It’s another post about the Aral Sea. Of all the lakes whose name I can never recall the Aral Sea is probably my favourite.

It’s a familiar story, in the 1960’s the Soviet Union diverted the rivers feeding the sea in order to boost cotton production in the region. However by doing so they caused water levels to slowly fall and now the lake is a mere shadow of its former self. The Soviets were aware of the pitfalls and the project did have its intended effect as Kazakhstan is now a major producer of cotton. Still that doesn’t change the fact that the Aral Sea is a modern-day environmental catastrophe.

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon toured the area this week and had this to say: “It is clearly one of the worst disasters, environmental disasters of the world. I was so shocked, I urge all the leaders to sit down together and try to find the solutions.”

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This has to be the best email I’ve ever received. It’s something straight out of the South Park episode ‘Whale Whores’, which everyone should watch by the way. I want to say this email is a hoax but I think it’s one of those things that’s just so outrageous it has to be real. I hope this isn’t representative of how too many Japanese people feel.

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A Happy New Year
This email has been sent from Japan.

Your country is the cruel bad person country which exterminated almost childrens of the sea fish. If you want to protect whales, can you do to whales eat large adult fish like human! The Japanese whaling contributes to the fact that you can catch fishs in the sea of Myanmar. If there was not Japanese whaling, The fish is not in Myanmar. Japan killed whales from old days and protected Asian fishs. The sea is a thing of the fishs which can live with plankton. The human being kills the whales of the eater for making a roundup arrest with childs of fish, and protect fishs! Whales eat only small children of fish and shrimp of fish food, is cruel Mammals.

Japan wins in fighting against U.S.A. / can kill a whale exterminating the fish/ can all diseases and kill the person of the other side of the earth and various countries in the world/ can generate an accident and disaster by japanease satellite electric wave.

U.S.A. only do the robbery war /thief the invention of foreign country / fraud / blackmail with the electric wave after it was taught electric wave technology by Japan. The best Japanese technology that grew up with the mineral of the sea has been transmitted to the minimum racial U.S.A. on the earth which did not eat a fish.

The fish is rich in the mineral of the sea and grinds a human brain excellently. The human being who does not eat a fish becomes physically weak with age. And, in disfavor with work, become the robbery nature and want to fight. Because the Olympics are the young generations, physical strength / the brain is the same even if eat anything when young. World advanced age is a Japanese by the Olympics. Because the Japanese eats a fish, work power / brain is the best to advanced age. The figure of the foreigner who does not eat a fish gets fat. You become sickly without it being supported a body when the foreigner becomes the cuttlefishs advanced age which are the nourishment of the mineral of the sea even if thin. The Japanese sumo is strong in the mineral nourishment of the sea. You understand it if you walk the foreign town. you get fat and look quite sickly. Because senior citizen commands the armed forces, it wants to fight. The health of the senior citizen who does not eat fishs is out of order for robbery nature. The whales and the dolphins exterminate the fishs and generate wars and crimes on the earth. Because I wrote it in this way, does a foreign country do a crime to send world’s best age on by the Olympics from now on. U.S.A. only do the robbery war /thief the invention of foreign country / fraud / blackmail with the electric wave after it was taught electric wave technology by Japan. The best Japanese technology that grew up with the mineral of the sea has been transmitted to the minimum racial U.S.A. on the earth which did not eat a fish.

U.S.A. does not have the qualification with Japan as the territory. U.S.A. must leave Japan. Japan lost in an American nucleus and became the territory. Thereafter, Japan taught Japanese attack electric wave invention to U.S.A. Because the attack electric wave can blow up a nucleus hangar, the electric wave is much stronger than a nucleus. That means, U.S.A. does not have the right with Japan as the territory.

Japan is possible for a fire / blow up American base / launching pad / airplane / ship / all by an electric wave . At the time of issue of rice liberalization, American big business seems to have done an inferno in succession. Even if there are not the Japanese armed forces, Japan easily beats U.S.A. by a satellite electric wave.

U.S.A. is crazy and low brain country that U.S.A. does not eat fish. Germany begins invention with a nucleus for the first time. U.S.A. learned the nucleus from a German fugitive. U.S.A. learned the radio weapon technology from Japan. And U.S.A. aimed at the world conquest by war. U.S.A. destroyed the space development of other countries by an electric wave, and U.S.A. aimed at the space conquest. Only U.S.A. performs go to the space before earth collapse, and the foreign country all people die. The collapse of the earth is the back for 100,000,000 years by sun approach. If world country collapse the U.S.A, The world conquers space 100 years later. Resources / planet / the land is a thing of the countries which discovered earlier. Because the planet do not need many peoples, the foreign spaceship is died by attacked from the planet. The earth collapsing by sun approach does a global war for a reason with the lie, and it is all the members death. You are deceived by U.S.A. during long years.

Japan can kill a whale by an electric wave. Because you still sell a lot of fish in a Japanese total shop, do not you understand it? In the sea of your country, the fish is eaten by a whale and is not popular in a shop. There are few fish of the sea of your country. The whale of the Japanese sea kills it by an electric wave, and there are many fish. Japan can guide a whale by an electric wave. In addition, Japan can collect whales in one place by an electric wave. The fish of your sea do not increase unless your country whales early and lifts the ban. If need it;, in the country of you who make a ban on the hunting of whales, is crassitude. Because the fish of your country was already considered to be a whale just before the extinction, at first, kill a dolphin of the bad-smelling bad meat which is not delicious. The fish of your country increase if I do so it. Even if the dolphin eats a lot of delicious fish, the meat of the dolphin is bad. The dolphin is a whale.

More than 4m are called a whale. Less than 4m are called a dolphin. The sea of your country has few fish. Therefore the whale does not grow. The whale cannot bear a child. The whale merely passes by. If a fish is few it, whales become little|few. And the whales of the big body become extinct. The world protects a fish from a whale and must increase fish now.

Because the electric wave is invisible, all the electric waves become a secret. It is the bait of the fish without floating if the electric wave guide the whales to the deep bottom of the sea by an electric wave and murder the whales. The Japan government recognizes the numerical whale which does not destroy the food of the nation so that it is recognized in the world. The destruction of entertainment such as the fishing accepts it with a whale.

You do not be deceived to U.S.A. which become rich and make the world poverty at exterminate the fish by whales and dolphins. U.S.A. exterminated the delicious fish to be able to eat directly which I did not use fire for by a whale and made the earth warming. U.S.A. let you cook meat with fire, and the world kitchen produced CO2.

Because the meat of small whale and dolphin are bad, Japan use the electric wave in the bottom of the sea and murder whale and the dolphin, and throwing it away has value. The delicious large size whales at the South Pole and coaxes the world in conspiracy with U.S.A. and does Japan and the United States conspiracy strategy to threaten the world. If Japan and the United States fight about South Pole whaling, the world that was afraid of does not whale. And the world fish become extinct, and it is a plan to be possible in poverty in the world.

If Japan invents it, U.S.A. does only war with it. Japan do not invent to let American fight. Japan invented all the radio weapons which American used. An example： 　Japanese Seto-ohashi is not reflected in the radar. Japan invented the stealth bomber machine. Because I cut the stealth bomber airplane by looking, You are reflected in the radar if a pulse converts the electric wave of the radar into the frequency of the visible range. And Japan can attack back country / various countries in the world of the earth if Japan uses the satellite toward it and fires an attack electric wave. Japan is possible in one satellite so that detection / attacks person / thing of the country of the bottom of the earth.

U.S.A. did only war and continued exterminating the fish and made the world poverty. The world must retaliate against U.S.A.

Because the whale loses to the speed of the adult fish, the whale eats only child fishs. When the child of all fish appears from eggs, the child fishs rise to the surface of the sea for demands security. Whales are always on the surface of the sea to eat a child fish. Even if the whale eats all small fish, the whale is hungry. The whales exterminate the fishs.

U.S.A. did war to steal an oil base. Bcause, can prevent terrorism / the abduction crime by an electric wave. There is Afghanistan in preparation for the Iraqi War. The attack electric wave angered Hussein by an electric wave for many years and planned. An American company owns the oil base now. The gas price is lower than the present half without Iraqi / Arab War. U.S.A. nominated oil prices for several times and made the world big recession. The oil prices are still more than double. It became decisive to steal money from the world with oil in the future till U.S.A. disappeared from the earth. If U.S.A. fights against one country, the world country must fight against U.S.A. That, in the world, only one’s country should be good; do not be out of order. The world fights against U.S.A. and must retaliate for U.S.A. British / Germany must not become the American slave country.

The American nucleus disposal declaration is my stratagem to escape from this activity. It is the plan that U.S.A. deceives the world from this thing. The world radio weapon blows up a nuclear bomb in a nucleus cabinet. U.S.A. is to escape from this thing. U.S.A. destroyed a fish and a company from the world and made the world poverty. It is the stratagem that U.S.A. escapes from this thing. U.S.A. declares the nucleus disposal and reminds the world with a good country. This thing thinks that U.S.A. can deceive cruel attack to the conventional world that U.S.A. did. Send U.S.A. out of Japan early. If the world does so it, the world becomes rich. An electric wave attacked the world in a secret, and U.S.A. made the world poverty. Though the world collapses in U.S.A., it is disuse with a weapon. The world do not buy an American product! You will let this cooperate with the world with an email / fax / news. Though the world collapses in U.S.A., the world is disuse with a weapon.

Though the world collapses in U.S.A., it is disuse with a weapon. The world do not buy an American product!

Do not buy American Electric / car of GM / Cadillac / Buick / Pontiac / Chevrolet / Saturn / HUMMER / NUMMI / Ford / Lincoln / Mercury / Shelby / SSC / Chrysler / Jeep / Dodge / Saleen / Freightliner / Sterling Trucks / Paccar / PETERBILT / KENWORTH / DAF / MACK / Navistar / AVANTI / Panoz / Ci / Zeta / Mosler / Vision / Callaway / Hennessey / Tesla! Though the world collapses in U.S.A., it is disuse with a weapon.

U.S.A. generated the world University recession. For the purpose of U.S.A. taking an oil base; of the plan fought. An American company owns the oil base now. U.S.A. raised it by gas price, and U.S.A. generated world University recession.　 U.S.A. throw a foreign oil base up! If there is not the premeditated Iraqi War to anger in a radio weapon if it does not occur, the gas price is half. Because the American company where the salary is high owns the gasoline, the price is high.

Get back an oil base from the American company! If U.S.A. does not put back the oil base that U.S.A. got by robbery, the world must fight against U.S.A.

I establish free mail (yahoo / goo / excite / infoseek / hot), and the email to the foreign country is prevented with several times. Please send this email to the country of the circumference from your country. I do not know the address of the person of your state politics. Please send this email to your state politics family.

Translation : http://translate.google.co.jp/translate_t#
http://www.epals.com/translation/translation.e
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The Himalayan glaciers are melting, that’s no long being debated, but the rate at which they’re melting is now being called into question. An oft repeated claim by environmentalists (and possibly by this website) that the glaciers could vanish completely by 2035, apparently has no grounding in science and is instead based on a 1999 magazine article in the ‘New Scientist’ which itself was based on a telephone interview with a little-known Indian scientist, Syed Hasnain.

Glaciologists however find the possibility to be far fetched, with Professor Julian Dowdeswell, director of the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University, saying that the average Himalayan glacier is 300-metres thick and with the current average rate of decline below 1-metre per year, well you can do the math… Keep in mind the rate of decline would rise with global temperatures, but the rate of declining rising to eleven times its current rate isn’t likely.

Embarrassingly this claim managed to make its way into a 2007 report by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). In defense of its report, the IPCC has said they do not read the New Scientist but instead were quoting from a 2005 WWF report (itself quoting the New Scientist), and that Professor Murari Lai, who oversaw the chapter on glaciers in the report, doesn’t know anything about glaciers. (I’m serious.)

The climate change movement is currently beset by claims of false science, vis-a-vie Climategate, and this is the last thing climate change advocates need. However before we’re quick write off the Himalayan glaciers as a disaster averted, it’s important to remember that there has been a lot of science on the issue not based on decade old magazines and that rising temperatures in the region are an important matter of discussion. The glaciers provide drinking water to over forty-percent of the world’s population and that makes them too important to be placed on the back burner.

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I feel like it’s time to address the ‘Climategate’ issue that’s been hanging over the head of the climate change movement for the past few weeks. As most of you know by now, ‘Climategate’ refers to the thousands of emails from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia that have been hacked and released into the public domain. [1] The content of these emails have attracted attention from climate change skeptics and have created nothing short of an uproar in conservative circles.

The most controversial of the emails is a 1999 email from the head of the CRU, Phil Jones, and it reads: “I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature [the science journal] trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie, from 1981 onwards) and from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline.” [2]

Climate change skeptics have seized upon the wording of this email to suggest that climate change data is being manipulated by the scientific community. Jones has since resigned his post at the CRU pending an investigation by the university. [3] Admittedly the email doesn’t look good but there is an explanation and this is what RealClimate had to say:

“The paper in question is the Mann, Bradley and Hughes (1998) Nature paper on the original multiproxy temperature reconstruction, and the ‘trick’ is just to plot the instrumental records along with reconstruction so that the context of the recent warming is clear. Scientists often use the term “trick” to refer to a “a good way to deal with a problem”, rather than something that is “secret”, and so there is nothing problematic in this at all. As for the ‘decline’, it is well known that Keith Briffa’s maximum latewood tree ring density proxy diverges from the temperature records after 1960 (this is more commonly known as the “divergence problem”–see e.g. the recent discussion in this paper) and has been discussed in the literature since Briffa et al in Nature in 1998 (Nature, 391, 678-682). Those authors have always recommended not using the post-1960 part of their reconstruction, and so while ‘hiding’ is probably a poor choice of words (since it is ‘hidden’ in plain sight), not using the data in the plot is completely appropriate, as is further research to understand why this happens.” [4]

The reason these emails are important is because of the role the University of East Anglia plays in climate change science. The CRU is one of the world’s leading authorities in reconstructing past climate and temperatures. Not exactly helping the university in these trying times is the news last week that the CRU has ‘thrown away’ most of the raw temperature data on which their predictions are based, leaving only the controlled and homogenized data. [5]

There are other centers doing research similar to the CRU’s, namely NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. However NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has found itself in a bit of hot water recently as well. The agency is being threatened with litigation by a researcher from the ‘Competitive Enterprise Institute’ in an attempt to compel the agency to release data from its Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The researcher, Christopher Horner, has said he suspects the GISS may have ‘manipulated research like East Anglia’s CRU’. The information was requested two years ago under the Freedom Of Information Act and NASA says it’s collecting the information to respond to Horner’s request. [6]

It should be noted that the ‘Competitive Enterprise Institute’ or CEI is a libertarian think-tank dedicated to the principals of a free market economy. Some of the group’s past and present donors include: Exxon Mobil, Pfizer, Ford Motor Company, and Texaco. [7]

Another big player in the climate change data set is NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration), so far they have managed to remain unscathed by ‘Climategate’ and the CRU has pointed to their data sets in defence of their own conclusions. [8]

The last major player on the climate change data set scene is Britain’s Met Office. While initially downplaying the ‘Climategate’ incident, the Met Office has since changed its stance saying it will release its temperature data to the public and will go through the last 160 years of data to ensure its accuracy. (The original analysis was done by the CRU.) [9]

The ripples from ‘Climategate’ are being felt far and wide. Mudslinging has broken out on Capitol Hill in the United States where Democratic Representative Ed Markey has stepped up to the defence of environmental legislation saying ‘Climategate shouldn’t stand in the way of the US Congress’ swift enactment of cap and trade’. [10] Markey is the chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. He is also the co-author of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (also known as the Waxman-Markey Bill) which is an energy bill that would establish a cap and trade system for carbon trading in the United States. The bill was approved by the House in a vote in June 2009, and it now sits waiting for approval from the Senate. [11] Moderate Republicans are crucial to the bill’s success and the scandal surrounding ‘Climategate’ has led to some prominent Republican Senators seeking to distance themselves from the bill with Politico reporting that even John McCain has become a vocal critic of the bill. [12]

The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has released a statement chastising the hacker/s and assuring the public that the science behind its panel’s conclusions is sound. [13] Elsewhere in the UN, Yvo De Boer the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) has shared similar sentiments saying that while the emails do look bad, the underlying research on global warming is solid. [14]

The timing of the hack, in the run up to the Copenhagen Climate Conference, has raised suspicions as to whodunnit and what their motivations might have been. The Metropolitan Police Service or ‘Scotland Yard’ is currently investigating the incident along with local police in Norfolk. [15]

While it’s easy to get carried away into the intrigue that is ‘Climategate’ it’s best to keep a level head and remain objective. We should remember that climate change is a highly researched issue and one where the scientific community has reached a consensus.

The belief that the scientific community has been driving the climate change debate to serve their own interests is ludicrous at best. Skeptics have often made note of the money that stands to be made by climate change science supporters, but this type of logic ignores the world’s industrialists and their monetary motivations for maintaining the status quo. With that in mind, I would love to read the emails of major oil companies’ CEOs from the past ten years so I could select .001% of them and cite them out of context.

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A study released by Public Citizen, an environmental advocacy group, has concluded that the entire state of Texas’ power generation needs could theoretically be met by solar power. (I would like to stress the theoretical part.) Heat concentrating solar power was found to have a potential capacity of 148,000 MW in Texas alone, and the report says a 30×30 mile field of photovoltaic solar panels could meet the entire state’s needs.

A separate study by the University of Texas at Austin says that the state could create 123,000 jobs in the manufacturing industry if it were to become a global leader on solar panel production. (The study did not address how many jobs would be created if Texas magically became the world’s leader in production of anything else.)

However before we get carried away with the good news, there are some pretty clear obstacles in the path. Namely the water doesn’t exist to make such large scale solar power generation a reality.

Heat concentrating solar power requires large amounts of water. Unlike other power generating methods solar power plants in their need of sun and vast open spaces do not have the luxury of placing themselves next to sufficiently large bodies of water. You can read about the dilemma of solar power generation and water shortages here: http://wwcpd.org/2009/solar-power-or-solar-death-power-you-be-the-judge/

As for the photovoltaic technology it admittedly needs a lot less water, however it still does require a meaningful amount of water to be trucked in to keep the panels clean. As dust will significantly reduce the panels’ efficiency. The panels are also very expensive so it’s quite unrealistic to expect there to ever be a 30×30 mile field of the panels. That’s 900 square miles, which is over three times the size of the nation of Singapore.

Stepping back into the real world for a moment. Texas is the leading state in terms of wind power generation with a capacity of over 4,000 MW, with the Texas Public Utility Commission saying they could possibly deliver 25,000 MW of wind power to urban centers by 2012. Texas is also home to the world’s largest wind farm, producing 735 MW, and consisting of 430 wind turbines spread over 47,000 acres. [1]

Unlike solar power, wind turbines do not need large amounts of water, and with the immense size of Texas the power generation possibilities are endless. The Texas State Legislature has set a goal of 6,000 MW of renewable energy by 2015, about 5% of the state’s demand, and 10,000 MW by 2025. Including 500 MW of renewable energy excluding wind power. [2]

While those figures pale in comparison to California’s pledge for 33% of its power to be renewable by 2020 (California is currently at 22% [3]), it’s still a step in the right direction for Texas. A large number of leading Texan politicians aren’t exactly known for their belief in climate change, as opposed to say California’s, however there is still a lot to be said about the desirability of meeting your power needs in-house.

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European officials warned on Friday that cod, of the fish and chips fame, is on the verge of disappearing from key European fishing grounds. They said a ten-percent cut is required to the 2010 catch as the estimated stocks of the fish are a mere one-fifth of what they were forty years ago.

History has a lesson for us in these matters. Almost twenty-years ago overfishing in Canada’s Atlantic provinces led to a moratorium on cod fishing and the destruction of over 40,000 jobs. The marine system was damaged so extensively that the numbers of cod still haven’t begun to rise. Although Newfoundland has decided to re-allow cod fishing off their coast for the first time in decades. [1]

Fisheries are considered to be a renewable resource but marine systems around the world are often so poorly managed that it regularly fails to work out that way.

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Chris Packham, host of a BBC nature show, recently created an international stir when he suggested that pandas should be allowed to go extinct. In his statements he questioned whether it was wise to allocate so much funding towards saving an animal that’s ‘not very bright, doesn’t reproduce well in captivity, and is unfortunate enough to reside in the world’s most populous nation.’

I personally don’t think pandas should be written off, however I do think Packham made some good points and anything that gets people talking about conservation can only be a good thing.

China however does not agree and his comments have been viewed by the nation as slanderous to their most loved and iconic animal. The story made it onto the front page of almost every Chinese newspaper and let’s just say the coverage was not exactly balanced.

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For a city that prides itself on convenience and being cutting edge, it is surprisingly hard to recycle in Hong Kong! There’s no recycling service that you can sign up for at your residence, so I’ve been forced to carry my recyclables three-blocks to some sidewalk recycling bins. It’s also not easy to find said bins, luckily I happen to live near some.

It might also be hard to recycle where you live, but don’t be discouraged as there are other things you can do to minimize your impact. You can try buying biodegradable plastics whenever possible, for instance it’s quite easy to find biodegradable garbage bags. You can also try to lessen your usage of aluminium by making drinks like lemonade or Kool-Aid instead of buying soda pop.

Hong Kong really needs to get in on the green movement. They’re currently trying to implement a recycling service, however, I find it hard to believe it takes the SAR years to do such a thing when they can reclaim the harbour in about ten minutes.

UPDATE: I recently spent some time in Beijing so I thought I would share with everyone an observation on the Chinese capital. Taking a contrarian stance to Hong Kong, in Beijing every trash can also has a separate bin for recycling. I was told this started last year around the time of the Olympics, but it seems to still be going strong. And there you have it, Beijing managing to beat out Hong Kong on such an important environmental issue. PRC FTW!

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I know this is my umpteenth post on the issue of plastic bag levies, however I’ve never been one to resist a catchy headline.

Straight from the land of $7 Dollar coffee, voters in Seattle have just struck-down a city imposed tax of 20 cents per plastic bag. The city council had ordered the tax to begin in January, however the plastics industry bankrolled a lobbyist effort to have the issue put before the voters in a citywide referendum. Well played sir.

The outcome of the vote will probably be attributed to the frugality of recession, however it also says a lot on how people regard environmental issues. In voter opinion polls the environment is often ranked last on the list of concerns.

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The US Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack, former governor of Iowa, spoke recently to press the importance of forest conservation and stressed his agency’s commitment to its future in the United States. His comments sought to point out that forests are crucial in supplying clean water, sheltering wildlife, and mitigating the effects of climate change. He went on to say that the sky might in fact be blue.

Vilsack is perhaps best known for his strong support of biofuels and while serving as governor was a strong supporter of Ethanol additives. I’m still not sure how I feel about biofuels as it seems a little shortsighted to take two things as vital as energy and food and combine them into one item of such importance.

Back to the issue at hand. Key among Vilsack’s policies is reversing former president Bush’s forest planning rule of 2008 and also seeking to reinstate former president Bill Clinton’s ‘Roadless Rule’ which had imposed halts on road construction, among other development, on 58 million acres of national forests.

I firmly believe that deforestation is one of the largest threats facing the world today. And it’s great to see a member of the presidential cabinet taking such a strong stance. Smokey would be proud.

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