- Written by Peter Edwards Editor, Global Gypsum Magazine
Google Maps has a new feature, Timelapse, which stitches together satellite images to allow users to scroll back in time to 1984. As someone who is as old as the first images on Timelapse, this is sobering. Many locations around the world have changed beyond recognition: The melting of Greenland, the ‘advance’ into the Amazon, the growth of megacities like Dubai and Beijing, the disappearance of the Aral Sea... The images are equally shocking and unsurprising.
- Written by Peter Edwards Editor, Global Gypsum Magazine
The Covid-19 pandemic is unprecedented in modern times, both in terms of its effects on individual health and the global economy. While SARS, MERS, Swine Flu and Ebola outbreaks have been devastating for those affected, there has not been a full-blown pandemic since 1918 - 1919.1 Thankfully, we are extremely unlikely to reach the estimated 50 million deaths seen due to that pandemic during the current outbreak, although the situation remains very bad indeed.
- Written by Peter Edwards Editor, Global Gypsum Magazine
As one of the 4.5 billion people on earth currently under some form of coronavirus-related lockdown, I have seen a lot of my local area recently. This has mainly been while walking / scooting with my wife and two small children. During a recent jaunt, we noticed how clear the birdsong was on our road. This was due to three factors: More birds in spring, virtually zero traffic noise and the fact that, we ourselves were not racing from A to B in the car. A little further up the road, a question popped up: Does the current situation look anything like a ‘low-CO2 future?’
- Written by Robert McCaffrey Editorial Director, Global Gypsum Magazine
In his inauguration speech as 32nd President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt said the following: “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyses needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” His New Deal - a muscular package of public spending and make-work programmes aimed at the Great Depression - dragged the country out of the economic doldrums and back into robust economic health during the next six years.
- Written by Robert McCaffrey Editorial Director, Global Gypsum Magazine
One of my New Year’s Resolutions was perhaps a strange one: If there is a moment at which I could either shake someone’s hand, or not, then I should default to shaking their hand. We have all been in such situations, where it could go either way - either a nod of the head or an actual contact. Furthermore, and it might be going a bit far, but if I’m alone and someone else is alone, then let’s try to be less alone, together. Despite the Coronavirus outbreak, I’m opting for contact.
