As we all know, this is the country with the largest reserves of drinking water in the world. And where is the water? In the Amazon! Read the rest of this entry »
This is a Guest Voice post by journalism professor and author Walter Brasch who is also a syndicated newspaper columnist and radio commentator, and president of the Pennsylvania Press Club. Guest Voice posts do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Moderate Voice or its writers.
Murder in an Alaskan Forest
by Walter Brasch
No one—at least no human—knows his name, or even if he had a name.
We don’t know where or when he was born. We know nothing about his life.
But we know a lot about his death. A politician/trapper from northeast Pennsylvania went to Alaska and killed him. We know this because the local newspaper opened almost a full page to tell us about the glorious hunt.
The story included two pictures. One three-column picture showed Mighty Trapper, smiling and in heavy cold winter clothing, holding the dead lynx by his back legs, his life cut short by at least 10 years. The other picture showed Mighty and his brother, a biologist with Alaska’s Fish and Game Department, each holding a dead lynx. One of the animals appears to be a young female, possibly not even past puberty.
The article tells us that the politician/trapper, who began trapping and killing animals while in elementary school, went to Alaska to “live a lifetime dream of running a trap line in the Alaska interior.” He said he hoped his lines would ensnare not only lynx, but wolves and wolverines as well.
However, traps are indiscriminate devices that not only capture their intended victim, but also other animals as well, including dogs and cats if they’re in the area. He didn’t get wolves or wolverine, and only killed one mink.
“My first thought,” he remembers, “was we should be able to catch dozens every day.” Unfortunately for the trapper, the mink traveled beneath the snow and ice.
The average Canadian lynx (Lynx Canadensis), a close relative to the bobcat, weighs 18 to 30 pounds, has acute sight and hearing, has long legs and large furry feet but can’t run fast except for short distances, and survives primarily on a diet of snowshoe rabbits. Their only major predator is the human.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists the Canadian lynx as “threatened species” in the 48 contiguous states; the Humane Society of the United States is pursuing litigation to change the status to “endangered.” The primary habitat of the lynx is the boreal forests of Montana, Idaho, Washington, Wyoming, with a presence also in New England, Minnesota, Utah, and Colorado. But, Alaska allows unlimited killing during a three to five month season, depending upon region, beginning about Nov. 1 each year, and Mighty Trapper was there to kill lynx. “The state says to capture as many as you can,” he told others after returning to his home.
“Trapping is the greatest sport there is,” this politician told the outdoors reporter, and pointed out, “I’m so very proud to be a part of this real American heritage.”
When not serving as one of three county commissioners, he works every morning for several months a year killing muskrats, raccoons, fox and, reports the newspaper, “other fur bearing animals.” He often jokes around—with individuals and in public meetings—that he’s a member of PETA. Not the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but People Eating Tasty Animals. It gets a laugh, and lets everyone know what he thinks of animal rights organizations.
As “thrilling” as setting lines and killing lynx may be to some people, it isn’t all that difficult. “Because they’re curious, not as wary of humans, lynx are one of the easier animals to trap,” says Doug Larsen, director of wildlife conservation for the Alaska Fish and Game Department. Read the rest of this entry »
January 4th, 2008 by SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist
What is common between Kelesau Naan of Malaysia, Sister Dorothy Stang of America, Kinkri Devi of India, Chico Mendes of Brazil, and Aldo Zamora of Mexico? The real heroes who laid down their lives to protect the forests from loggers and miners. Except for Kinkri Devi, who died of natural causes recently, others were allegedly murdered by those who thought that they were providing obstacles in the rape of the forests.
Although armchair environmentalists/NGOs play a crucial role in highlighting conservation/Global Warming/other issues and raising them at the national and international fora, the sacrifices made by grassroots heroes usually goes unsung. The Times of London has done a fine job in bringing into focus the contribution of some such people…
“Kelesau Naan (of Malaysia) never went to school. He signed his name with a thumb print and spent his entire life living in the jungles of Borneo. But among his tribe, the Penan, he was a visionary and an inspiration.
“Now he is dead, possibly murdered, allegedly by agents of the loggers whose lucrative business he was putting in jeopardy. His broken skeleton was found last month – two months after he was reported missing – and yesterday 100 relatives and neighbours lodged a police report demanding an investigation. Micheal Ipa, his nephew, said: ‘We believe he has been killed by people involved in logging’.
“For years, he had organised his people in a desperate defence of their home and heritage: the pristine rain-forest in the deep interior of the Malaysian state of Sarawak.
“Similar accusations were made in 2000, when Bruno Manser, a Swiss shepherd who became a prominent campaigner on behalf of the Penan, disappeared without trace while travelling alone through the forest. His remains were never recovered and he was declared dead by a Swiss court two years ago.”
Among others who died for the cause:
— Sister Dorothy Stang, a 73-year-old American nun, was shot dead in Brazil in 2005 while fighting to protect the Terra do Meio region from loggers. Within days, the area was declared a protected site
— Chico Mendes, a rubber tapper and environmental activist, became a posthumous icon in Brazil after he was murdered in 1988 by ranchers opposed to his campaign to protect the Amazon from deforestation
— Aldo Zamora was collecting data on illegal logging for Greenpeace in Great Water forest, Mexico, when a logging gang ambushed his car and killed him in May 2007
— Kinkri Devi went on hunger strike against a court’s refusal to hear her case against a mining project in Himachal Pradesh in India. She won her case and an award for her efforts. She died this week (To read her Obituary in The Times of London please click here…)
(Sources: Amnesty International; Times archives)
Photo above, courtesy The Times: Tied logs are hauled through the forests by bulldozers.
January 4th, 2008 by SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist
As someone said in a lighter vein that elections have become a near monkey business (although its outcome affects us all!!!), and generate a strange frenzy. While the US is in the grip of frenzy generated by presidential election primaries and results, the people in North India suffer from a frenzy caused by real monkeys!!!
“In recent months, the deputy mayor of New Delhi was killed when he fell from his balcony during an attack by wild monkeys, and 25 others were injured when a monkey went on a rampage in the city,” reports Gavin Rabinowitz, Associated Press Writer.
I have seen with my own eyes the Prime Minister’s, and other ministers’ and officials’, office having protective wire screens to keep the monkeys out. The simians have in the past raided the interiors of the civil secretariat and trashed even important officials files. The security guards postd to keep the mlitants/terrorists at bay find themselves helpless in the face of monkey attacks.
Many homes in North Indian towns now have protective wiremesh around the entire house to keep the monkeys away. The cities, towns and farms are infested with rhesus macaque monkeys, who have been driven to these places after losing their natural forest habitat.
In my mountainous home state of Himachal Pradesh, the first assurance the newly-elected Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal gave was that his administration would fight thousands of monkeys on a “war footing”. Monkeys have been turning farms into wastelands and attacking people, according to a statement from his office.
” ‘Affected districts would be identified and local youth involved in the process, who would be provided training in capturing and sterilization by the experts,’ the statement quoted Dhumal as saying, adding that they would use ‘laser sterilization’. Mr Dhumal’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recently won the regional election in the north-India state of Himachal Pradesh.
“The capacity of zoos in the area would be expanded to accommodate captured monkeys, and camps may be set up for them in order to protect crops and other farmland from being encroached upon, the statement said.”
India’s leading conservationist, Iqbal Malik says: “Of the 15 species of non-human primates present in India, only 3 are commensal, the Rhesus (M. mullatta), Bonnet (M. radiata), and the Common langur (Seminopithecus entellus). Of these, only the Rhesus macaque is the most aggressive, while Bonnets and langurs are comparatively less aggressive. Thanks to its wide distribution in North India, the Rhesus macaque is the reason for a majority of the attacks that have been reported from people living in the urban centres.
“People from urban areas are more likely to be bitten than those living in rural areas, largely due to fact that they are ignorant of primate behaviour, and states like Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh are the worst affected, reporting the maximum number of cases. The reasons for this are many, namely: (1) Extensive urbanization (2) Increased encroachment of forests (3) Haphazard trapping of forest monkeys for biomedical research leading to chaotic fissioning and the related dispersal of monkeys to nearby human habitations (4) Decrease in the number of forest trees, that provide natural food to monkeys (5) Decreased availability of water in the monkey’s natural habitat (I have observed monkeys moving between areas in search of water especially during the summer months) (6) Decreased human tolerance to other life forms in the same enironment (7) Increase in the population of Rhesus monkeys…”
To read her full article “Monkey Menace—Who is Responsible?” please click here…
Presidential contender Mike Huckabee bagged a pheasant Wednesday, offering Iowa voters the image of an experienced outdoorsman on the hunt, shotgun blasting and dogs braying.
AND:
Of four birds flushed by the party, three were felled. Huckabee claimed the third with his .12-gauge shotgun. He proudly displayed the birds and said jokingly, “See that’s what happens if you get in my way.”
He also jested about Vice President Dick Cheney’s hunting accident in which a fellow hunter was shot. Asked why Cheney hadn’t been invited, Huckabee chuckled, “Because I want to survive all the way through this.”
Two people attacked by a tiger Christmas Day remained in critical condition today, as investigators tried to determine how the animal escaped its enclosure and roamed the grounds of the San Francisco Zoo, killing one visitor.
The men were listed in critical but stable condition at San Francisco General Hospital after the attack by a 350-pound Siberian tiger named Tatiana.
“They’re doing well at the present time. They have both gone through their surgeries well. They’re both in stable condition,” Dr. John Brown of San Francisco General Hospital told “Good Morning America” today.
“These injuries are severe injuries, but they are very treatable,” Brown added. “These two gentlemen seem to be in good health. So I think they have a good chance.”
While authorities remain unsure of how the tiger escaped, it is clear that somehow the animal traveled over over a 20-foot wall and a 15-foot moat. Initially, authorities worried four of the zoo’s five tigers had escaped. Later they learned Tatiana was the only one loose.
Tatiana had been a problem before: a year ago she chewed off part of a zoo-keeper’s arm.
Note that zoos have become controversial in recent years. There is a strong anti-zoo movement.
December 22nd, 2007 by SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist
Close on the heels of signing the Kyoto Protocol, the newly-formed Labour Government in Australia is sending out a clear message about its priorities with regard to environment conservation worldwide. Australia and some 30 other countries lodged a diplomatic protest to send ‘very powerful signal’ of international displeasure over Japan’s whaling program, despite Tokyo’s suspension of its plans to kill humpbacks, reports IHT.
Late Friday, Australia led a group of nations in lodging a diplomatic protest with the Japanese ambassador to Australia. Commercial hunts of humpbacks have been banned worldwide since 1966, and commercial whaling overall since 1986.
“Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said it was the largest single diplomatic protest yet against Japan’s whaling program. He praised Japan for suspending plans to add up to 50 humpback whales to its annual hunt of 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales, but said Japan must do more.”
Among the countries who joined Australia in voicing opposition to Japan’s whaling program were France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, the UK and Uruguay. The European Commission also participated in the protest, reports Melbourne Herald Sun.
Last week, Mr Smith and Environment Minister Peter Garrett announced that an Australian Customs vessel would monitor the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean.
“The Japanese government is desperately trying to reduce stockpiles from last season, encouraging public schools and the food industry to increase whale meat consumption, reported The Australian,” according to another news report. Backed by Japanese government’s initiative to reduce 3,798 tonnes of whale meat stockpile, more Japanese schools have now started serving whale meat for children’s school lunches.
“In Japan, whale meat jerky has also been sold as dog food - although the company denies that this has continued. Another company, Asian Lunch, which runs street vendors in Tokyo’s central district, last month introduced whale mince curry for white collared workers. It has been serving 600 dishes of whale curry a day in 14 places in Tokyo.”
Meanwhile “the U.S., which currently chairs the International Whaling Commission, recently held several rounds of talks with Japan to seek a one to two year suspension of the humpback hunt,” reports the Associated Press.
Commercial hunts of humpbacks — which were nearly harpooned to extinction in the 20th century — were banned in the Southern Pacific in 1963, and that ban was extended worldwide in 1966. The American Cetacean Society estimates the humpback population has recovered to about 30,000-40,000 — about a third of the number before modern whaling. The species is listed as “vulnerable” by the World Conservation Union.
(Photo above: “A lunch vendor serves a whale meat curry lunch box to customers at a vending van in Tokyo. Whale curry made its debut as a takeaway business in Tokyo, attracting curious customers who seldom have the meat amid an international row over hunting the giant mammals.” — courtesy: AFP)
Whaling is the harvesting of free-roaming whales from the oceans and dates back to at least 6,000 BC. Whaling and other threats have led to at least 5 of the 13 great whales being listed as endangered. Commercial whaling is subject to a moratorium by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). More here…
Does the future of humanity and a third of all living things rest in the hands of American voters in the 2008 presidential elections? According to this editorial from Brazil’s Estadao newspaper, George W. Bush’s failure to follow through with Bill Clinton’s commitments at Kyoto creates skepticism over whether U.S. commitments made at Bali can be believed.
“At Bali, a step forward was taken in the battle against global warming … Many are commenting about how much the guidelines depend on the upcoming North American presidential elections.”
EDITORIAL
Translated By Brandi Miller
December 18, 2007
Brazil - Estadao - Original Article (Portuguese)
Everything led one to believe that the 13th Climate Conference that wrapped up in Bali this weekend - an international meeting to seek some kind of consensus on the need by 2013 for stricter rules to control greenhouse gasses - would end as a resounding failure. At the last minute, however, something useful came out of the meeting, particularly because a way was found - with some compromise - to gain some commitment from the country that emits the most CO2 on the planet, the United States, and which from the early days of the Kyoto Protocols has resisted any type of control over its emissions.
Led by the European Union, a group of countries wanted a commitment for a cut of from 25 to 40 percent off 1990 greenhouse gas emission levels, to be fulfilled by 2020. To win the agreement of the United States, they possibility of a much deeper cut of 50 percent was discussed, but over a much longer time frame - until 2050. But what please the North Americans most was not fixing any target date. Considering the fact that emissions grow every year, looking to have future rates lower than those of 1990 would mean reducing carbon emissions far more than if the reference period was later - for example, 2007. To be approved, the final text had to be full of loopholes, but at least it offers a roadmap to get to 2009, when it is hoped that targets for 2013 will be established and the Kyoto Protocols are due to expire.
Thus, with many concessions, on Saturday [Dec. 15] representatives from 190 countries signed the so-called “Bali Plan,” a document that could be a milestone for establishing guidelines for a new political agreement to combat global warming. This is what is unanimously sought by the most respected scientific institutions that produce documents like the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - and is an issue that poses a grave risk not only to the survival of a third of the earth’s living things, but in the long term, to the survival of humanity itself.
But as was expected, not even the common interests of all humanity succeeded in eliminating the differences between nations – many of them with strong historical foundations. If on the one hand, the major polluters in the developed world resist controls, on the other, representatives from developing countries like Munir Akram, Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington and President of the G-77, a group of developing nations, gave speeches like this: “The industrialized countries had 200 years to follow a path to economic development based on the intensive use of carbon, and now that it’s our turn, they say we can’t do that.”
Is the United States missing a chance to redeem its global reputation by obstructing a climate deal at a U.N. conference in Bali? Along with Al Gore, the editorial board of Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Gazette certainly thinks so.
“Of course, Bush was bought and paid for by the time he was elected President in 2000 … when it comes to the Bush Administration, the word ‘moral’ is one that doesn’t exist in its vocabulary.”
EDITORIAL
December 14, 2007
Saudi Arabia - The Saudi Gazzette - Home Page (English)
The United States has the world’s largest economy, the world’s mightiest military and the world’s largest media machine. It is also the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. And now, it’s the world’s greatest impediment to reaching agreements on stemming the increasingly frightening decline of the world’s environment.
Reports coming out of the U.N. climate conference in Bali are disturbing, to say the least WATCH . Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, fresh from his visit to Sweden to accept the Nobel Prize for his work on the environment, stated categorically in a speech delivered to delegates that, “My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali WATCH .”
And the European Union is threatening to pull out of U.S.- sponsored climate change talks unless the Bush Administration agrees to specific emissions targets, something it currently refuses to do. Such targets, the Bush minions say, would necessarily limit the scope of future talks and, incidentally, wreak havoc on the U.S. economy.
Of course, Bush was bought and paid for by the time he was elected President in 2000, and the secret meeting his Vice President, Dick Cheney, held with U.S. energy moguls at the start of the Bush presidency was further proof that profits - not the health of the planet - are the main focus of this administration.
The Bush Administration has been clueless on virtually every issue the country and the wider world have faced over the past seven years. From Iraq to stem cell research to health care to the environment, George Bush has shown the sensitivity and insight that only a person who has lived his life in affluent isolation could. In other words, he has the capacity for neither.
The problem here is that personal wealth will do little to save anyone from what could be a true environmental disaster lurking just around the corner.
December 4th, 2007 by JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
So much for those who think chimps are dumb animals:
Spend even a little time around chimpanzees, and you begin to realize how intelligent they are. But can they outshine humans in brain power? Most humans would scoff at that.
Not really. I’ve watched the Democratic and Republican party Presidential debates and that doesn’t surprise me one bit.
But researchers have shown that young chimps outperform adult humans in a memory test, a Concentration-like game using numerals on a computer screen.
“We were very surprised to find this,” Tetsuro Matsuzawa of the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University said. “But it’s a very concrete, simple fact. Young chimps are superior to human adults in a memory task.”
I don’t believe it. By the way: what’s this article about again?
Dr. Matsuzawa and a colleague, Sana Inoue, first trained chimps to recognize the numerals 1 through 9 in sequence. Ai, the first chimp trained, an adult female was found with a memory capability equal to that of adult humans.
When the researchers went to see if there was a difference with chimps younger than 6, the animals had a touch screen where scattered numerals appeared for up to two-thirds of a second and were then masked by white squares. With the shortest exposure time, about a fifth of a second, the chimps had an 80 percent accuracy rate, compared with adult humans’ 40 percent. The findings are described in Current Biology.
This isn’t the first research indicating chimps are highly intelligent and related to humans (intelligent design to the contrary). For lots of info go HERE.
November 23rd, 2007 by SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist
The Mughal King Jahangir who ruled undivided India in the 16th and 17th century AD is still remembered with love and affection by Muslims, Hindus and other communities. “Jahangir is most famous for his golden ‘chain of justice’. The chain was setup as a link between the people and Jahangir himself. Standing outside the castle of Agra with sixty bells, anyone was capable of pulling the chain and having a personal hearing from Jahangir himself.” He was buried in Lahore.
We have a travelled a few centuries…and live in a different world. The executive branches of the governments worldwide have begun to play havoc, from Washington to Islamabad and New Delhi. This poses a big threat to the rule of law and the democratic functioning of important institutions, such as judiciary. By constantly promoting/praising General Musharraf, the US administration has indirectly helped in crippling an independent judiciary in Pakistan.
In India, too, the independent judiciary is also under attack from the executive branch. The judiciary is often branded as ‘activist’ by the executive branch. Under the excesses and uncaring attitude of the executive, a number of people are being forced to turn to the courts for relief. The courts have played a pivotal role in cases of corruption, issues related to environment, freedom of expression, and even in areas which are really the exclusive preserve of the executive branch.
Now India, like other developing countries, is under heavy pressure from the USA and Western countries to ‘open up’ its economy without caring about the long-term environmental impact of the activities of big multi-national corporations and their projects (even in the most environmentally fragile places). Then there is another aspect: All the reports are indicating that with India opening up its economy the rich are becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer.
Now let’s read about the latest court intervention: “India’s Supreme Court has barred a British company from mining bauxite in forested hills in the east of the country that are home to some of the world’s rarest animals, handing a victory to environmental activists and tribal people.
“Vedanta Resources Plc had planned a £470m open-cast mining project that would rip through the plateau of the Niyamgiri mountain range in Orissa to feed an aluminium plant it has already built in the area.
“The hilly areas of the southern part of Orissa, one of the most underdeveloped regions of India, are bauxite-rich, and the British mining group’s project in the Kalahandi district to produce one million tons of aluminium a year has been at the centre of a raging environmental controversy. The dense forests contain endangered animals, including the Bengal tiger, Asian elephants, giant squirrels, pangolins, four-horned antelopes and the very rare golden gecko.
“The mountains, once considered for status as a wildlife sanctuary by the state government, is also home to about 8,000 Dongria Kondhs, one of India’s most distinctive aboriginal peoples.The green campaigners claim 660 hectares (1,500 acres) of pristine forest with a level of biodiversity rare in south Asia would be destroyed, leading to the drying up of at least two rivers and the annihilation of several rare breeds of wildlife. Protests led to the arrest of scores of tribespeople who fear the refinery will spell their doom.”
More here…
The concerned citizens have expressed fears that as usual the executive branch and the mighty corporations would find another route to go ahead with the setting up of their business/industry project.
But what about the poor in whose name the development is being undertaken? There is an interesting post with regard to the number of poor in India…please click here…
On the subject of poverty and globalization there is another interesting article: “The novel Tale of Two Cities of Charles Dickens begins with a piquant description of the contradictions of the times: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity;… we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…’
“At the present, we can also say about the tale of two Indias: ‘We have the best of times; we have the worst of times. There is sparkling prosperity, there is stinking poverty. We have dazzling five star hotels side by side with darkened ill-starred hovels. We have everything by globalisation, we have nothing by globalisation’.”
November 14th, 2007 by SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist
All 33 authorities in the London Councils group voted for legislation to prevent shops in the capital handing out free plastic bags, reports The Independent. “In the next fortnight Westminster Council will present a private Bill to the House of Commons which would apply to every London shop from the humblest newsagent to Harrods.”
“Shoppers clutching large numbers of bags in London’s West End could become a thing of the past; instead they will be asked to use sturdy reusable plastic ‘bags for life’ or cotton or string hold-alls. London’s authorities said they needed to halt the environmental damage done by plastic bags, which use oil and landfill space and kill marine wildlife.
“British shops hand out a staggering 13 billion every year. But after a decision by 33 London councils yesterday, plastic bags could be soon be consigned to history, unmourned by anyone who cares about cleaning up the environment.
“The ban is likely to be opposed by big retailers such as Tesco which prefer encouragement rather than coercion to change behaviour. But campaigners point to international trailblazers that have already banned the bags, places as diverse as Tasmania and Tanzania, which this year were joined by Paris and San Francisco. London would be the biggest urban centre yet to take the plunge.”
In India, the hill state of Himachal Pradesh (where I have been working for the past six months) banned the use of plastic bags many months ago.
The Australian government website says: Plastic Bag Phase-Out Has Started…
It’s governments’ intention to phase-out the lightweight plastic carry bags used by many retailers by the end of 2008. Many retailers have already started to make the change away from these types of bags.”
In awarding Al Gore with the Nobel Prize, has the Norwegian Parliament betrayed its pro-NATO, pro-war bias? According to this op-ed article from Mexico’s La Jornada, it’s time for the developed world to begin awarding “alternate peace prizes to compete creatively for world public opinion, rather than depend exclusively on the politically contaminated Nobel ‘Peace’ Prize.”
“This isn’t the first time that warmongering people have received the highest ‘NATO-centric’ prize for pacifism.”
By Alfredo Jalife-Rahme
Translated By Douglas Myles Rasmussen
October 14, 2007
Mexico - La Jornada - Original Article (Spanish)
The immeasurably sage Confucius used to say that one of a characteristics of decay is semantic confusion. The Norwegian Committee has reached such a semantic impasse (truly a conceptual aporia) by jointly awarding the Nobel Price for “Peace†(sic!) to the exalted Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - a pleasantly laudable act - and the hyper-bellicose and super-polluting Albert Arnold Gore Jr., which is highly disturbing and calls into question the awarding nation (Norway, a member of NATO) its awards (not infrequently denied to developing nations and concealing a hidden agenda), and the controversial laureates that they pull from their sleeves.
This isn’t the first time that warmongering people have received the highest “NATO-centric†prize for pacifism. It was also awarded to the genocidal Henry Kissinger, former [Israeli] terrorist Menachem Begin, the father of Israel’s atomic bomb Shimon Peres and even Palestinian Yasser Arafat, who the misleading “Western†media insulted as a “terrorist,†etc.
The issue of “climate change†is transcendental, but the person selected in this case has not - as he should be - as pristine in his soul as is the agenda that he seeks to defend on behalf of the human race. It would have been better to have chosen the U.N. Panel on Climate Change exclusively and not to have contaminated the prize with Al Gore.
Not counting his blessing of the 1991 war against Iraq, and beyond his disturbing dark side that deserves special treatment - he’s the instigator of the nefarious NAFTA, which has done nothing to improve the Mexican borderlands; His links to the “Russian Mafia†and former Soviet Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin [see below]; his racist dispute with Islamic Asian countries to the benefit of speculator George Soros against Mahathir Mohamed, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, etc. It’s worth remembering that as the 45th Vice President of the United States, the pompous and fundamentalist “born again Christian†Al Gore participated in several wars that were hardly free of pollution, first among them NATO’s war against Serbia, where his army scattered several tons of depleted uranium generously, according to the BBC (May 7, 1999) and the excellent Web site Common Dreams (January 31, 2001 ).
[Editor’s Note: In June 1995, Gore reached a confidential deal with Russian prime minister Viktor S. Chernomyrdin to exempt Russia from sanctions for selling weapons to Iran in exchange, for Moscow’s pledge that it would end all deliveries of sophisticated conventional arms to Tehran by Dec. 31, 1999].
Perhaps the Norwegian Committee has ignored this, but nothing is more deliberately polluting than war, to say nothing of “depleted uranium.†This simple act disqualifies both the awarding Committee and the recipient of the prize, who collaborated at the highest levels on the environmental and medical calamities that will confront the Balkans for hundreds of years to come. What a serious contradiction and hypocrisy on the part of the Norwegian Parliament!
May 15th, 2007 by SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist
Taj Mahal, India’s famous 17th century ‘memorial to love’ is fast losing its luster — The shimmering white marble world heritage site is turning yellow because of pollution in the city of Agra where it is located.
Taj Mahal, a dazzling edifice of marble, jade, turquoise, lapis lazuli and other precious stones, is about four hours drive south of New Delhi, India’s capital.
This warning comes from India’s parliamentary committee. A visit to the monument is de rigeur for visitors to India and is often in the news because of VIP visits — including those of Bill Clinton/Chelsea and Pervez Musharraf/Mrs Musharraf. It is a great photo op to sit/stand with Taj Mahal providing the backdrop.
Former US President Bill Clinton, a much-admired frequent visitor to India, while on a visit to Taj Mahal in the year 2000 had also warned that pollution had managed “to do what 350 years of wars, invasions and natural disasters have failed to do. It has begun to mar the magnificent walls of the Taj Mahal.”
Singer Sheryl Crow has said a ban on using too much toilet paper should be introduced to help the environment.
Crow has suggested using “only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where two to three could be required”.
The 45-year-old, who made the comments on her website, has just toured the US on a biodiesel-powered bus to raise awareness about climate change…..
“I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting.”
Some thoughts:
It is a unique idea of a way to wipe away one environmental usage problem.
People who find the idea offensive or think it’s a crappy idea should turn the other cheek.
I shudder to think of The Toilet Police who will supervise toilet paper use in homes, restaurants places of work and rest stops. (If people offend, will judges give them a slap on the wrist or a slap on the….)
It is an interesting idea….no ifs, ands, or butts (well, yes, there are some butts..).
UPDATE: THIS JUST IN!!!!!!!!!!
The idea was pooh-poohed by many but now she says it was all a joke to draw attention to environmental tissues…I mean issues..in particular to global warming.
UPDATE 2: But scientists don’t think the idea is a waste. A German physicist at Procter & Gamble is working on an idea to gradually eliminate toilet paper.
Rivers are highways that move on, and bear us whither we wish to go. — Blaise Pascal
The Delaware River is the largest free-flowing river east of the Mississippi.
Some 15 million people rely on the Delaware, and most of New York City and all of Philadelphia use it for drinking water. Additionally, millions use it for recreation; 5 million people alone visit the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area each year. Then there are the fish, birds and other wildlife who live in the river and along it.
But very fact that the river is free-flowing — which is to say that it is not dammed at any point from its upstate New York headwaters until it empties into Delaware Bay — has caused substantial destruction in the residential communities along the river in the Poconos region of Pennsylvania after each of the three major floods since 2004.
Those floods took lives, displaced several thousand people and cost millions of dollars in damage, primarily along the stretch of river in the Poconos region of Pennsylvania.
Enough is enough, say these residents, who are begging the Delaware River Basin Commission for relief. That would be in the form of a plan to manage discharges from three reservoirs upriver from flood-prone areas.
Trouble is, these long-suffering residents have some pretty formidable competition: All of those people who drink the river’s water, boat and fish on it and use its wildlife habitats, not to mention the wildlife itself.
The history of the Delaware River since Colonial times looms large in whether the contradictory interests of the residents and everyone and everything else can be balanced. That history – notably a decade-long war over an immense dam project that attained international notoriety — is a cautionary tale.
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There has been no greater disaster in the modern history of the Poconos than the battle over that project – the Army Corps of Engineers plan to dam the Delaware River at Tocks Island. Not even the deadly twin hurricanes of 1955 can compare.
Tocks Island would be a lightning rod for the nascent American environmental movement. It would destroy the careers of some politicians and bring success to others. It would be the cause of suicides, arsons and violence. It would expose deep tears in the social fabric of the Poconos, unleashing a deep bitterness against the Corps and the dam’s powerful, politically connected backers that seems just as intense today as it was three decades ago.
April 1st, 2007 by SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist
In never hurts to be considerate in your general behaviour whether you believe in Global Warming/Climate Change or not. The residents of Sydney got a chance to show that they care…
The Sydney Opera House’s gleaming white-shelled roof was darkened Saturday night along with much of the rest of Australia’s largest city, which switched off the lights to register concern about global warming, reports ROHAN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer.
“The arch of Sydney’s other iconic structure, the harbor bridge, was also blacked out, along with dozens of skyscrapers and countless homes in the 4 million-strong city, in an hour-long gesture organizers said they hoped would be adopted as an annual event by cities around the world.
“Restaurants throughout the city held candlelit dinners, and families gathered in public places to take part in a countdown to lights out, sending up a cheer as lights started blinking off at 7:30 p.m.
“The amount of power saved by Saturday’s event was not immediately known. But Greg Bourne, chief executive of World Wildlife Fund Australia and one of the architects of the event, said Sydney’s power supplier Energy Australia had estimated it could be 5 percent of normal usage on a night of similar conditions.
” ‘It’s absolutely fantastic, there’s a mood of enthusiasm and hopefulness and action,’ Bourne said. ‘I have never seen Sydney’s skyline look so dark.’
“Global warming has emerged this year as a mainstream political issue in Australia, and Prime Minister John Howard’s government has announced initiatives such as the phased withdrawal from sale of energy-inefficient incandescent bulbs to blunt criticism of his refusal to sign the Kyoto protocol.
“Sydney is not the first place to cut the lights for conservation. In February, Paris and other parts of France dimmed the lights for five minutes in a similar gesture, which also took hold in Rome and Athens.”
In a recent post I wrote that “Britain is to become the first country in the world to set legally binding targets for cutting its carbon dioxide emissions. The targets will be aimed at cutting emissions of the gas which causes global warming by between 26 per cent and 32 per cent by 2020, and 60 per cent by 2050.
“In a draft Bill published yesterday, ministers promised to enshrine into law their commitment to cut emissions. Opposition parties and Labour MPs joined forces in calling for an 80 per cent reduction.”
It does not matter whether the scientists’ concern about Global Warming is correct or not. What matters is that an ordinary citizen needs to be sensitized to the fact that we must conserve our natural resources and should not turn into greedy/vulgar ‘gluttons’.
March 29th, 2007 by SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist
I came across an interesting nonfiction essay “The Pilgrimage” by Susan L. Adkins (sent to me by a young sensitive lady Sucharita Sengupta who now lives in New Delhi).
Susan describes her visit to the site of an ancient ruin in Pakistan. The essay was recently published in a Pakistani journal, The Way Ahead.
Susan has also published nonfiction in a number of magazines, including the Cousteau Society’s Calypso Log, New Scientist (U.K.), MS., Viewpoint (Pakistan), and others.
Excerpts: “Let your eyes settle over this tiny, isolated site–the heart of a once holy land known as Gandhara. Cutting a wide path down the spine of Pakistan, Gandharan remains hug both sides of the Indus River as it tumbles thousands of miles from the heights of the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea.
“Alexander the Great marched his legions onto this bit of Asia, uniting East and West more than 300 years before the birth of Christ. Gaze over the wide plain with its low, terraced land stretching northward to the treeless hills, and you will see the dust from his army’s feet still settling in the distance.
“On this land you will sense the ghosts of the hundreds of thousands who came before you. The worn foundations of their cities echo the joy and sadness lived here, and the surviving stone relics hint at their story.
“Long before the time of Christ, Buddhist religion, art and civilization flowered from this piece of earth. With the stone footprints left by monasteries, temples and religious shrines, touch the handiwork of a 700 year flood of Buddhist pilgrims who journeyed from as far away as China.
“Rub your hands across the scars of its decline–those left by the Dark Ages brought so long ago by the marauding White Huns. Many pilgrims and barbarians alike stopped at Dharmarajika as you do today…”
In my earlier posts I have written about the shared heritage of India and Pakistan. Although some people in Pakistan may describe the country as pure Islamic, you cannot completely whitewash the past…Can you?
