SmallRivers is nominated as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer Candidate

This I have to share with you... We just learned that SmallRivers (creators of paper.li) has been nominated as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer Candidate for the class of 2011! While still only a « candidate », this is nice news all the same. And maybe even to be a little proud about?

A small reminder if needed: the World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas. (www.weforum.org).

Its Technology Pioneers Community is one of the most widely recognized initiatives of the World Economic Forum. To be selected as a Technology Pioneer, a company must be involved in the development of technology innovation and have the potential for long-term impact on business and society. In addition, it must demonstrate visionary leadership, show the signs of being a long-standing market leader, and its technology must be proven.

You can find out more information about the Programme, the recognition and past recipients of the award by visiting the WEF site : www.weforum.org/techpioneers.

Yes, we do feel a touch of pride... ;-)
Congrats, SmallRivers team !!

Readings

(social media)
Amazed, or concerned, by what "the crowd" can achieve when it starts to spontaneously collaborate ("online" most of the time)? Here are two books you must (!) read. Both are not "so" new, but will definitively remain references for long...



"Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations"
Written by the excellent Clay Shirky (@cshirky)

"Blogs, wikis and other Web 2.0 accoutrements are revolutionizing the social order, a development that's cause for more excitement than alarm, argues interactive telecommunications professor Shirky. He contextualizes the digital networking age with philosophical, sociological, economic and statistical theories and points to its major successes and failures. Grassroots activism stands among the winners—Belarus's flash mobs, for example, blog their way to unprecedented antiauthoritarian demonstrations. Likewise, user/contributor-managed Wikipedia raises the bar for production efficiency by throwing traditional corporate hierarchy out the window. Print journalism falters as publishing methods are transformed through the Web. Shirky is at his best deconstructing Web failures like Wikitorial, the Los Angeles Times's attempt to facilitate group op-ed writing. Readers will appreciate the Gladwellesque lucidity of his assessments on what makes or breaks group efforts online: Every story in this book relies on the successful fusion of a plausible promise, an effective tool, and an acceptable bargain with the users. The sum of Shirky's incisive exploration, like the Web itself, is greater than its parts." Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

You can buy it here.
More: herecomeseverybody.org


The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
By my fellow YPOers Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom (@RodBeckstrom)

"The title metaphor conveys the core concept: though a starfish and a spider have similar shapes, their internal structure is dramatically different—a decapitated spider inevitably dies, while a starfish can regenerate itself from a single amputated leg. In the same way, decentralized organizations, like the Internet, the Apache Indian tribe and Alcoholics Anonymous, are made up of many smaller units capable of operating, growing and multiplying independently of each other, making it very difficult for a rival force to control or defeat them. Despite familiar examples—eBay, Napster and the Toyota assembly line, for example—there are fresh insights, such as the authors' three techniques for combating a decentralized competitor (drive change in your competitors' ideology, force them to become centralized or decentralize yourself). The authors also analyze one of today's most worrisome "starfish" organizations—al-Qaeda—though that group undermines the authors' point that the power of leaderless groups helps to demonstrate the essential goodness and trustworthiness of human beings." Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Buy it here.
More: starfishandspider.com

Earth Hour 2010

In 2009 hundreds of millions of people around the world showed their support by turning off their lights for one hour.

Earth Hour 2010 will continue to be a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community. A call to stand up, to show leadership and be responsible for our future.

SATURDAY MARCH 27 / 8:30 pm

See how you can act, and how you can witness this smart initiative here

"350 action day", now we all have a benchmark

Want a 350ppm Action day debrief ? No words are saying as much as this video.
Let’s be proud of it, of us. It shows how “humanity” can mobilize now, how mature we are. Energizing !

350.org Action - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Tomorrow, October 24, it's the 350 Climate Action Day. Perhaps the largest day of political action in the planet's history !

People all over the world will take a stand for a safe climate future. Empowered by 350.org, in + 177 countries, it is a campaign dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis, the solutions that science and justice demand.

350.org mission is to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis, to create a new sense of urgency and of possibility for our planet.

As they say : "Our focus is on the number 350--as in parts per million, the level scientists have identified as the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere. But 350 is more than a number--it's a symbol of where we need to head as a planet."

"To tackle climate change we need to move quickly, and we need to act in unison—and 2009 will be an absolutely crucial year. This December, world leaders will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark to craft a new global treaty on cutting emissions. The problem is, the treaty currently on the table doesn't meet the severity of the climate crisis—it doesn't pass the 350 test".

So, make sure you pay a visit to 350.org and search of a local event in your location you CAN ATTEND TOMORROW. (350.org/map).

I just found this video, from Addis Ababa where more than 15,000 young people marched to call for 350. A global subject!

"Stratospheric polar vortex influence on Northern Hemisphere winter climate variability"

Just a short post to mention, again and again…, that Arctic melting is one of the major threats humanity is now facing. Much (!) more than only a threat for polar bears. Climatologists are becoming more accurate on long term predictability and are performing interesting simulations on Climate global systems. One of them has been reported by H. Douville (CNRM, GAME, Météo-France, CNRS, Toulouse, France) and strictly highlighted the fact that the Arctic and North Atlantic Oscillation has a strong impact on the interannual variability of winter surface air temperature and precipitation, especially over Europe. Learn more here.

Scientists regard the Arctic and its sea ice as among the most sensitive barometers of global warming because even small temperature changes make a huge difference.
"If you go from a degree below freezing to 2 degrees above freezing, that's a completely different environment in the polar region", scientist Walt Meier said (US National Snow and Ice Data Center) and reported by Reuters. "You're going from ice skating to swimming. Whereas if you're on a tropical beach and it's 3 degrees warmer, you probably wouldn't even notice it".

And finally, for those who are still doubting, just read this Reuters news “Arctic ice melts to third-smallest area on record” (September 09)…

Or watch this extraordinary NASA Earth Observatory animation of stratospheric vorticity and temperature Jan - Feb 2009, demonstrating remarkable stratospheric warming and polar vortex split leading to snowy outbreak in UK...





You wonder what you could do to show your concern about this topic ?

The WWF International (http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/arctic/) works around the circumpolar north to preserve the Arctic's rich biodiversity and combat threats from climate change, toxics and industrial development. You all know it, of course…

And they have initiated, among several other web campaigns, a portable content network that you, readers of this blog, can embed on your own pages, to show it to your own readers and participate to it by recommending other interesting links, by discovering (and being discovered) by hundreds of other people also concerned by this topic.


So click on the below button, discover more, contribute to the information exchange and support this initiative by coping this sticker on your own web page.

WARNING Europe clashed with the US over climate change deal

I (and a lot of others!) told you this summer that the Copenhagen UN climate deal was potentially in great danger due to a fundamental disagreement between US and EU on action plan and public intervention “philosophy”. And here we are ! The Guardian has reported yesterday a smashy news from David Adam.

The Guardian understands “(…) that key differences have emerged between the US and Europe over the structure of a new worldwide treaty on global warming. Sources on the European side say the US approach could undermine the new treaty and weaken the world's ability to cut carbon emissions”.

Well, I’m not totally sure that we, “developed democracies citizens”, are really pushing enough pressure on our negotiators. You might say : ok so, now, what should we do ? How could we be listened by our governing bodies ? There are so many organizations, initiatives, campaigns, trying to wake us up, enabling us to participate, to add our voices to the crowd ! So many, and nowhere to find them all. I really believe that some of these organizations should set up a web page, a directory gathering all the campaigns the “responsible world” is now producing to speed-up the people engagement on this major cause. We don’t have time, negotiations have started for long and all this will end in December.

As Ban Ki-Moon, the UN general secretary, said to The Guardian “the negotiations had stalled and need to "get moving (…)”. And WE, dear “co-citizens”, have the power of making them move again… should we be able to really gather around this cause. So, please, do support your known NGOs and PARTICIPATE to the hundreds of campaigns they are empowering.

Moon said the leaders held in their hands "the future of this entire humanity".

And I agree !




Listen to this podcast (The Gardian) / a good way to invest 5 minutes of your time...

Or watch this : as a reminder...

“Climate refugees” could be ignored in Copenhagen agreement…

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has recently updated their policy paper “Climate change, natural disasters and human displacement: a UNHCR perspective”. A 14 pages document (you can read here) to encourage more research and reflection on the humanitarian and displacement challenges that climate change will generate.
The first quote from High Commissioner António Guterres is clear enough : “Although there is a growing awareness of the perils of climate change, its likely impact on human displacement and mobility has received too little attention.”

So what do we have to think when we learn that climate refugees might not even be included in the international climate agreement being developed for Copenhagen ?

Have a look at what happened during the Bonn III negotiations (the talks to get ready for the big Copenhagen negotiations). The one line of text that referred to climate refugees was bracketed, meaning it is flagged for approval, instead of being firmly included. This slight change makes the western countries (especially US + EU) less “responsible” for the problem. It could be possible we even not use the word ‘refugees’ anymore preferring the word ‘migrants’ (someone who decides to move…). Read this interesting post here.

Witnessing our negotiators playing with words, sometimes, attests even more accurately the severity of the problems they forecast…

CO2 Permits trading, VAT and … Swindlers : Game starts !

Interesting paper from Arthur Max (Associated Press) on a recent arrest in UK and how it confirms our fears to see swindlers being rapidly attracted to a market that has grown to more than $100 billion… Also a valuable analysis of the potential consequences of having France and Britain set a zero VAT rate for carbon trading, while Holland transferred the obligation to pay VAT from the seller to the buyer…

Read it here

US administration, welcome onboard !

The American government science administration NOAA ( National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ) has released a damning report on climate change. Obviously, and finally (!), it is stated as “undeniable” that we are already seeing climate change in action, and that it is down to human actions that these climate events are occurring. Take 1 hour of your time to watch the related press conference –it’s worth it ! (you can start @ minute 6:50)

Well, we all know that the only immediate action to be taken is a drastic carbon reduction program, enforced by legislations all over the globe. We all know that it has to be brought to a level which will profoundly change our (developed) society, our way of thinking, doing business, our economy. It will impact jobs, wealth, social stability, etc. At least during this “transformation” phase. Which is, obviously, the leading negative argument as soon as politicians are addressing carbon reduction scheme. At least it seems now that we are reaching a sort of global momentum on the threats. But, still, as mentioned during this press conference, another fundamental question is to be addressed now : do we have as much time to deal with these issues as our leaders seem to think ? One CSIRO scientist has already said we've past the point of no return. Honestly I ‘m not sure I want to trust this, but we are now clearly warned, and nobody should say “we didn’t know”… Even American congress.

World Climate System: tipping point ahead!

Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip is a short, animated film about climate change by Leo Murray.
Fantastic and inspiring! You MUST watch it.

As Leo Murray says:
“It’s much, much later than you think!
This really isn’t about polar bears any more. At this very moment, the fate of civilization itself hangs in the balance. It turns out that the way we have been calculating the future impacts of climate change up to now has been missing a really important piece of the picture. It seems we are now dangerously close to the tipping point in the world's climate system; this is the point of no return, after which truly catastrophic changes become inevitable.”

You can view this film here or go to Leo Murray website (wakeupfreakout.org) where you can also access the film script, with extensive references and additional links.

Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip from Leo Murray on Vimeo.

When words like “new tax” will be banned…

Well, I’m smoothly getting to the point that our ecosystem now urgently needs a transparent way of pricing carbon, a cost that one could easily see while purchasing consumer goods. And, obviously, the only way to have this done will certainly, “one day”, to invent a sort of new levy imposed by governments, impacting costing (and pricing) of goods. A sort of “carbon-added-tax” (cf VAT…) passed along to consumers. Not that I like this idea, but I don’t see alternatives.

But, clearly, who – what government – would take today the risk to propose a new tax ? Would it be possible to solve this picture by inventing a new design for it? Even a new … name ?

I love the subtitle of this Reuters Blog post :
Could semantics help save the planet ? (A showdown between leaders of Chevron Corp and the Sierra Club on Wednesday night revealed a number of shared beliefs between the two California institutions, particularly about the need for a transparent way of pricing carbon.)
Read the Reuters blog post here.

Counting the human cost of it…

As reported by Bonner-PresseBlog, The 18 organizations of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) attending climate change talks in Bonn this week are requesting that the humanitarian impacts of climate change should more clearly be addressed in the UN agreement on climate change this December.

This call is backed by an interesting new study, issued by the Norwegian Refugee Council (“Future floods of refugees, A comment on climate change, conflict and forced migration”). This study estimates that more than 20 million people have been displaced by climate-related sudden-onset natural disasters in 2008 alone. “For the first time, we have a solid indication of the scale of forced displacement as a result of climate change”, says Elisabeth Rasmusson CEO of the Norwegian Refugee Council who co-authored the report.

IASC members argue that Copenhagen agreement on climate change has to take the humanitarian perspective into account. It is also essential for the agreement to set out a workable approach to help the world counter the impacts of extreme weather events and environmental degradation on vulnerable communities.

There are three reasons for this:
A-The total number of people affected by disasters has risen sharply over the past decade with an average of 211 million people directly affected each year, nearly five times the number affected by conflict in the same period.
B-Climate change is expected to dramatically affect patterns of migration and population movement. While migration is already a form of adaptation for some, the many millions expected to be displaced by prolonged droughts, repeated floods or storms will be especially vulnerable and require significant assistance and protection.
C-The Copenhagen agreement presents a rare opportunity to shape and guide the international response to the humanitarian consequences of climate change over the next decade. With the right approach, many of these consequences can be averted or reduced over the next decade. The humanitarian community – with its expertise, systems and partnerships – can help to manage these disaster risks.

According to John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, “the scale of the potential humanitarian challenge presented by climate change in the future is huge. This is a defining moment to ensure that the challenge is not insurmountable and human suffering is minimized”. (extracts of the BonnerPressBlog article)

And also read this !
Forced Displacement in the Context of Climate Change: Challenges for States Under International Law
Paper submitted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in cooperation with the Norwegian Refugee Council, the Representative of the Secretary General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons and the United Nations University, to the 6th session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA 6) (1-12 June, Bonn).

To be balanced by this article:
Worse Than Fiction (The Wall Street Journal)
Global warming alarmists are fond of invoking the authority of experts against the skepticism of supposedly amateur detractors -- a.k.a. "deniers." So when one of those experts says that a recent report on the effects of climate change is "worse than fiction, it is a lie," the alarmists should, well, be alarmed

On June 5th we all have a date with the planet !

Today, worldwide, an amazing film is released on all media simultaneously : HOME 2009

As declared by Yann Arthus-Bertrand “In 200,000 years on Earth, humanity has upset the balance of the planet, established by nearly four billion years of evolution. The price to pay is high, but it's too late to be a pessimist: humanity has barely ten years to reverse the trend, become aware of the full extent of its spoliation of the Earth's riches and change its patterns of consumption.”

By bringing us unique footage from over fifty countries, all seen from the air, by sharing with us his wonder and his concern, with this film Yann Arthus-Bertrand (produced by Luc Besson) lays a foundation stone for the edifice that, together, we must rebuild.

On the occasion of WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY on June 5th 2009, HOME will be the FIRST movie to be released simultaneously on ALL MEDIA (Theatre, TV, DVD, and Internet) and across 5 CONTINENTS.

Watch the making-of (->right colomn of this blog) and don’t forget to “flip” the embed... The film can be seen on Youtube (duration= 1:33:18…).

Could climate change escalate Middle-East conflict ?

The International Institute for Sustainable Development, IISD, published an interesting report on this subject. “Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan and the occupied Palestinian territories have suffered from more than 60 years of bloody conflict” warns the institute, noting “Climate change -- by redrawing maps of water availability, food security, disease prevalence, population distribution and coastal boundaries -- may hold serious implications for regional security," if the situation is left unchecked.

As summarized by United Press International (UPI), the report lists six main threats the region will be forced to address because of the changing climate : The scarcity of water resources may complicate any peace efforts. The intensifying of food scarcity could spur "the return or retention of occupied land." Changes in the climate could slow down economic growth and worsen poverty, causing social instability. Climate changes could also lead to increased tensions over refugee populations, and the diminishing of natural resources in the region could increase militarization of strategic natural resources. Failure to act could encourage further mistrust and resentment by Arab countries toward Israel and the Western world, the report warns.

BUT, as reminded by the Institute …” Nevertheless (…) there is much that national governments and authorities, civil society and the international community can do address the challenge of climate change, and in so doing, address some of the threats it may pose to regional peace and security. They can promote a culture of conservation in the region, help communities and countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and foster greater cooperation on their shared resources.”

The 42 pages report "Rising Temperatures, Rising Tensions: Climate Change and the Risk Of Conflict in the Middle East" was published by the IISD, an independent environmental policy research institute and can be downloaded here.