Hey, all:

Hey, Michael: To clarify some of these, on the Textiles AoF, I think the proposed "Sustainable Textiles and Clothing" is a revision of a proposed "Sustainable Textiles and Fashion", thus there is only one proposed in this case, the one including "Clothing".

I commented on "Mammals" and suggested the consolidation of ~11 much smaller groups of mammals, which in spite of my own biology background, seem unnecessarily subdivided, and are more study areas than concerns. Global concerns such as habitat loss already cover them "Terrestrial Mammals" and "Marine Mammals" would help address concerns without being too heavily divided. I realize this sort of proposed change is more complicated than a mere added AoF.

"Invasive Species" is currently present but found only under Marine Ecosystems, whereas it actually covers every possible ecosystem and should have a higher rank. "Endangered Species" should be treated the same way, for the same reasons. I believe I counted a net reduction in AoFs of three, by consolidating broken-up "...Endangered Species" AoFs. This would also cover concerns of those selecting the current mammalian AoFs above proposed for removal, since vast numbers of species fall into one or both "Invasive" and "Endangered".

The issue of "Mammals" being so subdivided is also my reason for bringing up the "inconsistency" issue a few months ago, since other biological groups could justifiably be subdivided in much the same way. "Birds" and "Insects" are just two such groups. Subdividing could be done, but would not make things easier to use, whereas consolidating does make things more manageable, and the reorganizing would as well.

"Lead Poisoning" could easily be replaced with "Heavy Metal Poisoning", since Cadmium and Mercury, Uranium, Plutonium, "Unobtainium", etc. should otherwise have their own AoFs. "Heavy Metal..." covers them all, and is a global concern.

"Coal Power & Natural Gas" should probably be "Coal & Natural Gas Power".

One you didn't list, and maybe not specifically addressed in discussions, is "Aquarium Trade", which although a valid concern, is a very nebulous label, hence subject to confusion. It is also only a part of a larger serious concern, namely trade in species of all kinds, which leads to many problems. "Animal/Plant Trafficking" may be a better title for the AoF, but then it should be moved out of the "Marine..." upper level.

The separation of "Light" and "Noise Pollution" is based on the fact that these two phenomena really only have one thing in common--they are human-caused. They have separate actors, causes, impacts, solutions, research, stakeholders, etc., and one could be solved without touching the other.

Michael, do you have a timeline for reorganization of the AoFs? Or is the preparation of your list tied to a smaller improvement? Since we have the integration of the Earth Charter and the WE AoFs in progress, we could have some avoidable confusion. Thanks for the question!

David
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