> MH, > > Thanks, I cannot spend to much time reading at the > moment (one eyed with pain).
Your welcome and thank you for this interesting thread and the spin-off. I'm hoping your recovery is quick. > It makes sense if > traditional is basically equal to some renewable. No > wonder that Sweden was warned for having > "unbalanced" markets. Being the 11th industrial > nation. it must worry the oil interests. Do you or others have a link for this ranking ?? > Sweden still have a long way to go with biofuels > for transport. > > The number for Brazil is very interesting, because > hydropower is not included in traditional. It means > that Brazil with around 35% hydro, have more than > 60% of its energy use from renewable. I think it would be interesting learning more. > The democratization of the world was also positive > and this with without "shock and awe" liberation > methods. I think that the improvement from 1985 > to 2002 mirror the fall of Soviet Union. > > Hakan I was thinking the same. Some other information we, as a group, might find interesting. Quotable Facts -- http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2002/en/knowthat/default.cfm Human development trends ð The very rich OECD countries have very similar Human Development Index (HDI) values. Yet their levels of human poverty, as measured by the Human Poverty Index (HPI-2) vary widely ö from 6.8% in Sweden to 15.8% in the United States. ð Among the 73 countries with data (and 80% of the world`s people), 48 have seen inequality increase since the 1950s, 16 have experienced no change and only 9 ö with just 4% of the worldâs people ö have seen a fall. ð In 1999, 2.8 billion people lived on less than $2 a day, with 1.2 billion of them barely surviving on the margins of subsistence with less than $1 a day. [more] Trends in political participation and democracy around the world ð There have been great improvements in human political and civil rights: since 1980, 81 countries have taken significant steps in democratization, with 33 military regimes replaced by civilian governments. 81 countries have taken steps toward democratization in the last quarter century, but only 47 of these are considered full democracies today. ð Gallup Internationalâs Millennium Survey asked more than 50,000 people in 60 countries, ãWould you say that your country is governed by the will of the people?ä Less than a third said yes. The survey also asked, ãDoes government respond to the will of the people?ä Only 10% said that it did. ð 106 governments still restrict many civil and political freedoms. ð With just two exceptions, all the richest countries of the world÷countries with per capita income above $20,000 (in 2000 purchasing power parity US$)÷have democratic regimes, and 42 of the 48 high human development countries are democracies. ð Dictatorships are more prone to violent upheavals than democracies, experiencing a war every 12 years, on average, compared with every 21 years in democracies. [more] Democratic deficits and innovations ð In the United States the turnout of registered voters in presidential elections fell from 96% in 1960 to 51% in 2000, and in the United Kingdom from 78% in 1992 to 59% in 2001. ð In 103 countries the proportion of women in parliament increased between 1995 and 2000, but around the world it still averages just 14%. (p 71) ð Quotas are used in all 11 countries that have achieved more than 30% representation by women, from Sweden and other Nordic countries to Argentina- the first Latin American country to introduce a quota, in 1991- to Mozambique. (box 3.4) ð One critical problem is money in politics, which subverts democratic institutions when it exerts undue influence on who gets elected and what legislators vote for. In the 2000 U.S. elections cycle, corporations gave $1.2 billion in political contributions. [more] Democratizing the armed forces and the police ð With 53 major armed internal conflicts in the 1990s resulting in an estimated 3.6 million deaths (mostly civilians), it is easy to understand why some people may favour a despotic peace over no peace at all. ð During the 20th century ãdeaths by governmentä or ãdemocidesä÷ through direct violence or gross negligence in major disasters÷were estimated at 170 million people, far higher than the number of deaths in wars. [more] Imperatives for deepening democracy at the global level ð The worst plague in the human history is AIDS: its death toll surpasses that of the bubonic plague in Europe during the Middle Ages. [more] _____________________________ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Make Money Online Auctions! Make $500.00 or We Will Give You Thirty Dollars for Trying! http://us.click.yahoo.com/yMx78A/fNtFAA/i5gGAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
