This three-piece tandem from Mold, Wales released their latest endeavour, Wolf’s Law, in January. The name is in reference to a scientific theory first posited by Julius Wolff and states that bones may become in response to stress as a form of adaptation. Ritzy Bryan says this relates to the overall theme of the album, which is about “relationships on the mend an feeling invigorated”. In addition, Native American mythology, social issues and nature also play a big role in the album. The ninth song, “The Leopard and the Lung” was inspired by Wangari Maathai – a Kenyan environmental and political activist, MP, minister of environment and natural resources, as well as a long feminist, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2004, and Honourary councillor of the World Future Council. In 1970 she founded the Green Belt Movement – an environmental NGO focused on planting trees, conservation and women’s rights. She was by all accounts a remarkable woman and there was deep admiration from Bryan when I asked about her.

“Wolf’s Law” was actually written while the band on the road, during the tour for their last record “The Big Roar”. It is much more layered and, arguably, more experimental than “The Big Roar”. Yet, at the same time it is much more polished. All the players know their roles as well. During our interview, drummer Matt Thomas stayed silent for the six or seven minutes, finally piping up when I posed a question directly to him. Like so many drummers, he prefers in the background. Ritzy and Rhydian did most of the talking and, like most Brits (yes, okay Welsh), they aren’t afraid to use language to get their point across. Which is what I like and admire about them. They’re not hiding behind a facade or artistic creation. What you see is what you get.

The album itself is quite good. They take the traditional indie rock sound and fuse it with orchestral instrumentation. The result is a often melodic, harmonious post-rock lovechild of Sigur Ros and Keane, with a dash of Richard Ashcroft and The Verve mixed in. They bring joy to my life.

Wolf’s Law was released by Atlantic Records on January 21st, 2013.

RIYL: Sigur Ros, Keane, The Verve.

Another wind turbine destroyed by the wind it is supposed to harvest.

It is no secret that the Green dream of wind and solar energy cannot survive without huge Green taxation in the form of subsidies on all energy bills, the minute that there is talk of subsidy cuts the whole renewables industry goes into meltdown, if you need proof just look at Big Wind in the USA screaming when the Wind Production Tax Credit (PTC) that subsidies American Wind looked like it would not be renewed, or Britain where solar energy companies are suing the Government for cutting the subsidies paid for electricity generated by solar panels.

Any industry that is based on tax payer subsidy is not a real economically viable business, it is little different from any nationalized enterprise or government department, funded by the bottom less pit of the tax payer wallet.

Wind and solar are expensive, heavily over subsidized by governments because they are supposedly Green, and like a junkie, will never kick their subsidy habit, if you need further proof then consider how many years wind farms have been kept alive by the PTC in the United States, which started in 1992.

A recent study of wind farms in Britain and Denmark has concluded that the operational life of a wind turbine is only 50% of that quoted by the manufacturers, with governments and energy planners basing their projections on 25 year life spans the cost of the wind farm has just doubled.

All these inconvenient truths about renewables are recognized by the warming alarmists who now want to factor in the cost of burning fossil fuels, that could have been used instead for petrochemicals, to make renewable energy look cheaper:

Not switching to renewable energy costs $9bn a day as fossil fuels are burned that could otherwise be used as an industrial resource for plastics and other petrochemicals. A study by the World Future Council calls for the cost of not switching to clean energy sources to be factored in when assessing the expense of switching to renewable energy.

$9bn a day, around $3.3tn a year, and wow look at that saving, renewables definitely are the buy of the century, and of course the World Future Council are impartial when it comes to renewable energy and the Green Agenda.

The report entitled “The Monetary Cost of the Non-Use of Renewable Energies starts off:

It is often claimed that renewables are still too costly and not yet competitive with conventional energy sources. But what costs are incurred when renewable energies are not used? Every day during which potential renewable energy sources are not utilised but exhaustible fossil fuels burnt instead speeds up the depletion of these non-renewable fuels. Using burnt fossil fuels for nonenergy related purposes (e.g. in the petro-chemical industry) in the future is obviously impossible. Thus, their burning – whenever they could have been replaced by renewables – is costly capital destruction. This study concludes that, estimated conservatively, the future usage loss resulting from our current oil, gas and coal consumption is between 3.2 and 3.4 trillion US Dollars per year

The use of fossil fuels for the petrochemical industry is a new angle for Big Green, according to most of the Green and Liberal NGOs the vast majority of the oil, gas and coal reserves need to stay in the ground, if we are to avoid unprecedented unparalleled catastrophic temperature rise by 2100.

The sun and the winds are free. Thus the costs of renewable energy are almost exclusively fixed extraction costs, whilst the use of fossil fuels incurs significant variable costs (reflecting the value of the fuels burnt). The difference between renewables and fossil fuels is not only the zero cost of renewables but also that they will never be exhausted.

Renewables are not inexhaustible, this ignores the important fact that renewable energy can be generated only for as long as there are sufficient resources of concrete, rare earth metals, glass and other materials used to construct wind turbines and solar panels, once these resources are gone, so are wind and solar.

The renewable energy not used today thus cannot replace fossil fuel raw materials that, having been burnt as energy, are lost forever. This means that the use these raw materials could have had
in the future is lost and additional costs will be incurred to replace them.
To calculate the loss incurred, the alternative use value of the burnt fossil fuels must be estimated.
It is increasingly clear that, by remodelling our energy-systems, fossil fuels can be substituted by renewables.

The report ignores the intermittency of wind and solar and the need to have gas and coal fired power stations on standby to instantly meet consumer demand when wind and solar are unable to do so,  without fossil fuels the lights go out when there is no wind and the sun has set.

The report is just another rehash of the same failed Green ideas we have heard time and time again, this time with a tenuous attempt to make wind and solar look attractive and cheaper than they really are.

The full report in PDF format is available here.

Future Policy Award 2012

The Award, Design by Peter Schmidt
JPG [30,5 KB] > download
© World Future Council

Blue Whale
JPG [5,11 MB] > download
© Okeanos – Foundation for the Sea

Palau Lionfish
JPG [408 KB] > download
© Palau Visitors Authority (PVA)

Palau Coral Reef
JPG [1,91 MB] > download
© Palau Visitors Authority (PVA)

Great Barrier Reef
JPG [2,03 MB] > download
© Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

Great Barrier Reef
JPG [4,21 MB] > download
© Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

Great Barrier Reef
JPG [5,95 MB] > download
© Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

New York, 26 September 2012. The Republic of Palau has been announced as the winner of the Future Policy Award 2012. Palau received the Award in recognition of two outstanding marine policies, Palau’s Protected Areas Network Act, initiated in 2003, and its Shark Haven Act from 2009. The two Silver Awards were bestowed on the Philippines for the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park Act (2010) and on Namibia for its Marine Resources Act (2000). According to the international jury the four winning policies contribute most effectively to the sustainable management of the world’s oceans and coasts for the benefit of current and future generations. The winners were announced during a press conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 26 September 2012.

“With the Future Policy Award we want to cast a spotlight on policies that lead by example. The aim of the World Future Council is to raise awareness for exemplary policies and speed up policy action towards just, sustainable and peaceful societies,” comments Alexandra Wandel, Director of the World Future Council, an international policy research organisation that provides decision-makers with effective policy solutions. The 2012 Future Policy Award highlights the challenges faced by the world’s oceans as well as exemplary solutions to protect them.

Dr. Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, comments: “The ocean world is in all our daily lives. Even for the many millions of people who may not think that they have a strong reliance on oceans, marine ecosystems and wildlife provide all kinds of benefits. The Future Policy Award provides the opportunity to raise awareness of the issue and increase practical action.”

The Republic of Palau was selected for two outstanding policies, which are politically bold and tailored to the needs of local people and the environment. Their effects are being felt globally and they have inspired regional legislation in neighbouring countries: Palau’s Shark Haven Act of 2009 is a milestone. It was the first of its kind and will serve to protect over a hundred species of deep water and reef sharks in Palau’s waters. It was enacted despite pressure from international fishing fleets. The effect of the Palauan declaration has been powerful. A number of other countries including Honduras, the Maldives and the Bahamas have since enacted similar laws and banned shark fishing in their national waters. Dr. Carl Safina, President and Cofounder of the Blue Ocean Institute, comments: “The ecological effects of the shark ban may not be visible yet, but the biological effects are immediate: the sharks are still alive.”

Palau continues with its ambition to be a leader in shark conservation by pushing for international regulation banning shark finning and the trade of shark products.

Read more on World Future Council Org

->>>>><<<<<-

How do you deal with a bully without becoming a thug? In this wise and soulful talk, peace activist Scilla Elworthy maps out the skills we need — as nations and individuals — to fight extreme force without using force in return. To answer the question of why and how non-violence works, she evokes historical heroes — Aung San Suu Kyi, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela — and the personal philosophies that powered their peaceful protests. (Filmed at TEDxExeter)

Dr. Scilla Elworthy* (born 3 June 1943 in Galashiels, Scotland) is the founder of the Oxford Research Group, a non-governmental organization she set up in 1982 to develop effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers worldwide and their critics. She served as its executive director from 1982 until 2003, when she left that role in order to set up Peace Direct, a charity supporting local peace-builders in conflict areas. From 2005 she was adviser to Peter Gabriel, Desmond Tutu and Richard Branson in setting up The Elders. She is a member of the World Future Council and the International Task Force on Preventive Diplomacy. She is also the author of several books and the Director of Programmes for the World Peace Festival held in Berlin August 2011.

She has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and in 2003 she was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize for her work with the Oxford Research Group.

*Bio Courtesy of Wikipedia and Dr. Scilla Elworthy 

Recommended Reading: Strategic Nonviolent Conflict: The Dynamics of People Power in the Twentieth Century by Peter Ackerman & Christopher Kruegler (1994)

The idea is that cutting military spending would free up funds that should be used for social, economic and ecological programs instead.

The appeal’s initiators plan to take it to the Rio summit and to present it to governments in the preparatory period.

Signature list as of May 25, 2012

The Zero Project has recently put forward nominations for outstanding policies and examples of good practices under the principles of the UN CRPD right of persons with disabilities to work. I encourage everyone to please make their contribution to this effort.

Thanks to the Essl Foundation and the World Future Council for facilitating such a phenomenal initiative!

click to go to the World Future Council website

Some people have a high opinion of themselves. I mean, what sort of personality type do you have to be to imagine that you, self-anointed you, are the voice of future generations?

What kind of ego trip do people embark on prior to concluding that, among the billions of souls inhabiting this planet, it’s their own special calling to speak on behalf of those who haven’t yet been born?

A long list of individuals with this exalted regard for themselves can be found on the website of the World Future Council. Actually, there are four lists. The first consists of those who are the Councillors and Honorary Councillors of this body. Among these self-aggrandizing mortals we find:

• the Hollywood actress Daryl Hannah
• Tim Flannery, the head of Australia’s government-funded Climate Commission
• Fabio Feldmann, who sits on the boards of Greenpeace International, The Nature Conservancy (Brazil), and Friends of the Earth Brazil
• the president as well as the director general of another activist group called the International Union for Conservation of Nature
• a Vice President of the Club of Rome (which has been issuing bogus doomsday warnings since the 1970s)
• at least four people currently or formerly employed by the United Nations: Maude Barlow, Rae Kwon Chung, Ahmed Djoghlaf, and Hans-Christof von Sponeck

Then there’s the Supervisory Board of the World Future Council. This includes a gynecologist, the directors of two foundations (presumably these are bankrolling the venture), a benefactress, and what no self-respecting group of speakers-for-the-future can do without – a Middle Eastern expert.

List number three is the organization’s Board of Advisors. The bios of those folks are handily collected in this 7-page PDF (backup link here). It turns out that Cyril Ritchie, the chairman of that board, is also “serving his fourth term as Secretary of the Conference of UN NGOs (CONGO).”

I’ve never heard of this body, but evidently it spends its time “actively promoting the involvement of NGOs in the working of the United Nations.” Here are some of the other board members:

• Reto Braun, whose day job involves working with the UN
• Bo Ekman, a former adviser to a former UN Secretary General
• Monika Griefahn, a co-founder of Greenpeace Germany
• Anita Herrdum, who lives in a commune and serves as “chairwoman of a German speaking network of heiresses”
• Beatrix Pfleiderer, a professor of anthropology who spent six years “involved in training with free dolphins on healing communication”

Oh, and let’s not forget Farhad Vladi. This gentleman is equipped to speak for future generations, apparently, because he’s president of three companies that “sell, develop and rent privately owned islands world-wide.” Moreover, he’s “very much involved in art and music” and is “interested in the subject of global warming and renewable energy.”

Finally we come to the last list of names. These people are responsible for the day-to-day activities of the World Future Council. Jakob von Uexkull is “a patron of Friends of the Earth International and a member of the Global Commission to Fund the United Nations.”

Alexandra Wandel used to work for Friends of the Earth before she became a spokesperson for a group of “major European environmental NGOs” that included the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace.

No doubt you’ve heard the term social justice before. Well the World Future Council is pushing future justice. It has a Director of Future Justice, a Campaign Manager for Future Justice, and two policy officers who also have that slogan in their titles.

Quelle surprise, the Director of Future Justice, Maja Göpel, has a history of working for NGOs. A link embedded in her bio takes us to an entire Future Justice page (backup link). Here one finds eyebrow-raising statements such as:

• The world is warming dangerously.  A quarter of our mammals face a high risk of extinction in the near future.
• We need Future Justice because we need to overcome the obscene inequity between people.
• Putting Future Justice into place means tackling head-on our culture, policies and laws…

In the new, improved world these people wish to substitute for our current one:

Fair treatment would be a basic human need, set out in law. Fair shares and fair burdens would be a matter of justice between all humans living, and those yet to be born.

Those who act without concern for the planet, and the human and non-human life upon it, would be pursued and prosecuted.

Notice the legalistic tone. These people imagine that fair burdens and fair shares is simply a matter of passing laws. And if you behave in ways they disapprove of – if you act without concern for the planet – you can look forward to being pursued and prosecuted.

The World Future Council, therefore, doesn’t use the term justice the way most of us do. Rather than simply advocating for certain improvements, these people would have us believe that their particular vision of the future is indistinguishable from justice itself.

In reality, the World Future Council is a collection of NGO brats, self-important rich folks, and UN bureaucrats who think everything would be just so much nicer if they were running the planet.

In my view, their analysis is both infantile and creepy. May future generations be spared their meddling.

.

See also The incredible megalomania of the Green Party: now they want to speak on behalf of the ‘unborn’ (backup link here)

.

.

UPDATE: A few hours after this post went live I removed a word and two commas from the last line of the second-last paragraph. It used to read “so much nicer if they, themselves, were running the planet.”

.

UXBRIDGE, Canada, Sep 26, 2011 (IPS) – Government policies are seldom lauded, yet Rwanda’s forest policy has resulted in a 37-percent increase in forest cover on a continent better known for deforestation and desertification.

Rwanda’s National Forest Policy has also resulted in reduced erosion, improved local water supplies and livelihoods, while helping ensure peace in a country still recovering from the 1994 genocide.

Now Rwanda can also be known as the winner of the prestigious Future Policy Award for 2011.

“Rwanda has sought not only to make its forests a national priority, but has also used them as a platform to revolutionise its stances on women’s rights and creating a healthy environment,” said Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement.

She issued a statement for the award ceremony in New York City last week just days before her death from cancer in Nairobi Monday at the age of 71. “Rwanda has been a very divided country since the 1994 genocide but this policy is helping to bring peace and value to the people,” said Alexandra Wandel, director of the World Future Council, which administers the Future Policy Awards.

The World Future Council is an international policy research organisation based in Hamburg, Germany that provides decision-makers with effective policy solutions.

“Our aim is to inspire other countries to adapt these successful policies to their individual needs.” said Wandel told IPS.

This year’s award celebrates the UN Year of the Forest and highlights the critical importance of forests around the world – and especially for the 1.6 billion people who directly depend on them, she said.

Some 20 forest-related policies were submitted this year. Rwanda’s National Forest Policy was awarded the gold while The Gambia’s Community Forest Policy and the U.S. Lacey Act and 2008 amendment received the Silver Awards. An international panel of experts selected the winners based on policies that were the most effective in the conservation and sustainable development of forests for the benefit of current and future generations.

The evaluation criteria for the best forest policies are wide-ranging, including delivering essential benefits to local people now and in the long term, said Jan McAlpine, director of the UN Forum on Forests Secretariat and one of the judges.

“The panel (of experts) receives a detailed analysis of the effectiveness of the policies that has been ‘peer-reviewed’ by NGOs, and others,” McAlpine told IPS. “It’s rare that a country gets complimented for doing something good.”

The biggest threats to forests are oil palm, cattle and agriculture such as soy production, she said. Forest policies in most countries need to be changed usually because they are focussed on timber production or on conservation and don’t consider forests as key part of the ecological, social and economic landscape, she said.

There is “huge interest in looking at good policies that are replicable”, she said. “It is very impressive what the World Future Council is doing.”

This year, Rwanda’s forest policy was the hands’ down winner. “It’s quite stunning what they’ve accomplished,” said McAlpine.

Despite enormous land pressures from a growing population, Rwanda was able to increase forest cover 37 percent since 1990. Massive reforestation and planting activities that promoted indigenous species and involved the local population were undertaken, and new measures such as agro-forestry and education about forest management.

Rwanda’s forest policy has brought a range of benefits, including a better water supply, reduction in erosion, improved livelihoods and better quality of life overall. The goal is to cover 30 percent of the country in forest by 2020.

“There was a strong consensus in selecting Rwanda’s National Forest Policy in a continent where the prospects for forests are generally bad,” said Wandel. “The jury was also impressed by Rwanda’s land tenure reforms, including giving women equal rights to inherit land.” Rwanda’s success gives hope for other countries, she said.

Africa’s The Gambia won silver for its innovative policy of handing control of forests to the communities that use them. Despite being one of the world’s poorest countries, Gambia’s Community Forest Policy has reduced illegal logging and resulted in a net 8.5 percent more forest cover while reducing poverty.

“The policy has led to the development of new markets for dead branch wood and other forest products which benefit women and rural populations economically,” Wandel said.

The other silver went to the U.S. for its criminally-enforceable ban on importation of illegal timber, called the Lacey Act. The U.S. is the first country to address the major global problem of illegal logging that results in corruption and environmental damage, and costs producer countries billions of dollars in lost revenue.

The Lacey Act and its 2008 amendments have forced importers to take responsibility for their wood products. That helps to reduce illegal logging by withdrawing the huge rewards received by illegal loggers from the international market.

“One of our jurists from Ethiopia said the U.S. law acts like a global enforcement mechanism, helping the weakest countries to reduce their illegal logging,” said Wandel.

The European Union has developed similar legislation.

“We need visionary policies which support a sustainable and just world and protect future generations,” said Wandel.

to know more: http://www.futurejustice.org/

With this announcement, they invite you to put forward your nominations.
The policies and practices can originate from different areas, from respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy and independence, to full and effective participation and inclusion in society, to equality of opportunity, and accessibility. Nominated practices and, in particular, laws or policies, should be either of a regional or national nature. They should have been in existence long enough to prove their effective implementation and, most importantly, deliver identifiable improvements.

On 22-23 January 2012, there will be a Conference on “Future Just Policies: Persons with Disabilities” in Vienna, to present publicly and commend to, and discuss with, decision makers and parliamentarians, encouraging examples of political responsibility, in order to spread social innovation and development. In addition, we will be establishing a resource of exceptional examples of both good practice and good policy to be readily and easily accessible to all those interested, and who may benefit from it.
The Essl Foundation and the World Future Council would be very grateful if you could provide your nominations by May 31, 2011, to Mr Thomas Butcher, enable@worldfuturecouncil.org.

The present request has been sent to full (national council), associate and observer members of the EDF, members of the UNCRPD Committee, together with major international organizations and individuals working in the field of disability governance. In addition, we should like to encourage you to forward our request for nominations, particularly of good practices, to any other persons, or organizations, you may consider appropriate.

Thanking you in advance for your help,

Yours Sincerely

The Essl Foundation and the World Future Council

The Essl Foundation

The purpose of the Martin and Gerda Essl Social Prize Private Nonprofit Foundation is to support people in need and to promote public awareness about the necessity of support for those in need and to provide the individuals concerned with the appropriate training. Good practice is at the heart of the Essl Foundation’s mission and the foundation believes strongly that social innovation is heavily dependent on entrepreneurs to create change. The present project has grown out of the work the Essl Foundation continues to undertake around the situation of persons with disabilities.

For more information, please visit www.esslfoundation.org

The World Future Council

The World Future Council aims to be a global advocate for the concerns of future generations in international politics. The Council consists of 50 personalities from around the world who have already successfully promoted change in various and diverse fields. Their activities range from advocating human rights and sustaining the planet to promoting political, scientific, cultural and economic justice. The WFC’s mission is to inform decision makers about the challenges facing future generations and to provide them with practical policy solutions. The WFC identifies and promotes successful policies that can be implemented as laws, policy standards, and international agreements. To achieve this, the WFC draws on its networks of parliamentarians, institutions and organisations around the globe.

For more information, please visit our website www.worldfuturecouncil.org

The British government’s chief scientific advisor, Professor John Beddington, urged that energy matters be considered in tandem with food and water security issues and he highlighted the fact that 130 major port cities around the world are at risk of a mega-disaster because of sea-surges and other natural phenomena exacerbated by global warming. Recently, cities accounted for half of the world’s population for the first time in human history, and the growth of cities is continuing relentlessly, especially in the developing world. As other members of the panel (which included the distinguished Australia-based German architect Albert Speer and was wittily chaired by my old fellow Reuters trainee David Marsh, of London and Oxford Capital Markets) agreed, cities are currently a big part of the problem of climate change, but have to be redesigned to become part of the solution.