In Chapter 7 of the recently released Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, Lester Brown lays out the Plan B goals for eradicating poverty and stabilizing population. Behind the scenes are a number of datasets and graphs that delve deeper into the trends discussed in the chapter. Here are some highlights from the Chapter 7 data:
World population has grown steadily over the past half century, increasing from 2.5 billion in 1950 to a projected 6.8 billion in 2009. The United Nations medium fertility level scenario projects that world population will grow to 9.2 billion in 2050. Their high projection takes the world to 10.5 billion in 2050. Under their low projection, which assumes rapid reductions in fertility rates, population peaks at just over 8 billion in 2042, then begins to decline.

Though life expectancies around the world have increased in the past half century, large discrepancies remain among different regions. Overall, world life expectancy increased from an average of 47 years in the mid-twentieth century to 68 years today. While life expectancy in 1950 hovered around 40 years in both Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, it has since increased far more rapidly in Asia, reaching 69 years, compared to 51 years in Sub-Saharan Africa. On a regional basis, the United States and Canada top the world with an average life expectancy of 79 years.

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The recent death of a male lion at the Dhaka Zoo brings the total number of animal deaths at the facility this year to 20.

Negligence, inadequate care, inexperience, and poor living conditions the Dhaka Zoo are to blame for the reported deaths of 20 animals so far this year. Three days ago, a young giraffe died and yesterday, a lion.

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How do you save dying species of agriculturally valuable plants and animals?  The answer may be as simple as what’s on your dinner plate.

A recent article outlined the “eat ‘em to save ‘em” method of biodiversity protection.  Simply put, rare varieties of plants and animals can be saved if consumers demand them.  Asking your grocer, chef, or farmers market vendor about heirloom and endangered varieties is a great way to demonstrate that the demand exists for these diverse crops.

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The decimation of the Amazon due to increased logging, mining and road construction is causing vampire bats in Peru to feast more regularly on the blood of humans.

National Geographic has reported that as human population grows and local wildlife numbers decrease because of development throughout the region, vampire bats have no where else to turn but human blood. As a result, outbreaks of rabies are increasing, and it’s killing people in places where its occurrence has previously been rare.

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Just months after the swine flu pandemic panicked the world, varying strains of the Ebola virus have been discovered in pigs, and they may be jumping between swine and humans effortlessly.

Researchers, who reported their findings in the journal Science, are concerned that pigs are providing a melting pot where the virus could mutate into something deadlier. And they warned that the emergence of Ebola in the human food chain is “of serious concern.”

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While the world quivers over a potential Swine Flu pandemic, a far deadlier outbreak of dengue fever has gone comparatively under-reported in South America and Australia.

Hundreds of thousands have been infected in South America, and in Australia the outbreak is being called the worst seen in 50 years. While the swine flu scare may be an overreaction in comparison, both outbreaks do highlight a clear link between environmental degradation and the spread of disease.

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Several San Francisco, California hotels promoted World Water Day - March 22 in collaboration with Blue Planet Run Foundation this past weekend. The book, Blue Planet Run: The Race To Provide Safe Drinking Water To The World, was placed in luxury suites as a gift to guests staying over the weekend.

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Anyone who has ever had the unfortunate experience of even being near one will tell you the smell alone is enough to make you instantly nauseated.

Aside from that, what are some of the other hazards of raising animals this way?

Here is a interesting list I’ve compiled of various pieces of information about this vile practice, and the impact it has on us and the environment:

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A Swedish inventor has unveiled a solar-powered water purifier that could provide billions of the world’s poorest people with access to clean and disease-free drinking water [video].

The device, called the Solvatten, (Swedish for ’sun water’), looks much the same as a standard jerrycan and can be filled with up to ten liters of water, opened out, and left in the sun. A simple indicator shows either a red or green face to let users know when the water is safe to drink (typically after 3-4 hours), thus avoiding the risk of contracting water-borne diseases.

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Underwater snails don’t sound very menacing. But some snails carry a kind of flatworm parasite called schistosoma. The parasite causes schistosomiasis, the second most widespread tropical disease after malaria. In China’s largest freshwater lake, Poyang Lake, there are billions of these snails, each one no bigger than the tip of your pinky finger.

“There are huge signs there that tell people not to go into the lake. People know about the dangers of infection, but they have to touch the water to some extent. It’s part of their lifestyle,” said Motomu Ibaraki, the US-based leader of the research project.

With the help of satellites, scientists will be able to track which areas have water conditions favorable to the snails. By keeping tabs on the probable whereabouts of the disease-carrying snails, health officials can ramp up the battle against schistosomiasis, sometimes also called “snail fever”.

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Almost a third (28%) of South Africans have not heard about global warming or climate change while over a half considered their knowledge as “hardly anything” or less.

The Human Sciences Research Council, a South African parastatal, conducts human sciences research in support of the growth and development of the country. Their 2008 South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) collected information from a representative sample of over three thousand people. One of the modules of the survey explored issues such as knowledge and concern about climate change, perceived causes and impacts, where responsibility for action lies, and the level of support for interventions.

The results show that South Africans are poorly informed about climate change and its implications. They lack a full understanding of the impacts it is likely to have on their lives over the next few decades. This hints at difficulties that will be encountered as South Africa addresses climate change.

Respondents identified food security (15%), temperature (13%), disease (13%) and the standard of living (11%) as issues that would be effected by climate change. Issues with less direct impact on the individual, such as storms, floods, and loss of biodiversity, were not identified as frequently.

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Global Warming is not just about melting ice caps and rising temperatures.  Scientists continue to discover new ways in which the “butterfly effect” of global warming could transform life on Earth as we know it.  The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) released a report on October 7th, naming 12 deadly human-wildlife diseases that could spread into new regions as a result of climate change.

The report, entitled The Deadly Dozen: Wildlife Diseases in the Age of Climate Change, was released at the IUCN Conservation Congress being held this week in Barcelona, Spain.  The report illustrates examples of how certain disease could spread as a result of rising temperatures and precipitation levels.

“We’ve seen Lyme disease work its way up from the US into Canada, and West Nile fever as well,” said William Karesh, director of WCS’s global health programs.  “Basically what you have now are fewer frozen nights in this region, and that allows the ticks and mosquitoes that carry these diseases to survive further north.”

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Eldoret is the bread basket of Kenya’s athletics elite and famous runners, including Kipchoge Keino who made history by winning the east African country’s first gold medal in the 1500 meters run at the Mexico City Games.

But the town is also home to Hanna Jeruto, a 24 year old HIV+ mother who exclusively breastfeeds her 4 month old son, Kipruto. Kipruto, however, is HIV negative and when she was delivering at the provincial hospital doctors had advised her not to breastfeed him.

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If this provision never becomes law, then those of you who may someday become victims of lung disease, will have to do without rehab when you reach Medicare age.

Congress overwhelmingly approved the Pulmonary and Cardiac Rehabilitation Act, which, among other things, would make life easier for Americans who suffer from lung disease.  This, you say, may not tie into environmentalism, but think again; coal smoke, smoking, second-hand smoke, pollutants in the air, all add to lung disease, and heaven knows we’ve had a century of air pollution pouring into our lungs.  It isn’t over yet.

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Malaria, the dreaded and life-threatening disease continues to kill between 1 million and 3 million people each year, many of them pregnant women in Africa.

A two-month long 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) expedition on the Zambezi, one of Africa’s longest rivers, that begun on 29 March 2008 led by two adventurers, Helge Bendl, a journalist, and Andy Leemann, a boating enthusiast, partnering with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, covering six nations in southern Africa aims to put a spotlight on the plight of malaria-stricken communities on the continent which contributes 90 percent of the global annual death toll.

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