Santa's Machines

Do you know that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was NOT originally part of Santa’s reindeer team? In the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (commonly called "The Night Before Christmas"), Santa Claus's team of flying reindeer numbered 8 and the names of the reindeer are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen. Rudolph was included in the 20th-century due to the enduring popularity of the Christmas song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".

Well, in a few years’ time, Santa may need to replace Rudolph and gang because global warming has curbed winter food for the animals and scientists has found that reindeers are getting smaller and smaller as a result. According to their reports, the average weight of adult reindeer on Svalbard, a chain of islands north of Norway, was 55kg in the 1990s. Now it’s 48kg.

Since global warming is not going to stop any time soon, chances are the reindeers will get smaller and smaller in the future. Considering how fat Santa is and how heavy all the presents are, chances are Santa need a new animal to pull his sled. Polar Bears maybe? No, wait; polar bears are in trouble too due to global warming so…machines?

The Haze Is Back

Our old friend, The Haze, is back. After all the talk about heavy fines issued to companies involved in the burning of the forests in Indonesia, today Singaporeans woke up to the haze as usual.

According to the website of the National Environment Agency, the 3-hour PSI level for Singapore stood at 168 as of 12pm today. Honestly, I think that's downplaying it because the haze was truly bad this morning.  

Oh well, time to bring out the masks again.

Pray For Rain

One more month! Just wait one more month and it will be over! That's the line fed to everyone in the region by our governments whenever we asked when the haze will go away.

Well, it is Oct 20th and there is only 11 more days to go before October is over. Guess what? The haze is still here. Not only that, it is actually getting worse! Yesterday night, the PSI (Pollutant Standard Index) in Singapore actually hit a high of 442.

Seeing the inevitable, governments in the region has now changed tack. Malaysia's Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar has publicly admit that current efforts to fight the fires in Indonesia has had no effect and that only the rainy season can help. Of course since no one can be sure actually when the rainy season will start, no one can say when the haze will go away! Some say it may even take till December for the haze to disappear.

So people of Southeast Asia, no matter if you are Muslim, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, or whatever; start praying. We can now only hope for divine help to solve this problem caused by us greedy humans. Pray for rain people. Pray for rain!

(Almost) Clear Skies!

For the past month, Singapore has been shrouded in a haze. However two straight days of heavy rain gave us some respite this morning. Clear skies today people! Okay, not totally but it was a breath of fresh air compared to the past few weeks. Like they say, you don't know what you have till you lost it.

Super Haze This Year

For the past 3 weeks, the annual haze has descended on Singapore but to me, this year's haze seems extremely bad. Unlike previous years when the haze comes and goes, this year's haze seems to linger. And I'm not alone in feeling this. 

All primary and secondary schools in Singapore will be closed tomorrow and this is why. 

Just look at that! You can barely see the Parliament House and this is just across the Singapore River. The National Environment Agency (NEA) state that PSI (Pollutant Standards Index) reached a high of 317 today. That means Singapore's air quality reached "very unhealthy" levels but I honestly have to wonder about that. Based on previous experience, the haze today seems extremely bad and I have to wonder if 317 is too low. 

Worse is that the haze is believed to be here to stay till November due to the El Nino weather system. That means Singaporeans has another month of the haze to deal with! Good thing for the Singapore government the election is already over.

Record U.S Freeze

CONFIRMED NO SHIPMENT FOR FEB 25

DEAR FRIENDS,

IT IS CONFIRMED THAT THERE WILL BE NO SHIPMENT FOR TOMORROW FEB 25 AND UNLIKELY ALSO FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK DUE TO BAD WEATHER IN USA.     

You know I had heard of the record freeze in the U.S for days but…it’s half a world away. Surely it doesn’t affect me right?

Wrong! In an example of how climate change affect all of us, this week my comics will be late because shipment from America is impossible at the moment. Nothing I can get angry about, after all even Niagara Falls has frozen over!

So for all of you who thinks climate change does not affect you; you are wrong. Climate change is a global phenomenon and it affects everyone.

Due To Man

For over than 140 million years, they have been swimming in the Yangtze River. However, now it seems that the Chinese sturgeon will soon be no more.

This comes as no surprise as rising levels of pollution and the construction of dozens of dams along the Yangtze has seem a decreased in the number of Chinese sturgeons in the river since the 1980s. Now, it is estimated only there are only around 100 fish left.

Not only that, Chinese researchers also found no young sturgeons swimming along the Yangtze toward the sea during the period they usually do so. Worse is the fact that they believed that no wild sturgeon reproduced naturally last year in the Yangtze River. All the young ones were artificially-bred by Chinese researchers in a last ditch effort to prevent the sturgeons extinction. That is just not enough in the face of pollution and the dams. 

So it seems all but certain that the Chinese sturgeon will follow the Baiji dolphin, a native species of dolphins in the Yangtze, in going extinct. 140 million years, and gone due to the action of man. 

Super Sandstorm

China is now widely known as a country with great pollution. There has been food scandals, undrinkable water, and heavy air pollution in it's cities. In Northern China however, the problem is dust and sand storms. 

Now I know that sand storms are so bad there that sometimes even the Chinese capital of Beijing suffer from the problem. However I can safely say I never realised how bad the problem is until I read this story.

Sand storms in Northern China are so bad that the storms can be seen from space!

One of NASA's satellites captured this image on April 23 which according to NASA show a sandstorm covering the city of Dunhuang in northern China. The storm forced residents to don masks, but that's almost underplaying the situation when seeing this image.

A sand storm that can be seen from space? We need a new name for that; any suggestion? 

Laughing About Ice

                                Ice builds up along Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois

You have to hand it to the Americans. Almost the entire eastern seaboard of North America is under ice and there's reports that things are going to get worse with a blast of arctic air heading that way, but what do Americans do? 

They laugh about it! 

With temperatures going dangerously low, New York expect temperature to plummet to -26C (-15F) with wind chill, American media are full of reporters joking about how cold it is. On CNN, the reporters were comparing temperature in cities across the world, with one saying it was colder in the American city of Atlanta than it was in Moscow! Another even compare their temperature to those in Iceland! 

With temperatures expected to go lower in the coming days, humor is a good thing to have. Now if only they can convince their politicians that there really is such a thing as global warming... 

December of Unexpected Snow

When historians look back at this December, they would call this month “The December of Unexpected Snow”. They would call it that because this year, not only has there been snow, the snow came at places where you don’t expect them.

A winter storm, called Alexa, has covered parts of the West Bank and Israel with heavy snow. Roads into Jerusalem were closed to private traffic. Other countries in the Middle East like Egypt also suffered from snow.

Yes, snow in the Middle East, a region known far more for sunny deserts.

Just not to be outdone, snow has also fallen in Northern Vietnam for the first time in recent memory. So rare is the occurrence that Vietnamese have taken to the road, causing a 5-hour traffic jam as everyone is driving into the mountainous provinces of Lao Cai and Ha Giang to see the rare wintry snow.

So yeah, this is “The December of Unexpected Snow”, a December for the record books. 

The Coming Floods

It's been 1 year since superstorm Sandy hit the east coast of the United States, flooding the streets and subways of New York and Jersey. Since then, the world has been facing natural disaster after natural disaster and just to make sure Singapore isn't left out of the fun, today the Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) announced that the total rainfall Singapore will have this coming December and January will be 10 to 20 percent higher than normal.

The reason for this is due to the La Nina phenomenon that should bring more rainfall to Southeast Asia this year. What does this means? It means Singapore will have floods again! Just last month, many areas in Singapore were hit with floods and even yesterday, flash floods occurred at Changi. So as we are hit by floods by year end, we know why.

Or to be more accurate; the Singapore government has a ready-made excuse on why we are going to have floods later this year.

The AYE Closure

How do Singaporeans know that the raining season is upon us? In the past, we look at the sky to see if it's raining. Nowadays, that's not necessary because we can just look at the ground to see if it's flooded.

Yesterday, Singapore was faced with a torrential downpour that mostly hit western Singapore. As like the past few years, Singapore now faced the problem of flooding. However, the problem of flooding has now become worse than ever before because yesterday, a major expressway had to be closed due to severe flooding. The AYE (Ayer Rajah Expressway) has to be temporary closed due to the flood and this has gotten government ministers out to put out the fire of criticism.

As this falls under his ministry, the Minister for the Enviroment and Water Resources, Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, has become the frontman of the government on the issue. He was quoted as saying that it's "not acceptable" for a major expressway to shut down due to flooding. He is right, it is not acceptable, but frankly he need to take some blame for the problem.

Now I heard all the talk of monsoon, once in 100 years rain, and all the other excuses, but what I personally found unacceptable was the simple fact that the flooding problem in Singapore has gotten worse and worse! The flooding problem we faced yesterday is not new. Remember the flooding of Orchard Road in 2010? That was bad but this is worse. Now instead of a shopping belt getting flooded, an expressway had to be closed due to flooding! Tell me if that's not an escalation of the problem? 

What is not acceptable here is the fact that 3 years after the Orchard Road floods, instead of solving the problem, the issue of flooding is now worse than ever! Maybe Dr. Balakrishnan can now spend less time talking about cleanliness of hawker centers and do something about a problem Singaporeans really care about, the issue of flooding. 

Great Ice Wall of Japan

Since the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, the problem at the Fukushima nuclear reactors has been an albatross for Japan. After over 2 years of doing little to nothing, the Japanese government has finally decided to act.

The Japanese has unveiled a plan to stem radioactive water leaks at Fukushima by…building an ice wall beneath the plant? Seriously? After 2 years and at a cost of US$470 million, that’s the best plan Tokyo can come out with?

Sorry, I may be no engineer but a wall of ice underneath the stricken plant to plug the leaks sounds insane. What happen when summer arrives? Will it melts?

All joking aside, I have to say I am disappointed at this plan of Tokyo. I mean after 2 years of study and planning, surely the world can expect something better than the “Great Ice Wall of Japan”. I know Japan and China are historic rivals, but a rival “Great Wall” is just too much.

At the price of US$470 million, surely all the engineers in the world can come out with something better! You know like…fixing the problem. Instead what we got is the world’s most expensive plug.

Get The Masks Ready

The haze has returned...in Malaysia. Parts of Malaysia are now covered in the haze once again as the burning of the forest in Indonesia now continuing. The only thing stopping Singapore from getting the haze again is the wind, and that's something the Singapore government recognize as the National Environment Agency is already telling Singaporeans to expect the haze to return.

What does this tells me? It tells me that despite all the talk of an ASEAN coordinating center, Indonesia doing their best to tackle the forest fires, fines issued to companies who practice the slash and burn method of land clearance; Indonesia cannot/will not stop their farmers from burning the forests of Java and Sumatra in order to clear land for cultivation. It also tells me that there's nothing the Singapore and Malaysia government can do to Indonesia to stop the forest burning.

I mean this has only been a few weeks since the region suffered its worst haze, with the Air Pollutant Index reaching record highs, and now it's back again? So people of Singapore, get your mask ready. The haze will be back, if not now then surely next year. 

What's Next?

Just when Singaporeans got some relief from the haze, residents in western Singapore now report a hailstorm! Heavy rain along with gusty winds belted parts of Singapore today and bought along with it hail, which is not common in Singapore.

Now the rain is a welcome respite after the haze but talking about irony. Must we now wear a hardhat along with a N95 mask? After a week of haze, here comes hail! What is next? Snow? A sandstorm?

I wonder if bookies in Singapore have any odds on it? 

Joint Statement

As Singaporeans complain about on the haze which topped to 401 PSI, let’s all spare a thought for our neighbors in Malaysia. With the PSI reading topping 700, Malaysia has declared a state of emergency in two southern districts and basically closed down the coastal towns of Muar and Ledang.

With the haze reaching hazardous levels in both Malaysia and Singapore, perhaps it’s time for both Malaysia and Singapore to give a joint statement to Indonesia. The cause of the haze is the forest fires in Indonesia and despite numerous calls from ministers in Singapore and Malaysia, Indonesia has been unable (or unwilling) to put out the fires causing the haze.

Since private statements are not working, then the next diplomatic step would be a joint statement from both Singapore and Malaysia. Yes, I agree Indonesia would probably ignore a joint call as well but it wouldn't hurt and a joint statement has a better chance of reaching the ears of Indonesia than what we are doing now.

After all if talking doesn't work, you need to either shut up or use a bigger microphone. Since both the Malaysian and Singapore government can't keep quiet with the haze still around, it's time to use a bigger microphone. 

The Haze...Again

As the haze cover Singapore in its smokey embrace, ministers in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia are playing political football with each other. Each country is trying deflect blame for the choking haze that has surrounded the region as they talk, I shall say what everyone knows; in the end, nothing will be done.

The haze is not something new. Every year when it's time for the farmers and land-owners in Indonesia to clear land for the upcoming planting season, the haze will come. It's just a matter of how serious it will be. This year, the haze is bad and that's why we have ministers in 3 countries going at it. No one want to be blamed for it but it's not a new thing. The haze has happened before, and it will come again because too much money is involved.

Indonesian farmer and giant palm oil companies use the “slash and burn” method of clearing land as its the cheapest way to do so. In their goal for maximum profits, does anyone truly believe they will stop doing it next year or the year after? No, it's just not going to happen.

Recipe For Disaster

You would think after the ongoing disaster that is the Three Gorges Dam, people and countries would think twice about building new mega dams in Asia. If you think so, you would be mistaken as Laos now intend to build a multibillion-dollar dam that will affect the Mekong River.

The hydroelectric dam will be a $3.8 billion project located at remote Xayaburi and has divided the four nations sharing the Mekong. Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand all depend on the Mekong and the dam in Laos will affect all of them.

 

The last great dam built was the Three Gorges Dam in China and like I said earlier, the dam has been an ongoing disaster. Entire villages had to be destroyed, tens of thousands of people had to be moved and the environmental destruction of the Three Gorges Dam is still being felt to this day. The dam has been such a problem even members of the Communist Party in China had to admit it was a mistake to build the dam. Did the world learn anything from it?

No! Despite the problems large infrastructure projects have over the long-term, countries and leaders are still going ahead with them. Even when they don’t need them! Laotian leaders openly admit that the dam at Xayaburi will produce more electricity than the country needs and the surplus will be “sold” to neighboring countries.

You build a dam bigger than you need to produce electricity you don’t need in the hope of selling to countries you are not sure will buy them. All at the risk of destroying the ecosystem that is the Mekong River. Now if that’s not a recipe for disaster, I don’t know what it.

Strange/Interesting Election

With less than a week from the American Presidential Election, polls from America still have President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney neck and neck into the final straight. Standing here in Singapore, I (and most of the world) am wondering why?

Now it’s no surprise the rest of the world prefer to have Obama to Romney when you consider their respective positions on Israel and Iran, but even beyond that, I am seriously perplexed on why Americans are so unhappy about Obama.

When he took over from George Bush, Obama had a laundry list of problems. Their international reputation was in tatters, their economy was in the toilet, their housing market was in a tailspin, and they were still involved in 2 wars! In his 4 years, America’s international reputation has largely recovered, America’s economy is slowly recovering and America’s wars are in their closing stages.

Now I’m not a huge fan of his. I could understand some of the complains against him. High unemployment rate, gridlock in Congress, economy that has not fully recovered but you can also argue he inherited these problems more than created them.

In short, I (and the rest of the world) don’t think Obama did that bad of a job. However not even his deft handling of Hurricane Sandy this week pull him ahead of Mitt Romney! Considering his performance, you would assume he did well enough to get another 4 years (after all Bush got 8) but yet there’s a real chance he may lose next week. And that is very strange to me which will make the results next week to be interesting.  

Beijing Floods

Another who read the news in the past few days knows about the floods that hit Beijing. The heaviest rainfall in 60 years caused floods that killed 37 people and sparked fierce criticism of the Chinese government.

In a mark of how out of touch the Chinese government is, the propaganda chief of Beijing, Lu Wei, has ordered Chinese media to “stick to good news about weekend floods”. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I read this.

What good news is this guy talking about? Is this about the 37 people who had died? Is about the lack of warning to the citizens? Is it about the fact that waters rose to 2m in less than half an hour due to the city’s poor drainage systems? Is it about how all these happened in the capital of China?

This is a disaster. This is a crisis and authorities want to “focus” on good news? Man, how out of reality can you get?