The polluted Buriganga River in Dhaka city, capital of Bangladesh which is often rated as one of the world’s worst cities to live in…
My heart wrenched when I watched the kids swimming in the river like a fun-filled swimming pool; it’s saddening, yet reminded me of how blessed I am.
Some general news and info from various sources…
Australia – Rafael Nadal won first Australian Open crown, defeating Roger Federer [ATP]
China – Birth defects soar due to environmental pollution; a baby is born with physical defects every 30 secs in China [Chinadaily]
Enviromental – Many effects of climate change are irreversible [BBC]
Iraq – A fibreglass-and-copper monument (pic) is built in honour of the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at Bush during a news conference [Youtube]
Japan – PM Taro Aso has announced a 1.5 trillion yen (USD17bn) aid package to help Asian countries weather the economic downturn [BBC]
North Korea – North Korea is scrapping all pacts with South Korea and warned that the downward relations has pushed the peninsula to the brink of war [Reuters]
South Korea – Asiana Airlines, Korea’s second-largest air carrier, is named Airline of the Year by ATW (Air Transport World) magazine [ATW]
Thailand – Deja vu… tens of thousands of protesters held a rally in Bangkok calling on the new Thai government to resign [Youtube]
WWF-France, in celebration of its 35th anniversary, is running a campaign to raise awareness for natural environment preservation by parading 1,600 paper made panda models across the country.
The parade started in July 2008 at Paris City Hall; followed by a few other locations across France; the most recent exhibition was at Paris’ Trocadero Esplanade on October 15… while the next stop would be at Grenoble on October 25.
The panda (giant panda to be precise) is the symbol of the World Wildlife Fund; it’s estimated that there’s 1,600 pandas in the wild according to a 2004 statistic.
The 21st Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) kicked off Saturday (Oct 18) with Japanese prime minister Taro Aso among the ~300 guests that graced the opening event at Roppongi Hills [via Japantoday]
The theme of TIFF 2008 is “Ecology = Preservation of Earth’s Environment”, and the organiser replaced the usual red carpet with a green carpet made from recycled plastic bottles to exemplify the theme, which I doubt could bring any meaningful effect.
A total of 315 films from around the world will be shown during the nine-day event. Chinese movie “Red Cliff”, directed by Hong Kong director John Woo, was selected to kick start the screening; would be cute if the stars wore some green outfit during the green carpet to echo the theme lol.
Dr Ross Garnaut, a professor of economics at the Australian National University, has urged Australians to ditch beef and lamb for kangaroo steaks to help save the planet in his recent climate study commissioned by the Australian government.
Portugal has officially launched the world’s first commercial wave power project on September 23. The Agucadoura Wave Park, developed by Scottish firm Pelamis, was supposed to launch in 2007 but was delayed by an underwater connection issue.
The first phase of the project cost about 9 million Euros and generates power using 3 Pelamis Wave Energy Converters (PWEC) which are semi-submerged, articulated structures composed of cylindrical sections linked by hinged joints and are located approximately 3 miles off the coast.
The second phase of the project will install a further 25 PWEC and bring the total capacity up to 21MW, which will be able to meet the average annual electricity demand for more than 15,000 Portuguese households while displacing more than 60,000 tonnes per year of carbon dioxide emissions from conventional power plants.
Video below shows how the PWEC works…
UK will be the next to embrace the wave power with the Orcadian Wave Farm in northern Scotland and the Westwave project in Cornwall, southwestern England.
