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POPSThe coming famine "In light of all these hurdles, as I see it, the challenge is to double world food output by 2050 using less land, far less water and fewer nutrients – all in the teeth of increasing rates of drought. And we need to do it sustainably." "I believe we are quite capable of solving these issues through good science and good policy. In the first instance, we need to massively increase global public investment in agricultural research and development. Then we need to make sure the fruits of that research reach farmers everywhere. I also think that commercial wild harvests, such as fishing and forestry, should be phased out in favour of sustainable farming that dovetails with the local environment."
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POPS5 Urban Design Proposals for 3D City Farms Sustainable, Ecological and Agricultural Skyscrapers - One man’s vision has sparked a series of designs leading closer and closer to what will be the first real-life vertical urban farm in Las Vegas, Nevada of all places. Here are five of these remarkable architectural designs for sustainable (and stylish) urban farm towers that may revolutionize agriculture as we know it. In the long run such structures may not only provide food for hundreds of thousands of people per building but they will also relieve much of the burden on other flat landscapes where fewer and fewer usable growing spaces exist.
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POPSSustainability To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves. Gandhi
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POPSWhat Ideas Will Shape our Future? The 10 Ideas of the 21st Century "More than money, more than politics, ideas are the secret power that this planet runs on." "The 21st century will overturn many of our basic assumptions about economic life. The 20th century saw the end of European dominance of global politics and economics. The 21st century will see the end of American dominance too, as new powers make their voices heard on the world stage." "The challenges of sustainable development—protecting the environment, stabilizing the world's population, narrowing the gaps of rich and poor and ending extreme poverty—will render passé the very idea of competing nation-states that scramble for markets, power and resources." "The defining challenge of the 21st century will be to face the reality that humanity shares a common fate on a crowded planet." "6.6 billion people living in an interconnected global economy producing an astounding $60 trillion of output each year."
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POPS Global Warming Realities There is disagreement on whether other factors such as methane levels are just as important or maybe even more so than carbon dioxide. There is disagreement as to whether, in the historical record, temperatures led or lagged increased carbon dioxide levels. There is even disagreement as to exactly how much of current apparent abnormalities are due to human activity, although no one would dispute the fact that over six billion self-centered primates can create serious problems. If current growth rates continue, I guarantee that the resulting catastrophe will not only be unimaginably horrible, but will occur long before any of the dire prophesies of the global warming crowd come to pass.
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POPSPNAS: Innovation, growth, and the global future of urban life A new article suggests that many sociological indicators for urban life conform to a relatively simple mathematical model, and that the model predicts that "innovation cycles" will have to increase consistently in order to avoid urban "stagnation" or social "collapse." Somewhat alarming.
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POPSIsland Wood: City Kids First Visit with Nature & Environmentalism An environmental learning center—nestled into a rustic 250-acre nature preserve—plays a dual role as symbol and teaching tool. "We envision a future in which all people view themselves as lifelong learners, and share an extraordinary bond of stewardship for the environment, for their communities and for each other." Raising of environmental consciousness, one child at a time. “The center is primarily for inner-city kids who don’t have an opportunity to connect with the natural world. And when kids are uncomfortable, they’re not open to learning. So we wanted them to be as comfortable here as possible.” The mission of IslandWood is to provide exceptional learning experiences and to inspire lifelong environmental and community stewardship.
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POPSPlay the sustainability game! How many Earths would we need if everyone lived like you do? Play this game and find out. I think I live a pretty green lifestyle, relatively speaking, but apparently my diet (which is heavy in dairy and coffee) is really bad for the environment.
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POPSIKEA Village: A Community of Affordable Pre-Fab Homes Ikea is currently building a village of pre-fab homes in the UK: Creating a community of affordable homes. These homes will be like nothing else seen before in the UK and will play an important role in helping first-time buyers who have until now been unable to get on the property ladder due to the spiralling costs of buying a house. While Ikea will market the houses, Live Smart @ Home will build them. It will ask buyers to prove they are within the set income bracket and to register their interest online. Demand is expected to be so high that a lottery will then determine who becomes the first "Ikea villagers".
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POPSCommon Wealth: Sustainable future We are in one another's faces as never before, crowded into an interconnected society of global trade, migration, ideas and, yes, risk of pandemic diseases, terrorism, refugee movements and conflict. We also face a momentous choice. Continue on our current course, and the world is likely to experience growing conflicts between haves and have-nots, intensifying environmental catastrophes and downturns in living standards caused by interlocking crises of energy, water, food and violent conflict. Yet for a small annual investment of world income, undertaken cooperatively across the world, our generation can harness new technologies for clean energy, reliable food supplies, disease control and the end of extreme poverty.
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