Stories about Environment from January, 2009
Myanmar: Extreme cold weather
Myanmar’s mountainous eastern and western border areas are experiencing an unusual freezing weather. The Karen State was declared a disaster area because of the cold temperatures. The province is home to a large refugee population. In Rangoon, the winter is coldest in 30 years.
Russia, Ukraine: Gas and Soccer
LJ user dobrokhotov wrote this (RUS) on Jan. 18 about the Russian-Ukrainian gas deal: “What nonsense, it's been, like, two days already since they agreed on the price of gas, but they haven't yet announced officially what the price is. This is unprecedented nonsense, almost like if the Ukrainian and...
Trinidad & Tobago: Start the Bacchanal
“Who needs Carnival in this place where leaders could play mas with democracy?” Trinidadian blogger Attillah Springer wonders if the masquerade will ever end.
Malaysia: Lessons from the flooding disaster
Last week, flooding hit several areas in the Sarawak State of Malaysia. Bloggers recount their experience and the lessons to be culled from the flood disaster. The flooding was the worst in years in Malaysia.
Serbia, Russia: NIS-Gazprom Deal
A roundup on the NIS-Gazprom deal – at Eternal Remont: “In 2008, Deloitte & Touche valued NIS at $2.95 billion. But Gazprom is only going to pay $1.2 billion ($537 million + $721 million in new “investment”) between now and 2012. Better yet, the Serbs refused to entertain offers from...
Guyana: Flooding Controversy
Guyana has been experiencing severe bouts of flooding recently, causing damage to crops and livestock and outrage among bloggers.
Mongolia: Animals Elimination
Danzan Ravjaa writes that the Ulaanbaatar’s (capital city of Mongolia) Municipal Administration began a campaign to eliminate street dogs and reviews reactions of the society and reigious groups.
Russia: Ten Days At Sea Offshore Sakhalin
White Sun of the Desert writes about his ten days at sea on the Yuri Topchev, “a 100m long icebreaking supply vessel.”
Ukraine: Ruthenians
Window on Eurasia writes about Transcarpathian Ruthenians of Ukraine, who are “calling on Moscow to recognize the independence of Subcarpathian Rus because Kyiv has ignored their demands for autonomy within Ukraine” and who emphasize that “‘the lion’s share’ of Russian gas on its way to European markets flows through Subcarpathian...
Philippines: Helping flood victims through Plurk and blogs
Filipino bloggers have organized a feeding program for the benefit of flood victims in south Philippines. They announced their project through Plurk and other social networking sites.
Poland: Nuclear Power?
Leopolis writes about the prospect of nuclear power in Poland.
Ukraine: Rescuing the European Bison
Chernobyl and Eastern Europe Blog writes about efforts to rescue the European Bison from extinction.
Ghana: Chocolate Tourism
“Chocolate tourism” in Ghana is a form of tourism that “involves a week long journey tour that helps people understand the basic nuances of cocoa cultivation and its processing to make into an export product.”
Flashfloods and landslides in south Philippines
More than 115,000 people in the Philippines’ northern Mindanao region had fled to safety due to flashfloods and landslides. The local government reported that the series of flashfloods that struck the region have reached humanitarian crisis proportions
Malaysia: Worst flooding in years
Malaysia’s State of Sarawak suffered from severe flooding last week. The two hardest hit areas were Kuching and Sibu. Almost 10,000 people were forced to move to higher ground because of rising water level. In some parts of the state, flood waters rose to 14 feet.
Indonesia: Flooding in 13 provinces
Thirteen Indonesian provinces experienced flooding the past week due to torrential rains. The disaster has claimed the lives of 14 people while three others are still missing. More than 50,000 people have to be evacuated. Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, is under up to two meters of water.
Trinidad & Tobago: Tree Cutting, Belt Tightening
“The airport, which already looks like a sterile wasteland with all the grey paint and icky tiles, now bereft of the softening influence of vegetation. It looks like you've arrived in some place other than the Caribbean”: Coffeewallah thinks Trinidad is more like La La Land these days.
El Salvador: Campaign for the Coatepeque Lake
The Coatepeque Lake in El Salvador is nominated for one of the 7 Wonders of the World and a campaign has started to encourage Salvadorans to vote writes Hunnapuh [es].
Fiji Flooding: “The economic costs will be massive”
The sun peeked from behind the mass of clouds in parts of the Fiji island group Thursday morning, marking the first time many places had a major break in rain in more than a week. With the respite, the worst flood waters in decades have mostly subsided across Viti Levu,...
Bangladesh: Power from Human
Bhaboghure Jhor (Vagrant Storm) has a brilliant idea to solve the power problem in Bangladesh using surplus population: “We will mount thousands of cycle in a building and generators will be connected with them. So instead of moving forward the paddlers will rotate the shaft of the generator by cycling...
Trinidad & Tobago: Dangerous Trees?
As trees surrounding Trinidad's Piarco International Airport are cut down for security purposes, Francomenz and Notes from Port of Spain put in their two cents.
