Asia to 'lose 7.2 million jobs' | Archbishop of Canterbury says limiting one’s fertility for the environment is “common sense”

“...worldwide overpopulation is the greatest risk to public health that we have ever encountered. The single obstacle to solving this problem is not money or the lack of acceptable family planning choices, but the opposition by a small group of extreme reactionaries now in control of the Roman Catholic Church. Uncounted numbers of people are denied access to contraception and abortion by the political machinations of a pope who is, by the dogma of his religion, unable to change his mind.”
~ Stephen Mumford, Ph.D; The Center for Research on Population & Security ~

Today, 6.5 billion humans depend entirely on oil for food, energy, plastics & chemicals. Population growth is on a collision course with the inevitable decline in oil production.
~ The Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror, Free Will Production ~

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Asia to 'lose 7.2 million jobs'

The report says that 51 million new jobs will be needed in 2009 and 2010

About 7.2 million people in Asian countries are likely to lose their jobs in 2009 amid the global downturn, a UN report has suggested.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) said that in the worst case scenario the number of newly-unemployed might total 22.3 million.

The UN agency warned that a significant rise in the number of unemployed workers could lead to social unrest.

It urged governments to prioritise the creation of jobs.

However, the report added: "There is very little chance that a sufficient number of new jobs will be created in the region this year to keep up with expected labor force growth."

The ILO scenario forecast a likely rise in the number of jobless people in Asia to 97 million, with the figure jumping to 113 million in the most pessimistic scenario.

Some Asian countries have experienced an economic boom in recent years, but a third of Asia's population still live on about $1 a day.

Government policies

Expanding already agreed public spending projects is a quick, effective way to create and safeguard jobs

Sachiko Yamamato, ILO regional director

The report estimates that about 51 million new jobs will be needed in 2009 and 2010 to absorb the growing labour force.

The organisation also forecast a drop in remittances in 2009.

"For labor-sending countries, this will exacerbate the challenge of mitigating job losses and generating new employment domestically," it said.

The ILO warned Asian countries against protectionist policies, such as refusing to issue work permits to foreign workers.

"Having a more coordinated effort to pull fiscal policies together, to talk about the sequencing and the timing of those fiscal policies would be a big help," said Stephen Pursey, Director for Policy Integration at the ILO.

Sachiko Yamamato, regional director of ILO, said: "Support must come quickly. Expanding already agreed public spending projects is a quick, effective way to create and safeguard jobs."

Source: BBC

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God 'will not intervene to save us' says Archbishop of Canterbury

Times Online

Humanity risks drowning or starving through its own stupidity, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams warned last night. His warning coincides with a new threat to the green energy revolution as a big investor in wind power slashed its budget. In today's TimesOnline we carry a report of the Archbishop of Canterbury's apocalyptic Ebor lecture at York Minster last night, outlining a doomsday scenario if we don't mend our ways on the environment.

'Dr Rowan Williams did not say there was no God. But he said that God is not a “safety net that guarantees a happy ending in this world.” He warned that the pillaging of the world’s resources meant it was facing a “whole range of doomsday prospects” that went far beyond the consequences of global warming. Humanity faced being “choked, drowned or starved” by its own stupidity, he said.'

After the lecture he did a Q&A, which Peter Campbell, deputy politics editor of York University's Nouse website, reports for us here. The pictures accompanying this post are all also by Peter, former workie at The Times. A journalist to watch, methinks, especially as he did this for us for no financial reward. You will have your reward in heaven Peter!

By Peter Campbell

The religious communities are “failing profoundly in what is expected of us” in energising a response to climate change in society, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Despite the huge potential influence that the church has over the issue of global warming, it fails to harness this effectively, he added, while answering questions following his lecture in York Minster on climate change last night.

One proposal he put forward was for “church commissioners to be more proactive in their own lives” suggesting that those in the role of leadership should be the first to “trade in their cars for eco-friendly or eco-neutral versions.”

The Archbishop said that “we are near a tipping point” of climate change, and that the church, and other religious communities, are not doing their part to lead the world against it.

“People from Westminster are constantly telling me that they need me ‘to keep up the pressure’ on them to do something.” Dr Williams added his support to the sentiment that politicians, if relied upon, will do
nothing.

He also added that he was “deeply perplexed” by the issue of overpopulation. “The immediate common sense response says that everyone has to consider the limitation of their own fertility,” but was quick to add that “that sounds rather like a Western prescription for other people.” Dr Williams made clear that he was not advocating a China-esque governmental policy “which led to the most appalling results and brutality.”

“It is hugely complicated,” he admitted, adding “I find myself confused by it.” The Archbishop addressed that the human race has a moral responsibility for their actions, and that “the cross [of Jesus] saves us from our self-destructive nature, not from being created in the first place.”

Furthermore, humanity seems not to have a sense of fear about what will happen if we don’t act, he said, stressing “the human race doesn’t seem to know what it’s up against.”

Source: Times Online; Optimum Population Trust