#readstuff

John Fowles, British writer, was famous for his broadly accepted and highly literary novel "The French Lieutenant's Woman". (Btw, there is a likewise excellent movie with Maryl Streep and Jeremy Irons of the same name, but actually you shouldn't see it if otherwise you want to read the book!) It's perhaps not so easy to read but with any high literature you can learn a lot about the use and potential of language. By the time it also molds mildly your way of thinking, writing and speaking.

As Five Man Electrical Band said in the 70’s: “Signs, signs, everywhere a sign, blockin out the scenery, breakin my mind, do this don’t do that, can’t you read the signs?”

Sadly, no, people can’t, and it reminds me of another great song by Jars of Clay called “Unforgetful You”, which contains the lyrics “but I won’t behold it, unless it pertains to me”.

Selfishness has invaded society to the point where not only do people neglect to read signs, but get pissed off when they do something the bloody fucking sign said not to do. If you would have read the damned thing, you’d understand why no fucks are given by the person standing before you.

I saw the most recent example in the airport. Several people walked right past a rather large sign that said the kiosks wouldn’t be up til 5:55am, and not to use them til then. What seemed to be about ten older guys walked past the sign, which was IN THEIR FIELD OF VISION ON WHITE CARD STOCK IN 30-POINT BOLD TIMES FONT. Even had the word ATTENTION! over it. So, naturally these yahoos start getting pissed when the kiosks are sluggish and don’t print boarding passes. They manage to overtax one which needs rebooted and they start screaming at the gate agent. Unreal. Like it’s her fault? You’re the dipshit who CAN’T READ A DAMN SIGN!

A few months before, at Christmas, in the mall I work at we have a hallway to nowhere. It used to hold lockers, but now it’s just an empty hallway. There is a hallway probably 15-20 yards from that one, on the same side which has restrooms down it. There is even a BRIGHT NEON YELLOW sign above it indicating that. Regardless of this, in thirty minutes one day, I counted 18 people who walked into then out of the hallway to nowhere and walked away, 4 that realized their error, and about 10 that asked me where the restrooms had been moved to. Really? I mean, LOOK UP JUST ONCE! READ. IT WON’T HURT, I PROMISE.

However, people who ignore signs in my store DAILY will suddenly become the world’s most prolific readers the moment their eyes come upon the word FREE. It’s now all bets off, and it really doesn’t matter what is free. They just want it. Sometimes if it’s promo, like “buy a vac, get a bag free” they’ll still argue and try to get me to just give them the bags free. No. Doesn’t work like that. If you’d READ THE REST OF THE DAMN SIGN. Oh wait, that’s right, it’s a part you don’t like or you feel may invalidate your point, so you ignore it. Selfish.

from Climate and Development Knowledge Network

In an article for Thomson Reuters Foundation, CDKN/Panos fellow Saleem Shaikh, and Sughra Tunio, look at how early warning technology protects Nepali villagers from sudden floods.

  For years, Deepa Newar and her neighbours lived with the fear that their livelihoods – and even their lives – might be swept away without warning.

Newar and her fellow residents of Jhirpu Phulpingkatti, a village some 112 km (70 miles) northeast of Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, live perched on the bank of the Bhote Koshi River. The river is prone to sudden, devastating floods that can swamp fields, carry away livestock and even kill those who do not manage to flee to higher ground.

The 2.5 acres (1 hectare) of land on which Newar cultivates paddy rice and maize have suffered severe flooding four times in the last 32 years, most recently in 2011.

Looking at the swirling grey waters of the river that flows into Nepal across the border with China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, 10 km (6 miles) upstream, the 39-year-old recalls those disasters.

“(The river) left behind a trail of death and destruction whenever it has turned into a monster,” she says.

But Newar now enjoys a sense of safety for herself and her family, thanks to an early warning system for floods installed by the Bhote Koshi Power Company (BKPC) at its hydropower plant on the river.

GLACIAL LAKE THREAT

Flash floods can be caused by severe storms or the failure of levees, but the Bhote Khosi River is also susceptible to glacial lake outburst floods. These result from the catastrophic failure of a natural dam high in the mountains that contains glacial meltwater. Such failures are becoming a greater risk as warming temperatures linked to climate change lead to faster glacial melt and greater volumes of water in the lakes.

The Bhote Khosi river basin covers an area of about 3,400 square km (1,300 square miles) and has an estimated 150 glaciers. Of its 139 glacial lakes, whose area totals some 16 square km (6 square miles), 59 are highly vulnerable to outbursts, according to a study conducted by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), an intergovernmental body of eight countries in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region, including Nepal and China.

In 1981, a glacial lake outburst flood in the river basin washed away several bridges, including the China-Nepal Friendship Bridge along the Araniko Highway, said Pradeep K. Mool, a glaciologist at ICIMOD in Kathmandu.

Until 2010, floods could strike the villages with no warning. Residents had virtually no time to move to higher ground and were forced to leave behind their livestock and crops, suffering financial losses as well as emotional distress.

“Before the advent of the warning system … we were at risk of being washed away,” said Newar.

Janak Raj Pant, maintenance manager at the Bhote Koshi power plant, said that the river is subject to erratic flows, particularly during the monsoon. For this reason, the power company arranged for the early warning system to be installed in 2010 to benefit the downstream communities in Sindhupalchowk district.

5 TO 8 MINUTES WARNING

The early warning system gives villagers 5-8 minutes’ notice of a flood – just enough time to save themselves.

Five flood sensors are positioned near the Nepal-China Friendship Bridge, about 6 km upstream from the power station.

If the water in the river reaches a dangerous level, the sensors activate sirens placed at four locations, including one at the power plant. The sirens warn the communities to flee to higher ground. Residents use their mobile phones to warn other villages further downstream.

According to Pant, a glacial lake outburst flood takes about five minutes to travel from the Nepal-China Friendship Bridge to the plant. He says lives can be saved if people respond to the alarm immediately.

“At present, the warning system can make the sirens blare five minutes before any flood can strike any of the 79 downstream villages of Sindhupalchowk district,” said Pant, standing beneath the red siren mounted on a side wall of the company’s building.

According to Pant, it is not currently possible to give more warning because information on flooding is not available from the Chinese side of the border.

About 40 percent of the Bhote Koshi river basin is in Nepal, with the remaining 60 percent in China.

Other residents of Jhirpu Phulpingkatti agree that the system has given them a sense of security, but they would like the lead time given by the alarm to be extended.

More sensors need to be placed further upstream within Nepal, especially at glacier snouts and where glacial lakes have formed or are forming, commented Joydeep Gupta, a New Delhi-based journalist and expert on South Asia river basins and flood warning systems.

NEED FOR CHINESE HELP

The ICIMOD study shows that Nepal has experienced at least 24 glacial lake outburst floods. Of these, 14 are believed to have occurred in Nepal itself, and 10 were the result of flood surge overspills from the Chinese side of the border. According to data from the Nepal Meteorological Department, such floods occur on average once every three years in Nepal.

The glaciers in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas are retreating, which scientists believe is the result of climate warming. As glaciers melt, the water released into lakes can build pressure on the natural dams and increase the risk of an outburst flood.

“We have already sought proposals from interested firms to expand the warning system to other vulnerable districts (near) the Bhote Koshi River,” said Pant. “It is hoped that in coming months we should be able to install alarm systems in as many districts as possible.”

“(The) Nepali government should also replicate and establish such early warning systems at all streams to (avoid) or reduce loss of lives or damage,” said Gupta.

But priority should be given to the streams emanating from the unstable glacier lakes identified by ICIMOD in its recent study, he emphasised. According to Gupta, China, as the upstream country, should collaborate with Nepal to share information about flash floods or glacial lake outburst floods hours before they reach the Nepali border, to allow maximum time for warnings to vulnerable downstream communities.

“Any viable information-sharing system by which Chinese officials can pre-inform their Nepali counterparts of any risk of flash flood or (glacial lake outburst flood) would be very helpful. A similar system between China and India already saved many lives in a flash flood in the Sutlej river area a few years ago,” he said.

Saleem Shaikh and Sughra Tunio are climate change and development reporters based in Islamabad.

This article first appeared on Thomson Reuters Foundation http://bit.ly/14XCQwU Photo courtesy of THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION/Saleem Shaikh

CDKN is supporting 24 print, TV, radio and web journalists in South Asia under a Panos ‘South Asia Climate Change Award’ (SACCA) Fellowship.  This is part of a 24-month CDKN project on building climate change awareness in the South Asia media.

from Center for Climate and Energy Solutions RSS Feed

The informal summit between the presidents of China and the United States last week yielded one very one important climate-related agreement.  After years of opposing international efforts to restrict hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs - a potent family of greenhouse gases), China has now agreed to cooperate with the United States and most other nations in moving forward to phase down the use of these chemicals under the Montreal Protocol. 

The Montreal Protocol is the international treaty agreed to in 1987 that restricts the production and use of ozone-depleting substances with the goal of restoring the earth’s protective ozone layer. Widely hailed as the most successful international environmental treaty, it has been ratified by all 197 states. While not its primary objective, the treaty has also played an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and now appears on track to play an even larger role.

from Climate Change

Climate-smart interventions are highly location-specific and knowledge-intensive. Therefore, considerable efforts are required to develop the knowledge and capacities to make climate-smart agriculture (CSA) a reality. The purpose of this sourcebook is to further elaborate the concept of CSA and demonstrate its potential, as well as its limitations. It is aimed as a reference tool for planners, practitioners and policymakers working in agriculture, forestry and fisheries at national and subnational levels, dealing with the effects of climate change. This sourcebook is divided into three main sections, which addresses the following topics.

The case for climate-smart agriculture: this section consists of two modules establishing a conceptual framework and is targeted to a broad audience.      

Improved technologies and approaches for sustainable farm management: nine modules targeted primarily to the needs of planners and practitioners, and analyses what issues need to be addressed in the different sectors.