A little update on what I have been up to and what happens now...

You may have noticed that things have been a little quiet on APEsphere these last couple of months. I am now able to explain why.

It has long been my view that the global financial crisis is the single biggest responsible business issue of the decade. Yes, even bigger than climate change, because thanks to the global financial crisis efforts to address climate change have been badly set back.

While regulatory reform - specifically a reversal of the deregulatory fervor fo the last thirty years - is clearly needed, what strikes me is the way we talk about the crisis in such abstract terms. It is so standard to talk about what the markets did, or even "the banks", and to talk in aggregate terms about unemployment, foreclosure, bankruptcy.

Of course, those statistics are always worth repeating:

• an increase in the number of people around the world in chronic hunger and poverty by over 100 million, to 1.02 billion;
• between 200,000 and 400,000 more babies could die each year between now and 2015 if the crisis persists;
• an increase in global unemployment by between 29 million and 59 million people;
• one in eight US mortgage borrowers is behind on mortgage payments or facing foreclosure at the end of the second quarter 2009;
• pensioners relying on developed country stock market returns for their retirement incomes have seen their savings fall by 45%.

Not to mention the fact that the crisis is associated with a sharp uptick in mental health problems and suicide rates, children being pulled out of schools and put to work, increases in human trafficking, social unrest and violent conflict.

But all this talk of aggregates repeats part of the problem that got us into this mess in the first place. Aggregates create emotional distance. They enable us to forget that the crisis both impacts and was brought about by individuals.

So Kelsey Timmerman and I are about to set out on a journey to tell some of the personal stories behind the numbers - our very own Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Our blog, NOTHING P€R$ONAL, will be the main means by which we keep readers updated on our travels, though I will also post some of those stories here on APEsphere.

Kelsey has penned the first post here, explaining why this project is so personal. You can also join the conversation through our twitter stream @0_personal.

If coverage of the financial crisis seems to you to be missing something important, we hope this blog will fill the void. Enjoy.

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Just premiered in Venice...

UPDATE: The Guardian's review is here.

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I was intrigued to see this news article on the BBC website this morning: WHO warns against homeopathy use.

Quickly, throw open the door of your medicine cabinet and eject all those little white homeopathic tabs; the World Health Organization after careful consideration reflecting its singular position of authority has clearly at last come down firmly on the side of homeopath sceptics.

Except that is not really what the article says.

Firstly the article is not talking about homeopathy in general but is instead focused on the problem of homeopathic remedies being promoted as primary medication for developing world sufferers of TB, infant diarrhoea, influenza, malaria and HIV. Not even the Royal Homeopathic Hospital in London agrees with reliance on homeopathic remedies for such conditions, according to a comment by Dr Robert Hagan - a St Andrews University researcher quoted in the BBC article.

I am not particularly convinced that homeopathy works, and so I agree with the assertion that people with HIV, TB and the like should not RELY on homeopathy at the expense of readily available conventional medicine.

Even so, I detect more than the passing hand of the pharmaceutical industry behind this article.

The letter to the WHO by the young doctors concerned reliance on homeopathy at the expense of conventional medicine, but the headline suggests that the WHO has come out completely against the use of homeopathic treatments, full stop. The headline is sensationalist and incorrect in the breadth of its assertion.

Secondly, the article ignores the problem of access to conventional medicine even though it is focused on the developing world where the problem of the prohibitive cost of drugs is well documented. Homeopathy may be little more than a placebo for all I know, but better that in desperate situations where the patient has little hope of being able to get something that actually works.

The primary source for the story is Sense About Science which, a small amount of googling reveals, is a pharmaceutical industry-funded astroturfing unit whose main aim would indeed have been to get a headline suggesting incorrectly that the WHO has come down firmly against treatments competing with pharmaceutical drugs.

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Paranoia strikes deep in the heartland
But I think it's all overdone
Exaggerating this and exaggerating that
They don't have no fun

Paul Simon, "Have a good time"

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The Japanese car manufacturer Nissan aims to mass produce electric cars by 2012 with an emphasis on affordability.

It will be releasing its first electric car in Japen later this summer, and in the USA in 2010. The target date for global mass production is 2012.

Nissan is Japan's third biggest car maker. Their EV prototype is discussed in more detail here.

The race is clearly on to produce fully electric cars for the mass market, with Tesla, Toyota and China's Dongfeng Motor Corp all pushing ahead with plans.

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It would appear that the food industry knows precisely how to undermine even the most self-aware person's impulse control, by manufacturing food that contains exactly the right combination of sugar, fat, and salt to hit a preset "bliss point" in our brains.  So says Dr. David A. Kessler, in his new book "The End of Overeating." The former head of the FDA spent years fighting the tobacco industry, accusing it of deliberately manipulating nicotine levels in cigarettes to make them more addictive.  Now Kessler has turned his attention to the food industry:

"In “The End of Overeating,” Dr. Kessler finds some similarities [to tobacco] in the food industry, which has combined and created foods in a way that taps into our brain circuitry and stimulates our desire for more.

When it comes to stimulating our brains, Dr. Kessler noted, individual ingredients aren’t particularly potent. But by combining fats, sugar and salt in innumerable ways, food makers have essentially tapped into the brain’s reward system, creating a feedback loop that stimulates our desire to eat and leaves us wanting more and more even when we’re full."

This explains a number of things for me, for instance, why so many processed foods contain sugar, even where you'd never expect to find it.  It also explains why it's so much easier not to buy the Doritos in the first place than it is to buy them, bring them home, and not pig out on them. 

I don't think there's any way to regulate this aspect of the food industry--how do you tell an industry they're not allowed to make their product as appealing as possible?  Tobacco is a little different; it has been demonstrated to have extreme health risks with zero benefits.  But food, well, even if the food in question is unmitigated crap, it's hard to seriously argue for some sort of food police who will determine which foods are nutritionally acceptable.  So it appears that the only way to counter the chemically-engineered assault of the food industry is through consumer education about salt, fat, sugar, and neurobiology.

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The Congressional Budget Office review of the cost to consumers of proposed climate change legislation shows a cost much lower than GOP talking points.

Republicans including GOP House leader John Boehner have quoted an increase in annual energy costs per householdas high as $3,128 by 2015, and the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation took the bidding up as high as $4,300 per annum.

The CBO - a non-partisan office - arrived at the figure of $175 for an average household by 2020.

Republicans insist the CBO figure does not attach enough weight to the export of jobs abroad to countries that do not cap their emissions.

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From kitchen utensils to reclining chairs, a Scripps Howard News Service investigation has identified thousands of contaminated consumer products.

The actual quantity of products affected is unknown due to what the news service terms "haphazard screening, an absence of oversight and substantial disincentives for businesses to report contamination".

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Arthur Frommer isn't happy with the press his latest book has been getting.  Reviews, though positive, seem to have left out the most important points.  "Ask Arthur Frommer: & Travel Better, Cheaper, Smarter," is, according to the author, a survey of his political and ethical views of what travel should be, as well as a practical guide to travel savvy.  So he's written an essay, an unabashed self-review, outlining what all the book reviewers have missed.

Here are Frommer's top 10, very good arguments:

(1) The urgent need for longer American vacations, guaranteed by law. We are the only prosperous country to lack such humane requirements, and the book pleads with the public to support congressional action to mandate at least - at least - three weeks per year of paid leave for every person.

(2) The right to travel, in peacetime, to wherever we wish. The book argues that travel is a First Amendment right, a learning activity; that the federal government has no more right to prohibit travel to a particular country than it has to stop us from attending a lecture or reading a book.

(3) The right of a travel writer to criticize travel establishments without being sued for libel. Several disquieting court actions in other countries are frightening examples of what could happen here.

(4) The immense expansion of Amtrak. To reduce our dependence on foreign oil, to improve our quality of life, we need a broad network of speedy trains. The recent allotments of economic-stimulus monies to high-speed rail is a start that must be duplicated by still more appropriations in the years to come.

(5) Greatly increased support for our National Parks, which are now suffering from inadequate financing in previous years. Fierce opposition to commercialization of the parks (Coca-Cola signs at the entrance to Yellowstone?).

(6) A limitation on the unnecessary operation of corporate jets, placing burdens on our already-overcrowded skies.

(7) An Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights, preventing airlines from stranding passengers on the tarmac for four hours and more.

(8) A start on assisting travel and tourism for the poor, including low-income-based reductions of the cost of Amtrak tickets and admission to public museums.

(9) An end to the mistreatment of foreign tourists to the United States, eliminating thoughtless and unnecessary barriers to incoming travel and discourteous treatment of such visitors by our customs officials.

(10) Correcting the failure by the Department of Transportation to devote adequate resources to dealing with deceptive advertising of travel (omission of key expenses and fees) by airlines, tour operators and others.

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A very good new site, Locavore Network, is building a national US database of local food producers to aid consumers in their growing quest for fresh, seasonal, local food, and to aid small farmers in promoting their produce in 21st Century style. 

It's not just about vegetables: the database includes producers of wine and meat, too.    The site also features user forums, classified ads, and blogs, and is actively soliciting correspondants and information about local food growers from around the country.   

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