UN chief’s subtle style under fire from critics - The National Newspaper

During a retreat for senior UN officials in Turin, Italy, in August, the secretary general was reported to have told team members: “We waste incredible amounts of time on largely meaningless matters.”

Mr Ban, 64, added that his attempts to streamline the body had not been adopted by his staff, saying: “I tried to lead by example. Nobody followed.”
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Robert Orr, the secretary general’s policy and strategy chief, describes his boss as “more active in the key issues of the day” than his predecessors, citing such subjects as climate change, food price hikes and water insecurity.

Still more alarmist BS from National Geographic: Noisier Oceans May Be "Disaster" For Marine Animals

As the world's oceans become more acidic, the underwater sounds that whales and other marine mammals depend on for survival may turn into a confusing racket, a new study says.

That's because the ocean's ability to conduct sound is expected to increase dramatically due to global warming.

The shift could make it easier for rare whales to find each other and reproduce, researchers say.

More likely, though, the effect would be comparable to a person in a crowded place straining to talk over all the chatter.

"What that means is that the background level of noise in the ocean—say wave noise or ship noise—will increase," said study co-author Peter Brewer, a geochemist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California.

(Related: "Noisy Eaters Are Cause of Mysterious Ocean Sounds" [August 18, 2008].)

John Hocevar, oceans campaign director for Greenpeace USA, agreed.

"This is a real disaster for marine life," he said.