Categories
Environment Politics & government

[1072] Of rebirth of environmentalism

Not too long ago, an essay entitled Death of Environmentalism was published. It is influential among greens for so many reasons. Now, like a phoenix, environmentalism, if it had died, is experiencing a rebirth in the United States. The green movement is regaining the popularity it once had.

One of the contributing factors for the rebirth is the support coming from the Republican party in the United State. According to The Economist:

Many factors lie behind the party’s shift. Most have to do not with sudden sentimentality in the face of Nature, but with national security (a motivation that lies, too, behind Ms Pelosi’s new committee and Mrs Clinton’s patriotic posturing). Fiscal hawks fret about the impact of growing oil imports on the dollar. Military types fear global conflict for dwindling resources in the event of catastrophic global warming. Neoconservatives worry about America’s dependence on oil imports from unstable if not openly hostile countries in Latin America and the Middle East. Some think the solution is simply to pump more oil at home, but others argue that America needs to move away from oil altogether. One such figure, Jim Woolsey, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, pointedly drives a Toyota Prius, a famously fuel-efficient car.

At the same time, a growing number of evangelical Christians are beginning to see global warming as a moral issue. They argue that mankind, as steward of God’s creation, has a duty to protect the environment. One outfit, the Evangelical Climate Initiative, encourages prominent pastors and theologians to sign a “Call to Action”. Another group, the Evangelical Environmental Network, runs a website called “What would Jesus drive?” Last year Pat Robertson, a prominent televangelist, told his flock, “We really need to address the burning of fossil fuels.”

I think modern environmentalism have undergone three revolutions. In my opinion, the three revolutions could be associated with certain personalities.

The first: John Muir.

Second: Rachel Carson.

Third and current: Al Gore.

Categories
Sports

[1071] Of welcome back Edgar Davids!

A member of the glorious 1995 Ajax team returns home:

30 January: It’s official: Edgar Davids will return home, to the city where he was born – and to the club that made him a star. The 33 year-old midfielder, who spent the last season and a half at Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premiership, penned an 18-month contract at the Amsterdam ArenA, which will expire on 30 June 2008. According to most press reports Ajax will not have to pay Tottenham a transfer fee. Davids’ contract at White Hart Lane would have expired this summer.

The first reports claiming that the transfer was a done deal appeared in Dutch and English media on Friday, but they were very premature. Ajax and Davids did not need much time to agree on the terms of the player’s contract, but Ajax and Spurs were still talking yesterday, while Davids was in Amsterdam to undergo his medical at the V.U. Hospital. Davids will be officially presented at 14:30 CET today, at the Amsterdam ArenA.

Another good news is that Ajax sensationally beat Groningen:

GRONINGEN, January 28 (Eredivisie) – A stoppage-time goal from Leonardo Santiago sealed a stunning second-half comeback for Ajax as they edged past FC Groningen at the Euroborg stadium.

Yevgeni Levchenko and Luis Suarez had given the home side a two-goal advantage at half-time, but Henk ten Cate’s side produced a magnificent second-half comeback to steal all three points.

Veteran defender Jaap Stam and Johnny Heitinga pulled the visitors level before Leonardo netted his first goal for the club following his recent move from NAC Breda in dramatic circumstances.

Yet another good news is that PSV lost to Roda JC!

KERKRADE, January 28 (Eredivisie) – PSV Eindhoven suffered only their second defeat of the Eredivisie season on Sunday as the leaders were stopped in their tracks by a rampant Roda JC.

Goals in either half from Jan Paul Saeijs and Andres Oper earned the hosts a surprising three points to move them up to seventh in the standings.

Ajax is now second in the Eredivisie, eight points behind PSV, a point above AZ Alkmaar.

PSV will host AZ next Saturday while Ajax is set to face Feyenoord at home. I hope AZ and Ajax will come up on top.

Categories
Kitchen sink Society

[1070] Of Metroblogging Kuala Lumpur

When I left Kuala Lumpur for Ann Arbor years ago, I failed to appreciate the Malaysian capital as much as I do now.

To me, earlier, the city in the Klang Valley is so chaotic that it is hard to make sense out of it, especially if one is driving. As a freshman as Michigan, I was asked to write an essay about Kuala Lumpur. I wrote “it is easier for an ant to get through a plate of spaghetti than a person to survive the city”.

By the time I was a sophomore, I found myself walking the street of the world’s capital, New York. New York strengthens my perception of Kuala Lumpur — an unplanned city under the merciless sun. Place me anywhere in Manhattan and I will not lose my sense of direction. Place me anywhere in Kuala Lumpur and half the chance, I would probably seek direction from a stranger more often than a tourist would.

My travels, limited it may be, later told me that every city is unique; each city has its own appeals. San Francisco can never be Los Angeles and Los Angeles can never be New York. Or Singapore or Bangkok. Or Kuala Lumpur.

Kuala Lumpur is my home. I have probably spent almost 19 years here. Despite that, I do not dare to claim that I know every nook and cranny of the city. In some way, that is sad.

Sometimes, it is odd that while I love traveling, seeing and experiencing new places, I have yet to become familiar with my home city. For instance, I have been to the Yosemite National Park but I have yet to explore the Klang Gates Ridge that dominates the eastern frontier of Kuala Lumpur. I have been to many museums in the United States, including the famed Met but I cannot remember when was the last time I visited the National Museum in Kuala Lumpur. I have been to the top of the Empire State Building but I have yet to cross the skybridge of the Petronas Twin Towers.

While I was frolicking by the Dungun River almost a year ago, Patricia, an Englishwoman that has been in Malaysia longer than I have lived my life, told me something to the effect of “we usually take things that we often see for granted.” She is right. She is absolutely right.

Since then, I do think I have come to appreciate Kuala Lumpur more. And in effort to know more of Kuala Lumpur, I have approached the moderators of Metroblogging and am persuading them to create Metroblogging Kuala Lumpur.

Metroblogging is a city-specific blog. Or rather, a sort of a confederation of city-specific blogs. It has its own entry at Wikipedia if you need to know more about it. Or better, go to the about page at Metroblogging.

As a requirement to establish Metroblogging Kuala Lumpur, I need to find a minimum of 8 regular bloggers living in Kuala Lumpur to blog about the city. The topic of the posts at the blog could be anything. It could be art, history, places of interest, routine or even odd news about Kuala Lumpur. I already have two volunteers, including me, to support the Metroblogging Kuala Lumpur. I need another 6 people to join me. Each person will need to post at least once a week. The mod said thrice weekly but I think an update per day at an 8-person group blog should be great.

So, if you are interested in starting up Metroblogging Kuala Lumpur, leave me a message at the comment section or email me. I will get back to you.

C’mon. Let us do it. I find it insulting that Azeroth has its own Metblog but not Kuala Lumpur!

And yeah, Hari Wilayah is a little over 49 hours away.

Categories
ASEAN Environment

[1069] Of a non-binding energy treaty

In the recent ASEAN Summit, member states agreed to a pact that calls for alternatives to fossil fuel:

CEBU, Philippines: Leaders from 16 Asian nations signed an energy security accord Monday that they said would reduce the region’s dependence on fossil fuels and promote the use of alternative energy sources.

Briefly mentioned was the reduction of carbon emission:

The Cebu Declaration on East Asian Energy Security, announced Monday, set a wide range of goals, including a promise to “mitigate greenhouse gas emissions through effective policies and measures.”

Those alternatives seem to mainly include biofuel and nuclear energy. Unfortunately, the pact, much like other ASEAN-initiated treaties, is practically unbinding:

The same scepticism holds good for other agreements reached at the latest summit: one to improve the rights of the millions who move between ASEAN countries seeking work; another to improve co-operation against terrorism; and a third, signed with other East Asian powers, to cut greenhouse-gas emissions and promote renewable energy supplies.

Read the fine print and you will find few significant commitments, let alone concrete targets. ASEAN leaders like the rhetoric of union but not the obligations of it.

The new energy pact is of course a step into the right direction, just like the u-turn made by Bush weeks after the ASEAN Summit. It signals the growing realization in Southeast Asia that we need to do something with our dependency on fossil fuel. Regardless whether climate change is part of the realization, the reduction in carbon emissions which is part of the target is definitely a welcoming target.

Even before the energy pact was signed in Cebu, the Phillipines, member states Malaysia and Indonesia were gearing for biofuel. Almost outrageous plans on both sides of the Malay Archipelago were buzzing. One of them included a mega palm oil plantation on Indonesian Borneo. The plan has since been defeated after protests from environmentalists:

WWF successfully defeated a proposal for the world’s largest oil palm plantation, which threatened to destroy the last remaining intact forests of Borneo.

In Malaysia, a compulsory mixed of biofuel into civilian ground vehicle-worthy gasoline will be enforced in the near future:

Malaysia has announced plans to switch from using diesel oil to a part bio-fuel alternative.

Commodities Minister Peter Chin said laws were being drafted to make the use of such fuel compulsory by 2008.

Negotiations have begun with petroleum companies, to persuade them to produce fuel using both mineral and vegetable oils, the government has revealed.

The government favours fuel from 19 parts diesel to one part palm oil, and says engines do not need modification.

Similar measure is being implemented in the Philippines:

San Fernando City, La Union (15 January) — With the signing of the Biofuels Act into law by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, will pave the way for the Philippines to become self-reliant on energy.

According to the Act, the law will promote the use of alternative, renewable energies such as compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, hydrogen, electricity, and any liquid at least 85% of the volume of which consists of methanol, ethanol, or methyl ester such as coco-biodiesel.

Apart from biofuel, Indonesia is planning to construct four new nuclear power plants:

The Indonesian government has proposed building four nuclear plants at the foot of a 1,600-metre dormant volcano in central Java as part of a long-term plan to meet its energy needs.

The four reactors will cover the size of about 600 football fields near the farming village of Balong, to be built in stages over 10 years.

While the government is enthusiastic about commissioning the first plant by 2015, many are concerned about the proposed site in the shadows of Mount Muria, which has been dormant for 3,000 years.

Malaysia is also mulling the idea of nuclear power plant though nothing definite has been brought to the table yet. Instead, for better or for worse, hydro power is seen as a major source of electricity for years to come.

While the two alternatives diversify the countries’ — as well as ASEAN’s if the pact is adhered at all — energy sources, there are issues related to them.

The expansion of palm oil will eventually bring about deforestation. While biofuel is carbon-neutral, deforestation is not. In fact, Brazil is one of world’s major emitters of carbon due simply to the current massive deforestation of the Amazon. In combat climate change, the expansion of palm oil plantation for the purpose of biofuel production provides a dilemma for policymakers, if not downright paradox.

In contrast to all other energy sources, nuclear produces almost no carbon emission and does not involve deforestation the way biofuel or even hydroelectric dam requires. It is perhaps the ultimate answer to the problem of climate change. Of course, radioactive waste is a major issue that blunts environmental appeal of nuclear power.

While I prefer the pact to stress more on green renewables energy such as wind and solar, the greatest failing is not the exclusion of green renewable energy. The greatest disappointment really is the non-binding nature of the agreement.

What is the point of signing a non-binding agreement?

Categories
Economics

[1068] Of blanket subsidy is inferior to targeted subsidy

Subsidy leads to inefficiency. Notwithstanding the reasoning, sometimes subsidy could be justified; sometimes, efficiency is not the only consideration of a society. The word subsidy is commonly heard when a society tries to address the problem of inequity; subsidy is a tool of wealth redistribution.

I maintain a high dose of skepticism against any subsidy policy. Yet, I am prepared to lower my opposition if such subsidy is well-tailored. A well-tailored subsidy however does not include blanket subsidy; blanket subsidy is the worst form of subsidy one could ever think off. An example of blanket subsidy is the current Malaysian fuel subsidy.

A blanket subsidy is a lazy policy — at best, clumsy — formulated to solve a perceived problem. It generalizes society, assuming that everybody in the society is in need of the subsidy; that people are fully homogeneous. On the contrary, people are heterogeneous to a very large extent. If people were completely homogeneous, I do not doubt that communism would have ruled supreme.

That generalization is costly. The generalization, believing that the lower, the middle and the upper economic class are equally needing of or benefiting from a blanket subsidy is an expensive proposition. It is expensive because it gives benefit to those that value such subsidy the least; the rich values subsidy less than the poor. A blanket subsidy does not make that discretion. Therefore, a blanket subsidy regime pays too much to increase societal welfare whereas in fact, a better policy would have done the same job with lesser resources. One of those better subsidy regimes is a targeted subsidy.

A targeted subsidy policy specifically identifies a segment of a society that is in need of aid and then aids only those that in need of aid.

With a targeted subsidy, resources that would have been used under blanket subsidy could be used to make investment in education or other areas that could permanently and structurally increase societal welfare.

Not only that blanket subsidy as a policy is expensive, somebody has to fund it in order to maintain such policy. Resources ultimately has to be sourced from the society; the taxpayers. The society has to be taxed in order sustain any subsidy. Therefore, to defend a blanket subsidy as a mean to increase societal welfare is almost oxymoronic. The society is being taxed to support a subsidy — you pay me to pay you, all else being equal.

In my opinion, rather than support a subsidized regime as far as the current Malaysian fuel subsidy is concerned, it is better to promote tax reduction instead. Or a hybrid tax reduction-targeted subsidy policy if we are so hooked up on the crack that is subsidy. Rather than you pay me to pay you, why don’t you just keep your money for yourself?