Our current meat-heavy system of food production seems to many unsustainable, a waste of resources and a source of pollution in the form of pesticides and hormones as well as methane gas from livestock manure.
I have been a proud member of Lions Heraldic in Brussels since 2006. 2017 sees the centenary of the global Lions movement, started by Melvin Jones in Chicago.
Highlights include:
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has published global estimates of the number of people that die from malaria. In these 15 years the global death toll has been cut in half: from 839,000 deaths in 2000 to 438,000 in 2015.
Africa is the world region that is most affected by malaria: In 2015, the African continent held 9 out of 10 malaria victims (click on ‘Expanded’ to see this). But Africa is also the world region that has achieved most progress: from 2000 to 2015, African deaths from malaria were reduced from 764,000 to 395,000.
Imagining, while still healthy, donating organs to total strangers without expecting anything in return. The BBC nterviewed a man who did just this after his wife committed suicide.
She had been suffering from progressive multiple sclerosis, and when the pain and suffering became too much for her to bear, she took her own life, leading him to a suspended prison sentence - for failing to stop her - and ultimately to the decision to help others to live by doing as much as he possibly could - by giving away one of his kidneys and part of his liver, and then waiting to become a bone marrow donor.
Imagining how mapping humans' intricate social networks.could better our lives, by e.g. detecting epidemics earlier than ever, from the spread of innovative ideas, to risky behaviours, to viruses.
Many of the problems the world faces today pre-date the latest conflicts and related refugee crises. Five years ago already...
1. Google asked the global public for ideas to address the following societal issues:
I stopped eating meat back in 2006. There are many reasons to consider no longer eating meat - e.g. every vegetarian meal that you have can reduce your impact on the planet, saves animal lives and perhaps most importantly can improve your health.
See also:
"The rainforests hold answers to questions we have yet to ask." - Mark Plotkin
Remembering victims - across all cultures and all times - can remind us of the healing power of togetherness and shared purpose.
"This is the faith from which we start, men shall know commonwealth again..."
There is a growing trend towards self-tracking and the rise of the "quantified self", suddenly made easier by the ubiquity of embedded sensors.
However, Evgeny Morozov warned during a fascinating recent address that those of us who would refuse to self-track when the majority of people do self-track may be treated with suspicion. The assumption would not be that you refuse to self-track because you want to exercise autonomy or you fear about your privacy, but rather because you are not walking enough or you are not a safe driver or you eat too much fat.