#5 Malaria spreading: Ethiopian mountains, California, Europe

Mosquitoes like heat and moisture. Since climate change brings exactly that to more regions, climate change spreads the mosquito borne disease malaria. For example, where mountainous regions were previously too cold for them the warming temperatures are now bringing mosquitoes from the surronunding lower altitude areas to people unaware of its dangers.

But the disease will also come to the rich north, fences and borders or not. A couple of degrees temperature rise will make Central Europe and many areas in Central Asia adequate habitats for the malaria mosquitoes, one species not endangered.

Malaria kills somewhere between 1.2 and 2.7 million people every year, 80% of whom are children. MDG #4 is to “reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate”. Climate change is working in the opposite direction on that goal.

Looking even further into the future never mind a bit of malaria: global warming could scorch us outright. Burning all available fossil fuel sources will most likely heat our planet so much we can't live here by 2300, a prognosis released this week established. How many generations is that? Not ours, not that of our children, but...

(Sources: Kristeligt Dagblad / Klimaændringer udbreder malaria (in Danish), Ecowar / Environmental degradation kills 62 million people each year, Earth may be too hot for humans by 2300: study)

Personally, I'm rather safe from malaria here in Copenhagen. Perhaps a merry little epidemic just south of me will make a cure profitable? Which brings me to the next news...

#4 Extinctions: Never mind your ugly animal, but not our baby seals!

Scientific American, May 10 / Rare Javan rhino killed by poachers & E.U. orders Finland to protect critically endangered seals.

I'm beginning to actually see the point in the Danish Nihilist People's Party animal welfare policy:

“Establish a cuteness ranking based on objective criteria such as fur and eye size, so we can rationally decide which animals are entitled to welfare.”

#3 Celebrity actor saves the world with new website

Irony aside, celebrities using their fame and wealth for ends somewhat higher than plastic surgery, jet set discoteques and hyper-consumpton is laudable. So let's give a big hand to Edward Norton...

...for launching Crowdrise.com. Banner number three alone - picturing a red head playing the guitar to black people in the desert - brings me to tears.

(Source Wall Street Journal / Norton's Toughest Role.)

#2 Blame: Who's polluting the most?

Let's see where the pigs live:

1. Singapore

2. South Korea

3. Qatar

4. Kuwait

5. Japan

6. Thailand

7. Bahrain

8. Malaysia

9. Philippines

10. Netherlands

That is the top ten of relative environmental impact. Of course, some of the huge countries can't escape the absolute impact list.

Read the discussion for some important considerations; i.e.:

“Costa Rica's recent reduction in deforestation rate appears to have been offset by increasing timber imports from elsewhere, and Japan's maintenance of its forest is supported by extensive timber imports from South East Asia and beyond”

(Sources: PloS ONE / Evaluating the Relative Environmental Impact of Countries, Change.org / New Country Ranking on Wide Environmental Impacts.)

#1 War and multinational corporations will save the world

The list of people blaming war and capitalism is endless.

“Armed violence has a devastating effect on development progress. Life as normal is severely disrupted – affecting citizens' safety and security and access to basic services and livelihoods. […] The international community can mobilise to deter the proliferation and use of the weapons which fuel this violence.”
- Helen Clark, Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

“Every day armed violence kills more than 2,000 people [...] The majority of these fatalities are civilians. This is a fundamental challenge to our common humanitarian and developmental goals. States must come together and work in partnership with the UN and civil society to take action against armed violence now.”
- Jonas Gahr Støre, Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“[BPs Mexican Gulf disaster] shows how little governments can do against those who control the capital, who in both the United States and Europe are, due to the economy of our globalized planet, those who decide the destiny of the public.”
- Fidel Castro, Cuban revolutionary.

But here's a toast to Google, Yahoo, Pepsi, Intel and the other corporations that – drumroll – are providing gardening opportunities for their employees. No, this is not post-Communist Russia. This is corporate America.

Somewhat related is the news of an Austrian company turning outdated phone booths into electrical vehicle recharging stations. How about that!?

And finally, the other day I zapped by a CNN report (on TV... you know, ancient media) about a US Army test flight on biofuel. The army is going green for multiple reasons. Perhaps you saw the CNN clip too? But if you follow my Ecowar blog (specifically the 'military' tag) you will know such stuff much faster In this case by April 1^st. I like the logic of the armies in relation to MDGs and climate change – they have tactical minds that go beyond the stupidity of corrupt democracy and everyday media babble.

In the mean time, the news that the Jordan River could run dry next year has made few headlines in Europe.

“You can almost jump across this river. In other places, you don't need to even jump — you can just cross it. It's ankle deep […] You struggle to see the water. […] All the sewage of the communities along the Jordan River goes right into it and we want to avoid adding ours […] No one can say this is holy water, the Jordan River has become holy shit.”
- Gidon Bromberg, Israeli director of Friends of the Earth Middle East.

I'm sure Jordan and Israel have been united in draining the river. Modelling climate change to year 2300 is pretty abstract compared to imagining the political atmosphere in the Middle East the next couple of years. Israel is importing tankers of water from Turkey in return for weapons – an option its neighbours do not have.

(Sources: UN News Centre / Armed violence a major obstacle to development – UN agency, ReliefWeb / Armed Violence Threatens Progress on Millennium Development Goals, AP / Fidel Castro: Oil spill shows corporate domination., The New York Times / The Rise of Company Gardens, Want a Salad for Lunch? Go Pick It From the Company Garden, Change.org / Company Gardens: A Corporate Trend We Can Get Behind, Inhabitat / Austrian Company Turns Phone Booths into EV Charging Stations, AP / Environmentalists warn Jordan River drying up, Al Jazeera / Jordan River 'to run dry next year'.)