It's that time of the year, when following the 2007 round -ups, one begins with the predictions for 2008.
The “futurologists” at the Guardian have a few interesting ideas, including the emergence of the N11 (next 11 countries after China and India) and the rise of social networking sites for the older generation. There will also be a realization that the masses of personal data (and photos of your drunken nights out) available on the Net might actually be a liability, and there will be a mass of “facebook suicides” and the like.
On the other hand the predictions of future consumer habits has not lost popularity with businesses.
Leading Trendspotting site www.trendwatching.com points out that in in 2008, “eco.iconic” is set to boom. They write in their report “Over the past few years, the ECO trend has moved from ECO-UGLY (ugly, over-priced, low performance alternatives to shiny 'traditional sphere' products and services) to ECO-CHIC (eco-friendly stuff that actually looks as nice and cool as the less responsible version) to ECO-ICONIC in 2008”.
The Bahrain World Trade center is seen as an example of the new Eco.Iconic
More than a trend, but an act to be encouraged, is the new regulation made to bring down pollution levels. Not just smoking has been banned in bars throughout Germany, but cars too have had to clean up their act. Since January 1 the city centres of Berlin, Cologne and Hannover have been made cleaner, with older cars and their dirty emissions not being allowed into certain zones.
Cars will be issued green, yellow or red stickers according to their environmental impact and drivers can receive a 40-euro fine for ignoring the rules.
Image from European Greens.

Physorg has reported that the Stockholm central train station will harness the body warmth emitted by its 250, 000 daily commuters to heat a nearby building. Instead of releasing the excess hot air it will be redirected and used to warm water, which will be piped to the new office block. I'm not sure how the commuters will react through.
Rock the Planet. To make up for my mean spirits regarding the Live Earth concert in my yearly round-up, I'm pleased to announce that Live Earth and Al Gore will receive a new music industry award from Midem. Other awards will go to Roskilde (DK), where all drinks are served in plastic mugs (with 97% being returned to recycling deposit points), and to the Paleo Festival Nyon (CH) , powered by a single green energy source which utilises wind and water energy from the Swiss Alps.
As far from a rock concert as you can imagine.

We knew for months now that this day will come. Today is the day of the worldwide concert campaign of
Life Earth, the concert tour organized by Al Gore.

Stars from all over the planet sing and perform to combate climate change. When I remember last year when we started Club of Pioneers and see the world today eight months later we can say that many things have changed awarenesswise. However we are still searching for solutions - like Carbon Capture and Storage and have not seen the political will to set in practice all the things we already could do.Hopefully the Concert will be another incentive to change that.