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It is widely recognized that production of foods for a meat based diet use up more resources – land, water, energy – than a plant based diet. In this sense, we know that as the world population continues to increase, we cannot keep on eating meat in such large quantities. In actual fact, it would be beneficial for the health of the planet (as well as ourselves), if we could base our diets on whole plant foods.

Looking around the world, there are more people who consume a plant based diet rather than a meat based diet. It is only Westerners who consider eating the quantities of meat that we do, as normal. In Asian countries for example, when eaten, meat is used mainly for flavor, so much less is eaten per person.

Throughout Asia, rice is a staple food. We might see it as boring, but without this grain the survival of millions would be called into question. It is a food for the masses. It is interesting to note that looking at countries such as Thailand, the Philippines and China, any fat people are ones eating a more Western style, meat based diet. Those who consume a traditional, high carbohydrate, rice based (plant food) diet are much slimmer and healthy looking.

Maybe it would be a good idea for Westerners to eat more rice as part of their diet. This, how to cook rice website, talks about various easy to cook rice dishes and how to prepare them. Rice cookers are in fact an efficient way to prepare rice and provided the ‘keep warm’ function isn’t used for a long period of time, they don’t use a great deal of electricity.

Further reading: Sustainability of meat-based and plant-based diets and the environment by David Pimentel and Marcia Pimentel in the American Journal for Clinical Nutrition

Some very brave Greenpeace activists have just staged a daring protest on board a coal ship leaving Australian waters.  They were from several countries and got on board the Korean ship MV Meister two days ago.  The cargo is mostly coal which has been picked up in Queensland from Abbot Point.

The reason the activists are targeting Australian cargo ships is the huge growth in coal exports the country is experience.   Some estimates suggest that the export of this fossil fuel will more than double over the next  few years.  Their act is to try and bring the ’coal boom’ issue to the table, despite many green agendas none of the political parties have even suggested possible solutions to this issye.

The issue is very real, the export growth of coal will lead to increased climate change.  It’s easy to duck the issue by gaining income from exporting it and pretending that the emissions are the problem of someone else.  The fact is that Australia is one country that is at huge risk from climate change with some extrme temperatures already in many areas.

Australia has pledged it’s part to reduce global emissions, these huge exports of one of the most polluting energy sources are a direct contradiction to that policy.  There has been no response from the Governments Climate Change department which was specifically set up to promote cleaner energy and to reduce global emissions.  

The protest has certainly promoted some important debate within  the Australian media.  There are several shows on the mainstream media highlighting this huge contradiction in government policy – unfortunately you might need an Aussie proxy server to watch some of these shows though.  One thing it also highlights is the fantastic job done by the brave activists of Greenpeace.

All across the world people want to censor the internet.  In places like Iran and Syria, there’s a desperate need to control the internet primarily social media.  For protestors, the internet is a place to meet, to plan or to rouse support for the opposition it’s a place to trap dissent and block free speech.  But it’s not just obvious cases like these where there’s a drive to control what you can do and see online.  In Australia, there’s a huge drive to block access to all sorts of websites using state of the art content filters.  In Iceland they’ve decided to wage a war on internet pornography and stop sex based websites from being access from their country.  

In other countries the censorship is a little more subtle but arguably just as dangerous.  You would have thought in the land of the First Amendment, where free speech is valued like nowehere else – that the US would be one land where the internet continues to be unfiltered.  Here though it’s big business and commerce which is the risk, through proposed legislation like SOPA.  Here the threat is that anyone who owns a website becomes responisble for content that appears on it.  So anyone for example  who runs a discussion forum they could be liable for any statement or link posted to an illegal site or one which breaches a companies copyright.  Instantly websites like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook for example become a litigation nightmare.  People will be scared to post, scared to host and scared to discuss anything online for fear of stepping into a legal minefield.

The censorship via this method would be much more subtle, but arguably more encompassing.  Slowly the internet would turn into a collection of big web sites with legal backing, hosting preapproved content.  Smaller, unmoderated sites would slowly disappear, they would simply be not worth the risk and the options for free speech would be slowly eroded.  Thankfully SOPA was defeated, but it was a close call, the mobilisation of millions through organisations like Wikipedia and Google helped block the bills progress.  Next time we may not be so lucky, there’s big business online and powerful lobbying funds seek to dictate the internets direction.

The attack will continues from all these sources, it is up to us to defend the neutrality of the internet.  For some protestors like Aaron Swartz the battle has cost them their lives.  It is up to us to ensure that politicians, big business and dictators cannot control the internet.  Make sure that we use proxies and VPNs to demonstrate that technical controls can be circumvented.  When you use a proxy server to watch Iplayer in the US, you are not only getting to watch great TV – but you’re showing  that content is accessible to all whatever restrictions are implemented.  

The other battles will happen in places like Congress, Parliament and of course the market places.  Any of these places could enforce control over the internet, we should ensure that our voices make sure that this never happens.

When I left University some 20 plus years ago, I had what I thought was a rather large overdraft.  I was not alone and at the time a couple of thousand pounds seemed a huge amount of money to pay back, however this is nothing compared with what todays youngsters have to endure.  It might be different in other countries but nowadays in the United Kingdom most students leave with an enormous amount of debt.  They have to pay their fees, tuition plus all the other living expenses that go with  being a student.  I had a grant, paid no fees and a part time job at the student union and I still managed to stagger out with a big overdraft.

But by 2025 I think education will change massively.  The standard model is school, college and the some sort of degree at a University or college.  This last bit usually involves living away from home and paying lots of money for tuition.  This model works reasonably well in times of plenty, sure the bills rack up but graduates can expect  to earn much more and paying them off is no big worry.  However we’re now seeing students who can’t find any job and little prospect of paying off their various loans.

However in the future things could have changed considerably, I’m talking of course about the MOOCs that appeared last year.  These are Massive Open Online Courses that are taking the world by storm.  The University Lectures are delivered across the planet using the medium of the internet.  A brilliant professor is no longer restricted to teaching a handful of students in his lecture room, but literally tens of thousands across the world.   

At the moment nearly all the leading Universities in the world are getting involved.  It will be interesting to see where it leads, particularly how it’s funded, currently all the courses are pretty much free.  However Universities need fees to survive so this model won’t scale up.  Perhaps the costs will lower and you’ll be charged a fee and can study anywhere.  Maybe you’ll need to be located in a certain place, perhaps to study in Oxford or Cambridge you’ll need to prove you’re in the UK or at least use a fake IP address!

It may not stop there, perhaps all other levels of learning could follow this route? Whatever happens, opening up world class education to the world not based on where you are born has got to be a positive thing for the human race.

A really important aspect of this overall subject is handicap mobility and the needs of those people that are affected by physical disabilities.

There are several arguments about the benefits and drawbacks of a variety of mobility solutions for the physically challenged and what folks can and cannot do in certain circumstances. Don’t let this cloud your view, but when you think about it, vehicles customized for use by the physically handicapped are highly beneficial.

If you were ever scared of using or felt intimated by motorized scooters for instance, this may go some way to allay those fears. You know it is not always easy to comment on something that describes the needs of people with disabilities so well.

Stair Lifts

If you want to feel confident about getting up and down stairs, then based from reports of mobility issues along with the social and public aspects, installing a stair lift in your home can increase your access considerably. These amazing yet simple devices provide important and often essential access to parts of the home that would otherwise be off limits to a person with mobility limitations.

It helps to be at the right place to learn a lot of new things. Knowing where to find definite information is important. Most people with disabilities are not so fragile that can’t navigate some obstacles, but stairs often represent an unassailable barrier for many. Being able to ascend or descend easily, safely and without aid can be liberating and dignifying.

Ramps

How would you know if a handicap ramp exists in every building that needs it? While that probably varies from place to place, any specialized form of transportation such as wheelchairs or motorized scooters will find it a whole lot easier to gain access to public buildings with carefully placed ramps as an alternative to stairs.

If you really want to learn some in-depth facts about his, a trip to any municipal building will reveal what you need to know graphically. The truth is you can do this for next to nothing, but you can learn much from the exercise.

Handicap Vehicles

When a handicap vehicle is provided to those who follow the well worn transportation path, it could turn out that you’ve stumbled upon a great benefit. There are many kinds of specialist vehicles that cater to the needs of those with physical mobility issues that provide useful transportation to places they may not otherwise have access to.

In general, it is worth using knowledge about the many aspects of handicap mobility to see how it works from a different perspective. The issues surrounding handicap mobility can be immense but well worth taking on board.

You can learn more about the issues facing people with physical disabilities by visiting this excellent website: handicapeasylife.com. There seems to be little or even no independent thought at all on many of the issues that concern people with disabilities, but attitudes are changing for the better.

A conference scheduled to last 11 days has begun in Dubai with the intention to try and agree a direction for the furture of the internet.  The goal sounds quite simple – to agree some common standards for the future of the internet.  However the UK organisers were quoted as mentioning that they expect a certain amount of friction within the debates.

It’s been a long time since such talks have taken place, the last global conference on the future of telecoms across the planet took place in 1988.  Obviously the world has changed a lot since then!  One of the key concerns of the organisers is that today still over 4 billion people have no access at all to the internet, this can only lead to inequalities in knowledge and opportunity.  

Some are concerned that censorship and filtering are going to be high on the conference agenda.  Google has started advertising on their search page asking people to support the principles of a free and open internet.  They seem to be worried that governments are intending to impose strict regulations on a global scale on the free use of the internet.  The United Nations who are driving this conference are keen to deny this allegation.  

It will be interesting to see where Google go with this campaign, they obviously have the potential to leverage enormous power globally simply through their search page.  The meetings at this conference are closed to the public however Google will be well represented there anyway.

We would hope that some of the increasing restrictions and filtering that is happening throughout the world can be addressed.  The internet is increasingly being used as a tool either for oppression by denying access like the Syrian Government or artificial blocks put up by commercial organisations keen to carry on with their global price discriminations.  The sad truth is to operate on anything like a free and open internet then you need to use some sort of proxy or VPN service like something detailed here - http://www.proxyusa.com/.  However this require money and not all people are lucky enough to be able to afford such services to protect their online freedom.

One of the most poignant aspects of the future has to be progressive advances made in personal health. It may have taken a long time to finally get people educated to the facts about nutrition and diet, but the obesity epidemic that swept through western civilization in the early part of the century had finally been brought under control.

People at last realized that their excessive consumption of sugar and processed foods were largely responsible for their expanding waistlines and the food industry was forced to change. The way that food was presented finally changed and the emphasis switched from high fat, high sugar comfort foods to healthy, fresh produce

Big Companies Go Under

It cost some of the biggest processed food manufacturers their business and huge losses were seen as one household name company after another fell into receivership through the sudden drop off in sales. The survivors were the companies that saw the writing on the wall and changed with consumer eating habits.

The biggest casualties were the big name fast food restaurants that failed to come up with completely healthy alternatives to their high fat, cholesterol promoting unhealthy food. Consumers saw through the many futile attempts to hoodwink them with healthy looking food that on closer inspection was really no better than the junk they had been serving up for decades before.

A Long Time Coming

It took several years for the changes to come about. Obese people started losing weight once they came to realize that they could still enjoy good food and not load up on so many calories. The nation’s statistics for overweight citizens fell steadily year after year until it reached levels not seen since the middle of the 20th Century!

The lesson learned by millions of people may have been a harsh one in the beginning, but the blow was satisfactorily cushioned by the subsequent loss of weight. Clothing manufacturers specializing in outsize garments had to rapidly par down their sizing to reflect the shrinking girths of their customers.

By the year 2025, populations had become healthy, slim and much happier. It may have been a long time coming, but the lessons learned about the eternal health concepts such as can be seen at http://eternalhealthconcepts.com of sensible eating and drinking were well worth learning. People are now living longer on average than they did only a decade ago with far fewer hospital admissions for weight related diseases and conditions. This surely has to be the best time to be alive ever!

While the current trend seems to be a rapidly expanding world population with an equally rapidly expanding collective waistline, this simply cannot be sustained in the long term. Attitudes toward diet and the way we eat must and will change over time as people are better educated in the ways of sensible eating and by having a greater awareness of what is in the food and drinks that they are consuming.

The year 2025 is not such a long way off that our current generations will be able to enjoy the many benefits that more widespread health education will bring. A more realistic diet awareness will take over from the current widespread ignorance of what nutritional constituents are in all foods that are consumed. This means that the stranglehold the food industry and manufacturers currently have over people will be dissolved as it cannot be sustained under the weight of greater consumer awareness of what is in the food they buy in stores.

So what will this global rise in nutritional awareness mean for the average person on the street?

A Diet Revolution

It will mean that all foods that are processed and packaged for convenience will have to be totally transparent as to their constituents and full documentation as to the properties of every single additive must be not only available but proofs that they have been acknowledged and understood by the consumer will be mandatory before they can be purchased. Of course, in a changed new world of infinitely more widespread and comprehensive education that ensures that all children leave school with a high level of knowledge of diet and nutrition, consumers will already be completely aware of what all additives can potentially do to their health.

Advancing Knowledge

Advances in medical science and nutritional understanding will also play a part in further highlighting the health impact from certain food additives. Those additives that are currently unsafe or that have a high potentiality to initiate damaging health consequences will not be allowed to be added to any foods.

The great hope is that these advances in knowledge and understanding will lead to a healthier population that knows what it should and should not eat or drink. The resulting effect will be a healthier, slimmer population less dependent on health services to treat weight related illnesses. This will be a hugely positive development that will happen gradually over the years. Certainly by 2025 the results will speak for themselves just by looking around and seeing a world full of healthier, better informed and happier people.

As advances have come in the medical and chemical industries, the cosmetic and beauty industry has become somewhat akin the Wild West.  Ingredients aren’t regulated, so it’s very possible for untested products to hit the shelves at the expense of eager consumers.  Sites like the Skin Deep Cosmetics Database aim to educate consumers on the dangerous chemicals that lurk inside of their favorite cosmetics.

In 2025, however, things will be different.  There won’t just be online databases that warn only the most interested of consumers about the dangers of chemicals in their favorite products.  Many more government regulations will be in place by then that will ban companies from using carcinogenic ingredients in the products they produce.  Although many of the government regulations that will be in place in 2025 will have a negative impact on the social and economic structure of the world, these regulations will have a positive impact on the health of citizens.

Some products that exist today will thrive in 2025.  The products that will thrive are the ones produced by companies that are already aware of the dangers of chemicals in beauty products.  Products like Aubrey Organics Shampoo, Nature’s Natural, and Mira hair oil will increase greatly in popularity as consumers are forced to abandon the dangerous products that they once (unknowingly) used.

Although there is much to fear in 2025, there are some things to look forward to as well.  We have no choice but to be alive in that year, so it is important to look for the positives where they exist.

By the year 2025 the travel industry will have changed considerably. At the moment (in 2012) the travel industry accounts for 5% of the total GDP of the world. This revenue goes to big travel companies but also to developing countries such as Thailand, India, Brazil and the Caribbean. A lot also goes to the second tier of the developed world such as Italy, Greece and Spain.

It is hard to make predictions about whether people will have more or less leisure time in the near future. Certainly the wave of money seems to have left the west coast of America and is cresting in China. Chinese employers are notorious, like their Japanese and Korean counterparts, for making their employees work 6 or 7 days a week and severely restricting public holidays. If China holds the economic reins in 2025 then it can be expected that the average length of holidays will decrease. However, it can be expected that those with lots of money will still go on foreign holidays. It is likely that high-end hotels and resorts in Koh Samui, the Bahamas and Italy will continue to do good business.

With the releasing of the green house gases caught in the perma-frost caused by the melting of the polar caps world average temperatures will rise. This will result in two outcomes. One, places like Fiji and the Maldives will be underwater and their tourist trade will vanish along with their islands. And secondly, countries that were formerly too cold to attract many tourists such as Scandinavia and Canada will see an upsurge in tourist numbers, especially from tourists traveling in their own country.

Finally, with dwindling supplies of petrol, energy costs will be higher. Plane tickets will cost more. Air-con will cost more. As fewer people can afford to go to the tropics, and as they become hotter their will be initially a price war. This competition will be most strongly felt among mid-range and budget places.

To sum up, it looks like less holidays in 2025. There will still be a travel industry, but there will be clear winners and losers.