In This Issue:
* Kilimanjaro May Be Snowless in 20 Years
* Fashioning a Solution for Female Workers
* Women Reach Parity—As HIV/AIDS Victims
* Click of the Month: Trendsin Japan
* News for the Futurist Community
* What’s Hot @WFS.org:
* Submitted Feedback
The snows of Kilimanjaro may disappear within the next two decades or sooner, predict researchers from Ohio State University and the National Science Foundation (NSF)
The researchers are worried not only by the rapid retreat of the ice fields atop Kilimanjaro, but by the ice surface’s thinning. They now believe that the volume of ice lost to thinning is equal to that lost by shrinkage, which is occurring on all sides of the famed Tanzanian mountain.
"The loss of Mount Kilimanjaro's ice cover has attracted worldwide attention because of its impact on regional water resources," says David Verardo, director of the NSF's Paleoclimate Program. "Like many glaciers in mid-to-low latitudes, Kilimanjaro's may only be with us for a short time longer."
SOURCE: National Science Foundation
Designers of work clothes need to keep female workers’ needs in mind, according to Jan Peters, president of the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) in Britain. Fashioning better-fitting garments will not only keep workers safer, but also make the careers requiring them more attractive.
“There are over 65,000 women working in engineering, technology, and construction. That's around 10% of the workforce,” says Peters. “But women are built differently from men and find that work-wear is not satisfactory. Inappropriate and ill-fitting clothing can put them off from pursuing careers in these sectors.”
Safety clothing and boots that are too big are also unsafe, so Britain’s female engineers are urging women working in science, engineering, technological, and construction industries to share their complaints with clothing manufacturers.
In the future, female construction workers won’t have to pack extra socks so their work boots will fit. And perhaps the idea of wearing ill-fitting work clothes will no longer keep young girls from pursuing careers in engineering, construction, and other trades.
SOURCE: Women’s Engineering Society
Join a thousand forward-thinking men and women from around the world at WorldFuture 2010: Sustainable Futures, Strategies, and Technologies, to be held in Boston, July 8-10, at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel.
You’ll hear inventors Ray Kurzweil and Stephen Thaler, health futurists Kevin Fickenscher and Jay Herson, and media experts Michael Rogers, Lee Rainie, and Michael R. Nelson. Also among recently confirmed speakers is education futurist Gary Marx, president of the Center for Public Outreach.
Panel sessions, workshops, and stimulating keynote presentations will focus on what we mean by “sustainable futures,” what paths may lead us there, and what strategies and technologies we may be able to use to create the futures we aspire to achieve.
Women now make up half of the 33 million people around the world who are living with HIV/AIDS, reports the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.
Young women in sub-Saharan Africa are dying of AIDS at three times the rate of males, and in the United States, young African American women are contracting HIV at higher rates than all other groups, according to researchers Jacquelyn Campbell and Nancy E. Glass.
One key factor in the increased vulnerability of these women is intimate-partner violence, which increases the risk of HIV transmission in rich and poor countries alike. “If you’re being beaten up and raped, it’s hard to negotiate for condom use by an HIV-infected partner,” Campbell observes.
SOURCE: Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing
What’s cool in Japan right now? Well, maybe “cool” is no longer the correct word. Warm, cute, and cuddly things seem to be what’s captured the imaginations of Japanese consumers.
In addition to fashion, food, and travel articles, “Trends in Japan” features stories showing some general directions in technology, the environment, and society. Recent items include:
- A robot in the form of a cute plush-toy baby seal provides comfort for the elderly. The therapeutic robot, called Paro, includes a suite of sensors enabling it to respond to touch and to simple spoken greetings.
- A team of three young ladies were named “Ambassadors of Cuteness” to represent Japan’s vibrant pop culture abroad, promoting a move away from traditional imagery and toward that popularized by anime and manga art forms.
- A new online game called “Ichige” (Location Games) for smart-phone users; winners earn virtual currency based on how far they travel. The game has become popular among young workers and students with long daily commutes.
- A mobile water desalination unit called Courier Water to help alleviate growing water shortages in developing countries. The system also promises to help in areas struck by natural disasters.
* THE BIOPOLITICS OF POPULAR CULTURE: The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technology is sponsoring a one-day seminar on December 4 to explore the impacts of science fiction film, TV, and other popular media on shaping our perception of new technologies and our images of the future. Among the participants are futurist Jamais Cascio, author David Brin, science-fiction critic Annalee Newitz, and filmmakers Richard Kroehling, Michael Masucci, and Matthew Patrick. The seminar will be held at EON Reality in Irvine, California. DETAILS AND REGISTRATION:
* PATHWAYS TO A NEW FUTURE: An “intense, hands-on” workshop led by Don Beck and John Petersen will explore large-scale change and map the pathways to a future new world. Be prepared to “tackle some of the biggest questions related to transitioning to a new world.” The workshop, “Designing the Architecture of a Global Transition,” will be held December 11 and 12 at The Country Inn in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. DETAILS:
* DIRTY ROTTEN STRATEGIES, a new book by Ian I. Mitroff and Abraham Silvers, shows you how to avoid solving the wrong problems and to detect when others, either organizations or individuals, may be leading you astray. Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich describes the book as “a lucid and thoughtful account of why we fail to be adequately lucid and thoughtful—and what we can do about it." ORDER:
* 2020 VISIONARIES: The January-February 2010 issue of THE FUTURIST launches a special series of articles on “2020 Visionaries,” offering profiles and interviews of some of the world’s cutting-edge thinkers in a wide range of influential fields. First up are education and health care. The issue will be mailed to WFS members on November 30. JOIN or RENEW now to be sure you’ll receive your copy!
* PRIVACY VS. PERFECTIBILITY: The latest video on the WFS YouTube channel is an excerpt from bioethicist Arthur L. Caplan’s presentation at WorldFuture 2009. In this clip, Caplan explains that eliminating the right to privacy carried in Roe v. Wade could potentially allow government to mandate the use "designer baby" technologies. WATCH:
FUTURIST OF THE YEAR AWARDS: The World Future Society is now accepting nominations for outstanding futurist of the year. The Society is seeking candidates at both the professional and “young futurist” levels, whose work in the past year has advanced the understanding of foresight principles and techniques or demonstrated the successful application of foresight.
The deadline for nominations is December 31. Professional Members of the World Future Society will then be invited to vote on selected nominees, and a total of five finalists in each category will be submitted to the board of directors. The awards will be presented at WorldFuture 2010, the Society’s annual meeting in Boston.
For details or to submit a nomination, visit Futurist of the Year Awards
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Feedback
1.18.2009
At first it seemed terrific that the online newsletter was designed to reach a younger, broader audience. Although I missed Future Survery, I thought the widely accessible content and a lighter tone were strategic means to draw new readers. But the latest issue plummets to an unacceptably low level.
The mocking "humor" of the so called Fashion Solution article cannot be justified on any grounds. The real story here is that women workers are standing up for themselves! They are insisting on work clothes that fit, not "fashionable" work clothes. Instead your writer adds a middle school twist: men's work clothes don't fit
women-- snicker, snicker; 13 year old boys may find this amusing, but not your audience. Worse is the repeated idea that more fashionable garments will attract more women (feather brains that they are) to the working professions. As if.
The story about HIV/AIDS now affecting equal numbers of men and women was even more appalling. "Achieving parity" indeed. What was your staff thinking?
Ideas for positive change pop up every day-- just follow the work of architect Eugene Tsui. Finland is full of promising IT ideas. Jane Jacobs' ideas are coming alive at last in neighborhoods everywhere.
The Ray Hurzweill-Bill Joy debates re the utopian and distopian potential of IT is always amusing and often intriguing. Surely you can find more worthy topics, and refrain from giving them a
Neanderthal-- OK, 1950's-- twist.
Sincerely,
Robin Standish
1.18.2009
I always look forward to a broad balance of topics with ideas and options on how to make them actionable.
Because I depend on your excellence, I have to say, this issue seemed below par, and light on “actionable”**.
I know the topics had validity, and the horrible outcomes also break my heart, but, if I were a Grinch, I could (overstatement for sake of illustration) say “Another Empty Global Warming Complaint” with no actionable path; then not One, but Two items on women being victims and complaining (Oh Pleazzzze – enough!!!) Don’t women select their own clothes??? Come on… Anything can be dramatized and anyone can be demonized. (Hey, men have complaints too – if they ever had a chance to get a word in…)
Please don’t become “just a political grinding mechanism”.
Now - Low-cost, portable water desalination (or purification) – we can save many lives there! (Trends in Japan)
Best Regards,
George
1.18.2009
JAPANESE ROBOT IS CUTE BUT OLD
"PARO" is history to roboticists. Heck, the late 1998 "My Real Baby" by Hasbro was more impressive, but, lacked the federal funding Japan awards any robotics.
John E. Fidler
johnfidler1 'at' hotmail.com