GreenPolicy360 Archive Highlights 2014

Popular pages/stories/data

GreenPolicy360 highlights Pope Francis

Catholic pontiff speaks of the environment

Time to take another look at the new Catholic leadership

“In this globalised world,” Pope Francis, “we have fallen into globalised indifference.”

Media reports stand out: Next year, he will intervene again in the secular world. Today, the Observer reports his intention to write a letter to the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, give an address to the UN General Assembly and call for a summit of the world’s main religions. He will also issue a rare papal encyclical in March on climate change and human ecology, all part of an attempt strongly to influence the UN climate change meeting in Paris in 2015 to achieve a universal commitment to reduce carbon emissions. “Eco-theology” alarms creationists and divides the Catholic church. Opponents, including some in the Vatican, condemn it as “un-biblical”. Pope Francis sees economic inequality and the plundering of the Earth’s resources as part of a theme. He has said: “In this system, which tends to devour everything which stands in the way of accrued profits, whatever is fragile like the environment is defenceless against the interest of a deified market, which becomes the only rule.”

To a different kind of pope, Francis, a spiritual voice for 1.2 billion Catholics, calling for peace during the traditional Christmas Day speech, Urbi et Orbi

Thoughts of a leader taking a church in new directions.

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GreenPolicy360 highlights George Brown Jr.

Remembering the 'start-up' of the environmental movement and the first laws, a set of founding legal precedents many of which came from forward-looking green visionaries from California, like George E. Brown who passed away suddenly in 1999.

George's work in Congress in air quality/clean air, water and the founding of the EPA highlighted the era's achievement...

George was out in front in "big science" -- his profound accomplishments are esp missed now as anti-science positions threaten in the current Congress...

Memories of George http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/George_E._Brown_Jr

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GreenPolicy360 highlights Rebecca Moore

Rebecca envisioned setting up Google Outreach -- and she did.

As GreenPolicy siterunner Steven Schmidt wrote as Earth Outreach/Google started up:

"Rebecca had an idea how to save (redwood) trees around her home...

and her idea led to setting up Google Outreach - She had a great idea, she made it happen,

she is continuing to make it happen ! Each day there's new progress, local and global...

Global Forest Watch & Global Fishing Watch are two most recent successful launches."

Here's a tip of our GreenPolicy360 hat to Rebecca's Earth Outreach 'planet citizens' work.

Thank You Rebecca! You inspire our action as #PlanetCitizens. Time to see how it's all connected !

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Global Fishing Watch launches

Google Outreach out in front again

Global Fishing Watch_newly launched [1]

Global Forest Watch launches - 2014

Google Outreach continues its impact

Global Forest Watch

World Resources

Monitoring the world's forests

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Update on Project Drawdown -- http://www.fastcoexist.com/3054300/what-if-we-told-you-to-be-optimistic-about-solving-climate-change

GreenPolicy360 highlights Paul Hawken

Project Drawdown CO2

Introduced at the Bioneers Conference by Paul Hawken

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GreenPolicy360 highlights Iain Keith

Climate March organizer, from Avaaz:

"We realized that a March could send a powerful signal.

Marches don't always change the world.

Sometimes they are the only things

that shake the system into widespread change."

InsideClimate News (TW)

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GreenPolicy360 highlights the Bioneers

Bioneers celebrating their 25th Anniversary Conference [2] [3] [4]

Long time, very good friends of GreenPolicy360 and a preeminent eco-network, here's to the Bioneers!

A celebration of the genius of nature and human ingenuity, the Bioneers network continues on doing its good work locally and globally. [5] [6] [7] [8]

Hearty Congratulations especially go to co-founders Kenny and Nina

Bioneers Dennis Kucinich, Chief Lyons & Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo speaks at the UN Climate Summit

Signs from the March

September 23rd -- UN Climate Summit

September 21st -- #PeoplesClimateMarch

Green friend, Louie Schwartzberg's newest film opening the UN Climate session

"Choose to make a difference -- this is our only home..." What's Possible

No apologies, take a stance

Five Vids from the March

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Naomi Klein at the Bioneers Conference

Naomi Klein, "This Changes Everything" Naomi Klein speaks at the Bioneers Conference

NY Times..."the most momentous and contentious environmental book since 'Silent Spring.'"

Climate Leadership (Conf videos)

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GreenPolicy360 highlights the Carbon Brief

Carbon Brief - FB - TW

They asked 25 thinkers, writers and journalists a simple question:

What books or readings inspired you to get involved in climate-related work?

They got back some very interesting insights into why people work on climate,

why they started, and why they carry on. Warming Earth

Inspirational books and readings

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GreenPolicy360_September 2014

We invite you to Visit GreenBestPractices online at:

◊ GreenPolicy360 Twitter

◊ GreenPolicy360 Facebook

◊ GreenPolicy360 Google+

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#Earth360 sites:

◊ GreenPolicy360

◊ GreenPolicy New Pages

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◊ EarthPOV

◊ PlanetCitizen

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Good green times

Los Angeles and the US clean up the air... Calif, over the yrs, out in front of the US in green legislating [9] [10] [11]

Jerry Brown: “What happens here doesn’t stay here. It goes all around the country and all around the world.” [12] [13]

The 'greening' results are starting to show [14] [15] [16]

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Naomi Klein speaks at the Bioneers Conference --- NY Times... "the most momentous and contentious environmental book since 'Silent Spring'"

Climate Leadership at the Bioneers Conference (videos)

Bioneers celebrating their 25th Anniversary Conference 25 Years [17] [18]

Long time, very good friends of GreenPolicy360 and a preeminent eco-network. Here's to the Bioneers and many more good years of eco-healing. Hearty Congratulations especially go to co-founders Kenny and Nina.

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Amid global conflicts and escalating threats, for redefinitions of security priorities and policies, visit #EnvironmentalSecurity at StrategicDemands.com

Visit our newest 'satellite site' #PlanetCitizen

Hello Where are you #PlanetCitizen on #PlanetEarth?

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Coming Soon, NextGen #ISS Earth-facing cams New live 'video+ platform' w/ #EarthView streaming from the #ISS via @UrtheCast & NanoRacks

International Astronautical Congress IAC 2014: UrtheCast Robot-arm install Future of #ISS

OCO-2 Orbiting Carbon Observatory continues on its history-making mission Counting carbon over Southern California - OCO-2 at work

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"Ground Truth" [19] Wiki-GroundTruth CERES Project [20] AVIRIS-JPL

Hyspiri [21] Spectroscopy, unique views of the surface of Earth...

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Immediate Risk to National Security Climate Change: Pentagon Devises Strategy to Respond"' [22]

Climate Change = "Threat Multiplier"

U.S. Military Prepares for Climate Change [23] DoD looks toward renewable energy [24]

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Question: Is the Earth blue even at night? Astronaut Gerst answers

With appreciation of the Overview Effect / Overview: the Movie Planetary

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Aug/July/June 2014 Updates:

We have added to our GreenLinks online listing of Green groups, local, regional and global, ranging from international NGO's to collections of green news and journalism, from borderless non-profit work to local green activism, from open-source, open data sharing to democracy and independent green, sustainable living advocates... GreenPolicy360 networking in practice...

We welcome additions of active and exceptional green organizations. More updates are coming each month as we extend GreenPolicy's shareable community resources.

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Also take a look at the updated list of Green Parties, a movement across the globe, now in over 100 countries... Green Parties - International PDF

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Visit StrategicDemands and Consider

National Security ↔ Environmental Security

New Definitions of National & Global Security

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NASA continues to advance a new space era in its exploration of our home planet with the launch of series of #EarthScience instruments to the International Space Station.

New earth-observing array of instruments will be exterior mounted on the #ISS. ISS-RapidScat will monitor ocean winds for climate research, weather predictions and hurricane monitoring. The second instrument, the laser Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS), will measure clouds and location and distribution of pollution, dust, smoke, and other particulates in the atmosphere. #RapidScat [25] #EarthRightNow

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The "New Space" field is pioneering the study of our blue planet with multiple new platforms monitoring earth systems and resources. PlanetLabs is a recently founded company that is out in front with its emphasis on open data sharing. Its mini satellites are called "Doves" and they "flock] for #earthmonitoring and rapid sequence imaging.

An API for the Planet #PlanetLabs Open Source Conference keynote

Mission: "Democratizing Access to Information About the Changing Planet"

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OCO-2 Orbiting Carbon Observatory

"Watching the Earth Breathe from Space" [26] [27] [28] [29] [30]

◊ Observing Global Warming with #OCO-2 Historic launch #PlanetCitizen mission to study #EarthsAtmosphere

"First Light!" [31] [32] OCO-2 announces 'We have data!'

What monitoring a potential existential crisis looks like...spectra from #OCO-2

Earth observing satellites, the "Afternoon Constellation", the "A-Train" joined by ‪#‎OCO-2 newly launched and historic in its mission to study global warming Orbiting Carbon Observatory

Looking closer at OCO-2 [33] [34] [35] OCO-2 tweets - https://twitter.com/IamOCO2

Earth science data is coming in and being openly distributed. Take up the challenge, perhaps with NEX here and multiple venues that are being made available for the first time...

Add your resources. With the launch of OCO-2, a "game changer", the data of #Earth360 will grow in unprecedented ways...

Reflection: How bad would ozone depletion and 'ozone holes' be if we had done nothing?

#Earthdata enables informed decisions and policy

"You can manage only what you can measure"

NASA Earth Sciences Asks Public to Join In

Add your #PlanetCitizen talent to a future of seeing with an #EarthPOV

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Climate Change, Challenge

Climate News @ GreenPolicy

No time for climate denial... President says it's time for action on Climate Change in Commencement at UC Irvine, June 14, 2014

A Planet Citizen & Hero: Professor Rowland at the University of California

In memory of Sherwood Rowland of U Cal Irvine -- and to the Nobel prize-winning discovery of the damage of CFCs and green worldwide response that prevented catastrophic consequences of ozone depletion -- while an anti-science crowd continues to this day to object to critically important science-at-work ... http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/05/how-bad-would-the-ozone-hole-be-if-we-did-nothing/

Climate Rules to Rewrite US Energy Map

Rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency would cut carbon pollution from power plants 30 percent by 2030 – equivalent of taking 2/3 of all cars and trucks in America off the road

Overview EPA summary Republicans hesitate -- 645 pages [36] [37] [38][39]

West Coast Leaders Applaud Obama Administration Proposal to Cut Carbon Pollution [40]California has head start Pacific Coast Climate Action Plan - 2013

Alexander Gerst on the #ISS writes home in tweets and his live blogging... "Our Blue Dot"

From the ISS - Live Astro Gerst blog

GreenPolicy360, from AstroGerst

"Look at how thin our atmosphere is. This is all there is between humankind and deadly space."

GreenPolicy360: A thin atmospheric layer enabling life as we know it...

GP360: "Look at our atmosphere around the earth, twelve miles high in the troposphere..." [41]

Images revealing the 'height', the narrow band of life-giving atmosphere surrounding Earth

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We are in the first era of geo-monitoring our 'thin atmosphere', earth resources and biosphere from space... [48] [49]

Beginning with first-ever images of our home planet, Earth, taken from the Apollo era... [50] [51]

Now follows #Earth360 planet monitoring, continuing first-generation data and #sustainability realizations.

An #EarthPOV, an "Overview" that, over time, will educate and open us to new challenges

and new possibilities as citizens of the planet...

"Thin" layer of atmosphere absorbing the sum of human-produced hydrocarbon & emission "externalities"

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NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2): A game changer? [52]

Seeing climate change from space: NASA creates image-based iPad app [53]

Soon, each of us will be able to connect to and share earth-data as students of earth-space science and new digital networks.

With open data, links and digital apps, schools and future generations will learn new ways of seeing as citizens of the planet.

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Aug 19 Planet Labs/NYT Planet Labs, newly #ISS deployed Doves Smartphones in space!

◊ Launch of new Flock of Dove Satellites to Image Earth Doves fly Doves flock

Planet Labs 'Dove' micro-satellites [54]

"Rapid cadence imagery, like Planet Labs is developing, helps us become better, more sustainable stewards of Earth." NYT

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◊ Geoscience: Eyes in the Sky, Monitoring the Earth by Satellite

◊ A New Era of Space Startups

"Earth Imaging" -- NextGen #EarthScience in an era of #climatechange and #globalsecurity threats

"New Space" startup companies to watch (our eyes are especially on Planet Labs) [55]... BlackBridge [56] -- July 2015--Blackbridge/RapidEye acquired by Planet Labs, Dauria-Digital Globe [57], DigitalGlobe [58] #DigitalGlobe, highest rez commercially avail #earthimaging from space [59] [60] [61] GeoEye [62], Firefly Space Systems [63] [64], GeoOptics [65], NanoRacks [66], [67] [68], NovaWurks [69], OmniEarth [70] [71] [72] [73], OrbitLogic [74], PlanetiQ [75], Planet Labs [76] Pulse [77] [78] [79], RapidEye (acquired by Blackbridge/Planet Labs) [80] [81] [82], Skybox [83] [84] [85], Teledyne [86], Tyvak Nano-Sat [87], Urthecast [88]

"New Space" [89] [90]

“With all these start-ups, the things you’ll be able to do with satellite images will grow exponentially.” - IEEE-May 2014

Moving from almost exclusively multi-billion dollar military/defense-communication satellite operations to nextgen 'small cap' startups and 'New Space' ventures and applications with earth systems monitoring, resources, sustainable business, and low-earth orbit space travel with companies like Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic...

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24/7 high-definition 'Ride with Us' #ISS video of Earth [91] Urthecast APIs

Live from the International Space Station [92] Watch Earth roll by in streamed HD [93] [94] [95]

Earth sciences/NASA-JPL and gov contractors 'Eyes on the Earth' [96] [97] [98] [99] -- @OCO-2 I am OCO! Tweet!!

EarthRightNow

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Neil deGrasse Tyson in Cosmos takes on Climate Change

Our Blue Marble, Pale Blue Dot

Remembering Carl Sagan in the original Cosmos

"The Earth is where we make our stand... our Pale Blue Dot, suspended in a sunbeam."

"For us it is to cherish and protect the only home we've ever known..."

[100] [101][102] [103] [104]

An oasis in the vastness of space

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NASA's Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) -- Originally called "Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE)"

October 2014 http://bit.ly/VitalSignsPulseofthePlanet / Video To fully appreciate the detail of the models, click on the gear symbol and set to 720p resolution and choose full screen video

ESE is dedicated to "understanding the total Earth system and the effects of natural and human-induced changes on the global environment." [105]

Mission to Planet Earth's successor, NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS), provides long-term global observations of the land surface, biosphere, solid Earth, atmosphere, and oceans.

Earth Observing System Data and Information System - Maps

Suomi NPP - Next-generation Earth-observing satellite system NPP Images Gallery

Next generation NASA-NOAA #EarthMonitoring satellite to launch in 2017

"The ultimate beneficiaries are the present and future generations of the people on Earth..."

The goal of the Earth Observing project is "improved understanding of the Earth as an integrated system."

ESE's Mission: "To improve life here" and "to understand and protect our home planet."

#EarthScience, #GeoScience, #Earth360, #GP360, #EarthPOV

Eyes on the Earth-Earth Right Now, Earth Observing System Project, Earth Data, Earth Observatory, [106], Grace, Grace-JPL, Grace-UTexas

Visible Earth, Global Maps, Visible Earth_2, Visible Earth_3, Visible Earth_4, Earth Mission List

IceSat-2 [107] - [108] [109]

Monitoring #Earth at night [110] [111] [112] [113]

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European space program - earth system monitoring

European Space Agency "Living Planet Programme" managed by Earth Observation Programmes - [114]

GOCE – Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer - launched on March 17, 2009 - [115]

SMOS – Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite - studying ocean salinity and soil moisture; launched in 2 November 2009 - [116]

CryoSat is designed to map the Earth's ice cover. CryoSat-2 was launched 8 April 2010 - [117] - Euro Cryo Satellite/Earth Imaging

◊ Geo-science: Eyes in the Sky Antarctic Ice Loss Antarctic Ice Sheet Expands, Why?

Swarm – is a trio of satellites to map the Earth's magnetism. The SWARM constellation was launched successfully on 22 November 2013 - [118]

Aeolus – Atmospheric Dynamics Mission will use an innovative laser to measure winds. Due for launch in 2015 - [119]

EarthCARE – Earth Clouds Aerosols and Radiation Explorer will examine the formation and effects of clouds. Due for launch in 2016 - [120]

BIOMASS is designed to calculate the amount of carbon stored in the world's forests, and to monitor for any changes over the course of its five-year mission. Due to launch in 2020 - [121]

Recently Added
to Green Policy:

May/Apr 2014

GP360 News: We have updated GreenPolicy360 to MediaWiki 1.19 [122][123]

Upward and onward GP360! In progress - updated maps. Semantic MediaWiki

Florida, Los Angeles, New York vulnerable to climate change...

US gov efforts to assess risk now include interagency coordination.

◊ Rising Seas - Against the Tide

March 2014

31 March 2014/Japan/IPCC international conference - "The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a report today that says the effects of climate change are already occurring on all continents and across the oceans. The extensive set of documents, continuing a multi-year series of scientific documentation and analyses, details latest developments and warns that the world is "ill-prepared" for risks from a changing climate. The report also states that there are "opportunities" to respond to such risks, though the risks will be difficult to manage with high levels of warming... [124] [125] [126] #climatechange

IPCC Update

Government officials and top climate scientists will meet in Berlin from April 7-12 to review a 29-page next steps draft that estimates the needed shift to low-carbon energies will cost between two and six percent of world output by 2050... The IPCC draft report is the third and final study in a U.N. series about climate change, updating findings from 2007. [127] [128] [129]

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Climate.Data.gov launches [130] [131]

In the pilot-stage of Climate.Data.gov, you will find resources "to help companies, communities, and citizens understand and prepare for the impacts of coastal flooding and sea level rise." Over time, the "Climate Data community" will expand to include more datasets, web services, and tools. "It will also cover other themes such as the vulnerability of the food supply and the threats to human health from climate change."

The resources page features datasets and services on coastal vulnerability. [132]

Tools and information to help communities prepare for coastal inundation... [133]

Mar/Feb/Jan 2014

Cities now reporting more than 8,000 climate actions currently underway...

Take climate action in your community - Add to 8,068 climate change actions reported at the international C40 conference [134]

More C40, cities, webcam, [135], [136], [137]

Agroecological Farming

◊ “Business as usual” of expanding industrialized agriculture is not a viable option for meeting the challenges we face in the future. ◊ We must transition to greener, sustainable agriculture and food systems. ◊ Family farmer agroecology works and is a vital part of the solution.

Agroecology_Groundswell [138]

From GP360's "Little Green Book"

Climate Smart Agriculture

eco Operating System featured in Green Horizon

EOS -- Networking effective green politics on a global, international scale...

eOS - Part One - Global Best Practices

eOS - Part Two - ECO OS Challenges & Opportunities

eOS - Part Three - Seeing the World in New Ways

GreenPolicy360/eOS -- Expanding the GreenPolicy360 database of green best practices for use in all communities -- local, national, international

Remembering 'Earthrise' - December 1968

Earthrise memories on the 45th anniversary - Earth-home, the historic view of Earth from Apollo

"The earth from here [circling the moon] is a grand oasis in the big vastness of space." — Jim Lovell, live Apollo 8 - 1968

"If somebody had said before the flight, 'Are you going to get carried away looking at the earth from the moon?' I would have said, 'No, no way.' But yet when I first looked back at the earth, standing on the moon, I cried." — Alan Shepard, Astronaut

"As you pass from sunlight into darkness and back again every hour and a half, you become startlingly aware how artificial are thousands of boundaries we've created to separate and define. And for the first time in your life you feel in your gut the precious unity of the Earth and all the living things it supports." — Russell Schweikart, Apollo 9

"As we got further and further away, it [the Earth] diminished in size. Finally it shrank to the size of a marble, the most beautiful you can imagine. That beautiful, warm, living object looked so fragile, so delicate..." — James Irwin, Apollo 15

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Overview Effect

Overview Effect / The 'Big Picture'

Overview Effect / Protecting Home

What a View!

Overview refers to the experience of seeing firsthand the reality of the Earth in space, which is immediately understood to be a tiny, fragile ball of life, hanging in the void, shielded and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere. From space, the astronauts tell us, national boundaries vanish, the conflicts that divide us become less important and the need to create a planetary society with the united will to protect our "pale blue dot."

"One connected system #BlueDot"

Visit the Overview Institute

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Watch magnificent time-lapse Earth views

All Alone in the Night

Serving Suggestion: FULL Screen, 1080p, lights off, volume up, lean back and fly

The View Outside My Window

Serving Suggestion: FULL Screen, 1080p, lights off, volume up. Even better, 'Original' 4K / 2160p

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Environmental Security ↔ National Security

GreenPolicy360 ↔ Strategic Demands

GreenPolicy360, in association with Strategic Demands, continues its work to advance "Environmental Security"... Our position is that Environmental Security is and should be integral to National Security and Global Security.

A broad range of security issues are being uniquely observed in the 21st century via unprecedented Earth Science, Earth Observations, Earth Research from Space, New Space 'democratization', earth-facing micro-satellites, atmospheric science, ocean science, and climate change studies. The critical questions of the sustainable health of our planet's biosphere and atmosphere, of sustainable economic growth over time, are now being raised across the approximately 200 nations of the world.

In the past, the field of 'national security' was limited, circumscribed by national interest. Nations considered strategic security affairs as primarily political/military and economic concerns and placed environmental security, to the extent 'environmental security' was considered at all, as secondary in nature.

Today, a gathering storm of environmental threats are rising to become national and international security concerns as environmental risks bring existential questions due to climate change, nuclear proliferation and a horizon of global challenges. "New Definitions of National Security." are critically needed in these times. We at GreenPolicy/Strategic Demands intend to continue to pursue connections between National Security and Environmental Security.

Overall, science is expanding its scope with powerful new tools and capabilities. Earth science data is being shared and considered, the intelligence of 'big data' and computational power is delivering unprecedented means to study and manage eco-social systems. A new and fast evolving science of Environmental Security - Sustainable Development is beginning to enable an integral ecology with a new vision of thinking and acting that spans nations and is shared via the Internet. Engaged citizens, in a newly connected world, are acting to shape a future of political awareness with "green best practices".

The key for green policy is moving forward with vision. Our challenge is to use our native intelligence to make decisions that sustain and benefit life, today and for future generations. -- SJS

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Updates