The Human Imprint

Cleaning the Great Lakes

The Great Lakes—Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario and Longfellow’s “shining Big-Sea-Water”, Lake Superior—comprise one-fifth of the world’s surface fresh water and there has been concern over the quality of the water for some time. Check out this fascinating article in The Economist.

H1N1 in the news

The number of confirmed cases of H1N1 flu rose dramatically yesterday in the UK to 5937 cases. Reuters reports that The World Health Organization has confirmed 70,893 cases of H1N1 with 311 deaths. However, U.S. health officials as I have previously identified on the blog have said that  there were likely to be at least a million cases in the US alone. Iraq, Lithuania, Monaco and Nepal all confirmed their first cases yesterday.

Reuters also review recent research published in the New England Journal of  Medicine. Research on the Mexican outbreak would suggest that;

• Most patients were under 59 years old
• All hospitalised patients had pneumonia
• No single pattern predicts sickest patients

Doctors have also suggested that people over the age of 52 have some protection from the new virus because it may resemble a strain of H1N1 flu that circulated before 1957. The article states that:  "Influenza A H1N1 abruptly disappeared from humans in 1957 and was replaced by a new reassortant virus that combined genes from the H1N1 strain and an avian virus."

A nine year old girl in the West Midlands has also been identified as the latest victim of the virus. It is believed that she has underlying health problems.  The Telegraph states that the Chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson warned that there could be "tens of thousands of cases" of swine flu each week by the autumn because the virus is more likely to thrive in the colder months. A sombre end to the post.

US passes million swine flu cases

BBC News reports that US health officials estimate that at least one million Americans have been infected with swine flu since the H1N1 virus emerged nearly three months ago on the continent. The estimated number is far higher than the number of cases actually reported to the authorities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said many cases were mild, although 127 people had died.  The CDC based its figures on surveys, rather than laboratory evidence. There have been 27,717 confirmed or probable cases and around 3,000 people have needed hospital treatment.

The HPA reports that two people have now died in the UK and the last figure for the number of confirmed cases issued three days ago was 4250 cases - see graph Download H1N1

Victims of 2007 UK flooding still not back in their homes

BBC News reports that of the 17,000 families displaced by the summer 2007 floods, 168 have still not been able to return to their homes almost two years later. However work continues to be undertaken to address flood management. The article states that the "2007 floods claimed 13 lives and saw 44,600 homes deluged. Yorkshire and the Humber, the Midlands and south-west England were among the worst-hit regions. The floods also affected about 7,100 businesses and caused damage totalling £3bn".

A new Flood and Water Management Bill has been drafted and is currently awaiting wider consultation.

Web 2.0 and Social Media

Heather Gorringe, a fellow Nuffield Scholar has recently published her report entitled "Web 2.0 and Social Media" I have often written about communication on this blog and Heather's report looked specifically at identifying the opportunities that new media can bring to farmers and rural business. She says at the start of the report that:

• My study is not a guide to geekdom, or even a look at how the technical aspects work. In fact at home I find it hard to record a TV programme without my son to sort out the three (!) remote controls.
• But that’s no problem. Not many of us actually understand the technology behind how the telephone works, (I know I don’t). However that does not stop us having valuable conversations or doing a business deal over the phone.
  
• The same applies with Web 2.0 and Social Media – in fact it doesn’t matter if you never use those terms again, all that matters is that you are inspired enough to use them to benefit you, your business and your industry or community.

Do check out this great report that gives a real insight into the benefits of social media for everyone.

Water and Katine

Back in March I blogged about the water crisis in Katine, and three months later The Guardian has published a further report on their plight. Check it out and read about the problems the project needs to overcome.

Ancient food store discovered

Scientific American reports that a team of archeologists working in Jordan have made a major discovery. The  researchers unearthed an ancient granary, a round, mud hut. The building dates back more than 11,000 years!

A raised floor (still used today with air passed underneath to stop the grain getting too hot or to prevent moisture) kept the grain dry and out of reach of vermin. It was also built a thousand years before people were thought to have eaten domesticated crops and wild oats and barley were found in the structure.

Civilisation and development depends on the availability of food ..

Check out the podcast.

The "F"s of Effective Management

After the strong emotive "E"s of yesterday come the softer "F"s - equally important to effective management namely

• Fairness - treating others with honesty and integrity
• Flexibility - being able to adapt
• Forecasting - planning the future and amending those plans if they don't quite work out
• Feedback - communicating with others when they have done well and when things could perhaps be improved and accepting feedback on your own performance

The "E"s of Effective Managment

These words are such strong emotive words they say it all:

• Empowering
• Empathising
• Enthusiasm
• Encouragine
• Engaging
• Evaluating

How good are you at doing all of these effectively?

The "D"s of Effective Management

What words beginning with "D" describe skills needed for effective management? Well these make a good start ..

• Decision making - being decisive
• Delegating - being able to work effectively with others
• Demonstrating - leading by example
• Developing others
• Discussing - being able to communicate effectively