Asian Culture, Lifestyle and Entertainment
Singapore is Asia’s greenest city according to a study commissioned by Siemens and performed by the independent Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
Asian Green City Index analyses the environmental sustainability of 22 major cities in Asia. Singapore is the only city that scored “well above average”.
Check the basic result, or read the 62-page report in PDF if you want to.
Canadian researchers Aaron van Donkelaar and Randall Martin at Dalhousie University have created a map which shows the air pollution around the world…
Published via NASA, the map takes into account the density of fine particulate matter – particles that are 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter – which can get past the body’s normal defences and penetrate deep into the lungs.
China’s unsurprisingly looks the most hazardous of all. The map does count in natural particles such as the desert dust, which obviously clouded the Sahara and Middle East, and also contributing to China’s yellow dust storm each year.
But it’s probably an undeniable fact that China’s factories, which the the small-medium industries which are based on primitive technology, are producing large amount of airborne pollutions over the past two decades. And it seems that the situation is getting worse from a recent official environmental report.
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.
