The Global Community has had work on the global economy aspects and issues ever since 1985. A short list of our previous work on the global economy aspects and issues. 
For more recent work on the global economy aspects and issues read the following table.
| Month/year |
Theme and Author |
Read contents |
| November 29, 2007 |
Labor Goes to Bali: Unions Ready to Take on Global Warming
by Brendan Smith and Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello, Global Labor Strategies
AlterNet, The Mix is the Message, ForeignPolicy
The devastating realities of climate change, and the scientific consensus around its cause and cure, are shifting the global political climate.
Some people might say you are anti-business. Is that the case?
This week trade unionists from around the world will travel to Bali for the December 3rd launch of negotiations for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol limiting greenhouse
gasses. It will include delegates from such U.S unions as the Electrical Workers (IUE), Mine Workers, Service Employees, Boilermakers, Steelworkers, Communication Workers,
Transport Workers (TWU), and UNITE HERE garment and textile workers. It will also include the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council as well as such labor-oriented groups as the
Blue-Green Alliance, the Cornell Global Labor Institute, and the Labor Research Association. The Kyoto Protocol was signed by 172 countries - not including the U.S. The AFL-CIO, which then represented the great majority of all U.S. unions, opposed the
Kyoto protocol. What will be the stance of American labor toward an even stronger version for the future?
As trade unionists, we are confident that Bali will mark the beginning of a new and more ambitious process of social change, where our collective hearts and minds must
aspire to save our planet, on the basis of solidarity and mutual respect. |
Read  |
| November 14, 2007 |
Palm oil: Cooking the Climate Once you pop, you can't stop
by Greenpeace Canada http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/
Indonesia — If, as you read this, you're tucking into a KitKat or dipping into a tube of Pringles, you might be interested
to know that these products contain palm oil that is linked to the destruction of forests and peatlands in Indonesia. As our new report "How the palm oil industry
is cooking the climate" shows, it's a recipe for disaster. The manufacturers of these products - Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever - are sourcing their palm oil from suppliers who aren't picky about where they site their
plantations. As the volunteers at the Forest Defenders Camp in Sumatra have seen, this includes tearing up areas of pristine forest then draining and burning the
peatlands. Indonesia's peatlands act as huge carbon stores so replacing them with plantations them not only threatens the amazing biodiversity, including the rare Sumatran tiger,
it also releases huge volumes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. They only cover 0.1 per cent of the land on Earth, but thanks in part to the activities of the palm
oil industry they contribute 4 per cent to global emissions. If expansion of the palm oil industry continues unabated, that figure can only rise.
What's to be done? The Indonesian government should urgently introduce a moratorium on forest and peatland destruction, which will provide a chance to develop long-term
solutions and prevent further emissions from deforestation. And our eyes are fixed firmly on the UN climate meeting in Bali next month, where the next phase of the Kyoto
Protocol will be discussed. With deforestation accounting for up to a fifth of global emissions, including financing for forest protection as a core part of the plan to
tackle climate change is essential. | Read  |
| November 27, 2007 |
UNDP wants climate justice through trade
by ASHOK B SHARMA
published by Indian Society For Sustainable Agriculture and by Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd.
The UN Development Programme (UNDP) for the first time in its human development report has analysed the impact of climate
change. The Human Development Report 2007-08 – Fighting climate change : Human solidarity in a divided world is released at a time when the climate change agenda is
slowly gaining its entry in the WTO negotiations and the discussions on the review of the work under Kyoto Protocol is slated to take place in Bali in Indonesia in
December, this year.
The report documented the impact of climate change across the world also projected the likely scenario for the future. Making out a case for alternative sources of
energy and fuels like bio-fuels, the UNDP report said that global trade has a major role to play. It said :International trade could play a much larger role in
the expanding Markets for alternative fuels. Brazil is more efficient than either the European Union or the United States in producing ethanol, Moreover, sugar-based
ethanol is more efficient in cutting carbon emissions. The problem is that imports of Brazilian ethanol are restricted by high import tariffs. Removing these tariffs
would generate gains not just for Brazil, but for climate change mitigation.
Negotiations on emissions limits for the post-2012 Kyoto Protocol commitment period can – and must – frame the global carbon budget.
Saying so it noted most developed countries like Canada fell short of the targets. Though the European Union and UK have both embraced their targets, they are likely to
fall far short of the goals set unless they move rapidly to put climate mitigation at the center of energy policy reform. Two major OECD countries like US and Australia
are not bound by Kyoto Protocol.
The report suggested two ways to mitigate climate change, one is to directly tax carbon dioxide emission and the other is cap-and-trade. Under cap-and-trade system,
the government sets an overall emissions cap and issues tradable allowances that grant business the right to emit a set amount. Those who can reduce emissions more cheaply
are able to sell allowances. One potential disadvantage of cap-and-trade is energy price instability while the potential advantage is environmental certainty, it noted.
While the transition to climate protecting energy and life styles will have short-term costs, there may be economic benefits beyond what what is to be achieved by
stabilizing temperatures. These benefits are likely to be realized through Keynesian and Schumpeterian mechanisms with new incentives for massive investment stimulating
overall demand and creative destruction leading to innovation and productivity jumps in a wide array of sectors, the foreward to the report said.
While government leadership is going to be essential in correcting the huge externality that is climate change, Markets and prices will have to be put to work so that
private sector decisions can lead more naturally to optimal investment and production decisions.
| Read
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| November 11, 2007 |
Global warming speeds up: IPCC
by ASHOK B SHARMA
published by Indian Society For Sustainable Agriculture and by Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd.
The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon urged the national governments to do more to arrest the climate change. The report also offered blueprints to avert the worst
catastrophes, he said and added that climate change imperils the most precious treasures of our planet.
Ki-moon said that the report would be placed before the forthcoming UN framework on climate change meeting in Bali in Indonesia to review the progress made under the
Kyoto Protocol. The report noted that observational evidence from all continents and most oceans showed that many natural systems were being affected by regional climate changes,
particularly rise in temperatures. Global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased markedly as a result of the human
activities since 1750 and now far exceed pre-industrial value determined from ice cores spanning many thousands of years.
| Read
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| November 10, 2007 |
Biotech to figure in new EU-India S&T cooperation
by ASHOK B SHARMA
published by Indian Society For Sustainable Agriculture and by Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd.
Biotechnology in agriculture, bio-fuel, climate change and energy security are top on the agenda of the European Union’s new offer for science and technology cooperation with India.
I am confident that we are embarking upon a new eara in science and technology cooperation between the European Union and India. Our S&T cooperation agreement is
about to be renewed for a further 5 years and we are about to announce new exciting opportunities for collaborative research, which may include biotechnology in
agriculture, bio-fuel, climate change, energy security and computational material science. We will establish a road map of our strategic S&T cooperation for 2008
and beyond.
| Read
|
| November 19, 2007 |
Globalisation Or Militarist Imperialism? India Must Choose: the Indo-US nuclear deal
by Rohini Hensman, Countercurrents.org,
If India wishes to be a respected member of
the international community, it would need to uphold
international law. This would entail working with
other countries to outlaw weapons of mass destruction
(chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, including
Depleted Uranium weapons), as well as weapons that
target civilians, such as land mines and cluster
bombs, all of which violate international law by
failing to confine their effects to military targets.
Obviously this would imply halting the nuclear
weaponisation programme in India.
It is easy to understand why the current US
administration is so desperate to seal a strategic
alliance with India, at a time when Pakistan, its
traditional ally in South Asia, appears to be
faltering. For India, however, the deal would be a
disaster. Backing out of it under pressure from public
opinion may be embarrassing, but not shameful; on the
contrary, it is the only democratic option. Going
through with it, on the other hand, would be
detrimental to India in the multifarious ways outlined
above. Clearly, the democratic option is both the
wisest and the only honourable one. |
Read |
| November 2, 2007 |
Eco-Humanism and Popular System Dynamics as Preconditions for Sustainable Development
( A review of VISION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY – FUTURE OF THE WORLD FROM CYBERNETICIST PERSPECTIVE )
by Leslaw Michnowski
Manage the Sustainable Development Global Information Society website.
http://www.psl.org.pl/kte
kte@psl.org.pl
elmamba@poczta.onet.pl
leslaw.michnowski@neostrada.pl
Committee for Futures Studies "Poland 2000 Plus", Polish Academy of Sciences
Luis T. Gutierrez, Editor of the Solidarity & Sustainability, Non-Violence homepage says the following about the book. The invited article this month is contributed by Leslaw Michnowski, a member of the Committee for
Futures Studies "Poland 2000 Plus," Polish Academy of Sciences. In this paper, which is a synopsis of his recently
published book on his vision for a sustainable development process "with a human face," he identifies the ingredients
that will be required to assure a future for humanity and the human habitat. The reader is warned that this paper is not
intended for casual, easy reading. Michnowski's intent is to define the information/knowledge infrastructure that will
be required, the technologies to be used, and the principles of solidarity and social justice to be adhered to, in order to
face the inevitable global crises now emerging as a consequence of the pervasive human misbehavior, socially and
environmentally, triggered by (most recently) the industrial revolution. The reader will notice the congruence between
this article and some of the issues and concerns discussed in page 1. The vision presented here is one that shows the
need for a global transition toward a new order of things, one in which technology and other resources are used to
balance individual interests with the common good. It is shown that it is a feasible vision, one that can be achieved if
the humans who populate the planet make a decision to overcome obsolete mindsets that seek the accumulation of
wealth and power as the only path to "happiness." The impending global crisis may trigger a sequence of events that
forces making such decisions in the midst of turmoil and much suffering. Let us pray and work for a transition from
homo economicus to homo solidarius. It may be painful, but it can be peaceful. This is the path of truth, freedom, and
care; the path toward a better world for our children and grandchildren. This is the only path of sure hope.
This article is an overview of a book by the author: "VISION OF A SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY – THE
FUTURE OF THE WORLD FROM THE CYBERNETICIST PERSPECTIVE” (in Polish), published by Polish Academy of
Sciences, Committee for Futures Studies "Poland 2000 Plus", Warsaw, Poland, 2006. This book contains his
conclusions from many years of research on the current global crisis. This definitive work is based on the
author’s System of Life evidence-based model that couples the realities of globalization and information
technology with the urgent need to identify and analyze the conditions for transitioning the worldwide human
community toward a new worldwide civilization that uses information and knowledge for sustainable development
and, in particular, sustainable human development.
|
Read 
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| October 3, 2007 |
I have written an article on how big Corporate houses are grabbing farmlands from farmers in India at a platter. This is due to the government policy of Corporate pampering, ignoring the food security of the nation.
As per the National Rural Labour Commission, an average agricultural worker gets 159 days of work in a year; and as per NSSO (2005), the average daily wage of agricultural labour in rural areas is
around Rs. 51. Considering this, the estimated 82,000 agricultural labourers' households will lose Rs. 67-crore in wages. And put together, the total loss of income to the farming and the farm worker
families is to the tune of Rs. 212-crore (Rs 2120 million) a year. For the marginalized, the loss of income – even if it hovers around the poverty line – has disastrous implications. Farmland is the economic
security for farmers and farm labourers. |
Read |
| October 22, 2007 |
It’s The Oil
by Jim Holt, Countercurrents.org, London Review Of Books
Iraq has 115 billion barrels of known oil reserves. That is more than five
times the total in the United States. And, because of its long isolation, it
is the least explored of the world’s oil-rich nations. A mere two
thousand wells have been drilled across the entire country; in Texas
alone there are a million. It has been estimated, by the Council on
Foreign Relations, that Iraq may have a further 220 billion barrels of
undiscovered oil; another study puts the figure at 300 billion. If these
estimates are anywhere close to the mark, US forces are now sitting on
one quarter of the world’s oil resources. The value of Iraqi oil, largely
light crude with low production costs, would be of the order of $30
trillion at today’s prices. For purposes of comparison, the projected
total cost of the US invasion/occupation is around $1 trillion.
Who will get Iraq’s oil? One of the Bush administration’s ‘benchmarks’
for the Iraqi government is the passage of a law to distribute oil
revenues. The draft law that the US has written for the Iraqi congress
would cede nearly all the oil to Western companies. The Iraq National
Oil Company would retain control of 17 of Iraq’s 80 existing oilfields,
leaving the rest – including all yet to be discovered oil – under foreign
corporate control for 30 years.
The occupation may seem horribly botched on the face of it, but
the Bush administration’s cavalier attitude towards ‘nation-building’ has
all but ensured that Iraq will end up as an American protectorate for the
next few decades – a necessary condition for the extraction of its oil
wealth. If the US had managed to create a strong, democratic
government in an Iraq effectively secured by its own army and police
force, and had then departed, what would have stopped that
government from taking control of its own oil, like every other regime in
the Middle East? On the assumption that the Bush-Cheney strategy is
oil-centred, the tactics – dissolving the army, de-Baathification, a final
‘surge’ that has hastened internal migration – could scarcely have been
more effective. The costs – a few billion dollars a month plus a few
dozen American fatalities (a figure which will probably diminish, and
which is in any case comparable to the number of US motorcyclists
killed because of repealed helmet laws) – are negligible compared to
$30 trillion in oil wealth, assured American geopolitical supremacy and
cheap gas for voters. In terms of realpolitik, the invasion of Iraq is not a
fiasco; it is a resounding success. |
Read |
| October 3, 2007 |
Scrap Special Export Zones (SEZs), Promote Agri Export Zones (AEZs)
by Dr. Krishan Bir Chaudhary, President
Bharatiya Krishak Samaj (Indian Farmers' Organisation), Indian Society For Sustainable Agriculture And Rural Development, New Delhi, INDIA
see also by same author " Indian Farmer Leader On India-US Pact On GMOs"
I have written an article on how big Corporate houses are grabbing farmlands from farmers in India at a platter. This is due to the government policy of Corporate pampering, ignoring the food security of the nation.
| Read
|
| September 16, 2007 |
SCALE OF CONFLICTS BETWEEN FIRMS, COMMUNITIES, NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT , by Jose G. Vargas-Hernández,
Global Environment Minister,
Global file,
jgvh0811@yahoo.com, jvargas08@berkeley.ed
Research Professor, Mexico
The role of the nation-state is to regulate conflicts between the essential elements, the nation-state, capitalists (firms), laborers and consumers, binding together disparate and conflicting interests.
This paper is aimed to review the different levels of scale of conflicts between firms, communities, New Social Movements and the role of government. |
Read or Download full WORD document of Research Paper by author |
| September 17, 2007 |
World - Grid Type, Continuously Under-development - System Dynamics. Why do we need it? , by Leslaw Michnowski,
Manage the Sustainable Development Global Information Society website.
kte@psl.org.pl, elmamba@poczta.onet.pl
Committee for Futures Studies "Poland 2000 Plus", Polish Academy of Sciences,
The main goal of the United Nations is realization of sustainable development world society
vision. Such society would need to integrate social development with economic development and
environmental protection. For this end it is necessary to enable sustained economic growth,
internalizing externalities and DECOUPLING the range of economic growth from the range of deficit
natural resources depletion growth and degradation of environment. It is necessary also to COUPLE
economic growth with popular life-quality growth.
To achieve sustainable development OF THE WORLD SOCIETY we have to build, a
commonly accessible WORLDWIDE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INFORMATION (SYSTEM DYNAMICS) SYSTEM for:
- dynamic monitoring,
- long range forecasting, and
- measurable evaluation,
of policy, economy, work, and other changes effects in life-conditions of human beings and nature in
general. I propose a research program aimed at describing conditions of creation such big, grid, multi
stage built, information system.
|
Read
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| September 12, 2007 |
What Is Being Stolen From Us All
by Jeff Berg
Countercurrents.org
Once again, this time in Iraq, we see the natural resource wealth of an
entire nation enriching none but a criminal class and megacorporations. I
will assume a distinction. Once again this is only able to take place as a
result of the planned aggression and full cooperation of a government &
military that acts as if it is a wholly owned subsidiary of a monied elite.
Much the same thing is being done here in Canada but "thanks" to the
connivance of significant elements of our corporate and government
elite it is being achieved without the need for military force.
It should be noted however that to some in the corporate class the
missing military element is a major mistake even in Canada as it
seriously erodes the huge profit margins possible in war zones and
markedly reduces the amount of money that can be transferred from
citizens to shareholders in times of military conflict. (The quintessential
double dip) Admittedly this is a minority opinion but as Iraq will not be
the last to prove not an uninfluential one. Evidence of this influence here
in Canada can be seen by the massive increase in expenditures for our
military and security industrial complexes over the last few years.
NB. Before the Harper government's commitment to a $13 billion
increase in military spending Canada’s military spending was the 7th
highest in absolute terms in the OECD and 12th overall in the world.
If you are skeptical of the claim that Canadians are being all but
completely shut out of the benefits of their resource wealth go to the
Parkland Institute site and discover for yourself the pitiful fraction the
Albertan people receive of their resource wealth compared to the
people of Norway.
http://www.ualberta.ca/PARKLAND/
For we the Canadian people the situation is an even crueler joke as we
receive even less benefit while at the same time bearing more of the
brunt of the economic problems associated with being a resource
dollar. Aka. Dutch Disease
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dutchdisease.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_disease
And it is all Canadians and especially Albertans and even the rest of the
world that are at the same time forced to pick up the massive
environmental tab even as the profits flee the province and the country. |
Read |
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