Do Singaporeans give a hoot about marine conservation?
on the wild shores of singapore blog
"It will never affect us"
what will Singapore look like when sea levels rise by 7m? on the blooooooooooo blog
More new records of snails from East Coast Park
from Nature in Singapore on the wild shores of singapore blog
More cleanup updates
Chek Jawa on the News from the International Coastal Cleanup blog
The 10 Best Eco-Themed Movies for Kids
from Hugg 2.0
Letter from Ms Kia Jie Hui to my paper
I refer to the article "Make Singapore a coral haven" by Mr Marcel Lee Pereira (my paper 10 Sep).
While it is encouraging to see the efforts of marine conservationists reflected in the print media, I feel that a crucial aspect of the issue of conservation has been neglected.
That would be: Why should Singaporeans care whether our country becomes a "coral haven" or not?
Too often, conservation projects are portrayed as the lofty concerns of a small group of scientists or idiosyncratic environmentalists.
The layperson is excluded from these efforts.
We do not see an issue like marine biodiversity as being relevant to our everyday lives, nor do we see how our individual actions could possibly make an impact on things like the welfare of coral reefs in our waters; and honestly, we would be hard-pressed to say we really give a hoot.
An article like Mr Pereira's does not exactly inspire passion for protecting our environmental reserves.
The only justification given for the implementation of measures under the Blue Plan is that "after all, corals may be a valuable source of biomedical products and serve as educational and tourist draws".
This sounds unconvincing to me, especially seeing as how it following a line calling for "the cost of such measures (to) be borne by the Government.:
At a time of poor economic forecasts and inflation, it is unlikely that increased government spending on environmental-impact studies would receive popular support.
Although it is important for readers to be informed of the proposals and plans that conservationists have in mind for our nation, what should be given greatest emphasis is the relevance of these efforts to individuals in our society.
In this case, it would be helpful to go back to the basic question: "Why is marine biodiversity even important?"
I was taught the importance of preserving Earth's biodiversity in a module on the topic.
Even after having gone through the module, I find myself at a loss when trying to explain the link between saving a community of coral reefs and its importance to Singapore tomorrow, or even in the next 10 years.
This is where an expert could and should step in to fill the gap.
People are more likely to be engaged with the cause if empowered with knowledge and, even in Singapore, the public does have an impact on policy.
Chek Jawa is an excellent, heartwarming case in point.
More public awareness of the relevance of environmental issues would also do well in improving Singaporeans' attitude to green initiatives.
In the long run, there has to be social recognition of the urgency of environmental conservation.
10% of reefs proposed as 'no-go zones' in Blue Plan
Marcel Lee Pereira, My Paper 10 Sep 08;
More protection and better management of Singapore's coral reefs could turn the island into a "coral paradise" in 10 years.
That is the gist of a proposal by a group of marine conservationists, which they plan to submit to the Government by early next year.
Mr Francis Lee, chairman of consultative group Marine Roundtable, shared some of the ideas with my paper last week.
He is overseeing Singapore's participation in the International Year of the Reef (IYOR) campaing this year. IYOR is held once a decade.
This "Blue Plan", the marine equivalent of the Singapore Green Plan -- a national blueprint for a sustainable environment -- will be the highlight of Singapore's IYOR celebrations.
Work on the "Blue Plan" started in the middle of this year, and the ideas build upon an earlier version submitted to the Government in 2001 through its Feedback Unit.
Part of the group's vision is that at least 10 per cent of Singapore's coral rees, mostly along the southern islands, should be turned into sanctuaries.
These could be categorised into "no-go zones", where access is granted for only scientific purposes. Other areas with limited access could be allowed, or opened under proper management.
Currently, areas such as the Chek Jawa Wetlands and Pulau Sekudu are protected by the National Parks Board (NParks), which monitors the area. Vessels entering these wetlands also need a permit from NParks.
However, more areas should be covered, including the southern islands such as Kusu Island and St. John's Island, as well as diving spot Pulau Hantu, and live-firing areas like Pulau Sudong and Pulau Senang, said Mr Lee.
He believes that other agencies, NGOs and companies should play a part too.
Environmental-impact studies are not consistently done for land reclamation and other projects, he said.
Hence, another proposal will be to have an independent agency to conduct such studies.
This agency must also be consulted by other agencies to ensure that the marine ecosystem is given a higher priority.
Singapore has not paid enough attention to marine conservation, added Mr Lee.
"Management of our seas has been limited to preventing pollution from factories and oil tankers, and I think we've done a wonderful job in that area, but no to in serving the marine ecosystem."
He added that the cost of such measures should be borne by the Government.
After all, coral reefs may be a valuable source of biomedical products and serve as educational and toursit draws.
He said" "The region has more than 2,500 fish species, and 500-600 species of hard corals, five times more than the Caribbean and 25 times more than the Mediterranean."
He added that SIngapore may well have half or more of this biodiversity. Common species found here include butterfly fish and brain and staghorn coral.
To beef up scientific knowledge About Singapore's marine biodiversity, the group is consolidating data from scientists, universities and institutes into a database, which will be used as an indication of its marine heritage.
Professor Chou Loke Ming of the National University of Singapore's department of biological sciences added that there have been "positive signals" such as the translocation of corals when a development is built upon the site of a reef.
He added: "Coral-reef conservation and restoration run over the long term. It's not just a one-off exercise: it has to be a sustained effort".
23 buildings in Marina Bay, CBD submit lighting proposals to the Govt
Lee Siew Hua, Straits Times 19 Sep 08;
A NEW city skyline will arise over the next couple of years when 23 buildings turn on the lights at night.
Maybank, The Sail condo and the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort are among the buildings that have sent lighting proposals to the Government. The plans include how they will illuminate their roofs or accentuate their facades.
This light-up is part of Singapore's plan to create a night buzz for a distinctive city, said Mrs Cheong Hoon Kean, chief executive officer of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
Speaking to The Straits Times ahead of the Formula One night race next week, she said: 'We can look forward to a signature night skyline in the next couple of years, when the buildings in Marina Bay and Central Business District (CBD) are completed and external lighting is installed.' Beautiful lighting will create 'a captivating night scene that enhances our city's appeal', she added.
An artist's rendering of the reborn skyline was completed yesterday, piecing together the 23 lighting proposals.
The buildings appear subtly illuminated, not flooded with light.
Good lighting, Mrs Cheong said, is not about being the brightest or flashiest. Asian cities tend to be over-lit, she added, but this is not Singapore's ethos.
The underlying principle is to stay 'elegant and tasteful, and sensitive to a building's architecture', she said. 'Look at Paris, the romantic City of Lights.'
According to URA officials, elegant lighting should bring out the architectural design elements of a building. So, the emphasis includes illumination of the roof or crown of the building, and lighting walkways on the first storey to create spaces ideal for outdoor activities.
Lights can also be programmable. Day-to-day lighting can be 'a little bit more calm', Mrs Cheong said. The look can be 'celebratory' for festive seasons.
Building owners are hiring lighting experts like Mr Bo Steiber to give their properties a glow at night. The founder of Bo Steiber Lighting Design is lighting up the new tower of OUB Centre at 1, Raffles Place.
His earlier work includes illuminating Shanghai's Xintiandi lifestyle and nightlife district, and the Esplanade's Theatres on the Bay.
The Swede, a Singapore permanent resident, said his energy-efficient lighting of OUB Centre will 'accentuate the tower's angular, linear, diamond features'. He lauded the URA's 'good initiative' to beautify the skyline.
The URA's Lighting Masterplan was introduced in 2006. To encourage more buildings in Marina Bay and the CBD to light up, incentives were rolled out. New developments and buildings being revamped can get as much as 2 per cent additional gross floor area if they light up.
Cash incentives from a $10 million fund to offset the capital costs of new lighting are also granted, particularly for existing structures.
The URA also had a night lighting plan in 1995 for the civic district, the cultural and historical heart of the city. Some 90 per cent of the buildings, bridges and public spaces there were lit.
Skyline tobe all lit up
STB, URA and building owners making plansfor special lighting
Teo Xuanwei Today Online 19 Sep 08;
WITH the world’s first Formula 1night race to be beamed to350 million fans globally, Singapore authorities are pulling out the stops to ensure thedowntown skyline forms ablazing backdrop.
The reason why that will be a challenge: The race circuit’s 1,500 light projectors, which are four times brighter than average stadium floodlights, so as to simulate daylight, could easily wash out the normal Singapore nightscape.
That is why the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Urban Redevelopment Authority are working closely with trackside building owners to install special lighting during the race weekend of Sept 26 to 28.
Some, like Marina Mandarin Hotel, even have their own fancy lighting arrangements to add spice to the razzle dazzle.
The hotel will be projecting nine slides of race-related artistic works by German architectural projection specialists Casa Magica onto the building’s facade on the three race nights, a spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, five key landmarks along the race circuit — Anderson Bridge, City Hall, The Esplanade, Old Supreme Court and the Victoria Theatre Clock Tower — that will be featured prominently by the racecameras will be specially lit up, STB’s assistant chief executive (Brand and Communications) Ken Low told Today.
Other downtown buildings in the Marina Centre area and Central Business District, such as Raffles City, Maybank Tower and UOB Plaza, have also been encouraged to keep their building lights on during the race weekend.
“Because it is a race held at night, Singapore’s cityscape around the Marina Centre area needs to be made visible in order to showcase itself to the world,” said Mr Low. “Lighting of the skyline is an integral part of the event, and will help create a vibrant and dynamic night race atmosphere, and experience for spectators and television broadcast globally.”
The Singapore Flyer will also have 15 different lighting patterns for the races, said a spokesperson.
For instance, the giant observation wheel will be illuminated in red and white to represent our national colours before each race. Additional floodlights will also be mounted on the Flyer to make it more prominent.
The crowns of the 50- and 28-storey towers of One Raffles Quay will also be lit up — similar to what was done during National Day — to mark the occasion.
Said its asset management general manager, Mr Wilson Kwong: “With F1 in the city, the eyes of the world will be on Singapore. As building owners, we want to help make sure the view is a spectacular one. We’re doing our part to make sure there is a great backdrop for the race.”
Mrs Night Buzz revs up evening economy
Lively nights will add extra oomph to our lifestyle and economy. But there's more to nightlife than pubbing and clubbing. Think romantic Parisienne lights, families enjoying a night out and festivals, says URA's chief executive Cheong Koon Hean. It's all happening here, she tells Insight ahead of the F1 night race.
Lee Siew Hua, Straits Times 19 Sep 08;
AS SINGAPOREAN homebodies sleep, an evening economy has started to spring up around them.
Just ask Mrs Night Buzz.
Few know this but Mrs Cheong Koon Hean, 51, has for two years led a panel of policymakers to multiply round-the-clock leisure choices and nurture a new evening economy.
This will rev up the city's hip factor in the global race for mobile talent.
It also creates memories and rootedness for residents.
'If you have a great nightlife, it is really a differentiating factor for Singapore,' she tells Insight ahead of the world's first Formula One night race next week - surely the mother of all night events.
Calling nightlife a 'comparative advantage', she adds: 'Cities compete against one another and lifestyle is a very, very major consideration when people make choices of where to live or to work.'
Almost evangelical, Mrs Cheong, the zestful chief executive of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), highlights the value of the evening economy.
To grow this, it needs a deft interplay of government resources and the imagination of the private sector.
The best outcome? In her eyes, it will bring about a richer quality of life for all, a distinctive Singapore lifestyle and city, and national wealth too.
Plug and play
NIGHT buzz will be focused on the Singapore River, Marina Bay, the Bras Basah/Bugis enclave and Orchard Road.
'It is not realistic to expect buzz everywhere. Not everybody wants that,' Mrs Cheong reasons.
'You must have some places that are more passive for variety and contrast.'
For the four chosen zones, the complex building blocks of a lively nightscene involve 'hardware' (elegant lighting to engender a City of Lights, for instance) and more importantly, 'software' (bright ideas for a night culture).
First, the hardware: 'If you want a nightscape that is conducive for activities, you need the right infrastructure.'
This means adding public spaces and promenades for public events, and preparing a ready electrical supply.
'Organisers can just plug and play in future,' she says. 'The electricity comes out from the ground. It's very, very unobtrusive.' The days of noisy generators are fading.
A floating stage on the Singapore River is another example she cites. It can be rented for performances, and can move up and down the river.
Bridges over the historic river will also glow with new ambient lighting, in time for the F1 season next weekend.
Where neon lights beckon
THE night skyline is a big star of the planned infrastructure.
The URA formed a lighting masterplan for the city centre in 2006. It gives incentives to building owners to light up facades in Marina Bay and the Central Business District.
A total of 23 proposals have been received from owners of buildings that include Maybank, the OUB Centre and the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort.
'You can give buildings a lot of character with night lighting. It can inspire you. There's a certain appeal that is different from daytime,' Mrs Cheong says. 'Look at Paris, the romantic City of Lights.'
The key is to light up 'tastefully and elegantly' like the European cities. She feels that Asian cities tend to be overlit.
That rules out neon lights? 'Neon has its role in the entertainment districts,' she replies. So New York's 42nd Street, with its pulsating advertising signs, is ablaze with neon.
'We also want that but only for the very busy areas.
'We want to introduce that more into Bugis because it has entertainment,' says the architect-planner who became CEO of URA in April 2004 and has a hand in Singapore's urban transformation, including Marina Bay.
As for software, this means a culture of more night events. For this, the Government is joining forces with private enterprises.
'Many global cities have these 'must-sees' that create very great vibrancy and will draw people from all over the world. Some of these can happen at night,' she says.
She remembers that as a student at University College in London, she braved the cold to attend concerts in Hyde Park.
And New York has its New Year countdown in the middle of winter. Multitudes turn up to see the ball drop in Times Square while millions watch it on TV.
Singapore, too, can create such events and memories. The thousands of lit-up 'wishing spheres' that float on Marina Bay during the New Year countdown can be one new tradition, she suggests.
The private sector is key to the evening economy, she stresses. The Government plays the role of enabler by raising the right infrastructure, she says.
It will also regulate with a light touch and organise mega events on a national scale.
Old pool, new idea
SO THERE is an interplay.
'We want to work with the private sector and use its enterprising spirit to have a multiplier effect,' says Mrs Cheong.
In fact, the private sector has been busy spinning events, notably over the past eight years or so, she says. Among these are Ballet Under The Stars, now in its 12th year.
The recent SingFest - an outdoor musical festival - featured world-famous acts like Alicia Keys and also local bands in August.
And Chivas, the purveyor of scotch whisky, is using the old River Valley Swimming Pool to host a stylish party and dance act during the inaugural Singapore River Festival, which starts today.
So, entrepreneurs and food-and-beverage outlets can easily 'latch' onto such mega events organised by the Government, she points out.
Already, outsiders have taken note of Singapore's night buzz.
The island was ranked fifth globally in nightlife last year. It was No. 2 in the nightlife quotient in 2006.
These rankings, known as the Country Brand Index, have been compiled annually by global brand consultancy FutureBrand since 2005.
Mrs Cheong is not losing sleep over Singapore's slip in ranking, saying: 'If you're among the top 10 or 15 cities, you're not bad. You're on the radar screen.'
Visitors are impressed with the nightlife here. 'In our own surveys, the tourists actually give us a higher rating on our nightlife than the locals,' she says. 'Surprising, isn't it?
'Maybe visitors and foreigners make a point to find out where they can go. Maybe we need to tell Singaporeans about the places they can go to.'
She is certainly keen to show Singaporeans how possible it is to stretch each day into the cool tropical night.
'Nightlife is not only about shopping, clubbing and pubbing,' she asserts. 'It's really to encourage people to have a great night out.'
That includes families. People rarely link children and old folk with nightlife but, eyes sparkling, Mrs Cheong virtually sings out the ideas:
'A night out under the stars, night out for a romantic stroll along the waterfront or Fort Canning, night out for a barbecue, night out for a concert, night out for biking, night out for a great party!'
She adds: 'I always say a night out can be anything. It can be for people who prefer the more quiet life to the really more busy and buzzy activities.'
Night-loving families
PERSONALLY, she includes elderly family members when she takes evening walks on the Southern Ridges, a series of hill trails linking Mount Faber, Telok Blangah Hill and the Kent Ridge parks.
Here, the bridges and forest walk nature trail are fully lit. The elderly in wheelchairs show up too, she says.
'If you can wheel your disabled family member or bring your elderly parents to the Southern Ridges, my goodness, you can certainly go to the Bras Basah night festival,' she argues cheerfully.
The inaugural festival in July involved fun such as street performances, and free museum visits till 2am.
Also enjoyable for her: fishing at Changi Point or Pasir Ris ponds, where it is possible to dangle rods all night because of 'our beautiful cool weather'.
Indeed, Singapore's weather and safety are ideal conditions for an evening economy, she says.
For a sense of the potential of this evening economy, she pulls a parallel from tourist expenditure figures.
Malls taking part in the Singapore Tourism Board's late-night shopping scheme enjoyed an average rise of 15 per cent in sales, compared to non-late nights. This is for the one-year period between September 2007 and August 2008.
On Saturdays, shopping hours stretch till 11pm for participating malls.
Overall, tourists spent $8.42 billion in 2006. They lavished 56 per cent of this sum on shopping (44 per cent) plus food and beverage (12 per cent).
This is relevant, she feels, as much shopping and dining occur in the evening.
So night buzz makes sense - and makes money too. It is as much an economic component of cities as a measure of lifestyle quality.
Scanning the globe, she singles out the Spaniards, who are still out on the streets at midnight after a late dinner, as a people with a night-loving culture.
Closer home, Seoul's Daehongno University Street brims with energy by day and night. Mini-theatres abound, and also shops and food outlets. Young people play sports and perform music. There is a whiff of this in the Bras Basah/Bugis zone.
Even as the Singapore evening economy fires up over time, she could not resist this parting shot: 'Have a great night out!'
More links
Straits Times 19 Sep 08;
INDIVIDUALS whose jobs involve managing the energy resources of their companies or factories may now draw on a $6 million grant set aside for their training and certification.
The National Environment Agency (NEA), which put up the money, hopes that structured training for these professionals - facilities operations managers or engineers and consultants - will raise the level of energy efficiency, which would in turn reduce global warming and save money for companies.
Degree holders who are Singapore citizens or permanent residents and with at least one year of relevant working experience qualify for the grant.
It will offset more than three-quarters of the fee for the Singapore Certified Energy Manager training programme, which can cost up to $7,000.
Administered by the NEA and the Institution of Engineers, the 144-hour programme comprises six modules.
Since it was rolled out in 2006, it has drawn 60 takers, but nobody has completed it yet. Future intakes of students will be given a year to finish the training.
Dr Amy Khor, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, said certified professionals in energy management will push for energy- and cost-saving practices in their respective companies, so energy efficiency can become a key strategy in mitigating climate change.
NEA aims to have 1,000 people trained in the field over the next two to four years.
ANG YIYING
NEA announces S$6m grant to train energy managers
Lynda Hong, Channel NewsAsia 18 Sep 08;
SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency (NEA) on Thursday announced a training grant of S$6 million to co-fund course fees for training professional energy managers.
The money aims to help build up a local pool of 1,000 energy managers to be trained professionally over the next two to four years.
Dr Amy Khor, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment and Water Resources announced the grant at a seminar on enhanced energy efficiency by management.
To be eligible for the grant, potential candidates must sign up for the professional Singapore Certified Energy Manager Training Programme, which is jointly administered by the NEA and the Institution of Engineers under an SCEM Monitoring Committee.
Those interested to become a professional energy manager can now look forward to a subsidised, one-time fee of S$1,000 for a full training programme on energy management.- CNA/yb
Letter from Fan Chian Jen
Deputy Director,Motor Sports Department,Singapore Sports Council
Today Online 19 Sep 08;
WE REFER to “Where’s our own track, for homegrown racers?” (Sept 17).
Since we announced the plan to develop a permanent racetrack in Changi in October last year, we have received numerous queries and diverse feedback from many international and local players about the project’s specifications.
At present, we are studying how we can optimise its overall value proposition, as well as how to enhance its commercial viability and sustainability for private investors.
The racetrack is scheduled to be completed between late 2010 and early 2011.
The Singapore Sports Council has also been working with the Singapore Motor Sports Association and other Government agencies to grow interest in motor sports. We hope to identify talent and develop talent through industrial and motor sports attachments, as well as to develop local motoring events and bring in international ones. We are also considering low-cost entry to the track, in order to give access to the general public with the aim of driving up interest in motor sport.
We would like to thank Mr Ong Yong Keat for the interest and continued support for motorsports.
Business Times 19 Sep 08;
Japanese architect Shigeru Ban talks to GEOFFREY EU about working with his trademark materials and why he believes in the doctrine 'less is more'
EARLIER this month, the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban was in Taiwan, presiding over the opening of a temporary church he had designed over a decade ago. Not a particularly noteworthy event in itself, except that it was actually a re-opening of sorts - the church had been first built in 1995 in Kobe, and was intended to be a temporary structure in the wake of an earthquake that had devastated that city.
More remarkable, perhaps, is the fact that the church was built using recycled paper tubes - materials that have since become a Ban trademark. It was taken apart and moved to Taiwan - another earthquake-prone country - before being reconstructed again. The Takitori Catholic Church has become a highly visible symbol of Ban's unusual solutions to natural disasters, using a building material that is far from permanent.
He discovered its strong load-bearing abilities in the 1980s, and has put that knowledge to good use ever since. Ban's 'paper houses' have been used in disaster areas from Turkey to Rwanda and his designs have been showcased in museums and exhibitions around the world.
Last week, on the not insignificant date of Sept 11, a temporary school built to Ban's specifications opened in Chengdu, the epicentre of a massive earthquake earlier this year.
21st-century innovator
Ban, 51, has been chalking up the frequent flyer miles lately. He was also here last week as a featured artist at this year's Singapore Biennale. His Containart Pavilion is an architectural structure comprising 150 20-foot containers and 34 10-metre-tall recycled tubes, and was designed to house large installations by three international artists. Ban previously contributed a media centre made from his ubiquitous paper tubes at the 2006 edition of the biennale.
The Tokyo-born, US-educated and Paris-based architect has won numerous awards for his work, and was cited by Time magazine in 2000 as a 21st-century innovator in the field of architecture and design.
The New York Times has called him an 'accidental environmentalist'. While his most well known works may be looked upon as prime examples of sustainable architecture, Ban himself doesn't subscribe to that notion.
'Sustainable architecture is a trend, and I don't like to follow trends,' he says. 'I started working with paper because I didn't want to waste wood. When I started working with paper tubes in 1986, no one was talking about recycling or sustainable issues. I was interested in raw materials, and the styling of a building has nothing to do with the strength of materials,' says Ban.
'It's the same with the life span of a building, which has nothing to do with the strength or durability of material - it just depends on whether people love the building or not.'
Ban, who contributed the Japanese Pavilion at Expo 2000 in Germany, says his focus lies in creating temporary buildings, and then demolishing them. 'My interest was when buildings were demolished and my goal was not the completion but the demolition.' He adds: 'I have privileged clients and have built museums and big houses, but my work is also most significant when dealing with natural disasters.'
New materials and technology have always been important throughout the history of architecture, says Ban. 'New architecture comes because of technology. I discovered my own identity when I started using paper for my interiors and found that it was much stronger than I expected - waterproofing and fireproofing is possible as well.'
The paper church in Kobe - now in Taiwan - has been given a second life, says Ban. 'It was meant to be temporary, but because people love it, that's why it became permanent.'
He adds: 'When I was younger, what I wanted to do was not what I ended up doing, but now, I can do what I have dreamt of doing.'
Ban accepts that advances in technology are inevitable, but he is no advocate of high-tech methods in architecture. 'Advances in technology don't make architecture more advanced,' he notes. 'When there were no computers, architecture was better. The computer age helped most fields, but not architecture - computers make it quicker, not better.' Ban says buildings were a lot better 500 years ago. 'Better architecture can be achieved if we spend more time designing, more time building.'
Having lived abroad for most of his working life, the architect doesn't consider himself to be imbued with a particularly Japanese sensibility. 'The idea of using a weak material is very much from Japanese culture, but I didn't consciously consider it - it just came naturally because I was interested in it.'
Ban, who travels regularly to the Middle East, says he is now exploring the use of sand as a building material. 'I'm not interested in working for big developers, but I am interested in local climate and using local materials.'
Ban is also a firm believer in the doctrine famously espoused by iconic designer Mies van der Rohe, who said in effect that less is more.
'I love this philosophy, it's not just simplistic - there's a more diverse meaning and function behind it,' explains Ban, who adds that a bridge would be the ideal embodiment of this approach. He has designed a paper bridge in the south of France, but he would like to come up with a span of a more permanent nature in the future.
Fulfilling projects
These days, Ban is getting more involved in disaster-relief projects. 'When I was younger, I envied people who were awarded big projects but now, after working in disaster relief, I feel much more fulfilled - I think this is very important,' he says. 'Historically, architects have been working for privileged people, corporations and governments in order to make their power and money - where it was invisible - more visible.' He adds: 'Now there are so many disasters all over the world, and some were man-made - earthquakes never kill people, but the collapse of buildings does.'
It is no longer necessary for architecture to be so permanent, says Ban, who also goes to Tokyo twice a month to teach at Keio University. 'The meaning and necessity of architecture is really changing now. I've done museums, high-end condos, and I'm not happy only working for privileged people. When I work in disaster relief, I am able to find my own mental balance.'
Yahoo News 18 Sep 08;
Hundreds of new marine species have been found on Australia's coral reefs, surprising an international team of biologists who announced details of their findings here Thursday.
Yahoo News 18 Sep 08;
Researchers said Thursday they have found two hairy-nosed otters, which have been listed as the world's rarest species, in a national park in southern Vietnam.
Scientists came across the pair in U Minh Ha National Park in March, according to a statement from the Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Program.
"We were only about two and half metres away from them when we spotted the two otters. It was truly amazing to see such a rare species in the wild," said research officer Nguyen Van Nhuan.
Hairy-nosed otters were thought to be extinct in the 1990s. However, they have since been rediscovered in Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia.
The most recent record of the species in Vietnam was from 2000 in Ca Mau province, which is home to U Minh Thuong National Park.
Nhuan described the animal as "notoriously shy and mostly nocturnal." It eats fish, frogs, reptiles, snakes and insects.
"Their survival is critically linked to protection of their habitat which is peat swampland and seasonally flooded forests," he said in the statement.
Vietnam is home to three other species of otter, including the smooth-coated otter, eurasian otter and oriental small-clawed otter.
LiveScience.com Yahoo News 17 Sep 08;
More than 100 species of sharks and rays have been classified and named as new species, including some that had been discovered as far back as the early 1990s.
The new namings and classifications are the result of an 18-month Australian project using DNA analysis to clarify the identity of closely related species.
The new species include:
The endangered Maugean Skate (Zearaja maugeana), which lives only at the southwestern tip of Tasmania. It is closely related to an ancestor that lived off southern Australia some 80 million years ago. A critically endangered gulper shark known as the Southern Dogfish (Centrophorus zeehaani), which is endemic to the continental slope off southern Australia. The Northern Freshwater Whipray and the Northern River Shark, which are among the largest freshwater animals in Australia at more than 6 feet (2 meters) long. Until recently these were confused with similar marine species.
"Additional taxonomic information like this is critical to managing sharks and rays, which reproduce relatively slowly and are extremely vulnerable to over-fishing and other human impacts," said project leader Peter Last of the nation's top research agency, CSIRO. "Their populations are also sensitive to small-scale events and can be an indicator of environmental change."
Sharks and rays play a vital ecosystem role as top predators, culling weak or dimwitted members of other species.
"Take them away and what does it mean for the rest of the ecosystem?" said team member William White. "We can't understand possible implications unless we know what species we're dealing with."
Sharks are also sensitive to small-scale events and can be an indicator of environmental change, the researchers said.
Most of the sharks and rays were identified but not fully described in 1994. They new names and descriptions will be published in book form in 2009.
DNA marine probe finds more jaws than before
Andrew Darby, The Age 19 Sep 08;
IT'S always nice to know there are more sharks around than you think, particularly if you're a marine scientist looking for new species.
"They have been much maligned," said Peter Last, a CSIRO taxonomist who announced yesterday that Australia had 100 new shark and ray species. "There are many more shark-eating men, than man-eating sharks."
These creatures had character, Dr Last said. "A lot of them are quite inquisitive, tactile. They do have a puppy-like feel.
"But they are key predators in the oceans. Without sharks and rays, the whole food chain is compromised to some extent."
His team found that Australia's wealth of shark and ray species numbered 300, about half of which are only found in these waters. "With the exception of Indonesia, we have the richest shark and ray fauna on the planet," Dr Last said.
The finding that Australia had many more species than thought owes much to revolutionary molecular identification techniques. "They've turned the task of species identification upside down."
Previously a species had to be described by a scientist who observed its distinctive qualities. Now DNA identification such as is used in the international Barcode of Life project sets a global standard.
So although scientists knew that there was an angel shark, with big "wing" fins, which scouted the seabed off eastern Australia, subtle differences in those in NSW waters were unrecognised. The CSIRO work confirmed that the NSW angel shark was a separate species.
Likewise the harmless northern river shark was separated from the aggressive bull shark that accounts for many attacks on people in harbours and estuaries. And the spectacular orange-spotted leopard ray of northern Australia was different again from its Indian cousins.
For some species, identification will help ensure survival.
The southern dogfish, a blunt, metre-long shark, lives on a narrow band of heavily trawled continental shelf slope off south-east Australia. With an estimated 99% cut in its numbers over 20 years, it was recently listed as critically endangered.
The dark waters of Port Davey and Macquarie Harbour in south-west Tasmania provide the only known habitat for the modest, dinner-plate sized maugean ray. With warming seas under climate change, this habitat is threatened, Dr Last said. "This ray really hasn't changed much in 80 million years. It would be catastrophic to see it just go in the blink of an eye."
The work to date suggested there may be more sharks and rays left to discover, he said.
Scientists name 100 new shark and ray species
Michael Perry, Reuters 18 Sep 08;
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Scientists using DNA have catalogued and described 100 new species of sharks and rays in Australian waters, which they said on Thursday would help conservation of the marine animals and aid in climate change monitoring.
More than 90 of the newly named species were identified by scientists in a 1994 book "Sharks and Rays of Australia" but remained scientifically undescribed.
One rare species of carpet shark catalogued was found in the belly of another shark.
The new names and descriptions will now feature in a revised 2009 edition of the book by Australia's peak scientific body.
The Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) said its cataloguing of the new species was critical for the management of sharks and rays, which reproduce slowly and are vulnerable to overfishing.
CSIRO scientists said sharks and rays as apex predators play a vital role in the ocean's ecosystem and can be indicators of climate change.
"Their populations are sensitive to small-scale events and can be an indicator of environmental change," CSIRO team leader Peter Last said in a statement announcing the cataloguing.
Some of the new species named include:
* The endangered Maugean Skate shark, closely related to an ancestor from the Gondwanan period in Australia some 80 million years ago, found at the southwest of the island state of Tasmania. It is one of the only skates in the world found in brackish or freshwater and its survival could be affected by climate change, said the scientists.
* The critically endangered gulper shark or the Southern Dogfish which is endemic to the continental shelf off southern Australia.
* The Northern Freshwater Whipray and the Northern River Shark, which grow to over two meters (six feet) in length, and are among the largest freshwater animals in Australia. Until recently these were confused with similar marine species.
Environment group WWF-Australia said the cataloguing of 100 new species of sharks and rays would boost conservation moves to protect the marine animals.
"It is a major scientific breakthrough," said WWF-Australia fisheries manager Peter Trott. "We now need to know what changes in management are needed to conserve these animals."
Trott said confusion between separate species of sharks and rays meant that new, rare or endangered species may be mistaken for more common species and inadvertently taken by fishermen.
"We are literally fishing in the dark when it comes to sharks and rays. In many cases we simply do not know what species we are plucking from Australian waters, Trott said in a statement.
(Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by David Fox)
More links
LiveScience.com Yahoo News 18 Sep 08;
A new iguana has been discovered in the central regions of Fiji.
The species, Brachylophus bulabula, joins only two other living Pacific iguana species, one of which is critically endangered. The scientific name bulabula is a doubling of bula, the Fijian word for hello.
Pacific iguanas generally are endangered. Two species were eaten to extinction after people arrived nearly 3,000 years ago. The three living Brachylophus iguana species face threats from loss and alteration of their habitat, as well as from feral cats, mongooses and goats that eat iguanas or their food source.
"Our new understanding of the species diversity in this group is a first step in identifying conservation targets," said Robert Fisher, a research zoologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in San Diego, and coauthor of a study on the new iguana with scientists from the Australian National University and Macquarie University in Australia.
Endangered species
Among the iguanas studied by Fisher, with only one exception, on each of the 13 islands where living iguanas were sampled, the researchers found at least one distinct iguana genetic line that was not seen elsewhere.
For instance, the Fiji crested iguana, Brachylophus vitiensis, is gone from many islands it once occupied and is now listed as critically endangered on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The IUCN is the largest global environmental network.
The new study indicates that the other previously-identified Pacific iguana species, Brachyophus fasciatus, is probably critically endangered also, Fisher said.
Traveling iguanas
The mystery of how iguanas originally arrived at the Pacific islands has long puzzled biologists and geographers. The reptiles' closest relatives are found nearly 5,000 miles away across the ocean in the New World.
The Fijian iguanas are well-known for their beauty and also their unusual occurrence in the middle of the Pacific Ocean because all of their closest relatives are in the Americas, said Scott Keogh, an associate professor at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, and lead author of the study.
The highest islands of Fiji have been continuously above sea level for at least the last 16 million years, and the current study's findings suggest that the Pacific iguanas, both extinct and living, were likely on the islands much of that time. Ancestors of the Pacific iguanas may have arrived up to 13 million years ago after making a 5,000 mile rafting trip from the New World.
Invasives and climate change
Efforts to describe the diversity of Pacific iguanas is important in setting biodiversity targets for the Pacific Basin, Fisher said.
"This island basin is currently under attack by a number of invasive species such as the brown tree snake, various rat species and the coqui frog, which tend to reduce biodiversity," said Fisher. "Climate change may reduce coastal habitats and alter coastlines in the Pacific, further putting biodiversity at risk. A more accurate understanding of the patterns and processes that impact diversity in these unique island groups will help land managers set appropriate goals for conservation of these resources."
The new discovery is detailed a recent special edition of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B that pays tribute to Charles Darwin's contribution to the Pacific region. The other coauthors of the study are Danielle Edwards at the Australian National University, and Peter Harlow at Macquarie University in Australia.
Scientists Discover a New Pacific Iguana and More Clues to a Longtime Mystery
USGS 18 Sep 08;
A new iguana has been discovered in the central regions of Fiji. The colorful new species, named Brachylophus bulabula, joins only two other living Pacific iguana species, one of which is critically endangered. The scientific name bulabula is a doubling of bula, the Fijian word for ‘hello,’ offering an even more enthusiastic greeting.
Pacific iguanas have almost disappeared as the result of human presence. Two species were eaten to extinction after people arrived nearly 3,000 years ago. The three living Brachylophus iguana species face threats from loss and alteration of their habitat, as well as from feral cats, mongooses and goats that eat iguanas or their food source.
“Our new understanding of the species diversity in this group is a first step in identifying conservation targets,” said Robert Fisher, a research zoologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in San Diego, and coauthor of a study on the new iguana with scientists from the Australian National University and Macquarie University in Australia.
An important study finding for conservation of the genetic diversity in these iguanas is that, with only one exception, each of the 13 islands where living iguanas were sampled showed at least one distinct iguana genetic line that was not seen elsewhere.
The Fiji crested iguana, Brachylophus vitiensis, is gone from many islands it once occupied and is now listed as Critically Endangered on the “Red List” of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The IUCN is the largest global environmental network. “Unfortunately, this new study indicates that the other previously-identified Pacific iguana species, Brachyophus fasciatus, is probably critically endangered also,” Fisher said.
The mystery of how the Pacific iguanas originally arrived has long puzzled biologists and geographers. Their closest relatives are found nearly 5,000 miles away across the ocean in the New World.
“The distinctive Fijian iguanas are famous for their beauty and also their unusual occurrence in the middle of the Pacific Ocean because all of their closest relatives are in the Americas,” said Scott Keogh, an Associate Professor at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, and lead author of the study.
The highest islands of Fiji have been continuously above sea level for at least the last 16 million years, and the current study’s findings suggest that the Pacific iguanas, both extinct and living, were likely on the islands much of that time. Ancestors of the Pacific iguanas may have arrived up to 13 million years ago after making a 5,000 mile rafting trip from the New World.
Realizing that scientists are just now describing the diversity in even such colorful and distinctive groups as Pacific iguanas is important in setting biodiversity targets for the Pacific Basin.
"This island basin is currently under attack by a number of invasive species such as the brown tree snake, various rat species and the coqui frog, which tend to reduce biodiversity," said Fisher. "Climate change may reduce coastal habitats and alter coastlines in the Pacific, further putting biodiversity at risk. A more accurate understanding of the patterns and processes that impact diversity in these unique island groups will help land managers set appropriate goals for conservation of these resources."
The new discovery is published in a recent special edition of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B that pays tribute to Charles Darwin’s contribution to the Pacific region. The other coauthors of the study are Danielle Edwards at the Australian National University, and Peter Harlow at Macquarie University in Australia.
Matt Kwong, The National 18 Sep 08;
It’s a little puzzling exactly how the shy, dumpy dugongs that graze in Abu Dhabi’s warm coastal waters were once mistaken for mermaids.
With their long snouts and tusks, dolphin-like tails and spatula-shaped flippers, the lumbering marine mammals can weigh up to 400kg. None of which would seem to befit the sirens of seafaring lore.
Whereas fictional accounts of mermaids luring ships onto dangerous rocks were popular among ancient mariners, the emirate faces the very real problem of human settlement threatening the dugong herds in local waters.
As a species listed by the World Conservation Union as “vulnerable to extinction,” the dugongs of Abu Dhabi are a national treasure, according to the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD). In fact, the emirate’s shallow coastal waters are home to a dugong population second in number only to that in Australia.
The species, whose name comes from the Malay term “duyung”, meaning “lady of the sea,” has been spotted in the channels around Abu Dhabi Island as well as within two kilometres of the Corniche.
Of the approximately 7,000 dugongs believed to live in the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea, Abu Dhabi is home to about 40 per cent of them, according to EAD estimates.
But pressures from urbanisation and human activities such as fishing and trawling, not to mention oil spills, are further putting the creatures in peril. So, the EAD’s Marine Research Centre has embarked on conservation efforts to restore the population.
Next month will mark the first anniversary of the UAE becoming the first Arab country to sign a Memorandum of Understanding concerning the conservation and management of dugongs.
The city’s expansion along the coastal belt has encroached on the dugongs’ habitat, and dredging has disturbed the seagrass beds, the mammal’s only source of food, explained Thabit Zahran al Abdessalaam, the director of the marine biodiversity management sector at the EAD.
“Abu Dubai is attractive for dugongs as almost all the sea grass beds in the entire UAE are here,” he said, adding that dugongs are protected under UAE law and anyone found to be harming them can be prosecuted.
The seagrass diet has, unfortunately, restricted dugongs to the very shallow waters most intensively used by humans.
And as seagrass has very little nutritional value, dugongs must consume large amounts of it – as much as 30kg in one day. Their grazing habits have earned them the nickname “camels of the sea”.
The herbivorous sea creatures are close cousins of the manatee and belong to the order sirenia, named after the sirens of Greek legend. As mammals, dugongs must surface to breathe about every six minutes, but sightings are otherwise rare.
In 1986, aerial surveys recorded 3,047 dugongs in Abu Dhabi’s surrounding waters, according to the Marine Atlas Abu Dhabi. By 1999, the same year the UAE enacted a federal law forbidding the harvesting or harassment of dugongs, that population had fallen to 2,691.
Two years later, helicopters spotted 2,185 dugongs and a marine protected area in Marawah Island was declared to preserve a core habitat for the marine mammals as well as sea turtles and dolphins.
The EAD is “leading the way in the western Indian Ocean” with a particularly proactive campaign to save the dugongs, said Dr Mark Beech, an archaeologist in the region who now works as the manager of Cultural Landscapes at the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage.
He noted that the early seafaring settlers of Abu Dhabi have had a long-standing connection with the sea. As far back as 7,000 years ago, he said, dugongs were essential to the survival of inhabitants of the region.
“We know that people were hunting dugongs more than 7,000 years ago, from archaeological remains along the islands of Abu Dhabi and from our excavations on Marawah,” he said. “We found evidence of dugong bones in the forms of ribs and also shoulder blades – the preferred flippery bits on the front that they used to eat.”
Until the 1980s, dugongs were actively hunted because they were considered a desirable source of cheap “red meat,” but this practice was stopped by order of the rulers, who stated that only the dugongs accidentally entangled in fishing nets could be sold in the market.
Long ago, they were a major source of protein for ancient Bedouin, Mr Beech said.
“They were basically having barbecued dugongs – spareribs and shoulders of dugong meat,” he said. “It’s a protected species nowadays, but back then the Bedouin would make sandals from the hides and the tusks – the sort of canine teeth – were probably kept as trophies or amulets, but also quite good tools.”
Mr Beech said dugong semen was once reputed by locals to have aphrodisiacal properties, “but it’s all baloney”. Online retailers offer so-called “dugong pearls” for more than £100 apiece, though these “pearls” are almost always just compressed rock salt.
“It’s a bit sad that some ... business is making money out of these beautiful creatures whereas they should be putting the money towards conservation, because they really are critically endangered,” Mr Beech said.
Dugongs are very vulnerable to human threats such as oil spills and last year a team of field scientists found two dugongs trapped in an abandoned driftnet near Abu al Abyad Island. Boat traffic can also injure dugongs.
It was not until the last decade, however, that scientists began collecting ecological data throughout the coastal and marine areas of Abu Dhabi. The Emirates Heritage Club – Abu Dhabi published its marine atlas in 2004, collecting anecdotal accounts from fishermen and divers who reported seeing fewer dugongs in the area over the years. Research teams for the marine atlas reported sightings within a few kilometres of Abu Dhabi City, with 72 per cent of all dugongs and 55 per cent of all green turtles and dolphins sighted within a 45-kilometre radius of Marawah island, which lies 100 kilometres to the west of the city.
Although dugongs are distributed in the coastal waters of more than 35 countries, the EAD’s effort to save its dugong population is tied to the heritage of local people. With so much at stake, preserving the life of creatures that have lived in the Arabian Gulf for millions of years is seen as important for both present and future generations.
Gopal Sharma, PlanetArk 19 Sep 08;
KATHMANDU - South Asia's endangered Great One-horned Rhinoceros is being driven out of its natural habitat in search of food into the hands of illegal poachers, experts said on Thursday.
A meeting of the Asian Rhino Specialist Group in Nepal said that the massive animal's feeding grounds were being invaded by "exotic species" of weeds and wild plants and the rhino could soon run out of natural fodder.
"Grassland is being invaded by weeds and other unwanted plants that are not suitable for rhinos," Bibhab Kumar Talukdar, co-chairman of the group said from the Chitwan National Park, home to 408 rhinos.
"We have to concentrate on how best to control the weeds and for this we have to intensify research."
The endangered animal, whose numbers have been rising in Nepal and India, is found mostly in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, and in southwestern Nepal.
"The weeds and wild plants are an exotic species and how it came we don't know. It is spreading fast in the habitat and we are looking into the reasons now," Shyam Bajimaya, an expert with Nepal's national parks said.
Nepal's Chitwan National Park, located 81 km (51 miles) southwest of Kathmandu, is the second-biggest home for the rhinos after the Kaziranga National Park in the Indian state of Assam, which has 1,855 animals.
The number of rhinos in the Indian park has risen from about 1,200 in 1999, helped by a reduction in poaching, Talukdar said. The rhino population in Chitwan was also on the rise, he added.
Poaching is the main threat to the survival of rhino which is illegally killed for its horn and other body parts. Rhino horns are believed to have aphrodisiac qualities and are sold for a high price in China and other Southeast Asian countries. (Editing by Bappa Majumdar and Valerie Lee)
Yahoo News 18 Sep 08;
One way to help prevent overfishing may be to guarantee each fisherman a specified share of the catch, according to a new report. Collapse of fish stocks is much less common in areas where "catch share" fishing is practiced than in other regions, researchers say in Friday's edition of the journal Science.
The reason, they say, is that the system increases the incentive to protect the fishery rather than causing fishermen to compete against each other to see who can bring in the largest catch.
In a catch share system, individual fishermen, or fishing cooperatives, are allocated a share of the catch based on what they have caught over a prior period, say five or 10 years, explained Christopher Costello of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
For example, if someone averaged 1.5 percent of the catch in a fishery in the past, they would be guaranteed 1.5 percent of the total in the future — regardless of what the total take is.
Thus, a healthy fish stock allowing for a larger total catch means each share is larger, Costello said, so fishermen tend to protect the stock by using less damaging methods.
Using catch shares to manage fisheries is common in some parts of the world and is currently under consideration for some U.S. fisheries also.
The finding was welcomed by the Environmental Defense Fund.
"The trend around the world has been to fish the oceans until the fish are gone," said David Festa, vice president and oceans director at EDF. "The scientific data presented today shows we can turn this pattern on its head. Anyone who cares about saving fisheries and fishing jobs will find this study highly motivating."
New System Could Help Avert Collapse of Fisheries
Julie Steenhuysen, PlanetArk 19 Sep 08
CHICAGO - Guaranteeing individual fishermen a share of the catch could help avert a global collapse of fisheries, US researchers said on Thursday.
Such programs, known as catch-shares, eliminate the frantic race to get the biggest share of the catch as in traditional open-access fishing, a system that promotes overfishing and habitat destruction, putting a key global food supply at risk.
"Under open access, you have a free-for-all race to fish, which ultimately leads to collapse," said Christopher Costello of the University of California, Santa Barbara, whose study appears in the journal Science.
"But when you allocate shares of the catch, then there is an incentive to protect the stock, which reduces collapse. We saw this across the globe," he said in a statement.
Costello said the study offered hope that fisheries can resist the widespread collapse projected two years ago by Canadian Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax.
Climate change and pollution compound the threat to global fisheries, which supply protein to 2.6 billion people worldwide.
Costello and colleagues studied 50 years of data from 11,000 fisheries around the world.
"What we found is a management system called catch shares reverses the global trend in fishery failures," he said in a telephone briefing.
Catch shares, which are common in New Zealand, Australia, Iceland, and increasingly the United States and Canada, grant each shareholder a fixed portion of a fishery's total allowable catch, a figure set by scientists each year.
These shares may be bought and sold, much like shares in a company. They increase in value as the overall fish population increases in size, giving each shareholder a stake in improving the overall health of the fishery.
"Fisheries managed by this approach are dramatically less likely to collapse," Costello said.
Costello said only about 1 percent of global fisheries have adopted this new management system, but those that have are half as likely to collapse as those using traditional management systems.
"We found that fish fare far better when people directly benefit from taking just the right number of fish from the water," said Steven Gaines of UCSB, who worked on the study.
"Fish populations rebound, and so do yields from the fisheries," Gaines told reporters.
He pointed to the Alaskan halibut fishery as an example of success. Before the switch to a catch share system in 1995, the only way to control the overall catch was to shrink the total season, which went from four months to just two to three days.
This forced Halibut fishermen to use dangerous fishing methods, loading down their boats with frozen fish and compromising the quality of their catch.
Now, the season lasts nearly eight months, and because they can properly store and manage the fish they catch, they can charge more for it.
"Halibut fishermen were barely squeaking by, but now the fishery is insanely profitable," Gaines said. (Editing by Maggie Fox and Ross Colvin)
WWF 18 Sep 08;
WWF’s “Earth Hour”, which encouraged consumers around the world to switch off their lights for 60 minutes, again blazed its way into the spotlight as Asia’s most effective marketing campaign for 2008 yesterday.
Earth Hour took home the Platinum award, the leading prize of the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards 2008 which took place in Macau, having earlier won four gold awards.
The win caps a remarkable year for Earth Hour, which also took home honours from the Spikes and Cannes awards.
Millions of people on six continents in more then 400 major cities, including Chicago, Copenhagen, Manila, Tel Aviv, Bangkok, Dublin and Toronto, used the simple action of turning off their lights for one hour on 29 March to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming.
Icons like Sydney Opera House, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and Toronto's CN Tower going dark meant world-famous city skylines disappeared for an hour, while celebrities like Nelly Furtado hosted acoustic concerts for fans.
The campaign supporting the event, created by Leo Burnett Sydney, included a strong interactive element with a website offering tools for consumers to download to help spread the word.
“Earth Hour is WWF’s global event which was started to encourage businesses, communities and individuals to take the simple steps needed to cut their emissions on an ongoing basis," said Andy Ridley, the man who came up with the idea and now the International Director of WWF’s Earth Hour.
“It is about simple changes that will collectively make a difference – from businesses turning off their lights when their offices are empty, to households turning off appliances rather than leaving them on standby.
“By Earth Hour 2009, on March 28 we expect more people will have incorporated simple energy efficient solutions into their homes and workplace. It’s important we keep the momentum going for a greener and sustainable future.”
Yahoo News 18 Sep 08;
The global economic downturn and the crisis in the US financial markets offers the chance for investment in green energy, former US vice-president Al Gore said Thursday.
Central banks have thrown billions of dollars at the global credit storm, which has seen stock markets plunge and scalped big banks exposed to the ongoing effects of last year's collapse of the US sub-prime mortgage market.
Speaking via satellite-link at the launch of Live Earth India concert, where proceeds will go to solar energy projects, the environmental campaigner said the world was at a turning point.
Asked by AFP whether the financial crisis would mean less money for projects to cut greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, Gore said the time was now right to stimulate the right kinds of investment to kickstart economies.
"In the United States, the largest amount of debt has been pulled up because of the purchase of foreign oil," he told a news conference.
"We need to substitute renewable sources of energy -- solar energy, wind energy and others -- in place of the very expensive and dirty oil and coal that's contributing to the debt crisis and the general financial crisis.
"It (the global financial slump) is in some ways a great opportunity for us to have these technologies before us... to revive economies."
Gore, who with the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, said renewable energy projects would create jobs, "stimulating the economy in the right way."
Glenn Chapman Yahoo News 17 Sep 08;
Internet titan Google and technology colossus General Electric said Wednesday they are joining forces to promote a "smart" US electric power grid and clean energy.
The companies said they will work together on green energy technologies and lobby US political leaders to support "visionary policies" on renewable energy.
"Both companies believe that our economic, environmental and security challenges require that we use electricity more efficiently, generate it from cleaner sources, and electrify our transportation fleet," the US firms said in a joint release.
"This 21st century electricity system must combine advanced energy technology -- a major GE focus -- and cutting edge information technology -- a major Google focus."
During the past two years, Google has launched a series of clean energy initiatives that include investing in geothermal, solar and wind-generated electricity.
Google has a team of engineers working on a "renewable energy cheaper than coal" project with a goal of making energy from earth-friendly sources more affordable than electricity made by burning carbon-spewing fossil fuel.
The benefits of renewable electricity can't fully be realized without updating US power transmission lines into a "smart grid" that lets people track and control what types of power they use and when, according to Google.
The US network of electricity transmission lines needs to be upgraded from a "dumb" system that simply routes power from massive generation plants to users, said Google.org director of climate change and energy initiatives Dan Reicher.
Political and regulatory hurdles, not technological ones, block the path to revamping the US power grid, according to Reicher.
"How do you move policy in Washington to get a lot more transmission lines built so you can take advantage of wind in the Dakotas or sun in the Mojave Desert and move the electricity to cities far away?" he asked rhetorically.
"Come January, with a new administration and new Congress, we can hopefully launch a major push to break down some of these barriers."
Smart power grids would allow people to conduct tasks such as recharging electric cars at times of day when demand is not high, and enable them to sell solar or other renewable energy back to utility companies.
"The transmission system is about the last mile, to people's homes, and making technology available so people can better control their own energy," Reicher said.
Major automobile makers have announced they will market plug-in electric cars in the United States no later than 2010.
Google has a fleet of plug-in vehicles it has been testing and invests in the technology.
The US power grid needs a computer-age upgrade if plug-in vehicles are going to be "a benefit instead of a detriment" to the electric system, Reicher said.
Software can enable electric vehicles to feed power back to the grid during peak-demand periods and only charge themselves when demand is low.
Google is aligning its computer programming acumen with GE's expertise as "a king of electronics hardware.
"A smart grid is something we desperately need in this country and we humbly think we might have something to contribute," Reicher said.
Google's alliance with GE includes using the company's hardware for renewable energy research.
For example, GE equipment will let engineers map fractures in the Earth's crust to "take advantage of deep-down heat" to make geothermal power.
Google and GE say they are not aiming to form a huge coalition but expect other companies to join the alliance as interests and objectives overlap.
Yahoo News 18 Sep 08;
Emergency water started flowing to Beijing Thursday as a six-month scheme kicked off to keep the city of 17 million from running out of the resource, the government said.
Some 300 million cubic metres (10.6 billion cubic feet) of water will be redirected from Hebei province, which surrounds the capital, the state's government said.
Hebei also suffers severely from a lack of water, and the fact that it must pass on the scarce resource is testimony to Beijing's political clout, experts say.
The water will flow along a newly-dug 305-kilometre (190-mile) canal stretching from the Hebei capital of Shijiazhuang to Beijing and fed by three major reservoirs, a statement on the Hebei water resources department website said.
"The transfer of emergency water to the capital Beijing is a politically important issue of major significance to the economy of our province," the statement said.
The transfer was ordered by the State Council, China's cabinet, the Hebei government said.
According to official figures, Beijing's average water use was about 9.4 million cubic metres a day in 2005, meaning the transfer, when completed, will be equal to about a month of supply.
The canal is the northern part of China's ambitious North-South Water Diversion Project, a multi-billion dollar scheme to bring water from the nation's longest river, the Yangtze, to the parched north.
According to Xinhua, Beijing and the surrounding region, including most of Hebei, has suffered droughts every year since 1999.
Increased rainfall this summer has partly alleviated the crisis, it said, while also allowing the three reservoirs in Hebei to amass about 1.33 billion cubic metres of water.
Xinhua said that by 2010, when more of the north-south water diversion project is completed, up to one billion cubic metres of water will be diverted to Beijing annually mostly from the Yangtze.
Yahoo News 18 Sep 08;
Sweden's second city Gothenburg has decided to stop buying bottled water due to environmental concerns and will only provide civil servants with tap water, a city councillor said Thursday.
"From October 1 city employees such as politicians and teachers will only be offered tap water in the workplace," city councillor Max Reijer told AFP.
In 2007, the city -- home to Swedish industrial groups Volvo and SKF, camera maker Hasselblad and Scandinavia's biggest university -- purchased 39,000 liters (10,303 gallons) of bottled water for its public workers.
"Bottled water is transported long distances and therefore causes environmental problems. The alternative is tap water, which in Gothenburg is of the highest quality," according to a proposal presented to the council.
"By no longer buying bottled water, the city of Gothenburg is also using taxpayers' money more efficiently since tap water is much cheaper."
Patrons in establishments run by the city of nearly 500,000 people -- such as restaurants and nursing homes -- would still be able to request bottled water.
Old computers exported can lead to the use of 'acid baths' and children being threatened by burning of hazardous metals
McClatchy newspapers, guardian.co.uk 18 Sep 08;
Those old computers Americans discard often end up in developing countries, bridging the so-called digital divide - when they work.
But there's a dark side to computer exports in which children are threatened by open-air burning of hazardous metals and the "acid baths" used to recover bits of gold, a report from the US government accountability office report said yesterday.
The report put the blame on the US environmental protection agency, saying the anti-pollution agency has done little to stem illegal exports of old computers and other e-waste by unscrupulous "recyclers" to places like China and west Africa.
The scathing report by Congress's investigative arm - which the EPA disputes - was initiated after complaints by advocacy groups and a series by the St Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper in 2006 detailing the activities of some e-waste brokers and exporters.
Despite evidence of harm, the government report said, the EPA has all but ignored its own 2007 rule clamping down on computer-monitor exports, refusing even to set a timetable to develop an enforcement program.
"To date, the agency has established no enforcement targets, done no monitoring, conducted only preliminary follow-up of suspected violations and taken only one enforcement action" - five months after the GAO told the agency about the case, the report found.
As part of the newspaper series, the Post-Dispatch reported from Nigeria that roughly three-fourths of the thousands of discarded computers arriving monthly in that west African nation are in bad shape or beyond repair, creating messes that pollute the air and land in one of the world's poorest countries. E-waste contains mercury, lead, cadmium and dangerous flame retardants.
The series also showed how Americans can become victims at the hands of identity thieves in foreign lands who retrieve social security numbers and other personal information from discarded computers.
The GAO report focused primarily on dumping in Asian countries, with its investigators posing as foreign buyers of broken computer terminals.
Responding to fictitious e-mails, 43 US companies expressed willingness to export the non-working computers in apparent violation of EPA rules - including companies "that publicly tout their exemplary environmental practices", the investigators reported.
Unlike European nations, the US allows export of most e-waste, such as computer hard drives, printers and old cell phones. The government has estimated that as much as 80% of electronic garbage collected for recycling ends up in foreign lands.
Starting in January of 2007, a new EPA rule applying only to computer monitors which contain about four pounds of lead — required notification of EPA by exporters and consent of receiving countries.
The GAO report noted that since the rule went into effect, Hong Kong officials alone intercepted and returned 26 containers of illegally exported computer monitors but that the EPA had fined just one exporter, a California company.
The EPA contested the GAO report, even the title: EPA Needs to Better Control Harmful US Exports Through Stronger Enforcement and More Comprehensive Regulation.
In a letter to the GAO, the EPA defended its use of voluntary and "non-regulatory approaches" to controlling e-waste exports, arguing that broader rules could take years to take effect.
EPA spokesman Tim Lyons added yesterday that his agency had opened 20 investigations in 18 months since the computer-monitor rule went into effect.
"We're certainly committed to improving the compliance and improving the enforcement," he said.
The report is expected to hasten broader export controls in Congress but perhaps not soon.
Noting "implications for international health problems", Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, introduced legislation yesterday that would impose an outright ban on e-waste exports.
But Representative Gene Green, a Texas Democrat, who heads the House environment subcommittee on hazardous materials and who has proposed similar legislation, told reporters that such efforts this late in Congress amount to "laying down markers" and that he doesn't expect serious congressional efforts until 2009.
PlanetArk 19 Sep 08;
ROME - France has dropped plans to introduce a so-called "picnic tax", French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Thursday, looking to head off controversy over the eco-friendly measure.
The French environment minister announced on Monday the government was going to increase taxes on throwaway plates, cups and cutlery to encourage people to buy recyclable products.
Opposition politicians dubbed it the "picnic tax" and said the government should be hiking levies on rich people rather than penalising ordinary people enjoying a day out.
Embarrassed by the bad publicity, Fillon immediately pulled the plug on the project.
"There will be no new tax," he told reporters on a visit to Italy. "There is no picnic tax."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy was elected in 2007 promising to reduce taxes and introduced a package of cuts worth 7.7 billion euros (US$11.17 billion) shortly after taking office.
However, he has subsequently introduced more than 10 new levies to pay for other campaign promises, including taxes on the Internet, telephone and USB keys, making him and his government an easy target for the opposition.
Fillon's move on Thursday is a setback for Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo, the number two in the government who has staked much political credibility on his drive to make France a more environmentally-friendly economy.
To do that, Borloo wanted to extend a tax system already applied to cars which imposes hefty levies on the most heavily polluting vehicles while the greenest get a tax break.
French newspaper Le Figaro said this week that beside the picnic tax, the government had agreed on a list of new items that could be included, such as fridges, washing machines, televisions, batteries and wooden furniture.
But Fillon denied this. "There is no list," he said. (Reporting by Sophie Louet, writing by Crispian Balmer)
Posts
visitors since Nov 07