Wealth Inequality in America

It appears that achieving equal wealth distribution, even in the world's only hegemonic superpower, is still an elusive reality. With emerging superpowers like China, Brazil and India also showing similar patterns of inequality resulting from a shift to market capitalism, the difficult question is finding out how to close the development gap, which exists not only between high income and low income countries, but within high income countries as well.

Plus, it's a cool infographic - politics aside...

Why Geography is important! Andorra is not in Africa

Good spoofs make me smile.

Why Geography matters!

Hope and Poverty

Hope and Poverty

Cultural attitudes to the environment & risk

In her latest work, Naomi Klein wonders: What makes our culture so prone to the reckless high-stakes gamble, and why are women so frequently called upon to clean up the mess.

What makes our cultutal attitude to the envionment lead to conflict and risk?

http://www.naomiklein.org/main

Culture & conflict over the environment

Another excellent case study on how cultural attitudes and values (economic versus environmental especially) lead to conflict in one of the world's most charged regions. This case study is an excellent example of the environment as a contested category and how different cultures view the vital resource of water - economic development & geopolitics versus indigenous cultural rights versus environmental value (biodiversity). The map link here shows a classic case of upstream versus downstream conflict & dispute (http://mapsof.net/map/jordan-river-map).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11101797

Friends o the earth Middle east provide a good overview of the situation, admittedly from an environmental perspective: http://foeme.org/www/?module=projects&record_id=23

Opinion: Cultural cooperation is key to this area in order to preserve the cultural heritage from a multi-faith perspective!

Other opinions suggest that Israel is violating the human rights of indigenous Palestinians by not only occupying territory but also denying water access to the Palestinians - however, this is the opinion of Amnesty and it is a very divisive & debated issue!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17747643

A great little video clip showing the positive impact of the London Olympics...

Brazil's new forest law: short term economic gains over long term environmental security?

Despite the countless geographical case studies, the radical environmental groups and lobbyists and a global increased environmental awareness, it saddens me to read that yet another emerging superpower, one of the BRICs nonetheless, has chosen to put economics over environmental protection.  After over a year of political wrangling Brazil's government have passed a law ( 247-184) which eases rules on how much land farmers must preserve as forest. Now, i know it is easy for me with my Western perspective to sit here an chastise the Brazilian government for following the lead of the hegemonic USA and post industrial attitude of China, but having been and for a short timed lived in the Amazonian rain forest i feel it will be the TNC loggers rather than the indigenous tribes who will reap the rewards.

Once again this issue touches upon the wider themes of how societies (and cultures) view and subsequently protect the environment. With the law now passed it will be interesting, yet very sad to watch how deforestataion rates possibly increase even more over the coming decade and taking a particular morbid line i wonder how many more incidents of this will occur: Loggers 'burned Amazon tribe girl alive'

A new commodity: second hand clothes

Prices paid for second-hand clothes in the UK have tripled in the past five years, sparking a battle between charities, criminals, companies and local councils for the nation’s cast-offs.

It is an intersting development to new and 'emerging markets', especially when considering many developed nations export much of our recyling to LEDCs as they are more efficient at recycling.


As the FT states:

'The price rag dealers pay for used clothes has climbed from about £220 a tonne in 2007 to about £650 a tonne today, according to trade publication letsrecycle.com. Demand has mushroomed since the European Union expanded eastward in the mid-2000s, creating accessible markets for winter clothing that rag dealers cannot sell in Africa. Sterling’s tumble has accelerated the trend. Charities say donations are falling in the face of new high street competition. “Clothing has always been seen as something charitable,” said Maria Chenoweth-Casey, chief executive of charity TRAID, which runs second-hand clothes shops. “Vintage clothing is dying . . . It’s sad to see it shipped out of the country without even being looked at.” Criminals are also drawn to the high prices. In 2008, when Ms Chenoweth-Casey noticed the “yield” of her charity’s textile banks dropping, she hid a tracker inside a bank and followed the signal to an industrial estate in Havering in North London. The stolen clothes were in a trailer bound for east Europe.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/44784f66-8ae8-11e1-912d-00144feab49a.html#axzz1t41bUClx

Millenium Development Goals for 2015: Going no where fast or on track?

The MDGs formed at the start of the Millennium when aspirations were high that the world could unite against the global problems of poverty (the bottom billion), climate change and move towards a much more pro active post-industrial sustainable attitude towards the use of our shared environment.

Yet in 2012, with the mantra of sustainability to some extent part of political rhetoric but a global recession stifling the good deeds of many a different player, are the MDGs now just too idealistic or were they always going to be given the attitudes of the emerging superpowers like China and the other BRICs?

This video provides a useful overview and the questions are for you answer and discuss.

Q: Which in your opinion is the most important and why?
Q: What do you think are some of the barriers to achieving the MDGs? Think of current examples to back up your opinion.

Q: Do you think the MDGs will be achieved by 2015 - why?

Transition to a world without oil

The Arab Powder Keg: An animated map of protests in the Middle East as they spread from country to country, updated with the most recent events.

An animated map of protests in the Middle East as they spread from country to country, updated with the most recent events.

The protests that drove Hosni Mubarak out of power in Egypt were only the beginning of a wave of civil unrest that has boiled over into nearly all of the Middle East. Tunisia had already driven longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from office, and by the beginning of February, unrest had spread to Jordan, Lebanon, and Sudan. Many more countries were to follow. This map depicts the tides of protests and government retaliations day by day, beginning in Tunisia and ending with the unresolved conflict in Libya. You can click through the days one by one with the green arrows or choose "Autoplay." To get the big picture, just turn off the info boxes and crank up the speed.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/maps/2011/03/the_arab_powder_keg.html

Internet Black spots

In an age when most students and adults are globally connected to the web 24/7 either through high speed fibre optics or wi-fi it seems strange to us*(written from a Western perspective) that other people could have their Internet right (?) controlled and even denied!

Where are these Internet black spots and to what extent is it all down to physical geography and levels of development - what role does geopolitics play? Which factor is the biggest barrier to technological development in terms of Internet access...is the Internet a fundamental human right? and is there any evidence that economies who are connected are the most prosperous?

Your thoughts would be appreciated as ever...

http://bigthink.com/ideas/21222

Iran to halt oil sales to ‘some countries’

A great pick form one of my students here (Yager) - this article is a cracker concerning future energy security and what will happen to the 'business as usual' approach if one of the world's emerging unstable superpowers (?) has it's way.

Click here to find out more - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/71394c8a-4a92-11e1-a11e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1kw0D8Bxg



Here is some of the up to date feedback from a student (Bennet) on the issue:

As if Greece, Spain and Italy don't have enough on their plate.... now they have to find alternative supplies from other oil producers such as Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iraq.The interesting part of this article is firstly the outstanding power these oil producing countries have, almost being able to control a countries decisions but also the future of energy is very exciting with growing geopolitical concerns. I was reading in the New Scientist today an article 'How Clean is Our energy?' where it described energy consumption around the world and if all countries developed (energy consumption wise) to similar levels to the USA, energy demand would rise 10 fold. However with growing use of space travel and other high energy consumption activities, demand will rise over 15 times today's figure.The way forward is sustainable development however for this to occur both top-down and bottom-up approaches are needed soon.

Energy is so unpredictable.......

Davos 2012: Who's afraid of China?

A good one for superpowers: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education/

China is already the second-largest economy in the world - and yet most of its population is poor

A BRIC in freefall - India - the economic juggernaut heading for a crash?

"India is not simply emerging: India has already emerged" ( B.Obama,Nov 2010)
"India is a rising economic influence of power in the international system" (C.Rice, May, 2005)

Looking at the quotes above I am sure like me you would tend to think and hear of India as a BRIC - a leading light with the potential to challenge the astronomical growth of other emerging 21st century superpowers like China (i mean often the term 'Chindia' is used to describe the axial tilt towards SE Asia in term so economic power).

However the doomsday prophets in a time of slower economic growth and stagnation are out and in the media recently there has been speculation, along with the demise of Kingfisher airline, that India could be an economic juggernaut about to crash!

India is entering a critical phase and doe indeed need the government to be more pro active and implement the reforms it has promised for so long e.e.g opening and freeing up of FDI, otherwise it will be India's underclass who (once again and always with the dark side of globalisation) will suffer the most - tens of millions could be out of work - in addition to the tens of millions already out of work! So what evidence is there - well in 2011 India was named the world's worst performing stock market, with its bourse down by a third in dollar terms, wiping $500billion from it's value.

But India is still growing at 6.9% - yes indeed, very true but India faces a very different set of challenges compared to the Eurozone countries - with a rapidly growing & youthful population of 1.2 billion people, most economists agree that anything below 7% growth will feel "distinctly uncomfortably" - adding to the issue of rising fuel and food prices and dizzying inequality of wealth - the stratification of society embedded in the caste system of old - all o the latter is arguably a recipe for social tension (and uprising?).

So we will wait and see - keep abreast of India's development - it looks like it could be in a or a rocky time if action is not taken in the New Year!

Bottom Billion country profile: South Sudan

South Sudan' a country which achieved independence fro Sudan in July 2011, splitting the mostly black south from the mainly Arab north after a bloody 20-year conflict in which two million people were nearly killed. The prospects for a child today are very poor: an estimated 92% are illiterate, and it is ranked 154 out o 169 in the UN's HDI, lagging behind most of Africa.It has almost no infrastructure (in a country larger than France, there were less than 40km of roads at the start of this year) and is approaching a nationwide famine.

But why oh why is it like this - do we refer back, as always to Collier's Bottom Billion and his list of factors which contribute to the African poverty trap....?

On the face of things there should be huge opportunities - South Sudan is rich in oil, which provides 98% of government revenues. But the oil must be exported through the pipeline of its northern neighbour, Sudan and tense relationships mean conflict and sabotage is rife. In addition to this there is a shortage of leadership and key skilled workers - there are 3 surgeons in a country with the highest maternal mortality rate in the world!

A difficult development pathway is ahead but Sudan has the resources it just needs to ensure that its people reap the benefits as opposed to the hungry foreign giants like TNCs and China as well as neighbouring entrepreneurs looking, as ever to exploit, a very vulnerable country.

Watch this space....

African demography is unique...

AFRICAN demography is unique. It is the only continent that will double in size, reaching 2 billion people by 2045 at current rates. Some countries, such as Liberia and Niger, are growing faster still. They are due to double in size in less than 20 years—an increase that is causing forecasts of Malthusian disaster for countries that cannot feed themselves. Yet Africa is also showing signs of embarking on the same transition towards smaller families that has occurred everywhere else, thus avoiding the Malthusian trap. 



Further links: http://www.economist.com/node/21541834

Chinese luxury labels to challenge Western counterparts

There is a small but growing stable of companies who are betting that Chinese luxury goods buyers will begin to seek out items that reflect their own culture, rather than just the European heritage and exclusivity that have been so popular to date.

While industry experts say it will be an uphill struggle for such brands to take on the prestige and marketing power of well-established luxury goods and fashion houses, some big-name companies are gearing up to meet the challenge of changing appetites.

However, Henry Steiner, who runs Hong Kong-based Steiner & Co that advises companies about brand creation and strategy, is sceptical about the chances of a high-end, Chinese brand emerging any time soon.

Continue reading the main story

"They have to go through this very difficult process of not just coming up with a cute idea, but really building a company, working on it strategically and logistically and sticking their neck out when it comes to marketing," he says.

"Western brands come with a certain personality that's been built up over the years, with recognition and consistency and dependability - all the things that Chinese brands don't have."

Few Chinese brands have recognition in the West - luxury or otherwise

Best known Chinese brands

• Lenovo (PCs)
• Huawei (telecom equipment)
• Haier (home appliances)
• Tsingtao (beer)
• Li Ning (sportswear)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16135381
http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2011/12/chinese

Poorer countries overtake rich world's consumption carbon footprint

The financial crisis of 2009 saw the developing world's carbon emissions from consumption shoot past the developed world's years earlier than expected, new research shows...

How emissions have bounced back after economic crisises. Source: Nature Climate Change

The carbon footprint from consumption in the developing world has overtaken that of the developed world, according to research published on Monday. The change happened years earlier than expected due to the fact that the developing world's emissions were largely unaffected by the global financial crisis.

Emissions within the borders of developing countries outstripped those emitted in developed countries (as defined by the Kyoto Protocol's 'Annex B') in around 2005. But the rich world still accounted for the majority of the carbon footprint of consumption due to the goods it imports from China and other developing economies.

To read more click here & here: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21239-chinas-consumers-emit-more-than-us-for-the-first-time.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=environment & here: http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2011/12/climate-change?fsrc=rss

Global Development: Views from the Center

Global Development: Views from the Center