Category: environment

George Monbiot despairs at the chaotic, disastrous denouement of a chaotic and disastrous climate summit

The Guardian/UK
Saturday, December 19, 2009

by George Monbiot

First they put the planet in square brackets, now they have deleted it from the text. At the end it was no longer about saving the biosphere: it was just a matter of saving face. As the talks melted down, everything that might have made a new treaty worthwhile was scratched out. Any deal would do, as long as the negotiators could pretend they have achieved something. A clearer and less destructive treaty than the text that emerged would be a sheaf of blank paper, which every negotiating party solemnly sits down to sign.

This was the chaotic, disastrous denouement of a chaotic and disastrous summit. The event has been attended by historic levels of incompetence. Delegates arriving from the tropics spent 10 hours queueing in sub-zero temperatures without shelter, food or drink, let alone any explanation or announcement, before being turned away. Some people fainted from exposure; it’s surprising that no one died. The process of negotiation was just as obtuse: there was no evidence here of the innovative methods of dispute resolution developed recently by mediators and coaches, just the same old pig-headed wrestling.
Continue reading “Copenhagen Negotiators Bicker and Filibuster While the Biosphere Burns”

by Johann Hari
The Independent/UK December 19, 2009

So that’s it. The world’s worst polluters – the people who are drastically altering the climate – gathered here in Copenhagen to announce they were going to carry on cooking, in defiance of all the scientific warnings.

They didn’t seal the deal; they sealed the coffin for the world’s low-lying islands, its glaciers, its North Pole, and millions of lives.

Those of us who watched this conference with open eyes aren’t surprised. Every day, practical, intelligent solutions that would cut our emissions of warming gases have been offered by scientists, developing countries and protesters – and they have been systematically vetoed by the governments of North America and Europe.

It’s worth recounting a few of the ideas that were summarily dismissed – because when the world finally resolves to find a real solution, we will have to revive them.

Discarded Idea One: The International Environmental Court. Any cuts that leaders claim they would like as a result of Copenhagen will be purely voluntary. If a government decides not to follow them, nothing will happen, except a mild blush, and disastrous warming. Canada signed up to cut its emissions at Kyoto, and then increased them by 26 per cent – and there were no consequences. Copenhagen could unleash a hundred Canadas. Continue reading “The Truths Copenhagen Ignored”

Starting with the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, there is too much resignation and too little outrage in the government reaction to the Bukit Antarabangsa landslide disaster and criminal negligence in failing to learn the lessons of the Highland Towers Collapse tragedy which had claimed 48 lives 15 years ago, resulting in the loss of another four lives on Saturday.

Apart from wringing their hands in despair and spouting the usual platitudes about a halt on hillslope development which no one believes in, there is even no political will to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry not only into the latest landslide disaster which killed four persons, injured 14, buried 14 bungalows and stranded 5,000 people, but also into the criminal negligence of the various parties involved – particular the federal, state and local government agencies – in failing to learn the lessons of the Highland Towers tragedy 15 years ago.

No wonder, Dr. Benjamin George, who survived the Highlands Tower disaster, was not convinced that things would get better when he said: “In three months, the tractors will start work again. I have survived long enough to see all this nonsense repeated.” Continue reading “Ministerial reaction to Bukit Antarabangsa disaster – too much resignation, too little outrage”

by Gursharan Singh

The Mamut Copper Mine was leased to a company for thirty years to mine copper. The mining operations ceased in 1999 and later in 2003 it was returned back to the Sabah State Government. The reason for ceasing operations prior to the expiry of the concession period may be due to the exhaustion of copper or continued mining may not have been economically profitable. The company had then provided profits in millions that benefited the company owners.

I remember that environmentalists and other experts had regularly voiced their concerns in the past on the damage caused to the environment and its ill effects on the health of the people. I personally seen the pollution during my visit to KK and Mount Kinabalu in the mid eighties when I visited the State on audit of construction projects duties.

It is apparent that the State and Federal Government Authorities were aware of the damage being caused. However it is not possible to ascertain whether the relevant authorities monitored the operations to ensure that necessary measures were undertaken by the mining company to rectify the damage or taken any other remedial measures to prevent future environmental damage.

The possible millions in profits arising from the mining operations were enjoyed by the owners of the mine. In the process the ‘mining operations left behind a trail of pollutants that are unfriendly to nature and the health of people living at the foothills of Mount Kinabalu in Sabah’.

The company has long left Sabah to enjoy their millions. It has left the cost of remedial and cleanup measures to be borne by the taxpayers. The Federal Government has allocated RM13.0m but this is probably the tip of the iceberg as the total cost may ultimately exceed the benefits derived by the State in the form of taxes and employment opportunities. Continue reading “Old Copper Mine poses a Threat”

Cel emailed about a huge factory explosion in Shah Alam last Thursday:

On March 1st, there was a huge factory explosion in Shah Alam. However, after searching through the local newspapers for news about it for the past two days, we’ve found none. There was no mention of anything regarding that incident.

Here are the video footage of the explosions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ngxDZ4oNHs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br5nWm3BDo8&eurl=

Dear sir, if you want to post this in your blog, please don’t reveal my name or e-mail address. Thanks.

Anyone who knows anything about this mysterious explosion in Shah Alam?