New generation biofuels seen in 2010 at earliest

Reuters 29 Jun 09;

HAMBURG (Reuters) - The first biofuels produced using new generations of biomass raw materials could be available in commercial volumes from 2010 at the earliest, German junior Environment Michael Mueller said on Monday.

But the exact time scale was still unclear, Mueller said at the European Biomass conference in Hamburg.

Germany is among the first European countries building test plants to produce commercial volumes of second generation biofuels from a wide range of biomass materials ranging from wood chips and other forest products to straw, hay, vegetable waste and low grade crops.

The first generation biofuels made from food crops such as grain, rapeseed oil and palm oil are used to produce biofuels to reduce use of fossil fuels and combat global warming. Commercial production dates for second generation fuels have been repeatedly postponed in Germany as new technology is developed. A production start as early as 2007 was hoped in the past.

"We do not believe this will take place before 2010," Mueller told a news conference at the start of the congress. "This was one reason why we cut our blending levels."

On June 18, Germany's parliament approved government proposals to cut the compulsory level of biofuels to be blended into fossil fuels this year to 5.25 percent from the 6.25 percent originally intended.

Germany's once-booming biodiesel industry, Europe's largest is working at about 60 percent of its 4.8 million ton annual capacity and has lobbied for the blending cut to be stopped.

Germany would focus future rises in its biofuel blending levels on progress in the production of second generation biofuels from biomass, Mueller said.

COMPLEX PROCESS

Production of new generations of biofuels based on biomass are not likely to be expanded rapidly as the first generation was introduced in past years, said Giovanni Federigo De Santi, director of the energy institute at the European Union Commission's Joint Research Center.

"We want to develop second generation biofuels which move away from competition from food and (animal) feed," he said. "But because of the complexity of the production processes we are not so optimistic we will get second generation biofuels ready in a very short while."

Cost and availability meant first generation biofuels were likely to retain the main role for some years to come in meeting pollution reduction goals and combating global warming, he said.

With so much technology still to be developed, Santi said he did not believe new generation biofuels will be fully deployed for another 10 years.

But low grade biomass could play a large part in heat production to help the European Union reach its goal of achieving a 20 percent share of renewables in its final energy consumption by 2020, said Fabrizio Barbaso, the EU Commission's deputy director general for energy and transport.

Between 10 to 20 percent of the 2020 renewables goal could be met by using biomass for heat production, Barbaso said.

Second generation biofuels were likely to be used for blending with fossil fuels rather than for sale individually to special biofuel vehicles, said Jos Delbeke, the EU Commission's deputy director general for the environment.

(Reporting by Michael Hogan; Editing by James Jukwey)

Read more!

Climate war could kill nearly all of us, leaving survivors in the Stone Age: Lovelock

We need a climate change 'Churchill' to lead us away from planet-wide devastation, writes James Lovelock in the latest edition of Conservation magazine, part of the Guardian Environment Network

guardian.co.uk 29 Jun 09;

In a small way, the plight of the British in 1940 resembles the state of the civilized world now. At that time we had had nearly a decade of the well-intentioned but quite wrong belief that peace was all that mattered.

The followers of the peace lobbies of the 1930s resembled the environmentalist movements now; their intentions were more than good but wholly inappropriate for the war that was about to start. It is time to wake up and realize that Gaia, the Earth system, is no cozy mother that nurtures humans and can be propitiated by gestures such as carbon trading or sustainable development.

Gaia, even though we are a part of her, will always dictate the terms of peace. I am stirred by the thought that Gaia has existed for more than a quarter the age of the universe and that it has taken this long for a species to evolve that can think, communicate, and store its thoughts and experiences.

If we can keep civilization alive through this century perhaps there is a chance that our descendants will one day serve Gaia and assist her in the fine-tuned self-regulation of the climate and composition of our planet.

We have enjoyed 12,000 years of climate peace since the last shift from a glacial age to an interglacial one. Before long, we may face planet-wide devastation worse even than unrestricted nuclear war between superpowers. The climate war could kill nearly all of us and leave the few survivors living a Stone Age existence. But in several places in the world, including the U.K., we have a chance of surviving and even of living well.

For that to be possible, we have to make our lifeboats seaworthy now. Back in May 1940, we in the UK awoke to find facing us across the Channel a wholly hostile continental force about to invade. We were alone without an effective ally but fortunate to have a new leader, Winston Churchill, whose moving words stirred the whole nation from its lethargy: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."

We all need modern Churchills to lead us from the clinging, flabby, consensual thinking of the late twentieth century and to bind our nations with a single-minded effort to wage a difficult war.

• From Conservation magazine, part of the Guardian Environment Network

Read more!

Turn up the Heat in the Climate Battle

Michael Renner, World Watch Institute 29 Jun 09;

Are environmental groups still relevant as the world battles climate change?

On the face of it, this seems a farcical question. Environmentalists have worked tirelessly to alert the public and decision-makers alike to the dangers of climate change and to advocate a fundamental shift away from fossil fuels. And on June 26, many celebrated when the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly approved the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) bill [PDF] - the first U.S. climate legislation ever.

But as the climate debate enters a decisive phase - with negotiations in full swing to hammer out an international agreement in Copenhagen this year - there is a darker side. With few exceptions, current national goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions are weak and typically push action to the distant, rather than the near, future. Although part of the environmental community has responded critically, other groups claim that more stringent climate action is simply not politically feasible - and that asking for more risks the collapse of any climate deal.

The Obama administration's chief climate negotiator, Todd Stern, has rejected calls for industrialized countries to cut their emissions by 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. He not only opposed such cuts as "not feasible" for the United States, but strikingly judged them as "unnecessary." ACES is muddying the waters by pegging reductions to 2005, rather than to the internationally recognized benchmark of 1990. The reason seems clear: given the strong growth of U.S. emissions in the interim, proposed reductions of 17 percent relative to 2005 look much better than the measly 4 percent relative to 1990.

Even some of the European governments that paraded themselves as climate champions while George Bush was in the White House are now backtracking on climate goals. Strong corporate pressure, reinforced by the jitters of the global financial crisis, has given them pause. Rich countries are evading their historical responsibility for the bulk of emissions. Instead of strong domestic action, "offsets" are being presented as the great savior - asking poorer nations to shoulder the burden that wealthy countries are not prepared to bear themselves. From a national perspective, offsets may be an option; from a global perspective, they amount to a rearrangement of deck chairs on the Titanic.
As far back as 1998, my Worldwatch colleague Christopher Flavin criticized international climate negotiations as a "black box - a process largely invisible and incomprehensible to the public." His article, "Last Tango in Buenos Aires" (the city where the negotiations of the day were being held), sounded a clarion call for decisive action. But the years and rounds of meetings since have mostly brought delays and excuses, steadily kicking the can down the road. The refrain has become predictable: "We didn't succeed in [place name], but we still have the upcoming meeting in [place name] to get it right."

Well, we are reaching the end of the road. In Worldwatch's State of the World 2009 report, climate scientist Bill Hare argues that fossil carbon dioxide emissions will need to come close to zero by 2050 - decades earlier than what most governments envision - and that deforestation needs to end well before 2030. The longer we delay serious action, the greater the danger of reaching destabilizing tipping points.

Segments of the environmental movement, especially grassroots-oriented groups, have been quite vocal in their criticism of current policies. But others have endorsed weak proposals, arguing that they can be improved upon later - without offering a strategy for doing so or a reason why the balance of forces should be expected to be more favorable later on. Their slogan of choice is "don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." Catchy, but is it convincing?

The ultimate outcome of any process is the product of ideas and proposals put forward by different actors, as well as the relative power of these actors. Environmental groups that fail to turn up the pressure are effectively narrowing the scope of what is politically possible. It is like waving a white flag while the battle is still raging.

Some may honestly feel that there is no other way - that status quo forces in government and the corporate world are too powerful. But there's also an inconvenient truth. Not rocking the boat often equals respectability in mainstream opinion for environmental organizations. Having access to the corridors of power, whether in Washington, Brussels, or other world capitals, gives the appearance of influence and importance - and surely helps in securing future funding.

While compromise and horse-trading may be essential in politics, the Earth's climate is not swayed by it. In light of the disappointing trajectory of climate policymaking, environmentalists need to rediscover their roots. Rallying public opinion is critical to gain leverage in the titanic struggle over the Earth's fate.
Environmental groups need to hold fast to the demands of climate science, continue to offer credible alternatives, and criticize and expose inadequate policies. (For all the celebration following the House passage of ACES, this legislation is in great need of strengthening as the Active content removed by CSIT Senate considers it.) There is nothing wrong with continuing quiet lobbying and consultations. But that alone will not suffice.

What is needed now is smart and persistent public messaging and mobilizing constituents so as to put legislators and corporate executives on notice: politics as usual will not save the planet. It is time to turn up the heat in the fight against global warming. The livelihoods, and lives, of hundreds of millions of people are at stake.

Michael Renner is a Senior Researcher at the Worldwatch Institute, an environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C.

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 29 Jun 09

Black-tipped Reef Shark @ Pulau Hantu
from Colourful Clouds and Giant Reef Cuttlefish from Pulau Hantu and blind shrimp and shrimp goby and yellow-lipped sea krait.

Lazarus Island - Old and new
from Singapore Nature and Life on Seringat-Kias from wild shores of singapore with Lazarus quickly

The Lost Islands of Singapore
from wonderful creation

Adventures on Sentosa Island
from Nature's Wonders

Beting Bronok
from Urban Forest

"Clean up Lim Chu Kang beach before it turns into marine graveyard"
from The Lazy Lizard's Tales

Pasir Ris Beach is a medley of colours
about fiddler crabs from The Lazy Lizard's Tales

Red-bearded Bee-eater taking a beetle
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Hummingbirds harvesting nectar
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Meet the carnivorous pitcher plant
from The Lazy Lizard's Tales

Draco
from Biodiversity Singapore

Will Earth Become a Planet Without Ice Caps?
Leading Expert Says "Yes" from The Daily Galaxy: News from Planet Earth & Beyond

Read more!

All for the love of Durian

They camp, they park, they climb
Zaihan Mohamed Yusof, The New Paper 29 Jun 09;

DURIANS have been available for as little as 10 cents in Jurong West, but for these lovers of the fruit, the thrill is in the hunt, it seems.

They trek far and wide. Some set up tents. Others create smoke with fallen branches to drive off mosquitoes. And yet others, who looked like foreign workers, climb perilously up trees in the jungle.

All to get hold of durians growing in the wild.

Going in search of them was no easy task, with the season close to its end. But we found them in these spots:

Bukit Panjang Forest

At 8am, there was only one motorcycle parked near the entrance of the durian trail, close to the Bukit Timah Expressway flyover.

After a short walk on meandering footpaths, we were deep in durian country, with empty durian shells littering the forest floor. About 30 minutes into the search, we were suddenly greeted by a 'whoosh' somewhere to ourright.

But before we could react, four men in their 60s had rushed to the fallen fruit.

We were wrong to think we were alone.

Twice, these wily pickers beat us to the durians.

Retreating 50m, we found a cluster of eight durian trees near a disused well.

And then, we heard what seemed like music to our ears - the familiar 'thud' of a durian hitting the ground.

In under two hours, we found eight fruits - ranging in size from a grapefruit to a football.

One 'durian uncle' we met gave some advice: 'Guard your durians closely.'

He explained that there had been fights among durian pickers, some of whom switched their fruits for better ones when nobody was watching.

The man, who did not give his name, said: 'Competition is stiff. You can argue all you want out here, but if you don't carry a parang or a big stick, you're asking for trouble.'

We ate three fruits on the spot - one of them had been eaten away by worms, while the others tasted slightly bitter, yet creamy.

Bukit Batok Forest

From Bukit Batok Road parallel to the forest, we could see big durian fruits on trees.

We had intended to walk into the forest, but a red sign warned us that we were on military land.

Still, that did not stop some from trespassing.

Just five steps from a lalang clearing we saw a woman who had pitched a tent, while eight others sat on plastic chairs and newspapers.

A man leaving the forest showed us his fragrant prize: two watermelon-sized durians.

Kranji

We had been here recently on a separate assignment.

A week ago, we ended up licking the fleshy remnants of six durians off our fingers, while scouting for hideouts believed to be used by illegal immigrants.

Today, we weren't so lucky because there were factory workers and senior citizens to contend with.

We finally 'took cover' near three durian trees 100m away, where we found a small durian.

We waited patiently, yet the trees seemed unwilling to reward us.

Just as I was opening the one durian we had, another fruit fell beside us.

A small portion had been gnawed away by a squirrel, but the rest was all right.

With our heads intact, we left an hour later after eating four durians, which had smaller seeds, but were sweeter than those we ate at Bukit Panjang.

Punggol Forest (see map)

Cars, lorries and even bicycles were parked along Punggol Road at noon, as we looked for a parking spot at a nearby estate.

Jogger Matt Lee, 39, said the parked vehicles have always been a nuisance during the durian season.

Added Mr Lee, a resident of Ponggol Seventeenth Avenue: 'I can't jog on the road shoulder with the parked cars around. When I jog on the road, I'm afraid passing cars may not see me in time.'

We were full from eating seven durians but we wanted to see what the forest in Punggol had to offer. Judging by those waiting with half-filled gunny sacks, Punggol was a prime spot.

There were senior citizens and young men around, some of them father-and-son teams.

One man, Mr John Ng, 76, from Hougang had started his watch at 7am.

For the last 20 years, the part-time gardener has regularly gone to the forest with his wife and children.

Said Mr Ng, who was armed with a hard hat, rubber boots and stick: 'Being close to nature and getting some exercise is good for us, especially for my wife, who is suffering from rheumatism.'

Unlike, the pickers at Bukit Panjang, those in Punggol were friendly and quick to share their durian over a conversation.

Some, like Mr Tay Joo Mong, 60, cleared the area of rubbish and leaves while waiting for durians to drop.

In the end, it was a quite a triumph for us - bagging 13 durians in four hours.

They may not taste like your D24 XO durians in Geylang or the ones served buffet-style on Malaysian plantation tours.

But the satisfaction of hunting for our food was rewarding enough. Burp.

Read more!

Will historic icon end up in a scrapyard?

Calls to find signal mast a new home as it lays in Sentosa's Tanjong Beach
Ng Tze Siong, The New Paper 29 Jun 09;

IT used to stand tall and proud at the entrance to the Singapore harbour, guiding ships safely into what would become the world's busiest port.

But today this historic signal mast looks more like scrap metal.

Dismantled, broken into three rusty pieces, it lies on Sentosa's Tanjong Beach, in a deserted corner overgrown with weeds.

Recently, an urgent e-mail appeal was sent out to various Government bodies and heritage lovers hoping for a new home for the mast, following word that it may be headed for the scrapyard soon.

But so far, no solution has been found.

One reason could be the cost: The restoration and reinstallation of the mast is estimated at $500,000.

The mast, while acknowledged as historically significant, has been passed from party to party over the years.

No one seems to know what to do with it.

Should we care?

It may help, for a moment, to think of the signal mast as the maritime equivalent of the Changi Airport control tower.

In the days before electronic communication, signal masts like this were used to guide ships safely into port.

Colourful flags, each representing a letter in the alphabet, hung from them, relaying messages between land and sea.

That was the role this mast once performed at Albert Dock, at the heart of the Singapore port.

But in 1972, the area around Albert Dock was developed into a container terminal.

That was what cemented Singapore's position as a major trading port.

Main attraction

But it also meant that the signal mast became obsolete. It was moved to the Singapore Maritime Museum, which opened in Sentosa in 1975.

There it stood for the next 26 years, as one of the museum's main attractions.

It was a picture of this signal mast which the museum used on the cover of its brochure to tell the story of the world's busiest port.

But the museum didn't do well.

Of all the attractions on Sentosa, which at the time included Volcano Land and Asian Village, the Maritime Museum was the poorest performer.

It attracted only 21,000 visitors a year, or an average of 57 a day - even with free admission.

The museum finally closed in 2001. Since then, the mast has been out of the public eye - until now.

Comments from the relevant organisations were hard to come by.

The mast used to be owned by the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA). It was then passed on to real estate company Mapletree Investments.

But next month, ownership will pass - yet again - to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).

All three organisations declined comment when contacted.

On its side, Sentosa Development Corporation can do only so much. It never owned the mast, which was on loan to the Maritime Museum.

And because the museum was run by Sentosa, and not by the National Heritage Board, the latter's hands are tied too.

Some are hoping that Resorts World, the integrated resort coming up on Sentosa, can provide a home when it opens next March.

After all, it is building a maritime museum of its own, and some hope it can find a spot for the mast, which lies nearby.

But when contacted, Resorts World said it is still premature to reveal plans for its maritime museum.

'It's a case of everyone denying responsibility,' said Dr Kevin Tan, president of the Singapore Heritage Society. 'If the property keeps changing hands, from one developer to the next, then there is no proper accountability.'

So far, the best hope rests with Raffles Marina.

Its president, Mr Francis Lee, has offered space - for free - for the mast to be re-erected at the marina in Tuas, next to the Second Link.

Obstacle

'We'll be happy to provide a home for it,' he said.

But first, the funds for its restoration have to be found. That, said Mr Lee, 'would be the main obstacle'.

'Alternatively, you can erect it somewhere more central, perhaps near the statue of Sir Stamford Raffles, at the Padang or near the Merlion,' he said.

'You can bring school children up into the crow's nest, which looks like it can fit 20 people quite easily, and teach them about how to signal using maritime flags.'

But then again, just how important - really - is this mast to Singapore if it has been allowed to descend into its present state?

Mr Chung Chee Kit, a director in a major shipping firm who helped organise the Admiral Cheng Ho exhibition in Singapore in 2005, said that from a historical perspective, the significance of an object is judged from the story it tells.

'In some old port cities, signal masts are actually masts removed from old ships and re-erected on land, so they tell a larger story about maritime history,' he said.

'The mast in Sentosa is made of steel, so it looks like it was constructed specifically to be a signal mast on land.

'So while it is still important, its significance lies more in its utility rather than in the story it tells.'

Nonetheless, he feels that the impasse is a sign of how Singapore has been neglecting its maritime heritage.

For a while, the old Maritime Museum at Sentosa tried to remember this heritage and pass it on.

'But it was not a very good museum,' said Dr Tan.

'I don't think a lot of thought was put into it... There was not enough research done. They put a few boats here and there, and they called it a museum.'

Mr Chung hopes the new maritime museum at Resorts World will be better.

'I hope it is designed by people who are serious about maritime heritage, and not just building a place where you have some lights, some sounds, and where you go ho ho ho and a bottle of rum - and that's it.'

Another big question that puzzles many in the maritime and heritage fraternity is this: Why were relics from the old Maritime Museum, such as its old boats and maritime maps, transferred to Mapletree Investments?

A handful is still on display, scattered around the HarbourFront Centre area. But where are the rest?

'Should relics like these be transferred from the public to the private domain?' asked Mr Chung.

For him, the obvious question to ask is: If there is this mast, rusting away at a corner of a tourist island, what else is out there?

Read more!

Time to think of value of water instead of cost

Lee U-Wen, Business Times 29 Jun 09;

LOOKING at our monthly utilities bill, we all know how much a unit of water costs.

But what about the actual value of that precious resource?

That is a question Len Rodman, a 40-year veteran of the global water industry, wants more people to start thinking about as the demand for clean drinking water continues to rise sharply with the world's population.

Speaking to BT in a recent interview during Singapore International Water Week (SIWW), the president, chairman and chief executive of global engineering and construction company Black & Veatch said the cost and value of water are 'fundamentally different' things.

'Due to growth, urbanisation and more knowledge, the water in our streams is not as pure as it was many years ago. Treating water has become more important. We need to build plants to do that. It uses resources,' he said.

'There are very few pure water sources left in our environment. It's scarce; there's just not enough water to meet demand. We must start thinking about the value of water to us, rather than taking it for granted that it is always there.'

This point was echoed by Dan McCarthy, president and CEO of the company's global water business: 'The waste water industry has done itself a disservice by pricing water at its cost, rather than the value. We have to ask ourselves: Where do we get the water from? How good is the quality? How far do we have to transport it to the consumer?'

Mr Rodman, incidentally, was the most senior of the plenary speakers at this year's SIWW, which ended last Thursday.

Black & Veatch has links with Singapore's water authority dating all the way back to 1922, and he described the current relationship with water agency Public Utilities Board (PUB) as 'strong and dynamic'.

The company has been involved in a number of high-profile projects in Singapore of late - most notably the Sembcorp Changi NEWater Plant, the Marina Barrage and the SingSpring Desalination Plant.

And while Black & Veatch too has not been spared by the global economic downturn, Mr Rodman said there were still some positives.

'One good thing about the recession is that it reduced demand for water and energy,' he said. 'Many areas have received more capacity for their systems due to lower demand.'

The downside, of course, is lower revenue, he added, but the extra capacity did give utility bodies the 'perfect opportunity' to go back and think about their long-term issues and challenges.

'If the economy were going up, they'd just be so busy trying to keep up with demand. Now, in a recession, there are some terribly good buys out there. Projects are less expensive, more labour is available, and commodity prices are down,' he said.

'If you've got a sound plan or current need, now is a good time to get those projects and put them in place.'

Extra networking opportunities the hallmark of Water Week

Tangible results of these activities will be announced today
Teh Shi Ning, Business Times 29 Jun 09;

IT was fitting that the second Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) closed on Thursday night with a dinner party beside Singapore's first city reservoir, the Marina Barrage.

Michael Toh, managing director of SIWW, said it is his hope that the annual conference may one day be seen as 'the Davos of Water'.

Which is why, apart from hosting formal, high-level discussions between water industry big-wigs and ministerial officials, policymakers and academics, this year's SIWW was intentionally planned to 'create even more networking opportunities', Mr Toh said.

Even before the key Water Leaders Summit, Water Convention and Water Expo began, conference delegates got the opportunity to mingle on Sentosa Golf Club's Tanjong Course, at SIWW's Golf Classic 2009 on Monday morning.

Then there were nightly networking events, including a banquet at the Istana and the closing night's Dinner by the Bay.

'Our intention was really for Water Week to be this huge platform where buyers meet sellers, private sector meets the public sector, and officials, academics, businessmen can all meet to speak about issues and challenges facing the water industry,' Mr Toh said.

But big names alone do not make the event, and the organisers decided to tap into programming details to enhance networking opportunities.

Tea and lunch breaks were synchronised - allowing for at least eight tea networking sessions to be hosted by industry associations on the sidelines.

Each day's schedule of forums and meetings also ended earlier this year, to allow delegates to host private meetings or entertain clients and partners in the evenings.

'With corporations hosting other functions for clients at hotels, it's not just the water industry that benefits,' Mr Toh said. 'SIWW brings much value to Singapore's MICE and tourism industry too.'

SIWW was timed to coincide with the ongoing Singapore River Festival, which included a Mojito Fiesta and Cuban jazz and salsa performances, among other events.

At the Water Expo, exhibitors were encouraged to provide reception areas in their booths - many had sofas and coffee tables around which to sell their technologies to trade visitors.

Tangible results from such networking - the dollar value of deals signed - will be announced today, the organisers said. They expect to match or even exceed SIWW 2008's $367 million of water business deals.

Read more!

Plug the green leak - charge more for plastic bags

Straits Times Forum 29 Jun 09;

I WOULD like to address the lack of basic environmental awareness among Singaporeans. There are two areas: plastic shopping bags and disposable plastic or styrofoam food boxes.

It disheartens me to note that nothing much has been done by retail stores or supermarkets to curb use of plastic bags. Granted, there have been meagre efforts such as certain stores charging an additional 10 to 20 cents for their issue on certain days. Others sell colourful recycle bags at cashier counters for more than $1. Most customers would probably pay a few cents for a plastic bag rather than bring their own cloth bag. Such measures are self-defeating if the goal is to reduce the use of plastic bags.

I am sure everyone is aware of the damaging effects plastic and styrofoam have on the environment. However, while individual responsibility like bringing your own reusable bag will help, what we need is a bold government initiative to clamp down on the use of plastics.

From June 1, China effectively banned the use and manufacture of thin plastic bags nationwide. The underlying reason was to lower environmental pollution and save on the large amounts of oil used to produce plastic. On June 8, the United Nations environment chief said there was zero justification for the use of plastics any more.

While an outright ban will be unreasonable and difficult to implement, a more substantial effort such as charging an additional 40 to 50 cents per plastic bag will be beneficial in the short term. This would transfer the environmental cost - one cannot put a price but there needs to be a reasonable disincentive - to the consumer. In addition, retailers will buy less plastic from their suppliers when demand falls.

We will also need alternative materials to replace plastic and styrofoam food boxes. Food boxes made of recycled paper and other materials could be a start.

Singapore has been exemplary in many aspects when it comes to going 'green'. This is a longstanding leak that needs to be plugged now. If we are to be at the forefront of the 'green' revolution that is to come, this is a blemish we need to get rid of.

Darren Yong

Let's not go back to the 50s to save the earth
Straits Times Forum 29 Jun 09;

I REFER to the Forum Online letter by Madam Seah Nida, 'Take drastic steps to curb use of plastic and styrofoam' (June 17), and disagree with her unrealistic condemnation of anything plastic.

I would like to pose a question to environmentalists: What would happen if the world suddenly eschewed all plastic packaging and switched to leaf wrappers?

Banana, lotus, bamboo and coconut leaves make the best food wrappers. We used them before the leap to the modernity of plastic bags and containers, and styrofoam for hygiene, light weight, mouldability, automatic packaging and convenience.

Leaves are practical, multi-purpose and environment-friendly. Could we use them to wrap McDonald's breakfasts, takeaways at foodcourts and hawker centres? Is it cost-effective and hygienic to auto-pack individual items like sushi, sashimi, nonya kueh, sweet rolls and cakes in bamboo leaf wraps in food factories? Can the food industry use banana leaves to pack tofu, fishcake and ice cream?

Using leaves may cost us dearly because of the sheer quantity needed to meet modern-day packaging requirements. Imagine the amount of leaves to be harvested and the loss of carbon dioxide converters. The key is progress and choosing the lesser of two evils.

Let us find sustainable and practical substitutes for food wrapping materials and plastic bags before eschewing plastics.

It is not helpful to echo the calls of environmentalists to ban plastic bags and use paper or biodegradable materials. In fact, plastic and biodegradables virtually do not decompose in landfill where garbage is kept from air and water to prevent bad materials from leaching into ground water. Nor can incinerators help reduce global warming. We can only mitigate by cutting use of fossil fuels to balance plastic consumption.

To save the earth, I do not want to go back to the 1950s and use plant leaves to wrap food. However, I am prepared to compromise and take my own reusable canvas bag shopping.

Paul Chan

Read more!

MediaCorp's Gaia Life Challenge has two new green ambassadors

Hasnita A Majid, Channel NewsAsia 28 Jun 09;

SINGAPORE: A passionate environmentalist and a defence contractor have won this year's MediaCorp's Gaia Life Challenge.

The duo beat two other pairs of contestants to win the top prize which includes S$3,000 cash.

Spending time in their "temporary homes" under the full glare of the public has not been easy for the contestants, especially when it is warm in the cubicles even with the fans switched on.

But the contestants gamely endured the inconvenience to help raise environmental awareness.

They spent 24 hours in the transparent acrylic cubicles, coming out occasionally to face challenges that require them to answer questions and carry out activities on saving the environment.

They also went online to blog about their experiences.

For Jaclyn Ng and Jasbindeerjeet Singh, the experience has been worth it. They emerged winners after completing various challenges and collecting the most points.

Ng said: "The message is: no action is too small and no action is of course too large for everyone to do their part to save Gaia and try to think about your carbon footprint and tell yourself that if you can save here, it basically means that you can save Gaia."

The pair won electrical goods such as an air-conditioner, an LCD TV, a fridge and a standing fan on top of the cash prize, which they will use to fund an initiative to promote projects on the use of renewable energy among schools.

This is MediaCorp's second year at promoting the green message through such activity.

Shaun Seow, MediaCorp's Deputy CEO (News, Radio, Print), said: "I think the interesting point about this year's challenge is that there are a lot of games and through the games, the contestants have come to realise, for example, that turning on the aircon uses 100 watts (of electricity) compared to 30 watts in the case of a fan.

"This was apparent in the kinds of blogs that they were putting out, and through the online presence they are actually spreading the message to their friends and family."

He added: "The response (to MediaCorp's Gaia Life Challenge) was good, in the sense that many contestants (had) wanted to take part but we had to turn them away...

"Obviously, in this climate (amidst the H1N1 scare, all sorts of economic decline) it is quite difficult to make people understand the green message and we are glad that we are still trying to reinforce that we've got to save Gaia, Mother Earth."

The winners will become the MediaCorp-Gaia Ambassadors for a year to help spread the message of going green.

- CNA/ir

Read more!

Sarawak closer to producing anti-HIV, cancer drugs

The Star 27 Jun 09;

MIRI: Two researches carried out by the Sarawak Biodiversity Centre (SBC) on drugs obtained from local plant species to fight Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and cancer were now in their final stages, said Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan.

He said the anti-HIV drug, obtained from Calanolide which is contained in the latex of Bintangor or Calophyllum tree, was now in the clinical trial stage that, among others, would test its side-effects before the drug could be available commercially.

"The tests would still take sometime to be completed and would be carried out in collaboration with foreign researchers," he told reporters after launching the official website and publicity campaign of the Borneo Research Council (BRC) Conference 2010 here Saturday.

Curtin University of Technology Sarawak and BRC, an international organisation of eminent scholars engaged in Borneo-related research, would jointly organise the biennial international conference.

On the anti-cancer drug, Silvestrol, Dr Chan said two local scientists from SBC were sent to the United States to collaborate with several other foreign experts at the National Cancer Institute there to carry out intensive studies.

Speaking at the launching ceremony earlier, Dr Chan said the success of developing the two drugs reflected the huge biodiversity potentials of the plants available in Sarawak.

He hoped Curtin University Sarawak could use the conference to showcase its role as a leading centre for scholarly research on Borneo, in line with its plan to start Borneo Studies as one of its study programmes next year. - Bernama

Read more!

WWF-Malaysia's Help save the turtles!

Suzanna Pillay, The New Straits Times 29 Jun 09;

IF you’ve always wanted to do your bit for conservation, here’s your chance to step up to bat. Malaysia’s turtles need your help. All you need to do are two simple things: support WWF-Malaysia’s “Egg > Life” campaign and stop using plastic bags for your shopping.

Poorly-planned coastal development, marine and nesting beach pollution are taking its toll on dwindling turtle populations here. Even the deep blue seas which were formerly a refuge for these gentle giants are becoming increasingly hazardous. Thousands perish from accidental ingestion of plastic bags which they mistake for jellyfish, while fishing gear used by fishermen to catch fish, ensnare turtles and cause mortalities.

Compounding the problem are illegal activities like poaching and smuggling which flourish because of inadequate turtle protection laws. Comprehensive federal laws, additional resources and heightened enforcement are needed to effectively protect our turtles. Current federal laws on turtles are limited. Moreover, under the Constitution, states have the authority to make laws on turtles, meaning that these laws vary from state to state and have loopholes.

Need a better picture of how badly the turtle population is declining? Perhaps this will put some perspective on things: the leatherback turtle has already been declared functionally extinct in Malaysia.

In the 1950s, there were 10,000 leatherback nests in Rantau Abang each year; now there are fewer than 10.
Some students and corporations here have already done their bit to support the “Egg>Life” campaign by collecting 1,000 or more signatures. These include Taylor’s University College Environmental Club (Subang Jaya campus), Multimedia University (Malacca campus) and Taylor’s College (Sri Hartamas campus).

Meanwhile, Intel Malaysia Berhad has pledged to collect 5,000 signatures and have already obtained 1,500.

Here’s how you can help save the turtles:

Support “Egg>Life” campaign



1. Sign up to support WWF-Malaysia’s “Egg > Life” campaign and pledge to support laws that will ban the sale and consumption of all turtle eggs throughout Malaysia and the call for comprehensive and holistic federal legislation to conserve marine turtles.

Each signature will lend weight to efforts aimed at improving turtle protection legislation in Malaysia.

Readers can sign up using the pledge form inserted in today’s issue of the New Straits Times.

Just send it back to the WWF (postage is paid.). Alternatively, readers can also sign up at www.wwf.org.my.

Students and business leaders who would like to emulate these socially responsible individuals and organisations mentioned above can email contactus@wwf.org.my for details. Students and corporations that collect 1,000 or more signatures in support of the “Egg>Life” campaign will be recognised as a supporter on WWF-Malaysia’s campaign website.

2. Use shopping bags instead of plastic bags

You won’t only be helping to protect turtles by using shopping bags instead of plastic bags; you would also be helping thousands of other marine life such as whales and seals, that die from accidentally eating plastic bags which they mistake for food. An added incentive — you’d also be helping to mitigate climate change. Plastic is a petroleum product. Using fewer plastic bags will reduce our use of fossil fuels and help reduce global warming!

If you send a contribution of RM100 or more to WWF-Malaysia by Sept 29, you will receive two FREE WWF Shopping Bags as your special gift. To find out more about donating to WWF-Malaysia, email contactus@wwf.org.my or call 03-7803-3772.

Read more!

Forgotten evolutionist lives in Darwin's shadow

Michael Casey, Associated Press Yahoo News 28 Jun 09;

SANTUBONG, Malaysia – As he trudges past chest-high ferns and butterflies the size of saucers, George Beccaloni scours a jungle hilltop overlooking the South China Sea for signs of a long-forgotten Victorian-era scientist.

He finds what he's looking for: an abandoned, two-story guest house, its doors missing and ceiling caved in.

"Excellent. This is the actual spot," he yells.

It is on this site, in a long-gone thatched hut, that Alfred Russel Wallace is believed to have spent weeks in 1855 writing a seminal paper on the theory of evolution. Yet he is largely unknown outside scientific circles today, overshadowed by Charles Darwin, whom most people credit as the father of a theory that explains the origins of life through how plants and animals evolve.

Now, in the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth, a growing number of academics and amateur historians are rediscovering Wallace. Their efforts are raising debate over exactly what Wallace contributed to the theory of evolution, and what role, if any, the spiritual world plays in certain aspects of natural selection.

Beccaloni, a 41-year-old British evolutionary biologist with London's Natural History Museum, is on a quest to return Wallace to what he sees as his rightful place in history. He and Fred Langford Edwards, a British artist making an audiovisual project about Wallace, are retracing the scientist's eight-year trip around Southeast Asia.

Unlike Wallace, Darwin spent two decades developing his theory of natural selection and had far more evidence to back it up, as presented in his defining work, "The Origin of Species," published 150 years ago. But Wallace reached the same conclusion before Darwin published his findings, and Beccaloni contends that Wallace deserves equal billing.

"The Darwin industry is what has distorted the whole of history," Beccaloni said. "People have just concentrated on Darwin and his life and work but they fail to see Darwin wasn't alone and he fits into a wider picture."

Wallace, a British beetle and bird collector, set off for Singapore in 1854. Eight years and 14,000 miles (23,000 kilometers) later, he returned to England as one of the most celebrated biologists after Darwin.

Often traveling with a lone assistant and enduring monsoons and malaria, Wallace collected more than 125,000 birds, beetles and other animals. Thousands were new to the West, including one he named Wallace's golden bird wing butterfly. He shot 17 orangutans and shipped their skins back to Britain, became a fan of the durian — a fruit known for its thorns and powerful odor — and admired the moral character and mental capacity of the Dyak people of Borneo.

But his biggest contribution to science was his writings in the Malay archipelago on evolution and natural selection, building on an earlier four-year trek to the Amazon.

In 1855, he laid out the Sarawak law — named after the place he wrote the paper, now a state in modern-day Malaysia — in which he described evolution as a branching tree. His forceful argument in support of evolution came at a time when creationism, or the idea that God created man, was the popular school of thought.

A year later, he proposed what became known as the Wallace Line after traveling to the islands of Bali and Lombok, in what is now Indonesia. He noticed that bird species were different on each island and concluded that a deep water trench created a boundary that separated the animal species of Southeast Asia and Australasia.

Two years after that, Wallace came up with the theory of natural selection — or survival of the fittest — while bedridden with malaria on another nearby island.

His theory was presented together with Darwin's by the Linnean Society of London on July 1, 1858. Upon his return to England in 1862, Wallace found himself welcomed into a select club of scientists that included Darwin, Sir Charles Lyell, Joseph Hooker and Thomas Henry Huxley.

Wallace became one of the most prominent scientists of his day, publishing more than 800 articles and 22 books over the next 50 years. He was a leading voice in an anti-vaccination movement, a proponent of land reform and the father of biogeography, or the study of the geographic distribution of plants and animals.

"He was a person with a remarkable open mind," said Charles H. Smith, a professor and Western Kentucky University librarian who runs a Web site on Wallace. "He had more concern with science as it related to humankind than practically anyone in his time. That is why he was so interested in social issues."

Wallace died in 1913 at the age of 90. Over the years, he slipped into obscurity, joining a long list — British scientist Patrick Matthews and French scientist Jean Baptist LeMarc among them — whose contributions to evolution theory have largely become footnotes.

The soft-spoken, baby-faced Beccaloni became enamored of Wallace as a graduate student studying the evolution of mimicry in butterflies. He took up Wallace's cause in 1999 after stumbling upon his poorly maintained gravestone in Dorset, England.

Calling himself Wallace's Rottweiler, Beccaloni has barnstormed across England to preserve Wallace homes and other sites. He convinced the Natural History Museum in London to buy the scientist's insect collection, correspondence and books from Wallace's two grandsons.

He also runs a Wallace Web site and is helping British standup comedian Bill Bailey plan a routine based on the scientist. Beccaloni's biggest job by far, however, is defending Wallace's legacy.

He and other scholars claim Darwin conspired to ensure his paper was presented with Wallace's to prevent Wallace from getting sole credit. Roy Davies, the author of the "The Darwin Conspiracy," even accuses Darwin of stealing his ideas from Wallace — an allegation dismissed by other Wallace supporters as unsubstantiated.

But Peter Bowler, a Queen's University of Belfast professor who has spent his career studying evolution theory, contends Wallace's achievements have been exaggerated by his supporters.

Wallace did not have the complete theory and nowhere near the evidence Darwin had compiled — and that was needed to win over a skeptical public, Bowler said. Darwin's evidence included fossil records, animal breeding and heredity, while Wallace relied almost exclusively on biogeography.

"How many years would it have taken Wallace to put together the sort of comprehensive account that would have grabbed people's attention the way 'The Origin of Species' did?" Bowler asked. "Without Darwin, I don't think there would have been a great debate about natural selection in the 1860s and 1870s."

Also controversial is Wallace's support of spiritualism, a popular movement that held seances and believed spirits of the dead can communicate with the living. He upset Darwin and damaged his scientific reputation by arguing that the development of the human mind and some bodily attributes were guided by spiritual beings rather than natural selection, Beccaloni acknowledged.

That has turned Wallace into an unlikely hero among some Christian conservatives opposed to the teaching of evolution. He is also used to support intelligent design, the theory that certain features of life forms are so complex that they must have originated from a higher power.

Michael Flannery, the author of the new book "Alfred Russel Wallace's Theory of Intelligent Evolution," argues that Wallace was in many ways "the seminal figure in what we consider the intelligent design movement." The Seattle-based Discovery Institute, the main supporter of the theory, cites Wallace in its promotional material.

Beccaloni groans when the talk turns to Wallace's spiritualism, noting that he wasn't even a Christian. Christian groups are "grasping at straws," he said, and other academics are using spiritualism to diminish his scientific importance. Beccaloni is trying to keep the focus on his earlier scientific discoveries.

In the Malaysian riverside town of Simunjan, Beccaloni was again on the trail of Wallace. Using Wallace's famous travelogue "The Malay Archipelago" as a map of sorts, he followed a rusted railroad track featured in the book, past paddy fields and palm oil plantations, until the road ended in a peat bog.

That's when Beccaloni began noticing chunks of coal sticking out of the dark soil, a telltale sign of coal works that Wallace described in his book. It was here, Beccaloni surmised, that Wallace spent nine months collecting insects, discovering a strange tree-frog and shooting orangutans.

But nobody would know. The site was unmarked.

___

On the Net:

The Alfred Russel Wallace Memorial Fund: http://wallacefund.info/

The Alfred Russel Wallace Page: http://www.wku.edu/

The Discovery Institute: http://www.discovery.org/

Natural History's Wallace Collection: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/collections-at-the-museum/wallace-collection/index.jsp

Fred Langford Edwards Page: http://www.fredlangfordedwards.com

Read more!