History of Olympic Pictograms overcoming the language barrier

  Of all the instances in which graphic communication is necessary to transcend language barriers, the Olympic Games are, if not the most important, probably the most visible. We take the little icons of swimmers and sprinters as a given aspect of Olympic design, but the pictograms were a mid-20th Century invention—first employed, in fact, …

The Millennium Development Goals – wiping out disease, famine, and poverty on Earth

By Bill Gates People sometimes say that the United Nations doesn’t do enough to solve the big problems of the world. I’ve never really agreed with that point of view, but if anyone is looking for evidence of the UN’s impact, a good place to start is the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). They were agreed to …

Latest United Nations conference on sustainability takes a new approach – action not treaties

Government leaders, bankers and corporate CEOs took advantage of the gathering of 50,000 people at Rio+20 — the largest meeting in U.N. history — to announce new partnerships, programs and investments. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the $513 billion in commitments “a significant legacy of this conference — billions of dollars’ worth of actions and …

Africa is experiencing the biggest falls in child mortality ever seen

Child mortality in Africa has plummeted, belying the continent’s “hopeless” reputation. The chart below shows the change over the most recent five years in the number of deaths of children under five per 1,000 live births. Sixteen of the 20 have seen falls, but the more impressive finding is the size of the decline in …

"Everything is connected" – Ban Ki-moon urges the developed world to innovate sustainably

Speaking at Davos this year: The Secretary General of the UN has told industrial leaders they have a social and moral duty to innovate, in the drive to turn around the global financial crisis. Ban Ki-moon said that many countries were calling for the economy to be revitalised, social inequality to be addressed and the …

“Everything is connected” – Ban Ki-moon urges the developed world to innovate sustainably

Speaking at Davos this year: The Secretary General of the UN has told industrial leaders they have a social and moral duty to innovate, in the drive to turn around the global financial crisis. Ban Ki-moon said that many countries were calling for the economy to be revitalised, social inequality to be addressed and the …