The Moon

The moon is often described as a natural satellite of Earth, as it is condemned to orbiting our planet. This link generates an important force, the effects of which are most evident in the changing tides of the oceans.

But in addition to influencing the level of the seas, an effect that has economic, social and environmental consequences, the moon has always fascinated humans, who since time immemorial have incorporated it into mythology, religion and study. After all, the moon is always there.

The moon has served, for example, to create calendars that have allowed humans to track time since the ancient era.

The moon is 384,000 km from the Earth and has a diameter of 3,476 km. It has a rough geography, spotted with craters caused by the impacts of meteorites. The largest, known as Newton, is 113 km across.

The origins of the moon remain a mystery, but there are several theories. One is that an impact of body from outer space with the Earth produced enough material to form the moon. In any case, it is believed to have occurred some four billion years ago.

Because the moon is smaller than the Earth, its gravitational pull has less effect on objects on its surface. A person would feel six times lighter, and a jump of one meter on Earth would be 5.5 meters on the moon.

That fact has been proved because the fascination with the moon prompted the world's major powers to create the technology to send humans to the moon. This occurred in 1969, but the last mission was in the 1970s, and since then there have been no more missions to that "natural satellite".

The Internet holds a great deal of information about the moon. There are those that explain its characteristics and unique qualities, those that explain its role in eclipses, and those that invite you to navigate cyber-space in search of greater knowledge.

NASA: Moon Page
Portal: Moonpeople, an introduction to the Moon
Apollo 11: Moon Landing, July 20, 1969
Lunar Calendar
Moon Facts: How much would you way on the moon?
Lunar Eclipses for Beginners

Financing for Development

The mobilization of resources to finance development is a pressing challenge for a world in which 1.2 billion people are condemned to extreme poverty. And it is also key to achieving environmental sustainability of the planet.

Government leaders and development activists from around the world gathered in March in the Mexican city of Monterrey to take part in the International Conference on Financing for Development, and will take up the matter again at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa in late August.

The connection between the two conferences is important, because in Johannesburg the world community will review the commitments made at the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. At that time, the governments issued a document known as Agenda 21, in which they detailed the costs of sustainable development: 600 billion dollars a year.

One of the goals was that industrialized countries would provide some 125 billion dollars a year in development aid, the equivalent of 0.7 percent of their gross domestic products (GDP). They did not achieve that target, however, and in 2000 such assistance averaged 0.22 percent GDP.

A High-Level Panel on Financing for Development, organized by the UN to draft a report prior to the Monterrey summit, warned that if concrete targets are not achieved, the goals established in the Millennium Declaration will not be met, such as halving the number of people living in extreme poverty by the year 2015.

Information available on the Internet exposes the challenges related to mobilizing resources for development, such as the willingness of poor countries to change their economic and financial policies to be more efficient.

One of the objectives for development must be to make the economic globalization process more equitable, say development activists and UN leaders.

El Niño

The El Niño phenomenon is a large-scale climate event that is manifest around the world. And for millions of people it is a cause for concern because it causes excessive rainfall or severe drought, taking a toll on their standard of living.

The alteration of the climate occurs as a result of a rise in surface water temperatures across a large area of the Pacific Ocean, an anomaly that affects atmospheric conditions. The variation is described as an oscillation, as after the temperature rises, it can often fall below normal, creating the climate phenomenon known as La Niña.

El Niño is cyclical, occurring every four to seven years, and its intensity varies. Some of the most severe episodes of the phenomenon have caused temporary climate shifts resulting in starvation - from drought - or at the other end of the weather spectrum, heavy rains with massive flooding.

In Peru, where the warm ocean current arrives from off Australia, is where the name El Niño is thought to have originated, as fisherfolk usually detected the changes in sea temperatures around Christmas, and dubbed it Baby Jesus. Peru is one of the countries that feels the greatest impact from the phenomenon and has institutions that continuously monitor the Pacific's temperatures.

But other countries also keep watch. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) constantly tracks ocean temperatures, using satellites.

Planning is important, given that El Niño is a natural occurrence and cannot be prevented. There are mentions of climate shifts in the distant past that are believed to have been linked to El Niño. And there are historic accounts about the phenomenon dated as long ago as the late 16th century.

NOAA: El Niño
What Is El Niño?
Top 10 El Niño Events of 20th Century
Children of the Tropics: El Niño and La Niña
El Niño for Kids
Yahoo! Directory of El Niño websites