|
|
| |
Environmental Scanning through a collection of:
SIGNS OF THE TIMES, TRENDS AND TREND BABIES
1999-2009
|
| |
What is a Sign of the
Times? Signs of the times are the result
of information gathering that looks for inventions,
innovations, attitudes and actions. Signs of the times
come from many sources, are systematically gathered
and have meaning for the future.
What is a Trend?
A trend is long-range and persistent; it effects many
societal groups, grows slowly and is profound. In
contrast, a fad is short-term, "in", effects particular
societal groups, spreads quickly and is superficial.
What is a Mega-trend?
A mega-trend extends over many generations, and in
cases of weather, mega-trends can cover periods prior
to human existence. They describe complex interactions
with many factors and they often represent the introduction
of several new paradigms or worldviews that arise
in hunting and gathering, agriculture, and industrial
societies.
Trend babies:
Here you find general trends or signs of new trends
("trend babies") from the categories social, technical,
ecological, economic or political. Trend babies grow
from innovations in the above categories that have
the potential of going mainstream in the future (for
example: just a few years ago, alternative medicine
was truly alternative. Now it is big business and
very respectable). The choice of trends is naturally
influenced by the author's values.
Trend families:
Very often, the chosen Signs are members of a trend
family. A parent trend (for example, the change from
an industrial society to a knowledge-based society)
is well documented. The ways in which such sweeping
trends play themselves out in various parts of the
community represent the "members of that trends family".
Examples: Jobs in the industrial
sector have shrunk causing widespread unemployment.
|
|
Many countries see small business
as a solution to unemployment, driving unprecedented
attention to small business in many countries legislatures.
Another example of a trend
related to the move from industrial to knowledge society
is the privatization of the education industry.
As in all cases in Signs, sustainability
is one of the larger branches from which many other
twig-sized trends grow. Sustainability is "the property
of being sustainable", "using a resource so that the
resource is not depleted or permanently damaged".
In Signs, I use it to mean sustainable development,
"an approach to economic planning that attempts to
foster economic growth while preserving the quality
of the environment for future generations."
Confirming Trends:
When does a "trend baby", gain acceptance as a bona
fide trend? When it gets enough confirmation in the
various media to show it is an increasingly accepted
value, behavior or technology.
Geographical trend
growth and "bellwether" geographic sites:
There is also an attempt to follow the global spread
of trends that have started in the West (for example,
Women's rights are a generally accepted topic in the
media and on the Internet. Just how and when women's
rights develop in various countries can represent
global growth of that trend.) Some places seem to
lead development in one or a variety of areas and
are looked to as the source of new trends. California
has long been considered as bellwether for the United
States. The Nordic countries of Finland, Sweden, Norway
and Denmark have been considered bellwether in social
innovation.
All trends, to a greater or
lesser degree affect our lives, our work and our futures.
Our ability to understand that effect can many times
make a positive difference in the quality of our lives.
|
| |
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Leaders of the New
Global Economy
Who's
got the Year 2000 right- the people or
the experts? Keynote address.
|
Trend Letter
World Economic Forum - published in The
Asian Wall Street Journal July 19-25,
1999
WFSF Futures Bulletin
Johan Galtung, Professor
of Peace Studies
|
On a list of the
world's most competitive countries we
find Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan among
the top six. Three countries with Chinese
culture background. The other three were
the United States, Canada and the United
Kingdom.
Nato expansion eastward
and AMPO (US Japan security system) westward
finds China, Russia, and India caught
in the middle with 40% of world's citizens.
This is a taste of what might be called
the China trend. Many believe that China
will play a huge role in the future, and
not only as a marketplace for the West.
|
December 9, 1999
January 2000
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Trend Alert:9 to 5
Stress bakom sjukfrånvaro
Stress behind sickleave
|
The Herman Group Newsletter
Roger Herman and Joyce Gioia
http://www.herman.net/
archive.html
Dagens Nyheter
By Börje Karlsson
Signs of the Times
|
The Herman Group tells
us about "24/7" a new North American expression
meaning 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The masses of work to be done are attributed
to the Internet and globalization where
companies demand service from many time
zones causing long days.
In Sweden, media has been reporting
drastically rising numbers of long sick
leaves. Between 1998 and 1999 sick leave
days increased 24 percent and National
Insurance Department feel the number will
rise. Increased stress is seen as the
culprit.
Earlier this stress was seen as driven
by the layoffs of the early 90's. Not
even five years later, the explanation
is a lack of qualified workers.
A related trend from Jan 20, 2000 from
Tecken i tiden archives notes that
lack of sleep is affecting productivity
and learning effectiveness causing accidents.
Causes for lack of sleep are often stress
and overwork.
While different cultures attribute
a variety of behaviors to the causes of
stress, what values, behaviors and activities
will signal the brake in this trend?
|
February 9, 2000
February 26, 2000
January 20, 2000
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Fisken flyr västkusten
Fish flee the Westcoast (Sweden)
Massgrav med fisk
Photo-Antonio Scorza/EPA
Massgrave of fish
|
Metro
Christer Ekelund
Metro
|
The west coast of Sweden
is reporting a huge drop in the fish population
on the west coast. From a catch of 400-500
kilos fish last year the same spot gave
only 40 kilos small fish this year. Biologist
point out several possible reasons for this
drop, environmental reasons, over fishing,
an overpopulation of seal have eaten the
fish.
Dead fish, nearer 100 tons have died
in the last two days because of a combination
of pollution and extremely hot weather
that removes the oxygen from the water.
We have been hearing about this fishy
problem for years and basically ignored
it. The prices for fish are steadily rising
held in check by fish cultivation projects.
When you can't afford certain fish anymore,
it might be too late.
|
February 28, 2000
March 7, 2000
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
The First ITTA CyberCast
Event a Success Using ComputerPREP's PrepVision
Web-Conferencing Technology |
Company Press Release
http://biz.yahoo.com/
bw/000225/
ca_ihollyw_1.html
|
The distance training
industry has experienced a new Web-conferencing
technology, in which participants around
the world can all be "live" at the same
time. The courses are interactive and participants
can ask questions, answer surveys and polls,
and view presentations by simply connecting
to the Internet.
This advance is sure to drive the
distance learning trend to even greater
growth and increase the spread of those
values inadvertently presented.
|
February 25, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Rika pappor tar ut ledighet
Rich Fathers take Parental Leave
|
Metro
TT
Report by Governmental Insurance Department
|
Fathers taking time
off from work to raise their children has
been a topic to watch for the last five
years. New studies in Sweden show that families
where the father earns much more that the
mother both share the days they receive
for parental leave. When the mothers earn
much more than the fathers, both share parental
leave more that when there isn't such large
differences between salaries. Parents with
high education levels and fathers over forty
are more likely to stay at home with young
children.
Many studies and antidotal materials
have shown that having a good mother and
father figure leads to healthier, better-adjusted
children. In 15-18 years we will have
a chance to see what that could mean to
communities.
|
March 10, 2000
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
International Life Skills
Survey (ILSS) |
Department of Education
http://nces.ed.gov/
ilss/skills_domains.asp
|
Moving into a knowledge
society with education designed for the
industrial society has been an irritation
for some time now. An international survey
of life skills which are directed to survival
in a knowledge based society, is currently
being tested (according to their timetable),
with implementation in 2002. Ninteen countries
are represented on the Advisory Board. And
how do they describe life skills?
Prose and Document Literacy Numeracy
Problem Solving
Practical Cognition
Teamwork
Information and Communication Literacy
The aim of this survey is to test
16-35 year olds. Check the URL for
details. Only when countries know what
skills are lacking there will be a change
in the education systems.
|
March 9, 2000
January 21, 2000
|
from March 20, 2000
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Tree People
Här
blev Anna, 75, överfallen. Nu berättar
hon för elever om otryggheten
Here Anna, 75, was atacked. Now she
tells students about her unsecure feelings.
Blomstringstid för små partier
Burgeoning times for small parties.
|
Yes Magazine
Tracy Rysavy
http://www.futurenet.
org/12Climatechange/
rysavy.html
Göteborgs-Posten
Stefan Lundberg
Svenska Dagbladet
Fredrik Mellgren
|
A nonprofit group in
Los Angeles, TreePeople, has recruited and
trained over 700 volunteers to care for
1,800 trees on Los Angeles school campuses
and neighborhood communities.
Anna Eriksson, 75, in Sweden shares
her experience of being mugged with school
children. The children are the same age
as those who did the mugging.
Local democracy in Sweden is being upheld
by a flurry of new local parties. Seven
of every ten of these local parties have
been established since 1990. Half of them
are motivated by frustration with the
major parties.
In light of globalization, it is also
important to document how people are acting
locally. Research shows that people feel
they have more impact on their local environment
than they do on global issues. These examples
represent a small offering from three
different areas of community life.
|
February 4, 2000
March 6, 2000
March 6, 2000
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
A New Chapter in Publishing
How the Internet will shape us
|
Trend Letter
|
Here are just a few
areas where the Impact of Internet is being
felt:
Electronic publishing is moving forward.
Acceptance of e-publishing and investments
in it are growing along with the sales of
PDA's (personal digital assistants.)
The current trend of individualism is
seen on the internet in terms of all the
self-education and do it yourself sources
on the web including the areas of financial
planing, legal assistance (USA).
Other areas where Internet is having
an impact are: at work (how and with whom),
when shopping (auctions, volume sales),
in education. Internet impacts are also
seen in auctions for how much education
will cost and which academic skills will
be taught and in personal relationships
with partners who are accused of cheating
because of their cybersex relationships.
New areas in which the Internet will
effect our lives reveal themselves daily,
this is but a beginning of the global
communications trend.
|
February 3, 2000
December 9, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Trend Alert: Rent, Invest,
Relax |
The Herman Group Newsletter
Roger Herman and Joyce Gioia
http://www.herman.
net/ archive.html
|
In the United States,
one of the major home mortgage organizations,
Fannie Mae, found in a survey that 28 percent
of the renters rent by choice. They can
afford to by their own homes but due to
financial and lifestyle reasons they are
choosing not to make home purchases. The
survey reported this to be the highest percentage
preferring to rent in the last seven years.
The stock maket is now seen as a better
way to make money and a drive for more flexible
lifestyles, freedom of movement and control
of time, combined with frequent job changes
drives this trend. |
February 23, 2000
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Mänsklig utveckling
skapar nya farsoter
Human development creates new epidemics
Miljöförändringar med
ödesdigra konsekvenser.
Environmental changes with momentous
consequences
|
Metro
Ragnar Olsson
Metro
Jens Ergon
|
The fear of resistant
virus and communicable diseases is growing.
Those diseases that are of greatest concern,
a resurgence of TB, Cholera, Malaria and
aids and Ebola. Human development contributes
these diseases through ecological changes,
widespread travel, technical changes, new
social patterns (sexual behavior), sudden
changes in life standards and resistance
to medicines.
We are beginning to experience the results
of the environmental damage we have created
in the world. The evidence shows itself
as heat waves, early springs, the spread
of disease, changes in animal life, droughts
and forest fires, heavy rains and floods,
melting ice and glaciers and higher sea
levels and flooding.
Population growth has been one of
the most important driving forces in human
development.
Two articles pinpoint two possible "natural"
ways the earth is dealing with the extraordinarily
number of 6 billion people now living
on our planet. What is our response to
this phenomenon?
|
February 10, 1999
February 26, 2000
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Scientists Create Half-Human,
Half-Silicon Chip
Is Jerry the first of a generation of
truly wired humans?
|
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
Yahoo! News
By Duncan Graham-Rowe
New Scientist magazine
|
Yong Huang and Boris
Rubinsky of the University of California
at Berkeley have created a bionic chip that
mixes human cells with layers of silicon,
a device they hope to use in research and
to treat disease. Electroporation is used
in genetic engineering and the new process
might make it easier to ensure that genes
get into diseased cells.
A 62-year-old blind man can "see". A
pair of electronic glasses aids his sight
along with a brain implant inserted 23
years ago. While retinal implants have
given some patients sight (New Scientist,
7 November 1998, p 23), but "Jerry" as
he is called, is thought to be the first
blind person to "see" the world in real
time. The product could be on the market
later this year.
The combination of the brain and
the computer has been discussed for many
years now in scientific journals. Here
are two signs that the concept is becoming
reality. We seem to accept applications
that can help us to be healthier, without
considering correlating trends. In this
case we are coming nearer to being bionic.
|
February 25, 2000
January 21, 2000
|
from March 03, 2000
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
China Claims To Have
Nearly Eliminated Illiteracy |
A joint report of the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Ministry
of Education and other government bodies.
Agence France Presse
http://www.insidechina.
com/ news.php3?id=
117670
|
At the present time
98.9 percent of children in China are enrolled
in primary schools, compared to 97 percent
in 1990.
Those going on to middle schools are
more than 87.3 percent increasing from
71.4 percent in 1990. China still has
127 million primary school students and
182 million people over age 15 who are
illiterate.
This is just a small piece of a larger
project which brings China into the world
as major player.
|
December 11, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
A robotic snake that
moves like the real thing |
Duncan Graham-Rowe
New Scientist
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/
991206/18/c7ya.html
|
Gavin Miller, an animator
in Palo Alto, California, has designed a
robotic snake that moves just like the real
thing. It is thought that the technology
could also be used to handle tough terrain-on
earth an on other planets.
This is one of several articles on
animal robots. The Japanese were first
out with fury pets.
|
December 4, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
23 Nations Sign New
UN Protocol on Women's Rights |
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS
http://dailynews.yahoo.
com/ h/nm/19991211/wl/
un_women_2.html
|
A legal protocol allowing
women to file discrimination, sexual exploitation
and complaints to the United Nations was
signed by 23 nations. This is different
from other human rights legislation in that
individual grievances against their governments
will be accepted. Not ratifying are United
States, conservative Islamic countries and
North Korea.
This is another step in the weakening
of national powers.
|
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
There Goes the Neighborhood
As new money floods old neighborhoods,
longtime residents fight to preserve their
communities.
|
Trend letter
|
In the District of Columbia
3,000 people, varying in age, race and location
in the district, came to a "town house"
meeting. There they shared their feelings,
needs and opinions about what was needed
in their neighborhoods Small table discussions
were rigged with electronic equipment which
showed the ideas of each table. The response
was enthusiastic. The Major has prioritized
the needs and has laid up his planning and
budget in accordance with what the people
most wanted.
Many communities and regions in the
world are profiling themselves as IT specialists.
They feel this will bring prosperity to
their community and the fame of Silicon
Valley to their area. What are the unseen
consequences of such visions?
|
September 30, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Capita, Inc. Company
Press Release |
Capita, Inc., Moving
Headlong into a Multi Billion Dollar Market
BLUE BELL, Pa.
http://biz.yahoo.com/
prnews/991122/
pa_capita__1.html
|
The company that issued
this press release is in marketing. It offers
systems which measure human attention using
the electroencephalogram (EEG) which measure
electrical activity in the human brain.
They can measure whether audiences are paying
attention to what they are viewing, which
indicates learning. Their system is adapted
for Internet and will market to niches.
The trend is to get nearer and nearer
each individuals desires and even educate
consumers as to what they should desire.
|
November 22, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
More Differences Between
Brains Of Men And Women |
http://unisci.com/
stories/19994/
1210993.htm
Reference: "Sex Differences in the Inferior
Parietal Lobule," Cerebral Cortex, December
1999, vol 9, no 8. Another useful article
is "The Exceptional Brain of Albert Einstein,"
The Lancet, June 19, 1999, vol 353, pp
2149-2153
|
Researchers show that
a brain region called the inferior parietal
lobule (IPL) is different in men and women.
The right IPL has a working memory of spatial
relationships, the ability to sense relationships
between body parts and awareness of a person's
own affect or feelings. The left IPL, is
more involved in perception, such as judging
how fast something is moving, estimating
time and having the ability to mentally
rotate 3-D figures. "It's easy to find women
who are fantastic at math and physics and
men who excel in language skills. Only when
we look at very large populations and look
for slight but significant trends do we
see the generalizations." Godfrey Pearlson,
M.D.
How we shape the future depends on
what we believe. Can we accept new knowledge
of our own brains with all it's nuances
or are we forced by another part of our
brain to generalize and create a polar
society.
|
December 12, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
"Cutting the Costs of
Paper: Saving Forests, Water, Energy Ö and
Money" |
Worldwatch News Release
Ashley T. Mattoon is a Staff Researcher.
Janet N. Abramovitz
http://www.worldwatch.
org/ alerts/991211.html
|
Worldwatch Institute
study says that we could cut papermaking
by 50%. And gives suggestions. It also names
companies which have cut paper use.
Environmental clean-up in the paper industry
began in Sweden.
Many think paper is no longer an environmental
issue. Not so says WWI who presses the
environmental awareness trend upward.
|
December 11, 1999
|
from February 12, 2000
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Moral Standards and
Values "Very Important" in 2000 Election
Public Values Vision, Leadership and
Economic Stewardship in President Gore
voters put more emphasis on caring about
the poor, Washington and foreign policy
experience; Bush voters on moral leadership
New survey shows that globally, consumers
developing a conscience
|
The Communitarian Update
Number 22
comnet@GWIS2.CIRC.
GWU.EDU
POLL RELEASES GALLUP
NEWS SERVICE PRINCETON, NJ
by Frank Newport
http://www.gallup.com/
poll/releases/
pr991108.asp
MICHAEL BURGER
Earth Times News
Service
http://www.earthtimes.
org/ nov/business_
investingnewsurveynov
12_99.htm
|
In a ranking of issues
important for the next election, voters
said that education, crime, and protecting
Social Security were the most important
issues. Sixty-seven percent of American
voters said encouraging high moral standards
and values were important. This ranked above
taxes, foreign affairs, the environment,
and others. This survey is a Washington
Post/ABC News poll.
In a closer look at what morals and values
means to the American public, Gallup finds
that Bush voters emphasize moral leadership
and marital fidelity, while those planning
to vote for Gore emphasize caring about
the poor, experience in Washington and
foreign policy.
A global expectation of corporate social
responsibility in the areas of labor practices,
business ethics and environmental impacts
has been found in a poll on by Environics
International Ltd., Toronto. They worked
in conjunction with the Conference Board,
New York, and The Prince of Wales Business
Leaders Forum, London. Our of the 25,000
people from 23 countries, 6 in 10 people
said they formed their opinions of companies
based on those issues.
The trend for attention to values
and morals is growing. Future decisions,
generations and future profits are at
stake.
|
October 1, 1999
November 8, 1999
November 21, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Report from Amitai Etzioni
on UNESCO conference. |
The Communitarian Update,
Number 22
comnet@GWIS2.CIRC.
GWU.EDU
Full report available from UNESCO Paris,
7 place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris
Telephone: (33.1) 45.68.10.00
Fax: (33.1) 45.67.16.90.
|
Least the reader think
that values and morals is only a national
subject, UNESCO's Division of Philosophy
and Ethics headed by Dr. Yersu Kim, just
issued A Common Framework for the Ethics
of the 21st Century,' which includes the
following quotes: "Without order, anarchy
prevails; without autonomy communities turn
into authoritarian states. We must therefore
strive for an equilibrium between individual
rights and the concern for the common good."
"Recognizing that dialogue is essential
to harmonious coexistence, we must learn
to act in such a way that dialogue accompanies
every action."
"Legislation tends to numb the moral
urge."
A group of lay researchers called
"Future Builders" predicted a Global Ethical
Council by 2021. Could this be it's beginning?
See http://www.futuretales.se
|
October 1, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Down the tubes
Europe may ban today's toxic-laden computers,
if the US and WTO don't block it.
|
BY ERIC SCIGLIANO
http://www.seattle
weekly.com/ features/9946/
tech-scigliano.shtml
|
Lead, mercury, cadmium,
hexavelent chromium, and halogenated flame
retardants are the waste products of electronic
equipment. In a proposal by the European
Commission, "Directive on Waste from Electric
and Electronic Equipment," called WEEE,
"Extended producer responsibility" will
be expected of manufacturers who will take
back all their electronic products (even
toasters, toys, and stoves) and provide
and pay for collection.
Europe is clearly leading the recycling
trend. Badly needed jobs requiring short
training times could be one result.
|
November 18 - 24, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
D.C. Residents Turn
Out for Their City's Future |
Washington Post
Page C1
Staff Writer Michael H. Cottman
http://www.washington
post.com/wp-dyn/
articles/A28002-
1999Nov20.html
|
In the District of Columbia
3,000 people, varying in age, race and location
in the district, came to a "town house"
meeting. There they shared their feelings,
needs and opinions about what was needed
in their neighborhoods Small table discussions
were rigged with electronic equipment which
showed the ideas of each table. The response
was enthusiastic. The Major has prioritized
the needs and has laid up his planning and
budget in accordance with what the people
most wanted.
Is going local and electronic the
face of a new democratic trend?
|
November 21, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
This Is Not a Polish
Joke
Industrious endeavors in the former
Soviet empire
|
Grist Magazine
David Helvarg
http://www.grist
magazine.com/ grist/maindish/
helvarg111199.stm
|
Emissions trading has
taken a creative turn in Poland. In order
for industrial facilities to use natural
resources each pays a small percent of its
operating costs as a users fee. If the facility
pollutes, they have to pay a fine when they
go over legal limits. The money goes to
a fund managed by the Ministry of the Environment
which is used to make loans for cleaner
technologies. If the company who has taken
the loan meets the environmental standards
and pays the money back punctually, it only
has to return 50% of the original loan.
This is an innovation which will
hopefully catch on.
|
November 11, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Tiny Television Against
the odds, pirate TV banishes barriers
|
The Nation
EVELYN MESSINGER
http://www.thenation.
com/ issue/991129/
1129messinger.shtml
|
Technology has enabled
the creation of hundreds of very small television,
radio stations, cable and sometimes satellite
channels. They are growing in number in
previously communist countries such
as Macedonia and Moscow, Jerusalem and Beirut,
Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, even in France
Some are pirate and others legal and many
are motivated to broadcast what government
controlled channels do not.
This trend will continue as long as there
are people who feel limited in their access
to information and expression.
It is one type of democratic expression.
|
November 19, 1999
|
from January 30, 2000
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
The Sandman Speaks -
and Businesses Listen |
Trend Letter
|
Sleep syndrome is a
growing new trend. Two out of three Americans
get less than the recommended eight hours
sleep. Productivity and learning effectiveness
goes down. Several critical accidents (Challenger
explosion, Exxon Valdez oil spill and Three
Mile Island have been attributed to sleep
deprivation.
The commercial implication is an increase
in products for sleeping and staying awake.
The social implication in a 24 hour global
society could mean a new respect for sleep.
|
October 28, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Huset som blir varmt
av kroppsvärme
The house that is warmed by body heat.
|
Göteborgs-Posten
Page 10
Eva Heyman
|
It is no longer talk.
Twenty energy saving houses are planned
for Southern Sweden, Germany has 200 some
of which are six years old.
This is the beginning of a trend in
energy saving dwellings being build on
a larger scale and by government housing
authorities.
|
November 8, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Education and the new
economy: A policy planning exercise
|
Rand Corporation
C. Stasz, J. Chielsa,
W. Schwabe
http://www.rand.
org/publications
/MR/MR946/
|
In an exercise conducted
by Rand for the National Center for Research
in Vocational Education (NCRVE), there were
considerable feelings for making lifelong
learning available. Half of four panels
emphasized the need for a more individually
tuned system. Costs would be funded by drawing
on individual accounts, perhaps co-funded
by the individuals themselves. In Sweden
the current model being discussed is a shared
contribution between employers and employees.
Trends generally go from words to
handling as we see in this case. It begins
with discussions and hopefully will end
with action.
|
November 18, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
"Organs Watch" To Track
Organ Traffic |
http://dailynews.yahoo.
com /headlines/local/
state/california
/story.html?s=v/rs/
19991104/ca/
index_2.html#2 |
A new group to monitor
global trafficking in human organs. Their
task is to check reports and rumors of human
rights abuses, locate them and define what
is ethical.
This is a new NGO Non-gov. Org. confirming
the growth of a new type of global democratic
institution. Perhaps in the future we
will only follow and support a few global
causes. We will have to trust that others
take responsibility for the issues we
don't monitor.
|
November 5, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Public Supports Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty in Principle Public is largely
unaware of U.S. Senate vote to reject it
|
POLL RELEASES GALLUP
NEWS SERVICE
by David W. Moore
http://www.gallup.
com /poll/releases/
pr991105.asp"
|
Ratification of the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was voted
down last month by the Senate. Most citizens
didn't know that it was up for a vote. 59%
of those Americans responding to the survey
voted to ratify the treaty.
In earlier Signs of the Times we
reported Americans lack of awareness regarding
the amount of gene manipulated food in
grocery stores. Clearly having access
to information does not guarantee its
use.
|
November 5, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Technique Reported Today
Could Accelerate Gene Research |
Daily University Science
News
http://unisci.com
/stories/19994/
1105991.htm
|
The University of Rochester
has developed a technique that reduces tedious
biomedical research processes to identify
the genes that trigger biochemical activities
within our bodies to a few simple experiments
taking only days.
There are so many breakthrough's in
genetics theses days one never knows which
are the real breaking points. This could
open the doors to treatments and give
us even more control over the physiology
of future generations. Increased speed
makes it more difficult for ethical stands
to be determined.
|
November 5, 1999
|
from January 16, 2000
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
New Poll Shows Many
Leading Exporters Using Bribes |
Transparency International
http://www.gwdg.de/
~uwvw/icr.htm
|
Thirty-four member nations
of the OECD (the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development)." signed domestic
anti-corruption legislation called the Anti-Corruption
Convention last December.
This event connects two trends, one,
a growing interest in ethical behavior
and two, it contributes to a growing body
of international laws, treaties and agreements
which are the beginnings of a global government.
|
October 26, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
High-tech first-aid
kit gives elderly help in rural areas
|
Japan Times On Line
http://www.japan
times.co.jp/
news/news11-99/
news.html#story9
|
A new kit, the Electric
Health Checker, is being developed in Japan
which contains, a thermometer, and equipment
to measure pulse and blood-sugar level.
It will make possible the sending of pictures
of ailing body parts The kit is intended
for people who live where there are no medical
facilities. Yes, this is from the same company
that makes toilet seats that automatically
measure a person's weight and percentage
of body fat.
This is just one of a number of products
that shifts more of the data gathering
aspect of health services out to the individual.
Will there be public versions homeless
people can use at the library?
|
November 2, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Pentagon Appoints No
Gun Ri Panel |
By DAVID BRISCOE Associated
Press Writer
http://dailynews.
yahoo.com/
h/ap/19991103/pl/
no_gun_ri_3.html
|
The Pentagon investigation
into alleged killings by U.S. soldiers
of South Korean civilians at No Gun Ri.
They have invited in a panel of experts
from outside the Pentagon.
There have been
a series of activities intended to finish
old business and learn the truth about
wartime from W.W.II Activities like gold
taken from victims, Swedish "neutrality"
etc, are part of an emotional closing
of the books. Now, the same process is
seen in the United States regarding the
Korean war. Is this need to clean up after
past sins a trend, or are we just eavesdropping
in a global confessional?
|
November 3, 1999 1:01
AM |
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
The WTO and Free Trade
|
Rachel's Environment
& Health Weekly is a publication of
the Environmental Research Foundation, P.O.
Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403. Fax (410)
263-8944; Internet: erf@rachel.org
http://www.rachel.org/
bulletin/bulletin.cfm
|
The World Trade Organization
was designed to defend a global free market.
It is now four years
old and was created by international treaty.
The WTO was designed by transnational
corporations who play a guiding role the
org. It has 134 nations as members, and
700 pages of rules which it can enforce
itself.
This is a leading
player in the new global governance system
and deserves watching.
|
October 21, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
WHO wraps up first meeting
on global anti-tobacco accord |
GENEVA - AP World News
via NewsEdge Corporation
http://www.individual.
com/ servlet/ BuildIssue?
source=npdnp
|
Health experts at a
World Health Org. meeting have reached a
consensus to establish a treaty to cut cigarette
consumption.
Another area of globalization, health.
There are many ramifications, for example,
air lines could be required to test passengers
who may be carriers of epidemic diseases.
|
November 1, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Global Competitiveness
|
The Economist New Business
p.143 |
A report, done for World
Economic Forum, rated how difficult, on
a scale of easy to difficult (1-7), it is
to set up a business in various countries.
The point spread was between 3.0 and
7.0 points. Twenty countries responded,
the first being the United States with
62%. The next five were New Zealand, Iceland,
Canada, Finland, Britain, with Sweden
being nr. 12.
|
October 16-22, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Lättare och lättare
förpackningar
Lighter and lighter packaging
|
Miljöeko magazine.
Nr. 4 1999 p.6
Report from APME, The plastics industries
European association
|
The weight of plastic
packaging has decreased 28% over the last
ten years. Material reduction has saved
1.8 billion tons of plastic. Reuse of
plastic packaging has increased 10% since
1995. Survival demands that we look
at the negative trends connected with
our lifestyles on the planet, but it is
encouraging to note that there also trends
that point upward as well.
|
November 3, 1999
|
from January 02, 2000
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Digital Graffiti or
Communication Breakthrough? |
New World Order Jeff
Howe
Village Voice
Article Number: S6351
http://www.alternet.org/
latest.html
|
A new, free, interactive
software package, called The Third Voice,
will allow an Internet reader to post comments
anywhere on the Web in the form of a icon.
A person looking at the home page will be
able to see what has been added by readers.
Third voice was reported on July 14 on National
Public Radio. Interactivity, opens the internet
as it was originally intended as uncensored.
This is a new form that will increase
interactivity in text communication. The
possibilities for both democratic dialogue
and abuse are massive.
|
October 22, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Artificial chromosome
makes engineering humans more tempting than
ever |
New Scientist. Andy
Coghlan
http://uk.news.yahoo.
com/ 991022/18/
9qse.html
http://www.newscientist.
com/ ns/981003/
superhumans.html
http://www.newscientist.
com/ ns/981024/
nchina.html
|
Making genetic changes
that will be inherited by future generations
or transgenic animals' is becoming a practical
possibility at Chromos Molecular Systems
of Burnaby, British Columbia. "We are in
control of the technology, and we don't
want to engage in germline gene therapy,"
stresses the vice-president of corporate
development, Eileen Utterson.
The same author told us over a year ago
that globally there are many groups trying
to create artificial human chromosomes.
New Scientist, 3 October 1998, p 24.
Just recently the Coghlan also reported
on the attitudes of 255 Chinese geneticists
on the use of their science. The same
questions were asked of Americans and
Englishmen. "Couples who are both genetic
carriers of genetic disease should not
have children; Genetic testing should
be included in pre-employment physical
examinations; Governments should require
premarital carrier tests; Woman's abortion
decision should be her own." In response
to the first three questions the % of
Chinese answering was much higher. In
the last question their response was much
lower. As we human animals increase
control over our own evolution, we don't
seem capable of deciding whether we want
such control in the first place. Cultural
differences (China is a collective culture
and the other two highly individual) might
be the easiest problem to solve.
|
October 22, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Alert |
http://www.world
watch.org/ |
Private citizens,
as members of Non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), are showing an increasing level
of influence over governmental and corporate
decision making. The number of international
NGOs having significant activity in three
or more countries has quadrupled to 20,000
in the last 30 years.
A new trend in
global democracy.
|
October 27, 1999 1:01
AM |
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
NEW CHALLENGES FOR OLD
HANDS; GROWING NUMBER OF RETIREES ARE HEADING
BACK TO WORK |
The Record (Bergen County,
NJ) BYLINE: DAVID GOWRIE, Staff Writer
http://www.shrm.org/
hrnews/
|
In the United States
there is a growing trend for people to
remain in the work force beyond the traditional
age of retirement. It is fueled by a rapidly
expanding portion of the population for
whom staying healthy and keeping active
is important. The trend is further fueled
by a tight labor market.
In Sweden there
is evidence that hiring mature employees
into youth dominated IT firms is appreciated
by both age groups and adds qualities
that neither group has alone.
|
October 25, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
The Consequences of
Divorce |
American Demographics,
by Jennifer Lach
http://demographics.com/
publications/ad/99_ad/
9910_ad/ad991005c.htm
|
A study from University
of Utah entitled, "Coupling and Uncoupling:
Changing Marriage Patterns and the Intergenerational
Transmission of Divorce." has found that
children of divorced do not divorce at
the same rate their parents did. Behind
the figures lies the fact that children
choose cohabitation more often and are
less likely to marry. This means that
those who do marry do not divorce at the
same rate as their parents did.
This is evidence
of a very segmented trend, depending on
the age of a child at the time of divorce
and the attitude of the surrounding community
about divorce.
|
October 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
A global money market
|
The Economist
|
Globalization is
spreading to corporations as their boards
memberships become more international
and top managers salaries converge. This
does not apply to international banking
bemoans the article.
Globalization
is happening on many levels, but examples
of cultural diversity can also be found
locally.
|
October 16 -22 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
No title |
Clay Shirky is a contributing
editor at FEED and Professor of Media Studies
at Hunter College.
http://www.feedmag.com/
daily/dy102599
_master.html
|
Remember the news
about the models who were auctioning their
eggs on the Internet to infertile women
who wanted good looking children? The
story was a hoax which was picked up by
a respected newspaper, the Times. American
and other newspapers use them as a source
or gatekeeper of their news stories.
This was a relatively
easy joke to uncover. The implications
for the development of a shared, global,
knowledge base are enormous. What information
do we want in our global consciousness
and who decides what that is?
|
October 25, 1999
|
from December 19, 1999
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Utrotning hotar unik
fiskart i Iran
Extinction threatens a unique type of
fish in Iran
|
Metro (IPS)
|
A type of fish that
only lives in 40 degree water in the province
of Hormuzga in Iran is threatened with
extinction due to water pollution. The
Department of Environment Protection in
Iran will look into how they can save
the fish.
There is an accepted
stereotype that countries poor in money
and democracy don't care about the environment.
Scare stories about what will happen to
water supplies when all Chinese have toilets
fall into this category. The trend of
environmental awareness seems to be stronger
than westerners stereotypes.
|
October 14, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
ADVISORY/Net Firms Barter
Ad Space, Online Services
Company Press Release
|
BUSINESS WIRE
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/
991020/expertsour_1.html
|
Barter has reportedly
become a common type of exchange for some
Internet companies. By exchanging Web
advertising space for other online products
and services, several Net companies attributed
more than 10 percent of revenues in the
second quarter to barter practices.
Look for this
form of business to grow on the net where
profits are long in coming.
|
October 20, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Gas powered By Kurt
Kleiner. |
Angewandte Chemie International
Edition, vol 38, p 3045).
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/
991015/18/9dck.html
|
James La Clair, an
independent chemist in Berlin has created
a molecule that is fluorescent when nitrogen
is present, but becomes non-fluorescent
when nitrogen is replaced by CO2 . It
is the first molecular switch that is
driven by common atmospheric gases.
Now the trick
is to follow this development and see
if it comes into general usage.
|
October 15, 1999 1:01
AM |
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Mjuka värden trend
i världen.
Soft values trend i the world
|
Svenska Dagbladet
Kristina Lund
|
In Sweden, trend
watching has become a trend in itself.
Today trend watching and analysis has
become a recognized field and a whole
new professional area has developed.
It has really
come of age when the major papers begin
covering it.
|
October 21, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Millions Of South Africans
Poised To Use Internet |
Pan African News Agency
http://www.africanews.
org/PANA/science/
19991020/feat3.html
|
Cyber-public access
terminals are being to provide Internet
and other online activities to millions
of South Africans.
This has been
reported on before, now we see that it
is really developing. The prediction has
been that the whole of Africa would take
this route.
|
October 20, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Demographics
|
The Atlantic Monthly
p. 16 |
The number of home-
schooled children in the United States
tripled during the 1990's. The current
growth rate is 15% per year. Dissatisfaction
with public schools seems to be the driving
force as well as curricula and materials
support from the Internet.
Dissatisfaction
with public schools seems to be a theme
both in the US and Sweden.
|
September 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
PENTAGON WELFARE QUEENS
MORE THAN A BILLBOARD CAN BARE
|
http://www.ruckus.
org/about.html
http://www.ruckus.org/
news/ GlobalizeThis/
http://www.alternet.org/
PublicArchive/
Masher1022.html
http://www.adbusters.org/
|
Print media press
in free-speech countries have always had
an alternative press. Marketing has never
had alternative advertising until the
last few years when Adbusters from Canada
came on the scene. They specialize in
campaigns, spoof ads and uncommercials
and are headquarters for a group called
culture jammers.
Now they are accompanied
by The Ruckus Society based in Berkeley,
California. Who recently had their pre-paid
contract to place a satirical ad on a
billboard rejected. Pentagon Welfare Queen
is a satirical bill-board emphasizing
private corporations relationship with
and dependence on the military.
Advertising has
long been an irritant for the public.
Nothing goes unquestioned forever, especially
considering the strenght of ethical and
ecological trends. Now there seem to be
some forces who are using advertising's
own methods to point out their short comings.
|
October 23, 1999
|
from December 04, 1999
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
WTO:s arbete kritiseras
WTO:s work criticized
UNION URGES NEW GLOBAL TRADE RULES,
BETTER PENSION MANAGEMENT
|
Metro (AP)
NANCY CLEELAND,
Los Angeles Times newspaper
http://www.shrm.org/
hrnews/
|
The World Trade Organization
is a threat to democracy and the world
environment say citizens rights groups
in the United States.
The above is the
first sign that critique of the WTO has
come into mainstream press. Below find
some of the views of one of America's
biggest trade unions views on the subject.
This is just the top of the iceberg when
it comes to the public learning about
how business and government set rules
about global trade that could eclipse
legislated powers in nations and loca
areas. WTO meets in Seattle, Washington
in November, 1999.
AFL-CIO, 700 delegates
of America's largest trade union, called
for a call for new rules on global trade
and a plan called for an overhaul of the
rules which govern global trade. They
urged the World Trade Organization to
take into account workers' rights and
environmental concerns as well as free
capital flows.
"What we're saying
is there are serious problems with the
neoliberal model of free trade. The idea
that it will lift all boats isn't happening,"
said Ron Judd, executive secretary of
the King County Labor Council.
|
October 14, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Polens fängelser
överraskar: från historiskt skräckexempel
till föregångsland
Poland's prisons surprise: from historic
worst to role model.
|
Runt i Krim
Per Colliander
|
Prisons in Poland
have been updated inside and out. New
buildings have been built and the old
renovated. The heart of the transformation
lies in a two layered system, where all
treatment personnel, who work directly
with prisoners, have a college education.
Guards and treatment personal all are
chosen carefully. Every other year all
personnel go through a series of tests.
If they do not pass they loose their jobs.
Hopefully, Poland
will be a trendsetter in prison treatment.
|
Number 8
September 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Engelska majoriteten
bli minoritet.
The English majority will be a minority.
|
Computer Sweden -Trends
section,
Page 9 |
Up until now 54%
of internet users speak English according
to ComputerEconomics survey. but in the
year 2003 other languages will be in the
majority. Two years later nearer 60% will
be non-English speakers.
This could put
pressure on schools to spice up their
language programs and/or give those technicians
working with translation programs a shot
in the arm. Maybe we are just recreating
the tower of Babel.
|
October 14, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Americans not alarmed
by application of biotechnology in food
production |
http://www.gallup.com/
poll/releases/
pr991005.asp |
"As many as fifty
percent of American consumers who responded
to an International Food Information Council
poll believe that grocery stores do not
sell biotech products" This quote from
an earlier Sign Of The Times needs to
be considered in relation to a poll done
by Gallup in October, that reports that
only " 27% of the U.S. public currently
believe biotechnology poses a serious
health hazard to consumers; 53% think
it does not pose a hazard, and the rest,
20%, are unsure".
Trends can become
muddied by all the polls and surveys,
but the fact that most people are not
even aware that genetic manipulated foods
are in the stores, how could they be expected
to see it as a serious health threat?
Look for American's doubts to rise as
the discussion continues.
|
October 5, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
What's Next in Employee
Benefits |
http://www.demographics.
com/ publications/
fc/newsdesk/ nd970317.htm
Forecast Newsdesk
|
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
reported an increase in costs of benefits
in 1997 such as pensions, health insurance,
and other "agreed-upon" benefits from
9.7 percent to 16.5 percent in large corporations.
Legally required
benefits such as FICA, unemployment, and
workers' compensation, rest periods and
bonuses/profit sharing and time not worked
(vacations, holidays, and sick leave)
were lower or the same as the year before.
This collaborates
a continuing trend for large companies
to offer increasingly more befits. The
question is how long are they prepared
to go to take care of their employees.
|
October 5, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
UNION URGES NEW GLOBAL
TRADE RULES, BETTER PENSION MANAGEMENT
|
NANCY CLEELAND, TIMES
STAFF WRITER Financial Desk
Los Angeles Times
http://www.shrm.org/
hrnews/
|
At a private meeting
of labor fund trustees of the AFL-CIO's,
Center for Working Capital presented a
new rating system for mutual funds that
market themselves as "worker friendly"
and urged the trustees to incorporate
the ratings when making investment decisions.
Still another
action labeling investments and adding
to the base of ethical possibilities presented
to investors.
|
October 13, 1999
Wednesday, Home Edition |
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
N.M. Gov. Clarifies
Drugs Position |
http://www.newspage.
com/ servlet/BuildIssue?
source=npdnp |
In an Earlier Signs
Of The Times we presented a court order
which allowed medical marijuana for patients
who could prove it was necessary to their
treatment. It came from California. Recently
the governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson
said "the nation's war on drugs has been
a multibillion-dollar failure that throws
too many people in prison." He would rather
see it regulated, controlled and taxed.
Given the fact
that many people in power positions now
grew up in the sixties when smoking marijuana
was commonplace and the fact that other
products of the hemp plant have economic
value, look to see more such comments
coming from the United States.
|
October 7, 1999
|
from November 21, 1999
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Holy fire |
New Scientist
By Andy Coghlan
http://www.newscientist.
com/ ns/19991002/
newsstory10.html
|
New York has recently
had a problem with mosquitoes spreading
West Nile virus, a brain disease. The
poorest countries in the world are struggling
with filariasis, a disfiguring parasitic
disease.
The summer cypress
contains an oil which can be used to kill
the mosquitoes causing these diseases.
A synthetic version
is available but is too expensive to manufacture.
The natural product is cheap and easy
to handle.
This is part of
a back to nature trend- looking first
to the natural solutions and the synthetics
and poisons second.
|
October 2, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Organigraphs: Drawing
How Companies Really Work |
The Harvard Business
Review
by Henry Mintzberg and Ludo Van der
Heyden
http://www.hbsp.
harvard.edu/ products/
hbr/sepoct99/
99506.html
|
A new management
tool called organigraphs is being used
by Mintzberg and Van der Heyden to help
organizations understand the new and complex
forms their companies are taking.
The new questions
this tool answers are "What parts connect
to one another? How should processes and
people come together? Whose ideas have
to flow where?".
The new "trend"
of systems thinking is drifting organizational
understanding.
|
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
Kompetensför-
säkringen får nytt liv
Competence insurance takes on new life.
|
Morgondagens Omvärld
published by Bengt Wahlström |
Competence insurance
is being discussed in Sweden. The latest
to request such an insurance was the Association
of Cities "Kommunförbundet" One proposed
model for this life long learning insurance
is that each person saves five percent
of their salary and their employer puts
in the same amount. After ten years savings,
you have enough to study for a couple
of years.
Note: The Swedish
government pays university tuition. Similar
schemes are being discussed in Norway.
Hopefully, this is the beginning of a
trend.
|
October 7, 1999
Number 4 |
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
The High Tech Food
Fight Ahead
Controversy over genetically modified
foods puts Industry¹s PR skills to the
test
|
Trend Letter
A report on the forces transforming
the economy, business, technology, society
and the world
|
As many as fifty
percent of American consumers who responded
to an International Food Information Council
poll believe that grocery stores do not
sell biotech products. The reality is
that 60 percent of processed foods in
the U. S. Contain gene-altered ingredients.
Nearly 100 million acres are planted with
genetically modified seeds. US farmers
have fifty-five percent of soybean crops
planted with altered seeds and half of
all cotton and 40 percent of all corn.
In 1990 there were none.
Do we really live
in an information society? This story
has ramifications for the quality of democratic
processes.
|
September 30, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Mind your Ps and Qs.
|
Trend Letter
|
Business is starting
to use a program which filters out words
considered racist, profane or offensive.
There is opposition on the basis of free
speech.
An unintended
result could be kinder, more respectful
speech between people.
|
September 30, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Home Improvement:
Equal pay and benefits ahead for home
based workers
|
Entrepreneur International
Magazine
By Christopher D. Lancette
http://www.entrepreneur
mag.com/page.hts?N=
7774&-AD=S#top
|
The European Commission
(EC) of the European Union (EU) has passed
a resolution to provide equal pay and
treatment for the 6.9 million people--or
4.9 percent of the population who worked
from home in 1992. A large number of these
home workers are women. It is hoped the
resolution will be applied in all member
states who must report their progress.
Their work involves everything from traditional
home based jobs like crafts to "modern"
tasks such as those involving electronics.
This resolution
sets a model for home workers. If implemented
it could raise the status and class of
many home workers.
|
May 1999 Issue
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Arbete Nyheterna
The Workers News
|
By Ingegerd Svedberg
Göteborg
|
A new method to treat
bulimia has been announced by the Child
and Youth clinic at the Swedish University
Hospital East in Göteborg. It is a combination
of two treatments. The first 10 weeks
are a cognitive treatment directing toward
relating to food. The next 13 weeks are
spent in interpersonal therapy. Seventy-two
percent have been well or very much better
research shows.
All methods for
understanding mental/emotional illness
improve quality of life for all of us.
These breakthroughs are not as exciting
as the technical ones, but they have even
more impact. There is part of a trend
to take those "secret" problems out into
the light and find solutions for them.
We now treat incest, torture etc.
|
October 9, 1999
|
from November 07, 1999
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Home on the Organic
Range
|
American Demographics
By John Fetto
http://demographics.com/
publications/ad99_ad/
9908_ad/ ad000810.htm
|
The U.S. Department
of Agriculture predicts that by 2000 half
of all U.S. farm production will come
from only 1 percent of all farms. In order
to keep a family farm there are only a
few choices and one of them is organic
or natural farming.
This article represents
the dying of one trend and the birth of
another. The family farm is dying and
organic production is growing.
|
Sept.15 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
African Leaders Urged
to Stop HIV/AIDS Crisis |
http://www.newspage.
com/ servlet/Buildlssue
|
The World Bank on
Monday called on African leaders, the
private sector, and society at large to
push the HIV/AIDS crisis in Sub-Saharan
Africa to the center of their national
agendas in order to stop the fastest-growing
threat to development in the region. They
are backing it up with a funding package.
Another sign of
the globalization of health? This is an
important move for those looking forward
to doing business in Africa. It is important
to understand the effect this pronouncement
might have on the effected African leaders.
|
September 13, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Court Boosts California
Medical Marijuana Clubs |
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)
- Reuters [OL] via NewsEdge Corporation
|
"The 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals ordered U.S. District
Court Judge Charles Breyer to review his
October 1998 decision, which shut the
Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative (OCBC)
for violating federal anti-drug laws.
The new order will
"allow medical marijuana clubs to resume
service for patients who can prove that
cannabis is a medical necessity for treating
their illnesses."
"I think we will
have an opportunity, for the first time,
to provide medical cannabis to a class
of patients legally under federal law,''
Robert Raich, a lawyer for the OCBC.
This has implications
for other parts of California as well.
It may well be one indication of a changing
attitude towards drugs which became known
due to their illegal use.
|
September 14, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Own a slice of life
|
Clay Shirky is a contributing
editor at FEED and Professor of Media Studies
at Hunter College.
http://www.feedmag.com/
daily/dy090899.html
|
"Two teams, one public
and one private, are working feverishly
to sequence all of the 100,000 or so genes
which lie within the 23 pairs of human
chromosomes. The public consortium aims
to release the sequence into the public
domain, while the private group aims to
patent much of the genome, especially
the valuable list of mutations that cause
genetic disease." The competition between
these two groups has vastly accelerated
the pace of the work -- moving it from
scheduled completion in 2005 to next year
-- but the irony is that this accelerated
timetable won't give the public time to
grasp the enormous changes the project
portends."
This subject is
an definite wild card with overwhelming
significance.
|
September 14, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
US government paves
way to let the water flow in the American
West |
Earth Times News Service
http://www.earthtimes.org
/sep/ environmentus
government pavessep
12_99.htm
|
"Water in the West:
The Challenge for the Next Century"--soon
to be published by the Western Water Policy
Review Advisory Commission--will recommend
that water from farming and agribusiness
be used in urban areas instead and to
restore rivers and natural waterways.
view the report on the Internet at www.den.doi.gov/wwprac/.
This marks a new
way in thinking in the west but the change
will not happen without a fight from the
farmers.
|
September 18, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
NewsEdge NewsPage
|
http://www.newspage.
com/ servlet/BuildIssue
?source=npdnp |
A negative long-term
impact of managed care on women's access
to appropriate quality health care services
was reported in "Health Care Access and
Coverage for Women: Changing Times, Changing
Issues," by The Commonwealth Fund Commission
on Women's Health.
Even with all
our scientific progress, we still don't
know how to deliver quality health care
to everyone. This is not just an American
problem, it is international. So far the
trend is to a worsening of care everywhere.
|
September 17, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Herbalife To Take Company
Private |
Newspage
http://www.newspage.
com/ servlet/Build
Issue?source=npdnp
|
Herbalife's Chief
executive Mark Hughes has bought his companies
outstanding shares on the market to make
Herbalife a private company. `As a private
company, without the distractions of day-to-day
and quarter-to-quarter fluctuations in
our share price, I will have more flexibility
in making decisions to bring Herbalife
where we want to be.
This could be
a very interesting beginning of a new
trend in managing a downturn in a business.
|
September 16, 1999
|
from October 13, 1999
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Young, Gifted, and Red
Communism's surprising appeal to a new
generation
|
By Leora Broydo
Utne Reader |
Young Communist League,
opened up shop on the Internet to promote
its Marxist-Leninist doctrine ("capitalism
sucks") to the 14-to-30 crowd. YCL has
signed on more than 1,500 new members,
increasing its ranks by more than a third.
A trend well worth
watching.
|
June 26, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Tamarix restoration
project in China |
World Atlas of Desertification
Second Edition, UNEP, 1997
http://www.solutions-site.org/
|
Four Chinese counties
joined forces to implement the Tamarix
project. an effort to re-establish groundwater
recharge, rejuvenate soil conditions,
reduce waterlogging effects and salinization,
and restore Tamarix populations.
This activity
represents a trend to help people preserve
the economy/ecology they have had traditionally
instead of waiting till their only choice
is to change their culture and become
a market economy.
|
June 26, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Unique Recycling Program
|
Yahoo! News, California
|
This fall, the City
of Moraga, Calif. will test a new kind
of recycling program. People will be able
to leave furniture, appliances, bicycles
and clothing at the curb. Crews from the
East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse will
pick it up and sort through it, recycling
what they can, so as to keep as much stuff
as possible out of the dump.
This is a social
innovation that is a precursor to a general
trend to more sophisticated recycling.
There are many examples all over the world.
The trend is fueled in the US by overflowing
refuse dumps.
|
June 26, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
China stepping up support
for small medium-sized business
|
The Xinhua News Agency
|
China drafting a
new law promoting small and medium sized
business. They seen small business as
a way to solve unemployment and improve
the economy.
Small business
has become governments new solution to
many problems. The trend is to new laws
tailored to this business group.
|
June 27, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Prøver ut fremtidens
mobiltelefonsystem |
Yahoo News |
Oslo: Post- og teletilsynet
har tildelt Telenor og Teletopia hver
sin prøvekonsesjon for UMTS - mobiltelefonsystemet
som etter hvert vil erstatte GSM og gjøre
din mobiltelefon brukbar over hele verden.
Den nye standarden UMTS skal gjelde for
tredje generasjon trådløse
kommunikasjons-
systemer, og skal etter planen sørge
for at mobiltelefonen virker like godt
over hele verden.
This is one more
contribution to the building of a global
brain.
|
June 28, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Healing honey
|
By Andy Coghlan
|
Dutch biologists
are genetically engineering plants so
that honey made from their nectar will
contain drugs.
A trend to go
back to natures substances and use them
in new ways. It is driven by the growing
genetic knowledge.
|
June 28, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Search for nuclear waste
dump takes new turn |
Houston Chronicle
|
Texas exploring above-ground
storage of low-level radio active waste.
Is this the beginning
of a new trend?
|
June 27, 1999
|
from September 13,
1999
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Glädje i Japan
när p-piler blir lagliga
Happiness in Japan when birth control
becomes legal
|
TT- Reuers Metro
|
Champagne corks flew
in the air in at least one family planning
clinic yesterday, when Japanese women
could finally start taking birth control
pills.
This is a strong
outward sign of an official acknowledgement
of a changing role for Japanese women,
as it surely isn't needed for slowing
population growth
|
September 3, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Winning the War for
the West
Prairie Style
|
The Atlantic Monthly
by Perri Knize
Utne Reader by Scott
Russell Sanders originally from Audubon
|
Winning... - Ranchers
and environmentalists working together
in various parts of the American West
are saving ranches from subdivision and
improving the ecological quality of the
land.
Prairie Style- The
Land Institute is studying the use of
perennials on the prairie. By copying
the structure of the prairie they are
developing a perennial poly- culture,
which is different from the traditional
annual mono-culture. Various perennials
grow from the same root and the land never
needs plowing (saves topsoil). They have
found prairie grasses which fix nitrogen,
grasses which are three times as rich
in protein as corn and a sunflower which
is a rich source of oil.
It is interesting
that both of these articles came out at
about the same time. Is this stream of
creative thinking about agriculture and
ranching the beginning of new trends in
agriculture?
|
July 1999 page 54 -62
July-August 1999 page 65-69
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Application hosting
growing alternative |
http://www.nfibonline.
com/
news/index.asp |
Small businesses
are the target for companies selling applications
called hosting solutions. They enable
small businesses to down load software
from a distant server instead of buying
the software and hiring an IT person to
tailor it for them.
Part of a fast
growing trend toward small business as
a market niche with products specialized
just for them.
|
August, 21 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Project Presentation
|
New Civilizations Network
project presentations
Design technique which is explained
at "Alive Designs" at
http://www.
alivedesigns.net/
adobe.htm
|
House design using
pressed earth brick technology. The pressed
earth block is the newest development
that is a hybrid of adobe and standard
masonry technique using smaller bricks
that can be used right off of the press.
A double wall with insulation in the middle
is used. It includes building totally
off the grid, collecting rainwater, using
composting toilets and going non- electric.
Future housing
and buildings are being inspired by these
innovations in home construction.
|
September 9, 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Anti-Porn Law Under
Fire |
Wired by Declan McCullagh
http://wired.com/
news/news/politics/
story/21544.html
|
The Child Online
Protection Act developed by the American
Congress which makes it a crime punishable
by six months in jail and fines that can
top US$50,000 to publish "any communication
for commercial purposes that includes
any material that is harmful to minors,
without restricting access to such material
by minors on a commercial Web site." It
is being fought by a coalition of publishers,
Internet companies, and trade associations.
They say there is no practical way to
monitor site content and keep children
from watching it. It would be then illegal
to produce such material in the first
place and that infringes freedom of speech.
The trend here
is a growing need for laws and policies
governing the Internet. This is just one
of many tricky questions society has to
deal in regard to the Internet.
|
WASHINGTON -- 4:00 p.m.
1.Sep.99. PDT |
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Capitalists for Positive
Change |
Trendletter
|
Continued labor shortages,
pressure from employees and the values
of the Boomer and Generation X generations
(and unions in the European case) are
driving a trend christened social entrepreneurism
or social enterprise. The trend is found
in both Europe and the United States.
Capitalists apply their abilities to community
development and solutions for social issues.
This trend toward
prioritizing social development has an
opposing trend in those who feel free
market trade will eventually solve social
ills without need for their direct involvement.
|
May 27 1999
|
*Title
|
**Source/ Author
|
***Substance/ Signif.
|
****Date
|
|
Digital Disobedience
How to piss off The Man online |
Shermakaye Bass is an
Austin-based freelancer who covers arts,
travel and culture for newspapers and magazines
nati
Getting It http://ss.gettingit.com/
cgi-bin/gx.cgi/
Applogic+FT
ContentServer?
pagename=Future
Tense/Demos/
GI/Templates/
Article_view&parm/
=A1000-1999Sept3
|
Many new terms: Virtual
sit-ins. Online anti-propaganda. Internet
blockades. Bogus Web sites. Even digital
marches. These are the terms that describe
a new phenomenon called "hacktivism."
Hacktivists are international
and the agitators behind groups like Electronic
Disturbance Theater, The Cult of the Dead
Cow and RTMark in the U.S.; London's Mongrel/National
Heritage project; Italy's Anonymous Digital
Coalition; and Hong Kong's Yellow Pages.
They focus their skills on, big business
and big government.
Their skills lie
in writing and intercepting "code" to
stage acts of electronic civil disobedience
and disrupt the control language on a
computer.
One protest called
Mongrel's Natural Selection mission undermines
bigotry. "It seems like just a meta search
engine until you feed it one of 5,000
racial slurs; then it dumps you into hacked
versions of bigot sites with Java scripts
that won't leave you alone. 'It is the
nightmare the whites-only Internet has
been waiting for' Mongrel claims."
The main target of
hacktivism is government repression. Protests
against both economic and government powers
in Mexico, the People's Republic of China,
Indonesia, Iraq and the former Yugoslavia.
They try to coordinate
online protests with street protests.
Is hacktivism only
for the rich, with the equipment and education
to protest ?
New trend in activism
and web democracy. The author points out
the thin line between protest and sabotage.
|
September 9, 1999
|
|
|
|
