Sunday, April 17, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Will our grandchildren thank us?
Anger over coal-fired power station
Demonstrator besiege Premier Baillieu's office protesting over money set aside for a new coal-fired power station
We're too small to arrest global warming, but need to prepare for it anyway.
There may be an argument for Australia to price carbon but it can't be to arrest global warming or slow climate change - we're simply too small an emitter of greenhouse gases for moderate cuts to make any measurable difference.
The strongest justification may be that we need to begin the long process of diversifying our energy sources away from fossil fuels within a set of principles and an economic framework that might fit global rules as they emerge later this decade.
Current proposals suggest that any carbon tax will be revenue neutral during a transition period that may last five years. But although it might start small and exclude significant sectors that use petrol, in order to drive serious investment in clean energy and shift consumer behaviour the carbon price will move quickly above $50 per tonne of carbon dioxide per year, and extend to all parts of our economy, which currently emits about 600 million tonnes per year.
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Even allowing for industry compensation payments and protection for low-income households, the revenue flows from any carbon tax or emissions trading scheme beyond the adjustment period are likely to be large - above $20 billion a year.
Energy use will almost certainly continue to grow and emissions will follow. There is presently no affordable alternative to fossil fuels, notwithstanding the hopes for renewable energy, and optimistic forecasts of reductions still leave Australia with hundreds of millions of tonnes of emissions in 2050 and potentially tens of billions of dollars annually of net carbon revenues.
The federal Coalition, while in opposition, may promise the elimination of a carbon tax when they return to office, but the likely emergence in the years ahead of international trade rules requiring a carbon price plus the ensuing financial rivers of gold to rival the GST or mining super profits taxes suggest their well-intentioned resolve should and will give way to fiscal pragmatism. Especially when the current government does the heavy policy lifting and can be blamed for any burdens that voters may feel.
What then is the point of all this? A carbon price in Australia is not a global warming mitigant and is an unconvincing and unpopular structure upon which to drive reform of our economy.
It will raise lots of money, some of which will be invested in clean energy research and development and green jobs - a desirable outcome, especially if properly directed to areas where Australian scientists and manufacturers can make a distinctive contribution.
But perhaps most importantly, funds will become available to help the country better prepare for the changing climate ahead.
The probability of stopping global warming is well below 50 per cent; average temperatures are predicted to rise 2-4 degrees by century end. This will lead to dramatic changes in our environment. We must plan for this.
Even if you don't accept the gravity of the climate change challenge, the following adaptation initiatives still emerge as appropriate national priorities to which funds should be directed:
■ Higher temperatures mean longer periods of drought but more moisture in the air to produce flooding when rain does fall. The management of catchment areas, water security and conservation become more important.
■ Floods, bushfires, storm surges, high winds, cyclones, brutal hailstorms and unrelenting hot spells will put enormous pressure on our emergency services and healthcare delivery as the intensity of extreme weather events increases. Buying insurance protection in high-risk areas will become more expensive.
■ The gentle 3-5 millimetre per year increase in sea levels disguises the amplified impact of storm surges on our coastlines. In addition to tougher zoning regulations, coastal communities will need to construct sea walls - not necessarily to protect against tsunamis but to reduce erosion and damage from storms.
■ Viewers of the various home improvement programs and Kevin McCloud's Grand Designs have seen European home-building regulations require triple-glazed windows, underfloor heating with geothermal heat pumps, 30-centimetre thick insulated walls, and so on. As our electricity, transport and other utility costs soar, steps must be taken to become much more energy efficient in our lifestyles, and construction standards must be developed and enforced to drive this. Our (slightly) smart electricity metres are a very small step in the right direction. All Australian states are working on such a list but there is little co-ordination nor a sense of a coherent plan. If all we do is introduce a carbon price and watch the trend of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions decline over decades, our grandchildren will not thank us.frm smh.com.au
Landlords 'demanded sex' from students
Yuko Narushima
April 12, 2011
Slum living ... Philipa and a friend paid $200 to share a room. Photo: Nick Moir
ROGUE landlords in Marsfield in Sydney's north west are piling as many as 20 students into shoddily converted family homes, demanding cash in hand and advance notice of visitors to avoid detection by authorities, international students say.
Some landlords are offering cut-price accommodation to female students in return for sex, while others have been the subject of a six-month investigation in relation to other crimes.
The NSW Minister for Citizenship and Communities, Victor Dominello, said mock boarding houses had sprung up close to universities across Sydney. He is proposing laws to regulate them. About 300 operate in his electorate of Ryde with more in Parramatta, Burwood, Strathfield and the city, he said.
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House of horrors ... Philipa's student housing in North Ryde. Photo: Nick Moir
''They board up the bedrooms, the dining rooms and the garages so instead of a three-bedroom house for a family of five, you've got a three-bedroom house that's transformed into a fifteen-room boarding house. That's where it's just not right,'' he said. ''The kids are being exploited.''
International students were particularly vulnerable because many were unaware of their rights and had limited English, Mr Dominello said.
Landlords evaded council regulations by doing their own conversions without approval. The converted houses often lacked locks, fire alarms, illuminated exit signs, rubbish bins and safe electrical wiring, he said.
Philipa's house could not be secured. Photo: Nick Moir
Chinese students, who spoke to the Herald on the condition of anonymity, said rental contracts were often verbal.
''You have to keep your contract for six months. If you move out, you lose your money. It's not a paper contract,'' a 20-year-old male accounting student at Macquarie University said.
Safety was a constant issue, with students unsure of who lived in overcrowded houses and unable to lock the doors, he said.
The executive director of campus experience at Macquarie University, Deidre Anderson, said it could provide emergency accommodation and could help find suitable homes.
''For many international students, they are finding their accommodation before they get here,'' Ms Anderson said.
Redfern Legal Centre said students had been propositioned by landlords for sex and stripped of bonds upon moving out.
''We've had a situation where students were requested to have photographs taken of them,'' the chief executive, Joanna Shulman, said. Female students from Asia were pressured by their landlord to pose for photos for a modelling agency three floors above. Once upstairs they were asked to pose for pornographic images.
''They didn't feel as though they could say no,'' Ms Shulman said.
It was also common for intermediaries to rent homes they would then rent to students at inflated prices, she said. Students are not protected by the law if they live with the head tenant and fail to obtain a written tenancy agreement. Even when they are protected by law, students cannot always contact their landlords, she said.
''Most students move into accommodation without necessarily knowing who the landlord is,'' she said. ''We've had numerous situations where students have been given fake names and addresses in relation to the landlords. They decide to leave the property and try to contact the landlord to get their bond back and are unable to do so and are left without recourse.''
Yuko Narushima is the Herald's Higher Education Correspondent
Copied frm smh.com.au
Monday, April 11, 2011
泰国一夫多妻 有多少水缸就有多少老婆
泰国法律规定可一夫多妻，只要养得起，可以多娶。导游阿勇，今年30岁，是华裔泰国人，有三个老婆。他告诉我们，泰国由于男女比例失调，所以每个男人可以合法地娶多个老婆。
/来自中华网社区 club.china.com/
泰 国是的男女比例大约是1：3的样子，他们说是因为泰国人主要喝湄南河水造成的。这不就是西游记中的女儿国吗?泰国有28000多家寺庙，里面必然有很多专 职和尚了，这些人是不允许结婚的。而且泰国还有40多万人妖，这样实际上的男女比例会更校呵呵，不允许一夫多妻也不可能。
/来自中华网社区 club.china.com/
在泰国法律中，可以登记的老婆只有一个，当然这个自然是大老婆了，不过还可以再找小老婆了，生的孩子同样享有继承权。而且女孩比男孩分的财产比男孩要多。这样的话多娶几个老婆也不要紧，反正她也不用你养。
而一些伊斯兰教国家，例如伊朗，也是一夫多妻制，不过前提条件是男人要养得起老婆。取了老婆的话一般是不住在一起的自己住自己的。我们的导游说他老爸能娶了3个，他的目标就是超过他老爸。
对泰国人来说，是没有重男轻女的说法的。女人在家庭中的地位也是养尊处优。出嫁后，她们可以不出去工作，让老公养着。有经济实力的泰国男人一般都会顺从社会制度，多娶几个老婆。
可当他们一旦穷了，也就只能“看菜吃饭”，按照实际情况来确定老婆的数量。即便如此，他们也有所谓的婚姻规定，也就是第一个娶进的大老婆是法定的，其他的老婆便只是名义上承认的。
早就听说泰国男人可以娶好几个老婆，一般有三、四个老婆是很正常的事，但在法律上，只承认一个老婆，可是又允许非婚生的孩子跟父亲姓，并且有继承权。也就是说，法律明确保护婚外情的结果。很矛盾，不是吗?
我奇怪，为什么在水边的人家还需要这么多水缸，是接雨水用的吗?导游介绍说，泰国人家的水缸代表这家娶的老婆的数量!一个水缸代表一个老婆!我们数了，最多的一个人家有九个水缸，也就是说，这家有九个老婆!这么穷苦的人家怎么能养得起这么多老婆?
还 听一个去过泰国的朋友说，有天他们去看一个成人表演的时候，发现他们的女导游在哭，问了半天才知道，以前她是从来不陪客人看表演的，都是在外面等，那天也 不知是中了哪门子邪，陪客人进去看演出，却发现在台上做成人表演的，竟然是她的丈夫(情人)!做为泰国女人，她说她只能默认，因为，她也不是那个男人唯一 的女人，她无权干涉他!
泰国现任国王是个音乐家，在英国念过书，受西洋文化的影响很深，并且只有一个王妃。可是我不明白，这么一位开明君主，为什么还会把人妖和色情行业当作本国的特色旅游项目?
可能这个国家的传统势力太强大了，国王只能循序渐进，先在法律上只承认一个老婆，对其它的老婆只能视而不见，但又必须承认非婚生的孩子。还有一种可能，就是泰国太穷，财力不够，只能就汤下面，先把国力提高了再说，正是所谓的人穷志短?
所 有这些都是我个人的猜测，如果国王是个土生土长的国王，即使他有无数个王妃，我都能理解，这是这个国家的风俗，就象西藏有那么多要饭的一样，由于宗教信仰 的原因，西藏的信徒相信人生轮回，现在你是个富人，可能来世就是个穷人，所以现在施舍穷人，是在积德;而穷人要钱，也是在行善积德----是在帮助、督促 有钱人行善。可是泰国国王是留过洋的啊!
泰国人家的水缸
从 金碧辉煌的大王宫出来，我们直接去湄南河，看水上人家，也就是普通百姓的生活状态。沿着河边，都是些建在水边的高脚木屋，没什么家具，几乎每家都备有吊 床，吊床不为浪漫而设计，而是因为湄南河经常发水，有时睡到半夜，床就漂起来了，穷人家也没什么值钱的，水淹上来，爬上吊床再接着睡。感觉这是一个贫富差 距巨大的国家。
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Car pollution can damage brain: study
Being exposed to highway pollution can cause brain damage in mice akin to memory loss and Alzheimer's disease, US researchers said Thursday.
Car pollution can damage brain: study
Being exposed to highway pollution can cause brain damage in mice akin to memory loss and Alzheimer's disease, US researchers said Thursday.
Scientists recreated the airborne pollutants that come from the burning of fossil fuels and the weathering of car parts and pavement, and exposed mice to the harsh air for 15 hours per week over 10 weeks.
The tiny air particles were "roughly one-thousandth the width of a human hair, and too small for car filtration systems to trap," but exerted massive damage on the brains of the exposed mice, said the study.
"You can't see them, but they are inhaled and have an effect on brain neurons that raises the possibility of long-term brain health consequences of freeway air," said senior author Caleb Finch of the University of Southern California.
Scientists found that the exposure resulted in "significant damage" to neurons involved in learning and memory, and they detected "signs of inflammation associated with premature aging and Alzheimer's disease."
The study is published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
More research is necessary to determine if the same effects could be seen in humans.
"Of course this leads to the question, 'How can we protect urban dwellers from this type of toxicity?' And that's a huge unknown," Finch said.
China tells US: Stop preaching on human rights
China has told the US to stop preaching on human rights, after the state department's annual report on the issue criticised China.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the US should concentrate on its own rights issues and stop interfering.
Chinese authorities have launched a major crackdown on dissent recently.
Unveiling the report, US officials expressed particular concern over the recent arrest of the artist Ai Weiwei, an outspoken critic of the government.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also highlighted reports of other intellectuals and activists being "arbitrarily detained" in recent weeks.
Mr Hong said China was happy to talk about rights "on the basis of equality and mutual respect", but added that Beijing "resolutely opposes" meddling in other country's affairs.
"We advise the US side to reflect on its own human rights issues and not to position itself as a preacher of human rights," he said.
"[The US should] stop using the issue of human rights reports to interfere in other countries' internal affairs."
The state department's annual report criticising China, followed swiftly by a tough riposte from Beijing, is now a well-established diplomatic ritual.
But analysts say this year's tit-for-tat exchange has been sharpened by Beijing's crackdown on dissent.
The US report accused Beijing of stepping up restrictions on lawyers, activists, bloggers and journalists.
The Communist rulers were also accused of tightening controls on civil society and stepping up efforts to control the press and internet access.
The Beijing authorities also increased the use of forced disappearances, house arrest, and detention in illicit "black jails" to punish activists, petitioners and their families, the US report says.
Other countries accused of perpetrating serious rights violations in the report included Iran, Iraq, Burma, North Korea, the Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.
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