Intergalactic Travel Guide
 
 
You are on a good size spherical spaceship called Earth that is traveling at 66,622 miles per hour around a medium-size star called "Sun." 
 
 
This class of ship weighs in at close to 6 billion trillion tons and is powered by an advanced gravity propulsion system housed in the fuel station Sun with which it is traveling in sync through a galaxy called the "Milky Way" (possibly named after a confection know to locals as a "candy bar"). It also draws additional power from that Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation that it uses for heat and to power water movement and purification systems, food production and other systems. 
 
 
The spacecraft, which appears to have all critical life-support functions automated, has traveled over two million trillion miles on its journey so far. It has been on this journey for over four and half billion years. You have only been on board the craft a relatively short time. No one seems to know where you were before joining this spaceship. 
 
 
The spaceship has an advanced atmospheric cleansing mechanism the locals call "rain." Oftentimes, a brilliant white bolt of light accompanies this rain, momentarily illuminating the local region. 
 
 
There are over seven billion other passengers and crew onboard this craft, most of which are referred to as "humans." Other passengers include many millions of additional species, less than two million of which are known to the human crew. 
 
 
Further details can be found on subsequent pages.

Intergalactic Travel Guide
 
 
The ship's life-support systems are remarkably well designed. They have back-ups, reserves and buffers that allow for ignorance, errors and mismanagement. Unfortunately, in some critical areas these are nearly exhausted and life-support systems are in danger of failing. Already in many parts of the spacecraft life-support systems are altering in reaction to over-use and abuse by the humanoid passengers.
 
 
The ship receives an amazing amount of energy each day from its near-by supply star. Interestingly, the crew and passengers on board this ship are burning parts of the ship in what appears to be an attempt to harness more of that energy. They are adding heat-absorption chemicals to the air supply, thereby capturing additional energy from their Sun. This heat is causing sea ice to melt, ocean levels to rise, glaciers to melt, and a host of additional changes. Although a bit crude, this observer speculates this is all a part of a brilliant plan to re-engineer the spacecraft's life-support systems to accommodate a species that is more comfortable in warmer environments that have more extremes in weather. 
 
 
Given the increasing numbers of passengers and crew there appear to be some interesting mysteries. One of these relates to the medium in which food is produced on this spaceship. The amount of land used for food production, as well as its quality, appears to be going down. Erosion, urbanization and other factors seem to indicate alternative plans for food production. In addition, the number of different species onboard is decreasing. This suggests a low-level, but very effective, form of warfare by the humanoid species onboard this ship against other forms of life. This observer can only speculate that perhaps it is part of a master plan connected to the overall warming of the ship.

Intergalactic Travel Guide
 
 
One of the local humanoids described his fellow creatures as "A self-balancing, 18-jointed adapter-base biped; an electro-chemical reduction plant, integral with segregated stowages of special energy extracts in storage batteries, for subsequent actualization of thousands of hydraulic and pneumatic pumps, with motors attached; 51,000 miles of capillaries, millions of warning signal, railroad and conveyor systems; crushers and cranes (of which the arms are magnificent 23-jointed affairs with self-surfacing and lubricating systems, and a universally distributed telephone system needing no service for 70 years if well managed); the whole, extraordinary complex mechanism guided with exquisite precision from a turret in which are located telescopic and microscopic self-registering and recording range finders, a spectroscope, et cetera, the turret control being closely allied with an air conditioning intake and exhaust, and main fuel intake."
 
 
This reviewer thinks this description may be in jest. 
 
 
There are many of these creatures being added each year to this planet. Over 134 million. Luckily, many (57 million) are also disappearing. 
 
 
Most of the human species live in concentrated hives that are called cities. Within these locations there are zones or "slums" as they are called, where life seems harder than in the other zones of the city. The continuing existence of these zones of depravation is a curious fact that deserves more research. It may be a significant clue as to whether this species is intelligent enough to take the next stop, or not.

If the world was completely peaceful, the additional economic impact would have been an estimated $9 trillion (equal to the size of the German and Japanese economies combined). A 25% reduction in violence could reap a peace dividend of at least $2.25 trillion.
 
<a href="http://www.visionofhumanity.org/info-center/global-peace-index-2011/" target="_blank">World Peace Index</a>
 
The size of economic activity that is devoted to inflicting, preventing or dealing with the consequences of violence is known as the Violence Containment Industry (VCI). In the U.S., Violence Containment costs around 15% of Gross Domestic Product each year and is the largest discrete industry. The cost of violence containment in the U.S. is $15,000 per taxpayer per year. This is a total of $2.16 trillion per year.
 
Institute for Economics and Peace.
<a href="http://www.visionofhumanity.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Violence-Containment-in-the-US-Report.pdf" target="_blank">Violence Containment Spending in the U.S.</a>

7.6 million in 2010. 
 
<a href="http://www.unicef.org/media/files/Child_Mortality_Report_2011_Final.pdf" target="_blank">UNICEF Child Mortality Report</a>
 
One part of the above figure is that 20% of children in the developing world lack access to the vaccines that are readily available in rich countries. Of these children, 1.7 million are expected to die in 2012. About 75% of them live in 10 Asian and African countries. 
Shot@Life Campaign: Stop Children from Dying of Preventable Diseases
 
<a href="http://www.empowher.com/parenting/content/shotlife-campaign-stop-children-dying-preventable-diseases" target="_blank">Stop Children from Dying of Preventable Diseases</a>
 
The leading causes of death among children
under age five are pneumonia (18% of all under-five deaths); preterm birth complications
(14%); diarrhoea (11%); intrapartumrelated
complications (complications during birth; 9%); and malaria (7%). Globally, more than a third of under-five deaths are attributable to undernutrition.
 
UNICEF. 
<a href="http://www.unicef.org/media/files/UNICEF_2012_IGME_child_mortality_report.pdf" target="_blank">Levels & Trends in Child Mortality</a>

500 million hectares of the global landscape are burned annually; J. S. Levin, et. al., Wildland Fires and the Environment: A Global Synthesis, UNEP.
 
Globally, wildfires affect an average of 1.4 million square miles of land each year. Fire has been an important factor in terrestrial ecosystem development and dynamics for at least 400 million years. Savanna ecosystems, found mostly in Africa between the tropical rainforest and desert ecosystems, burn the most, contributing 47.8 percent of the global dry biomass (wood, grasses, leaves, etc.) that is consumed by wildfire. Forest fires, like those experienced in North America, account for 23.5 percent of the dry biomass consumed. Shrublands, croplands and grasslands each account for about 10 percent of the remainder. 
 
In total, about 2.93 trillion pounds of dry biomass burn across Earth's ecosystems each year, releasing about two gigatons of carbon into the atmosphere, which is about 22 percent of the emissions from fossil fuel burning. Apart from their obvious impacts on the landscape and the dangers they pose to humans, wildfires also significantly affect local and regional air quality. In North America, the primary emission season occurs between May and September. In the agricultural regions of central North America, peak emissions occur during the fertilizing season of April and May, whereas in the western United States, peak emissions occur in July and August. For human health, one of the most important components of these emissions are fine particulates, tiny particles about 1/30th the diameter of a human hair which can damage lungs and respiratory function. The maximum monthly emissions of fine particulates for the peak month of July in North America is 739 million pounds. The timing and magnitude of the peak emission season may be changing - since the mid-1980s, the length of the western United States wildfire season has grown 78 days longer as a result of earlier snowmelt and increased spring and summer temperatures.
 
For comparison: 2.93 trillion pounds is four times the weight of all the corn grown in the United States each year. Corn is America's biggest crop.
 
Source: Zhang, X et al. "Near-real-time global biomass burning emissions product from geostationary satellite constellation." Journal of Geophysical Research 117 (2012): D14201.

Intergalactic Travel Guide 
 
 
Your continuing viable presence on this planet is threatened by a number of serious situations. Although not in immediate danger of a total-destruction crash impact with another large astronomical body, there are many things to be alarmed about on-board this strange spacecraft. 
 
 
It appears that a relatively small fraction of the crew is engaged in violent acts of terrorism and warfare with other crew members. This results in tens of thousands deaths each year and hundreds of billions of "dollars" (a form of resource accounting and exchange) expended. Using resources for this purpose makes it impossible to meet the basic needs of a large segment of the crew, thereby causing additional friction and conflict, as well as stopping and the whole ship from being incredibly wealthier. This tendency is carried to the extreme in the form of a series of weapons of mass suicide, the most insane of which is the "Nuclear Weapon." Violence, homicide, crime and bribery are additional problems caused by the humanoid life-forms. 
 
 
There appears to be problems around the distribution of food. Alarms are sounding about both under-nourishment and over-nourishment of different groups. Although strange as it seems, these groups are not infrequently in the same part of the spaceship. Hunger and obesity are both costing the ship billions of productive hours and diverting resources away from other problems. 
 
 
Sensors indicate that the ship is also warming up. At first it was thought this was caused by additional fuel being brought onboard from the Sun energy-supply star, but it has now been disclosed that this heating is from the inefficient use of stored ancient sunshine (poetically referred to locally as "fossil" fuels). This over-heating is leading to the breakdown of the autonomous life-support systems, as well as food production systems. 
 
 
There appear to be a surprising number of mismanaged systems that directly impact the welfare of the crew of this ship, and the integrity of the ship itself. Besides food and energy, there are alarms going off regarding the provision of water, education, health care, childcare, disposal of waste and shockingly, the destruction of life-support systems and the decrease of resilience and complexity. 
 
 
At first, this reviewer thought the species might of been on some sort of a misguided spiritual quest to simplify their existence, but now the evidence suggests it is rather an appalling manifestation of ignorance of who, what and where they are. The species manifests an exceptionally shortsighted perspective that seems to account for their lack of knowledge of the big picture, systems, interdependence, regeneration, efficiency, transparency and other key survival skills. 
 
 
As alarming as many systems are, there has also been remarkable progress in many areas (as documented on the "Good News" Dashboard level). It remains to be seen if the startling innovative problem solving capacities, remarkable moral sensibilities and vision, diversity of approaches to challenges, and design competences of this species will be able to adequately respond to all the alarms before the situation goes critical.

As little as $0.25 per day provides a person with all of the vitamins and nutrients he or she needs; 840 million undernourished people = $210 million per day, $76.6 billion per year. World Food Programme, 2011. These calculations assume that all of the 840 million undernourished have no food, which is not the case. Therefore, the total amount needed to feed all the undernourished people is closer to a quarter of this amount ($19 billion), if that. 
 
<a href="http://www.wfp.org/stories/what-need-know-about-hunger-2012?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=enews-jan2012-other" target="_blank">World Food Programme, 2011</a>
 
Providing the additional calories needed by the 13% of the world's population facing hunger would require just 1% of the current global food supply. The high-income countries of the world are currently losing or wasting more than 5.6% of the food produced in the world. The entire world loses closer to 33% of the total amount of food produced.
 
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2012/feb/13/protecting-environment-social-justice" target="_blank">Oxfam. "Is protecting the environment incompatible with social justice?"</a>
 
$20 billion per year is 1.1% of annual global military expenditures. It is also less than half what the U.S. spends on dieting.

$25 billion per year for ten years, allocated for: a) Providing primary health care ($12 billion) through Community Health Workers to all areas in the world that do not have access to health care; Special Child Health Care: ($2.5 billion) for: (1) immunizing 1 billion children in developing world against measles, tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, polio and tetanus, thereby preventing the death of 6-7 million children/year; (2) providing oral rehydration therapy for children with severe diarrhea; and (3) providing Vitamin A to children who lack it in their diet, thereby preventing blindness in 250,000 children/year; b) Iodine Deficiency Program: $40 million/year for iodine addition to table salt to eliminate iodine deficiency, thereby reducing the 566 million people who suffer from goiter and not adding to the 3 million who suffer from overt cretinism; c) AIDS Prevention and Control Program: $9 billion/year allocated as follows: (1) $4 billion for a global AIDS prevention education program; (2) $4 billion for providing multiple drug therapy to AIDS patients in the developing world; (3) $1 billion for research and development for an AIDS vaccine or cure; d) Prevent and Control Malaria: $3 billion/year for bed nets and other malaria prevention and treatment efforts, with $1 billion spent on R & D for an effective malaria vaccine; e) Diabetes Initiative: $1 billion for education and mass screenings. 
 
<a href="http://www.bigpicturesmallworld.com/war-peace/health.shtml" target="_blank">Price of Peace</a>

884 million people lack access to safe water supplies. 
<a href="http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2008/9789241596435_eng.pdf Chart: World Bank data 2011" target="_blank">World Health Organization. Safer Water, Better Health: Costs, benefits, and sustainability of interventions to protect and promote health.</a> 
 
Access to improved water source is the percentage of the population with reasonable access to an adequate amount of water from an improved source, such as piped water into a dwelling, plot, or yard; public tap or standpipe; tube-well or borehole; protected dug well or spring; or rainwater collection. Unimproved sources include an unprotected dug well or spring, cart with small tank or drum, bottled water, and tanker trucks. Reasonable access to an adequate amount means the availability of at least 20 liters a person a day from a source within 1 kilometer of the dwelling. (World Health Organization; data are for 2010)
 
Access to improved sanitation is the percentage of population with adequate access to excreta disposal facilities (private or shared, but not public) that can effectively prevent human, animal, and insect contact with excreta. Improved facilities range from simple but protected pit latrines to flush toi- lets with a sewerage connection. To be effective, facilities must be correctly constructed and properly maintained. (World Health Organization; data are for 2010)

6.1 billion in 2012. Meeker, Mary, KPCB Internet Trends 2012.
 
<a href="http://www.innovationamerica.us/index.php/innovation-daily/21890-mary-meekers-eye-popping-annual-internet-trends-report-hits-the-web-venturebeat?utm_source=innovation-daily---your-daily-newsletter-highlighting-global-innovation-news-and-trends&utm_medium=gazetty&utm_campaign=05-31-2012" target="_blank"> KPCB Internet Trends 2012</a>
5.9 billion in 2011. International Telecommunications Union, ITC Facts and Figures 2011.
 
<a href=" http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/facts/2011/material/ICTFactsFigures2011.pdf" target="_blank">ITC Facts and Figures</a>
 
Growth was driven by developing countries, which accounted for more than 80% of the 660 million new mobile‐cellular subscriptions added in 2011. Global penetration is over 86%. In 2011, 142 million mobile‐cellular subscriptions were added in India, twice as many as in the whole Africa, and more than in the Arab States, CIS and Europe together. By end 2011, there were 105 countries with more mobile‐cellular subscriptions than
inhabitants, including African countries such as Botswana, Gabon, Namibia, Seychelles and South Africa.

1.95 billion people will be part of the global middle class by the end of 2012. The global middle class is defined as all those living in households with daily per capita incomes of between US$10 and US$100 in purchasing power parity terms. Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A future worth choosing. The report of the United Nations Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Global Sustainability, 2012.
 
<a href="http://www.un.org/gsp/sites/default/files/attachments/GSPReport_unformatted_30Jan.pdf" target="_blank">Resilient People, Resilient Planet</a>
 
Also: From 1980 to 2009, the global middle class grew by around 700 million people, to 1.8 billion, from roughly 1.1 billion. Over the next 20 years, it is likely to grow by an additional 3 billion, to nearly 5 billion people. The world has never before witnessed income growth of this speed and magnitude: China and India are doubling their real per capita incomes at about ten times the pace England achieved during the Industrial Revolution and at around 200 times the scale.
 
<a href="https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Energy_Resources_Materials/Strategy_Analysis/Mobilizing_for_a_resource_revolution_2908#footnote3up" target="_blank">Mobilizing for a resource revolution</a>

150 million people are being added to the global middle class this year. The global middle class is defined as all those living in households with daily per capita incomes of between US$10 and US$100 in purchasing power parity terms. 
 
<a href="http://www.un.org/gsp/sites/default/files/attachments/GSPReport_unformatted_30Jan.pdf" target="_blank">Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A future worth choosing. The report of the United Nations Secretary General's High-level Panel on Global Sustainability, 2012</a>
 
Also: Richard Dobbs, Jeremy Oppenheim, and Fraser Thompson, Mobilizing for a resource revolution, Mckinsey Global Institute, 2012. "From 1980 to 2009, the global middle class grew by around 700 million people, to 1.8 billion, from roughly 1.1 billion. Over the next 20 years, it is likely to grow by an additional 3 billion, to nearly 5 billion people. The world has never before witnessed income growth of this speed and magnitude: China and India are doubling their real per capita incomes at about ten times the pace England achieved during the Industrial Revolution and at around 200 times the scale." Therefore: 3 billion over over 20 years = 150 million per year = 4.76 per second. 
 
<a href="https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/PDFDownload.aspx?ar=2908&srid=27" target="_blank">Mobilizing for a resource revolution</a>

To remove 1.6 billion metric tons of carbon per year will need 400 million of acres of marginal lands reforested or afforetsed over 10 years. Each tree removes approximately 13 lbs. of carbon/year (http://www.coloradotrees.org/benefits.htm#carbon); an acre, planted with 800 trees removes 10,400 lbs or 4.73 metric tons/acre. Assuming 4.0 metric tons carbon sequestration = 1.6 billion tons. This would cost an estimated $8 billion per year. Seedlings cost $40 per thousand, as per World Bank estimates; typical planting density is roughly 800 per acre, so seedlings cost is $32 per acre. Labor costs for planting trees are high, but with at least some of the labor consisting of locally mobilized volunteers, the assumption is that the trees can be planted for a total of $200 per acre, including both seedlings and labor. 400 million acres planted over the next 10 years, is 40 million acres per year at $200/acre for an annual expenditure of $8 billion. Data derived from Lester Brown, Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, and "Benefits of Trees In Urban Areas", 
 
<a href="http://www.coloradotrees.org/benefits.htm#carbon" target="_blank">Benefits of Trees In Urban Areas</a>
 
$8 billion is less than one-half of 1% of the world's annual military expenditures.

Based on the Environmental Sustainability Index, Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) of Columbia University, 
 
<a href="sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/es/esi/" target="_blank">CIESIN</a>
 
and the Environmental Performance Index, Yale University, 
 
<a href="http://epi.yale.edu" target="_blank">Environmental Performance Index</a>
 
and the Human Sustainable Development Index, UN University, Our World 2.0, 
 
<a href="http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/the-2010-human-sustainable-development-index/" target="_blank">Our World 2.0</a>
 
and the Ecological Footprint Index, Global Footprint Network, 
 
<a href="http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/world_footprint/" target="_blank">Ecological Footprint Index</a>
 
and the Happy Planet Index, 
 
<a href="http://www.happyplanetindex.org/" target="_blank">Happy Planet Index</a>
 
and Global Water Risk Index, Global Water Intelligence (2011).
 
<a href=" http://www.water-rick-index.com/index.html" target="_blank">Global Water Risk Index</a>
 
and the The Eco2 Index, 
 
<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120220142647.htm" target="_blank">The Eco2 Index</a>
 
On this thermometer, zero = total destruction of the Earth's life-support systems; 100 = total regeneration and health of all life support systems in the world.

Based on the Human Rights Index, School for a Culture of Peace.
 
<a href="http://escolapau.uab.cat/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=77&Itemid=97&lang=en" target="_blank">Human Rights Index</a>
 
and
<a href="http://international.uiowa.edu/centers/human-rights/projects/human-rights-index/default.asp" target="_blank">Human Rights Index, University of Iowa</a>
 
and
<a href=" http://www.guardian.co.uk/rightsindex/ " target="_blank">The Observer Human Rights Index,</a>
 
and
<a href="http://ciri.binghamton.edu/" target="_blank"> The Cingranelli-Richards (CIRI) Human Rights Dataset</a>
 
and
<a href="http://uhri.ohchr.org/en" target="_blank">Universal Human Rights Index</a>
 
and
<a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/annual-report/2011" target="_blank">Amnesty International, Annual Report 2011</a>
 
and Transparency International,
<a href="http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010" target="_blank">Corruption Perceptions Index</a>
 
and Reporters Without Borders,
<a href="http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2011-2012,1043.html" target="_blank">Press Freedom Index</a>
 
and The Economist Intelligence Unit,
<a href="http://graphics.eiu.com/PDF/Democracy_Index_2010_web.pdf" target="_blank">Democracy Index</a>
 
and World Economic Forum,
<a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GenderGap_Report_2011.pdf" target="_blank">Gender Gap Index</a>
 
On this thermometer, zero = no human rights; 100 = all human rights fulfilled for all the people of the world.

During the 20th century, total material extraction increased from 7 billion tons to almost 60 billion, while GDP increased by a factor of 24. Over the same period per-person resource use doubled from 4.6 tons to around 9 tons, while per person income increased by a factor of seven. At the
same time, resource prices were declining or stagnant. Taken together, these data indicate that resource use efficiency, "dematerialization", both in the aggregate and on a per-person
basis, took place during the 20th century, and is continuing to this day. 
 
<a href="http://www.unep.org/geo/geo5.asp" target="_blank">Global Environmental Outlook 5, UNEP</a>
 
Also, Energy use per units of GDP, Cereal yield (kg per hectare), and Water productivity have all gone up and continue to rise. World Bank, World Development Indicators 2011, and World Resources Institute, Water Use per GDP.
 
<a href="http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators/wdi-2011" target="_blank">World Development Indicators</a>
 
On this thermometer, zero = totally inefficient and wasteful economy; 100 = a highly efficient global economy using state of the art/most efficient technology throughout the economy.

Based on the Inclusive Wealth Report 2012.
 
<a href="http://www.ihdp.unu.edu/article/iwr" target="_blank">Inclusive Wealth Report 2012</a>
This is a score based on the work of the above report. 70 percent of countries assessed in the 2012 Inclusive Wealth Report presented a positive Inclusive Wealth Index per capita growth, indicating sustainability.
 
This work offers a long-term perspective on human well-being and sustainability, based on a comprehensive analysis of nation's productive base and their link to economic development. It looks at the productive base of economies, based on capital assets-- produced or manufactured capital; human capital; and natural capital. According to this perspective, wealth is the social worth of an economy's assets: reproducible capital; human capital; knowledge; natural capital; population;
institutions; and time.
 
On this thermometer scale, zero = total bankruptcy, zero assets of any kind; 100 = extreme wealth and health of natural, human and economic assets.

Average global life expectancy is projected to increase by 3.5 years between 2010 and 2030. UN, Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability, Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing, 2012. 
 
<a href="http://www.un.org/gsp/sites/default/files/attachments/GSP_Report_web_final.pdf" target="_blank">Resilient People, Resilient Planet</a>
 
Life expectancy is up over 200% since 1900, and it has gone up in every country in the world. In 1900, the average global life expectancy was 31. (In the U.S. it was 47.) In 2000, global life expectancy was at 66.1. 
 
Since 1950, global life expectancy has gone up 35%. In 1950, it was 48 years, in 2001, it was 66.7. (UNDP, Human Development Report 2003, p. 240). Such an increase is unprecedented since life began on this planet. (China's life expectancy increase has been even more dramatic: In 1930, life expectancy in China was 24; in 2000 it is close to 70-- a three-fold increase in two generations.)
 
 Every year, in the developed, rich world, life expectancy goes up by 3 months (every 4 years life expectancy goes up by 1 year).