Category: Politics & government

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[419] Of the Russian ratification of the Kyoto Protocol

Today is Thursday, September 30th, 2004. A day that, in my humble opinion, should be called the Kyoto Day.

The Russian cabinet approves the Kyoto Protocol today, barely a few hours ago, blowing life and even extra strength to the once-zombie international treaty on climate change. With Russia backing the Protocol, a legacy of the Earth Summit, the quorum needed for the Protocol to come into force is met.

This victory, the one that might change the fate of our home and us as a species, is probably one of the most important achievements in human cooperation. With such unison, surely pressure will be mounting on the next President of the United States, whoever it might be, to give Kyoto for another thought.

As this great development happens in Moscow, Lieberman and McCain have been continuously working on a bipartisan effort to push for the Lieberman-McCain Climate Stewardship Act in DC. The act seeks to introduce capping and trading of greenhouse gasses emission which in general is similar to part of the idea in the Kyoto Protocol. I can proudly say that I and a few others have written a snail mail petition to Michigan representatives Carl Levin and Deborah Stabenow to urge them to support the act a few weeks ago via Environmental Defense. So far, though support for the act has been steadily gone up, it still shy a few votes from being passed. The proposal will be brought back to the Senate floor soon for another voting.

While the east coast is stuck with red tape, California reaffirms itself as the most political green caucus in the United States. Earlier, California passed the world’s toughest emission regulation and later claimed to be an global warming free-zone (though I think that term is by far is ridiculous but hey, we got what we want. I’m won’t complain too much on the so-called global warming free-zone.) Under the regulation, cars and trucks need to cut their emission by 25 percent while SUV must cut 18 percent before 2016 and it must start as soon as 2009. The auto industry has called this stupid but I say they have gotten off the hook long enough. It’s time they face the music.

At the same time, San Francisco, one of the hotbeds of US environmental movement, plans to reduce 2.5 million tones of carbon dioxide emission by 2012. It is believed that New York would follow the lead soon. How soon is yet to be seen but nonetheless, the snowball effect is taking shape. With enough momentum, hopefully, the Senate won’t be able to refuse their responsibility to reduce the six greenhouse gasses.

These are exciting time for the advocates of Kyoto Protocol. I myself am very excited. Barely a few years ago, things were gloom right after the US removed itself from the treaty and then calling others to do same. Australia joined the US, Canada almost. But now, it’s time we call the US and Australia to reverse and ratify Kyoto.

The European Union must be commended for having a hand in Russia’s change of heart. Without the EU, it would not be possible for Russia to ratify the treaty and in turn, it would be impossible for the Protocol to come to existence. Possibly, there would be less time for us to act against the mistake of our parents.

The initial stage has now been set. It is a high time to call in the developing countries, especially China en India, to join in the fight. It’s time to rally to world against what might come in the future.

Now is the exact point in time where we must redo what the Russians had done; they repelled Napoleon, resisted Hitler. We must confront the accelerated climate change.

p/s – an advertisement has been running on the TV for quite sometimes now. I first saw it during the Michigan – Notre Dame game. It is one of the coolest ads I’ve ever seen. Make sure to beef up the volume.

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Environment Politics & government

[409] Of Tony Blair on climate change

The Prime Minister, unlike most other political figures, recognizes the threat of global warming and climate change.

The 10th anniversary of His Royal Highness’ Business and the Environment Programme marks what is now recognised as the premier international forum for exploring sustainable development in the context of business.

Over the coming months we will take forward the wider sustainable development and environment agenda. Margaret Beckett is working on a comprehensive Defra 5-year programme to be released this year and a new sustainable development strategy for early next year. This will deal with, amongst other matters, issues of waste, recycling, sustainable agriculture, all aspects of biodiversity; and fishing, and will set out policies in each key area. For example, on the marine environment, I believe there are strong arguments for a new approach to managing our seas, including a new marine bill.

But tonight I want to concentrate on what I believe to be the world’s greatest environmental challenge: climate change.

More at Guardian Unlimited.

While he is at it, Hurricane Ivan is on the way and Hurricane Ivan is not the first of its kind in the last few weeks. I am not sure whether global warming has a hand on this but in The Carbon Wars, Jeremy Leggett mentioned as time progresses, more severe natural disasters are going to hit us. He also mentioned that the insurance industry is going to be struck badly. And the insurance industry is certainly feeling the heat, especially when Florida was hit by three different hurricanes in less than two weeks, a few weeks ago.

And there are still naysayers. I wonder when will they stop saying nay.

p/s – a somewhat humorous one but put in a bad taste. A real bad taste.

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Politics & government

[407] Of Ralph Nader in Ann Arbor

Ralph Nader was Ann Arbor today and I skipped a class to attend it. And apparently, I was not the only one that skipped class. Ralph Nader’s speech was okay though the content is unique when compared to what Kerry or Bush would say.

Some rights reserved
Nader speaking. And goddamnit for the photo quality.

The event was held in the Ballroom in the Michigan Union at 1300 hours. Out of the ballroom, there were some people. Some were some random people handing out some random fliers. Some where Nader supporters. Some were democrats trying to dissuade people from voting for Nader.

The room was full with a number people standing at the back. I sat in the second row. Yup, it was up front but too bad it was too much to the left that I had to twist my neck a little.

Nader talked about a few things.

One concerned how American political scene is becoming a duopoly and how the democrats are trying to prevent Nader from the ballot and how the republicans refused to hold a debate with him. I share his opinion on this. It is just too bad for such thing to happen. Dilemma – face four more years of Bush or face a duopoly well into the future. I do not know which one is the worst.

He also described how the US is different from Western Europe, where welfare level of the people there are higher than the US. Though maybe it is true that social security does not seem to work while the European’s works better, I believe Europe has a much higher unemployment rate. I am not sure if it is better to be in the US or Europe with these two things happening but in my opinion, there is a certainly a trade off between being a welfare state and not being a welfare state.

The crux of his speech is probably about corporate powers. He talked about why it is important to remove corporate powers from Washington D.C. The one phrase that might sums up all of his points on corporate powers is something like this: corporations are not people; they do not vote and they should not be in D.C.; they should not influent the policies drafted in D.C. While at it, he took a swipe at Kerry for being a face for corporations. Bush also received the criticism. Halliburton was mentioned explicitly though it was in a passing style.

Later, he encouraged the students to get involve in civil discussion and stand for democracy. Among Nader, Kerry and Bush, Nader is the one that deserves to tell people to stand for democracy from my point of view. Kerry and even less with Bush, do not seem to stand for grassroot democracy as much as Ralph Nader does.

Somewhere, he criticized the notion of anyone but Bush. His exact words were “Anyone but Bush. Leave Kerry alone. Ask no question” or something like that. He said this is the right formula for defeat and why Kerry is mostly leading marginally instead of firmly. I however cannot remember why that is so but Nader did make the idea of anyone but Bush sounds hypocritical to me.

He touched a few other things but I do not remember.

After he spoke, a Q&A session was held. I, in fact, most of the students left right after Nader wrapped up his speech. I do not know the reason why the others left but I guess the reason is the same as mine – class.

And quote of the day,

Students at Michigan are blessed, except last Saturday.

– Ralph Nader with reference to the ugly game at Notre Dame

p/s – Today, officially, Bush lets the 10-year assault rifle ban to lapse. Now, it is legal to own AK-47 or any assault rifle in America. This will be a perfect natural experiment to see whether freedom to bare arm, especially when it involves assault rifle, affects crime rate. I bet it somebody will conduct a research on this and I bet the effect on crime rate will be positive.

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Environment Politics & government

[406] Of North Korea and mushroom cloud

An explosion along with a mushroom cloud has been reported in the news. Things are unclear for the moment but I pray it has nothing to do with North Korea’s current nuclear aspiration.

I found about it while I was browsing Wikipedia and it happened two days ago according to Associated Press.

p/s – Report by Reuters, US Says N.Korea Blast Unlikely to Have Been Nuclear.

Categories
Environment Politics & government

[405] Of Tioman island and a marina

I have a feeling that the Malaysian government does not give a damn for the environment. The last time, it was the incinerator in Broga. Despite opposition from the locals and various environmental organizations, the project went through. Now, it concerns the Tioman Island, probably one of the famous diving scuba sites in the world with a beautiful coral reef system.

Here is the situation. The government plans to build a new marina somewhere off the island for the sake of tourism. In their mind probably, they would be able to boost tourism by providing the relevant infrastructure; in this case, a marina. They have argued that the marina will help develop Tioman further and at the same time, help the locals to move up the social ladder.

This is my opinion. People from all over the world come to the island mainly to enjoy the reef system and the tropical weather. Part of the attraction will no doubt be devastated during the planned construction of the marina and thus, what good is a marina to tourism when the marina itself will threaten the main reason behind Tioman’s tourism industry?

Tioman does not need a marina. What Tioman needs is to be left alone from a certain type of policymakers.

I, as you would probably guess, disagree with the project. The marina construction comes at the expense of the system. I think it is utterly stupid to destroy the main attraction of the island in order to build a marina. Years ago, similar things happened at Tioman. The government built an airport on a reclaimed land off Tioman and in the process, damaged part of the ecosystem. In my opinion, an alternative to an airport is the usage of floatplane, or seaplane. However, there is no use crying over split milk.

Conversely, the construction of the marina has not even started and any damage to the coral reef system can be avoided by preventing this project.

The Malaysian Department of the Environment (DOE) has recorded its opposition towards the marina project but from what I have read, the DOE has no power comparable to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prevent this. To prove this, three barges associated with the project contractor have already reached Tioman even though the DOE has yet to approve the contractor’s environmental management plan.

At the same time, I am never going to trust the DOE again. Even the fast eroding EPA earns more respect from any green’s eye. What good is the DOE when the report environmental impact assessment (EIA) is approved even while the environment is at a terrible loss? How could such body, supposedly to take care of the environment, gave a green light even as the coral reef system is being threatened unnecessarily?

The same thing happened to Broga. The EIA allowed the construction of the incinerator despite the knowledge that the incinerator site is in a proven water catchments area.

Perhaps the libertarian’s common belief is entirely true; one cannot trust the government.

I am not sure what I am going to do other than rant. It seems hopeless. It seems, I have more power in the US than in my home country. Nevertheless, I have just joined Environmental Justice, a campus wide environmental group. Through this organization, I hope I could somehow forward the trouble in Tioman.

p/s – This coming Monday, Nader, yes, Ralph Nader is coming to Michigan. I will be skipping class to attend that.