World in ‘wrong direction’ as climate impacts worsen: UN

by Agence-France-Presse

PARIS, France – Humanity is “going in the wrong direction” on climate change due to its addiction to fossil fuels, the UN said Tuesday in an assessment showing that planet-warming emissions are higher than before the pandemic.

The UN’s World Meteorological Organization and its Environment Programme warned catastrophes will become commonplace should the world economy fail to decarbonise in line with what science says is needed to prevent the worst impacts of global heating.

They pointed to Pakistan’s monumental floods and China’s crop-withering heatwave this year as examples of what to expect.

“Floods, droughts, heatwaves, extreme storms and wildfires are going from bad to worse, breaking records with alarming frequency,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The UN warned last month that the drought gripping the Horn of Africa and threatening millions with acute food shortages was now likely to extend into a fifth year.

“There is nothing natural about the new scale of these disasters. They are the price of humanity’s fossil fuel addiction,” said Guterres.

The UN’s United in Science report underscores how, nearly three years since Covid-19 handed governments a unique opportunity to reassess how to power their economies, countries are ploughing ahead with pollution as normal.

It found that after an unprecedented 5.4 percent fall in emissions in 2020 due to lockdowns and travel restrictions, preliminary data from January-May this year shows global CO2 emissions are 1.2 percent higher than before Covid-19.

This is largely down to large year-on-year increases in the United States, India, and most European countries, the assessment found.

“The science is unequivocal: we are going in the wrong direction,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.

“Greenhouse gas concentrations are continuing to rise, reaching new record highs. Fossil fuel emission rates are now above pre-pandemic levels. The past seven years were the warmest on record.”

Last week the European Union’s Copernicus climate monitor said that summer 2022 was the hottest in Europe and one of the hottest globally since records began in the 1970s.

Tuesday’s report said there was a 93 percent chance that the record for the hottest year globally — currently, 2016 — will be broken within five years.

It warned the continued use of fossil fuels meant the chance of the annual mean global temperature temporarily exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in one of the next five years was roughly even (48 percent).

Keeping longer term temperatures below 1.5C is the most ambitious goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Despite more than three decades of UN-lead negotiations, rich polluters show little sign of being willing to make the kind of swingeing emissions cuts that would keep the 1.5C goal in play.

The UN’s Environment Programme, in an update to its annual “emissions gap” assessment following new pledges made at last November’s COP26 summit in Glasgow, said Tuesday that even these promises were far from adequate.

In fact, it said the ambition even in countries’ most recent pledges would need to be four times greater to limit warming to 2C, and seven times higher to make 1.5C.

All told, current worldwide climate policies put Earth on course to warm 2.8C by 2100, UNEP said.

Guterres said that Tuesday’s assessment showed “climate impacts heading into uncharted territory of destruction”.

“Yet each year we double-down on this fossil fuel addiction, even as the symptoms get rapidly worse,” he said in a video message.

Tasneem Essop, executive director of Climate Action Network, said that the forthcoming COP27 climate conference in Egypt needed leaders to agree to new funding to help communities in at-risk nations rebuild after extreme events.

“The terrifying picture painted by the United in Science report is already a lived reality for millions of people facing recurring climate disasters,” she said.

THE WAY OF THE WORLD

Sometimes, we might ask ourselves: What is the sense of doing this and that? What is the meaning of life? I am sure, each and every one of us looks for a good life. 

When you're struggling in life, take assurance in the fact that everyone else struggles like you do. We may not have similar struggles, but it's still a struggle nonetheless. If struggles didn't exist, we'd have no way to appreciate the beauty and wonders of life.

Sometimes, we seem to remain very optimistic. We think it's easy to always find a good life. Most of the time, we are in doubt or, we even choose to be unhappy without any reason at all. To wake up in the morning with pessimism and fall asleep at night, dissatisfied and unhappy - yes, that makes life miserable.

Face it: Living a good life is not living a life without problems. Living a good life comes from acknowledging, facing, and then transcending each problem as it comes. If you let the problems get you down, you'll always be down. Choose instead to let the problems get you up, get you going, and get you working on solving them

On the other hand: Without happiness and satisfaction there is indeed no space for peace in our hearts and minds. Therefore there is no domestic harmony and logically, no peace on earth. The meaning of happiness is trying to manage life even with big problems, difficulties and trials. I learned this from Filipinos after staying in the Philippines as an expatriate for good since 1999.I was really surprised to experience mutual happiness, friendship, love, unity and communal spirit with relatives  in my surroundings. Even during the really not easy last three years.

Of course, I also found myself in very negative situations. I observed people, who seem to live an easy go lucky way of life. But, they were like actors and actresses on stage, wearing incredible masks and pretending to be what they are not. 

Hence, in Greek, they are the so-called hypocrites. Maybe also you and I belong to them from time to time. Fear of rejection or displeasure of other people are becoming our daily friends. In society, it's called "good public relations". Politely greeting and smiling with a set of purpose: to win them there for business.

William Congreve (1670-1729), English dramatist  shaped the English comedy of manners through his brilliant comic dialogue, his satirical portrayal of the war of the sexes, and his ironic scrutiny of the affectations of his age. His major plays were The Old Bachelor (1693), The Double-Dealer (1693), Love for Love (1695), and The Way of the World (1700).In his "Preface to Dryden", he wrote: No mask like open truth to cover lies as to go naked is the best disguise. 

So, what really counts for us in life? Success? Power? Strength? Money? Is it contentment? Is it peace on earth? Is it peace in our homes? Zest for life?

Let us go through life's journey: From time to time, we have been babies bubbling like a brook on the first blush of spring. We hurried up, unaware of problems and troubles, being unconscious of time, as adults we worried and became conscious of money. Then, suddenly, we looked at our faces, the first wrinkles, and the bald patch on the forehead, the first grey hair. We observed our teeth falling out and our eyeglasses got thicker and our bones crack here and there. 

We start the familiar line: "When I was young... ." And we realize our mortality. Death could knock at our door any time. We feel humbled. We have mellowed. 

Have I done no wrong? Have I been selfless or selfish? Have I been mission-oriented since then? Have I lived a life worthy in God's eyes? What really counted for me? Ano ang mahalaga? Paniniwala? Pag-asa? O kaya pagbibigayan at pagtutulungan?

Expect the world to end badly

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

          THIS is, of course, not meant to scare us nor to have a

pessimistic view of life. Rather it is to be realistic, given the way

we are and the way the world in general is, what with all our

limitations and defects, even if we cannot deny that we are also full

of good potentials.

          Christ already warned us about this. “If this day you only

knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the

days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade

against you, they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They

will smash you to the ground and your children within you…” (Lk

19,42-44)

          We have to learn to prepare for this eventuality. If Christ,

who is God made man and who is our Redeemer, could not help but had to

offer his life to save us, how can we think that our life and the

world in general would take a different path?

          Remember Christ telling his disciples, “A servant is not

greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute

you also.” (Jn 15,20) So we have to expect to have the same fate as

Christ. And that means that we have to prepare for the worst scenario.

The world will end badly. That’s already a given, a truth of our

faith.

          What we have to do is to always have a proper focus in life.

Especially these days when we are easily carried away by many

distracting elements, what with all we can devour in the social media,

videos, etc., we need to remind ourselves quite strongly that we have

to be well focused on what is truly essential in our life.

          We have to remind ourselves that our life here on earth is

actually a testing and training ground for what God, our Father and

Creator, wants us to be, that is, that we be his image and likeness,

adopted children of his, meant to share in his very own life in

eternity.

          Everything that we are, we have and we do in this life

should be made as an occasion, material or reason for us to attain

that God-given goal for us. Everything should be related and referred

to him. Simply being on our own and doing things on our own, without

any reference to God, is an anomaly. It would surely end in tragedy

even if we feel we are having a good time in our life.

          This fundamental truth about ourselves should be proclaimed

time and time again because we are notorious for taking it for

granted, if not for violating it. We have to remind everyone that we

have to take the necessary steps for us to be aware of this truth and

to live according to it.

          Obviously, what is truly helpful in this regard is that

everyone learns really how to pray, how to engage God in a continuing

conversation, or at least to have an abiding awareness of his presence

and interventions in our life.

          That is why prayer is indispensable in our life. It is what

would make us aware of who we really are, what the real purpose of our

life on earth is, how we ought to behave in the different situations

and circumstances of our life. It is what would help us to refer

everything to God, what would keep us in the proper focus.

* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

The dishonest steward and the world’s unavoidable evils

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

          ONCE again the parable of the dishonest steward (cfr. Lk

16,1-8) presents to us some intriguing questions and issues that we

have to try to resolve and reconcile with our Christian faith and

morals.

          We can ask if God, who must have been personified in some

way by the rich man in the parable, is just ok with some cheating,

with being dishonest, with being calculating as leverage for one’s

personal gain and interest.

          Remember that the conclusion of the parable was that the

master praised his dishonest steward for his ‘cleverness,’ saying that

the “people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own

kind than are the people of light.” (Lk 16,8)

          I suppose what the parable is trying to tell and teach us is

that Christ is being realistic with our situation in this world. We

try to put everything in our life right, clean and moral. But no

matter what we do, we would always be hounded by evil and by all kinds

of dirt, physical, moral, spiritual.

          This parable seems to tell us that we should just learn how

to live with this condition and do our best to come out ok in the eyes

of God in the end. What may be considered as aggravating circumstance

in human justice may be regarded as a saving grace in God’s eyes.

          We may have to handle dirt in our life and deal with

situations that are fraught with moral irregularities, but as long as

we do not compromise what is essential, which is love that comes from

God as shown by Christ who became like sin without committing sin

(cfr. 2 Cor 5,21), then things will just turn out ok.

          We have to learn to distinguish between what is a tolerable

cooperation in evil and an intolerable one. With the former, we should

feel the obligation to do whatever we can to clean up what is evil in

a given situation, system or structure.

          So, we have to be ready to properly live this unavoidable

condition of our life here where evil and its increasingly powerful

structures are sprouting around like mushrooms.

          Some of these immoral structures are already large and

well-entrenched in our culture and systems like the old acacia trees

that we still see around. They really pose as a tremendous challenge

to anyone who wishes to be consistent with his Christian life.

          For sure, the attitude to take toward this unavoidable

reality is not to escape from this muddled world. We would be like

fish out of water that way. Yes, we might be able to flee from the

mud, but then we would die instantly if we are taken out of our proper

place.

          Neither should our attitude be of just indiscriminately

accepting what comes or what is around. We are supposed to be the lord

and master of this world in the name of God whose best creature and

children we are. And so, we just have to do some discerning, some

purifying and some struggling. It cannot be helped.

          Christ himself said, “Behold I send you as sheep in the

midst of wolves. Be therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves.”

(Mt 10,16) It’s quite a combination to attain. But if we have faith in

God and follow what is taught us, we can make it. Truth is we have

been provided with more than enough to be able to reach this ideal.

Christian poverty and the things of this world

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

          WHILE it’s true that Christ told the rich young man, and us,

to “sell everything and give to the poor…and come, follow me,” (Mk

10,21), we need to understand that the Christian spirit of poverty and

detachment does not prevent us from having the things of this world,

like money.

          But, yes, we need to be careful that our having the things

of this world does not undermine our love for God. If ever, the things

of this world should be pursued and used for the sole purpose of

loving God and everybody else. We are not angels. We are not pure

spirits. We need things to live and survive, and to give glory to God

and to help everybody else.

          Many times, we are given the impression that money and the

Christian spirit of poverty are incompatible. To a certain extent,

there is some truth to that view.

          Even St. Paul went to the extent of saying that, “the love

of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they

have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many

sorrows.” (1 Tim 6,10) We do not have to look far to verify the

undeniable truth of these words.

          But we need to remind ourselves also that money in itself is

not an inherent evil. It is when we fall into an improper attachment

to it that it becomes an evil or, better said, a tool for evil. But in

itself, if handled properly, it can in fact be a tool for doing a lot

of good and of glorifying God.

          We just have to make sure that our attitude toward money is

inspired by our love for God and for others, and the way we deal with

it faithfully reflects the will of God which definitely is for our own

salvation and the salvation of everyone.

          Only then can we apply the use of money in accordance to

Christ’s words: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be

also.” (Mt 6,21) Only then can we say that money will show how much we

love God, rather than how depraved we have fallen.

          But, yes, we always need to check ourselves to see if we are

truly detached from the things of this world so as to give our whole

selves to God and to others. In this, we cannot afford to be casual.

The worldly things are now so attractive, so tempting and so riveting

that if we are not careful, there’s no way but be swept away by its

rampaging worldly laws and impulses.

          In fact, at one time, Christ compares the great difficulty

involved in resisting the allure of worldly things in a very graphic

way: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle

than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” (Mk 10,25)

          Christian poverty has the primary purpose of emptying our

mind and heart of anything that can compete or, worse, replace the

love for God and for others which is proper to all of us.

          It’s not about running away from worldly things, much less,

of hating the goods of the earth and our temporal affairs, but of

knowing how to handle them, so as not to compromise the fundamental

law of love that should rule us. And that is for us to be God’s image

and likeness and as God’s children, as shown to us by Christ.

* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE),Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

A world without trees

Several months ago, I asked here how a world would look like without water. And, is there any difference? My today;s question is, "What would happen if all the world’s trees disappeared?"

As the Amazon fires continue to burn, writer and journalist Rachel Nuwer asks in an BBC-report: How dependent are we on the survival of forests?

In Mad Max: Fury Road, Charlize Theron’s Furiosa strives to return to “the Green Place” – a tree-filled oasis in the otherwise lifeless wasteland that the Earth has become. When Furiosa arrives at the sacred spot, however, she finds only skeletal trunks and sprawling dunes. She screams in anguish. Without trees, all hope seems lost.

Ask yourself: how would you feel? Hopeless too? Furiosa’s feelings were justified. “Forests are the lifeline of our world,” says Meg Lowman, director of the Tree Foundation, a non-profit organisation in Florida that is dedicated to tree research, exploration and education. “Without them, we lose extraordinary and essential functions for life on Earth.”

Following the Rachel Nuwer's report, trees’ services to this planet range from carbon storage and soil conservation to water cycle regulation. They support natural and human food systems and provide homes for countless species – including us, through building materials. Yet we often treat trees as disposable: as something to be harvested for economic gain or as an inconvenience in the way of human development. Since our species began practicing agriculture around 12,000 years ago, we’ve cleared nearly half of the world’s estimated 5.8 trillion trees, according to a 2015 study published in the journal Nature.

Sad to say but it's unfortunately so very true: much of the deforestation has happened in recent years. Since the onset of the industrial era, forests have declined by 32%. Especially in the tropics, many of the world’s remaining three trillion trees are falling fast, with about 15 billion cut each year, the Nature study states. In many places, tree loss is accelerating. In August, the National Institute for Space Research showed an 84% increase in fires in the Brazilian Amazon rain forest compared to the same period in 2018. Slash-and-burn is also especially on the rise in Indonesia and Madagascar.  

Making me sad and angry, or even better expressed angry first and sad then is the reality, that there have been more than 70,000 forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon in 2019. Barring an unimaginable catastrophe, however, there’s no scenario under which we would fell every tree on the planet. 

“Let me just start with how horrible a world without trees would be – they are irreplaceable,” says Isabel Rosa, a lecturer in environmental data and analysis at Bangor University in Wales. “If we get rid of all the trees, we will live [on] a planet that might not actually be able to sustain us anymore.”  And Isabel Rosa is so very right.

I am living in a big compound in Davao City with many trees and a wild tropical garden. Every time, trees have to cut or shortened, I have to leave. It's painful for me. But it's the wish of my neighbors, because branches of some trees keep on destroying their roofs.

Fact is, if trees disappeared overnight, so would much of the planet’s biodiversity. Habitat loss is already the primary driver of extinction worldwide, so the destruction of all remaining forests would be “catastrophic” for plants, animals, fungi and more, says Jayme Prevedello, an ecologist at Rio de Janeiro State University in Brazil. “There would be massive extinctions of all groups of organisms, both locally and globally.”

The loss of trees from the world would throw the climate off kilter. The planet’s climate would also be drastically altered in the short and long term. Trees mediate the water cycle by acting as biological pumps: they suck water from the soil and deposit it into the atmosphere by transforming it from liquid to vapour. By doing this, forests contribute to cloud formation and precipitation. Trees also prevent flooding by trapping water rather than letting it rush into lakes and rivers, and by buffering coastal communities from storm surges. They keep soil in place that would otherwise wash away in rain, and their root structures help microbial communities thrive.

So what's the difference between my first and today's question? Can you imagine a world without water? Can you imagine a world without trees? Or without both? Worth to think about. Worth to act about it! Even if we could live in a world without trees, who would want to?

Facebook and Instagram down in the Philippines

... and parts of the world

ABS-CBN News

Courtesy of downdetector.com

MANILA (UPDATED) - Facebook and Instagram users in several parts of the world reported that the social-network sites were inaccessible late Wednesday and early morning Thursday.

The California giant, which has more than 2 billion users, acknowledged the outage and is working to fix the problem.

"We’re aware that some people are currently having trouble accessing the Facebook family of apps. We're working to resolve the issue as soon as possible," a Facebook statement said on Twitter.

A short time later, Facebook indicated the outage was not related to an attack aimed at overwhelming the network.

"We're focused on working to resolve the issue as soon as possible, but can confirm that the issue is not related to a DDoS attack," Facebook said, referring to what is known as a distributed denial of service cyber strike.

Facebook

✔@facebook

 · 14h

We’re aware that some people are currently having trouble accessing the Facebook family of apps. We’re working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

SunKissed@leshandraj3

These people are going through withdrawal!!! They need their #Facebook pic.twitter.com/yk5IHh7slz

403

1:58 AM - Mar 14, 2019

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47 people are talking about this

According to the website downdetector.com, outages were heaviest in North America and Europe. Users in the Philippines, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan also experienced the glitch.

News site USA Today also reported that some users were experiencing issues on Facebook-owned photo app Instagram.

The hashtags #facebookdown and #instagramdown quickly topped Twitter's trending topics worldwide. 

Last November, a Facebook outage was attributed to a server problem and a September 2018 outage was said to be the result of "networking issues." - With a report from Agence France-Presse

Philippines still on weaker half of most powerful passport lists

SHARES

By: Kristine Joy Patag (philstar.com) 

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine passport has moved two spots higher but remains in the lower half of the latest world’s most powerful passports rankings.

The Philippines moved from the 72^nd spot to the 70^th in the latest Henley Passport Index released on May 22.

The list ranked 199 passports from one to 100 according to the freedom they allow their holders to travel visa-free to up to 227 different travel destinations—including countries, territories and micro-states.

image: https://media.philstar.com/images/the-philippine-star/infographics/20180524/powerful-passport.jpg

The Philippines shared the 70^th spot with Azerbaijan, the Dominican Republic and Tunisia. A Philippine passport holder now has visa-free access to 66 countries, three more compared to the index released in January.

Japan emerged as the most powerful passport allowing visa-free entry to 189 destinations.

Germany and Singapore shared the 2^nd spot as their passport holders could visit 188 destinations without a visa. Singapore is the only Southeast Asian country to land a spot on the five most powerful passports list.

Ranking 3^rd were passports from Finland, France, Italy, South Korea, Spain and Sweden which could freely enter 187 destinations. 

Meanwhile, Afghanistan and Iraq ranked as the least powerful passports at the 100^th spot as they allow visa-free access to only 30 destinations.

Southeast Asian rankings

The Philippine passport fell to the 7^th spot compared to its Southeast Asian neighbors.

LIST: Where you can travel visa-free with a Philippine passport

Indonesia, meanwhile, is the biggest gainer in the region as it jumped 12 spots to 67^th from 79^th in the 2017 global rankings.

Malaysia followed Singapore as the second most powerful passport in the region as it allows visa-free access to 180 countries.

Brunei, Timor Leste and Thailand landed the 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th spot, respectively.

Meanwhile, Myanmar ranked the lowest, granting visa-free access to 48 countries only.

image: https://media.philstar.com/images/the-philippine-star/infographics/20180524/powerful-passport-southeastasia.jpg

The Henley Passport Index is a ranking of all the passports of the world according to the number of countries their holders can travel to visa-free.

The ranking is generated from exclusive data of the International Air Transport Association, which maintains the world’s largest and most comprehensive database of travel information.

Read more at https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/05/24/1818250/philippines-still-weaker-half-most-powerful-passport-list#kOigKbbuZ1ARhpDv.99

A world without fossil fuels?

SAT, NOVEMBER 18, 2017 BY THE MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR LEAVE A COMMENT

IN MY OPINIONKlaus Doring

A world without  fossil fuels?

As today's Editoral in MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR (November 17, 2017)  goes: "President Duterte has changed heart and now gave the Department of Energy the green light to consider plans to reactivate the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. This after the Philippine and Russian governments agreed to cooperate in the development of national nuclear infrastructure in the country... ."

Allow me to ask: Is it possible to fulfill all our global energy needs with renewables only? And which technologies work best to help us transition to a world without fossil fuels? Scientists give answers at COP23, which is still ongoing in Bonn/Germany at this moment.

"A full decarbonization of the electricity system by 2050 is possible for lower system cost than today based on available technology," said Christian Breyer, who heads a team of international researchers at Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) in Finland.

Breyer and his team looked at data from all over the world, such as energy consumption, demographic development and weather. They also analyzed which technologies are expected to be the cheapest in the next three decades.

"Energy transition is no longer a question of technical feasibility or economic viability, but of political will," Breyer added. Breyer's team and NGO Energy Watch Group (EWG) presented their findings at COP23 in Bonn.

And I learned: falling costs give rise to solar power. Why? Due to rapidly falling costs, solar photovoltaic (solar PV) and battery storage are the main drivers of securing the global energy supply. Solar PV's share of total power supply is expected to rise from 37 percent in 2030 to almost 70 percent by 2050, the study said.

Wind energy would make up 18 percent, hydropower 8 percent and bioenergy 2 percent of the total global energy mix by 2050, according to the scientists' estimates.

The energy mix would of course look slightly different in areas with a lot of wind and fewer hours of sunshine, such as in Europe's and Asia's northern regions. 

  

And here are several Germany's climate innovators: A sunny future for e-cars? To guarantee access to electricity day and night reliable storage is of course a must. According to Breyer's simulation, about 30 percent of overall demand in 2050 will be met by storage output and 95 percent of that, in turn, will be covered by batteries alone. The study's authors have calculated with a global population of almost 10 billion people by 2050 - that means the world's hunger for power is expected to double as a result.

Twice as many new jobs? Maybe These changes are obviously helping with air quality and overall a more healthy environment, but they also help with jobs. At the moment, there are about 19 million people who are employed in the energy sector - half of those are working for the coal industry. These jobs will be made redundant by the transition to renewables; however, twice as many new jobs would be created as a result, according to estimates.

Huge strides towards cutting down emissions - another headline nowadays!  At COP23 in Bonn, delegates are trying to come up with ways to reduce carbon emissions to limit global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius and help mitigate climate disasters.

Global energy production - especially coal - contributes to 20 percent of all carbon emissions. If the electricity system were to only be powered by renewables, emissions could drop by 60 percent by 2025. By 2030, they could drop by 80 percent.

"Such a scenario is indeed realistic, since renewable energy sources are becoming cheaper and cheaper," said climate economist Claudia Kemfert of the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin (DIW) when the study was released.

Now, is it utopia or realistic scenario?

"We've seen in the past that all studies did underestimate the development of renewable energy. That's why it's going so much quicker than anticipated and we are looking ahead to the next three decades, where we can meet the target of 100 percent renewables in our energy mix," Claudia Kemfert added.

Energy Watch Group head Hans-Josef Fell agrees with that assessment and says the finance sector also plays a huge role in accelerating this dynamic. "Financial institutions now regard investments in coal, nuclear, oil and gas as risky and terminate their commitments," he said.

Renewable energy sources are regarded as safe alternatives. That is a fact!

"This scenario is essentially the basis if we want to fulfill international responsibilities as laid out by the Paris agreement," said Stefan Gsänger of the World Wind Energy Association. But he was also quick to point out that this is by no means a market-driven self-seller. "I hope we'll build up enough pressure on political decision makers all over the world," he added.

European Member of Parliament Arne Lietz of the Social Democrats says there is still a huge deficit.

"This scenario shows that we must urgently rethink current politics," he said. "But politics are not there yet." Lietz added that "big lobbyists trying to influence the government to keep investing into fossil fuels and ruin economies" were blocking efforts.

Back to nuclear power - and please allow me again to quote today's MIRROR-Editorial:  After the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Ukraine back in 1986 all governments should really think twice and act with caution. 

Money makes the world go round?

MON, APRIL 17, 2017 BY THE MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR LEAVE A COMMENT

IN MY OPINIONKlaus Doring

Some people have money to burn! Every time, I ob-serve them, I feel that their money is going down their drain. Yes, “money talks”. The more money you have, the more you might become avaricious. Every time, we have to dig deeper into our pockets, we might longing to be like those people, who don’t see the difference between a 500 or 1,000 bill.

I am really not rich! I also wouldn’t hesitate to say, that I would like to be so! Being rich means having wealth! Wealth is abundance, opulence and affluence. Affluence becomes quickly influence. Dyed-in-the-wool millionaires or even multi-millionaires over lose their view of reality many times. They can’t even see the horizon, which could be the demarcation of their real estate. They even don’t recognize the wonderful flowers growing and blooming in their gardens.

Money calms down! Sure. No doubts at all! We all need an income to survive for our daily needs – and, maybe, a little bit more. Many of us struggle through life and work like slaves for a pitiful daily minimum wage. If you’re rich, you might be on the top. But believe me, once you are on top, you will have some unwelcome, mostly acceptable companions such as loneliness, so-called friends (!), parasites and free-loaders.

These companions will let you scream in pain, because you will start missing things, you have expected from them: real friendship, love, care, comprehension, understanding, sympathy, appreciation…. Remember such things? Miss such things?

Yes, money can give you a wonderful sleep, and you might stay in one of the most luxurious beds – but being awake, while your poorest neighbor sleeps better and more peaceful on the floor. There are many sayings about money. I like this one: Money can buy books but not brains. You might study a lot and get a lot of experiences; it’s just a pity, if you don’t use them at the right time for the right people in your surroundings.

Money can buy food but no appetite. Who reaps the benefits of it? A full to overflowing store room will never be satisfying, if sour free-loaders join your table and push away your real friends.

Our last earthly dress has no more pockets. The remembrance on how we acted and lived together with our fellow creatures will remain forever. With money, we might be able to let the devil dance. But, money alone doesn’t make us happy. Money kills more people and friendships than a cudgel.

The more money, the more problems.

The more money, the more we have to pay and the higher our bills become….

Money makes the world go round, the world go round ….

A world without water?

TUE, AUGUST 30, 2016 BY THE MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR LEAVE A COMMENT

IN MY OPINIONKlaus Doring

As the world marked again the UN’s World Water Day last March 2016, global residents are still struggling to access fresh water. Water scarcity has long been a problem. But climate change, a growing global population and economic growth are putting the natural resource under even more stress. A world without water? Sounding impossible and crazy, while in some parts of the world, especially in Asia, the monsoon rain keeps large areas land-under.

One example of many: since the late 1950's, the Aral lake in Uzbekistan, once the world’s fourth largest, has been rapidly shrinking. Water that had flowed into the lake was diverted to provide irrigation for Uzbekistan’s ‘white gold’, cotton plantations spread across the arid region, while hydro power facilities and reservoirs across Central Asia have also taken their toll.

It is one of the major environmental disasters of the last half century with animal and plant life in the region dying out as a result. But it is not the only place where water has been disappearing. Bolivia’s second-largest lake, Poopó has all but vanished, with severe consequences for both wildlife and people.

Scarcity of water all over the world is becoming an increasing problem. And it’s only going to get worse, said Richard Connor, editor-in-chief of the United Nation’s World Water Development Report 2016 (WWDR), released last month.

“Water has already been relatively scarce,” he explained in German Television. “It’s just that populations are growing and economies are developing, so demand for water keeps increasing, but the quantity of water that is available does not.”

More than 70 percent of the freshwater that is taken from natural re-sources is used in agriculture, for food crops like wheat and rice, but also for plants like cotton. Energy production ac-counts for 15 percent of water usage and another 5 percent is for household usage.

But with the population expected to grow – the WWDR predicts that by 2050 there will be 9.3 billion people, 33 percent more than in 2011 – the world’s water resources are likely to come under increasing pressure. Regions like Central Asia, the Arab world, parts of China, India and the western United States, already suffer from a physical shortage of water. But storage and infra-structure enable countries to collect water and keep it ready in times of drought.

“The magnitude will be proportional to its vulnerability,” said Connor. “Developed countries are much less vulnerable because they have the storage capacity – dams and reservoirs.” But in the developing world, water scarcity is having the greatest impact. There are already more than 1.8 billion people, who only have access to water that is not safe for human consumption, according to the WWDR. And even in areas where there is an abundance of water, like in Sub-Saharan Africa, economic factors mean that people are not getting enough access to the natural resource.

“The water resource is there, but it doesn’t get to the fields, the factories and the cities because infrastructure and institutions are lacking there,” said Connor, adding that crops there are rain-fed because water cannot be used for irrigation. “When there is a drought, like in Ethiopia, they have serious problems that lead to food crises.”

Without improved efficiency measures, agriculture is expected to need 20 percent more water in the coming years to feed the growing population. And let’s face it again: climate is expected to exacerbate the problem, with some countries becoming drier and hotter, while others experience extreme weather in the form of storms and flooding.

A world with less water translates into hardship for unknown millions. Solution must be find. Or is it already too late?

It is only better water management that will help deal with increasing water scarcity, according to experts worldwide. .

Better irrigation techniques that don’t see water wasted through runoff from flooded fields are one way of saving the resource. But any changes in measures would have to be introduced by individual governments and in some cases individual farmers and other stakeholders.

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Email: doringklaus @gmail.com or follow me in Facebook or Twitter or visit www.germanex patinthephilippines.blogspot. com or www.klausdoringsclassicalmusic.blogspot.com.

WORLDS FIRST BIKE ZIPLINE, CHOCOLATE HILLS ADVENTURE PARK BOHOL PHILIPP...

How the Filipino Could be Proud Before the World

By: Thelma Sioson San Juan, Philippine Daily Inquirer

  

The Madrid Fusion Manila that runs until Sunday is a welcome, think-out-of-the-box idea that makes the world sit up and listen (or eat).

It’s not the run-of-the-mill promotion of Filipino cuisine, indeed of the Philippines.

“People have always asked me, ‘How do we promote Filipino cuisine?’” Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez told us at the Malacañang Palace grounds last Thursday, before the cocktail reception for the foreign and local chefs participating in the event.

This is the first time that this world-famous gathering is held outside of Spain.

“I’ve always said it’s the people, our chefs [who can best promote Filipino cuisine],” said Jimenez.

At sundown, guests entered the Palace grounds to the upbeat music of the Makiling Ensemble—energizing sounds emanating from traditional and ethnic instruments played by young artists (from the Philippine High School for the Arts in Makiling, Laguna, we presume) which included, we were told, Diwa de Leon, son of our good friends Anna Sarabia and NCCA head Felipe de Leon Jr.

The Diwa we last saw ages ago was a kid so we couldn’t recognize that young man with a hat on.

The music wasn’t rustic or stereotypical native. It was hip and cool—perfect for this innovative event.

The tourism secretary was as upbeat as the music. According to him, the country earned some P4 billion this year from the influx of foreign tourists.

Apart from that, however, what really gladdens his heart is how local tourism has grown by leaps and bounds—to a trillion pesos. That’s how much Filipinos are spending to travel around the country these days.

We were not surprised at all by that revelation.

Years ago, dining out became the new element in the Filipino lifestyle. But recently, the Filipino lifestyle has been marked by more and more leisure travel. Never have Filipinos been traveling so much than they do now.

It seems this travel frenzy began with the annual trips to Boracay. Next came exploring Palawan, Bohol, Cebu, on top of the weekend road trips to Tagaytay and Batangas.

Pinoys have even rediscovered Baguio more recently. The Lenten holidays the past two years in the summer capital have seen overflow crowds—and humongous traffic jams.

Filipinos are becoming more and more like Americans or even Europeans, who plan their vacations way ahead of time and make them the highlights of their year.

For instance, I have some friends who have booked their destinations for Christmas.

And many have travel plans for the long May 1 Labor Day weekend.

Whichever way you look at it, this must be a sign that Filipinos are somehow feeling secure in their own country, not the least of which is its economy.

Jimenez noted how, today, “there’s not a single province” in the country which doesn’t have tourism in its agenda. Indeed, provinces are recognizing the pivotal role tourism plays in their growth. It could be a viable revenue source, a way out of poverty.

This is why he’s proud of the fact that Filipinos themselves are becoming the No. 1 tourists in the Philippines.

But while there are those who bemoan another fact, that there are Filipinos who’d rather go on foreign trips than explore their own country, Jimenez feels that this could also be a good thing.

“The more my countrymen travel, the more sophisticated they become and learn to appreciate their country,” he explained.

Later that night in the Palace, in his brief speech, President Aquino noted why “eating is indeed more fun in the Philippines.”

He began by recalling how, at one time, before he became President, he and his aide were left to their own devices and attempted to cook—with dire results. They almost burned the soup.

That ice-breaker brought him closer to an audience not typical of Palace gatherings— consisting mainly of culinary professionals and restaurateurs, not the usual businessmen or politicians.

This must have been one of the rare occasions that a Palace event was held for the culinary arts industry.

Top Filipino chefs as well as visiting foreign chefs (“rock stars” of the era) were around. This was the eve of the series of activities of Madrid Fusion Manila, to be held the next day at SMX Convention Center.

From April 24 to 26, there would be lectures, demonstrations—and, of course, food tasting—by these culinary stalwarts, a “palate conversation” of sorts.

That Thursday night at the Palace, the “conversation” between Filipinos and their Spanish counterparts had somewhat started.

Margarita Fores, who helped Madrid Fusion Manila become a reality, prepared the cocktail buffet. By now she’s an expert in sourcing food from all over the country.

Mingling with the guests, Mr. Aquino would stop by the buffet once in a while, curious about the spread. He stood before the deck of pastillas and wondered aloud if we should explain to the guests a brief background of the sweets.

As it turned out, there was no need for that. The foreign culinary personalities feasted on the pastillas, longganisa and other native fare. No questions asked.