Social Media:

Teaching

Items of the month:
Note that since April 2014, I am publishing these items in my blog at http://runninginfog.wordpress.com/.

Activities I contribute to:

Selected Recent Presentations and Publication

Picture of the month ...

November 2012: Why are we here? The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) held its 9th Annual Plenary meeting in the exceptional location of Foz de Iguacu in Brazil. Why did we all come the long travel to this excluded place in the tropical forest? Was it to make process towards the vision of a time where decisions are informed by sustained comprehensive Earth observations and derived information? Or was it to meet the friends we made over the past nine GEO years, and, not least, to visit the impresive Falls? While the Member Countries and Participating Organizations all had to report important things they did, evidenced management of a the planet still seems to be far out of reach not least because sufficient observations are not available. Important issues raised at every meeting include the lack of sufficient resources to implement the GEO Work Plan or the much below average participating of the developing Member Countries in the Plenary, the Implementation Boards, and the Work Plan Tasks Teams. The national delegates, however, were not ready to engage in serious decisions and commitment that could help to rectify any of these issues. The main success of GEO seems to be in improved data sharing - and in meetings taking place in great locations with important social (after meeting) interactions of those participating.

Picture by Hans-Peter Plag, all rights reserved.


If you have a story, thought, or picture worth to be considered as story, thought or picture of the month, please feel free to inform me about it by sending an e-mail to hpplag@unr.edu.