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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Comedian Sarah Silverman explains her ambitiously brilliant plan to end world hunger. She calls on Ratzinger, the chief architect responsible for obfuscating many of the Catholic Church’s most horrific sexual abuse scandals, to sell the Vatican and feed the world with the money.

“We need a hero, and who is more primed to be our hero than the pope? He’s literally a caped crusader,” explains Silverman. I think that she might be on to something.

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After months of staunch resistance to mandatory emission reduction targets the Indian government has hinted that it is willing to consider a national legislation on voluntary emission reduction targets.

India’s environment minister Mr. Jairam Ramesh acknowledged for the first time that his country needs to take up bold responsibilities in order to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change. The proposed legislation could include emission reduction targets for the year 2030 for the most polluting and carbon intensive industrial sectors.

India has been against mandatory emission reduction targets putting forward two main arguments - one, its per capita emissions are among the lowest in the world and two, taking bold measures to reduce its carbon emissions would adversely impact its endeavor to eradicate poverty. The proposed bill would address both these issues and could serve as a path breaking legislation striking a balance between the economic and social costs and the mitigation measures.

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In recent years there has been a growing concern over thresholds or tipping points in nature. In my latest book Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, I state that scientists worry about when the shrinking population of an endangered species will fall to a point from which it cannot recover. Marine biologists are concerned about the point where overfishing will trigger the collapse of a fishery.

We know there were social tipping points in earlier civilizations, points at which they were overwhelmed by the forces threatening them. For instance, at some point the irrigation-related salt buildup in their soil overwhelmed the capacity of the Sumerians to deal with it. With the Mayans, there came a time when the effects of cutting too many trees and the associated loss of topsoil were simply more than they could manage.

The social tipping points that lead to decline and collapse when societies are overwhelmed by a single threat or by simultaneous multiple threats are not always easily anticipated. As a general matter, more economically advanced countries can deal with new threats more effectively than developing countries can. For example, while governments of industrial countries have been able to hold HIV infection rates among adults under 1 percent, many developing-country governments have failed to do so and are now struggling with much higher infection rates. This is most evident in some southern African countries, where up to 20 percent or more of adults are infected.

A similar situation exists with population growth. While populations in nearly all industrial countries except the United States have stopped growing, rapid growth continues in nearly all the countries of Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent. Nearly all of the 80 million people being added to world population each year are born in countries where natural support systems are already deteriorating in the face of excessive population pressure, in the countries least able to support them. In these countries, the risk of state failure is growing.

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People often ask me what the environment has to do with poverty, and why communities of color are getting so active in the fight against climate change.

Today, we released a new video that says it all.

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Thank you Green for All!

With the Copenhagen Climate talks just a few months away India has fallen back to its argument of its per capita carbon emissions being very low compared to those of the developed countries as it continues to resist mandatory emissions cut and push developed countries to own up to their historical responsibilities.

So why does India keeps coming back with this ‘low per capita emissions’ argument whenever there are demands that it takes steps to reduce its carbon emissions. One reason, quite obviously, is that they are really very low for a huge and booming economy like India. India’s per capita emissions are little less than 2 tonnes whereas those of the United States are more than 20 tonnes. The reason for that is the difference in the sizes of their respective economies and, as one of the Chinese official noted, the luxurious lifestyle that the United States (and developed countries in general) follow.

Still India is the fourth largest producer of greenhouse gases. The Indian government’s claims that any mandatory emission cuts would hamper its efforts to alleviate poverty got backing from a World Bank report. The World Bank report said that India is right in not excepting mandatory emission cuts. The Indian government maintains that it has every right to pursue an aggressive economic development path which would improve the standard of living of its people. Essentially they want to achieve economic equivalence with the developed countries using their abundant & cheap coal reserves without any obligations to slow down the economic growth in any way.

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Food Not Bombs, a group dedicated to non-violent social change through feeding the needy, continues to find itself at the center of controversy as they enter their 30th year in existence.

Groups in New Mexico, Arizona, Florida, and Connecticut have run afoul of local laws that seek to stop them from handing out free meals in public places to those in need.  Though all Food Not Bombs groups are independent, they share the common goals of feeding vegetarian meals to the hungry while also protesting war and poverty.

Food Not Bombs finds food that would otherwise be discarded - from restaurants, grocery stores, and other sources and prepares meals to anyone and everyone.

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Rainfall patterns altered by climate change and worsened by inequity in the water distribution system has led to a water crisis in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

This has led to a spurt in water related violence and conflicts so shocking, we thought they were predicted to take place only in the next 50 years. The local incident mentioned in the news report above was one among many where a mob of about six people killed a family for illegally drawing water from the municipal supply even as onlookers rushed back and forth to collect water before the pipe ran dry.

The incident, which occurred in a below poverty line (BPL) settlement, is yet another validation of how climate change is having much more impact on the poor, especially in the developing world.

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In six years time, the number of people affected each year by the climate crises is projected to rise by 54 per cent to 375 million. This will not just be overwhelming for the humanitarian aid system it would also further the inequity that plagues the world and will make the fight for climate justice even more challenging.

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In the May issue of Scientific American Lester R. Brown, President of Earth Policy Institute, discusses how food shortages could be the weak link that brings down civilization.

In this feature article, “Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilization?” Brown notes that the biggest threat to global political stability is the potential for food crises in poor countries to cause government collapse. Those crises are brought on by rising demand and ever worsening environmental degradation.

“In the twentieth century,” Brown says, “dramatic rises in grain prices results from poor harvests. They were event-driven and short-lived. In contrast, the recent escalation in world grain prices is trend-driven, making it unlikely to reverse the rise in food prices without a reversal in the trends themselves.”

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Seven miles of walls, reaching a height of three metres (10ft) will be built around sections of at least 11 slums this year, Icaro Moreno, the president of the state’s public works department, said.

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Recent pronouncements by the South African President that Africa needs to wake up to the threat of climate change come as a relief in a continent that is likely to suffer the worst effects. Indeed, climate change is compounding Africa’s existing risks and vulnerabilities. In light of this stark reality Africa needs to get up and act.

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According to one of Peru’s major news sources, El Comercio, “The coordinator of SNV, Jhony Heredia Paivo, indicates that 5000 hectares have been identified in the coast and highlands of Piura where piñón blanco can grow, an almost wild plant that actually can be contained on small farms, that produces olive seeds that can serve as raw materials for biodiesel plants.”

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image by Käthe Köllwitz

In San Francisco, more than 150,000 people live at or far below the the poverty line and are in desperate need of food aid; in 2008 the SF Food Bank alone distributed 33 million pounds of food to local hungry residents, many of whom are seniors and children.

San Francisco’s Food Security Task Force has just released information showing the huge increase in numbers of people needing food assistance, and the growing strain that is being put on food relief agencies. Hunger is soaring and donations have been dropping. Local food pantries have seen a 13.5% increase in need from the year before. During the first federal fiscal quarter (July-Sep.) of 2008 Glide Memorial Church saw an 18.9% increase in the number of individual meals served from the previous year. And our economy is continuing to decline; unemployment in the Bay Area is nearly in double digits, which puts more and more people at risk of going hungry every single day.

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Due to its many benefits, bamboo has been touted as an environmental miracle crop. It’s a significant carbon sink, it grows fast, is more termite-resistant than timber, and can be used for everything from food to clothing material to scaffolding for building construction.

But are environmentalists being bamboozled? Despite its benefits, increased bamboo production could raise a lot of concerns too.

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According to Peruvian news source Andina, the Ministry hopes to complete the project by February 20th of this year. They started working on December 13th of last year. That will mean that an average of 512,820 trees will be planted each day over a three month period– an astounding and inspiring example for other countries to follow around the world.

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One of these groups are the Guaraní people, who some claim are living in Bolivia in “a situation of servitude analogous to slavery.”

There are others who dispute that claim, including several prominent American ranchers. They claim that President Evo Morales’ government wants to confiscate their land using the bogus slavery accusation and redistribute it so that it can obtain rights to more of Bolivia’s profitable natural gas reserves.

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Last week Europe and Africa met in Florence for the “Interdependence Days“, an event promoted by a bunch of associations (among the others Legambiente) and supported by Regione Toscana.

A two-days workshop about poverty, media, environment and cooperation with the African states. An opportunity to dig into the political, economical and social reality of Africa so unknown and misunderstanded by the old country.

Italian and African speakers have focused on the necessity to establish a new way to read the relationship between the two continents in order to fight poverty and set the basis for development. The world of information turned out to be the first responsible in this process. Too often European media present Africa only as the land of civil wars and poor-feeding, the heart of tragedies and natural disasters.

Where is the other face of Africa?

European citizens, Italians in particular, have a very poor knowledge about what Africa represents in term of human relations and ancient traditions: a crossroads of populations, cultures and dialects that enriches the heritage of the world giving us the opportunity to look at the future. Some African journalists, present at the event, tried to underline the importance of new international policies in Africa in order to protect its environment, so rich in natural resources, and restore a society exhausted by corruption and civil struggles.The Italian President of FNSI (National Federation of Journalists) attended the meeting to request more professionalism in our journalism.

All the representatives have agreed that only an Afro-European sinergy for a global governance could face the challenges of the future acting for equality and cooperation. Starting with a correct information of the African issues into the European media.

Image credit: by Jaci Barkopec in Flickr under Creative Commons