Environment Enthusiast Has Low Expectation On Conch Stock Comeback After Local Shock, Urges Research Into What Else May Be At Work

“Ban Set To Go Beyond March 2020 – Writing Was On The Wall”, Says The Gleaner, in which Marine Biologist,  Dr Karl Aiken blames local over-fishing for the rapid depletion of conch in Jamaican waters and for the ban on conch fishers.

Joseph “Joey” Issa

However, while the article did not make mention of any natural occurences that may be a contributory factor, environment enthusiast Joe Issa is skeptical about the return of the original stock any time soon, urging research into what else might be the cause.

Issa argued that although he is not an expert on the subject of conch, nor climate change, “I remain suspicious and concern about the phenomenon and its possible impact on the future of the lucrative conch export trade and on the fish population generally.”

He added: “I give due respect to the experts, who have warned us that the Caribbean will be completely devoid of fish within 50 years mainly through overfishing; however, I can’t help wondering what else we do not know about what threatens earth and our very existence.

“I am no expert on conch or climate change; what led me to be suspicious that natural events in the atmosphere and in particular our oceans may be playing their part in the depletion of conch and other marine life in our waters, is based on the many research which discover that things are worst than was ever imagined.”

said Issa, who has expressed opposition to global warming during the last two global conferences, argued further: “It is instructive and intuitive that many of the discoveries of gross underestimation by scientists involve the rate of depletion of ecosystems and the existence of others.

Fisher removing conch from corn shell

“And there are other areas: the depleting ozone layer, the rise in sea level, the rate of carbon emission into the atmosphere, and the presence of carbon in our oceans, which have many currents moving cold and warm water around the globe, and changing weather patters and systems,” Issa opined.

Analysis of data of the conch population off Jamaica’s coast indicates that the ban on the fishing, sale and export of queen conch (Genus strombus) will be extended well beyond the near one-year timeline announced by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries last Friday. It could take years before the conch stock is replenished to commercially viable levels.

“It is an inescapable biological fact that conch take between four to five years to mature. This means that the conch closure may extend for considerably longer than one year,” marine biologist Dr Karl Aiken told The Gleaner recently. “It is not quite bust yet, but bad enough that it had to be closed for a while.”

Writing On The Wall

Aiken, who for more than two decades has been a member of the13-member Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Authority of Jamaica delegation, says the depletion of this marine resource comes as no surprise to the four aquatic and marine specialists on that august body.

According to the report, Aiken, who is a senior lecturer in the Department of Life Sciences at The University of the West Indies, Mona, revealed: “We sorta saw the writing on the wall over the past couple of years, where the first thing we saw that signalled that something might go wrong in the near future was what I call the clumping of fishing efforts.”

Data from the short study, done in conjunction with consultant veterinarian Dr Winthorp Marsden, one of four conch experts on the CITES body, was disturbing, Aiken reportedly said.

“When we ran the pictorial plotting of where these boats had been fishing during conch season, all of them were gathered in areas not far from the cays, near the centre of the bank. And each year, we noticed that they were fishing at the same place,” he was quoted explaining.

When the scientists shared this information with the fishers, explaining the likely implications for the sustainability of their livelihood, they argued that their short-term economic gains trumped the environmental concerns, the report said.

“They refused to take our advice, and we made a note that something bad was going to happen because they refused to spread out the fishing effort. It was concentrated in like a 20-square-mile area, and the Pedro Cays is humongous. The entire area is like two-thirds the size of mainland Jamaica,” the marine scientist reportedly said.

Dramatic Decline

However, it was the dramatic decline in conch stock between the 2015 and the November 2018 surveys conducted by experts in the Fisheries Division of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries that informed the ministerial order on the ban. Having conducted a total of six surveys, they had more than enough historical data on which to peg the ban, said the article.

Aiken reportedly explained: “There were some areas where there were moderate stocks of conch in 2015. During the 2018 survey, them don’t even find one so-so conch in some of those areas, not even one. No conch at all were seen for 300, 400 metres, with three or four of them diving together, covering vast areas during each dive, and that signalled, certainly to us, especially if you overlap the data, including pictorial data, just how serious a decline had taken place.”

The initial ban on the fishing, sale and export of conch takes effect from March 1, 2019, to January 31, 2020, according to The Gleaner report.

According to Wikipedia, Conch is most indigenous to the Bahamas, and is typically served in fritter, salad, and soup forms. In addition to the Bahamas, conch is also eaten in the West Indies, particularly in Jamaica, where it is used in soups, stews and curries. Restaurants all over the islands serve this particular sea food.

Continuing, it said In the Dominican Republic, Grenada, and Haiti, conch is commonly eaten in curries or in a spicy soup. It is locally referred to as lambi. In the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Annual Conch Festival is held in November each year, with local restaurateurs competing for the best and most original conch dishes, then judged by international chefs.

In Puerto Rico, conch is served as a ceviche, often called ensalada de carrucho (conch salad), consisting of raw conch marinated in lime juice, olive oil, vinegar, garlic, green peppers, and onions.

‘From Cruelty to Social Reinsertion to Cultural Centre’: The Changing Face of Maria Madre – Joe Issa Urges On Last One

May 12, 2005 photo shows inmates lined up on the pier after arriving at the Islas Marias federal prison island of Maria Madre, located 90 miles south of Mazatlan, Mexico.

Mexico’s Islas Marias federal prison on Maria Madre

Environment advocate and social reinsertion supporter Joe Issa, gives the thumbs up to the proposed plan to convert Mexico’s infamous Islas Marias federal prison on the island of Maria Madre into a cultural and environmental education center, bringing to an end its notorious history, even after lately becoming a model of social reinsertion.

“I can’t imagine the cruelty that went on in that prison, which the island was forced to represent, although of late it has become the face of social reinsertion based on its success in reintegrating prisoners back into society and into the labour force. In this model, inmates are allowed to produce and sell hand made Mexican items, and those serving long sentences are permitted to live with  their families.

Roberto Gonzalez seen in 2005 running a small convenience store from his cell in the Islas Marías prison. Photograph: Eduardo Verdugo/AP

“However, I am happy about the island’s new face of environmental and cultural information. It will be great for the preservation of its ecosystems and return lost fame by becoming a choice attraction for visitors from around the world: Mexico’s Statue of Liberty,” posited Issa, a tourism guru.

Executive Chairman of Cool Group of Companies Joe Issa

Issa was commenting on a declaration by Mexico’s President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, that the prison will be closed and the facility turned into a cultural and environmental centre to be named after former inmate Jose Revueltas, who wrote the novel “Walls of Water”, which was inspired by two periods of imprisonment on the island for political activism, which helped to make him one of its most famous former inmates.

“It is the history of punishments, of torture, of repression for more than a century,” Lopez Obrador said of the penal colony dubbed Mexico’s Alcatraz, after the most notorios penal island, The Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary off the coast of San Feansisco in the United States, which operated from August 1934 until March 1963.

According to the Guardian, the Mexican prison founded in 1905 on Maria Madre passed through periods of infamous brutality. It was the last remaining penal colony in the Americas when Panama closed its Isla Coiba in 2004.

Mexico’s notorious prison on the nothernmost and largest of the Marías Islands archipelago off the Pacific coast of Mexico, will release about 200 of its approximately 600 inmates and the rest will be relocated to other prisons.

Lopez Obrator reportedly noted that the last riot there occurred in 2003 because it was over capacity. At that time there were 8,000 prisoners.

He visited the island 70 miles (110 kilometers) off the coast of Nayarit state recently, with members of his cabinet.

According to the article, the Islas Marías is also considered one of the best-run and most humane correctional facility, citing Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission, in a country where jails are often rife with corruption, control by inmates and human rights abuses.

“(It’s) closing the penitentiary that has the only efficient model of social reinsertion,” said Paola Zavala Saeb, former director of the Mexico City government’s Social Reinsertion Institute.

López Obrador’s decision to close the Islas Marías and his surprise visit to the islands followed a weekend tour of the western states of Sinaloa and Durango – long considered the heartland of Mexico’s illegal drugs business.

He reportedly toured the rugged Sierra Madre mountains and held a rally on Friday in Badiraguato – hometown of convicted drug cartel kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán [who has been captured, tried and convicted]  – where he announced plans to pull the area out of poverty by finishing the construction on a highway through the sierra, opening a new university and providing 20,000 permanent jobs planting pine trees.

Tourism Guru Shares Jamaica’s Path To Global Competitiveness Worth Knowing

Tourism guru Joe Issa whose career spanned 15 years marketing Jamaica to visitors around the world, shares Jamaica’s tourism diversification thrust, stating it is well worth knowing.

Joe Issa, Founder Cool Group of Companies

“Sun, sea and sand used to be that one shoe which fitted all, but that’s not the case anymore as travelers have become more discerning in their choice of destination: one which gives them a memorable experience from interacting with the people, their culture, music, food and natural attractions.

“So I think the minister is right in his analysis of what’s trending in tourism and how Jamaica can attract the various emerging tourism markets with a quality experience visitors can take back home to their families and friends, and you can only do so through diversification,” said Issa, who was the first to provide online booking to international visitors.

Issa, who copped the 1994 Young Hotelier of the World award was sharing the tourism ministry’s diversification programme which he agrees is key to further boosting the tourism sector.

In an Observer report, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett stated that product diversification by industry stakeholders is pivotal to further boosting Jamaica’s global competitiveness, and successfully tapping into new markets.

According to Bartlett, international travelers are becoming increasingly demanding and have higher expectations of the destinations they visit or plan to travel.

“International tourism trends are showing a shift from the traditional sun, sea and sand towards interactive experiential tourism, one of [the] fastest growing sub-sectors. What we are seeing now is an appeal to markets interested in gastronomy, nature, heritage and cultural experiences in the destinations they choose,” the minister reportedly pointed out.

Against this background, Bartlett urged local business interests to prepare themselves to tap into these emergent markets which he described as “the future of global tourism”.

“The Ministry of Tourism is fully aware of the potential benefits that market segmentation and diversification can produce for the global competitiveness of our tourism sector. This is why we have already started to explore five emerging tourism models in – Gastronomy, Health and Wellness, Sports and Entertainment, Shopping, and Knowledge,” he stated.

Bartlett emphasised that Jamaica must aggressively target promising markets in South America, Europe, Asia, “and even promote more seriously the idea of intra-regional tourism”.

The minister also cited the Caribbean Diaspora, which spans major source markets such as Canada, the United States and United Kingdom, as another option that should be targeted, noting that “we have to continue to encourage our expatriates to return home more often”.

Meanwhile, Bartlett said the future of Caribbean tourism arguably rests in economic convergence between complementary economies, noting that Jamaica has a major role to play in this regard.

He contended that the region needs to collectively explore the feasibility of multi-destination arrangements that will increase intra-regional tourist flows and promote mutual benefits for more destinations in the region.

“The countries of the north-western and south-eastern Caribbean are well positioned to embrace this new architecture as their geographic alignments are clear and all within an hour and a half by air or sea from each other. This will make it easier for island-hopping and experiential enrichment for the visitor,” the minister added.

Bartlett said that in establishing a multi-destination model, “critical mass” will be created for large investments in hotels, infrastructure, agriculture and manufacturing.

He further noted that this will attract more small and medium-sized businesses into the market to provide more goods and services, while employing more people and enhancing value-added outputs for the economy, citing this as a “win-win for all”.

Sharp Rise In Methane Levels Threatening World Climate Targets Worrying – Activist

Environment activist Joe Issa, says it is worrying that the level of the most dangerous greenhouse gas – methane – in the atmosphere has risen sharply, and scientists don’t know why.

Executive Chairman of Cool Group of Companies Joe Issa

“It has been difficult enough getting world leaders to agree on the level of cut in CO₂  (carbon dioxide) emission needed, in order to keep temperature rise to 1 – 2 degrees centigrade above preindustrial level.

“Now, I am learning that there has been a sharp rise in the level of methane in the atmosphere, which is even more dangerous than carbon dioxide in causing global warming, and it’s not as easy for the world leaders to agree on emission cuts as was thought to be the case, because it’s not clear what’s causing methane emission to rise so sharply,” said Issa, who has supported the ‘1.5 to stay alive’ campaign during the last two global warming conferences.

Issa’s comments come as experts warn that failure to act immediately, risks a spike in global temperatures, stating that livestock are a leading source of the rise in methane levels.

Cattle grazing, a major source of methane emission

According to the Guardian, livestock are a leading source of the rise in methane levels, and dramatic rises in atmospheric methane are threatening to derail plans to hold global temperature rises to 2C, citing warning from scientists.

The article citing a paper published recently, by the American Geophysical Union, in which researchers say sharp rises in levels of methane – which is a powerful greenhouse gas – have strengthened over the past four years, and, therefore, urgent action is now required to halt further increases in methane in the atmosphere, to avoid triggering enhanced global warming and temperature rises well beyond 2C.

“What we are now witnessing is extremely worrying,” said one of the paper’s lead authors, Professor Euan Nisbet of Royal Holloway, University of London. “It is particularly alarming because we are still not sure why atmospheric methane levels are rising across the planet.”

Methane is said to be produced by cattle, and also comes from decaying vegetation, fires, coal mines and natural gas plants. It is many times more potent as a cause of atmospheric warming than carbon dioxide (CO2). However, it breaks down much more quickly than CO2 and is found at much lower levels in the atmosphere.

During much of the 20th century, levels of methane, mostly from fossil fuel sources, increased in the atmosphere but, by the beginning of the 21st century, it had stabilised, said Nisbet. “Then, to our surprise, levels starting rising in 2007. That increase began to accelerate after 2014 and fast growth has continued.”

According to the article, studies suggest these increases are more likely to be mainly biological in origin. However, the exact cause remains unclear. Some researchers believe the spread of intense farming in Africa may be involved, in particular in tropical regions where conditions are becoming warmer and wetter because of climate change. Rising numbers of cattle – as well as wetter and warmer swamps – are producing more and more methane, it is argued.

This idea is now being studied in detail by a consortium led by Nisbet, whose work is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council. This month the consortium completed a series of flights over Uganda and Zambia to collect samples of the air above these countries.

“We have only just started analysing our data but have already found evidence that a great plume of methane now rises above the wetland swamps of Lake Bangweul in Zambia,” Nisbet was quoted as saying.

However, other scientists reportedly warned that there could be a more sinister factor at work: Natural chemicals in the atmosphere – which help to break down methane – may be changing because of temperature rises, causing it to lose its ability to deal with the gas.

Our world could therefore be losing its power to cleanse pollutants because it is heating up, a climate feedback in which warming allows more greenhouse gases to linger in the atmosphere and so trigger even more warming.

According to the article, it was assumed, in Paris, that dealing with methane levels in the atmosphere would be relatively easy.

In 2016, in Paris, it said nations agreed to cooperate to hold global temperature rises to 2C above preindustrial levels and, if possible, to keep that rise to under 1.5C. It was recognised that achieving this goal – mainly by curbing emissions of CO2 from fossil fuels – would always be difficult to achieve. Accelerating increases in a different greenhouse gas, methane, means that this task is going to be much, much harder.

This point is said to have been supported by Martin Manning of Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. “Methane is the gas … that keeps us to a 2C rise in global temperatures. And even more significantly, we do not really know why.”

If nothing can be done about this, he reportedly added, then even more cuts will have to be made in CO2 emissions. Continued increases in methane levels will only make this situation worse.

This point was reportedly backed by Nisbet. “It was assumed, at the time of the Paris, agreement, that reducing the amount of methane in the atmosphere would be relatively easy and that the hard work would involve cutting CO2 emissions.

“However, that does not look so simple any more. We don’t know exactly what is happening.

“Perhaps emissions are growing or perhaps the problem is due to the fact that our atmosphere is losing its ability to break down methane.

“Either way we are facing a very worrying problem. That is why it is so important that we unravel what is going on – as soon as possible.”

Joseph Issa Chairman of Cool Group, Warns Against Complacency During This 2014 Hurricane Season

I n the midst of the 2014 pre-hurricane season (before June) Chairman of Cool Group of companies Joseph J. Issa, says Jamaicans should stop being complacent in their preparations for the annual hurricane season and calls on them to start planning for this year’s weather systems starting June 1 and ending November 30.

Joseph “Joey” Issa Founder Cool Group of Companies

Also at this time, mid-way in the pre-season Jamaica’s Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) is warning everyone including businesses to start preparing now. Its website is calling on everyone to seek knowledge on how to prepare for the hurricane season including businesses.

The website cited as critical an emergency contact list with 24-hour telephone numbers of essential employees and official response agencies, identification and security of vital documents and files, determination of responsibility for maintenance of the facility covering aspects such as needed repairs to roofs and windows, emergency lighting, essential supplies and First Aid training.

“Every year Jamaicans tend to wait for a hurricane to approach before they start taking measures to protect their lives and property with devastating consequences,” Joe Issa states, noting, “Last year the country was spared but it may not be as lucky this year even if a quiet season has been predicted for 2014.”

In Tyler Stanfield’s WunderBlog: The 2014 Hurricane season: What to Expect/Weather Underground, the noted forecaster states that there are conditions that hinder or enhance the development of hurricanes citing the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) as the biggest hindrance, limiting the amount of hurricanes and major hurricanes.

“With the increasing odds of an El Nino event developing by the peak of the 2014 hurricane season, unfavorable conditions will likely plague the storms of the Atlantic basin from start to finish. This will cause a limited amount of hurricanes and major hurricanes to develop during the season and decrease the likelihood of a hurricane landfall.

“Along with the anticipation of a quieter, below average season the overall lack of above average surface temperatures in the deep tropics, increased trade winds and low instability will likely be a large factor in less storms being capable of intensifying and becoming hurricanes and major hurricanes,” Stanfield says in the February 2014 outlook in which he predicted 10 named storms, three hurricanes and one major hurricane.

However, Stanfield warns, “You should not keep your guard down. An inactive hurricane season can just as easily have a major hurricane make landfall as much as any other season and this forecast should not be taken as a reason to write off the season. It only takes one to make a quiet season a bad season.”

Noting that it’s not only the big weather systems that cause massive damage, Joey recalls: “Last year while Jamaicans were napping waiting for the big hurricane to approach before they start to plan for it, they were caught off-guard by a lowly category 1 Hurricane Sandy which caused widespread damage,” stating, “It is this experience I hope will finally prompt them to take early action to minimize hardships this hurricane season; the experience of Hurricane Gilbert should have done that.”

“We need to act on many fronts simultaneously; we have to establish mandatory evacuation legislation and the associated penalties, develop the monitoring capabilities to stamp out construction in unsafe areas and stop the breaches of the building code and the flagrant littering of gullies and drains,” Joey states.

Posted on the ODPEM website, a January article quoted Acting Director General of ODPEM, Richard Thompson, as saying that Gilbert was for Jamaica a turning point.

“We have 947 communities in Jamaica and over 300 are considered highly vulnerable. There is a need to have no-build zones and we are looking at that,” he told the Jamaica Observer newspaper.

On the issue of mandatory evacuation Thompson said this was being discussed, while noting that due to a number of legal implications “it might be easier to maintain a compulsory evacuation regime.”

According to the website, Hurricaneville, some of the most notable hurricanes recorded since Jamaica’s independence in 1962 include: Flora on October 5-7, 1963; Allen on August 4-7, 1980; and the infamous Gilbert on September 12, 1988 which left 25 per cent of the population homeless, almost every home without electricity and 45 people dead.

Executive Director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), Ronald Jackson, was also quoted in the Jamaica Observer article as saying that Jamaicans at the time of Hurricane Gilbert had probably used their experience of weather systems such as what was then called the ’51 storm’ (Charlie) and others to pre-judge what Gilbert would have brought only to be caught by surprise.

“By the time Gilbert would have come around there was a sense of complacency in our population that they just did not believe Jamaica could have been impacted and that was reflected not just in terms of the way people responded to that event but the whole culture of government, of our sectors and of our businesses; there was not a risk management culture in 1988,” he said, noting, “That behavior, however, might mostly be Gone with the Wind.”

“If we look at today’s Jamaica we see where more and more individuals are seeking out knowledge about how to be ready for these events; you would have seen improvements certainly in terms of roof construction and the securing of roofs, not that it is at the level where it should be but it is far advanced,” Jackson pointed out.

India To Show How To Send Man Into Space Cheaply, Successfully

Science enthusiast Joe Issa is upbeat about India’s latest space project, stating it is a landmark initiative that could help develop India and make it more competitive.

“Sending man into space is a prestigious thing and sets you apart in the league of nations. It defines your capability and makes you a country of choice for investing and doing business.

“It’s like joining the big boys club and showing them you are on par with them and can even show them a thing or two on how to do things more cheaply and successfully.

“I think this is a landmark initiative that could benefit India tremendously. It could create employment and business opportunities and grow the economy.

“Among the many benefits that could accrue to India is increased demand from other countries to launch their satellites,” said Issa, whose retail conglomerate Cool Corp is being leveraged globally, including India.

Issa adds: “It’s interesting that what took the United States $110 billion and China over $2.3 billion to achieve, India is planning to do so with just $1.4 billion.”

Issa was commenting on an AFP report that India is to send a three-member team into space for up to a week when it launches its first manned mission expected in 2022.

It cited a recent government announcement that Indian ministers have approved $1.4 billion to provide technology and infrastructure for the programme.

The sum would make India’s one of the cheapest manned space programs, stepping up its space rivalry with China. But the statement said India also hopes to take part in “global” space projects.

India will become the fourth nation after Russia, the United States and China to send a manned mission into space, the report said.

Ministers approved financing to launch an Indian-developed craft into a “low earth orbit” for a duration ranging from one orbital period to a maximum of seven days, the statement reportedly said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in August that India would launch a manned space flight by 2022 with at least one astronaut but the cabinet had not yet approved the project.

There will be two unmanned and one manned flights to launch the Gaganyaan (Sky-Vehicle) Programme, the government statement reportedly said, without giving a date for the blast off, except that it would take place within 40 months.

Modi has reportedly hailed the national space programme as a prestige project.

The government has stated that space flights will boost the economy, generate jobs and enhance capabilities in areas such as medicine, agriculture and fighting pollution.

A successful manned mission would allow India to become a “collaborating partner in future global space exploration initiatives with long term national benefits,” said the statement.

The country has reportedly invested heavily in its space programme in the past decade.

The Indian Space Research Organisation reportedly announced in July that it planned to send an unmanned mission to the moon in 2019.

India is said to have launched an orbiter to Mars in 2013 which is still operational and last year launched a record 104 satellites in one blast-off.

The article said New Delhi is competing with other international players for a greater share of the satellite market, and hopes its low-cost space programme will give it an edge.

China reportedly put its first humans into space in 2003 but its Shenzhou programme cost more than $2.3 billion.

It quoted experts saying that the United States spent the equivalent of about $110 billion at current values on preparatory flights and the mission to put the first man on the moon in 1969.

India shows the world how even a manned space flight can be done economically and yet safe, the article said.

One of the astronauts, when asked about the cramped conditions on the crew capsule, reportedly said “At least it would be less crowded than New Delhi.”

Joe Issa Says Jamaica Could Be A Leader In Sustainable Prosperity

Successful business leader Joe Issa who is believed to be a critical thinker, is considering redefining the way we look at prosperity that would make Jamaica more sustainably prosperous than it is by traditional measurements.

“I think Jamaica is more prosperous than the traditional measurements give it credit for and that’s because it is inherently bias in favor of the developed North, who are the colonizers of the developing South.

Joe Issa interacting with Cool Corp team members

“So we are consistently and unfairly being put lower down the ranking because they have a mighty GDP per capita which they use to measure everyone against them, without regard to the fact that they got rich by exploiting the resources of the South.

“Therefore, in order to tip the scale a little in favor of the South, including Jamaica, instead of just using income per head of population as the only determinant of prosperity, I suggest we take into account a number of other factors that speak to the responsibility of a country to not abuse the earth’s resources and the commitment to remain sustainable for its citizens. In this case we are talking about exploitation of resources and carbon emission – now that we know for sure it is causing global warming.

“In addition to losing weight for carbon footprint, weight could also be gained for efforts to reduce carbon footprint, such as replacing fossil fuel with renewable energy. That would be good points for Jamaica’s programme to replace 40% of its energy  needs with renewables by 2040 and make the country more energy resilient,” said Issa.

He adds: “In terms of the dollar value in all this, I imagine one could simply determine the cost of the carbon cut that is needed in order to keep temperature rise to 1.5 – 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, as was agreed at the 2015 Climate Change Conference in Paris, and which is on the table for implementation at this year’s conference now under way in Poland.

“In addition, we could also take into account a determined sum [of money] that would represent the value of the physical and human resources that were exploited and charge it to the offending nations, so it reduces the size of the countries’ income per capita.

“When you factor in all this, all of a sudden the picture changes. The developing nations gain weight vis-a-vis the developed countries and this shows up in their higher ranking closer to the top than had ever imagined. That to me is a better and fairer way of ranking a country’s prosperity; not simply by the size of its GDP.”

According to  a Guardian article, recent years have brought a proliferation of rankings claiming to move away from the obsession with gross domestic product to a more nuanced understanding of prosperity.

This trend is believed to have started with the UN’s human development index, which takes account of life expectancy and education and has grown to include parallel measures such as the world happiness report (another UN publication) and initiatives like the Legatum Institute’s prosperity index and the social progress imperative.

Each of these is said to have merit, and there’s much to be commended in assessing the impact of healthcare, education, the rule of law and personal and media freedom.

But there’s a serious problem in seeing our world in this way, according to the report on global development supported by the Bill and Belinda Gates Foundation. It cites an uncomfortably close correlation between these supposedly more sophisticated measures and old-fashioned GDP.

Perhaps more troubling it says, in the context of a planet threatened by climate change, is the reinforcement of a belief that some countries have “made it”, while others need to catch up.

The development model followed by countries in the global north in the 19th and 20th centuries is said to have been completely out of step with our modern understanding of planetary constraints: an industrial transformation based on massive exploitation of natural resources and people. Through colonialism, it also involved institutionalized racism and the deliberate impoverishment of the global south, noting, that legacy remains.

So ranking systems that place (largely white) European, north American and Antipodean countries at the top, and Asian and African countries at the bottom, inevitably have a whiff of neo-colonialism, it said.

Continuing, it said they confirm what we know: there are deep and enduring inequalities in our world that reflect past power dynamics. But they also guide our present-day perceptions. They encourage us to see some nations as “advanced” and others as “backward” on the single, pre-ordained path of “development”.

It said the new breed of international rankings can highlight jarring contradictions. citing, for example, the latest Legatum prosperity index which claims that global prosperity is at a historic high, while simultaneously noting that the number of people who have reported struggling to buy food at some point in the year has risen from 25% to 33.3% in a decade.

In truth, it said, many of the world’s most “prosperous” countries are its least sustainable. Since the 70s, humanity has been in “ecological overshoot”, with annual demand on resources exceeding what the Earth can regenerate each year.

It stated that today, humanity uses the equivalent of 1.7 Earths to provide the resources we use. This applies to the vast majority of today’s wealthy countries. Even nations like Norway, with an apparent ecological surplus thanks to widespread use of renewables at home, mask their true carbon footprint by exporting fossil fuels to be burned elsewhere – in so doing, helping to enhance their own prosperity further.

Gender Equality Advocate Says New Study Could Make Movie Making More Inclusive, Urges More Women Participation

Encouraged by a study which found that films with female leads that pass the Bechdel test did better than male-led equivalents at every budget level, Champion for gender equality Joe Issa is urging more women to enter traditional male-dominated professions.

“I think the study should encourage more women to enter the male-dominated profession both in front and behind the camera. It should also inform the decisions of movie executives and help remove the stigma that women are a risk in a male-dominated world,” said Issa.

Frozen 2004

The report, which is compiled by media research agency Shift7 in collaboration with leading agency CAA, assessed the revenue for 350 high-grossing films released between 2014 and 2017, and found that the average results for female-led films did best, at every budget level.

CAA agent Christy Haubegger reportedly said in a statement: “Women comprise half the box office, yet there has been an assumption in the industry that female-led films were generally less successful. We found that the data does not support that assumption.”

In reinforcing the findings, the report also reportedly analysed films that passed the Bechdel test – the informal measure that records if female characters interact and have agency in films independent of male characters.

The report reportedly concluded that, again, Bechdel test-passing films also outperformed those that failed. These included all the films that passed $1 billion at the global box office in the time period (though not all are female-led), including three Star Wars films (The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and Rogue One), Beauty and the Beast and Finding Dory. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey from 2012 was the last $1 billion-plus film not to pass the Bechdel test.

Amy Pascal, former head of Sony Pictures, reportedly said: “This is powerful proof that audiences want to see everyone represented on screen … Decision-makers in Hollywood need to pay attention to this.”

Producer Liza Chasin is said to have added: “The Bechdel test is a low bar to clear, and it’s surprising how many movies don’t clear it. Understandably, the studios think about the bottom line, so it’s great to see a growing body of data that should make it easier for executives to make more inclusive decisions.”

The Bechdel test (/ˈbɛkdəl/ BEK-dəl) is a measure of the representation of women in fiction. It asks whether a work features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. The requirement that the two women must be named is sometimes added.

Sometimes called the Mo Movie Measure or Bechdel Rule, the test was popularized by Alison Bechdel’s comic Dykes to Watch Out For, in a 1985 strip called The Rule.

It sounds like a simple enough request that all movies should be able to pass with flying colors, but a surprising number fall flat. (The entire original Star Wars trilogy, for one, only contains three female characters — and none of them ever say a word to each other.)

Many films are said to have passed the Bechdel Test and they include classic movies like Mean Girls, Bring It On, The Princess Diaries, Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Titanic and Frozen.

Some Blockbuster films that fail the Bechdel Test are The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001, 2002, 2003), Ratatouille (2007), Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Avatar (2009), The Social Network (2010), 21 Jump Street (2012), The Avengers (2013), and The Imitation Game (2014).

Beware of Hackers This Christmas: Joe Issa Urges Caution When Creating Passwords, Shares Instructive

Technology savvy Joe Issa is warning that hackers are on the prowl this Christmas for Internet users unwittingly creating certain passwords, and shares an intuitive story.

“It’s a very informative article. I for one always use a password manager when creating one. I learnt early to avoid some passwords but was amazed at the extent of the list. I think everyone should read it for their own good,” said Issa.

SplashData CEO Morgan Slain    

Issa was referencing a Yahoo News article, which found that there are passwords that make it easier to hack than others and that using one of the worst passwords of 2018 is a great way to get hacked.

It said “no matter how much we read about hacks and data breaches and the importance of taking solid security precautions, one of the unchangeable truths of the world is that people on average are absolutely terrible when it comes to choosing passwords. We use the same ones over and over, to the delight of hackers, and the ones we come up with tend to be pathetically easy so that we’re able to remember them.”

It cited SplashData, which is said to be out with its eighth annual compilation of the Worst Passwords of the Year, a ranking it produces after evaluating more than 5 million passwords that have been leaked on the Internet.

According to SplashData, if you use any of these passwords, we can’t stress this enough, saying, anyone using any of these passwords is putting themselves “at substantial risk of being hacked and having their identities stolen.”

SplashData reportedly noted about this list, that this year was the fifth straight year that saw these passwords in the Number 1 and 2 spots for being the absolute worst: “123456,” and “password.” It said the five worst passwords after those two are just numerical strings.

A provider of password management applications TeamsID, Gpass, and SplashID, SplashData assures that “our hope by publishing this list each year is to convince people to take steps to protect themselves online.”

SplashData CEO Morgan Slain said, “It’s a real head-scratcher that with all the risks known, and with so many highly publicized hacks such as Marriott and the National Republican Congressional Committee, that people continue putting themselves at such risk year-after-year.”

SplashData’s “Worst Passwords of 2018” list include 123456, password, 123456789, 12345678,  12345, 111111, 1234567, sunshine, qwerty, iloveyou, princess, admin, welcome, 666666, abc123, football, 123123, monkey, 654321, !@#$%^&*, charlie, aa123456, donald, password1, and qwerty123.

It reportedly estimates that almost 10% of people have used at least one of these 25 passwords and that some 3% of people have used the worst password, 123456.

In this regard SplashData shares some tips on how to be better at password security. It said use passphrases of twelve characters or more with mixed types of characters and use a different password for each of your logins, that way, if a hacker gets access to one of your passwords, they will not be able to use it to access other sites.

SplashData also advises to “protect your assets and personal identity by using a password manager to organize passwords, generate secure random passwords, and automatically log into websites.”

SplashData is said to be a leading provider of security applications and services for over 10 years. The company’s secure password and record management solution SplashID Safe has over 1 million individual users worldwide as well as hundreds of business and enterprise clients. SplashData was founded in 2000 and is based in Los Gatos, CA.

According to its website, CEO Slain is an expert on password management and identity protection and is regularly quoted in mainstream and tech media.

SplashData CEO since 2006, Slain has over 20 years of experience in technology, 17 years in web and mobile. He is a prior executive at MDM/Quickoffice (acquired by Google), Palm, and The Walt Disney Studios. He is a nonprofit leader, volunteer and town commissioner. He has an MA and BA (Honors) from Stanford University

Joe Issa Renews Call to Cut Global Warming

Last year at this time one of Jamaica largest indigenous petroleum dealers, Joe Issa, was urging world leaders ahead of COP 21 Paris Conference to reduce global warming.

Issa’s call came amid fears of imminent catastrophe in Jamaica by the end of this century if global warming was kept at the 2 oC above pre-industrial levels agreed upon by the leaders, urging those responsible to increase their carbon-cutting pledges sufficiently to reduce global warming to 1.5 oC.

Joseph “Joey” Issa Founder Cool Group of Companies

A year later, with news that global warming is reducing world gross domestic product (GDP) by 1.22 per cent with warming of just one degree Celsius, Issa has renewed his call for the protection of the economy and people of low-lying countries such as Jamaica.]

According to experts, the impact of hurricanes and other weather systems on the economy of Jamaica as a result of global warming has already been severe, fuelling greater concerns for the future.

Echoing Issa’s concern is Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation Daryl Vaz, who spoke at a recent meeting of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

“We do know that any major shifts in weather severity and patterns could mean a significant loss of Gross Domestic Product for Jamaica, and indeed we are no strangers to this.”

Issa’s fears are supported by an Inter-American Development Bank report on Jamaica’s Catastrophe Risk Profile, which said “the island is at risk of losing US$105 million annually due to hurricanes and other extreme weather events.”
It said that “as far back as 2006, Jamaica recorded a 7.3 per cent loss to GDP as a result of the impacts of climate change.”

Like Issa, Minister Vaz calls for action: “We cannot sit by and allow climate change to derail our progress, and so we remain committed to the goals of the Paris Agreement.”

Experts warn that the current rate of global warming is already causing impacts beyond the current adaptive capacity of many countries, particularly Small Island Developing States (SIDS) such as Jamaica.”

Minister Vaz said “even with the Paris Agreement’s provision to limit global warming to an initial 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial figures, significant residual impacts and losses are predicted,” the Jamaica Observer reported.

The IPCC is a team of heavyweight consultants formed to assess the science related to climate change.

The team includes Grard Alleng, Senior Expert Climate Change Inter-American Development Bank; Dr Hoesung Lee, Chairman of IPCC; Daryl Vaz, Minister Without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation; Professor Dale Webber, Pro Vice- Chancellor, UWI; and Lt Col (ret’d) Oral Khan, Chief Technical Director, Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation.