Peace Magazine TableofContent: Table of Content

Table of Content

Forests and Climate Change

Can reforestation help mitigate climate change? Only if it’s done rapidly and sustainably. The opportunity is rapidly closing.

There will be two billion additional people wanting food in 2050. Seaweed will provide many of them with a nutritious diet, and feed the fish too, which will become more plentiful because of it. Try algae today.

The Rise and Fall of Gazprom

Gazprom was so profitable that people said, “When Russia runs out of gas, Gazprom will be able to heat the entire country for another year just by burning its paper money.” No more. Konstantin Samoilov explains why.

Living with Microbes

People and animals produce 5 trillion kg of fecal waste each year. We’re doing a poor job of sanitation, Laura Kahn notes. Fecal waste worsens anti-microbial resistance, makes us sick, contaminates our atmosphere, and worsens climate change. Instead of looking for more ways of curing disease, we should concentrate on prevention.

Road Ahead on Autonomous Weapons

On battlefields, Branka Marijan says, AI decision- support systems are already diminishing human control over targeting. Humans have mere seconds to AI’s suggestions

A Townhall Discusses Student Encampments

Ruth Otim writes that the Gazans are uploading videos showing the devastation around them, so the world is seeing atrocities more than in previous wars.

The Baltic States: Defending Democracy

Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania regard Russia’s attack on Ukraine as evidence that Putin would try to recover their lands too, if not prevented by NATO. Marcus Kolga shows us the mainstream view in all the Baltic countries

Shall We Whiten Clouds?

Our “Cool Thinking” forums consider refreezing the Arctic. A promising way is to spray saltwater into low clouds. This whitens them, so they reflect more sunshine back into space, cooling the ocean below. In this forum, three engineers discuss the plan.

Shall We Try Athenian Democracy?

Until about 200 years ago, “democracy” was understood to mean government by the people, not by elected representatives. Hugh Pope and Metta Spencer talked about how the Athenians made it work – and how citizens’ assemblies do so today.

Do You Understand Carbon Sequestration?

Are you up to speed on global warming proposals? Test yourself on sequestration methods. Then we have a free course for you on Udemy.

Table of Content

Newsworthy

Between the Hammer of War and the Anvil of Natural Disasters

The war in Sudan is killing more people than the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, writes Mutasim Ali.

Stolen Pride

In this transcript of their forum, Arlie Hochschild and Metta Spencer discuss Arlie’s research in Appalachia,
where she went to find out what makes American right wingers tick. It’s partly their sense of wounded pride

War’s Hidden Victim

Ukraine is asking the International Criminal Court to declare Russia guilty of environmental war crimes, notes Alexander Belyakov. If that succeeds, it will be an unprecedented legal achievement.

Saving the Ice

Vinton Cerf, Robert Axelrod, Robert Luebke,and Peter Wadhams discuss a proposal to pump water from under the ice sheets to the top, so glaciers cannot slide so easily off into the ocean as the earth warms.

Monitoring International Treaty Process

Arthur Edelstein has been keeping tabs on whether all countries are signing the international treaties.

Revsiting the ‘Limits to Growth’ Debate

Mark Jaccard and John Feffer discuss an old issue: whether we can allow economic growth in a world of finite resources, and how to plan if we decide not.

Nairobi’s Kibera

Visiting this Kenyan slum, Brendan Collins met a most remarkable social activist, Aquaman, who has created
jobs and access to clean water for his neighbors.

Dethroning King Coal

Fossil fuel-generated electricity has to be replaced soon with renewables, but even a half-way measure, a shift to gas from coal, can save a lot of lives and help the climate.

Russia’s Electricity

Russia is slow in adopting renewable sources of electricity. Konstantin Samoilov advocates a turn to natural gas.

A Nonviolent March through Nova Scotia, Canada

Jill Carr-Harris tells of a 200-kilometer walk for peace led by the Mi’kmaq Grassroots Grandmothers.

Physicists Against the Bomb

Stewart Prager and Roohi Dalal tell us about a new group of physicists to promote abolition of nuclear weapons.

The World Court’s Opinion on Israel’s Occupation

In July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestine illegal, notes Thomas Woodley.

Pleistocene Park

John Bacher reports that the Zimovs believe that the Siberian megafauna were killed off by human hunters with spears.

Exploring Ocean-Based Climate Solutions

Peter Fiekowsky and Kathryn Moran discuss two different ways of removing carbon from the air and sequestering it in oceans.

Lois Wilson

We’ve lost our beloved sponsor, who had headed the United Church and had been a Canadian senator. Bruna Nota will miss their lunches together.

Join us on Substack and Udemy

You can take our course and become a climate change influencer. And you can read about our forums on weekly Substack bulletins.

Table of Content

Newsworthy

Asylum Policy is Foreign Policy

The majority of the world’s refugees are actually hosted in Global South countries bordering the conflict zones. Collectively they have taken in much larger volumes of asylum-seekers than Western nations. Mohamed Ali notes with dismay that Canada’s long-standing pro-immigration consensus has failed when it comes to admitting Afghans who need a safe place to live now.

How They Ended an Arms Race

Yevgeny Velikhov was the most influential scientist in the Soviet Union and Russia before, during, and after the Gorbachev years. Four eminent retired scientists worked with him to make nuclear disarmament feasible. Roald Sagdeev had been Velikhov’s friend since university days. Richard Garwin used to meet with him and other Russians during and after Pugwash meetings. Frank von Hippel and Thomas Cochran organized projects with him proving that violations of treaties could be detected with existing technology. Together, they persuaded politicians to end the nuclear arms race. Sagdeev asks: “What went wrong? Why did we not succeed and now find ourselves in the Putin era? I’m sure Yevgeny probably was thinking about it until the very last second he was alive.”

Emotional Quotient and Nuclear Disarmament

Nuclear deterrence is based on the emotional responses of nations to the perceived threat of nuclear weapons. Leaders, influenced by emotions such as fear, pride, and insecurity, determine the direction of their nations’ policies. Debalina Ghoshal sees greater emotional intelligence and empathy as required to create a safer world.

Enforcing International Law

The International Criminal Court is a global watchdog, holding powerful individuals accountable for unspeakable acts. It goes after the masterminds behind the worst atrocities imaginable. But not all countries are signatories, and Rebecca Shoot and Lawrence Wittner want a system of international justice that will prevent leaders like the current Russian president and Israeli officials from continuing their brutal actions.

Solidarity Pilgrimage with Sabeel

A group of 49 pilgrims gathered in Palestine in solidarity with Sabeel, an ecumenical grassroots organization based in Jerusalem. Elizabeth Raymer describes the courageous Palestinians she met on the tour.

Global Declaration to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance by 2030

During the 2024 U.N. General Assembly, a landmark political declaration was adopted to address one of the most pressing health challenges: resistance to antibiotics. Rose Samadi describes the plan to develop and save the necessary variety of effective antimicrobials.

Daddy, What Did You Do to Save the World?

Instead of lying down in front of a tank or wearing buttons, an activist today needs to keep informed about new threats to humankind and possible solutions. Project Save the World presents a website, forums, and a magazine newsletter to a widening global community, making that easy and fun.

Pour Concrete to Save the World

Concrete produces 8 percent of the world’s annual carbon emissions. But one company is actually producing carbon-negative concrete. If used maximally, Blue Planet concrete theoretically can permanently subtract between 4 and 10 percent of global CO2 emissions per year. Governments can incentivize the adoption of this technology if citizens demand it.

Table of Content

Newsworthy

Hardening Borders and Militarization in North America

The border crises faced by the U.S. are either fictional or of its own making, says Eric Wilkinson. Trump’s rationale for “retaking” Panama is equally thin: that Panama is charging American ships exorbitant rates and that the Chinese are taking control there. The answer to such nonsense is not militarization but for these countries to find different trading partners.

Seeing the World as Mary Kaldor

Mary Kaldor is writing a book now and explains her theory to Metta Spencer in a Project Save the World Forum. She refers to our historical moment as an “experimental juncture” – a time when politicians don’t know what to do. Civil society often produces new ideas at such times, some disastrous, some transformative.

Going Beyond Goebbels

Thomas Hedberg runs an NGO spreading medical info in developing countries. He describes how his work was sabotaged by disinformation campaigns and ultimately argues for using persuasive, even propagandistic methods to counteract the falsehoods — similar to Goebbels’s tactics, but in service of truth.

Is Al-Jolani a Threat to the World?

After Bashar Al-Assad fled Syria, Tahrir al-Sham, led by Al-Jolani, took over. Though initially recognized by some, the regime’s brutal oppression of minorities has drawn condemnation. Yusur Al-Bahrani outlines the growing dangers posed by Al-Jolani’s leadership.