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REGISTER NOW FOR DISCOUNT AT WORLDFUTURE 2005
Save $200 by registering before December 31 for the 2005 annual
conference, "WorldFuture 2005: Foresight, Innovation, and Strategy," to be held
July 29-31 at Chicago Hilton and Towers.
Among the leading experts and dynamic forward-thinkers you'll hear are
Northwestern University marketing expert Philip Kotler; Jane Kusiak,
senior policy advisor to the Governor of Virginia; Eric Isaacs, director of the Center for
Nanoscale Materials (Argonne, Illinois); award-winning science-fiction writer Frederik
Pohl; and many, many more!
LEARN MORE: http://www.wfs.org/2005main.htm
REGISTRATION (save $200 by registering before December 31):
https://www.wfs.org/2005regfrm.htm
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OZONE-RELATED DEATHS PROJECTED TO INCREASE
Climate changes alone could cause a 4.5% increase in the number of
summer ozone-related deaths in the New York metropolitan area by 2050. When population
growth and projected growth in greenhouse gas emissions are factored in, the ozone death
toll could soar by nearly 60%, according to a multidisciplinary team of researchers led by
Kim Knowlton of Columbia University.
Using a model to assess the health effects of air pollution resulting
from climate change, the researchers simulated hourly regional meteorological conditions
and ozone levels for five consecutive summers in the 2020s, the 2050s, and the 2080s
across the 31-county New York metropolitan area.
"This study takes existing climate model outputs and overlays them
to project the likely future-year ozone concentrations for a specific region," says
Jim Burkhart, science editor for Environmental Health Perspectives, which published
the study. "By doing this, the authors were able to project a potentially significant
public health impact."
SOURCE: "Assessing Ozone-Related Health Impacts under a Changing
Climate" in ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES (November 2004 issue),
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2004/7163/7163.html
FUTURIST W. WARREN WAGAR DIES
Historian and futures scholar W. Warren Wagar died November 16, 2004, at
the age of 72. A specialist in alternative world futures and an expert in the work of
pioneering science fiction writer H.G. Wells, Wagar served as history professor at
Binghamton University, State University of New York, for 31 years. His courses on the
history of the future and World War Three earned him the title of Distinguished Teaching
Professor at Binghamton.
Wagar published 18 books, including A SHORT HISTORY OF THE FUTURE (1989,
rev. 1992 and 1999), a narrative account of the imagined events of the next 200 years. In
1984, he began writing science fiction, publishing nine stories in various magazines and
anthologies. He wrote four articles for THE FUTURIST, contributed to a discussion on
terrorism in the January-February 2002 issue, served on the editorial board for Futures
Research Quarterly, and spoke at several World Future Society conferences.
Wagar’s last book, H.G. WELLS: TRAVERSING TIME (Wesleyan University
Press, 2004), traces Wells’s philosophies on utopia, war, romance, education, and
modernism, focusing on his nonfiction and general fiction as well as his science fiction.
"Wagar, and his championing for H.G. Wells, will be greatly
missed," said FUTURE SURVEY editor Michael Marien.
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GIVE THE FUTURE
GIVE World Future Society memberships to all your friends, family,
clients, colleagues, mentors, and mentees (the first membership is $45 per year;
additional memberships are $35 each): https://www.wfs.org/giftorder.htm
GIVE STUDENT memberships (just $20 a year each for full-time students
under age 25): https://www.wfs.org/studentgiftorder.htm
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CLICK
OF THE MONTH: INTEGRATIVE SPIRITUALITY
http://www.integrativespirituality.org/
Attention, Spiritual Creatives, or "Spiriteers": Integrative
Spirituality is a virtual community dedicated to deploying humanity's collective spiritual
wisdom to solve its most intractable problems.
Topics explored in recent essays include fears about the future, the
relationship between church going and diets, the role of religion in environmental
protection, and a study on how brain science can help overcome racism.
The site is accessible in 11 languages. Discussion forums are available,
though little used, suggesting that the site currently inspires more personal reflection
than community action.
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NEWS FROM WFS PARTNERS AND THE FUTURES COMMUNITY
SHAPING TOMORROW discount subscription offer:
Shaping Tomorrow is a Web-based service covering all aspects of futures, strategic
thinking, and change management through thousands of links. Real editors (not automated
Web trawlers) scan and analyze trends worldwide and identify relevant articles and studies
about the future. Shaping Tomorrow's easily explored site allows you to follow any of
1,000 trends or just track your specific interest. And a weekly newsletter summarizes the
most recent articles about innovations and the future of various industries and
individuals.
SPECIAL WFS MEMBER OFFER: Instead of the normal $45 for 12-month access, click on
http://www.shapingtomorrow.com/wfs38.cfm to receive all this immediately for $37.
CLUB OF AMSTERDAM's Summit for the Future
will be held January 26-28 at the HES Amsterdam School of Business. Globalization and its
impacts on Europe will be a key topic of the conference, whose theme is Visions and
Strategies for 2020. Can we turn the "brain drain" into "brain gain"
or, better yet, "brain circulation"? The Club of Amsterdam is an independent,
international think tank that organizes regular high-level discussions on preferred
futures.
DETAILS: http://www.clubofamsterdam.com/press.asp?contentid=373&catid=61
CONVERGING TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVING HUMAN
PERFORMANCE, a National Science Foundation conference scheduled for February 24 and 25 in
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, will explore the potential impacts of nanotechnology, biotechnology,
information technology, and cognitive science. Co-chairing the program are William Sims
Bainbridge, director of the NSF Science and Engineering Informatics Program; Carlo
Montemagno, deputy director of California Nano Systems Institute, and NSF senior adviser
Mihail C. Rocco.
DETAILS: http://www.BizTechComm.com
http://www.biztechcomm.com/conferences/displayConference.asp?conferenceID=1§ion=home
