AW4U VCC News
[Jul 18, 2026] Tourism in Bali impacts water availability: Christian Karim Chrobog in the article titled “Who is ‘stealing’ Bali’s water? How tourism siphoned off a prized resource” reports on the water conflict between tourism and traditional agriculture in Bali. Many of “the centuries-old infrastructure that treated water as a gift to be shared is disappearing” because a rapidly growing tourism industry is commercializing and overusing the available water resources.
[Jul 18, 2026] Infrastructure failure impacts water availability in Puerto Rico: Coral Murphy Marcos reports in the article titled “As if a hurricane had passed’: Puerto Ricans at breaking point after weeks without water” that the rupture of a major water pipeline is driving up costs of water in Puerto Rico while pressure grows on the water utility. The crisis appears not to be tackled efficiently.
[Jul 18, 2026] The universal human right to clean and safe drinking water is violated : In his latest blog titled “Our poisoned chalice,” Julian Cribb comments on he dire state of the world's drinking water. He starts by stating that in 2026 over two million humans will lose their lives from drinking water. The universal human right of having sufficient access to clean, safe water is violated in many areas where there is not enough water, insufficient or no access to drinking water, or extensive pollution is turning drinking water into a dangerous substance.
Platform News
[Jun 04, 2026] ‘An equal and habitable world is possible’: This is what the Global Justice Report published today makes very clear. Read the article by Jonathan Watts in the Guardian as an introduction. While this equal and habitable world is still possible, it is very unlikely that we will transition to this world as long as greedy and unethical billionaires supported by governments they own compete to be the first trillionaire. The report underlines that the fight for an equal and habitable world has to be a fight against a system that rewards extraction and depletion of all resources and requires infinitely growing consumption devouring the Earth's life-support system; a system designed to increase inequality and sustain the exploitation of almost all to serve the greed of a few!
[May 28, 2026] No King Day on June 14, 2026: The No Kings movement has announced a nationwide event on June 14, 2026, directly counter-programming the 80th birthday celebrations for Donald Trump and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bout on the south lawn of the White House.
[May 09, 2026] Doomsday Clock is Getting Closer to Midnight: In January, the Doomsday clock was set to 85 seconds before midnight, the closest setting since it was established in 1947 in response to the threat of nuclear war. Sophie McBain in her article “‘The odds are not in our favour’: who sets the Doomsday Clock – and what can they tell us about the future of humanity?” emphasizes that with the wars on Iran and on the Ukraine, the rapid and largely uncontrolled development of AI and the climate breakdown all together increasing the likelihood of a nuclear war, the clock now stands closer to midnight than ever before. She asks the question of whether we can buy ourselves more time.
[Apr 25, 2026] World Happiness Report Finds Positive Impacts of Collaborative Platforms: The World Happiness Report 2026 has a strong focus on the impacts of social media and the Web in general on human happiness. The results of most studies indicate that the use of most social media seems to have a negative impact on happiness, while those tools that generate trust and collaboration have a positive impact. The report sumarizes: “Internet activities fall into two groups. Communications, news, learning, and content creation are associated with higher life satisfaction. Social media, gaming, and browsing for fun are associated with lower life evaluations.” This supports the mission of Place4Us as a trust-focused collaborative platform for intercreativity and learning.
