사단법인 유엔미래포럼

FUTURIST UPDATE
News & Previews from the World Future Society
August 2007 (Vol. 8, No. 8)

In This Issue:
* Water and Life Outside Our Solar System
* Artists Offer Unique View of Climate Change
* Sweden Is Ranked Most-Responsible Nation
* Click of the Month: Top 10 Forecasts, 2007 (Video)
* Should the Government Pay for Couples Therapy?
* Sea Levels Will Rise Faster Than Expected

Online edition: http://www.wfs.org/futupaug07.htm

WATER AND LIFE OUTSIDE OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

Evidence of water in the atmosphere of a planet beyond our own solar
system has been discovered by an international team of astronomers,
giving new hope for finding another "life-friendly" environment
somewhere out there.

The planet, HD 189733b, orbits a star in the constellation Vulpeca, 64
light-years from our Sun. The researchers, led by Giovanna Tinetti of
the European Space Agency and University College London, discovered
that the planet absorbs starlight from its own sun, suggesting the
presence of water vapor in its atmosphere.

Unlike Earth, planet HD 189733b is a gas giant, about 15% bigger than
Jupiter but 30 times closer to its star than Earth is to the Sun. Thus,
the new discovery is still not the "holy grail" of Earth-like planets
that astronomers seek.

Still, says Tinetti, "finding the existence of water on an extra-solar
gas giant is a vital milestone along that road of discovery."

SOURCES: University College London,
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/media/library/WaterOnExtraSolarPlanetFINAL

European Space Agency,
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/COROT/SEMBDZI2O3F_0.html

ARTISTS OFFER UNIQUE VIEW OF CLIMATE CHANGE

A string of electrical power lines fencing off the planet like barbed
wire; a line of national flags marking claims across the South
Pole--these are among the dramatic ways that artists see the future of
our environment.

In a new exhibit at the Boulder (Colorado) Museum of Contemporary Art,
"Weather Report: Art and Climate Change," artists use visual media to
help communicate to a mainstream audience the impacts of climate change
on the planet's future. Issues that come to light in the art include
global warming, desertification, floods, changing watersheds, renewable
energy, and species transformation.

The goal, according to the museum, is "to use the arts to inspire new
awareness of, discussion about, and action on environmental issues,
with new possibilities for envisioning a sustainable future."

"Weather Report" will be on display at the Boulder Museum of
Contemporary Art from September 14 through December 21.

DETAILS: Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art,
http://www.bmoca.org/artist.php?id=74

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IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR WORLDFUTURE 2007 CONFERENCE-GOERS

"WorldFuture 2007: Fostering Hope and Vision for the 21st Century" will
be held July 29-31 at the Hilton Minneapolis hotel in Minneapolis,
Minnesota.

Online registration for the conference has closed. To register, please
call Society headquarters at 1-800-989-8274 or, after July 25, contact
the WFS conference registration staff at the Hilton Minneapolis:

1001 Marquette Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55403-2440
Telephone 1-612-376-1000

DIRECTIONS AND MAPS (copy and paste full URL into your browser):
http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/MSPMHHH-Hilton-Minneapolis-Minnes
ota/directions.do

LEARN MORE: http://www.wfs.org/2007main.htm

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SWEDEN IS RANKED MOST-RESPONSIBLE NATION

The world's most "responsibly competitive" nation is Sweden, according
to a new Responsible Competitiveness Index. Developed by the social and
ethical research institute AccountAbility, the index ranks nations on
such issues as human rights and anti-corruption measures.

Countries that behave responsibly are likely to be more competitive in
the global economy, since they indicate more sustainable long-term
performance, transparency, and accountability, according to the
institute.

"Governments have a massive role to play in reshaping global markets,"
says AccountAbility CEO Simon Zadek. "If we don't act, markets will
continue to damage people and the environment. The good news is that
countries can compete responsibly and be successful, so long as
governments and policy makers put in place the right frameworks. There
needn't be a conflict between compassion and competitiveness. Sweden is
a shining example of this."

Other nations making the top 10 list of responsible competitiveness:
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, the United Kingdom, Norway, New Zealand,
Ireland, Australia, and Canada.

SOURCE: AccountAbility, http://www.accountability21.net

CLICK OF THE MONTH: Now Playing! Top 10 Forecasts, 2007 (Video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Asl7_7cbjBc

The World Future Society is pleased to announce its first informational
video, now playing on YouTube: "Top 10 Forecasts, 2007."

The three-minute video illustrates the top 10 forecasts from the World
Future Society's Outlook 2007 report, such as Generation Y's pursuit of
opportunities overseas and the impacts of China's dwindling water
supply on the global economy. See http://www.wfs.org/tomorrow/index.htm
for more information about the forecasts.

The video, created by FUTURIST UPDATE editor Cindy Wagner, may be
shared by using YouTube's e-mail service or linked to your own Web
site. For those who wish to use it in their classrooms or
presentations, the video is also available by request in
computer-playable formats: .wmv (for Windows Media Player) and .mov
(for Quicktime). To request, contact Communications Director Patrick
Tucker at mailto:ptucker@wfs.org for details.

BONUS LINK: THE FUTURIST also has its own MySpace page, maintained by
Patrick Tucker (the magazine's associate editor), at
http://www.myspace.com/thefuturistmagazine

SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT PAY FOR COUPLES THERAPY?

If government subsidized relationship counseling, it could help reduce
divorce rates and save taxpayers money, claims a team of marital and
family therapists researching the cost-effectiveness of therapy.

Married people tend to take better care of themselves physically than
single people, note the researchers, from Alliant International
University and Arizona State University. Marital therapy paid for by
insurers would offset the increased health-care expenses associated
with divorce, they argue.

In a hypothetical study, the researchers asked, if government invested
in screening and treating couples in marital distress, how much would
the return be in reduced costs of handling divorces? They calculated a
$1.85 return on every $1 spent, concluding that "government would
experience a net savings even if only 16% of couples identified as
distressed in the screening process went on to begin treatment."

Another way to save costs on therapy is to use paraprofessionals rather
than doctors to screen the patients, perhaps by telephone or online
rather than in person.

SOURCE: Alliant International University, http://www.alliant.edu

SEA LEVELS WILL RISE FASTER THAN EXPECTED

Each year, melting sea ice and glaciers in the Arctic contribute nearly
the equivalent of Lake Erie in additional volume to the world's sea
levels. Over the past decade, the rate of melting has accelerated far
more than previously thought, warn researchers from all around the
world.

The world's 100 million people now living within three feet of sea
level are in the most imminent danger: A one-foot rise in sea levels
would consume an estimated 100 feet of shore. The researchers predict
that Arctic melting could raise sea levels by as much as 9.5 inches by
2100.

The losses from sea ice and glacier currents pose a more dire threat to
the global environment than does the melting of the massive Greenland
and Antarctic ice sheets, according to a study by the University of
Colorado at Boulder. As glaciers thin, they slide more rapidly into the
water, thus raising sea levels faster.

SOURCE: National Science Foundation
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=109759

FURTHER READING: See the "Thinking about the Arctic's Future: Scenarios
for 2040" by Lawson W. Brigham, the cover story of the
September-October 2007 issue of THE FUTURIST, mailed to subscribers
after August 1.

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FUTURIST UPDATE: News & Previews from the World Future Society is an
e-mail newsletter published monthly as a supplement to THE FUTURIST
magazine. Copyright ? 2007, World Future Society, 7910 Woodmont Avenue,
Suite 450, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA. Telephone 1-301-656-8274; e-mail
mailto:info@wfs.org; Web site http://www.wfs.org.

Editor: Cindy Wagner, mailto:cwagner@wfs.org
Associate Editor: Patrick Tucker, mailto:ptucker@wfs.org
Network Administrator: Jeff Cornish, mailto:jcornish@wfs.org
Vice President, Membership/Conference Operations: Susan Echard,
mailto:sechard@wfs.org

To subscribe, enter your e-mail at http://www.wfs.org

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Submit feedback: http://www.wfs.org/fbaug07.htm

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the Society, including a subscription to THE FUTURIST, is $49 per year,
or $20 for full-time students under age 25. Professional and
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