Sunday, July 22, 2007

Psychologist wins world poker championships:

Jerry Yang, a 29 year-old psychologist and social worker who works for a fostering agency, has won a cool $8.25 million at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Yang put some of his success down to his training in psychology, but do psychologists make better poker players?

From Mind Hacks

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Western consumption may cause famines

The livelihoods of more than three billion people in the world are being undermined by the wealth of the privileged few, said the director of the Stockholm Environment Institute, Johan Rockstroem.

The Stockholm Environment Institute is one of the world's top five research organisations in climate change and it is pushing for a broader dialogue on social and economic change.

From the Herald Sun (Australia)

And from the Stockholm Environment Institute website:

Vacant position as Managing Editor for Climate and Energy Programme

Some 500 politicians, scientists, business leaders and aid workers from 60 countries gathered in a small Swedish forest town

The annual conference is held in the resort village of Taellberg, located 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the Swedish capital of Stockholm.

These folks sure seem to fly around, a lot.

...James Hansen, warned that "we are on the brink of a climate crisis and much closer than we realise. The world has already passed several tipping points in terms of climate change."

...The Taellberg Forum is sometimes criticised as a mere talkfest, since its resolutions are non-binding....

...Hans Joachim Schellnuber, advisor to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and professor at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, said talkfests were a must.

From AFP by way of France24

Here's Thursday's program:

Thursday, 28 June 2007

Morning
Morning exercize

Pre-Forum Sessions

Tällberg New Leaders Program
(for invited participants)

Preparatory session for the Track chairs and moderators

09.00
Nature walk (start from Majstångsplatsen)

10.00
Introduction to carbon simulator tool

12.00
Lunch at hotels

12.45 – 13.45
Warming-up sessions
open conversations after lunch at hotels.

13.45 – 14.40
“Music on the green”
Concert with the choir and orchestra from Leksand’s music school and twin cities (in Estonia, Finland and Norway), Majstångsplatsen by the Forum tent.


15.00
Session I:Opening session of the Tällberg Forum 2007:

Welcome to Tällberg

  • Birgitta Fröstad, Chairperson, Village of Tällberg

Welcome to Dalarna

  • Maria Norrfalk, Governor, County of Dalarna

Welcome to Sweden

  • HRH Princess Victoria, Crown princess of Sweden

Forum keynote:

  • HM Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan

Setting the framework

  • Bo Ekman, Chairman, Tällberg Foundation, Sweden
  • With Nayan Chanda, Editor, Yale Global Online, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, India,
  • Koosum Kalyan, Senior Business Development Advisor, Africa, Shell International, UK,
  • Alexander Crawford, Tällberg Foundation, Sweden,
  • Carl Mossfeldt, Tällberg Foundation, Sweden,
  • Manfred Max-Neef, Rector, Universitad Austral, Chile

What the poets tell us

  • Lena Endre, Actress, Sweden
  • Barbara Hendricks, Musician and President, Barbara Hendricks Foundation for Peace and Reconciliation, Sweden.
    Mathias Algotsson accompanies on the piano.

    Break and refreshments, conversations at small tables

  • Song by Mikael Samuelson

What science tell us – Understand and protect the home planet

  • James Hansen, Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, USA
  • C. S. Kiang, Chairman, Beijing University Environment Fund, China
  • Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director, European Environment Agency, Copenhagen
  • Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Cheif Government Advisor, Germany
  • Chair: Fred Pearce, Author, UK

Introduction to the Carbon Simulator:

  • Peter Senge, Chairman, Society of Organizational Learning, USA

What we must accomplish – will leadership deliver?

  • Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President, Republic of Latvia
  • Ruud Lubbers, Chairman, Supervisory Board of the Netherlands Energy Research Center (ECN), The Netherlands
  • Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UNEP, Nairobi

20.00
Outdoor “Gästabud” at Holen in Tällberg
Fiddlers, raising of the traditional maypole, buffet and festivities