'Unseen' News and Views
4 February 2019 (UN Environment)* — Monish Siripurapu’s air cooling system may be based on the design of a beehive but the Indian innovator’s inspiration did not come while he was striding through fields of flowers. He was actually in a stifling hot factory in New Delhi, where he was doing some design work.
5 February 2019 (FAO)* — A third of all food produced is lost or wasted each year, but just a quarter of what we waste is enough to end world hunger.
Zero Hunger starts with you. Watch the video to find out more.
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“Citizens of the democratic societies should undertake a course of intellectual self-defense to protect themselves from manipulation and control, and to lay the basis for more meaningful democracy.” — Noam Chomsky, 1989 (Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies)
Odysseus is tempted by the swirling Sirens in Homer’s The Odyssey.
My copy of Homer’s The Odyssey, a remnant of high school Latin days, has been gathering dust on a shelf for decades now.
But I’ve been thinking more about the book in recent years, especially as my writing has increasingly turned to the psychology of propaganda.
Syria calls on our full attention, for a fresh look. Looking at what? The “reality of Syria”, the “real Syria”, and then seeing what?
Johan Galtung
The Germans make an apparently useful distinction between reality für mich, as I, ich, see it, and, an sich, reality in, by, for itself, reality as such. Objective, not subjective.
A useful distinction; making us ponder, how different are they?
Apparently useful; how do we get to, at this an sich thing?
Old questions; maybe no new answers, but worth pondering.
To the West, Syria spells colonial history–by the West since 1916 more than by the Ottomans since 1516–and post-colonial history. Why?
Inequality is an “entrenched imbalance”
The question of inequality was raised several times by the UN in January: speaking at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, UN chief António Guterres pointed out that, while technological progress and globalization have led to “fantastic improvements” in many areas, they have also increased inequality and marginalized millions.
With mercenaries undermining global peace and security and weakening States’ capacities to protect their people, the UN Security Council on Monday [4 February 2019] shone its spotlight on their activities as a source of destabilization in Africa.
How respecting fruits and vegetables can help fight food waste.
Nicole Klaski, Founder of THE GOOD FOOD, finds a heart-shaped potato while going through discarded produce at a local farm. Last year the farm had to abandon roughly half of its potato harvest. ©FAO/Gregory Beals
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4 February 2019 (FAO)* — The carrots are shaped like crow’s feet. The cucumbers are crooked. The potatoes are heart-shaped or just too small. A cob of corn is missing a few kernels. For most German supermarkets, such oddly-shaped vegetables do not qualify for the shelves. More often than not they end up in the garbage heap.
1 February 2019 (UN Environment)* — “Strategies that address climate change must include the wise use of wetlands,” says UN Environment peatlands expert Dianna Kopansky.
“We’ve already lost 35 per cent of them since 1970. Individuals, communities and governments must work together to protect these amazing ecosystems, which help us prepare for, cope with and bounce back from the impacts of climate change.”
Peatlands cover only about three per cent of our planet’s land, but account for nearly half the world’s wetlands.
As Trump suspends the 1987 INF Treaty [Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty], Putin retaliates. What can be done to prevent a new nuclear arms race from endangering Europe – and the world – again?
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 