Jobs More Important Than Climate Change

This is the findings of a Pew survey in the United States. Americans are far more concerned with the state of the economy and their jobs than climate change.

If you've never heard of a Pew survey before - I must admit I hadn't, Pew is a 'Research Centre for the People and the Press'. Their website says:-

The Center is an independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics and public policy issues. We are best known for regular national surveys that measure public attentiveness to major news stories, and for our polling that charts trends in values and fundamental political and social attitudes.

The American public’s top concern and priority is clearly the economy (85%), not the environment (41%), Terrorism (76%), not the power of lobbyist (36%). The environment has taken the worst hit, dropping from 56% last year to its current 41%.

This trend appears to be repeated in the UK, the recession and jobs crisis are much more at the forefront of peoples minds than climate change. No doubt this will switch around again once we come out of the dip.

Obama does seem to be taking the bull by the horns though with climate change. He's already set in motion plans to reduce CO2 emissions and make cars more fuel efficient. This would also have the effect of creating much needed jobs in the auto industry.

Tackling Climate Change

There are various theories regarding climate change and its effect on our environment. Scientists say the temperature is rising due to an increase in greenhouse gases, giving rise to melting ice caps and subsequently a raise in sea level etc.

Regardless of what we believe individually, there does seem to be a consensus that climate change is a threat of some description. Sadly, the people least contributing to the symptoms of global warming and climate change are the ones which will suffer the most, i.e. the poverty stricken.

The Oxfam website says:

No one will be immune, but climate change will have a disproportionate effect on the lives of people living in poverty in developing countries. Between 1990 and 1998, 94 per cent of the world’s 568 major natural disasters, and more than 97 per cent of all natural disaster-related deaths, were in developing countries.

• People living in poverty are more likely to live in unplanned, temporary settlements, which are erected on unsuitable land – most prone to the risks of flooding, storm surges, and landslides
• Most eke out a precarious economic existence - subsistence farming or fishing - and have no savings or assets to insure them against external shocks
• They lack sanitation and their limited access to clean water, poor diet, and inadequate health-care provision undermine their resistance to infectious diseases
• Their lack of social status and the informal nature or remoteness of their settlements means that they do not receive adequate warnings of impending disasters
• Relief efforts are least likely to reach them
• Lack of education and official neglect means that they have little alternative after disasters but to remain in or return to the disaster-prone areas, with diminished assets, and await the next, calamitous event

Poverty increases people's exposure, and climate change increases the risks; people living in poverty and poor communities are most vulnerable.

It makes pretty sobering reading, but browsing the website does explain the current situation and possible future consequences of climate change quite thoroughly in language easy to understand.It also outlines several ways people can help the most vulnerable.

Solar Storms in 2012

Solar storms forcasted for 2012 might cause an IT meltdown. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has been consulting with experts to find the probable extent of the damage.

The reason solar storms can cause so much damage is that they pump out loads of electromagnetic radiation. Storms in 1859 burnt out telegraph wires while similar storms in 1989 took down part of the Canadian energy grid. In 2005 US systems also suffered solar damage.

We can all look forward to "disruption of the transportation, communication, banking, and finance systems, and government services; the breakdown of the distribution of potable water owing to pump failure; and the loss of perishable foods and medications because of lack of refrigeration," according to the report.

The report also estimates damages of "$1 trillion to $2 trillion during the first year alone ... for the societal and economic costs of a 'severe geomagnetic storm scenario' with recovery times of four to 10 years."

Systems based around GPS will also be vulnerable the report found. If signals are lost from the GPS satellites around the world businesses which rely on them for tracking inventory and staff will face severe difficulties.

I'm not exactly sure when these storms are supposed to hit in 2012, but there are other predictions of the end of the world in 2012 anyway.... it may disrupt the London Olympics. If there's only 3 years til the end of the world, may as well splash out on some nice Valentines gifts then, eh.

More Job Losses in 2009?

2008 wasn't a great year for industry. Significant job losses were announced at long standing institutions such as Rolls-Royce, M&S and Land Rover not to mention others such as Woolworths going under completely.

At the moment it seems like the only safe jobs around are Funeral Directors and MacDonalds operatives. Land Rovers new eco friendly TD4 Freelander is getting good reviews at the moment, but will there be any Land Rover factories still around in the West Midlands to be making them?

The economy is set to decline still further this year, so I guess those of us still employed and be able to pay the bills should consider ourselves lucky if we survive the year.

On a cheerier note, a few of our biker friends met up for Sunday lunch yesterday and we went for a bit of a ride afterwards. It was a bit blustery and the roads were covered in salt and mucky stuff, all the bikes were black by the time we finished and we had to stop and clean the lights as it was impossible to see them through the gunk. The visors weren't much better, though as pillion I escaped the worst of it. It was bloomin' cold though and getting blown about wasn't too much fun, but it was good to be out and about again. I'm quite looking forward to taking it on a few runs myself when it warms up.

My poorly neck survived fairly well, although the blustery bits were a bit uncomfortable and hiding behind the 'driver' to escape them is just boring as I get a great view of the seat and that's about it.

New Year Sales and Amazon Scams

Christmas is over for another year and the sales are well underway. Time to pick up a bargain or 2 perhaps. I have been having a perusal of the sales, in particular for a slow cooker and a new 37 inch LCD TV with all the bells and whistles.

We did also take a trip to Taunton Hein Gericke to get the last of our biker gear - new boots for both of us and I got some new gloves too. Hurray, all kitted out now for a few more years hopefully.

I have bought a new slow cooker - 6.5litres for two of us but I always reckong too much is better than not enough, especially if you get a munchie attack during the night. It should be arriving today, woo! Will it be an aid to healthier eating, or just sit gathering dust in the cupboard? only time will tell.

Excitingly, I almost got caught out by an Amazon Marketplace scam too trying to buy a telly at a too good to be true price. I checked out the sellers website, they had 204 feedbacks with a 93% positive score - all looked genuine enough. But when I clicked "buy" there was an error message saying they could not deliver to my area. I then contacted the seller via email and asked what the problem was and back came a perfect English reply describing the product saying it was a demo in mint condition and had a 30day guarantee and was still available.

He said he would order it for me through Amazon (slight tingle of alarm bells) but when the confirmation came through it said the seller required paying through Western Union. Big alarm bells. The email did look like it was from Amazon, it was in their style with their logo, but a bit of research turned up various similar scams. I can see why people could get fooled by it though as it was quite clever and was impersonating a real company - even using their logo and information.

Never use anything but Amazon's payment system, and the other things that gave this guy away was a)the standard of English deteriorated after the initial description of the telly, b)the email address was an ordinary gmail one - not a company one and c) the shipping address differed from the company's location (Rome not London).

I also contacted the company involved and they were already aware someone was using their information and Amazon was dealing with it, but I can still see the shop storefront of the fraudster 1 week on.

It just proves once again that if it is too good to be true, it usually is!

I have to say that I have bought various bits from Amazon Marketplace before with no problems, so don't let scams like this put you off - just be careful. Most of them are decent, reputable people.