In The News

Microsoft to Build Planetary Computer: CBR

Ed Targett April 19, 2020
Microsoft is launching a program, Planetary Computer, to aggregate environmental data – mapping trillions of data points to monitor the Earth’s biodiversity, water tables, forestry data, carbon and waste to provide a searchable dataset. “The move is the company’s latest major environmental push, after promising in January to become “carbon negative” by the end of this decade,” reports Ed Targett...

Plan for Future Nobody Can Plan For: Forbes

Alisa Cohn April 18, 2020
The world faces common challenges in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and reopening economies. Executive coach Alisa Cohen urges business and community leaders to develop plans that can handle uncertainty. This requires collecting information and data from diverse sources, being ready for constant changes and the ability to make swift adjustments, perceiving and accepting reality and...

Lives Versus Livelihoods: Japan Times

Gwynne Dyer April 17, 2020
COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan, China, and China imposed strict lockdown measures for 70 days. The city has reopened with officials screening temperatures and citizen movements. Other nations, especially the United States, hope to reopen economies after 30 days of lockdown isolation with less stringent measures. “Everybody knows that you can’t shut the economy down indefinitely, but nobody wants to...

COVID-19 and Nature? Project Syndicate

Robert Skidelsky April 17, 2020
Initial news reports on the COVID-19 pandemic focus on prevention, case totals and economic impact. Attention could soon turn to the crowding, lack of biodiversity and climate change that allows pathogens to emerge and spread around dense communities and a human population that approaches 8 billion. Some public health analysts contend that the world can anticipate more epidemics due to...

COVID-19 Reshuffling the Global Power Deck? PRI

Indra Ekmanis April 16, 2020
In confronting the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries quickly abandoned international cooperation and leadership traditions. “A global response is critical to tackling the challenges posed by the virus – from sharing data that accurately models the crisis, to collaborating on a vaccine and its equitable distribution,” suggested Nicholas Burns, former US ambassador to NATO during an interview with...

Trade May Decline by a Third: WTO

Philip Blenkinsop, April 15, 2020
The economic downturn from the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts supply chains and could reduce trade by up to a third. The World Trade Organization predicts a range between 13 and 32 percent, “a wide range because so much about the economic impact of the health crisis was uncertain,” reports Philip Blenkinsop for the World Economic Forum and Reuters. At the height of the 2009 debt crisis, trade dropped...

Nasty Competition for COVID-19 Gear: Speigel

Marian Blasberg, Georg Fahrion, Alexander Sarovic and Fritz Schaap April 15, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed government officials at all levels to place big orders for medical protective gear. Then suppliers cancel orders after the US president implemented the Defense Production Act, allowing the US government to commandeer supply chains, even convincing Chinese manufacturers to cancel contracts for products already paid for by other customers. “The World Trade Organization...