers" suggestions, ideas, suggestions to encourage the creation of an ecologically sustainable society has always tried to reconcile the actions promoted by governments with those of private sector companies and, last but not least, the actions of individuals.
Among his publications that has now achieved an international reputation is undoubtedly the "State of the World , "a report once a year in which this research center based in Washington aims to analyze the state of our planet, precisely, and at the same time provide useful information to address major problems identified.
Since 1988 State of the World is also produced in the Italian edition, and among other things, at the Environmental Library Friends of the Earth you can find them with the formula of the loan or consultation with all 23 editions so far published. The 2010 edition
which bears the subtitle "transform the culture of consumption " (Edizioni Ambiente, €. 24.00 pp. 380) is wholly focused on what's happening in our society to begin the necessary transformation of our culture and move from the consumer dimension to the sustainability of both the environmental and on that of social justice.
Gianfranco Bologna, Scientific Director of WWF Italy , in his now customary introduction to the annual edition of the report reiterates some points of reflection on sustainability by environmentalists.
" E 'can - he asks - allow a lifestyle as the average of the inhabitants of rich countries, the entire current world population of 6.8 billion and planned for 2050, slightly more than 9 billion? The answer is clearly no, not possible. "
A demonstration of the thesis, G. Bologna takes an example for all, that's energy supply, a citizen of the United States today consumes energy as Europeans 2, 6 Chinese, 22 Indians and even 70 people in Kenya. Not to mention that in the coming decades will have access to energy other 2.5 billion people.
is clear that our society can not continue on this road. How do you remember
Christopher Flavin, president of the Worldwatch Institute: "Over the past fifty years consumerism has emerged as the dominant culture ... has become one of the unstoppable engine of growth in demand for resources and waste production, the distinctive mark of our time ... and also helped to underpin the other forces that have allowed our civilization to grow beyond the limit of endurance of their ecological context. "

Today scientists remind us that human activities are affecting the environment in ways that go far beyond the simple emission of greenhouse gases; that is no longer possible to understand these changes with a simple cause-effect relationship that dominates our time culture, thus making it much more difficult to interpret and predict the actual consequences triggered.
no coincidence that the Nobel prize for chemistry Paul Crutzen has defined our era geological "Anthropocene " identifying with this term, the strong characterization of this was part of the human species.
Another finding reported in this report and in my opinion is significant on so-called material flow . The extraction of global resources (biomass, minerals, metals and fossil fuels) has grown from 40 billion tonnes in 1980 to 60 billion in 2008 and forecasts speak to touch the 80 billion tonnes in 2020. The current world economy using something equivalent to the weight of 41,000 buildings like the Empire State Building a year (112 per day!).
The metabolism of human societies, is becoming, among other things, an increasingly significant field of research and at the base of the disciplines that deal with sustainability.
In this regard, and I say with some pride, the same Gianfranco Bologna sees great merit in the research initiated by the Friends of the Earth in just 80 on the concept of "environmental space" or of the "quantity energy, resources renewable, land, water, timber and capacity to absorb pollution that can be used per capita, without causing environmental damage and without compromising future generations .
The unsustainability of current patterns of development is more clearly established by another indicator that we have already spoken on this blog: the Ecological Footprint . It relates the impact of humanity with the amount of productive land and marine areas available to provide important ecosystem services and shows that, at present, humanity uses the resources and services 1.3 Terre. We're using that about a third more than the available capacity of the Earth.
I mention briefly some striking examples of the excess fuel that makes our way of life.
The bottled water industry between 2000 and 2008 has doubled its turnover reaching 60 billion dollars and over 240 billion gallons of water sold. Bottled water costs, compared to the aqueduct, from 240 to 10,000 times more, but this seems to be irrelevant for a given consumer. The
Fast-food industry in the U.S. alone is worth $ 120 billion with over 200,000 dining.
the beginning of the 20th century, the hamburger was despised and considered the "food of the poor." Today, the only McDonald's serves 58 million people a day.
In China alone the industry of so-called products disposable (napkins and paper plates, napkins and wipes for the face) in 2008 had a turnover equivalent to U.S. $ 14.6 billion, an increase of ' 11% over the previous year.
In 2008 alone, overall, the statistics tell us that you have purchased 68 million vehicles, 85 million refrigerators, 297 million computers and 1.2 billion mobile phones.
The report also criticizes a fact that probably will discuss animal friends. It seems that the pet industry reach a global turnover of more than $ 42 billion annually just in pet food. In 2005, the advertising sales for this sector has exceeded 300 million U.S. dollars. Also pets consume substantial resources. For example, two German shepherds in one year consumes more resources than an inhabitant of Bangladesh.

increased consumption, the higher extraction from the underground fossil fuel, minerals and metals, cut more trees and more cultivated land. Between 1950 and 2005 metal production is six-fold increase, consumption of oil has increased eight-fold and that of natural gas to fourteen.

To change this situation is why we have a real cultural revolution whose elements already in place in many societies around the world are making proposals set out in this book, by authors of diverse cultures and backgrounds.
2010 State of the World stops to analyze what is happening in the various fronts of human endeavor to move our models of socio-economic development.

The text begins with the suggest a strategic reassessment of the role of religious organizations . They could be of primary importance in development of sustainability and discourage consumption. Today 86% of the world's population claims to belong to an organized religion. The moral authority represented by these organizations might actually play a role in spreading the culture of sustainability. Other

considered strategic role and in which I am personally involved is education. Every aspect of school education should be oriented towards sustainability. Habits, values \u200b\u200band preferences are formed mainly in childhood and throughout life in general education can have great influence on the formation of an individual. The Report is specifically mentioned as an example uplifting experience "pioneer" of countries like Italy and Scotland in the field of school canteens where much is being done both in the quality of food (promotion of organic food) and in the supply (abandonment of disposable in favor of reusable tools) that ultimately good practices (promotion of recycling).
education may therefore be a crucial tool to address all issues relevant to sustainable development.

But equally crucial will be the role of the and the world of work in general. In this section, the text focuses particularly on the better distribution of working hours according to the term "work less, work all" but also "to work less to have more free hours in the day you can devote to family and leisure" . The analysis in this chapter seeks to demonstrate how in fact the obsession with the greatest economic gain to sacrifice work-forces a greater number of hours each day without actually turn into real benefits in terms of quality of life. This is indeed the argument made also by the philosophers of the so-called "decline happy, "another theme previously addressed on these pages. And similarly crucial

can and should be the role of institutions be in the forefront of this change in perspective of eco-compatibility. In particular, authorities, governments and administrations can exert a decisive influence through tool called "choice editing ", a mechanism already used in many communities is used to control the choices of citizens through laws, penalties, tax incentives and other control in order to make sustainable options no longer an option, but the obvious solution and obvious. Is cited in this respect a multitude of examples from ban plastic bags (in Ireland has introduced a specific tax), the gradual withdrawal from the market incandescent bulbs , to removal from the shelves of supermarkets at eye level of those foods high in fat disadvantage for the purchase, the system energy certification of buildings.
An example that particularly struck me is that achieved in Perth, Australia, and named TravelSmart. The system is based on the interaction of individuals through contact directed by letter, by telephone interview or home interview during which you provide the person the most useful information possible in order to allow them a viable alternative to private car for travel between envisaging ' other benefits which may be obtained not only in economic terms and for the community but also for their physical health in giving up the car. The initial experiment involved about 200,000 families and among other things, allowed the administration to Perth to be able to start construction of a new railway line with over 90% of the vote in favor of the project from the citizens.

State of the World also devotes a chapter to the role of the media .
The means of mass communication, as portraying the lifestyle of the people, that transmit social norms shape the behavior and then act as a marketing vehicle for disseminating news and information, confirming a powerful tool in shaping the culture. E 'possible to use these means is to spread a cultural model of consumerism is to counter it by promoting sustainability. Although today the vast majority of the media food to the first aspect, globally, it is working to change this trend. Given the prominent role of marketing in stimulating consumption will strategic use it to promote sustainable behavior. The examples are not lacking, just think of such campaigns to discourage smoking, rather than those to practice safe sex, wear seat belts, lower consumption of alcohol.

addition to the mass media also the arts can make a valuable contribution: are examples in the field of visual arts, music and film. In this respect, the beautiful cover of the American State of the World 2010 gives "Gyre" the work of Chris Jordan recreation of the famous woodblock prints of the artist Japanese K. Hokusai , "The Great Wave of Kanagawa" , however, realized through the use of well 2.4 million pieces of plastic.
I found particularly interesting the analysis and the distinction made on narrative film and documentary. The cinema in general is rightly recognized as a powerful tool that can contribute to the understanding that individuals have of the world and their place in it. The documentary, however, generally can only engage an audience already sensitive to a particular issue and therefore exhibits a limited potential in the spirit of cultural transformation that is intended to promote. In the film narrative is more easy to involve an audience emotionally even alien to some issues because the virtuous action is not made from fall but is somehow "normalized" by the action of the characters on the screen. E 'at the bottom, the latter, the logic that we have tried to follow the completion of our documentary film "Do not throw away" very sensitive on the issue of reducing the production of household waste.

The book naturally contains plenty of other ideas that time and space are forced to leave out but which I hope will be scrutinized carefully by those who will have the goodness to engage in reading what I consider a very useful tool for stimulating thinking and acting, before it is too late.

Michele Salvadori

Thursday, April 8, 2010

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Monday, April 5, 2010

Does Frequent Bowel Movement Mean

"The post-growth" by Giampaolo Fabris


is now a matter of incontrovertible fact: economic growth does not produce wellbeing or improve the quality of our lives. It 'an assumption which is inspired by the beautiful book entitled "The post-growth " (Edizioni Egea, pp.420, €. 26.50), of Giampaolo Fabris, a professor of the Sociology of Consumption IULM. In the past, economic growth has always been considered almost a synonym and / or an assumption that welfare was identified with the famous American way of life or that model of life and consumption that the U.S., for about a century, brought to the world.
The economic crisis has dramatically highlighted how the path of consumption leads to excess, as the only way to solve our problems, is increasingly less viable.
It is unthinkable to continue to consume more, not only by choice, but also a kind of scaffolding to support economic dutifulness moral, sometimes it feel like to suggest some. It makes sense to change
increasingly mobile (the statistics speak for Italy an average of 18 months of life for our mobile phone), it makes sense to spread the our wardrobes with new leaders when our cupboards at home does not contain more, it still makes sense to have not one but two parked car ownership under the house and the statistics tell us that we use on average 2 hours a day? Places
emblematic of this model consider the 'newsstand the house - where we are served up weekly collections of all kinds of objects-junk (from model cars to watches) without any value - and our post office now transformed a large bazaar where you buy the sim card, toys, books, (and where, inter alia, able to pay a bulletin has become an exhausting!).
companies now chasing the consumer in all aspects of his life to create in him sometimes stages of true exasperation. I do not know about you, but in my personal experience, for example, not a day goes by when at home or office does not receive phone calls and / or fax - not to mention the dozens of mail-with proposals for new price plans, changes of phone company, offers to buy food! The classic advertisement is increasingly losing their power and then try new ways increasingly invasive.
The Western world seems to suffer from a kind of bulimia for consumption that distinguishes all aspects of our lives. A recent study by the University of Carolina found that for the first time in the world the number of obese (about one billion) exceeded the number of undernourished people (800 million).
A study shows that the Mario Negri Institute in Italy each year are thrown away because expired about 10 packs of medicines per family (equivalent to 800 million euros), and two thirds of which end in landfill because they are not differentiated in the collection waste. And speaking of waste, the packaging of our products, we are literally drowning.
Our cities are at risk of becoming increasingly similar to that Leonia Italo Calvino, in one of his famous stories, imagine themselves overwhelmed by the waste it produces (and the recent cases of Naples and Palermo at the bottom are a prime example).
Guido Viale notes as " the cost of a pack of canned tomatoes is a few cents but the cost of its disposal as waste is three times as much. If we consider the environmental degradation that leads to this rejection, the total cost of that package would be ten times greater . The food expenditure is steadily decreasing in the budgets of families still in the early seventies it absorbed about 36% while spending in 2009 amounted to only 15.6%. Spending on communication is outstripping food. The only phone accounts for 6% of household spending, not to mention the affect on our budget for the car. Today a gallon of gasoline costs the same as a kg. pulp, which in turn costs the same as a ticket for the tram!

Luckily it seems that something is changing in individual behavior. A series of surveys on consumption, and illustrated with a wealth of data and scientific rigor reported in this text, they tend to show how different patterns of consumption are emerging from those previously hegemonic and pointing in the direction of a less exaggerated consumerism but not to decrease the so-called advocated by some ( Serge Latouche and Maurizio Pallante, just to mention the first that come to mind and not skipping Wolfgang Sachs whose positions are any less orthodox than the first two).
Indeed, Fabris, against the philosophy of decline, calling it critical is rather anachronistic utopia. Today the average consumer begins to show signs of discomfort and satiety against un'iperofferta unstoppable and try to react to this situation with a less passive than in the past, more attentive and aware, yet far from "the world stops I want to get off "proposed by the prophets of decline. In this regard, Fabris asks a simple question: " How can - he asks - require to pull the handbrake who looks just now at a level of widespread prosperity? And yet how can we fight against poverty and hunger that afflicts more than a billion people worldwide, drastically reducing consumption? "

between capitalism and the decline may develop, and this is already occurring in certain sections of the minority still Italian population, a third way, the fact that Fabris defines the post-growth and something that combines both of the two philosophies.
seems that a new trend is emerging. Among the first changes observed by Fabris emerges progressive acquisition of environmental sensitivity . The capture of awareness of the progressive destruction of natural resources, raising the temperature of the planet, the effects of excessive consumption of resources previously neglected, are eventually converge in the realization by some of us that the current model development based on the assumption of continued growth and unlimited consumption begins to become a crisis.
is emerging a new kind of reflexive consumer - Fabris also claims - seeking a balance between greed and anorexia preached yesterday by supporters of the decrease. In this respect He uses the example of the rise in recent years of collective phenomena such as GAC (Buying Groups Collective) and GAS (fair trade groups) which are based on the principles of localism and consumer awareness.
After all it is through food choices, clothing, housing and its furnishings, the use of leisure time and the readings that defines our way of life. And this somehow exceeds in importance, even the choice of political voting. Today when we buy a product we express a preference just like when we go to vote in elections. The difference lies in the fact that consumption appears now weapon much sharper than the vote. Even
Fabris, at least in this in total harmony with Serge Latouche, dissociates in its analysis, the GDP as reliable gauge of economic growth and prosperity of a country. It reveals, in its view, a system now anachronistic and even "socially offensive". In fact already back in 1968 even Bob Kennedy in a famous speech he stated that " to fuel ratio are also air pollution, the cost of ambulances involved to the accidents on the roads ... the locks for the barricade our homes, the costs of prison for those who infringe .... " GDP today does not measure the quality of products, their environmental friendliness, quality of life. Hence the need, now supported by many, to identify new indicators to measure the state of development of a country.

We are moving to a new phase so that precisely defines Fabris post-growth and post-consumerism . As actors in this new phase he indicates three subjects: the consumer , the State the enterprise system. Among these, in his view, the consumer will just have the greatest weight and greater importance in contributing to the change that awaits us. The new consumer will have to take an attitude responsible against diseases induced by environmental consumption, critical models geared toward the waste and also aware of the political meaning that its consumer choices can play.
Fabris, among its many considerations, makes it a particularly agree with that. He shows genuine concern and says that one of the main obstacles to the spread of this sort of new deal consumption, and fundamentalism of segments of the population who present themselves as vanguards of this new model, especially the so-called "NO of environmentalism" and culture of radical chic that have in common an aversion to absolute capitalism, ostracism against large multinational companies unconditional adherence to a vision of the world between the ascetic and the exclusive militants. He defines these fringe groups that preach a kind of return to pre-industrial state of nature as " Taliban" and criticizes some of their choices ( the bathroom to be done once a month, the water to pull the toilet once a day, vocation to the Work and so ) might be valued individually, but they end up falling into caricature when claims are made to the system. In short, whilst expressing the highest respect, Fabris feared that, with their forbidding certain behaviors can maximalism eventually discourage a wide audience of people interclass and intergenerational has a pressing need to find points of union clot that these new sensitivity emerging now beginning to manifest itself at various levels and in the text of which is given careful analysis.
Let's list the main
Just under two-thirds of the population now claims to prefer, at the same cost, a brand active in environmental protection .
A growing share of the population now receives the waste as a negative value. In support of this thesis will allow me a brief digression: all forms of food waste that is certainly the most embarrassing. It is estimated that about one-fifth of spending on food ends up in the garbage. An average of 600 € per year per family: 27 kg. food!
Another significant trend is the continuing shift from possession of an object to its access : for the words of Jeremy Rifkin there is a transition of the ownership of an asset-based titolarietà scheme access based on ensuring the availability of temporary own good. We could do a lot of examples in this regard. Just think of the practice notes leasing or franchising . In general all what you can take rent instead of purchase, is recording a strong acceleration. The same mythology of the second house in the mountains or the sea is decreasing to the benefit of living on a farm or on cruise ships or in alternative homes in timeshare. The exchange, barter, even in houses, have become very topical. The same free begins to take on important connotations and in that sense use of the Internet represents an essential vehicle: just think of the possibility to download from the network not only an enormous amount of data and information free of charge, but even music and movie files.
a practice already mentioned is that the spread of Buying groups , the GAS , plus the parallel development of 'Farmer Market or stores of food from local farmers-managed manufacturers to drastically reduce the brokerage on the price to the consumer and ensure the authenticity and origin of the product, bring down the so-called external costs.
It is having a greater appreciation for the biological (22% of Italians in 2008 and 26% in 2009!). This finding is particularly interesting especially when they evaluate the economic aspects. An organic product costs on average about one-fifth more than the traditional one, and yet, despite the unfavorable economic contingency, shall be recorded for several years a steady increase in the percentage of purchase. Among other things - another brief digression - Italy, with its 50,000 suppliers and more than one million hectares of land dedicated, appears to be the first country in the world nell'agroalimentare organic. But the counter-
similar we can find both in the clothing sector than in the consumption of cosmetics and even in the transport sector where there is a significant return use bicycle as a means of locomotion, especially in big cities. In this regard the continued spread of bike-sharing (sharing among multiple users of the bike) it is an excellent demonstration.
Another growing phenomenon is the so-called "ecotourism . And 'now a fact easily verified that the proliferation in recent years of the Farm. Among the main reasons that led many to prefer this new form of holiday there are a different relationship with nature and environment, the search for a formula not verifiable to the traditional holidays, but especially attention to the environment, the idea of \u200b\u200ban eco-friendly vacation and the opportunity for those who always lived in the city to re-establish contact, and also a cultural exchange with the rural world, for example, now our children are unaware. Also in the field
of waste there are important steps. Take charge of waste disposal is becoming a real civic duty. Today, roughly two-thirds of our waste is to be credited directly or indirectly to the packaging of the products we buy. In this sense, people's willingness to assume the problem is much improved compared a decade ago. Investigations return even the pride of the citizens of certain areas or municipalities (in Tuscany Capannori (LU) is one example) declaring the primacy of your location in this type of commitment is now considered as a battle of civilizations must see the participation of all. The recent
favor to the use of bulk or plug is very indicative in this respect.
In general this research shows clearly a growing awareness by consumers through the purchasing decisions that can be expressed also an implicit message of premium brands, products, services virtuous. Albeit slowly is being done on a feeling increasingly critical of the world and dell'iperconsumo increasingly aware not only of how the goods can satisfy their needs but also to social and political damage which they may have left behind in their production process.
is now emerging, in short, more and more clearly a new type of consumer independent, competent, demanding, selective, disenchanted, responsible and thoughtful , what with an inspired idea Maria Roman Zorin established a consum-actor .
Locksmiths compares this new figure of "consum-actor " to the mythological character of Prometheus. As Prometheus was able to take possession of the fire taking it away from Olympus, now the new consumer is able to take possession of the knowledge of the product once the exclusive manufacturers. However, the comparison is not random and, like Prometheus was chained by the gods are still so many obstacles that stand between the companies and the acquisition of its total consumer awareness. This in view of the fact that much work remains to be done and it really would be illusory to think that they are already out of the problem. Once again, however, the myth comes to our aid: as Heracles freed Prometheus from the chains, the extraordinary potential of the Web in allowing anyone to access data and information otherwise difficult to find by Fabris are considered as one of the most powerful weapons at our disposal to address this knowledge gap that still prevents most of us to get hold of truth and act accordingly.

Piero Bevilacqua, in his "The Poverty of Development " writes: " What is there to develop or innovate in a healthy habitat, or unspoiled scenery in the countryside of Italy or France, the historic city centers of Europe and the world, in our streets, Mediterranean food and traditions of all countries inherited from millennia of folk wisdom? What is there to innovate in the immense artistic heritage which we inherited from the past, the eternal pleasure of reading novels, walking in the woods, watch the sea, contemplating the starry sky? What remains to develop the joy of conversing with their children, being with friends, making love, playing with our pets? Nothing, really, of what it is worth living needs to be developed. "

dream as long as such words will once again be discounted for most of us.

Michele Salvadori