Recapping a bumper week for UK green policy: Here’s what you need to know

The tight labor market is prompting more employers to eliminate one of the biggest requirements for many higher-paying jobs: the need for a college degree.  Companies such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Delta Air Lines Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. have reduced educational requirements for certain positions and shifted hiring to focus more on skills and experience. Maryland this year cut college-degree requirements for many state jobs—leading to a surge in hiring—and incoming Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro campaigned on a similar initiative.  U.S. job postings requiring at least a bachelor’s degree were 41% in November, down from 46% at the start of 2019 ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to an analysis by the Burning Glass Institute, a think tank that studies the future of work. Degree requirements dropped even more early in the pandemic. They have grown since then but remain below prepandemic levels.  The shift comes as demand for workers remains high and unemployment is low. Job postings far outpace the number of unemployed people looking for work—10.7 million openings in September compared with 5.8 million unemployed—creating unusually stiff competition for workers.  The persistently tight labor market has accelerated the trend that builds on a debate about the benefits and drawbacks of encouraging more people to attend four-year colleges and as organizations try to address racial disparities in the workplace.  Some occupations have universal degree requirements, such as doctors and engineers, while others typically have no higher education requirements, such as retail workers. There is a middle ground, such as tech positions, that have varying degree requirements depending on the industry, company and strength of the labor market and economy.  Lucy Mathis won a scholarship to attend a women in computer science conference. There, she learned about an IT internship at Google and eventually dropped out of her computer science undergraduate program to work at the company full time. The 28-year-old now makes a six-figure sum as a systems specialist.  “I found out I had a knack for IT,” she said. “I’m not good at academics. It’s not for me.” 

To make the circular economy work, organisations need to purchase products that have been made from recycled materials. But many materials, especially when they have been contaminated, cannot be recycled. They face a gradual downward slope ending in heat death incineration. It’s about increasing entropy – that is to say, disorder. For which, read usefulness. There’s only so many times paper and plastic can be recycled. There’s only one principle in existence on planet Earth that reverses entropy, creating order from chaos, usefulness from dust – and that is life. Life’s organising principle, from the cell, through organisms, ecosystems, and up to the ecosystem of the entire planet, is what gives us life and our life support system.

Viking Line’s new flagship, Viking Glory, which will launch service in early 2022 on the Turku–Åland–Stockholm route, will have a Finnish flag. As a result, Viking Line, which is Finland’s largest maritime employer, will expand its fleet with another Finnish-flagged vessel.  Viking Line is Finland’s largest maritime employer, with nearly 2,400 employees. Of the seven vessels in its fleet, five currently sail under the Finnish flag. Recruitment work for the new vessel will begin soon, and recruitment will begin first among staff employed on the company’s other vessels.
Viking Line is Finland’s largest maritime employer, with nearly 2,400 employees. Of the seven vessels in its fleet, five currently sail under the Finnish flag. Recruitment work for the new vessel will begin soon, and recruitment will begin first among staff employed on the company’s other vessels.