Sunday, January 24, 2010

NMUN background paper

NMUN is a highly respected model UN conference for university students and generally puts together a number of fabulous background papers for their delegates. This one discusses chemical management and contains a number of links to sources which might be useful when putting together your position paper on the topic of toxic and biohazardous wastes.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Background Papers!

Just a reminder that background papers are an excellent resource:

Impact of Climate Change on Marine Life

The Handling of Toxic and Biohazardous Wastes

Good luck with your research Delegates!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Site O' Resource-iness

Delegates!

(I get all tingly every time I write that.) It has been taking me longer than I'd thought to get up part 2 (of 3, or at least, that's the plan- this might end up having an Adams-ian series twist) of the Big, Bad MUN Guide, but have no fear! It's underway and should be hitting this blog... 'shortly'

So, until that gets here, here's a website I've found to tide you over. It looks like a very promising resource (for discussing the effects of climate change on marine life); I admit that I haven't reviewed everything on it yet- there are many pages and hours' worth of video clips-, but I think you'll find it useful. So click on over!

Marine Bio: Marine Conservation

On a different note, has anyone else been as put off as I have by the absence, so it seems, of recent periodical articles that help to give good 'political bearings' as far as foreign policy goes? I know I sure have. But, of course, up-to-date information relating to nation states' stance on current events on the world stage is critical to effective debate. So my suggestion to you today is to work with other delegates openly. Share what resources you've found and network efficiently (I was about to create a message board so that delegates from different schools could already be developing their 'presentations' of certain talking points, but then I realized that there was probably a Facebook group for that. There is. Go join it.). There are no winners in this game- you either have a great conference or a REALLY great conference.

All right, that's enough chatter. I'm headed back to work.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

What's to be Done?

Delegates!

It's taken me a little longer than I'd thought to search out this 'scattering' of information related to climate change I present to you now. And, still, it isn't quite what I've been looking for: although (particularly in the first video below) important issues (like the "so what?" moment, and the highly-touted role of technology in finding solutions for climate change) are addressed, it's hard to find potential solutions for the environmental challenges we face that are explicit, credible, and doable. (In my travails o'er the vast expanse of the net, I have found proposed the idea that we reduce the effect of human activity on the umwelt by 'eliminating' all those 'useless surplus humans'- please, nobody suggest this at HSMUN.)


At any rate, here's what I have for you:




The UNEP's continual plea: Invest in the Green Economy.


Greenhouse Gases: What's the Problem?




Also, do you know what year it is?

I've got this melody in my head that I can't get out- got me singing like, na na na na everyday. It's like my ipod stuck on replay, replay.

Delegates!

Taking a break for a moment from the transboundary movement facet of toxic waste handling, here are a couple of videos that share a common theme: getting rid of harmful pollutants by feeding them to something else. Take a few minutes to watch them- they may raise (and I hope they do) a number of questions in your head about the viability, use, and concerns of these methods.

When Bacteria Attack.

When Good Worms Go Bad.

You might be thinking that this isn't relevant, seeing's as these videos feature reactive 'clean-up' methods, rather than proactive treatment of hazardous wastes. It's worth noting (and doing some further research) that, as I've read, these methods are being considered for application in a waste-treatment context, a little tweaking to the technical details being needed, of course.

In other news, the background papers went up a short time ago. There're links under "Resources" on the right that you can click on to get to them. In a little more than a month, the Conference will be upon us! Get excited!

(Apologies for the post title; as you might have realized by now, this post has nothing to do with that. It's just a statement of truth for the day.)

Saturday, January 2, 2010

"People Sometimes Do Need to See to Learn a Story"

I found a video that ties in with that Reader's Digest article I linked to the other day; it's just one of many that you can find on the interwebs on the problem of improper e-waste disposal. Here it is for y'alls: