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15 global challenges that cannot be addressed by any government acting alone

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  The 15 Global Challenges  from t he Millennium Project, a global participatory think tank. 1. How can sustainable development be achieved for all while addressing global climate change? 2. How can everyone have sufficient clean water without conflict? 3. How can population growth and resources be brought into balance? 4. How can genuine democracy emerge from authoritarian regimes? 5. How can decisionmaking be enhanced by integrating improved global foresight during unprecedented accelerating change? 6. How can the global convergence of information and communications technologies work for everyone? 7. How can ethical market economies be encouraged to help reduce the gap between rich and poor? 8. How can the threat of new and reemerging diseases and immune micro-organisms be reduced? 9. How can education make humanity more intelligent, knowledgeable, and wise enough to address its global challenges? 10. How can shared values and new security strategies reduce ethnic conflicts,...
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Lead Mining in Derbyshire History

By Jim Sheng

In Derbyshire, the present peace and serenity are in sharp contrast to the industrialisation and activity of former times. One of the most bustling industries is lead mining  in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

According Derbyshire Villages (edited by derbyshire Federation of Women's Institutes), the lead smelting industry provided work which was anything but healthy. The flues were cleaned out twice a year when the workers had to have nose and mouth covered and to keep special clothes on shelves at the works. At dinner time all was spoon meat, broth or Irish stew or a posset in winter because they might not touch the food with their hands.

Many local people were employed by the lead mine. When lead mining was at its peak the miner's holiday was a great event. For a week in May, country dancing took place on the green, there was a gingerbread stall, donkeys to ride and greasy pole to climb - with a prize at the top of - a leg of mutton.

The moral level must have been very low. The folklore tells us that one famous character was a lady, Dorothy Matly, with the dubious reputation of being a 'curser, a liar, and a thief'. Hardly surprising then, when a young miner lost twopence it was she who came under suspicion. This she hotly denied, with a dramatic protestation that if she had taken the money the ground would open and swallow her up. The ground did open and the miner retrieved his money.

As the lead industry declined the people of the village sought employment in the quarries, the mills and on the railways.

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