The Social Progress Index is an alternative to GDP
Last quarter for my Economics classes at Pinchot University I had to work – with my friend and classmate Maurice Ayella – on alternatives to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Here is what we found out.
Cancer
Pollution is the top killer in developping nations
What kills the most people in developping countries ? You might think about AIDS / HIV. Or malaria… No : it’s pollution, which killed no less than 8.4 million people in 2012. In comparison, AIDS “only” killed 1.5 million and malaria 600,000.
Air pollution now linked to cancer
If you think air pollution is just a topic for daydreamers, leftists and treehuggers, please do read on. To the World Health Organization – via its International Agency for Research on Cancer, IARC – air pollution is now been linked to cancers. As Climate Progress notes, in 2010 alone, air pollution have been linked to …
Is China reaching a tipping point on pollution ?
Over the past few days and weeks, so many horrifying news have been making the headlines on China that I thought a recap would be needed. As an introduction you might read my post on the airpocalypse in Beijing. All the news I will develop today clearly allow us to understand why the country is …
Is China reaching a tipping point on pollution ? Read More »
WHO : diesel exhausts cause lung cancer
According to the World Health Organization : ” the WHO today classified diesel engine exhaust as carcinogenic to humans, based on sufficient evidence that exposure is associated with an increased risk for lung cancer.“ This is a bad news for me as I recently changed for a diesel car and I am amazed at how …
World Community Grid : GO Fight Against Malaria
After three months of crunching numbers for the World Community Grid on solar panels, better water, aids and cancer, I am joining their new project due to combat malaria. Here is why you should join the fight : “ Malaria is one of the three deadliest infectious diseases on earth and is caused by parasites …
China’s cancer villages
To the Guardian : ” Nationwide, cancer rates have surged since the 1990s to become the nation’s biggest killer. In 2007, the disease was responsible for one in five deaths, up 80% since the start of economic reforms 30 years earlier. ” While the government insists it is cleaning up pollution far faster than other …
Giving some of my computer time for science
A post from TreeHugger got me thinking : why wouldn’t I give some of my computer time to help advancing research ? I had written about this almost three years ago, and being looking for a job, I often have a computer running. So, a month ago, on August 2nd, I started gathering information on …
Biodiversity loss is harming medical science
To the UNEP : ” For millennia, medical practitioners have harnessed substances from nature for treatments and cures: aspirin from the willow and, more recently, Taxol – the groundbreaking anti-cancer drug – from the bark of the Pacific yew. Some of the biggest breakthroughs may be yet to come. But this can happen only if …
How coal-fired plants are causing cancers
I really believe coal should go away as it is the most greenhouse gases emitting and most polluting energy source. I am really glad France decided to step away from it and chose nuclear instead. The Huffington Post published last week an article on how coal-fired plants are causing cancer cases to people and even …